Flinpen’s mechanic greeted me in the loading bay when I dropped by the next day, a nervous first-tier younger than Inyusol whose smile and extended hand wavered the moment she saw my ruined body.

“This is what you’ll be fixing,” I said, not letting it get to me. “But we’ll do it in an easier format. I’m a truck. I won’t feel anything, and it’s no different to working on a regular vehicle. So just treat me like an AI.”

She stared at me like a deer in the headlights, and I wondered if this was a good idea.

“Wrong person,” Imbertri interrupted, walking up from the workbench. She had the hazmat suit on, rolled down at the neck. “The mechanic is me. That’s Palamanstri. She’s here for her Gear Shift.”

“Wait, really?” I asked, all awkwardness forgotten. “You have a non-broken version? Can you show me?”

“That’s what she’s here for,” Imbertri repeated, hands on hips.

“I’ve never worked with anyone else who has it,” I said excitedly. “Does it summon? Do you get to choose which? Can you do multiple vehicles at once? If you activate it twice in the same universe, do you ever get something different?”

Imbertri rolled her eyes. “This is why someone needs to catalogue augments in a library. I’m half-tempted for it to be me. But every time someone makes a start, they move up a tier and leave it unfinished. I bet –”

“Shut it,” I interrupted, before something stupid was brought into reality. At the rate Near Miss had been interfering, it might actually succeed.

My new mechanic shot me a devious grin. “What? Don’t you want answers?” She used the excuse to look me over. “How are you somehow even more beaten up than yesterday? If you have a death wish, is there even any point in conducting these repairs?”

Between us, Palamanstri hadn’t been able to get a word in. I was also itching to discuss Arches with Imbertri, but not in front of a stranger. If word got around I had one, it didn’t escape me it could remove some of my freedom and leeway.

Some of my immediate enthusiasm sapped away. “Call it experimentation. I thought you’d be working on the sigils with the investigation team,” I added, aiming to shift the subject. “My repairs seem like a lesser priority.”

“So did I,” the brunette replied. “But I got reassigned. It’s almost as if something made me miss the opportunity.” She stared pointedly at me.

More of my positivity vanished into the aether. “Well, thank you,” I said in a more subdued voice. “I appreciate it. It does make sense that it’s you. You’ve helped Sajjpen enough times.”

“Imbertri comes highly recommended,” Palamanstri finally managed to interject, looking apologetic about it immediately after. “You know, she has a perfect mission record.”

“Mm,” Imbertri uttered. “That’s why they paired me with the lost cause. Let’s get it over.”

I became a truck and wheeled myself to the centre of the bay. Once I was out of my human form, Palamanstri seemed to rest easier. On Imbertri’s cue, she unbuttoned a satchel and pulled out what looked like a toy car. Depositing the vehicle well out of reach of anything nearby, she placed it on the floor and hurried off to the side.

Palamanstri shot an affirming glance at Imbertri, and the toy became a full-sized truck.

By far the ugliest truck I’d ever seen; clearly a replica of me. Part of me had hoped I would look better as a vehicle; I did not. My panels were mismatched and ill-fitted, with most of the paint scraped off; tyres deflated and baked-in stains running across my cracked windows. The interior seats were scratched and broken, with pieces of stuffing poking out in places.

Unlike in my human form, I had to keep looking at it, and didn’t want to. I tried not to be too hung up about my appearance, but there were limits. I shut off my speakers and engine.

“I think you’ve offended him,” Imbertri noted.

I turned my speakers back on. “Can you make it look nicer, please?”

The lengthy consultation that followed was closer to a design session than repairs. I couldn’t ask for changes that were too radical – they had to fit, after all – but before long, Palamanstri’s model was one colour and gleaming. My paint jobs never matched my human colouring exactly, so it was difficult to predict how it would come out. It looked good, and that was the most important thing.

Palamanstri warmed up during the session, suggesting alterations and embellishments I hadn’t considered to improve the look of the frame. With that level of control, her Gear Shift must have been an Exalt. It became clear the other vehicle wasn’t just a model, but to be stripped for its parts directly. I started to feel less down about the situation and more excited about the possibilities.

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I asked for smoother gearing, antigravity, better controls, faster acceleration, brighter headlights and a complete rework of internal features, seeing them take place in front of me. We were using magic to make them, so it shouldn’t have impacted Flinpen’s budget. On a whim, I included illuminated trim and additional cupholders.

I suspected the extra features wouldn’t make a difference to my human form, or indeed any of the others, but included them anyway. Palamanstri drew the line at installing an entire weapons arsenal due to the space and weight requirements it would take. As a concession, she included a row of thin retractable rooftop lasers, which she demonstrated by piloting the model.

Imbertri barely weighed in, watching from over the benches. Hours later, when neither Palamanstri nor I could think of any further improvements, she hopped down from the platform to pace around the outside.

“There’s one more adjustment I wanted to make,” she said, sounding disappointed, “but it won’t fit, so never mind.”

“It’s already great,” Palamanstri chimed in. “I mean it.”

It was hard to believe it had started off as the same vehicle. The gleaming new model was completely unrecognisable, like some kind of luxury sportscar of trucks. Alusept would have approved. I’d chosen my original blue, mainly out of sentimentality. We’d see how it showed up.

Imbertri walked over and rested a palm on my grille. Her eyes seemed to pierce through to me in a way no one else’s did.

“Lamutri,” she said, deadly serious. “We have to replace everything. Not just a couple of panels. We have to go down to the frame. I’ll have to drain your fuel, and all the interior working has to go. There’ll be nothing left that makes you ‘you’ anymore. At some point, you will be that display model, and we’ve never tested this. We don’t know if you’ll come back.”

“I know,” I said.

“This is your chance to back out.”

“I took too much damage and don’t have a second-tier’s physiology,” I replied. “Death was always a likelihood for someone as riddled with Defects as I am.” I didn’t need to mention the Arch. “I’m certain.”

“Then you have to trust me.” She lowered her voice. “And trust Near Miss. I don’t think it wants to hurt you.”

“Back when you told me it was… special,” I began, “you said there was something else even stranger about it. What was it?”

Imbertri’s eyes slid towards the third person in the room. “I don’t think now is the time.”

“Oh.” I’d expected more, though it must have been more important than I’d realised. Curiosity ate at me. “I’ll just have to die unfulfilled.”

“Okay,” Imbertri said. Her tone artificially brightened. “I bet this will go well.”

“You’re on.”

Excitement warred with my trepidation. As a truck, no one could tell. It didn’t lessen its intensity. If this worked the way I expected, it could be almost as effective as moving up a tier, except for the lack of a new augment. It never would have happened if Near Miss hadn’t sent me to Stabula right after I’d thrown my money away.

Maybe it was its roundabout way of offering an apology.

Accepted, I thought at it, although I hadn’t arrived at my destination yet. Sorry it took me so long to see it.

With a nod, Imbertri started dismantling the display model, directing Palamanstri on how to do the same. The uncertain Tri needed guidance, but after a while began loosening bolts and pulling off panels on her own. After a while, I returned to human form and offered my help, mildly ashamed to admit I also needed instruction. Both women glanced at my injuries and turned me down.

Imbertri surprised me with her speed and confidence. She’d picked up far more from observing Sajjpen than I’d realised, and a hell of a lot more than me despite it being my body he’d worked on.

I racked my brains recalling Imbertri’s life before the Chapel. From memory, she’d been a monarch’s young advisor on a low-technology world with no magic at all, unusual for recruiters to pick from.

The Chapel brimmed with extraordinary people dumped into a melting pot where they became ordinary: Alusept, the ill-advised son of two Chapel assassins; Flinpen, the last biological human in her universe; Inyusol, literal royalty. Even I was unique in the way I’d been taken in.

But sometimes they were just extraordinary.

Hours later, a spread of metal debris littered the loading bay floor, and Palamanstri nodded farewell.

“I’m calling it there for the day,” Imbertri said, wiping a grease-covered glove across her forehead. A new black smear joined the ones already there. “You can go home. Or if you prefer, I can put you to sleep now.”

I hesitated a moment in case Near Miss decided to stop me, but nothing eventuated. “I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep anyway,” I admitted. “I feel bad about taking you away from the investigation.”

“Hmm,” Imbertri said, gesturing for me to take up position as she retrieved a siphon from one of the benches. “I’d wager there’s more to this than a makeover. Remember what I said about your core staying hidden? I don’t think I found out by accident. It was Near Miss that gave me my Defect; an odd thing to do if you’re on the down-low.”

“But if it hadn’t been Defective –”

“– I wouldn’t know, no. Naked Eye shows you things, but I don’t think it shows me the same things. The parts that should work don’t, and the parts that do – I told you before; I’m pretty sure I’m seeing things I’m not meant to. And I think Near Miss wants me on your team.”

“You still could have been part of the investigation, though.”

“I could have,” she agreed, surprising me. “I wasn’t ordered to fix you. Flinpen offered me the choice. As did Near Miss.” She stared at me with that same piercing gaze that made me feel like I wasn’t the one she was watching.

I shifted uncomfortably on my feet.

Hefting the siphon, she waved it at me in a little circle. “In any case, I’m exhausted and want to go home, so don’t drag this out for me.”

She was avoiding talking with me about it in detail; a little frustrating. But then, I wasn't sure I wanted more significant revelations right before I fell asleep. In any case, I'd wake up on the other side. After Irwol, all doubt was gone from my mind.

Complying, I let mechanics replace my mismatched flesh and waited for it to be over.