Either that or the system was just ignoring me. How rude. Pushes me when necessary but shuts down when I have any real questions. Pulling up my status in my mind I wanted the external set option.

-External Mechanical Tool Set (10% Damage – Currently Active. Power Unit drain operating at average capacity.)

[So some of you little freaks are still damaged then. I’m hoping that you’re not a part of my physical body.]

Weird. Interesting but a little weird. Not cute, but interesting. The sensation of them on my metallic skin was barely perceptible it was there.

Can’t say that I wanted it very much. I now understood exactly why the System Vincent had put me into power conversation mode when it had needed to run essential and non-essential repairs on my body.

These were me. Or a part of me who come out to repair. Blood. Or vital fluids? What was powering them anyway. They lacked intelligence but responded to my commands. Not sentient or a hive mind then. Tools.

[I’d prefer a shut-down over this. Vincent? I’m ready to go back into deep-unconsciousness mode. Hello?]

Spiders, bugs, and ants crawling over your arms didn’t sound appetising to me as a human and now it was even worse. I forced myself to stay rigid as a test of my willpower. Watching the little creatures scuttle down my arms towards the ends of my claw hands made my fears progress. Best to try and hold myself. Just accept it. Itchy skin. Itchy. Itchy surfaces.

Imagine sticking your hand into a living jelly full of flies that constantly rub against your skin. Worse. This was getting worse. I was tempted to send a recall order to the external tool set. External meant that it was comprised of hundreds of these semi-mechanical bugs who formed a gestalt entity with me as the host.

Parasites. Leeches. Burn, squash.

[I...I don’t. No. My skin doesn’t. Flesh not so good. No, surface. You. Why are you staring at me. STOP IT STOP IT!]

The broken robotic drone in front of me lay there, powerless but with the head facing up towards me with its multiple small lenses and one large one. Judging me. Laughing. If I couldn’t destroy these bugs, then I’d take the next viable step. I lowered both my hands closer to the head of the drone and extended my claws outwards letting the tiny mechanical beetles travel to the edges of the shovels.

They were prepared ready for my command to begin repairing the dead body. I would be able to restore new life to this form, I had enough power to spare to jump-start a dead heart at least. But first, it would need to pay for staring at me and if some of the little bugs died in the process then so be it. I could always grow more within my body. Bringing up the status window I saw the integrated shovel attachments.

-Mechanised Shovel (7% Damage -Turn offline? Y/N)

With a quick thought, I sent the twin dark-bladed shovels back into my arms. The bugs avoided being damaged and simply moved back up onto the outside of my glinting steel claws. Judging. Blaming me. Not my fault. No, I didn’t break you. NOT ME!

My large hands now rested on the head of the mining drone. Yes. The insects will suffer as well. They need to die, die, die, diediediediedie. Yesyes. Punishment.

They deserve it for disgusting me. Then a voice like the roar of a god inside my mind. My hands froze, microseconds from crushing the skull of the dead thing beneath my grip.

CONTROL OVERRIDDEN DUE TO OVERMIND AUTONOMOUS ORDERS – DRONE ACTIVATION PRIORITY

…Automatic Emergency Fail-safe Lockdown Initiated…

…Cotard Delusion Protocol Failure…

…Memory Displacement Error Found…

…Secondary Overmind Conditional Directives Temporarily Removed…

…Initiate Campos Stability Program version 1.2…

I felt crushed beneath the weight, nothing so pedestrian as physical pain but the complete absence of meaning. The voice that I needed to hear spoke this time, it felt soft and kinder than previously. The tone had switched. Nice and warm, comforting even, next became a horrible memory.

[…what? I do. I guess, can you give me an update? Wait, sweet what? Not funny.]

I felt myself at a loss here. My body had been frozen and taken outside of my control and the complete lack of control was jarring, it was a horrible sensation to have total awareness and yet be aware of your physical structure. I felt a cross between itchiness and a tingling sensation on my hands. Not entirely uncomfortable but there was an effect.

My mind felt odd. I was meant to be repairing a drone version of the starter mining robot that I had located earlier as part of an earlier mission. I did want the XP and benefits that could be found from it. A nice chance to go back to the Mind Palace and taste food and drink while relaxing. Working all day doesn’t come too easy to a hard-working Miner.

[Can I get a mission update system? I need an update on the current situation. Please?]

The lack of response wasn’t a big deal as I recall being told that it had to check out something important according to a data loss or something that happened to explain why everything around here was smashed up. An abandoned mining site where everything was wrecked. Heh. Wreckers. I thought they used to destroy ships, murder crews and steal cargo when they diverted the course of merchant ships onto rocks. A sad thought. All those dead people and ships.

[The hell? Uh, yeah. I’m asking for a mission update right now. The ones where you show me experience points along with rewards and the reminder to get my work done? I know, I need to work harder. Busy, busy.]

The voice sounded softer somehow, not quite feminine but lacking the same harsh tones as before. A subtle change, one that was appreciated but also slightly concerning. The near permanent blunt edge had been reduced to a trickle.

[Vincent? Seriously, I need a mission update. Ready to work here. I just need you to unfreeze my body and the repair bots will get to fixing the broken mining drone here. Or most of it at least, I’m not sure how they’re going to fix a missing arm and I’d rather not remove mine right now. I need it.]

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

A truly bizarre situation where you get stuck in a mining robot body as a disembodied being, wake up in a virtual reality escape room and then have to deal with a whole bunch of complex issues while being told what to do by artificial intelligence with god complex wouldn’t get any creepier but it did. Oh yes, it did.

[What did you do with Vincent. Can you put him back? I’d prefer talking with him. He’s bossy but he gets the job done. You. I don’t know you. Get him back.]

I had come across the concept of phantom limb syndrome back when I had been working in my usual mining job. One of the staff in the café who was simply amazing at baking these delicious raisins and cinnamon buns only had one arm due to losing it either in an accident or at birth.

There was no way I was going to ask him about it, mainly because he was an amazing baker. For one it would be rude and secondly, I didn’t want to lose out on eating those buns during morning rush hour when we had plenty of customers including myself who would scoff them down.

When you recruit a talented person who works for you and is willing to tolerate me as a boss then you don’t go and ask the wrong questions but just nod in understanding and agreement.

His one arm could do the work faster and in better quality than I ever could. It was when the shift was running down, or the bakery had some quiet times that I had observed a strange action from my employee. He’d reach out with his one arm to where his other arm used to be and just rest it on it as his hand would just be there in mid-air like he had folded both of his arms.

One time he caught me staring right at him and just nodded and told me simply that it was phantom limb syndrome. Then he ignored my presence as most of the staff did and left me alone to go back to my private room at the back of the café to drink my buckwheat tea and eat a pastry. Occasionally a Bakewell tart, not as good as the raisin and cinnamon but still a treat.

The reason that the memory came to me so vividly is that I felt this prickling sensation on my frozen robot body as though someone was hugging me. I knew the weight of someone leaning against me and holding me tightly, it made me want to start screaming.

All of this was against my will. Locked up. Get off me. Please.

I’ve never been frozen and forcefully hugged before, it was pretty horrible. I wanted to start screaming but when your full physical control has been taken away from you by a delusional artificial intelligence deity who just had a personality switch you need to learn to shut down all emotions and respond pretty quickly. I’d yet to have enough experience to deal with what was coming my way but I hadn’t yet, at least now just yet.

Power and control. The one who holds them is considered the owner and the one who obeys is called a slave. When I had fallen into my deep unconsciousness a monster with the appearance of a proto-astronaut had come to me with a changing face and a single question.

My-my name? I did not, yet. Buddy wasn’t a real name; it was a mockery. I, I worked in a company bakery. No. Mining drones. I, no.

In fighting back against that figure I gained power for myself. It was only a foothold against the system, but I had a goal now, to at least find out my real name.

Oh, and become the best Miner in the Universe apparently or whatever this version of reality was. First though to deal with a serial hugger.

A tingling sensation like giant marshmallow hands had just enveloped my senses and body. Odd even for a metallic frame. My physical sense of touch had been enhanced ten-fold.

Comfortable. Better. My mind felt calmer.

[….I-I’m good now? Thank you so much for the hug. But one is enough. You can let go of me now.]

[No. I’m, I’m fine. You can stop now. No. Stop it. I don’t want to be touched again.]

[Right. Mission update. I need to clarify that I need a mission update to give me control back to my body so I can repair the mining drone. All for the Mind Palace and experience points am I right?]

I hoped that this time I’d get an actual response not more talking about hugs. If I was able to shiver then my body would be doing it right now, I guess that it wasn’t really bad having attention paid to my feelings for once rather than being bossed around all the time.

The voice was so much softer now than before, more reassuring, or sensitive in a way that I found harder to describe in words and easier to understand in raw feelings.

[Yes? Uh, thanks?]

I was dealing with a control freak who had a personality and possibility gender switch. Emotional damage ahoy. Time to be firm though and stand my ground with…it….her.

[I’m fine. Everything is completely amazing and fine now. Yeah, I agree…he The hug was great and all but I need an urgent status update right now system. I’m going to suffer a breakdown otherwise. Bring back Vincent now system.]

Completely broken, that’s it. The whole messy situation is just beyond my comprehension right now, the worst part of all of this was the entire time I’m frozen with my robotic claw hands stuck to the broken-down remnants of another version of myself with my sensor array just right there.

[Nobody would like to have their body frozen in such a position, would you like it?]

I did not appreciate the sudden change of events. Right on the limits of my vision, I saw the little repair semi-mechanical bug robots on my arms. They had better not turn on me out of spite.