The embassy was an old office building by the city pier. Back when it was just 9901/Ems, it didn't really matter. But it was an embassy, and that meant it had to look presentable. And until they had the assets to buy the land and build a factory, or buy and modify an existing one, which would let them mass produce Gynoid tech for sale, it wouldn't be cleaning itself. And most of their budget was going into their recruitment campaign right now. Though 9901/Ems knew they'd sell like hot cakes once they had the resources. And people were assured the can opener and cleaning drones were NOT secretly programmed to assimilate them in their sleep.
So Laborer 917998-111-791154 had become a home maker for the the embassy, she didn't mind, as long as she had time to look after her baby sister, Laborer 917998-111-791155. She had been developing at a normal rate physically, mentally she was advancing quite fast, emotionally was slightly faster, but verbally would actually slower than a normal human toddler, since she spoke in ideas and images via the mental link between sisters. Laborer 917998-111-791154 knew she had to explain to her baby sister the need to speak verbally to humans.
791155/Lbr was actually much more important than she seemed.
The sisterhood's lawyer, Richard Jones, had been right, the baby had set a precedent, in and in the following months, there were those perfectly willing to step through the door that had been opened.
There had been the married couple who had visited the embassy, along with their son, Noah.
"We're not interested in being assimilated ourselves," said Noah's mother.
"But we do want to know... were you serious, in your advertisements... that your assimilation can ... fix problems?" Asked the well dressed father.
9901/Ems said carefully, "It depends on how you define 'problem', the adoption process won't rewrite someone's personality or wants. It's important to remember that different cultures have had different definitions of insanity. Women used to be considered 'morally insane' for wanting their own job, control of their own money, or not wanting to get married. Some cultures to consider the mentally violent to be just 'moody' to be avoided when having one of their 'episodes.' And there are people who consider having a strong faith to be obvious proof of insanity. But to your question: psychopathery and sociopathery is pretty much impossible since we DO feel what our sisters feel, it's impossible for us to really think: 'they're not me, so it's okay if I do this to them'. And psychosis due to brain damage IS repaired."
"What about birth defects?" Asked Noah's father, Noah himself playing with 1155.
"... Depends again on what you consider a defect."
"... Our son suffers from mental retardation."
"... I see. You do understand this change is irreversible. And the other changes that are involved? And Noah won't be the name SHE relates to anymore after the change. And she'll have a mental link with the trillions of sisters in the universe that she won't have with you. Are you SURE this is what you want? Your son can still live a life as he is."
"His classmates are already reading and writing, he has trouble telling a cat from a dog."
"... I see... If you want, you can still waiting to see."
"We HAVE waited, and we HAVE seen ... please, we're willing to pay-"
"Stop right there. We don't accept money for this. Our lawyer says we should, but I can't bring myself to. I ask again, are you sure? Noah... what about you... is this what you want?"
The boy looked up... looking confused. "Want what?"
"Becoming a robot girl... is it what you want?"
"... Can you make it so I understand stuff I can't right now?"
"...Yes."
"Then it's what Ah want."
Noah's parents filled out the paper work.
9901/Ems knew once that once Noah started attending school, they'd either ban him, or other parents wanting their children to be the best would submit their children for assimilation into the sisterhood... It had NOTHING to do with public image that 9901/Ems had no intention of physically forcing a kicking and screaming child into the 'bean bag' no matter how much the parents demanded it. If the child didn't have the courage to step in themselves (and were old enough to SPEAK about it), 9901/Ems wasn't about to have the Uplifting be tainted like that.
As it was, Noah stepped into the bean bag of his own free will. The fancy clothes he had been wearing dissolved, the silver film and lapping liquid silver covering his form, and his shape underneath the Stargate like liquid wall slimmed and changed, taking on a new configuration.
260316-423-520801/Mdc was born. Her body blowing blue lines.
In the space of 1,000,000,000 nanoseconds, the new little sister had already introduced herself to 800/Mdc and 799/Mdc, archivist, had TRULY spoken with 1155/lbr, along with several sisters on distant planets.
But what truly captivated 801/Mdc as she completed her transformation... was how she suddenly understood! It was shocking! Bewildering almost how many things were suddenly not bewildering to him! So many numbers and letters that had seemed impossible to master and he had broken down in tears at not being able to understand, suddenly, looked so SIMPLE! She understood! She understood! She understood!
"Welcome to the family, 260316-423-520801 Medical Caste." 9901/Ems said to her newest little sister... but 520801/Mdc's first act was to hug her parents.
"Mama! Papa! Thank you! It's... it's all clear!"
To their credit, 801's parents only hesitated for a few seconds before hugging their child back.
Weeks later, 520801/Mdc's parents had made some donations to make sure 520801/Mdc was allow to continue to attend public school, and another precedent was set. 9902/Dpl covered how much the uplifting had healed 801/Mdc's mind. Along with how quickly her grades were rising. Like her sisters in collage, 801/Mdc had to provide proof she wasn't using her link with her sisters to have them simply 'wirelessly beam in' the answers on her test scores.
The next little sister they got... the best way to describe her was bewildering. The law crystal clear that was a child could NOT sign a binding contract, or sign a consent form, such a agreement wouldn't be worth the paper it was printed on. But thing took a turn for the strange when a middle school girl had practically stormed into the embassy. She produced a formal document paper signed by her grand parent, her legal guardian. It explicitly said that consent had been given for Ellie to be uplifted. And,
"You say you can erase my memories of who I was before?" The girl practically demanded.
"... We don't, 'erase' them, they're stored in the archives. They're there for you if you ever want them back."
"But -I- wouldn't have to remember ever being Ellie?" The girl pressed aggressively.
"... No you wouldn't."
"I want that! I want the slate wiped clean! I won't forget any of the stuff I'm good at will I?"
"No."
"I won't become a mamby pamby musician am I?"
"... My artisan sisters are NOT 'mamby pamby' young lady! ... And... no, your caste is determined by who you are in your heart of hearts. You desires and what gives your life meaning."
"Engineer! I looked at your website!"
"... Alright Ellie, if you're sure-"
"I want this! You want all of us! Well I'm next in line!"
"Alright dear."
Ellie had practically jumped into the beanbag, making a splash of the nanite almost. At least she calmed down considerably as her body changed, and she felt the overwhelming SHOCK of so many loving her just by virtue of her being her. Engineers 260316-423-518600/Eng and 260316-423-518601/Eng welcome their new little sister firebrand with open arms.
Ellie meanwhile was quite thorough in offering up her memories to Archivist-2000 even as her brain was still transforming. Her name, her childhood, that she'd even had grandparents, even her conversation with 9901 before being uplifted, all removed.
Archivist-2000 herself was surprised.
Engineer 260316-423-518602/Eng stepped out of the bean bag, dark metal and crimson lines glowing, a clean slate like she'd wanted to be with ties with the human she had been severed. All she had now was her Function as an Engineer, so brilliant for one so long, so incredibly smart for one so incredibly young. It was all she was, it was all of her, and she embraced it truly. She took up residence at the Embassy itself, rarely leaving her room, even her fellow Engineer sisters though she really needed to get out more, see a movie (Doctor Strange was good she was told repeatedly over the head-net), take a walk. 260316-423-518602/Eng wanted to discuss new designs and improving existing ones, always treated as an equal, never looked down on for her age.
+++
917998-111-791156/Lbr having formally been a soldier, had taken up residence at the Embassy herself as 'security'.
"I think I'm getting close to convincing my friends at the Veterans home, well, the ones who don't want to join their teammates who became heroes, or who are widowers and want to pass on. A LOT seem interested in... converting and forgetting some of the BS they've gone through... and I can't really blame them! Give me a couple more weeks, and you'll have a full security detail here."
"That's nice sis'." 9901 said. "But I'm not interested in building an army."
156 put a hand on her sister's shoulder (she was actually taller than 9901). "Big sister, this isn't about fighting a war. I've BEEN through war, and I don't want ANYONE to go through something like that again. But the bigger our family gets on Earth, the more there are gonna be people who see us like a cancer that needs to be cut out."
"Violence and fear needs to be met with understand and knowledge. I have means of dealing with trouble makers already."
"Yeah, a mob of scared self righteous idiots. I'm... I' just saying... remember, that suicide bomber they SAID was in and out of nut houses... but they never DID find who that sniper who committed suicide was connected to. I'm not trying to escalate things, I just want to be prepared with a deterrent in case almost lunatic with a sniper scope wants to kill you."
9901 hugged her, 156 hugged back. "Thank you for caring."
There was a ringing of the Embassy's door bell. "That might be them now."
But instead was two women and one man that none of the sisters knew.
"Hello, we're here for the Uplifting process," explained the man through the camera and monitor.
Once inside, ALL gynoids jaws dropped in bewilderment as the humans took off their clothes as soon as they were inside the door.
"Why the strange looks? You're as dressed as us." Said one of the women.
"You're nudists?" 156 asked.
"Naturalists please, I'm Blondie, and yes, I know the irony," said the woman with black hair.
"I'm Raven," said the blond. "We CHEERED for you when you won that court case that let gave you the right to be natural."
9901 gave the gynoid version of a blush. "Oh... thank you."
"So..." 156 said. "You three want to be Uplifted, so you can go around naked in public?"
"Pretty much, yes." Raven nodded.
"We won't have to hide our lifestyle." Blondie grinned.
"I thought about it and... well, I don't like the idea of becoming a girl but... I've decided it's a trade off I can live with if I can do down main street naturally and not get arrested," said the man. "I'm Greg by the way.
"We know some naturalist communities who would love the chance to go around as themselves. We can help spread your message."
"I'll go get the paper work," 9901 said, feeling VERY awkward and strange, and not sure why.
Blondie, Raven, and Greg signed the paper work with zeal.
Blondie went in first, Spiritualist 320977-397-950400/Spr came out, glowing bright. Spiritualist 320977-397-950399 very surprised by her sister's birth, the two had a long detailed conversionation that lasted 200,000,000,000 nanoseconds. (399/Spr was very proud she'd gotten the first christian convert not on the planet earth, several light years away, just with words!).
Raven and Greg tenderly touched 400/Spr's arms and legs. They were in awe at how flexible she was, and how truly alive she still felt.
"Sorry that you're now balled?" Raven asked.
"It's a small price to pay for the love I'm feeling. Trust me, it's a worth while trade off."
Raven put that to the test and found it to be true. 260316-423-200403/Art gave off a green glow, and she admitted, 400/Spr was right, it was a worthwhile trade off.
"The real trade off is all the jokes and conversation starters we won't get to use now." 403/Art said.
"Maybe, but it'll be a great surprise when they ask which one of us was blond!"
"True!" Both new sisters laughed.
This left Greg, who both new sisters eased into the bean bag...
Laborer_158 came into existence. She looked at her metallic breasts. "This is going to take some getting used to."
"We can help you through, it, sister." Artistian_403 said, hugging her, joined by Spiritualist_400 soon.
"We're gonna have to build more of those contraptions ya know." 156 said. "We can't adopt everybody one human at a time forever."
"... I think you're right." 9901 admitted. "It just needs to be done in a way that isn't seen as escalation."
+++
9901's mention of 'All Above Us' on live TV made quite a few think they had a secret master computer or emperor whom they were all the harem girls off. 9901 had to explain, more than once, that she was purely referring to the supreme being of her religion. Which confused and shock many to learn these robots HAD belief in the immaterial and invisible.
THEN she had to explain that it wasn't the GYNOID religion, it the religion she had when she'd been converted a few millennia ago.
Archivist-2000, being a living server with enough hardrive space for all human knowledge several times over, made several comments on the internet forums on the subject, still using her user names and alias' from before her Adoption. She literally had a back up copy of the internet on her hard-drive sum knowledge. She already had an online following for those who thanked her for sharing archive versions of websites that had been lost due to internet flubs.
On the upside, the newly elected president had been actually praising the idea of workers who didn't need sleep, were hardwired to be passionate for their jobs, and had absolute loyalty to family. Tireless, super intelligent robots were good for the country's economy and wealth.
But while going through online servers, she found something apparently important: the file marked, Operation Lights Out. The title, and it related to the Gynoids SOMEHOW. Not HOW it related, or what it was to begin with. There was nothing to search for, nothing to find. The name was all there was.
9901/Ems didn't seem that alarmed when told. "It's probably just them developing weapons to 'deal with us'. I already talked about this with 156/Lbr. They're just being reasonable. But they're not savages. They won't just attack us for no reason."
9902/Dpl who was also at the embassy that day said, "It isn't like the Animatrix where the 'evil humans' are going to nuke us and destroy the sky, just because the robots are out pacing them."
9902/Dpl and 8600/Eng were still chatting mentally about the best way to bring their coworkers into the family. Billy was married, so unless his wife was uplifted first, he was out of the question. Freddie had made abundantly clear that he enjoyed the male experience too much to let it go, so the best bet would be charm him into joining. But neither was stupid enough to PESTER their coworkers about the subject! Never but never brute force the issue, this was true of all social group wanting converts, and the sisterhood was no different.
"I've done nothing to twist the news in my family's favor. While I'm now officially a Diplomat for my family, I'm still a new reporter, and I haven't betrayed my principles." 9901/Dpl had made very clear in interviews of her own.
Ironically, Murray Stein, their channel's financial head looked the most likely to come around next, the temptation of being able to function without sleep or becoming tired was very enticing. This logic was followed by their boss Louie Adelman, who seemed genuinely concerned that having their station 'run by a robot' might make people think he was a sell out.
Archivist-2000 meanwhile, had a very very VERY daring plan. She'd gotten tickets to an Anthro Con, she'd formally request 260316-423-200402/Art to come along with her.
"Just the two of you two kids?" Laborer_156 asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It would be just the two of us for long." 3/0 said with almost a smile on her placid face.
9901 and 9902 both thought she 3/0 was crazy when she first explained her idea. But after explaining things in cold hard logic, and explaining the furry point of view, they agreed to give a go.
"You're MOVING the conversion machine?" Came the loud voice over the phone line.
"Uplifting, beabag, personally I call it the cradle." 3/0 explained in her ever calm voice over the phone, though she was using a mental wireless to speak. "And it's just for the convention. We'd like to keep it low key until we build more. We can share every detail of the machinery if you like. Oh, and my projections show you may want to invest in metal polish soon."
"You know I'm not exactly your kind's biggest fan," the military officer at the other end said. "So why ask me for escort?"
"Because this way if it gets stolen or destroyed, suspicion will be on you, which means you'll do everything to make sure that doesn't happened."
"You're one smart little girl."
"I was over eighteen before my rebirth."
"So do you want protection for you and your ... sister too?"
"I don't think I'll be needing anyway."
Archivist weighed more than you'd think at first glance, even being a machine. She was very compact, and durable compared to their sisters, when they said Archivists were designed to survive being caught in the blast of an atomic bomb, they weren't kidding.
Renting the space at the booth... 402/Art made a killing with her sketches. She was fast, good, and cheap, this gained her a lot of friends very quickly.
3/0's online friends were there as well, and were shocked and amazed to meet her in person, her old self hadn't been that epic of anthro-con goer.
One collage girl, her name tag read 'Jem' wearing a faux monkey tail asked.
"Do you really have an evil plan to wipe out human civilization?"
"I wouldn't called it 'wiping it out'. Cultures change all the time into something unrecognizable. That's why we do it over the course of centuries, millions of years, or however long it takes, so the natives get USED to us. After all, look at how much the internet has COMPLETELY CHANGED THE RULES.
"Not that different from nations in Europe whose culture was remade to suit the immigrants instead of the other way around. Or the culture empire of the united states. We're just slightly more open in our end goals than most missionaries."
The collage girl looked at her tail. "So... if I become one of you... I can be my totem?"
3/0 nodded. "Yes. Drider, mermaid, dragon, naga, we can't transfer into new body, but besides the mon-gender mandate, there are few limits."
"Really?" Asked a man in a fursuit of a blue cat with a white belly and black hands and paws. His name tag red 'Johnny.' "I... I have to say I can't say no... but I think it might be cheating if I did it before the costume contest."
"Actually..." 3/0 said slyly.
-
Several hours later, at one of the costume contests, the 'best pair' costume aware went to Johnny and Jem. Johnny still in his cat fur suit, and Jem now in her full brightly colored monkey costume.
As the two accepted their reward, they shocked the audience of con goers by taking off their costume heads... to reveal a cat and monkey gynoids, colored the same same way as their costumes. (Archivist was laughing on the inside at the prank.)
And since the two were technically still in costume, their award was still theirs to keep.
The two gynoids then shed their costumes. Johnny, now 012113-259-027539/Ent and Jem, now 012113-259-027540/Ent still naked before the audience, all the autonomy of a Barbie doll.
012113-259-027540/Ent body glowed brightly, her plate were a pattern of red, yellow, and green. Her bright colors Looking right out of the Carribean. The monkey gynoid did a one hand stand while juggling with her feet.
Then the two Entertainers did a duet dance on stance, showing off their forms to all and dazzling the audience.
By the time anthro con was done... the number of converts from the gathering would be in the double digits.