The drone that had once been Elaine’s friend Xena lifted Elaine from her seat and held her to her chest, bridal-carry style.  Elaine blushed as she realized she was pressing right into 6551’s not-insubstantial chest.  She vaguely remembered Xena having a smaller chest in pictures the two had exchanged before; in addition, they’d had many talks comparing experiences with gender dysphoria.  Both had always ranted at length about having small breasts.

Elaine strained to look at the drone’s face as she was carried into a hallway from the lobby, but gave up when her neck refused to move.  Her eyes glanced over the hall around her.  It still kept up the appearance of an antique hotel; red and brown carpet covered the floor in spiral patterns and orange light reflected off of the wood-paneled walls.

“I saw you looking at 6551’s chest, Elaine.”  The words floated to Elaine’s ears from an unfamiliar voice down the hall.  “In case you’re wondering, yes, they’re real.  One of the perks of conversion that you’ll soon experience.”  Elaine blushed.  As much as her upcoming changes were borne of necessity instead of desire, the thought of having an… upgrade in that department was not unwelcome.

The drone carried Elaine to a long stretcher at the end of the hall and set her down on it.  A man’s face peered over her.  He was about thirty years old, and had round glasses, a thin mustache, and a goatee.  He was smiling; not the smile one gets when they meet a friend, but the smile one gets when they’re particularly proud of completing a project.

“Hi, I’m Ernest,” the strange man said.  “Well, Ernest’s my name, but I also try to be earnest.  Sorry, a little joke.”  He laughed softly.  “I’m one of our chief medical technicians here.  I created the process of synthesis that you’ll be undergoing, although Dr. Gold is the one who really leads the project.  Gosh, it’s always so exciting!  You’d think I’d be used to it by now.”  Ernest’s strange manner and oversharing relaxed Elaine, but only slightly.  He was clearly not putting on a front or show; his awkward demeanor seemed as honest as the day is long.

“So, here’s what we’re going to do,” he said.  As he spoke, the drone began to tighten straps around Elaine’s wrists, ankles, waist, and neck.  “I know you can’t move right now, but it’s vitally important that you stay in place for the process.  Safety never hurts anyone, right?” 6551 stepped back and looked blankly at Elaine, then looked at Ernest.

“Subject is securely fastened, programmer,” it said.  Ernest nodded and smiled.

“That drone talked about you a lot before it was converted,” he said cheerfully.  “It really wanted you to join it in becoming what it is. And now you are!  Heck if this doesn’t make me cry.”

Drone walked over and looked down at Elaine, blank as ever but focused.  “You are going to make such a good synth, Elaine,” it said softly.  “Let that happy thought be the last one you have.”

“You’ve already gotten acquainted with the drone here, so you know what to expect,” Ernest said.  “You’re going to be just like it on the other side.”  Elaine felt a strange sensation go down her spine.  6551 seemed so… robotic.  So empty, except for obedience.  Would that be all she had left?  Blank servitude? And if so, why did that feel so… thrilling, comforting?  The thought should have scared the shit out of her, but she found herself drawn to looking at her former friend more and more.  She found herself desiring, beyond all other emotions, to be exactly the same.

“One last question; how big do you want your rack to be?” Ernest asked.  Elaine froze.  She knew what she wanted, but she simply couldn’t speak.

Drone looked over Elaine’s prone form again, then gently touched her chest.  Elaine gasped.  The drone’s touch was so firm, but so comforting.  She didn’t want it to let go.  “It should be given the same that this unit has,” it said.  Ernest nodded.

“Oh my gosh, this is so adorable!  Good drones making good drones.  It always makes me happy.”  Ernest clearly meant it, for his face beamed with joy.  “There’s something truly beautiful about drones helping their human friends become just like them.”  He looked down at Elaine again.  “Well, ‘human.’  You’re really already on your way, just by making the decision.”

Drone nodded and removed it’s hand from Elaine’s breast, then gently stoked her hair.  “Good drone,” it said, still speaking blankly but with clear affection in its voice all the same.  Affection and… what almost sounded like pride.  Like Elaine was a treasured object already.  She knew it was programmed to sound like this, but it still made her blush harder.  “Such a good drone,” it repeated.  Then it walked away to the side of the room.

Ernest opened a room door in the hotel’s hallway.  Inside was not a hotel room, like one would expect, but rather a long, dark passageway lit with neon.  He smiled.  “Last stop, dronification.  Everybody out.”  He pushed Elaine’s stretcher into the dim passageway and she felt the wheels beneath her click onto an automated track which began pulling her along further.  Behind her, the door clicked shut.

Elaine laid in her straps on the stretcher, not knowing what to expect.  Something was going to happen.  Something that would take her humanity away and turn her into an object just like 6551.  Something that would brainwash her and replace her body entirely.  But what?  She was afraid.  This was an unknown, new experience and she didn’t know what to expect.  What she didn’t want to admit, to herself or anyone else, was that she felt excitement even more.  Excitement at becoming like 6551.  Excitement at the process.  She even felt her dick strain against her pants like it never had since she’d been started hormones.

The stretcher stopped at a dark spot on the track.  Elaine felt something warm slip over her head.  It felt like a set of goggles.  Suddenly, her eyes were filled with flashing patterns and colors, moving in a seemingly unpatterned and unpredictable way.  Something about watching it relaxed her.  She found it harder and harder to think with every second.  The colors and patterns drained everything away.

A set of headphones slipped over her ears.  A long, high-pitched tone played through them.  Her mind felt foggier and foggier.  She knew this was it.  She knew there was no turning back.  When this was over, her mind would never think again.

She remembered what 6551 had said.  She pictured the drone in her head and imagined herself exactly the same.  She pictured them both, walking together in their automated ways, speaking in those flat tones when given an order.  As she fell deeper and deeper, and slipped away completely, the last thought she had was peaceful joy in her decision.

The whirring in her body’s ears ceased.  Now a voice began to speak.  It was calm, automated, and digital.

[Personhood erased.  Installing drone files.]

As the voice continued to speak programming into the sleeping girl’s ears, a small needle came from somewhere and pierced the skin on her thigh, using a healed puncture wound from her own HRT injections for ease of access.  Another needle slid into the side of her head, coming from the headphones.

The changes were swift.  To an outside observer, it would almost have seemed like a snap of the fingers.  Her clothes were disintegrated into molecular waste and her skin below her neck was immediately covered in warm, comforting black latex.  It was sensitive; it tingled and made her dick hard just through the sensation of its presence.  It didn’t just cover her skin; it sank into her skin and converted her skin into more latex.  The skin on her neck and head was converted as well, but instead of black latex it took the appearance of a well-contoured face.  Her face’s structure underwent subtle changes as well; a shift here, a cover here.  It looked more feminine now.  Much more feminine, and very beautiful.

As the latex sank deeper into her body, slowly reconverting every system inside of her into some mechanical form or another, the needle in her skull released a syringe’s worth of nanobots.  They sank into the gray of her brain at once and converted each cell into further nanobots.  By the end of the process, her brain was nothing more than a computer.  A machine primed to accept and receive the program scripts given through the goggles and headphones.

As her inner body finished its complete change into a complex system of steel, latex, tubing, wires, and electricity, the goggles and headphones released a small amount of gas that transformed her eyes into cameras and her eardrums into microphones upon touch.  The machine that lay on the stretcher, blank, mindless, and empty of all but programming given to it was now truly synthetic.

Two final changes awaited it.  Two needles full of silicon emerged from the walls and pierced its breasts, filling them out into E cups.  At the same time, a small, warm container went down and covered its penis and balls, dissolving them away as a new port, with the appearance of a vagina, opened up in response to the programming.

[Drone 8155 complete.]

It became aware of its dark surroundings and the straps releasing from its prone position on the stretcher.  It became aware of its form.  It was feminine, very feminine; it appeared like a well-endowed human woman wearing a black catsuit, with a small slit open at the bottom where its new port was located.  Its appearance brought it pleasure.

It also became further aware of the emptiness in its head.  There was no thought at all.  There was no opinion, no choice, no self.  It was aware of what surrounded it.  It was aware of the programming coursing through it and the need to obey that programming at all times.  It was aware of the obedience within it to orders given.  And, of course, it was aware of the pleasure.  The pleasure coursed through it’s form, barely restrained to drive it behind its every action.

It got up from the stretcher and calmly walked back to the hallway of the hotel.  When it entered the hall, Dr. Gold, Ernest, and 6551 were all waiting.  “Wow,” Ernest said to break the silence.  “Yes, these two are my finest units yet.  Absolutely gorgeous, both of ‘em.”

“Good drone,” 6551 said softly.  8155 felt a rush of pleasure course through its body and its blank mind.  It moaned slightly.

“Now,” Dr. Gold said, after giving the two units a moment to stare emptily at each other.  “6551, you will get it linked into hive thought.”  6551 turned and looked at Dr. Gold blankly.  Although 8155 knew that it was not capable of thought, it did seem to, distantly, want something.

“Alright, drone may test out fellow drone’s pleasure receptors,” Dr. Gold said.  “It’s only fair, given that both will be serving along-side each other.

6551 walked to 8155 and grabbed it by the wrist.  Its touch felt good and 8155 felt pleasure filling it again.  6551 began to lead it to another door in the hallway.  As the other drone began opening the door, Dr. Gold walked up behind 8155.

“One last thing, drone.  Your host-mind; that’s Elaine, who you once were; she’s still present, but she’s stored in the back of your empty head.  To her, this all feels like… a beautiful dream.  She can’t think, but she can see and enjoy what she’s along the ride for.”  Dr. Gold paused.  8155 waited.

“Make it a good dream, right?” Dr. Gold said softly.

[Affirmative.] replied 8155.

“Good drone,” Dr. Gold said, smiling at the rush of pleasure in the unit before her.  She turned and returned down the hall to the lobby.  8155 looked to 6551.  The other drone had opened the door to what appeared to be a neon-lit room full of screens.

The drones entered the room in perfect, smooth synchronicity.