Delia Indrige's Story

It was the morning and Delia already had someone in for repair. "You luckily are up to date, such a malfunction would have been painful with an old body. New bodies have a safety switch however to avoid pain during more serious malfunctions. But since a critical control circuit was severely damaged, you have to pay ten percent of its cost." Delia said. Her client nodded and transfered her the credits. When done, he left after taking a respectful bow.

Soon, another guest came in and Delia asked: "How may I help you?" After examining the woman, Delia concluded: "You must be new to this. If you seek a body, its only 5,999. But since you are the first potential customer of the month you can have it for 5,799 or at original price with an upgrade. It gives you lots of benefits, such as change of identity and no more illnesses. So what will it be?"

Sandra looks around at the shop and gulps, incredibly nervous about what she was about to do, "Um, good, uh, I want the standard and the Gastronomical enhancement please?" She was going to get that anyways but this new discount was incredibly convenient for her, there were so many other things she could do with that money aside from this.

Of course, she had some questions about this whole operations, "Um, is this going to hurt?" She asks, adjusting her glasses a little on her nose, running her fingers along the picture in her pocket that she'd drawn of what she wanted to look like. That was one of the things she was good at, transporting ideas to paper.

"The only thing that might hurt a little is you being injected with anesthesia. You wont feel the rest. All I need you to do is fill out this digital form and wait a bit while I prepare the body." Delia said. "I will explain the form to you. Since you will be consenting to replacing a perfectly fine organic body with a rather human-like robotic one, you will need to decide what will happen with your own body. You can donate organs to people who need them, you can give your body for research or you can just have it disposed off. If you give it for research, then you get a discount as research centers pay premiums for it. Disposing of it however costs extra as I and a contractor must deal with it."

"The following topics are regarding the fine tuning of the body. First is feeling sensory. The options are mild, medium or strong. Mild lets you feel only good sensations on your skin while completely blocking out pain or coldness. With medium, mild pains can be felt as well as temperature. Strong is a human like sensation where if you lets say fall from the third floor of a building or burn yourself it will feel like the real thing.

The second is eyes. You can choose eyes that are regular or ones that are specially adapted to a time of day. Thirdly, you have bodily structure. It is in regard of your skeleton. You can have a human skeleton build or have one more focused on ease of upgrade and being robust. After that we have skin texture. There are various kinds of skin such as just a skin layer of a somewhat rubbery texture. It is easy to replace, however it isnt that durable and other can feel that it isnt actual skin, the second possibility is more durable but is rather attached in a plated manner and feels real. On the downside it shins a bit more than normal skin. The third possibility costs extra and is call trueskin as it is a durable and nearly human feeling and looking artificial skin.

You will then have to chose body measures and thought processing upgrades as well as leasurely enhancements such as phones, wifi etc. And the last thing you need to decide on is performance. Would you rather move normally and have long lasting charges at the cost of agility or would you rather be quick and agile at the cost of charge endurance? Please fill it out. Once that is done then you just will have to wait an hour for preparations."

Sandra considers the options seriously, biting her lip as she looked at the digital form and its various options. She made sure to consider each one very seriously, as she didn't think switching any of these options at a later date would be cheap regardless of their present cost. After a minute she slowly started to eat through the list.

Of course, a discount was never to be turned down when one is strapped for cash, especially considering she was thinking about taking the one thing on the list that cost extra. She put herself down for donating her body for research, though she didn't dwell long on the idea, as it creeped her out; but who wouldn't be kinda weirded out by that thought anyways?

She moved on quickly. Sensory was one she got caught up on for a little while. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to do away with pain entirely and she wasn't sure how much getting rid of pain would skew her perception of nicer things, but on the other hand, she didn't quite feel comfortable taking the full human sensation option considering how often she'd heard about these bodies breaking. She went with medium.

The eyes were a rather easy choice. Who wouldn't want peepers that adjust to the time of day? Those were the obvious choice there. She went with the human skeleton simply because anything else would surely feel incredibly strange to move around in. For skin, she went with the Trueskin, judging that the extra cost would be well offset by the aforementioned donation.

The last bit of the explanation had been somewhat vague. What were the thought processing upgrades anyways? Some of it she knew precisely what she wanted of course. Body measurements, she somewhat embarrassedly went with a rather vain 36-24-36, hoping that that particular bit wouldn't be noticed by anyone until they'd left earshot at least. A standard phone, some decent wifi on the side.

She supposed that moving quickly would be pretty great, but there was no telling when she'd need a bit more time instead, and she didn't really have any need for quickness anyways. She went with the more energy efficient option. She then turned the form in, and waited.

"Okay then. I will lead you into a preparation room where you just need to change to different clothes since you don't want stains on your current clothing. Then within an hour the body should be ready." Delia said and lead her into the room that contained a set of white clothes, a chair, a table and a flatscreen tv.

Delia then went and entered in the options for the body into a machine that built the body. However it went a bit quicker than expected and the body was complete within 35 minutes. So Delia prepared the syringe with the liquid that would be used to make Sandra unconscious and not feel any pains during the procedure.

Delia then came back into the room. "Okay, preparations are ready. All you need to do is lay down on the table in the other room. I will inject you with anesthesia and then within two hours you will be ready to go with your new body." She said.

"All you are going to feel is a pinch on your neck from anesthesia. Then it will all be over soon." Delia said as she gave Sandra the anesthesia. Once Sandra fell asleep, the following hour consisted of drilling noises and other similar sounds. Once Sandra's consciousness was transferred to the new body, Delia quickly put the old body in a cool room for preservation. As she got back, she ran a quick systems check and then decided to wake up Sandra. After pressing down in an unknown area, Delia managed to start up Sandra's new body. Delia quickly dressed Sandra's body in a black short sleeved and legged unitard like outfit.

"Miss Murat? Can you hear me? It's over now. The surgery went well. Please get up and walk around a bit to get used to the body." Delia said.

Sandra sat up, almost afraid to open her eyes because of what she might see. When she finally did open her eyes she was seeing in a completely different way than before. She felt different too, all over her body things were just plain different from before. That, she supposed, was going to be a theme in her life from this point forward. She rotated a little on the table and hopped off, placing her feet on the ground cautiously, "This is weird." she states, starting to try and walk forward.

It went well, all things considered. Despite the change in balance from what she was used to it seemed to work quite well, very stable, and as she looked down, she liked what she saw, "So, what now?"

"So, what now?" Sandra asked. Delia then replied: "Just a quick orientation and the payment." Delia then took a seat. "As said in the paperwork before, you have a lifetime guarantee meaning that if something breaks from normal use, repairs are free of cost unless you chose an upgrade as a replacement part instead. Negligence and dangerous activities are excluded from the guarantee. If you for example decide to test your limits and jump off a building and suffer damage from it, then you have to pay for the full repair. If you tamper with dangerous elements like fire and end up burning the artificial skin off your body out of sheer negligence, then you have to pay for the replacement. Only accidents beyond your control can be included in the guarantee. In case of an accident, you have a GPS tracker in your head of which your location is only visible to me in case of an emergency. Only two people can use that tracker, you and me. You can use it for personal reasons and I use it for purposes already mentioned."

Delia then grabbed a small device. "This is the kind of phone you got implanted. It is directly connected to your hardwiring for your use. To use it, you just need to say "open interface", you can even just whisper it as long as a signal is send out. To avoid that phrase accidentally opening the interface, it will only open when that phrase is not included in a sentence. Once the interface is open, which will transparently be viewable in your eyesight, your willpower will allow you to scroll through the options. Your current options are: "Messenger", "Phone", "Internet", "Tethering", "GPS", "Plugin assistant", "memory manager", "eye assistant", "music player", "video player", "cygen shopping center" and "cygen parts store". Now if you open phone, you will already have my number saved in it. It works similar to a normal mobile phone but just isnt handheld. Now to explain options that may need explaining. The plugin assistant is to manage devices that you plug in to yourself through a port behind your ear that is usually covered by your hair. So if you would like to transfer videos or photos you have made from a separate device to you or vice versa, you can do that with that option. The memory manager only manages downloaded and digitally acquired data. The eye assistant allows you to put in custom settings for your eyes including sharpness and how vivid you can see. The Cygen shopping center is where you can buy clothes, supplies or pretty much anything through Cygen. Electronic products from the center are customized to ease the use by cyborgs. It even includes cars. Lastly the Cygen parts store is where you can request upgrades and can see the discount board. All ordered parts will end up being delivered here. Now you can go ahead and play around a bit. If you have questions please let me know. Now all I am require to do is notify you of the chance to become a Cygen partner which means that you can invest in Cygen or gain jobs with Cygen easier." She explained.

"So it was a lot but standard procedure." Delia added. She then noticed someone at the from desk and said: "Give me just a moment." Delia then walked over to the desk and saw that new parts were being delivered. "Ahh, perfect." She signed the form and then said: "I was told about you and your... legs. Would you like to sign up for first class service in case you get issues with those legs?"

As Hikaru waited, she observed how the other full cyborgs moved about. They don't seem different from ordinary humans yet, she somehow feels something different? Like, despite their upgrades, they seem to be lacking something. She remembers her father's words.

"I will not stand for this! Do you really want to throw away your humanity just so you can keep up with the new trends imposed by this society?"

The words carved like a knife. Her hesitation was always due to this. Of failing her father's wishes. It just seems so odd that someone whose spent their life surrounded by machines would say these kind of things about them.

"Ahh, perfect."

She heard a voice call out. Turning around, she saw a woman emerge and sign the form she brought, acknowledging the order. "U-umm...! I hope you avail of our services again!" Hikaru bowed as she took the form. Yet, the woman didn't go away yet. She seemed to have taken a great deal of curiosity on her legs.

"I was told about you and your... legs. Would you like to sign up for first class service in case you get issues with those legs?"

"A-ah! There's no need! When they break down, I can usually fix them myself. Hehehe..." Hikaru giggled. She may be far from being an adept designer and builder but, she can at least do some maintenance. Though, her curious senses were tingling again. "If I'm not intruding too much--do you think it's possible for me to watch how you do your maintenance works? I'm quite curious regarding machines see?" Hikaru leaned in. She was about to cross another line again.

Sandra walked carefully to where her personal belongings were and grabbed her wallet. She'd gotten the job done and now she needed to pay them for the excellent work they'd done for her. She started to play around with the settings on her eyes a little. She'd never realized how poor her vision was before, at least by comparison with the amazing clarity bestowed by her new eyes. The settings went from "so sharp you could cut yourself on the clarity" to "normal" but she decided on something in between that. No need to hurt herself but if she didn't want fantastic vision what was she about to pay all this money for?

She then checked her email, in her head. She really didn't care what anyone thought, but that was some really tight stuff right there. After another minute of playing around on the internet she put on some Bon Jovi and started taking a video. She'd never felt so alive, though there were some sensations that one didn't miss until they weren't there anymore. For example, not only was she no longer breathing, but she didn't seem to have a pulse anymore either.

It felt incredibly strange, but she supposed that it was just one more thing she'd have to get used to.

"Sure thing. If it's an internship then I can offer that to you. However if you are seeking a part time job, you would have to formally apply first. You seem interested in cyborgs and such. At your age, I am surprised you didn't take advantage of the full body conversion with as much interest as you have. If you do decide to actually do it, I can offer you the choice of down payment or if you get a job at Cygen, it even is half price."

"S-she even has a better sales pitch than I do..." Hikaru thought as she chuckled nervously and shook her head. "A-ah! Never mind. I'm not old enough to take internships without my parents consent and...I don't think I can handle another job." Hikaru politely refused. As she was to head out, she noticed the woman who got converted earlier.

"Is she alright? Does any part of her body feel strange? She's not going to suddenly start attacking people with laser beams and machine guns would she?" She wondered. Since it is clear that it wasn't going to be easy watching it at the place where all "the magic happens", she decided to stake it out and wait for the woman to finish up.

When Sandra asked for a mirror, Delia grabbed into a shelf and pulled out a mirror from it. "Here you go. I modeled your appearance just like you asked. if you notice like hair thin lines across certain parts of your body such as the neck or where joints meet, that is because otherwise I would have to replace the skin each time maintenance is done and that would cost money. So it sort of makes it easier. It goes unnoticed to the human eye unless someone actually has a good eye for detail."

Then the delivery girl asked a question that made Delia chuckle: "You really watch to many movies. Military grade modifications are illegal for civilian use and Cygen has a policy to not alter the state of mind of clients, plus it is against the law to do so. She might feel a bit different at first however, she will get used to it. The only thing that she may have to watch out for is that she will possess a bit more strength than normal. If you have questions for her, why dont you ask her yourself?"

Sandra looked at herself in the mirror. It was exactly like she'd imagined it, her new, ideal self in the technicolor reality that was her life now. She smiled energetically and beamed at Delia, "It's amazing." she says, not quiet identifying her new body as herself yet, but entirely sure that after a week of getting used to it she would be 100% on top of being this new person.

It was kinda like being high. She wondered to herself if she would still be at all addicted or even capable of enjoying her favorite enemy, but gleefully thought that the less she had to deal with that kind of thing in the future the better, and having wifi in her head would probably more than make up for not being able to do drugs anymore. She waited for her card back and toyed with herself absently.

Hikaru laughed. It was a rather silly assumption but then again--

"--The only thing that she may have to watch out for is that she will possess a bit more strength than normal. If you have questions for her, why dont you ask her yourself?"

"As a matter of fact, I think I will." Hikaru walked towards the newly converted Cyborg and asked. "Ummm...you don't feel odd or anything right? There are no weird sensations permeating all over your body is there?"

Hikaru observed her as she waited for a reply. "So this is a full cyborg...Due to being below 18 meters high, her humanoid frame is rather stable, as her center of gravity isn't too far from the ground. Proportions are just right--" Hikaru glanced up and chuckled. From the woman's point of view, being inspected this thoroughly by an outsider must be annoying. "Too perfect actually. Skeleton's still human though, I wonder what kind of metal did they use in the other parts. Titanium seems plausible but, it isn't a perfect metal, not to mention the costs. Well, I guess with improved abilities to mine for titanium ore on the moon, its price has diminished significantly. Oh, and it seems her legs are much more advanced than mine."

Hikaru wondered about the components though. Turning over to the woman on the counter, Hikaru raised a question. "Excuse me? Can I just ask? Are all your parts mass-produced in this facility? Or do you import them elsewhere?" Hikaru remembers the parts she just delivered.

"--The amount that he's ordered are enough to make a full-flown cyborg body, complete with munitions and everything."

Her thoughts earlier weren't baseless. Their shop was operating for a long time and, so far, her boss hasn't been the type to tell a lie. He explicitly stated that armaments and munitions were part of the bundle but for what? "A-ah well, I just thought that, with your advanced facilities, you could've cut costs by having your manufacturing plant in this location as well." Hikaru glanced at the cyborg girl again.

"The next phase of human evolution huh?"

After processing the payment, Delia handed the card back to Sandra. "One more thing, most of the parts in your body including your skeleton are made of a lightweight titanium alloy. If you ever get mugged and someone stabs or shoots you. It will only result in skin damage, no parts should be damaged in such cases." Delia explained.

She then began unpacking the boxes revealing weapons and ammo in the first box. "Perfect. The guns for the cybernetic police with rubber bullets and tranquilizers. Cygen was given a contract to supply the cyborgs at the police department with non-lethal weaponry. The only thing is that the police must gain permission from Cygen to even be able to use them. Same will go for soldiers once we get that up and running, however it is more strict with them and unauthorized access to integrated weapons results in punishment through agonizing pain. Cygen is the only supplier of cybernetics in the city and the main supplier in the nation. Politicians aren't so worried about conditions and consequences as long as they get their supersoldiers. Luckily, Cygen would never allow such to be used against civilians in case a government is so malevolent to even consider taking arms against its own citizens. And what are they going to do against us anyways? Most cyborg employees are equipped with hardened skin that sort of acts like kevlar. We also offer it for civilians but it is expensive. Only downside is that you are more visibly cyborg. Look at me for instance, my skin shines and you can see where joints meet and that the facial skin is in two sections." Delia said.

The fact that she could say this so easily was because no one could really provide proof in case they were to tell anyone and secondly, Delia was a somewhat important person in Cygen, owning a branch and having a decision making position at HQ.

Delia listened to Hikaru's question and then answered: "Well I got a machine that builds the body and makes most of the parts. I just have to manually build in any parts that aren't produced here." Delia found it to be a shame that the girl was so dependent on her parents to decide whether she could become a full cyborg or not. Maybe I could do something to convince her parents. I will have her become a full body cyborg. Delia thought.

Sandra poked herself a couple times, practically sarcastic, being somewhat hurt by the way she said the last bit, "Nope, still feels relatively normal. And if this is the next step in human evolution I'm all for it." she says a bit defensively, "I've been waiting years for this." She crossed her arms over her chest a little awkwardly after taking her card from Delia, still not used to being the shape that she now was, "Just gotta get used to it. I'm still a person."

She then really had no reason to stick around, unless she wanted to keep talking to these two, and she wasn't sure she wanted to do that, between Hikaru's silent judging and Delia getting on with her business, which she couldn't begrudge, "If you'll excuse me I think I'll be leaving now." she says a bit quietly, still being rather shy about herself, the energy having gone into the previous outburst having taken all of the boldness she could muster for the day.

She turned carefully and started to make her way out, relearning how to walk every step.

"Well I got a machine that builds the body and makes most of the parts. I just have to manually build in any parts that aren't produced here."

"Manual assembly? Won't that typically cost more considering the fact that the process will take longer and quality control will become tighter?" Hikaru asked. She found it strange that Cygen offers such a cheap service considering mechanical processes and manufacturing and, as the woman pointed out, manual construction means they'll have to pay more for labor and maintenance.

She glanced at the newly converted Cyborg, who had just started to leave the shop. "Most likely...she got annoyed by my constant ramblings. Terribly sorry!" Hikaru issued an apology in her head. As with some of her friends, it would seem none would last her for long.

"Well, if all your components are standardized like these--" Hikaru picks up one inventory piece from her delivery. It was a 15 gauge stainless steel pipe, probably to be used as part of maintenance service to the factory's pipelines. "A fully automated, injection molding process can produce the same kind, with the same properties by the hundred per minute. Still, for you guys to make them on the spot--" Hikaru felt her phone vibrating. It was her boss, telling her to head back.

"A-ah! S-so sorry for rambling on! I'll be taking my leave now!" Hikaru ran out after collecting her payment. Hopping on her transporter, she rode out to return to her place of work. Along the way, she still kept thinking. The words the new cyborg let slip resonated in her mind.

"--still feels relatively normal. And if this is the next step in human evolution I'm all for it."

"Evolution...In the first place, how can we even say that a species has "evolved"? Isn't that a word we use to describe things who have transcended their physical limitations and adapted into the changing society, onwards to a higher plane of existence? But, watching all these people walk by--it seems that nothing's changed at all." Hikaru passed into the more economic side of the city, where business was bustling and everyone's trying to get somewhere at some point. "No one's even trying to make new friends here. They say we're advanced but, it's practically the same Anno Domini where people only care about themselves---Arrgghhh!!! I'm starting to think like dad--Whoah!" Hikaru was surprised as a car suddenly careened dangerously to her side, forcing her off the road and knocking her down. The people inside stopped to look at her. They were a bunch of teenage boys.

"Excuse me but, do you require any assistance?" Hikaru thought she heard one of them speak but turns out, it was just an assisting robot. "No, I'm fine." Hikaru shook her head and petted the machine, if only for the reason that it was shaped like a dog.

"Hey, are you crazy? Talking to a machine--" One of the boys kicked the robot down, much to Hikaru's anger.

"What was that for?!" Hikaru shouted angrily. The boy checked her from head to toe and noticed her mechanical leg.

"Tch, useless machines. I'm off!" They boys sped away, leaving Hikaru in the dust. The passerby only shot them a glance but, none even bothered to help. "No one even bothered helping. Even as humans, they're no different than the machines--" Hikaru cut herself off at that. She turned to the damaged assisting robot. After lifting up her transporter, she carried the machine and placed it on the cargo hold. "Well, at least this little guy offered to help..." Determined to fix him, she started the transporter and went on her way.

"Right...nothing's changed at all..."