Giant Robot Reincarnation?!

After Miette and I concluded our next patrol shift, Miette steered me into the special hanger bay that was directly connected to Zehra’s lab. Since my mother was primarily a Gravity Frame developer, her lab held quite a few Frames in various states of dissection; some had only their under-chassis, completely lacking in armor and pistons, others were missing arms, or legs, or heads. As a giant robot myself, I found this sight creepy; it was like walking into Dr. Frankenstein’s lab.

Now I’m even more worried about being dissected! This place looks like the chop shop from hell!

Miette steered me into an empty set of docking clamps and disembarked, floating out of my cockpit hatch. Although much of 433 Eros’ interior space was occupied by a cylinder-shaped centrifuge to generate spin gravity, the hanger bays and Zehra’s lab were located at the axis of the spin. As a result, we were still in a microgravity environment.

The person who floated over to greet us wasn’t my mother, but Viktorya. She gave a deep bow and said, in a demure voice quivering with shame, “W-Welcome h-home, young m-m-m-masters.” Both me and Miette stared in awe.

She was wearing a maid outfit, one of those classic versions that was black with white accents and frilly lace. That by itself wouldn’t have been too shocking, but this particular maid outfit looked like it had been designed for a sexy Halloween costume party.

The neckline was low, showing a generous amount of cleavage. The waist was cinched up by a tightly tied corset, which made the outfit hug her curves. The skirt was WAY too short, extending down only an inch or two past her butt, and the hem flared up every time she moved. Her legs were clad in a pair of sheer black thigh-high socks which came up to her mid-thigh, and her feet in polished black high heels. To top the whole outfit off, a pair of pink floppy doggy ears matching her hair color sat atop her head, and a pink tail peeked out from under the hem of her skirt.

Viktorya’s body filled out this outfit in all the right ways. She had quite the large bosom and meaty thighs, and the maid costume accentuated them perfectly. Add to that the animal ears and tail, the absolute territory of her upper thigh showing between the hem of her skirt and her socks, Viktorya’s own bobbed pink hair, and her embarrassed attitude at having to wear such an outfit in the first place, and this whole situation ticked way too many boxes.

My lesbian proclivities send my mind into turmoil as I beheld the incredible sight of maid Viktorya. Well played, mom. Well played indeed. I can’t afford to underestimate you!

Contrary to my reaction, Miette doubled over in laughter. “BWAHAHAHAHAHAAA! It suits you PERFECTLY, Vicky!!”

“S-Shut up.” Viktorya said, staring intensely at the wall and blushing hard.

“My my, that won’t do, gao~n! Vicky dearest, we have guests! As my maid, it’s your job to politely greet them and get them some tea, gao~n!” Zehra’s tone was playfully cruel as she floated into view.

“F-Fine.” Victorya said poutily.

“Bad doggy! You’re not addressing me the way I instructed you to, gao~n!” Zehra’s fanged grin was huge, and her eyes glowed.

Vicky spoke through gritted teeth, practically choking to get the words out. “Yes… MISTRESS.”

Miette was laughing so hard tears streamed out of her eyes. Victorya floated away to grab some beverages, pushing down her skirt as the hem kept floating dangerously high. Zehra crossed her arms and looked immensely pleased with herself.

My mother is extraordinarily dangerous! Poor Viktorya’s pride has been smashed like a rotten egg! No, when she’s dressed like that, I just can’t think of her as “Viktorya” anymore. “Vicky” seems much more appropriate!

Zehra invited us over to the center of her lab, where she began eagerly talking about her research. I was projecting a video chat window on a tablet Miette was carrying so I could keep up with the two of them. Zehra talked at a kilometer a minute, and when she got into technical details the conversation was difficult to follow.

“And as you can see,” Zehra said excitedly, pointing to the Gravity Frame that was stripped down to its skeleton, “by applying a magnetic coating to the joints in the internal combat chassis, it reduces the reaction time by nearly a half-second, gao~n! Add fiber optics to speed up the control input signal processing, and you can pilot the Frame with zero latency like it was an extension of your own body!”

“Whoa! That’s INCREDIBLE!” Miette responded. “I can’t wait to pilot a Frame that responsive! You’re gonna put those upgrades in Sveta’s new Frame, right?”

“Of course, gao~n!”

Gah, they’re talking about me like I’m not even here. Settle down, you two massive giant robot nerds.

“E-Excuse me…” I piped up. “I’m excited to be getting a new Frame and everything, but please don’t dissect me like that poor Frame over there!” I motioned to the skeletal Frame, its innards exposed for the world to see.

“Of course not, gao~n! You’ll be getting a complete body transfer! In human terms, that would be like if I cut out your brain and stuck it in a brand-new skull, gao~n!”

WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE REASSURING?! That’s a TERRIBLE mental image!

“I prefer my brain intact, thank you very much!” I exclaimed, my voice edging into panic.

“Oh? OH? I get it, Sveta! You don’t entirely trust me yet, gao~n!” Zehra said matter-of-factly.

“Bingo! This robot chop shop of horrors is kinda FREAKING ME OUT!!” I responded.

“Gah!” She clutched at her heart in mock pain. “Y-You’re brutally honest as always, gao~n! Didn’t you say you trusted me the other day, though?”

I can’t believe she remembers that! She was drunk off her ass!

“W-Well, as the old Russian proverb says… trust, but verify!” I responded.

“Hah!” Miette snorted. “She’s got you there, Zehra.”

Zehra fell to her knees, acting as if she had been stabbed. “Et tu, my dear daughter?” She collapsed to the ground, then popped right back up and looked at me slyly. “How about as a gesture of goodwill, I keep the promise I made to you, gao~n?”

“Promise? Y-You mean…”

“INDEED!” she proclaimed while diving into a pile of junk. “Just give me a moment to find it, gao~n!”

A body… she promised me a fully functional human-sized body… could it be?

“Hmm? What’s she talking about?” Miette asked while dodging the pieces of junk Zehra sent flying as she dug through the pile.

“Well, you see… that’s… um…” I wasn’t sure how to explain it without going into detail about my own unspoken desires.

“AHA!” Zehra cried, bursting out of the pile. She was clinging to something that resembled a life-sized ball-jointed doll. It looked a bit like one of those dolls an artist might use to study human anatomy, with a distinctly petite feminine form molded down to the finest detail. It was grey-colored and had a featureless face and skin that seemed to be made of a soft rubbery material. Even the fingers and toes were individually articulated, showing an exquisite attention to detail.

“Here we go! Behold, my fifteenth-greatest invention… the Telepresence Doll, gao~n!” Zehra proclaimed dramatically.

“Telepresence Doll?” Miette and I asked in unison.

“Oh, I know what this is.” Vicky had just returned from getting drinks, handing Zehra and Miette each a heated sealed pouch with tea inside. She had mostly suppressed her embarrassment while she was gone, and only a slight blush tinged her face. “I remember you using this thing during hard vacuum repairs on the shield emitters.”

“CORRECT, my dear maid! Please, explain to our guests what exactly a Telepresence Doll does, gao~n!” Zehra pierced the drink pouch with one of her fangs and began to lap up the orbs of tea that leaked out.

“R-Right. Well, the Telepresence Doll was originally designed to allow remote repairs to be performed by skilled mechanic or scientist, like Doctor Z-” Vicky quickly rephrased upon receiving a sharp glance from Zehra “-like MISTRESS.”

“Remote repairs? Like a remote-controlled drone?” Miette asked, sipping her own tea.

“More advanced than that. In addition to vision and hearing, the Telepresence Doll has a sense of touch and polymer human-like skin. Via neural interface, you can control it like it’s a second body; a body capable of operating in hard vacuum or radioactive environments.” Vicky continued.

“EXACTLY, gao~n! There’s a low-level electric current which runs through the skin, and the processor aboard reads disruptions to that field as a sense of touch, which it neurologically transmits back to the user, gao~n!” Zehra added. “It’s invaluable for performing detailed work that a repair drone’s clumsy manipulators could never handle, gao~n. It takes a human’s sense of touch to feel a badly threaded bolt, for example. You could never automate that, gao~n.”

That’s true. In my old world, there were tasks on factory lines that only humans could perform. I recalled a certain narcissistic automaker had tried to over-automate his assembly line and discovered that, for certain jobs such as final assembly, humans simply couldn’t be replaced. Automating things too much lead to a decline in quality, in part because the assembly robots didn’t have a sense of touch. I could see how this Telepresence Doll was extremely valuable in that regard.

Zehra continued boasting about her invention. “There are holographic microprojectors built in too, so it can take on the appearance of whoever’s controlling it, gao~n. The projection sits only a few micrometers above the polymer skin, so touching the projection is like touching the person for real! It’s a fully functional remote control body, only faster, stronger and better than a feeble human one, gao~n!” She let out a distinctly evil-sounding supervillain laugh.

“Hmm.” Miette said, examining the Doll closely. “Can it smell and taste too?”

“Ahaha, I’m afraid not, gao~n. Those types of sensory organs are a bit harder to replicate. However, I did built it with a fully functional vag-”

“MISTRESS!” Vicky quickly interrupted, blushing extraordinarily hard for some reason. “L-Let’s leave that particular function aside for the moment, shall we?”

WHOA! I AGREE WITH VICKY! TOO MUCH INFORMATION TO DISCUSS IN PUBLIC!

Zehra grinned maliciously. “Why would you say that, gao~n? As I recall, you were quite enthusiastic to help me test it out, gao~n!” Vicky just fidgeted and start at the ground, mumbling.

“What on Earth are you two talking about?” Miette asked, tilting her head.

Thank god my pilot is so dense about these things! I thought thankfully.

“Well, anyway.” Zehra dismissed that topic, satisfied at Vicky’s embarrassment. “I built this Doll to match my own petite body, which is very close to that of Sveta’s current avatar, so it should work out perfectly. Just let me install a new encrypted radio chip in the head, and Sveta will be able to remotely control the doll as a second body, gao~n!”

“Huh?” Miette was confused. “Whatever would Sveta need a human-sized body for?”

“W-Well you see… th-that’s…” I stuttered. D-Do I really have to explain it, right here and now?!

“Lest you forget, Sveta is a reincarnated human mind, gao~n!” Zehra sprang to my rescue. “Having a human body one moment and a giant robot one the next is sure to cause body dysmorphia, wouldn’t you say?”

“Body… dysmorphia?”

“A disconnect between someone’s mental image of their body, and the physical reality of their body, gao~n! For Sveta’s own mental well-being, she needs to control a human-sized body with some of her old human senses intact, gao~n!”

“Ahh, that makes sense.” Miette nodded.

Gah! Thank you so much for the save, Mom! That line of questioning was about to get really awkward!

Zehra popped open a panel on the back neck of the Doll and quickly welded in a new radio chip. She connected a couple of wires, and the Doll sprang to life, jerking around like a puppet.

“There you go, Sveta! Just ping the chip and connect, gao~n!”

“R-Right. Here I go!” I pinged the Doll’s transmitter, send a handshake and activated its telepresence mode.

*****

One of the strangest things I had to adapt to as an AI was the ability to run multiple instances of my consciousness. It was a trick Laria had taught me, where I could have one instance of my mind holding a conversation with someone, and another instance collating data or reading a book. It was weird running multiple copies of myself, and I still was getting used to it. Even when I had been piloting multiple unmanned Gravity Frames, it had felt more like I was steering a bunch of radio-controlled airplanes than occupying multiple bodies. According to Laria, she could hold simultaneous separate conversations with hundreds of people at once and devote her full attention to each one of them, an ability which suited a ship’s AI perfectly. I was in awe of that kind of multitasking potential.

Operating the Telepresence Doll was a bit like running a second instance of myself in a second body. My primary instance was still in my Gravity Frame body, a 25-meter-tall metal behemoth armed with positron weapons. By contrast, the secondary Doll instance of myself looked like… a simple human girl.

The holographic projectors rendered my avatar flawlessly. I looked down at my hands, and they looked like human hands. I curled and uncurled my fingers in disbelief. Suddenly, my brain felt as if it were being overloaded with sensation; I realized that the air circulation systems in the hanger were generating a soft breeze, and I could feel it on my skin. After not having a sense of touch for several weeks, this was overwhelming.

There was so much sensation here, so much FEELING. I had nearly forgotten, but this is what it felt like to have a human body. I ran my hands up and down my torso, touching my skin through my clothing, relishing the sensation.

“That’s incredible!” Miette said, prodding my dress and hair. “How come I can touch her hair and clothes? They don’t correspond to a physical aspect of the Doll.”

“Micro-application of my seventh-greatest invention, hard light holograms, gao~n!” Zehra explained. “You see, the hair and clothes and facial features are given substance by repulsed phase-linked gravitons suspended in an oscillating magnetic field which arcs to the electrons of the-”

“Right, right.” Miette waved her hand. “I’ll take your word for it.”

Zehra puffed out her cheeks, upset that her technobabble explanation had been interrupted. “Well, anyway. Her skin is the physical skin of the Doll, but the details are projected by hard-light holograms, gao~n. That means you can change your clothes and hair at will, Sveta!”

“I c-can? Whoa, that’s incredible!” I tested this by quickly adding my cat ears and tail to the projected avatar, which earned a thumbs-up from Zehra. I petted one of my cat ears with my hand, noticing how fluffy it felt.

Miette prodded at my hair a bit more, then suddenly grabbed my hand. “Whoa!” she gushed. “It feels exactly like real human skin! Maybe a bit cooler since there’s no body heat, but if I wasn’t paying attention I’d think I was touching a natural human hand!”

“W-W-W-W-W-WHAAAAAAAA!!!” I cried. Through the cameras of my Gravity Frame, I could see my face was blushing brightly.

“Oops, sorry!” Miette apologized, letting go of my hand. “Did I hurt you, Sveta?”

“N-No, it was just surprising, that’s all!” I exclaimed, flustered.

The sensation of another girl’s hand touching mine after so long… my poor gay heart nearly leapt out of my chest!

Zehra watched the two of us and smiled knowingly. Under my breath, I cursed and thanked her profusely.