‘I’d like to have a think about it,’ Aneka said.
‘Don’t wait too long. The fleet will reach Lonar on the fifth and we might need to do something after that.’
‘Tomorrow. I’ll tell you tomorrow.’
~~~
‘What do you think?’ Aneka asked. She was not alone with Ella since she wanted several opinions on the matter, so she had Cassandra and Gillian in the apartment to consult.
‘I’d have thought this was a matter for you and Ella to decide,’ Gillian replied, frowning. ‘I can sort of understand Cassandra being here since she’s attached to Al, but me?’
‘You’re intelligent, and more or less impartial,’ Aneka replied.
‘All right, as an impartial advisor… Why would you not? It’s not like you’re giving up your original body. The Xinti gave you no choice in that matter. This is effectively no different than… Ella upgrading her eyes. It’s obviously a bit more radical, but it’s not like you can’t revert if there’s a problem.’
‘I concur with my colleague,’ Cassandra said. ‘And now I’m going to switch off my impartial advisor mode and say, “Nothing can go wrong, can it?!”’
Aneka giggled. ‘Thanks, I needed that. Technically, no. I’ll need you on hand to help make sure the transfers have worked properly. You’ll do an analysis on Al to be sure he’s okay, and you’ll assist the AIs making sure I haven’t gone psychotic, or forgotten who Ella is.’
‘I think we’d notice that fairly quickly,’ Ella pointed out.
Cassandra nodded. ‘Ella knows you best. It would be advisable if she is a primary in your analysis.’
It was Ella’s turn to giggle. ‘Winter went over the design specs with me. I’ll be analysing a lot. You’ll want to analyse too. She’s going to be more flexible than before. Winter said it was payback for the boob job all those years ago. Aneka’s always complaining about air ducts.’
‘Oh, I’ll be better, stronger, and faster,’ Aneka said. ‘I’d be the bionic woman if I wasn’t already a robot. I just… It’s kind of weird to think of swapping one body for another. Just like that. Upgrade time. Like a new dress.’
‘Generally,’ Gillian said, smiling, ‘you don’t need surgery for a new dress.’
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Ella watched as Aneka climbed into a shiny metal cradle where padded clamps secured her arms, legs, and waist, and then two more pads moved in to fix her head in place. The redhead looked worried.
‘Hey, cheer up,’ Aneka said. ‘I don’t want to go under looking at you frowning.’
‘I’ll be sure to smile before they shut you down,’ Ella replied.
‘Which will be very shortly,’ Winter said. She was supervising the transfer personally, Evolution at her side, both in the sense that their real minds, off in the core processors below them, were doing the work, and that they had avatars present to carry out the physical tasks.
‘You know,’ Aneka said, ‘I’d have thought this would be making you smile, Ella. I’m naked and in bondage, and you could do all sorts of things to me while I’m out and I’d never know.’
Ella cracked, giggling, and her face broke into a smile. Aneka grinned back and gave Winter a nod. And then her eyes went blank.
~~~
‘You’ll wear a hole in the tiles,’ Gillian said.
Ella did not stop her pacing across the floor of the observation room. Beyond the Polyglass, Aneka’s body was now in a horizontal position, face down, and there was a fairly thick cable fixed to her skeleton through an incision in her neck. She had been like that for over an hour, and she would be there for several more as data from her brain and Al’s storage transferred to the body in the basement.
‘I’m nervous,’ Ella stated.
‘Really? I thought you simply needed the exercise.’
The redhead frowned at her in passing. ‘Well… there’s nothing else to do.’
‘Then find something else to do, dear. You’re making me jittery just looking at you. Maybe you should make her a new dress. New body, new outfit.’
The pacing stopped. Result!
‘I could do that,’ Ella said. ‘By the time she comes out I’ll have redesigned her entire wardrobe.’ Turning on her heel, she marched off toward the door.
Gillian watched her go and then looked back through the glass. ‘Sorry, dear, but at least she’s distracted for a while.’
~~~
Ella settled herself against Cassandra’s back and wrapped an arm around her waist. ‘Thank you for doing this,’ the redhead said. ‘I haven’t been alone in bed for ages.’
‘We both have reasons to be nervous tonight, Ella,’ Cassandra replied. ‘You realise that I don’t actually sleep, however?’
‘I don’t really think I’m going to be getting a lot of sleep tonight either.’
‘It’s silly, really. We’re both worried about extremely remote possibilities. I mean, the worst that could happen is that we have to turn the old body back on and explain that the operation failed. I have even less to worry about with Al. He’s basically just software, much as I am…’
‘That’s not the worst that could happen,’ Ella replied. ‘The worst that could happen is that they come out different. Besides, I don’t believe you’re just software. You’re an emergent. That has to be something to do with your hardware as well as your software. I’m willing to bet they couldn’t do this to you without replicating your computers.’
‘Perhaps, though I think my “mind” is now independent of the system it runs on. An interesting experiment to conduct at some point.’
‘Well, we’re sort of doing it now. Aneka’s getting put onto new hardware. Is she still going to be the same woman?’
‘A case can be made for me, but Aneka is different. The Xinti built those brain systems specifically to execute the mind emulations they created. They themselves transferred their minds between bodies and the only times there was a problem was when there was a fault in the hardware. You have nothing to worry about. Al will be different.’
‘Oh?’
‘His mind is limited by the hardware he currently executes on. He is moving to more powerful computers and will become… more intelligent, for want of a better term. He will think faster and be more capable. He may be smarter than me. He could decide I’m beneath him…’ She trailed off, sounding uncertain.
‘Cassandra, now you are being silly. You’re as smart as I am, so if Al gets up to our IQ it just means he’ll be better placed to have conversations with you. He’s not going to turn into a super-genius. Winter wouldn’t do that because he’d be next to useless for Aneka. Talking is what started your relationship. If he’s better at doing it, then you’ll have a better relationship.’
‘You think so?’
‘I think so, yes.’
The android giggled. ‘I’m supposed to be comforting you.’
‘You have. You’ve taken my mind off my worries. You’re right, it’s stupid. There’s nothing to worry about.’
‘No, but I haven’t taken your mind off it entirely.’
‘How can you tell? I know I’m pretty transparent, but you’re not even looking at me.’
‘You have not attempted to initiate sex.’
‘Oh… Are you offering?’
Cassandra shifted away, rolled over, and then came back, crawling over Ella like a prowling tiger. ‘It will take my mind off my worries, and when I’ve finished with you, you’ll sleep like a baby.’
‘Oh thank Vashma,’ Ella whispered.
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‘How’s it going?’ Ella asked, trying to keep any hint of nervousness out of her voice.
Activity had moved down to the basement now. Winter, in both her Four and Seven bodies, was busy going over several diagnostic displays, though Ella was not sure why given that all the data had to be available to her core mind. It was the brunette Number Four who responded.
‘The transfer completed forty-nine minutes ago. Checksums indicate that the copy is c
omplete. Number Two is upstairs putting the old body into nanostasis. I’m now going through the preliminary integration checks before initiating the support systems and activating the power cell.’
‘Al will be coming online?’ Cassandra asked.
‘Not yet. These is the very low-level support systems, very basic operating systems. Al is actually a pretty high-level component.’
‘Power cell coming up,’ Number Seven stated. ‘Output is stable… Switching over to internal power.’
There was a soft hiss from within the pod and then the mask popped away from the body’s face and was lifted up toward the ceiling. Behind it was a face which looked exactly like the one Ella was used to seeing, though she still could not see its eyes. She was rather glad of that since she did not want to see them blank and staring.
‘Telemetry is all positive,’ Number Four said. ‘Let’s run through the primary and secondary test sequences…’ She looked around at Ella and Cassandra. ‘This is going to take an hour or so.’
‘We will let you work in peace,’ Cassandra said.
‘Yeah, okay,’ Ella agreed. ‘I’ll go and… design her a swimsuit.’
‘Since when does she need one of those?’ Number Seven asked.
‘I’ve done everything else,’ Ella replied sullenly.
~~~
Cassandra looked up from the console she was reading and smiled. ‘Al’s awake,’ she said, ‘and they let him connect through.’
‘Aneka?’ Ella asked. She was at another console trying to work out what she could shave out of the fabric of a one-piece without destroying its structural integrity.
‘They’re keeping her offline while they go through her systems with Al’s help. He sounds… like Al, but faster.’
‘Told you.’
‘Yes… Oh!’
‘What?!’
‘He just told me what he wants to do when we’ve got Aneka’s body up to full function. Thankfully, I don’t blush.’
‘He’s glad to be alive. It’s natural.’
‘Yes, it’s just a shock to hear him say things like that. They’ll be bringing Aneka online in the next thirty minutes. We should go over there.’
Swimsuit forgotten, Ella was on her feet and running for the door before Cassandra could stand.
~~~
The front of the pod swung out and up, but the figure within remained still and Ella’s heart began to beat a little faster as she waited. Then Aneka’s eyes snapped open and she looked out at the people waiting for her to emerge, and grinned.
Stepping clear she said, ‘You know, there should really be clouds of steam for me to step out of.’
Ella grinned; that sounded like Aneka.
‘If you’d like to get back in,’ Number Seven suggested, ‘I can arrange for some dry ice…’
‘No thanks, this’ll do.’ Aneka took a few more steps, looking a little hesitant. ‘Balance seems okay. I feel… like I did before.’ Another two steps brought her within reach of Ella. She reached out, placed her hands on Ella’s hips, and lifted. ‘Have you lost weight?’ she asked.
‘I haven’t eaten much while you were under, but I doubt it,’ Ella replied, wrapping her own arms around Aneka’s neck.
‘I must be stronger then.’
‘You are,’ Winter stated. ‘Your baseline physical strength is about twenty-five per cent higher, and you now have a very significant emergency boost. War wants to talk to you about your personal weapons, by the way. Given your increase in power, she has designed some… interesting alternatives for you.’
‘After you’ve made sure I’m me,’ Aneka replied. ‘Do I get clothes? Or are you planning to have me walk around naked for days?’
‘Nice thought,’ Ella said, ‘but if you put me down I’ll get your new outfit.’
‘New outfit?’
‘Gillian suggested I keep myself occupied. I redesigned your entire wardrobe.’
There was the now almost obligatory Ultraskin leotard. This time it was sleeveless, high-hipped, high-collared, and with a slightly matte quality which Aneka found appealing. A bolero jacket, also with a high collar and padded shoulders, made sure her breasts were on full display, and there were fingerless gloves in a dark red which matched the front panel of the jacket. There were also, however, heavy boots and real, opaque, hip-hugging trousers.
‘How long was I out?’ Aneka asked as she pulled the two-tone red-and-black jeans up her legs.
‘Twenty-six hours, seventeen minutes,’ Winter replied. ‘Why?’
‘These clothes are almost decent. I figured I’d need to have been unconscious for years before Ella put me in real clothes.’
‘Your boobs are still there for me to admire,’ Ella replied. ‘I’m happy. So, aside from “the same,” how do you feel?’
‘Well… It’s a little weird, actually. I can tell there are differences. My diagnostics were cleaner. Sharper, you know? It’s like I got a new graphics card. My in-vision displays are all… well, they’re kind of… new. It’s all a bit different, and I’ll have to get used to everything again, but I feel just like I did. Except maybe a bit more nimble. Cassandra’s quiet.’
‘She is communicating with me,’ Al replied to the implied question.
‘Ah, she’s talking to Al. He sounds clearer too. Did you boost the bandwidth between our computers, Winter?’
‘Actually, yes, and his processors are significantly more powerful.’
‘Speaking of that,’ Cassandra said, looking up, ‘do you think it’s time to show them the other thing?’
‘When Aneka and Al have acclimatised to their new environment,’ Winter replied.
‘What “other thing?”’ Aneka and Ella chorused.
‘When Aneka and Al have acclimatised to their new environment,’ Winter repeated. Her grin was just a little mischievous when she said it, however.
~~~
War’s ideas for new weapons were a little surprising, but they were proving effective. The barrels were ten millimetres across, allowing the two machine pistols, which were lighter and a little more compact than Bridget and Clara, to fire specialist ammunition, but Aneka was getting the feel for them with the standard three-millimetre needles. Given that the barrel was just a force-focussing mechanism, the size of the round was immaterial so long as it could fit the bore.
And then there was the new targeting software. The recreation block had a firing range and Aneka was sweeping through it, locking targets and taking them down as they popped up. She had always had the option of sighting through the cameras mounted on her guns, but now it seemed as though there was a new trick in her arsenal. She had not quite figured out how she was managing to concentrate so well on three things at once, but she was tracking future victims with her eyes and current ones with her guns, and it all seemed absolutely seamless.
‘We’re running new combat software,’ Aneka said silently as she danced through the simulated landscape cutting down yet another pair of targets almost before they had locked in place.
‘Target tracking has been augmented,’ Al informed her. ‘I am now better able to assist in friend-or-foe identification. You’ll notice that your combat information display is more detailed, but your perception rate is sufficiently high that you should have no trouble taking in what you need.’
A target indicator went red, indicating a friendly, and she skipped it, shifting her aim to the next one without a pause. A turn flicked her vision past where the observation room was located. War was there watching her handiwork in use, with Ella, Cassandra, and Winter watching Aneka. The two pistols spoke again as more targets appeared, and Aneka’s head turned after them to locate new aim points. Ammo was getting low; they would end the scenario soon.
Three targets popped up almost simultaneously, the middle one showing a red circle. Aneka fired off two quick bursts which shredded the outside targets and then unloaded the last few rounds from both weapons into the friendly. Flashing indicators in her combat displays told her the magazines were
empty. Nodding, she turned and walked toward the exit.
‘You shot a friendly,’ Ella said, frowning at her as she walked into the observation room.
‘A lot,’ Aneka agreed.
‘But…’
‘But… This is going to sound like I don’t trust Winter, but it almost didn’t feel like it was me pulling the triggers out there. I was moving, acquiring targets, and firing like I was a combat robot. Like the software was doing the thinking for me. I wanted to know I could fuck up.’
‘So you did it on purpose?’
‘Oh yes. Now I know I can I don’t need to worry about being in control.’
‘And a worrying turn of events becomes a positive indication of Aneka’s continued normality,’ Cassandra said.
Ella smiled. ‘Uh-huh. Tomorrow we’ll start the full cognitive analysis and all that stuff, but I think the transfer worked perfectly.’
Aneka put her new pistols down on one of the consoles and nodded. ‘Yeah, but you won’t be laughing when I murder all you meatbags in your sleep tonight.’
Ella gave her her harshest frown, which was not all that harsh, and poked her in the arm with a finger. ‘Don’t even joke about that.’
‘Hey, you’re the one threatening me with “cognitive analysis tests.” I hate exams.’
~~~
Cassandra paused in the doorway of the apartment as Aneka and Ella walked in. Her brow wrinkled, and then she said, ‘I should leave you now. You’ll want this evening to…’
‘Nuh-huh,’ Ella stated, turning to direct a firm shake of the head at the android. ‘You’re staying for several, very good reasons.’
‘But…’
‘You wanted me here when Al got back,’ Ella went on, ‘and I’m not going to kick you out now. That would be mean, and I am not mean.’
Aneka Jansen 6: The Lowest Depths of Shame Page 3