"...Orders received, deploying."
"...Orders received, deploying."
"...Orders received, deploying."
John blinked as he disconnected from his recharging station, his robotic right arm reflexively going through its automatic adjustment routine, setting off a cascade of similar procedures through the rest of his body.
Raw data in a compressed matrix was deposited into his mind. "Orders received, deploying."
"...Orders received, deploying."
"...Orders received, deploying."
Whoo boy, that had been a rush! "Hey Five of Twelve, I'm off! See you guys later?"
The cyborg gave a stiff nod. "Acknowledged, Six of Nine."
Heh, 69. Thanks for getting me 'assigned' to that group, System. I'm free to go now, right?
[[HOST is 'deployed' to the newly formed 'classified' roaming security patrol group 8322320073, led by HOST, followed by an additional number of 'classified' drones.]]
Sweet. "Right, let's do this."
His right eye shifted data feeds bringing up a map even as he felt the collective connection to the others slide back further, a copy of his Mind interacting with it while he was busy.
The construction district? Yeah, that was probably the best plan. Designing a custom '
Borg Alcove', or charging station, would give him some time to look over the specific blueprints involved and start modifying that mess.
After all, the technology was advanced and efficient and redundant and all that HERE, in an environment where the Borg have dominated everything for so many years… But elsewhere?
Well, not all future locations will have unlimited power, materials, etc. Nor will people just ignore a glowing green maintenance alcove inserted into the wall of the living room.
John began cheerfully wandering in the correct general direction, his body reforming itself in odd ways as his blacklisted advanced right arm began creating a toe tappingly fun tune with the various bits as they extended and rotated and all that.
Because who wouldn't, right?
The INSTANT he had realized the mechanical parts of his new arm weren't silenced for efficiency reasons, John had started recording every action and mapping which note they were closest to matching.
Like, SURE his limb was the universe's best experimental multitool designed by the overlords of this reality, with modular components that could shift and reconnect to accomplish tasks covering any need imaginable (Even establish a fabrication facility or a refinement plant or inflate balloons for birthday parties, you name it!), but more than all that?
It could make a sick beat!
Cost nearly no power to do so too, unlike many of his other options, self altering body limbs, new technological/biological features, and similar abilities.
It was a BIT more than standard compared to your average Borg, really.
…Let's just say, when John claimed his new hardware was blacklisted? That might be underselling it a bit.
No, really! During the educational and group activity cycles everyone else had Borg standard eye enhancements and connectivity modules and prosthetics while JOHN had so much hardware attached that you kind of had to squint to see where the flesh peaked through!
Not to mention the exotic materials used. Thank goodness the economy didn't exist anymore, because John had basically the net worth of a few solar systems crammed into his frankenstein of a body!
Seriously, he had a dozen or so organic and mechanical brain modules added to this mess over his body's enhancement procedure just to keep the entire bundle from accidentally exploding itself due to unexpected hardware interactions.
Yet the rest? Even the ones with more complicated limbs and other such options mostly stuck to using only two arms and legs most of the time! That felt a bit boring and unimaginative, really.
Not that it bothered him much, his Body had always been a replaceable commodity at best to begin with so he had no issue messing with it as much as he wanted. "How's my access level?"
[[The vast majority of schematics will be available for further examination, due to HOST's need for future maintenance.]]
Um. "But what's my level for accessing additional data?"
[[Assuming process 8323201211 and 3821323127 are followed while accessing privilege escalation procedures 1023382930 until the lock over database 382…]]
Sigh. Layman's terms, please!
[[...]]
Oh come on, I've been stuck in the equivalence of decades of school! Work with me here!
[[...Access Level == 'Yes.']]
See? Was that so hard?
His System ignored him, but that was fine because the point to point teleportation grid node was at the end of the hall.
Now let's go copy ALL THE THINGS and try to make some useful stuff!
John Doe meandered along towards his destination as his mechanical limb continued to click and clack a wonderful tune that matched the complicated walking sound of his seven legs. "School's out… For… Summer! Bah bam bah de dah… School's out… For… Ever!"
Woo! He stood on the node, compressing his form into a metallic nad flesh pillar of power. "Transport to node 6632211192."
[[Acknowledged.]]
And he was off!
~~~Pocket System~~~
Jessica blinked. "Wha… John?"
The massive mound of hardware with barely visible flesh waived several limbs. "Good morning, sis! We're here!"
…Okay. "New look?"
And the entire mess shifted into new patterns as it slumped. "A bit of a story, really. Turns out, our new vacation spot doesn't really HAVE children anymore. They birth babies and age us up physically fast, while we mentally grow up in a digital simulation." A chunk of metal twirled and shifted. "Oh, and they also add stuff too as our bodies grow and adjust, like tools or prosthetics or whatever."
Huh.
Carefully looking down… She saw her own perfectly normal limbs. No excess bits. Which was good so far. "Am I going to end up looking like you?"
The mechanical monstrosity shrugged. "Nah, this is a side effect of my defenses. When the automated system tried to assign me 'basic' requirements, my System overwrote my body requirements with a longer list."
Her brother's limbs began to unfold, revealing a confusing chaos of tools and emitters and manipulators. "This bit over here is part of a generic fabrication system, that chunk is for this experimental food replicator, the wire mess is a segment of my universal translator, which is REALLY experimental because there is basically only one language now…"
Jessica walked over to a nearby chair and sat heavily. "My brother is now an appliance store."
He nodded. "Yeah, basically. But there are upsides! LOADS of upsides to this chaos!"
And his body shimmered, shifting into a fairly tall teenager with metallic limbs. "This is the body I am currently designing, using all the schematics and repair documents that my mess of a junk pile out there requires to keep running. I'll be honest though, I'm moving more towards a robotic endpoint than cyborg at this point… Other than the AMAZING immunity system and the various improvements to cellular structure and D.N.A. and stuff, anything I can do with fleshy organs and stuff technology can do better. Mostly."
She blinked at her attractive younger brother. "Wait, you can shapeshift now? Can I do that too?"
John blinked, which was MUCH easier to see with his face exposed and the fifty or so extra organs no longer visible. "Huh? Oh, nah. Not easily, at least. Remember that digital simulation thing I told you about? Most of Borg society works in one of those, like this one."
The world around her shifted and then returned to stability as her brother pulled up a video screen. "I'm still over there, connected up to a modified Alcove in an 'experimental testing' lab. It does the same stuff most of these other charging stations do, just without… You know, the remote overrides and mind reformatting options and monitoring subsystems and all that."
Jessica leaned forward studying the image. "...I don't see myself in there."
Her brother chuckled. "Yeah, I'm keeping your Body in storage for this trip. Safe in Pocket. Instead I've connected you up to the same digital simulation as me so you can hang out and relax here without having your Body discovered and modified! A real win-win scenario, really."
She rolled her eyes and pointed at her unmodified limbs. "Won't THIS be a bit obvious? I don't exactly have a toaster with LEDs or wires or tubes anywhere."
John shook his head. "That's easy to change with avatar alteration, and the systems here support that ANYWAY so newborns or drones changing work roles have time to adjust to their new hardware. Just pick what sort of style you want to aim for and I will have the simulation slowly adjust you so you can get used to it."
Her eyes flickered towards the video feed of a massive mess of technology. "I don't think I will EVER get used to becoming something like that, sorry."
John blinked… Then caught on. "Ha! I mean, you CAN try out my body, but it is NOT easy to operate with a standard humanoid brain. No, I mean pick something from the wider hive mind population."
A series of images began to scroll past them both, all female, all her age bracket. "Most functions dictate what sort of prosthetics and modifications one needs to begin with, but I've got my own classified roaming security patrol group, 8322320073. You can just pick something that looks cool and we can add or change it as desired by just claiming your classified alterations are needed for efficient handling of missions."
Her brother focused on one limb. "Highly suggest a robotic right arm, by the way. At least one. MOST of this society has sort of consolidated towards that path, since back before the biological issues were fixed it was easier to handle one massive mechanic to organic interface than a billion of them."
The display of arms scrolled by. "The multi-tooled limb thing is so widespread that a lot of features in this Galaxy expect it by now, and all the old issues are pretty much handled by now."
Hmm? "Old issues?"
An image of a strange claw-like thing was displayed. "During war, the disposable drones were just given this mess. It's a weapon and analysis suite and all that, but since the owner wasn't expected to live long they didn't bother to give it all the bling and whistles we have today."
John pulled up… Normal looking limbs. "Now that conflict is pretty much over, the robotic limbs have full functionality. The ability to shift towards simulating biological symmetry with your other limbs, providing the sensation of touch, self repair, and MUCH more expensive components and materials than the junk shoved into field units way back then."
Jessica blinks at the softly glowing lights on the metallic limbs being displayed. It almost seemed like a very beautiful and strange tattoo rather than a fake arm. "I guess the old stuff was like our bulky 'cell phone bricks' and these are cutting edge models?"
Her brother snorted. "Worse, the old junk is like using a campfire to send smoke signals while the new equipment literally has supercomputers built into it."
He waved his new Avatar's OWN silver arm and it began rapidly shifting from shape to shape. "These things cost stupid amounts of resources to make, but can adjust to nearly all species and job requirements. I have a literal database FULL of pretested and designed modules and applications for it, and it's been studied and enhanced and improved over decades by a race that can conduct mental only research at an accelerated pace within their simulated environment."
Wow… That DID sound pretty damn impressive. Still… "Then why do YOU look like someone threw a bunch of mechanical junk into a blender?"
John grinned. "Because I got lucky! My System gave impossible 'new role' requirements to the automated training simulation when I got here, so I ended up with ALL the things. All of them."
His body on screen began altering itself as he pointed to bits. "Because each component is connected to different restricted research databases, I have to have partial access to ensure I can properly follow the 'upcoming tests' for the prototypes hooked up to me. But after you get 'partial access' to THIS many projects and systems?"
The video feed vanished as John flexed his new silver limbs. "Well, my access isn't so partial anymore."
Jessica was scrolling through the images of… Honestly, very attractive women who seemed to be in sexy cosplay outfits. "I thought your System automatically hacked stuff like this anyway? Don't you have full access already?"
Her brother froze, mid-flex. "Ah… I mean, yes? But that doesn't count, all that stuff is automatic. THIS access however is stuff I got on my own!"
She looked up from one of her potential choices. "I thought you said your System caused this mess by replacing your body requirements as part of your defenses?"
And John… Pouted. "Sis, let me have this? I managed to gain full access from my partial connection to a repair database!"
Aww… "And I am very proud of you, bro."
His silver eyes lit up as he puffed out his chest. "Yep! Turns out the security levels dropped a bit, or at least weren't upgraded at the same pace as the provided hacking subroutines, after years and years of peace and all that."
Hmm. "That's nice, John." There was probably a logical reason for the armored chest equipment, but as it also functioned as underboob support and looked sexy as hell… Yep, add it to the list. "So where are the girls?"
John blinked as he pulled up a set of project windows. "Still in Pocket, and for now unconnected to the network. I'm designing full gynoid bodies for them both and trying to connect it Metaphorically to some sort of fully genetic alternate form for Realms without this level of Technology or Magic or Essence. Wings and stuff don't make much biological sense for humanoids though, so the non-robotic bits are giving me trouble."
Oh, these optical sensors looked like a crown! Yes please! Added to the list. "Are there alien genetics you can use as a template in the database? I know we would have a few back in MiB."
He huffed as he continued typing, cables deploying from his spine and hooking into various ports on the floor. "Yeah, but that junk SUCKS compared to the 'Assimilated Organic Prime' samples they use to grow us nowadays! You turn this stuff into human shape and you get someone beyond powerful right off the bat, with astounding regeneration and psionic potential and biological immortality, at least when it comes to aging, and all sorts of stuff!"
Wow, that impressive? "Stupidly enhanced genetics, huh? Might explain why EVERYONE in this database is so damned attractive."
John froze mid tap, even his mental interactions pausing. "Shit, Temptation is going to turn me into a Simp in seconds with her new body, isn't she?"
Heh. "Like you weren't already a…"
And her mouth went silent as John blushed while glaring at her. "Ahh. Oh no. There was an audio glitch. How unfortunate. I'll get right on fixing that, don't worry. Just stay calm."
Oh you little brat!
Well, whatever. She still had a whole galaxy of sexy female examples of her age and body type to review and use to design a custom set of enhancements for her new simulation body.
She'd prank him back for this later.
Or just film him when Temptation gets a hold of him. Heh!
