The Chapter Where The Devil Wears A Lab Coat

“And who are we calling a devil, might I ask?” Aurelia said as she rounded the corner into the kitchen, her trademark antique lab coat trailing behind her.

“Certainly not you, Aurelia. I was just teaching HH a new saying. Isn’t that right, HH?”

“Should I still send the message: Speak of the devil, and she shall appear, to Aurelia?” HH asked.

Aurelia smiled.

Liane cleared her throat. “No, HH. Aurelia is right here. Therefore, I don’t need to send her a message anymore. You can go back to the dishes.”

The drone slunk back to the half washed dishes.

“So, how’d you find me,” Liane asked.

“Where else would you go?”

“Fair point.”

Aurelia slumped into the only other seat at the table, looking like she was in need of a recharge.

“You look worn out. Want HH to get you something?” Liane asked.

HH perked up upon hearing its name, making its eyes bounce briefly in their plastic sockets.

“No, thank you, love,” Aurelia said.

HH sunk back to the dishes.

“You know, you had me worried when you disappeared from the clinic,” Aurelia said.

“I know. I’m sorry,” Liane began, but Aurelia stopped her.

“No need to dwell on it. I reviewed the recording, and your response was reasonable for the situation. No one was supposed to go in your room after you passed. The staff was supposed to notify me and that was all. I thought I’d made that clear, but apparently not. I had to review protocol with the whole clinic before coming here. It was unexpectedly messy. Really, I’m the one who should apologize. I should have double-checked that beforehand.”

“You don’t need to apologize. It turned out fine. If anything, I’m just grateful you’ve given me this second chance with Claire,” Liane said.

“Don’t thank me yet. I haven’t reunited you with your daughter yet or helped you make amends with her, and trust me, my dear, that will be the hard part. Plus, our deal benefits me just as much as you. But before anything else, let’s make sure the procedure worked correctly. Face this way for me. Sit up straight,” Aurelia instructed.

Liane complied. Aurelia pulled a drone even smaller than HH out of her pocket and tossed it to Liane. She went to catch it, but it stopped in midair first, then coasted up till it hovered over her head.

“What’s this?” Liane asked.

Aurelia smiled, “This is CarePixie1, or CP1, if you prefer. I made it especially for you.”

“So it’s going to follow me around?”

“Everywhere you go. It’s going to monitor your health, remind you to take your medicine, help you with your job. Whatever you need. But I understand you may not want little CP1 around all the time, even if it is so darn cute, privacy and what-have-you, which is why it can do this.”

Aurelia snapped her fingers and the drone vanished. Liane reached up and groped at the spot where it had been. Her fingers caught the little drone, invisible, but still there. Which meant she wouldn’t actually get any privacy.

“Wait, I have a job?” Liane asked.

“Not yet, but you will. I’ll explain after your checkup, which will be performed by CP1. Now hold still. Back straight. And legs together. Remember, you're a girl now. Act like one. Go ahead CP1.”

Liane complied, though felt slightly irritated doing so. The drone became visible again and drifted in circles around her. Aurelia watched closely, a satisfied smirk on her lips.

“You’re rather proud of this invention, aren’t you?” Liane asked.

“Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous. Now shush, and keep still,” Aurelia ordered.

The drone completed another circle, then chirped and returned to hovering over Liane’s head. Aurelia scanned the checkup results on screens only she could see.

“Well?”

“Don’t rush me,” Aurelia chided. She hummed as she examined her screens, then dismissed them with the wave of her hand. “Okay. Alright, how to approach this? So… have you ever considered getting pregnant?”

Rain pattered against the EMI barrier overhead.

“Because you have a good figure for it, and I’m always looking for young woman to participate in my program.”

“Aurelia.”

“You wouldn’t even have to experience it if you didn’t want to. I could put you to sleep and when you wake up, it would be all over.”

“Aurelia. No.”

“Just a thought. If you change your mind, let me know. Anyway, the procedure went perfectly. Now we can officially move on to the next step.”

“I get to see Claire?” Liane asked, excitedly.

“Wrong. You get to take a shower. You smell like an old man.”

Liane checked herself and found that it was true, which made sense considering she had been an old man till earlier that day.

“Go on and shower. I still need to insert your new identity into the System and get you a job. Both of which must be done before you can see Claire.”

“Okay, but what is my job, anyway?” Liane asked.

“Parcel delivery. I’ll explain more later. Now go on,” Aurelia said, shooing her away.

Liane had more questions, but now that the old man smell had been pointed out to her, she couldn’t ignore it. She took her leave, returning to her old bedroom, with CP1 following along.

She found her uniform laid out on her bed, a pair of pants, a shirt, shoes, socks, and a hat, all striped yellow and blue. It was instantly recognizable as the trademark colors sported by delivery drones.

“Where’s your uniform?” Liane asked CP1.

The drone changed colors to the same yellow and blue as her uniform.

“Neat. You don’t look like you can carry much. Are you going to make me carry the deliveries?”

CP1 drifted to one of her pillows and plopped on top of it, then rose back into the air, bringing the pillow with it.

“Neat again. Are you planning to watch me shower?”

CP1 dropped the pillow and turned invisible.

“That’s a yes.”

As an old man, HH had helped her shower plenty of times before to make sure she didn’t slip and fall. She didn’t want CP1 watching her, but she found it relatively easy to ignore the drone, especially since it was invisible.

In the bathroom, she stripped and dropped her clothes into a hamper for HH to clean, a task she knew it would be thrilled to have. Before hopping in the shower, she caught sight of her reflection and averted her eyes sharply. She blushed fiercely, and had to ease her way into the shower with her eyes closed.

Liane thoroughly enjoyed her shower. She was caught off guard by how different it was to shower with a working body. It had been a long time since she could shower without help. She found that she didn’t need to sit, and didn’t have to worry at all about slipping and falling. It nearly brought tears to her eyes.

After finally stepping out of her shower, she wrapped herself tight in a towel then groped her way past the mirror with her eyes closed. She opened the door to her room, but squealed and jumped back behind it when she saw Aurelia waiting next to her bed.

“Aurelia? What are you doing in here?”

“That was a good feminine reaction. Keep it up.” Aurelia teased. “Last part of the checkup. Come sit.” She patted the bed.

Liane held her towel tight and edged her way out of the bathroom. She sat on the bed. “Couldn’t it have waited till after I got dressed? I'm really not comfortable being naked in this body yet.”

“It will be quick. CP1,” Aurelia said.

Liane’s eyes bulged as something long and sharp plunged into her spine. She tried to speak, but couldn’t. The world spun forward as she fell back on the bed. Her vision was dark and getting darker. A blurry visage of Aurelia drifted into view. Something gentle and cold touched her forehead.

“Goodnight,” said Aurelia, her voice distant and distorted.