“I really think we should wait for Al B.,” Hallie told her friend.
Fleabot hopped up on the slab and dragged the coaxial cable to the back of Hallie’s body’s exposed neck, “Nonsense: this is like riding a bicycle.”
“What do you know about riding a bicycle?” the hologram countered.
“I’ve commuted with Vizh on one when the Pinto’s broken down. Sometimes he even let me ring the bell,” the cybernetic parasite quipped as he twisted the wire into place, “There. All set.”
“Are you sure?”
“Excuse me: which of us here has had experience installing consciousnesses into robot simulacrums?” Fleabot made his way to the terminal at the head of the table.
“How is Catbot doing?” Hallie asked as she opened the necessary program to link herself to the computer’s mainframe.
Fleabot shrugged his infinitesimal shoulders, “Heck if I know: the little ingrate doesn’t call, doesn’t write: its no way to treat a surrogate father figure.”
“That’s cats for you,” the big man sitting out of the way in the corner of the lab spoke up. Mr. Epitome was still struggling with the specifications manual Al B Harper and Yuki Shiro had put together for Hallie’s robot form.
“Riiight,” Fleabot turned to Hallie, “The procedure isn’t difficult. Honestly, you didn’t even need my expertise setting this up. So unless there’s some other reason you’re reluctant to do this, I say let’s get you downloaded.”
Hallie caught Fleabot’s barely visible shift of his antennae towards the seated Dominic, and didn’t appreciate the implication:
“Commencing docking procedure… now.”
It took picoseconds for Hallie’s hard-light form to discorporate and for her computerized intelligence to make the switch from the mainframe to the robotic shell that bore her likeness, down to the white, vector-lined unitard her digital form wore as default attire.
Her new eyes fluttered open. These eyes had microprocessors instead of cornea and flexible plastic lenses suspended in a viscous polymer. They also allowed her to see in the UV and IR spectrums and through any matter with a lesser molecular density than lead. Hallie sat up and turned those eyes to Dominic, who smiled.
“So how does it feel?”
“Different. I thought it would be more confining, but I can still access the Grid. And its not like before, when I was human, and I was slow and fragile. Its almost as if I’m still a hologram, but when I move I bring my body with me.”
“So, it’s the best of both worlds,” he said.
“Maybe,” Hallie ran a quick test: she accessed her files of videogame cheats, bringing up a triple backflip handspring maneuver designed for Lara Croft. As a hologram she could have performed the stunt flawlessly. Now she commanded her new body to do the same.
“Whoo!” she exhaled in triumph as she stuck her landing. When Hallie brushed a stray emerald bang from her face, the synthetic nerves in her fingers reacting to the texture of each silken strand. It distracted her: she could have become lost to the world running her hands through her hair, duplicating the sensation, and feeling the gentle tug as her nails traced across her scalp.
“You dropped your glasses,” Epitome observed, pointing to the ground nearby.
“Huh? Oh, yeah.”
Dominic walked over and picked her polished steel spectacles up. Examining them in his hands, he mused, “I’m not quite sure why you wear these. You don’t really need them, do you?”
As he stood next to Hallie to hand the glasses back her sense of smell activated: she picked up the scent of Irish Spring and a trace of shoe polish.
The green skinned woman smiled gamely, “I wear them because they look good on me. Don’t you think they look good on me?”
“They look very good on you,” Dominic offered the glasses to her. When she took them from his hand she felt how hard and callused his own skin was. There was an incredible amount of power in those hands, and yet she knew how gentle they could be….
“I have to go,” Hallie said abruptly, “Errands. I have errands.”
Dominic blinked, “What?”
“Yeah. Yes,” she fumbled her glasses into place and pushed them up her nose, “Errands.”
“All right. Is it anything I can help you with?”
“No. Not really,” Hallie’s consternation subroutines compelled her to bite her lower lip. She almost yelped in surprise at the sensation, but managed to keep her composure enough to elaborate on her ruse, “Its- its woman stuff.”
*****
“Woman’s stuff?!” Hallie groaned from her booth at the Bean and Donut Coffee
Bar.
“Obviously changing from digital to mechanical has not improved your lying capacity,” Fleabot observed from his perch atop the salt shaker.
The newly Robotic Life Form rested her head in her hands and groaned again, “Do you think Dominic believed me?”
“Maybe. Let’s remember that his wiring’s off as well. But then, that’s the issue, isn’t it?”
She looked up to cast her friend a dour look, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Fleabot rolled his googily eyes at his friend’s evasiveness, “Well, it’s a good thing you came up with some kind of reason to get out of there. I was worried I would have to turn the hose on both of you.”
“That’s the most ridiculous-“
“Heeere we are,” Sarah Shepherdson sidled up to the table with her heavy tray, “Coffee, chocolate turtle milkshake, clam chowder, chili cheese dog, onion rings, pasta pesto with grilled chicken and feta, and a fruit cup for the calorically immune.”
“Thanks, Shep. It all looks great,” Hallie said with just a hint of embarrassment.
“Just a reminder: its only your skeleton that’s titanium,” Fleabot advised.
The green-skinned android didn’t rise to the bait. She was too busy reliving the nearly perfect synthesis of texture and flavor that was a deep-fried, beer-battered, onion ring.
“So what’s next after your feast?” Sarah inquired.
“Breath mints, hopefully,” Fleabot looked in disapproval at the pungent feta cheese.
Hallie, her mouth still full, flicked a salt grain at Fleabot with the accuracy of a Marine sniper. The tiny mechanical fell back into an open butter pat.
“I don’t know: what would you do if you suddenly found yourself in a physically-enhanced, nigh-indestructible robot body?”
Sarah thought a moment, “Help people. Maybe not put on a costume and fight crime; that just doesn’t seem like me, but do other things. Run into burning buildings, pull people out of wrecked cars.”
“All good things,” Hallie nodded.
“And, of course, on my days off, I would become an unstoppable shopping machine: the Terminator with a credit card.”
Hallie pondered that last suggestion while watching Fleabot towel butter off himself with a torn napkin corner. Not that she had needed much by way of personal accessories before, but most of her shopping had been done online. And any clothes she had required as a hologram she could always make hard light facsimiles of. Now, though, her mechanical body opened all types of new opportunities, including things she had passed up when she was organic. She checked the considerable balance on her own credit cards and then accessed the Trombone online for any hints of potentially cost-effective shopping sites.
“Wooster’s is having a 30-50% off sale,” she reported to the waitress. Maybe we could head there when you’re done with work?”
Sarah smiled at the offer, “I’ve almost broken a few Commandments when it comes to their Shoe Department. Count me in.”
“Shoes? I’ve never understood the appeal,” Hallie had bad memories of trying to navigate in high heels while she was organic.
“Oh, believe me, you will.”
Fleabot grumbled, “Just make sure they’re sturdy enough to support several hundred pounds of reinforced steel and polymers. Don’t squash me!”
Hallie moved her finger away from her tiny friend, using it instead to pick up her milkshake, “It’s rude to talk about a woman’s weight,” she noted before continuing her meal.
Next: Hallie and Dancer go shopping in a side story that may go wayyy of track if I get ambitious enough. More on Illusionary, and how he’s connected to the rest of the original plot. And Mr. Epitome vs. Visionary in the Lair Legion locker room. Out this weekend
Footnotes:
Catbot: was created by (sadly) absent poster Jack as a robotic companion for the troubled teen Gloria. Fleabot built the feisty blue feline for the young lady as a Christmas present.
Wooster's Department Store: is a high end clothing/accessories store that can be found in most major cities in the PVB. For us Americans the closest analog to the comapny would probably be Macy's. The Wooster family from the Alcheman series is part owner of the chain, and its the source of their considerable fortune.
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