Alyssa had her new circuit board installed a lot faster than I did, since it was just placed in her thigh. I helped her plug in my portable display in the jacks behind her ear so that my AI Amanda could give her the new program. Alyssa sat down on the chair she usually sat in, and she locked her limbs to keep her position and rebooted. I removed the leads to the portable display and waited.

Evilin didn't bother laying down on the bed because she was too big to fit, so she just propped her foot up on the edge and Nurse Deloris opened up her thigh to install her circuit board. A few seconds later, Alyssa opened her eyes and smiled.

“It's working, Jack.” Alyssa said, then she pinged my com and sent me a text.

From SRGNT8356: I am going to ride you so hard once they leave!

I blinked my eyes for a moment, and for the life of me had no idea why her saying that was any different than when I had asked her for a 'Good Morning'; then I shrugged mentally at the discrepancy and responded.

From Jack(RETCONNED): Bring it! Ah... I mean... I eagerly await the attempt.

Alyssa chuckled and looked at me, and I gave her a wink.

“It's in, but it's not working.” Evilin said. “I can't even detect it.”

“Jack has to give you the program first, then you need to reboot before running it.” Nurse Deloris said.

“Really? It's that deep seated?” Evilin asked, and she nodded. “Then hook me up!”

I went over to her and put the leads into the port behind her ear.

“Hey, girl!” Evilin said to my AI. “Where's he been hiding you?” She tilted her head slightly. “What do you mean he's always hiding you?” She frowned and looked at me. “You're keeping her prisoner?”

“Geez, Amanda.” I chuckled. “It's not my fault that having you covert is a lot safer, for the both of us, than announcing you to everyone I meet.” I said and looked at Evilin. “She can go in and out of any communication tech that's currently attached to the System. She's not a prisoner.”

“You never take me anywhere.” Amanda said from the vidwall panel.

“We went halfway across the cavern to get something to eat yesterday.” I said and sighed.

“You're kidding!” Nurse Deloris said.

“It's true.” Alyssa said. “Mr. High And Mighty wanted some chicken.”

“Ha!” Evilin barked a laugh. “Rich people, huh?”

“It wasn't that expensive.” I said in my defense, and the three women laughed.

“Unplug me so I can reboot.” Evilin said, and I pulled the leads out of the ports behind her ear, and she did the same thing as Alyssa and locked her body so she wouldn't move, then the lights behind her eyes went out. Nurse Deloris took this opportunity to pull her pants down and popped her own thigh open. With deft movements, she quickly installed her own circuit board.

“I can't remember the last time I put something inside myself.” Nurse Deloris said, then chuckled. “That would sound so weird if it was taken out of context.”

“I'm not saying a word.” I said, and she laughed.

Evilin's eyes lit up again and she grabbed my synthetic shoulder tightly. “Holy shit! It really works!”

“Yes.” I said and tried not to wince. I debated reducing the sensations so that it wouldn't bother me so much, then Nurse Deloris' words came back to me about messing up my operating system by changing it.

Nurse Deloris closed up her thigh and sealed it with fluid. I plugged the portable display into the ports behind her ear so she could get the program, and Evilin let my shoulder go. When the file was successfully transferred over, Deloris nodded and I unplugged the portable display. She laid down on the bed and rebooted to let the program integrate itself into her startup files. She opened her eyes a few moments later and sat up.

“Okay, this is the best thing ever.”

“Isn't it?” Alyssa said, happily. “The normal communication pad seems so limited in comparison, doesn't it?”

Nurse Deloris nodded and looked at me. “You're really going to give me a spare one, right?”

I nodded and handed her three of the small circuit board boxes. “Just install these into Crush and the other two members of Alyssa's squad, and this one is yours.” I said and gave her another one.

“Jack, thank you.” Nurse Deloris said.

“You're doing me a huge favor, so you don't need to thank me.” I said. “Alyssa? Can you give her...”

“Already sent her their locations.” Alyssa said, and Nurse Deloris nodded.

“I'll have them installed by this afternoon.”

“You'll need this for the program.” I said and gave her my portable display.

“Are you sure you want that out of your sight?” Alyssa asked. “You won't be able to do any work while she has it.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“I'm not planning on doing a lot of work for the next few hours.” I said and smiled at her, and she nodded slightly. “Plus, I already transferred the secured files to my internal storage. There's nothing left on it except a copy of the program.”

“We'll have to work out a better way to transfer it.” My AI Amanda said from the vidwall panel.

“I was thinking a direct download from the home system that everyone can access; but, we can't get approval for that until we work everything out first.”

“As exciting as planning product design is, I'm out of here.” Evilin said. “Come on, doc. I'll walk you out.”

“I'm just a nurse.” Nurse Deloris said. She grabbed her bag from the closet and tucked the portable display inside.

“Whatever. Let's go.” Evilin said and walked over to the door.

“Hey, Deloris!” I said and went to the sink and held out the container the homemade lasagna was in. “It was delicious.”

“You didn't have to wash it, you nut.” Nurse Deloris said and laughed. “It's recyclable.”

I opened my mouth to say I knew that, then sighed and tossed it in the recycle chute.

“Don't look so sad.” Nurse Deloris smiled. “I'll bring another one the next time I make a batch.”

“Thank you.” I said, and she and Evilin left the apartment.

“She actually got the hint.” Alyssa said, surprised.

I walked over to the door of the apartment and locked it, then went back over to her. Alyssa looked at me with a smile, and we wrapped our arms around each other and kissed.

Alyssa had been true to her message and we had fun for quite some time. I was a little surprised that she didn't try to restrain herself at first; but, after we had done it the first time, she knew exactly what my body was capable of handling and she made full use of it in that context.

I received a text message from Nurse Deloris as she finished installing each of the three circuit boards. I denied the direct call from Crush and sent him a message that I was busy. He messaged me back and said that Alyssa had said the same thing, and that he suspected we were 'getting busy' together. I couldn't deny it, so I didn't respond.

I'm not going to hear the end of it the next time I see him. I thought and smiled.

“I can't believe you aren't going to work until Deloris comes back.” Alyssa said, and I hugged her close.

“It's just an excuse to spend more time with you.” I said. “I don't really need my portable display anymore.”

“Wh-what?” Alyssa propped herself up on her elbow to look down at me. “You don't?”

I shook my head. “I told you that the new circuit board can do a lot more than just be used as a communication pad.”

“It's a portable display, too?” Alyssa asked, her eyes wide.

“It's a booster and signal converter. It can do a lot of things.” I said and smiled. “Like call and video conferencing.”

“Wait, what? I knew about the call conferencing, since I'm already doing that with my squad.” Alyssa said. “You can do video? How?”

“Virtual Reality, of course.” I said. “Since everyone automatically stores their digital avatar in their onboard memory, and the visual cortex can interpret anything that's sent to it...”

“Good lord.” Alyssa said and grabbed my shoulder and shook me. “Show me how to do it right now!”

“We just did it, so I shouldn't have to show you.” I said and grinned at her, then she got the joke.

“Ha, ha. Very funny.” Alyssa said sarcastically.

“I thought so.” I said. “I'll work on getting the manual prepared this afternoon, and you'll find out what it's true capabilities are.”

“Can't you just tell me how to do it?” Alyssa asked.

“Geez, can't you wait a few hours?” I asked, and she shook her head. “Amanda, feel like joining us for a conference call?”

“Do I ever!” Amanda said from the vidwall panel, and then she pinged both of us at the same time. We accepted and then Amanda materialized right in front of us. “I'm kind of overriding the program and forcing my avatar to appear at the moment, because you need to change some of the software settings to get it to actually work for everyone.”

“Did... did you say everyone?” Alyssa asked, and Amanda and I nodded.

“Since its software, you can't have both the call and the video going at the same time, since it's a hog on the processing power of the circuit board.” I said. “I've got a constant monitor checking the temperature, and it's at the high point of the safety margin right now.”

“I thought you put in redundancy for that.” Alyssa said.

“I did, but having both a voice channel and a video channel with voice, essentially doubling the signal and the load, is not what it was intended for.”

“Oh! I see.” Alyssa said. “Amanda, can you show me the options I need to change?”

“Sure!” Amanda said and created a virtual version of the software interface, and took Alyssa step by step through it to show her the difference in using the default call option and then choosing video instead and changing it to that. “Once we get the manual done up, we can also include a set of macros for people to use instead of going the long way through all of this.”

“Why not do that first?” Alyssa asked.

“Because this is the first attempt at doing anything like this.” I said. “We're doing everything from scratch, and there's going to be things we didn't think of or forgot to include.”

“Which is why we wanted to do up a manual before spreading these things around.” Amanda said. “Plus, knowing how to do it the long way is the best way to understand how something works.”

“I'm a combat soldier.” Alyssa said. “We don't have time to do things the long way. All we use are shortcuts.”

“Why else do you think we mentioned the macros?” I chuckled. “We know doing it the long way is a pain in the ass for you.”

Alyssa opened her mouth to respond, then smiled and nodded instead.

“I think she bought it, Amanda! Quick! Make a run for it before she figures out we lied and did it the long way on purpose!” I exclaimed, and Amanda laughed and ran around the apartment. I tried to do the same, but a stack of boxes blocked my path. I felt Alyssa's hand on my shoulder a second later and turned to look at her. “Oh! Hello.”

Alyssa had a serious look on her face as she stepped close. “You can't run from me.” She whispered. “I have your personal ID.” She said and kissed me. I didn't expect that at all, and she felt my body react in a very positive way. She broke the kiss and smiled. “Jack, you don't understand the significance of what you've done for us.”

“Is that the royal 'us', as in you; or 'us' as in you and me?”

“I meant us as a people.” Alyssa said and gave me another gentle kiss. “Thanks to this program, I've already figured out how to get tactical information from anyone I'm connected to.”

“What? How?” I asked.

“You said it yourself. The visual cortex processes information. If I'm already getting data from the person for their avatar to appear, why not get the data for everything they see?”

I blinked my eyes for a moment and thought about it. “Oh, wow.”

“You see it now, don't you?” Alyssa asked. “You've given us a superior tactical advantage, Jack. One that no one knows about right now.” She looked at the boxes around her. “We can have five hundred advanced scout teams, with one person at HQ and the other in the forward deployment zones.”

“You're wrong.” I said. She looked like she was going to debate me, and I put a finger over her mouth to stop her. “You don't have to split the teams. You only need one person at HQ, or one AI with the circuit board installed in their main processing unit, and we can have a thousand teams out on deployment.”

Alyssa moved my finger and whispered. “Good lord.”

“Yeah.” I said. “If we can accumulate enough processing power for that AI...”

“...it can coordinate movements in real time with no delay...” Alyssa said. “If we do that...”

“...then we can create the largest tactical network that has ever existed.” I said.

Alyssa and I didn't say anything for a few minutes.

“Amanda? Go ahead and start the reserved run for the circuit boards.” I said.

“You got it, Jack.” Amanda said and I saw her turn around and toss something away.

“A reserved run?” Alyssa asked, and I nodded. “How... how many more?”

“Only ten thousand.” I smiled, and she squealed like a little girl and kissed me harder than she ever had before. It was my turn to feel her body's reaction and how excited she was, and then she practically dragged me over to the bed. “Alyssa? What about Nurse... oof!”

Alyssa tossed me onto the bed and then climbed on top of me. “Right now, I don't care.”

“...but... she...”

Alyssa grabbed my hands and put them on her sumptuous chest, and it stopped my protest in mid-sentence. She almost laughed at my reaction to touching her, and she continued to do what she had promised in her message.