Chapter 06

Kumoko had spent several minutes looking at herself in a holographic mirror, she was clearly preening; brushing the ends of her hair, straightening her jacket, checking for any blemishes.

“Sister Kumoko, please, we’ve been waiting outside for approximately 27 minutes and 49 seconds.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, right… just… gimme a minute. I don’t know, does this hair make my face look too sharp? Should I change it? Do you think I look better with bangs or without? Should I get different accessories, like maybe something to draw attention to my eyes or something? What if-”

“Sister Kumoko! Please! By the Infinite Light of the Stars, we’re already running behind schedule!”

“Okay, okay, okay!” Kumoko pushed the holo-mirror off to the side where it faded into oblivion. She stood in front of the door, motionless. She inhaled, and exhaled. Slapped her cheeks, and brushed off the edges of her skirt. “Okay, here we go!”

And yet she didn’t move.

“BloodLass, do you know any good jokes to break the ice?”

“Um,” a list of potential jokes scrolled rapidly off to the side of her view, “what did the AI say to strike out with the waitress? Error! Unable to establish server?” She recited it word for word, and still felt herself cringe.

“Okay, okay, as the Enlightened would say, ‘Just get on with it!’” Frustrated, Mariposa pushed Kumoko through the doorway and stepped inside.

The room they found themselves was wide and spacious, strange machines lined the walls, as various parts and tools littered the floor, which was sectioned off into about four, equally-spaced squares. Each with seemingly its own unique workspace.

A giant machine sat in corner of one of the squares, while a young man in a helmet leaned against a chair, his hands moving back and forth in practiced motions. He mumbled something indecipherable to himself as Mariposa pushed the mortified Kumoko into the man’s personal space.

Kumoko stood in front of him, but he didn’t seem to notice her. She turned to Mariposa as if asking for help on what to do.

Mariposa mimed, “Just say hello.”

Kumoko sighed, looked at the man, and stalked around behind him. Her hands hovering inches beside his head. And then she wrapped her arms around his head and shouted; “You’re off your guard, Leooooooon~”

He screamed, struggled, and then fell forward as Kumoko let him go. He hastily pulled the helmet off and looked around with wide eyes.

He seemed young, short, dark hair and wore a lab technician’s coat over his overalls. Though his most striking feature was probably the noticeable scar on his forehead, partially covered up by his hair.

“K-Kumoko!” He exclaimed, “H-H-Hi, what’re you doing here?”

“Well, we’ve got you a present, Leon!” She gestured to HK, while putting this Leon person into a one-armed headlock, much to his chagrin. “Check it, brand new BloodLass, think you can work your technician’s magic?”

“P-Probably. Yeah, yeah I probably could. Um, do you have a work order for what you want me to do?”

“Right here, mr Leon.” Mariposa formed a holographic file and swiped it over to Leon.

While he read the work order, likely from Sofia, HK wondered if these holo objects were actually existing in the physical world or if they were just a form of augmented reality?

“Ah, I see, yeah, alright, this should be doable.” He picked his helmet up off the floor and placed it on his desk. “I was just waiting for Bell’s diagnostic to finish, so I can check your systems in just a moment, okay?”

HK nodded, but then wondered, “Who’s Bell?” She said aloud.

A chirping noise responded from the giant block of metal. A simple holographic face floated in front of the piece of metal, gazing at HK inquisitively.

“This is Bell,” Mariposa stepped forward and placed a hand on it smassive hull. “They carry our equipment, and assist us on operations.” She wrapped her arms around its frame, it seemed to enjoy this. “Bell is a very good girl and has saved our lives on several occasions, we couldn’t have asked for a better support unit~”

Bell’s face turned beet red and then it vanished, apparently too shy to handle the compliments from Mariposa.

‘I guess she’s nice to everyone. Is that how she was programmed, her personality, or maybe her devotion to her spirituality?’

Leon pushed something out onto the floor that vaguely resembled an operating chair, “here we go, just take a seat and I’ll plug into your neural network soon as soon as I can, alright?” He said while continuing to read the file Mariposa sent.

HK did as she was told, but as she sat down, a brief image flashed before her eyes. An image of dozens of mechanical arms picking her apart, adding things, a bright white light that never turned off. Then she was back to reality.

“Y-Your neural network spiked, is everything alright?” Leon asked from behind the computer screen, he now sported a pair of visors.

“Yeah just um… memory echoes?” That’s what Naomi called them.

“A-Ah, I see.” He said and then wheeled his chair over to the side of HK’s table. He lifted up her held and felt around at the base of her skull. “Right.” He pressed down on something that was there and HK felt her spine stiffen. “

“Give it a minute, biometrics are just checking my authorizations…”

“What’s that?”

“Your security features are just making sure that I’m actually authorized to work on you, it’s something it does to make sure your systems aren’t being accessed by unknown parties.”

“What would happen if you weren’t authorized?”

Kumoko mimed an explosion while Mariposa prayed.

“H-hah… no, no, they’re just kidding. It’d probably just keep your access panel closed, or administer countermeasures. B-But y-you guys are too expensive to… waste on an explosion.”

“Access Granted.” the message scrolled across her screen, “Authorize?” Two boxes labeled yes and no appeared. With her eyes, she selected, yes.

“Th-Thanks for that, some girls aren’t so trustworthy of a normie poking around their head, so it’s good this went without incident.”

“Normie?”

“Leon’s human.” Kumoko said.

“W-Well, not entirely. I’ve got some brain augmentations, but I think they messed with something b-because I’ve had this stutter since I started working here. Sorry, it’s a bit w-w-weird right? The s-s-stuttering, I mean.”

“I think it’s cute.” Kumoko mumbled under her breath.

“Hm?”

“Nothing!” She playfully punched his arm.

HK could clearly tell that Kumoko had a crush on Leon… or maybe she really was just bullying him.

“Alright, so you’re probably gonna shut down temporarily, but it’s okay, by the time I finish this sentence it’ll be like-”

HK’s vision faded to black and her consciousness drifted off into the oblivion. But before her consciousness left her, she saw that ghostly apparition in the room once again.