Bodily Autonomy

Click the black button to enable light mode, white button to return to default, and the +/- buttons to make text larger or smaller

This conversation occurred in early 3227, before the events of Campaign 2: The Gal Pals. Continue reading with Gossip Hour.

Cast

Bry

An alien consciousness uploaded to disk

Brittany

A Syndicate engineer tasked with creating a human-like body for Bry

Camden

An Integrell programmer contracted to the Syndicate, ostensibly to aid in VI research

Organizations

Syndicate

A black market group specializing in advanced technology

Integrell

A megacorp that develops advanced inorganic intelligences

Apex

A megacorp that builds robotic systems and VI shells

Locations

Research Base

A suspiciously unaffilliated research station orbitting Nisora

The main lab hummed with the sound of terminals and life support systems. On one side of the small room, Brittany flipped through page after page of a VI shell catalog on a holographic screen.

“Do you want a lean build?” she asked the air, “Or an athletic build?”

“What’s the difference?” a voice crackled over the speaker.

“I’m…not sure.” She flipped another page. “Maybe a dad bod?”

“I’m not a dad!”

“I know but some people think it’s attractive?”

There was a thoughtful pause before the voice spoke again. “What are human dads like?”

“Would you understand my description?”

“Ah… no. Good point.”

Brittany groaned and sank into her seat. Camden wheeled his chair over from the other side of the room.

“You’re going about it all wrong,” he told her.

“You try dealing with a picky, blind idiot.”

“If you had the chance to build your own body, wouldn’t you want a nice one?” the voice asked.

“I mean you shouldn’t bother with the presets. Apex does good work, but all their shells have the same style. You want him to look human, you gotta go custom.”

“That’s worse!” She closed the screen in frustration. “If I have to argue naval size with this—”

Camden waved away the concern. “Their online forms are trash. You need a reference image, and I know just the artist.” He picked up his compad and began searching.

“You’re basing me off art?”

Brittany watched him with interest. “What sort of reference image?”

“Take a look.” He leaned over to her, showing an artist’s portfolio on the screen of his compad.

“Holy shit, that’s real?” Brittany snatched his compad from his hand and began scrolling, disbelief on her face. “How do they get the shells to look that close to the drawings?”

“The artist has to follow some requirements and an Integrell VI at Apex adjusts where needed. Pretty slick, right?”

“How do I put in an order? Is it expensive? Are there any requirements?” She bolted upright, her eyes still locked on the screen.

“Can the blind idiot be filled in?”

“It’s easy.” Camden stood and put an arm around Brittany’s shoulders. “I worked on the VI Apex uses for this, so I can tell you everything you need to know.” He walked her out of the room and the door swung shut behind them.

“Did you just leave?” the voice called out to the empty room. “You can’t— this is my body! Hello? …Anyone?”

Continue reading