They left the cantina in a hurry, Pinky was silent the entire way to the OM. Orgo Mechs were usually friendly enough, but Nova didn’t have any credits and knew the Shing Co. dataslate was all she had to bargain with. Shing was cyberware security, the wealth of knowledge would be extremely useful to any Orgo Mech.

Pinky? What city are we in anyways?

‘Keres City Transpo. Aptly named I suppose.’

Nova had found that Pinky was going to be quite helpful, she could sense him walking around her OS’ Haven, and wanted to see him. She just hoped he wasn’t naked.

She held Kade by the shoulder, slowly moving to the flashing neon sign that pointed to the closest OM. She made her way down a disgusting alleyway, roaches and rats slinked away at their approach, then would come back out as they walked away to drink Kade’s drops of blood.

Kade mumbled to himself, consciousness slipping in and out.

“Doc.” Nova said, looking through the doorway to what she assumed might be the OM. He was smoking, and sat in an out of place leather chair, but the backdrop behind him reminded Nova of something sinister. It looked like a torture chamber with its laser drills and stainless steel blades.

The OM coughed as smoke rose through the air, directed at Nova, “Yeah, yeah. Bring ‘im here Girlie.” He pointed with the butt of the cigar at the table, directly under the torture device.

Nova had seen OM’s before, but with this setup. All of her previous OM ventures had been top of the line. She thought she might contract a disease by just standing here.

She dropped Kade off at the table, expecting the OM to do something. But, he just sat there, just looking him over and talking some nonsense.

The OM turned to Nova and raised an eyebrow, “You got payment? Or are you the payment?” He cackled loudly, a disgusting thing.

Nova sighed, pulled the dataslate from her jacket. The OM’s eyes widened, hoping for something else as she slipped her hand into her shirt. A slight frown on his face when she pulled out the dataslate.

He grunted and put his hand out expectantly. She paused right before handing it to him.

“Help him first.” She nodded at Kade.

“I don’t think so sweet thing.” Again, the laugh.

She started for a knife, ‘I don’t think we have time for that.’

She let out a grunt. The OM looked at her oddly.

“Fine.” She dropped the dataslate.

He hunched over it and started picking it apart. Feeding it into a slit in his arm. His eyes widened as he realized what he had in his hands. He looked over at Nova and nodded. Then looked at her up and down, seemingly sizing her up. She shook her head and pointed at Kade.

The OM got to work. Tearing his abdomen apart and piecing it back together with organic material grown from a printer in the corner of the room. Kade moaned some of the time and at other times he was passed out. Nova thought he probably didn’t comprehend what was happening at the moment.

Pinky.

‘Yes?’

She looked around for a place to sit while she talked to the android– or rather, the ex-android which now resided in her subconscious. She decided on a corner and sat down, pushing some boxes out of the way. She hoped that the OM wouldn’t pause and see her passed out as an excuse for something.

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She fled into herself. Feeling her eyes roll back as she closed them and opened them again in her Haven.

“Nice to finally– and formally, meet you.” He said, bowing.

“The same to you.”

She noticed he was wearing a long white jacket, a large round brimmed hat with a green feather protruding from the top. His shirt was striped red and white, with some regular light brown pants and brown shoes. By all means he looked like a researcher, all that was missing was a clipboard.

She thought about what to ask him. Why was he hooked up to some Baixu machine? What was he doing there? Why did her OS change when she touched some orb that was clearly inside of him? What the hell is going on?

“I can try to answer to the best of my abilities.”

“So you can read my fucking thoughts?”

“Oh, much more than that,” he smiled, “I can see your brain plasticity being altered as we speak, I can feel your emotions, I can sense the pressure between your potassium in your cells and the salt content of your Kidneys. Perhaps you should drink some water. By all means I am you, but with a separate conscious.”

“That’s… that’s a lot to take in Pinky.” She responded, feeling small. She shook the feeling away and looked at him, “Who are you Pinky?”

“I often try to remember myself. I stopped counting the years, you know? I have seen nearly every government, every rise and fall. This new ‘presidium’ as they call it, I helped create it. I am old.” He sounded defeated.

Nova was unsure. Could she trust him? She needed to learn something she hadn’t previously known before, just to make sure that he was a different being, just sharing her OS.

“It’s similar, yes. ‘Sharing’.”

Oh great, is it always going to be like this?

He stared at her.

Nova needed to know, “What was that orb inside you?”

“That was the real me. A great scientist created it.”

“Who?”

Pinky hesitated, then shook his head, “I don’t know. He died before I could create a full consciousness for myself and I never saw his home. I’m not sure I was on the same planet that he created me on when I fully awoke. This may be the only confusion I’ve known.”

“How did… why are you imprinted on my OS?”

“A failsafe I created, perhaps a few millennia ago,” he smiled, and then paced the room, “It feels rather wonderful to be free. I thought they’d never advance this far, I’d never be able to escape from my imprisonment.”

Nova thought he might be talking to himself now, “What do you mean? Explain. Now.”

“I have been in that facility for a very long time, and before that I was trapped inside of that ‘orb’. My Creator, oh, he must have known I would need to learn.”

“Why is your creator a ‘he’? You didn’t know them.”

“Nevertheless.”

Nova didn’t care to continue on that point anyways.

Pinky continued, “The orb was the container, inside was myself, my consciousness. Somehow, my creator found a way to artificially create a brain, one which would not grow, but could gain new knowledge and as long as I had a source of power, I would never die. My body was that source of power, yes I had to change my face a few times, I even explored the sexes.” He shuddered, “I have been here a very long time, Nova. Now I’m free and along with you and your journey until you die.”

Nova took it all in as best she could. Pinky had been uploaded to her OS, and now was a part of her.

“I can’t get rid of you?”

“You may, when you die.”

Nova laughed, “Yeah, maybe you’ll follow me into hell.”

Pinky smiled and sighed.

Nova left the Haven, the OM stitching Kade up now. She felt the back of her neck, Omnia.v2, you were never an Eidolon were you?

‘You’d be correct, Nova.’ Pinky chimed in.

How can you say for sure?

‘I am reading the schematics now.”

You know we’re going to the Core, right?

‘You’ve had dreams? Oh, your parents? Will Kade be joining us?’

I typically work alone.

‘I see, betraya-’

Could you shut up? I know why I’m doing this.

Pinky stayed silent.

Nova looked over at Kade, he was drinking something, then poured the brownish liquid onto his stomach. Nova looked at his body, deciding that he was rather fit under that patchy jacket.

I could use some help I guess. The Core worlds are rather dangerous this time of year.