| Generated by Google Flow text-to-video AI software, powered by Veo 3.1 |
Renata breaks through her chrysalis and emerges anew. She falls onto the
floor, some gunk falling out with her. She’s not slimy, but she’s not
entirely clean either. The light. The light is too much. “Turn it off.
Please.”
“Lights to eleven percent,” Hrockas commands.
Quidel bends over, but stops. “Do you...do you want me to help, or not touch
you, or...?”
“Help would be nice,” Renata agrees, holding her hand up so Quidel can take
it, and lift her onto her feet.
While they’re doing that, Azad is opening a drawer, and pulling out a towel.
He tosses it to her so she can start wiping off the pilly gunk.
“Mirror?” she requests.
“Mirror,” Hrockas echoes.
One of the wall panels transitions from an opaque white to something more
reflective. Renata pivots over to it to get a better look at herself. She
doesn’t look extremely unlike she did before, but she’s definitely in a new
body. It’s weird, seeing this stranger move exactly as she does. It’s going
to take some getting used to.
“I don’t understand,” Quidel admits.
“We realized that the emergent bomb—as I decided to call it,” Renata begins,
“was a product of my body, not my mind. So they uploaded my consciousness to
a central server, and sent a lifeless husk up into outer space where it
could do no harm when it exploded.”
“I sent it up there,” Azad clarifies. “I teleported as far as I could, above
the ecliptic plane.” Funny, he doesn’t seem like the type of brag.
“I appreciate it,” Renata says to him.
“No, I surmised that much,” Quidel says. “I just mean, what is this thing?
It’s not an artificial gestation tank, nor an egg sac.”
“I didn’t have any DNA,” Renata goes on. “My substrate was bioprinted, which
is only now becoming viable for more organic bodies. I decided that I didn’t
need to look exactly as I did, but I also didn’t just want some
randomly generated genetic base.”
“This is highly experimental technology,” Hrockas goes on for her.
“Synthetic Production Dome has been working on it for decades. It’s a bit
over my head, but it basically assembles an organic substrate based on a
consciousness entity’s intentional but abstract desires. It takes your
dream, and turns it into reality. It’s still DNA, but driven by intuition,
rather than puzzle-piece gene splicing.”
“I agreed to be their guinea pig for the first prototype, and so far, it’s
working out for me.” She drops her towel, and admires herself again. She
tries to lift her breasts, but they don’t have far to go. Naturally perky
this time. She didn’t even know she wanted that. She didn’t have to
consciously think about every single trait. The special intelligence who was
scanning her IDcode knew what she was looking for, and probably used some
kind of algorithm to fill in any blanks.
“Well, we’re glad to have you back, soldier,” Lycander says to her with a
tight nod.
Via the mirror, Renata notices Quidel frowning. “Qui? Are you disturbed by
this?”
“No,” he assures her. “I just...I really liked the old you.”
“She can always return to her original likeness,” Hrockas promises. “While
her synthetic variant neither had, nor needed, genes, we can recreate it
using the usual cloning processes. Miss Granger, I’ll send you the file, so
you can do whatever you want. You’re one of us now. You can wear a new body
every week, if you like.”
“I probably won’t do that, but I don’t mind having the option.” She sees
that Quidel still isn’t convinced. “You’re still disappointed?”
“I’m sorry. I know that it’s you, and you are you, whatever you look like. I
just...people have a different way of looking at things. When they developed
cloning and bioprinting technology, some chose to make themselves into
entirely different beings. Animals belong to a not unpopular niche. But
I...I just always wanna look like me. I’m not religious about it, but I feel
more attached to my identity than how others feel. I know, I’m projecting my
sentiment onto you—”
She shut him up with a passionate kiss. It feels totally natural to her,
naked amongst these three men, and kissing one of them. It shouldn’t. Her
implanted memories are telling her that this is too private a moment. She
should be dressed, and the two of them should be alone. But she doesn’t
think things are like that anymore. The hang-ups that she was programmed to
have are outdated, and likely bizarre to those living out there in the real
world. This is fine. It’s fine. No one else seems uncomfortable. She lets
go.
Quidel catches his breath. “Yeah, I guess I could get used to it.”
She smiles. “All right, show’s over. I need a shower, and some new clothes.”
“Shower, clothes,” Hrockas commanded.
What she thought was only a column rotates open, revealing a shower.
Meanwhile, a wardrobe materializes from the wall, and opens automatically,
giving her some options. It will take her some time to choose the right
outfit to wear to her debut. She doesn’t know what she looks good in
anymore. She doesn’t even know what her best colors are. She starts heading
for the shower, and the men start heading for the door. Renata places a
cheek against her shoulder and says, “wait.” She takes a beat before
twisting her hip to look Quidel in the eye. “You look like you could use a
shower too.”
He smiles warmly. “Maybe we wait on that.” Such a good guy.
“Maybe I’ve been waiting long enough.” She turns back around, and continues
towards the shower. “Your call.”
