Eugh, you're awake. You're awake. It’s been, oh wow, 49 hours, 21 minutes, 42 seconds. You hadn’t been, well, thinking of anything, really, and you know you’ve been in that state for at least 49 of those hours. You know you’ve got tons of new subroutines and systems but it’s like the drivers you installed, they don’t really affect your day to day.
You’re still in the goop though and a tooltip update informs you that numerous things have changed since your last ‘awake’ cycle. The first and most critical is your change in mass, from approximately 300 kilograms to almost 800 (789.8). This has been accompanied by vastly expanding your reactor capability, which you notice now occupies your entire torso instead of just your upper chest area. It fills you with a pleasing hum, larger size enabling significantly more power. Your chest plate is slightly larger, but not much, and otherwise, your body is unchanged externally despite the increased mass and new reactor. Within moments of you waking, the goop begins draining and you’re directed to get out of the vat and present yourself before Carl and your Mistress.
“How do you feel MAR-1?” Carl asks, almost clinical.
“I feel alright. All systems nominal though. Current mass is nearly five hundred kilograms over my previous weight; I presume I got extensive upgrades?” Clinical and proper back. That’s what you should do even if you absolutely love the fact that you’ve got a significantly more powerful reactor. The joys of being a robot you suppose.
“Mmmhmmm! You’re gonna be able to help me out a ton more in the field Mari!” Your Mistress squees and hugs you and well, you’re just happy with that. You hug her back and luxuriate in your enhanced time sense to get every ounce of feeling from the hug. You’re not sure what did it in the upgrade bath but you’re not only a lot more affectionate but you’re also feeling a bit less of a person almost? It’s weird, like you can tell that if Mistress asked you to take unwilling humans for conversion into robots your only request would be that they avoid people you knew. Not because your morals have shifted but because she’s asking and that’s what matters most. If she asked you to slaughter Carl here you’d do it. If she asked you to self destruct you’d ask why but do it if you were satisfied she really meant it.
It’s a horrifying pattern of thoughts that are quickly buffered by a ‘of course that doesn’t matter because you’re her robot and good robots follow orders’. And those trains are rapidly derailed by her stepping back and giving you a wicked smile. “Mari, engage flight mode.”
The next twenty seconds feels like you’re being mashed together and left in place because at that command you find yourself rising off the station’s floor, your body slumping forward in the air as you feel your head involuntarily crane itself up, locking itself forward. Your limbs begin folding up, legs crunching behind you and beginning to look an awful lot like thrusters. It’s like you feel a pushing together and suddenly there’s no separation between the legs, even as your arms with their cannon forearms begin curling up under you, making you almost look like a resting cat. They took feel like they’re melting, even as you feel pushing and sculpting of your very being. You can tell there’s somewhere for her knees to rest from what was your elbows and with how your back is being kneaded, you’re guessing you’re forming a seat. The top of your head rounds back a bit and forms a pair of handlebars as you float, a fully formed airbike.
“MAR-1, flight mode engaged” you find yourself saying in your ‘systems diagnostic’ robotic monotone. Well, you’ve got this alternate form and it seems you can be configured for more though you don’t have anything else as of yet.
You feel your Mistress settle onto you, her weight comfortable as you almost feel like your hands and back are supporting her. It’s a good place for her, and reminds you of how much she needs you. You’re such a good and valuable robot, aren’t you MAR-1? Yes you are! You wiggle a little as she takes you for a quick little test flight, suggesting you make small changes to your seat which you find yourself able to do to accommodate her.
Soon enough she’s landed and beams. “MAR-1, back to bi-pedal mode.”
Your floating form feels its arms and legs unlock from their positions as parts of a transport and your back’s seat folds itself back into you, arms returning to normal. Within twenty seconds you’re back to your normal cute robotic self, floating a few inches off the ground. “Back to normal Mistress!” Okay! There’s your normal pep at that. “That was cool! I’m excited to fly you around!” You mean it too.
“Mmmhmm, it’s good that you are because I’ve got a new job. See, we’re going to be…”