Away from the celebration and with some time to himself, John just took a moment to reflect on his recent instincts.
It wasn't so much a pull, or an obsession, or a warning…
But John felt they had to move on. Some undefined pressure. A hint.
This wasn't an issue. By this point, he had managed to download massive amounts of raw data from the Borg Collective, and considering that they had decided to mentally migrate nearly entirely into simulated spaces to enhance efficiency?
Well, this bunch of data was a VERY comprehensive amount of technology that John had managed to acquire!
Not to mention that Duck Dynasty itself was still slowly mutating into a distributed simulation, one that could shift itself from hardware to hardware, planet to planet, with redundant and duplicate portions spread out across multiple solar systems.
It wasn't going to be going anywhere.
Plus, even if he had forgotten something? The Duck Does were safe at [[Home]], so if John ever needed something else from here in the future after they left he could just write a letter or request a package.
Just like how Steve could still send interesting new Essence Blocks and stuff, or how Phineas would send fun postcards and stuff.
No, the problem with moving on?
John hadn't acquired a Pocket Pal yet.
For the first time in many steps of this journey, something didn't feel right about TRYING to grab one, either. Not something new, not something he hadn't already felt a connection towards.
Was it because there was a feathered variant being left behind? A backup John to fix what's wrong?
Or how Temptation and Grace's new bodies might technically count as new pals? Although the enhanced organic versions were still being grown, since he wanted to do it once and do it right… No, that didn't seem to be it.
What would be his new anchor? His new proof of freedom?
John didn't know.
But right now, with Party the Apartment and Debby the Debris and Poppy the Balloon and Spike the Pinecone and Mr. Pointy the Second (The wooden Stake)... What was emotionally binding him HERE?
What made him feel alive? What represented THIS step of his pathway?
The only thing that came close was his mess of a body out there, outside the simulation. Well, not so much the horrific trash pile of random junk shoved into a mound… But more the memories.
Of the simulated Borg woman who cradled him. Learning with the other members of his training group, growing up. Laughing at the confusing attempts by the simulation to raise him to accomplish an impossible role in a larger society. Struggling to adapt to the ever growing list of equipment being tied into his bizarre Body, each step of the way…
But even though he could simply shove the entire mess into his Pocket easily, that didn't quite feel right.
Close, but not what he needed.
As Jessica was working with Grace and Temptation, helping them design variant Bodies that would better blend in with potential future locations, he did something he hadn't done since entering this digital world…
John logged out.
Instantly, his slick mechanical form was once more a massive mound of conflicting hardware only held together by Borg ingenuity and the collective science of thousands of cultures.
Reflexes from the growth simulation reasserted themselves, and he easily began running the deconfliction diagnostic routines and activating the recovery procedures.
Alone in a construction bay, hooked up to raw power and the Network of the Borg Collective, John felt his confusing internal systems whirl and dance and twirl, struggling just to continue to exist.
And he searched within.
This component? That circuit board? These tubes? Maybe some of the older components, the ones that required less maintenance, or one of these that he used most often in his memories?
One by one, he discarded each potential Pal, searching for something… Something that represented the Essence of all of this. A core element.
In the end, his manipulators isolated something that no one could see.
An anomaly within his own hardware.
One of the only survivors. One that had been injected into his brain stem at birth, his most earliest care takers…
John felt what was left of his strange face pull into a smile. Or try to, at least.
You. "I'm going to call you Nanny. Nanny the Borg
Nanite."
Feeling something inside him on a fundamental level relax, and help him find his balance… John carefully moved Nanny to join her new friends in his Pocket.
It would require even MORE security to ensure her safety even in worlds without this bizarre level of Science to keep her stable…
Although considering how absurd his Pocket defenses were by THIS point such actions were probably unneeded. Still, best be safe than sorry.
John would take care of her, just like she took care of him way back then. "Welcome to my Pocket, Nanny… We're going to go on an adventure!"
The rest of his body began to rapidly decay and collapse as John discarded the vast majority of the mess and connected directly to the simulation once more.
His Body, this entire chunk of the facility? They were not required anymore.
This area would be recycled and reused… And until the girls were ready to move on, he might as well also join the simulation and wait a bit.
But until they left, and for a long time after… He'd at least have Nanny safely stored away.
Plus, he had so much to tell her! "So first of all, let me tell you all about Patriarch Wedgie of the Apple Slice Clan! He was my VERY FIRST Pocket Pal! And he was like a NINJA! He had a bunch of little apple slice friends, and…"
For a bit, on his own, a man with the mind of a young boy regaled his newest friend about his many adventures. About friends found, and lost… But not forgotten. About the worlds they came from, and the new connections he met along the way!
And if he didn't tell his sister or his other people about this little hidden moment, sharing his life with lifeless loved ones, that was fine.
It might be silly to others, but it meant something to him.
And sometimes, that was enough.
~~~Pocket System~~~
Jessica tapped the schematic. "Less is more here. Every alteration and module is just more maintenance and upkeep you are tacking onto your day."
Seeing Grace pout, she sighed. "I'm not saying you can't go this direction just… Let's configure a new basic body, as simple as can be. It is ALWAYS easier to add on features than to remove something you love from a design."
She pointed to the side. "Temptation has already designed a dozen or so bodies." Mostly to appeal to various potential fetishes, but whatever. "So don't restrict yourself to a single Body, don't try to make something perfect here!"
Jessica leaned back in her chair. "One as basic as possible. Another body as efficient as you can get it. A main one, that you ACTUALLY want to run, if no conflicts occur with the new location when we arrive… And maybe more, as long as we have something basic to fall back on in case there are issues."
Grace pouted. "Yes, that… That sounds logical." She sighed as she shifted the multilayered drone and holographic wing setup into this new third category. "I suppose having a good fallback option in case of damage or harsh local conditions would be prudent."
Temptation giggled! "I don't know WHY you only designed a few Bodies to begin with! Look at my catgirl pattern, the tail actually shifts based on my mood!"
Jessica pointed at the giggling demoness. "But FIRST she made very basic organic and inorganic Bodies and a couple that can be used if we are trapped somewhere without food or with insufficient electrical sources! And who knows: If we are lucky, John might never even SEE these backup Bodies, alright?"
Grace gripped her white dress. "Alright. I just… I want to look good though." She waved at the near doll like 'basic' option. "This barely even looks humanoid."
Her sister snorted. "I don't know, the bald look can be pretty sexy on guys or gals. Though it is a bit rough that our ability to function would be so reduced, the whole point is that this is a safety fallback. Something for us to use until Master gets us up and running again."
Jessica hesitated… "Maybe I should design some options for myself?"
After all, there could be future scenarios like THIS Realm where John couldn't risk bringing her body out into the world. Having a disposable platform she could control would let her safely interact with new places without risking anything permanent happening.
Temptation grinned! "Hell yeah, let's rock some Bods! Check out my extra designs, I made some for underwater work and this one for flight…"
Grace huffed. "You just wanted to be a Harpy and Mermaid."
She didn't even pause. "Yes... Because half humans are sexy! Plus, you know: Breathing underwater is pretty cool."
Jessica couldn't help a small grin, but tried to move on. "Perhaps later… Now, what do you two think would look good for my own configuration? Keep in mind that I don't really want to have us end up as triplettes. I love my brother, but not THAT way."
Grace nodded easily enough, but Temptation seemed to be pondering something with a certain look that put her on edge.
Best keep THAT girl distracted. "Right, so how do I modify this altered Borg organic DNA to more closely resemble my own genetics?"
Temptation hummed. "First of all, we need to include the excess genes for wings."
Grace lit up! "Yes, we can be wing mates! Oooh, go for the feathers instead of that leathery bat thing SHE keeps trying to get me to use…"
Oops. "...Maybe later? I want to get a base design first before adding extra limbs."
Temptation nodded. "True, when I made all my feathers connected to prehensile tentacles it took FOREVER to learn how to correctly manipulate them."
Jessica froze, her interaction with the design system pausing. "You did what now?"
The demonesses black wings shifted into a chaotic dance of individual limbs each tipped with glistening black feathers. "Yeah, it was a great idea! Still not good enough to use them for tickle play but if I reinforced the 'feathers' with a bit of focus it turns into a LOT of flexible knives."
Her horrific feather show reshuffled back into innocent looking black wings. "But again: Tricky to handle. Not a beginner mod to go with, no doubt."
Grace hummed. "Then it would be best to avoid my feather drone system as well. While it is trivial for me to individually navigate my 30,000 or so aerial feathers, it might be a little difficult for a new user to adapt to the constant mental input it requires."
Sheesh. "So 'no wings' for now it is!"
Grace nodded. "The tail options are likely out too, I suspect."
Temptation bounced on her toes! "Oooh, go for extra eyes! They never see it coming!"
Her sister waved her off. "Shh, later! Jessica: Let's just get you started with detecting the base genetics your body is already working with, alright? We can adjust the final details of the design later."
Thank goodness. "That would be great, thanks."
Hopefully she could establish a few spare body schematics before John got back WITHOUT tacking on extra feet or whatever.
~~~Pocket System~~~
John blinked at the massive number of Crafting recipes. "All of them?"
Jessica grumbled. "Yeah, or I'll never hear the end of it from your girlfriends. I thought shopping was annoying, but apparently it is NOTHING compared to crafting new Bodies! And each one needed custom attachments and modules and prosthetics and magical enhancements and don't even get me STARTED on the outfits those two tried to push on me…"
He could vaguely feel a sense of teasing and humor from the two girls… Well, at least it was a bit of harmless fun and a bonding experience. "I mean, I don't mind building them and holding them in a temporal lock, sure! I freed up a LOT of space in my Pocket after enhancing my pattern scanning and replication abilities."
Now only stuff with emotional importance was actually secured in his Inventory. Everything else would be rebuilt as required, drastically simplifying his storage options and allowing him to boost the security measures once more now that so much 'space' had been freed up.
John set off the Bodies to be built. "Which one do you want to use next Realm? Better yet, maybe rank them all in order of preference? That way if the new world doesn't support a specific feature or ability I can just automatically switch out to the next Body on the list for you."
Jessica huffed. "That sounds… Exhausting. For now, just go with 'Borg_Organic_100p' as my main and my original body as a fallback. The new Body doesn't have all these useful features or weaponry or whatever, but it still mostly looks like me and can handle damn near any alien environment without long term damage. I'll make a priority list for the other ones later… Much later."
True, the biological enhancement of 'Borg Flesh' was pretty damned extreme. "Can do!"
As even her current Body was simply a simulation, it was trivial to shift her stored Body away to 'even MORE secured storage' while her newly selected avatar Body began to be Crafted/grown/replicated/duplicated. "Any plans for our next stop?"
She huffed. "No. After the chaos our LAST attempt caused trying to control where we ended up? I mean, we got lucky, yeah… But this could have gone BAD. You seem to have an innate talent with picking 'appropriate' destinations as it is, and us trying to control the madness just makes things go strange."
Meh, fair enough. "I myself am hoping the next step of our trip will be somewhere without advanced space travel and thousands of galactic species… I STILL haven't organized all the information collected so far!"
Well, not to the level he desired at least. It was all tucked away and being indexed a dozen or so times with different criteria, but it just didn't feel the SAME without going over it himself!
His sister gave a wry smile. "Well, just try your best. The girls doing alright? Are we ready to leave?"
John felt his mind check on Temptation and Grace, still stored away in his Pocket like from the very beginning but now actively submitting their OWN avatar Bodies for production now that they had mentally disconnected from the simulation. "Yep."
Plus Nanny was snug as a nanobug in a rug with his other Pocket Pals, so they were good to go!
Jessica straightened out her simulated suit. "Then let's do this. Disconnect from Simulation."
[[Confirmed.]]
John watched as she burst into sparkles and vanish.
As for himself, his body was already gone outside and the connection here to Duck Dynasty Dimension was pretty much only bound by his willpower. "Me too. Disconnect please, and send us on."
[[Confirmed.]]
[[
Transfer.]]
~~~Pocket System~~~
[[System connection reestablished.]]
[[Deploying HOST.]]
~~~Pocket System~~~
John GASPED! "Holy SHIT I have a Body again! One that isn't made up of hardware and conflicting directives!"
He gripped his knees as he tried to calm his over excited organs and… Well, his over excited EVERYTHING at this juncture.
Note to self: Do NOT transfer before re-establishing a Body/Mind/Soul setup FIRST!
This was VERY disconcerting! Not an insignificant amount of pain too...
The gravel shifted under his feet as he adjusted. "Hoo boy… Breathe in… Breathe out…"
"Hey mister, are you alright?"
Not even looking, John waved her off. "Just… Just give me a second, please."
The fairly attractive orange haired woman wearing a brown shirt and a black skirt seemed easy going enough. "You sure? You seemed to have just… Collapsed here, near my office stop. Doesn't exactly seem like you are doing great."
She held out a hand, helping John to slowly stumble up. "Yeah, I've had worse… Just…"
John blinked as he saw… "Is that a dinosaur?"
The woman blinked at his confusion. "Yes? Though I don't know him personally, he's the bus line that I use to get to work every day."
The massive head snorted. "Meh, it's a living."
Then the man sitting on said head tapped his riding dino. "Come on, we still need to drop these folks over at
Hollyrock and Vine. EVERYBODY ON!?"
Some grumbling came from the stone seating mounted on the creature's back, but it was the same general annoyance that all commuters shared.
The bus driver (Tamer? Dino-Rider?) gave a nod. "Right, let's get a move on then!"
The woman ignored most of this as John's expression was causing her concern. "Are you SURE that you're alright?"
John absently nodded. "Good thing the girls designed a few Bodies that don't require advanced technology."
She blinked. "I'm… I'm sorry?"
Oh right, don't ignore the local. "Nothing, nothing." Smile! Even if your everything feels a bit raw, smile it off! "Hey, my name is John Doe! I just got here and I am… I am VERY lost."
She snorted. "I could have guessed, that spill looked like a Yabba-dabba-doozy!" She held out a hand. "
Pebbles Flintstone-Rubble, charmed to meet you."
John tried to shake her hand as he began listing to one side, still woozy. "Great! Hey, I don't want to be a bother or anything, but uh… Can we find somewhere I can sit down? Maybe have some water? I don't want to get my sister and the girls when I am THIS out of it."
Pebble's eyes lit up in intrigue at the new information, as she nodded! "Let's head over to my office. My husband always stops by and leaves a few snacks for me, so I'm sure there will be something to settle your stomach."
Good, things felt very… Very woozy right now. "Lead on… Slowly, if you can."
Wow, shifting Realms without a Body had some ODD side effects! "Just uh… Just to verify, the dinosaur from earlier WAS talking, yes?"
She blinked, and was now looking less interested in the mystery of John and more concerned for his mental health. "Of course? Why wouldn't he… You know what, let's get you that water right now. Just… Breathe slowly and stay calm, alright?"
So a world with talking animals. Cool!
A tilting world?
Oh dear. "One second, I think I am… about to faint… for a little while."
Everything rapidly went dark as he heard her call out to him.
Yep, that was concern. What a nice lady!
