Cubefall 2012

[seat_five_girl]

The young woman, perhaps eighteen, lounging sideways in the chair near the fire is reading. The Haynes guide to BU-31 to 35 series GENOM boomers to be precise.

She's stopping regularly to check if there's anything interesting going on around too, though what counts for that with everything Cubefall related going on might be hard to tell.

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[seat_five_girl]

"Oh,"sighs the brunette, "You needed a better list of choices."



"Jordan-chan."

[evilontheloose]

Double-take.

Because, really, only one person calls her that way. "Ako?" Now, that's totally not fair, her friend being taller.

[seat_five_girl]

But it happens so rarely!

"In the borrowed flesh," she says. Then wrinkling her nose, "Or borrowed something anyway. I'm not up to that part of the manual yet."

Not that it's covered. The 'S' variant was illegal on Earth when the book was published.

[evilontheloose]

"At least this time you did pick a shape with thumbs." Jordan grins a bit, shaking head. "And one to not be carried around either."

[seat_five_girl]

"Just once I went as a tribble," grouses Ako, "Once. I was looking to see what was going on with my choices this time. I couldn't pick out the robot right away and then I got curious and... ta-da!"

[evilontheloose]

"Robot?" Because, what?

[seat_five_girl]

"There's always a robot option and a fuzzy animal option," explains Ako, "And even though this doesn't look like it my spine is fiber optics right now."

In the manual, Chapter 3: Internal Networking Systems.

[evilontheloose]

Jordan is totally not going to ask to take her apart, just a bit.

Nope. "Oh, I see..." Besides she has no tools nearby.

Mostly. "How does it feel?"

[seat_five_girl]

"Kind of strange. I have extra colors right now for one thing and I think I might be able to link up with computers if I had the right cable."

Sounds are a little off too, but that might just be the new ears.

[evilontheloose]

"Strange, like what?" She reaches out and gives the Akobot a pinch on the arm. "What about this?"

Right, start small and have her friend in several pieces in her workbench later!

What? Evil Genius! Being her friend means Jordan will put her back together.

[seat_five_girl]

"Ouch! Jordan-chan!"

The arm jerks away quickly enough. Pain seems to be working just fine.

[evilontheloose]

"Hm... right." That might cause some minimal pangs of conscience. "Hey, it was not that hard... and you're lucky I did not try a more conclusive test."

"Did you try eating or drinking?" Who knows, right?

[seat_five_girl]

"Just a little," says Ako holds her finger and thumb close together, "I didn't want to get anything caught in the teeth. The canines are hollow."

Because the 33-S can drink blood to boost some of the repair functions.

[evilontheloose]

"Hmm, so you can process food... maybe some kind of depolymerization reactor, and fuel cells." Then, Jordan tries tickling the Akobot.

You know, testing reactions.

[seat_five_girl]

Akobot is ticklish. Cliche ticklish even.

"Ha-hee-easy Jordan-chan, I don't know what all the bits I have now doooo."

[evilontheloose]

"Well, let me get my tools and we can find out?" She's joking.

Mostly.

[seat_five_girl]

That's... tempting.

Really tempting.

The tickling done she sags against the chair, "How long do you think it would take?"

[evilontheloose]

"Hm. A couple hours? A bit more?" She's not sure, but with her talent to extrapolate and process information, well... how long could it take?

[seat_five_girl]

Frowning in thought Ako begins slowly, "Keep the manual handy, just in case. And I want a look at my-"

She gestures circularly around her temple.

"-My programing."

[evilontheloose]

"Right, I have everything back in my room, and..." Jordan stops herself, and curses low. "Ako, normally I'd really not give a crap, but... it's you, so..."

"It will be a lot like surgery." No, it will be surgery. "And it's safer if you stay awake. Now, I'm a cold-blooded crazy bitch who operated on herself to install the first replacement arm back when I was eight, but it can be really, really disturbing to you, being... open, and seeing the cybernetic parts inside."

"So, if you want to give it a pass, it's fine. Really." Even if Jordan's unhinged moral compass says it's not.

But Ako is special, one of the few (only?) people she really cares about.

[seat_five_girl]

She swallows, bites her lower lip. Surgery is full of blood, but she's not so human right now. A thin layer on a ceramic-metal composite skeleton with a fiber optic spine and a computer in her head.

"I want to know too," she says finally, "I probably shouldn't be carrying my sylladex though."

Because as awesome as being able to pop a gun into your hand can be having it happen during exploratory surgery is bad.

[evilontheloose]

"Don't worry, I'll not let you feel anything." Jordan hugs her friend. "It's the kind of situation you want a sociopath handling... I'll not freak out and do something stupid."

"Let's go."

[seat_five_girl]

Ako hugs back and follow along.

Setup goes quickly. Most things do when you have a cooperative volunteer instead of a limp body.

And even with Jordan's reassurance, Ako slips off the ribbon from her right wrist and hangs it on a peg. Her wrist is chilled without it, maybe even cold.

[evilontheloose]

Jordan will help the Akobot out of her clothes (no sense ruining those) and onto the work table. An electronic collar will take maybe half a minute to regulate itself, and shut down pain and general tactile feedback.

It is... rather strange, not feeling one's body. "Just a minute, Ako-chan. I'm running a full scan to locate data ports so I know where to start."

[seat_five_girl]

"Okay."

The ports are mostly at the neck. Close to the processors and the major data networking systems.

And as Jordan goes further into the architecture it will be clear that the individual who created this design for the brain was a mad genius. The tech used should not support many of the observed results, except though clever abuse of physics, programming and short feedback loops. As for the body, it is, as Data would say, 'fully functional.'