Oh geez oh geez oh geez oh geez oh geez. I'm following a girl. A Terran girl. To her house.

 

Well, okay I don't know if it's her house or not. But her work station, wherever it is. I'm following her, I agreed to follow her. Oh geez... The time we spent at the Café was hard enough! Why did I have to dig myself a grave like this!

 

Aether says something to me, stopping and leaning on a nearby wall. I didn't hear it.

 

"What?" I ask.

 

"I said we're here, silly." She tilts her head down and looks up towards me.  We're the same height, I just noticed that. That makes me feel... Strange. At least I'm not like. Towering over her or anything.

 

"Oh um, yeah yeah. Uh. Sure, lead the way I guess." I say awkwardly, she smirks at me and the door behind her opens. I don't remember hearing her say please.

 

We walk in and.... It looks like an average Terran living room. There's a couch and a TV, a big computer at the back. Similar to what my living room looks like. Though, it seems like there's only this one room, a bathroom, and another door off at the back near the PC.

 

She turns at looks at me. "Strange right? A workshop that looks like a house? Yeah, well, my actual work room is over here. This isn't even my hab unit, I just chill here sometimes when I get too tired to go back home after working."

 

I guess that makes sense, right?

 

"Here, follow me." I follow her. She leads me to the door at the back. Opening it to reveal.... A pitch black room. Huh? Then she flicks on the lights. Oh.

 

Within the room is... Monitors on screens everywhere, various mechanical body parts and organs held in containment units stacked against the various walls. A big long, fluffy looking raised couch that most likely serves as her work table. I get an intrusive thought about myself laying on that table, and her working on- Ah! Cut that out!

 

There's a few large sets of tools scattered around. One notable one seems to look like a surgery bot set next to the raised couch. Probably for helping integrate body parts. She walks in and does a twirl, facing me again.

 

"Welcome, guest. To my secret lair~" She says with a silly flair. I can't help but giggle.

 

"It's nice in here, Aether. It looks like you're a real professional." I say, immediately realizing that sounds condescending.

 

"I am a real professional, Jalen." She says, looking at me with a serious face.

 

"I- urm... I know, I didn't mean to sound like that." I say, crumpling a bit under the slight feeling of shame.

 

"it's okay, I'm not offended. Anyways, yeah, here's where I work. I just finished up a lovely girl's new artificial body just a few days ago. Her body was too badly injured after being taken in by the Affini when she spent time in the Accord, so I fixed her right up." Aether speaks in this kind of giddy cadence when she's being excited about something. Its cute. I can see her bounce on each syllable.

 

Then she grabs her hat and tilts it down, obscuring more of her face in a shadow. "If you're ever interested in some new body parts. You know who to call, cutie." She says with a flirtatious tone that makes me want to instantaneously combust. I made a little whine sound, looking up at her. Is this how all girls act?

 

"Sorry sorry, that was a bit much. I don't mean to pressure you." She says, pulling her hat back up and showing her beautiful face in the artificial light again.

 

"It's... It's okay.... Can I" I pause, shaking a little bit. I'm utterly nervous, but she should know.

 

"Can I admit something... Aether?"

 

She looks at me with all the kindness in the world. "Of course, Jalen."

 

"Aether I'm... I'm an Android. 70% of my body is metal."  The words squeak out of me like some kind of hidden, perverse secret that I shouldn't be telling anyone.

 

Aether shifts in place, putting the weight of her body from one leg to another. Then she pulls the most... Evil and sadistic smirk I've ever seen. "So."  She says.

 

"You want me to work on your parts~?" She asks me, tone smooth and words sharp.

 

My energy overloads a bit, my shoulders start to tremble and my teeth start to quietly grind against each other. I can't say anything, I'm too embarrassed. Should I say yes?? Should I say no?? I've never been worked on by... Like anyone before, I don't think. I only work on myself... What would happen if I invite someone into my... Circuitry like that.

 

All I can muster out is a little whimper, and a struggle against my motors trying to short out.

 

"Oh, hey hey. I'm sorry. I don't mean to pressure you. Let's not talk about this right now, okay? How about you tell me about your tools instead?" Immediately derailing and redirecting the conversation away from my obvious awkwardness.

 

It takes me a little bit to cool off and get my parts under control before I have a chance to actually meet her gaze again.

 

"O...Okay Aether. Let me show you my gear." I say, focusing on setting down my back pack and retrieving my items. I didn't realize I put my shield gauntlet in here. I must have forgot to put it down when I was putting together my things.

 

"Wooaah... Whats that?" She says, pointing to the power box and hilt of my saber.

 

"Thats my sword. Here, I'll show you." Picking it up gently off the floor, I attach it to my back. Immediately I get some relief. Some of my excess energy is spilled into the reserves of the saber instead.

 

Aether is eyeing me down suspiciously.

 

I decide to get a bit of revenge and startle her. Thumbing over the ignition, the blade bursts into life between us. A subtle red glow and hum like a distant explosion in the stars. I look up at her, she's captivated.

 

"Wow, thats... Thats amazing. Please tell me how it works." She asks me, about to reach out and touch the blade. I pull it away from her.

 

"Careful, Aether. You might cut yourself. Not like it'd hurt." I say, sticking my arm out and holding my blade above it like a guillotine.

 

"What are you- Oh my stars!" She exclaims as I drop the blade through my arm, cutting it off completely, just for it to stand up on it's fingers and jump around.

 

"The relative space I was telling you about earlier. My arm looks severed, but in reality, nothing's actually cut. Pretty cool huh? It doesn't even hurt." I press the button, summoning back my hand in a silly display.

 

"Wow, that's amazing! Can I try?" She asks, holding her hand out with a pleading look. 

 

"Ahhh well... I guess, But you'll not have a lot of room. The backpack I'm wearing for it actually connects to the internal generators in my body for it's energy supply." I tell her, she looks at me in awe.

 

"Wow... It works of your own energy? Thats so... Cool!" She says, putting her hands on her chest and bouncing at the last word.

 

"Um.." I squirm. "Thank you, Aether."

 

Shaking my head a little bit, I turn the blade off and take it off. Placing it back into my bag before picking up my mini warp drive and force field projector.

 

"This also runs off my energy reserves. I have magnets in my jaw that hold it in place and supply it with enough energy to... Wait, I didn't tell you." I place the lever in my mouth, opening wide so she can see where it connects. "This is a miniature warp drive, Aether. Short range instant teleportation. Check this out." I step back a few paces in the large work room. Then I clamp my teeth, shattering through space time and bursting out the other end about six inches from her face.

 

She yelps, jumping backwards and stumbling into the table. She's about to fall down backwards. My eyes track her fall, pushing in the lever again, reappearing in a crouch behind her. When she lands, I take her in my arms to prevent her from hitting the ground. Then I push her up, righting her in place, before clamping again and appearing again in front of her.

 

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. You good?" I ask, nervous. I really hope I didn't just fuck this up. She's looking at me with lips tight and cheeks... Bright red. She's blushing.

 

She's flustered.

 

"Um... Jalen. I- Its cool. Its cool." She struggles for a minute then regains her composure.

 

Aether takes her hat off for a moment, running her fingers through her hair for a moment with a big deep breath. 

 

"I have an Idea." She says, sounding a little sadistic again.

 

"I have some spare bodies, ones that I built but no one's inhabited them, I have remote controls for them as well. Wanna fight?" She asks, flexing her arms around for a moment.

 

I consider it. "I don't see why not. We'd have  to go to a park or something for the roo-" She cuts me off.

 

"No, no. Watch this." She walks over to a large black lever on the wall. How come I didn't notice this before? She pulls it and all the bits and pieces in the room collapse into little cubby's in the floor and walls.

 

Then, a big projector pops out from the ceiling with a click. The room is now large and empty.  She turns to me with a big grin.

 

"Its a simulation room. I had it fitted here so I could test my bots in any habitat. As well as give new androids a chance to test out their bodies in a controlled environment." She bows, then grabs a tablet  that popped out of the side of the wall near where she's standing.

 

She taps a few buttons in and.

 

Suddenly.

 

We're in a dense forest. I can't see her any more. The trees are tall, the sky is expansive and detailed. The grass beneath me begs to be stepped on. Mushrooms and ivy grow everywhere.

 

If I didn't know this was AR, I would have thought I warped into the center of a forest.

 

The moment, the very moment I finish drinking up the beautifully detailed environment around me, it changes. Shifting to whites and oppressive brightness. My eyes adjust, I'm in a tundra. Snow blows past me with the force of natures rage. Then, It all fades. Aether is standing in the center of the room, staring at me joyfully.

 

"So. Wanna fight?"

 

I can barely contain my excitement. My warp drive still in my mouth, begging to be pressed. I slam my teeth down on it, warping over to my bag, grabbing up my saber and kicking the rest of the items away. I have my sword, and my mobility. Lets fucking do this.

 

"I'll take that as a yes." A hatch in the wall opens to my left, a young girl with a blank static face climbs out of it. Standing up, staring at me, before putting its fists up and smirking. Aether's voice comes out of it. "Come and fight me, little bot."

 

I look over at Aether, she's staring at me with glee, speaking into a microphone on the tablet.

 

Oh yeah, we're doing this.  My blade ignites, bursting into colorful life. I'm in the gothic mood, Aether's style won't match mine. Adjusting the dial, all the light drains out of the saber, leaving it a solid black. No light, none escapes. Pure darkness.

 

Then, I'm inches from the droid's face, swinging. It ducks the moment I arrive, pulling a fist into an uppercut and landing a solid hydraulic punch to my gut. I'm thrown backwards several feet, my generator hitches from the sudden impact. The drone blasts forward, probably forty miles an hour, catching me in the air before slamming me over its jutted out knee. My back bends under the crushing force. My teeth clamp from the impact, sending me several feet into the air with the sound of rolling thunder exploding off of my warp exit point. 

 

I'm falling, the drone is looking up. I pull my knees in and twirl in the air, slicing straight down, cutting the droid in half straight down the center.

 

"Nice!" Aether calls out from across the room. I look at her for praise, she's smiling at me and leaning against a wall.

 

"Now do it in the desert!" She yells, the world around me shifts into dunes and sandstorms. Three more drones pop into existence around me, entering the AR space.

 

This is our arena. And I'm gonna kick some ass.

 

Bouncing through spacetime like a worm through dirt, I pop out behind the first drone, catching it off guard with a slice through its back, cutting at a diagonal. The top half of its body falls away, grabbing me with an iron hand on its way down. The sudden pull of a 200 pound metal torso pulling me at the force of gravity knocks me down a bit.

 

The two other drones are on me instantly, bashing away at my sides and stomach. I can feel myself dent. The frothing pleasure of battle drowns out my senses. Balling my free hand, I slam my fist into the skull of the droid grabbing me. It's head pushes in a bit at the site of impact, letting go of me and flopping to the floor.

 

I fall forward with the drone, landing on my hands and keeping my blade parallel to me. Jutting my legs out like a turtle, slamming my feet into their stomachs and blowing them away from me for long enough to carry my momentum into a forward roll.

 

Over the discarded body of the first drone I fly, landing on the ground and tucking in, turning my saber off at the same time in order to not slice myself. I'm up on my feet in an instant, back into the fight inches from one of the new drones. I'm low, sweeping at it's legs. It jumps over my blade, soaring over me before a foot slams me in my forehead, sending me head over heels.

 

Holy shit. This woman is ruthless.

 

My eyes track along with my rotation, finding a perfect place to warp. Space crushes me into a single point and spits me out at the other end, blade already pointed in the general direction. My exit is directly next to a drone, blade forming into space in it's torso. I twist, slashing the mechanical beast in half, then I twist again, slashing it into thirds. 

 

The next drone wasted no time, body checking me into the sand.

 

There's a bit of a crater where I landed. Wait, Is this supposed to feel this real? The world shifts again, I'm stuck in a dark forest. Out from behind a tree on my left, then on my right, two drones close in on me. One pushing me in front of the other while the second rails into my chest with a jumping dive kick. I'm thrown backwards, knocked against one of the trees in the room. I slide to the floor, struggling to catch my breath while my generator overloads, sending tremors throughout my body.

 

Tucking my feet in against the tree, I push with all my force and launch myself like a javelin at one of the drones, catching it in the neck with my blade as I pass it by. Decapitating it completely.

 

The second drone chases after me when the room shifts again, putting me on top of a suspended bridge seemingly hundred of feet in the air.

 

Face to face with the final drone, It charges at me in a ducked form. As it reaches me, my blade is pointed straight forward, impaling it on the saber and cutting down and out through its torso. But it's already too late. I've flown off the bridge and now I'm gonna!

 

My body splats against the ground in a heap. I look down, i'm floating.

 

Holy stars! Holy stars i'm floating!

 

Wait, I'm in AR.

 

I hear a laugh from.... somewhere. Aether's laugh. She's laughing at me for being a doofus and freaking out on the floor. Hey, it looked real okay!

 

Aether clicks off the AR projection, turning the world back into a flat room. There's a few poles of flooring sticking out here and there where the room shaped to the AR projection.

 

I'm confused. I thought AR was fake? This is like... Assisted AR? AAR?

 

"What, surprised the room changes? Of course it does. I cant test my bots if they don't have anything real in the room to be tested on." She wanders over to me, extending out a hand. I take it, but my body jolts terribly with an overload of power, causing my hand to slip through hers. I faceplant on the floor.

 

"Woah, you okay? That looks like faulty power cycling." She helps me up again, supporting me with a shoulder as my body attempts to throw me around again.

 

"I-I-Im good. I S-Swear!" Its hard to speak when I'm jittering around like a bug.

 

She sets me down flat in the direct center of the room. I don't know why, but I stay there. Aether quickly dashes over to the lever in the wall and pulls it. Below me, the floor gives way for a moment while a long couch extends up under me.

 

It's comfy.

 

"W-W-W-Wait A-Aether! H-How are you- Gonna keep me. Me still?" I ask through tremors and shakes. She hurries back over to my side, with a strange device in hand.

 

She stares into my eyes. Hers are red and brown, they look like they shimmer in the light. Did they always look like this?

 

"I work on bodies like yours for a living, Jalen. Do you honestly believe I don't have ways to pacify an android?" 

 

I gulp, she grabs my hand in hers.

 

"Are you okay with this?" She asks me, cutting through the noise in my head. The whirring and jittering. I force myself to nod. I'm sure she knows what she's doing.

 

Something rubs against my arm, and a pulse is sent through me at the contact point. Nearly immediately, my body stops shaking.

 

"Stasis disruptor." She says. "It sends a signal through metal bodies, making them go into stasis. Or hibernation. Basically I put your body to sleep but I kept your mind awake."

 

Woah... She really knows what she's doing.

 

I realize my mouth can still move. "Thank you Aether. I'm all better now." She puts a finger to my mouth and looks into my eyes again.

 

"No, you aren't. I'm fixing you." Her words send static through my spine. She's fixing me? She's gonna fix me?? She's gonna-

 

Her hand traces up my stomach, finding a button beneath my skin. She presses it and the hatch in my stomach pops open. Oh fuck- Oh Stars- This is moving so fast-

 

Aether reaches in, making contact with my heart. The touch, the touch within my body. It sends electric thrums of pleasure throughout me. She's being so gentle with me, yet so forceful.

 

"Mmnaahhh... A-Aether!" I whimper, her hands moving, taking another part of me and adjusting it's position in my circuitry.

 

"Aether... How are you doing this?" My mind reels at her every touch, if I weren't pacified, I'd probably grab her hand and shove it all up into my wiring just for the feeling of it all. I feel so vulnerable. 

 

"What do you mean?" She leans over to the surgery bot next to the table, holding out some kind of wire and plugging it into me. Mind shutters against my body. The sheer bliss of being worked on, having my body open and vulnerable to the hands of Aether. My eyes threaten to roll into the back of my head.

 

Every time she moves, my train of thought derails completely. Causing me to whimper again as some other piece of me starts being messed with.

 

"No ones- I haven't- How are you- How are you able to... To do this to me, when for years I couldn't-" She grabs something off the table nearby, a tool, she presses it into one of my motors to clean out the slightly torn up metal from years of misuse in my joints. It feels so good, oh no... I can't take it. I'm reduced to speechlessness.

 

She's gentle with my sensitive parts, but firm and forceful in order to fix me properly. Words don't form, thoughts hardly form under the feelings of vulnerability and safety thrumming through my core.

 

"It's what I do, Jalen." that answer took a while. It doesn't sound like she's being fully honest with me.

 

She stops for a moment, pulling her arms out and surveying up and inside of me. Her hands have a little bit of grease and blood on them. I don't mind it. Thoughts come crashing back to me. All I can do is whimper and beg her to continue.

 

"Aether... Please don't stop...."

 

She steps back for a moment, looking at me with surprise.

 

Then she grins. Apparently she wanted me to say that. She closes my stomach hatch and flips me onto my back. Oh geez. Now I can't see her.

 

I feel a gentle hand run up my spine, leaving sparkles in their wake. More whimpers drip out of me. She presses something again. This time, the hatches in my arms pop open, my pulleys and wires and supports all splaying out in the air. She runs her fingers up and through my wiring. It sends my mind back into non-function.

 

Oh...  Oh oops. I'm drooling all over her work station, but I can't form the thoughts enough to close my mouth. She pulls something out of me, it's the circuitry and metal joints that control my left hand. The one that struck the skull of her drone. She takes it out of me and replaces it.

 

Oh my stars... Oh my stars... She's replacing parts of me with new ones. Oh my stars....

 

I couldn't begin to describe the intimacy and closeness I'm feeling while she takes out bits and pieces, adjusting them or replacing them entirely.

 

After a long while of being completely lucid yet totally unthinking, she makes a satisfied grunt. The surgery bot takes me by the shoulders and flips me over back onto my stomach while she places some of her tools back onto the table.

 

"You good?" she asks. What the fuck question is that! Of course I'm not good! I just had my brains knocked out through sheer contact! I try, but I can't speak yet. My brain is too frazzled. She realizes I'm unable to talk after a moment of staring at me. Aether grabs up the tablet for the AR room, tapping it a few times before taking one of my now closed up hands and pulling on my fingertip in a strange way. After a second, it gives, opening and displaying a.... USB? A little bit of stale blood drips from the port.

 

Guiding my hand, she plugs it into the side of the tablet. A notes app opens in my eyes.

 

"Tell me. Are you okay?"

 

The notes app fills with random letters and characters. Mental keyspam.

 

"Okay, well. I'll give you a second to cool off." She leans back for a minute or two. Giving me the mental space to breath.

 

Once I'm properly wrangled back together. I type something out onto the notes document.

 

"No one's ever touched me like that, Aether. No ones ever worked on my body so gently. No ones ever... No ones ever tried to fix me like that. How did you get around my firewalls?"

 

She freezes for a second, looking a little nervous.

 

"What do you mean?" She asks me. I type out another message.

 

"When I was built, my father put in firewalls to stop anyone from working on me. More-so to stop me from working on me. I've never been able to have any parts of me fixed because of it. It sends me into a catastrophic melt down. But with you, I am fine. I don't understand."

 

When my eyes focus into the real world again, I look at her. She's pale and nervous. I don't know why. She notices me staring and visibly takes a step back.

 

"I don't know. I guess I'm just different?" Aether pulls the tablet off of my finger, taking away my ability to speak once more.

 

"I wasn't able to fix anything major. Just tweak some things that were in disrepair. Your heart is still faulty, and your regulators are completely shot. Theres a few others.... Well, theres a lot of other things I'd like to get fixed. But I can't, I fear that I was getting close to accidently killing you. Your firewalls are sensitive." Aether trembles. She's telling me things she doesn't want me to know.

 

My voice returns to me.

 

"I don't care, Aether. I don't care.... The way it felt to have you... Work on me so gently. Aether, I don't think I can get that anywhere else." My body shifts and I realize I'm in control of my legs. Pushing myself up into a seating position, I reach out and take ahold of her shoulder.

 

My eyes close for a moment, focusing on my words and the feelings going through my chest. "I don't know what you're keeping from me, but I don't care. Thank you for fixing parts of me. I can't.... I can't explain how good that felt, Aether. Thank you."

 

My eyes reopen. She's flushed, her hairs messed up, and she's totally flustered. Her lips are trembling, I want to stop her from her nervousness. I want her to know I don't care whatever she's keeping from me. Maybe I'm just being too impressionable right now, too open minded and ready to just.... Submit myself to the girl in front of me.

 

She looks at me. Our eyes meet. She looks into me. Her eyes are red and brown. They shimmer in the light.

 

Both our eager hands shoot out like cannons, taking each other by the backs of our necks and pushing our lips together in a moment of hopeless bliss. I whimper again and she takes this as initiative, opening her mouth and biting on my lower lip a bit. I fall forward into her and moan quietly.  Oh, she's done it now. I feel daring. My hand tightens around the hair at the back of her neck and pulls, accidently toppling me off the side of the bed when her legs buckle.

 

My processing is jacked up a thousand fold. I tuck her into me and twist in the air, landing on my back so she doesn't hit the floor.

 

She sits upright in my lap, looking flushed and overwhelmed. Then she slams her palms against my shoulders, forcing me to the ground and drilling into me with her big red eyes. I'm stuck in place, but I'm not complaining about it.

 

She leans in close, her breathing is rough and hitched. She whispers something into my ear in a rough voice that makes me want to soak up every single syllable. 

 

And then, she says it. All nice and close, hot breath on my neck.

 

"You're not being a good girl for me, Sera."

Aether pulls back, shocked, her face freezes in fear when she realizes what she just did.

 

What did she just call me?

My body contorts, error messages flashing into my eyes while brutal pain splits out from my head into my stomach and legs. I'm screaming, thrashing, overloading and victim to it all. Overwhelmed with pain and twisted metal. Darkness closes in on me at all sides, threatening to drown me in my place. 

 

For the third time today, I can't think. But this time it's from pain.

(End Of Page Eight)