“Well, damn.” I said.

“What happened?” Nurse Deloris asked.

“I may have messed up my main operating system.” I sighed. “I've lost visuals.”

“At least it's not a problem with your interface.” Nurse Deloris said. “You would be slurring your speech otherwise.”

“Any suggestions?”

“I'd say try a soft reboot, but if your optics aren't working, you won't be able to use your HUD to select anything.” Nurse Deloris said.

“Pop out the maintenance kit and get the portable display.” My AI Amanda said. “I can initialize a reboot with a direct connection.”

“Don't forget to unplug it when I'm out and attach the maintenance kit again.” I said. “We need those readings.”

“This isn't my first rodeo.” Nurse Deloris said and I felt her remove the leads from the ports behind my ear, then attach new ones I assumed were from my portable display.

“Okay, I'm in.” Amanda said. “Ugh. Just a second.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“You're right. Your main OS is messed up and it's difficult to navigate.” Amanda said.

“Damn.” I said. “I wonder why that happened?”

“You should have just added the files and did a restart to load the program, instead of just running it.” Amanda said.

“You're right. I was too eager.” I sighed. “I didn't take into account that the variables it calls to were in use at the time, and it couldn't modify them without messing up the other programs that use the same variables.”

“So you know what happened?” Nurse Deloris asked.

“Yeah, and why my optics aren't working.” I said. “Or, I should say, why I can't see anything. My optics are working fine, but I'm not processing the signal properly.”

“Okay, I found the reset.” Amanda said. “Jack, get ready. Doing this without your permission is going to feel... really weird for you.”

I chuckled. “Just do it.”

Amanda did something inside my head, and the world started to spin.

“Whoa.” I said and grabbed onto the bed automatically to try and stop it. “I'm really glad I can't see anything, because this is really freaky.”

“Sorry, Jack. Your auto-balance mechanism is-BZZZT.”

I lost all sensation on the synthetic side of my body, and I couldn't hear anything. I wasn't worried, mainly because the spinning had stopped and I knew I was being reset. It seemed to take longer this time, and I assumed a lot more files were altered than I had planned and they had to be restored from backups.

I blinked my eyes several times as I waited, then everything popped back on. “Whew.” I said as my HUD appeared and everything kept loading. “Good so far.” I said, then my optics started processing external stimuli and Nurse Deloris and Alyssa appeared above me.

“Does two count as a bevy of beauties?” I asked, and they both smiled at me.

“No, but I won't fault you for the compliment.” Nurse Deloris said. “Although, I think just being able to see us right now would mean we look beautiful to you.”

I smiled. “I did not say that, and you will never hear me say it.”

Nurse Deloris snorted a laugh and looked at the maintenance kit. “Just lay there and let me know if you get any errors.”

“You got it.” I said as I watched the programs start up on my HUD, and my arm and leg activated without incident. “Limbs are fine.”

“Mm hm.” Nurse Deloris watched the readouts closely on the maintenance kit to see if any errors popped up. I was about to comment that my physical sensations were back in full force, when I received a popup I had been expecting.

New Hardware Found!

Searching for software... Software found.

Loading new software... Loading... Done.

Initializing... Syncing with compatible hardware... Done.

Acquiring signal... Done. Converting signal... Boosting gain... Done.

Your new hardware is ready for use.

I took in a deep breath and let it out.

“What is it?” Nurse Deloris asked. “I don't see anything wrong.”

“Nothing's wrong.” I said. “I'm just mentally preparing myself.”

“For what?”

“For her reaction.” I said, and chose the proper command on my HUD.

Communication Protocol / Comm Pad function engaged.

User Designation: Jack (RETCONNED) is now available to be contacted directly.

“Oh, my GOD!” My AI Amanda yelled from the vidwall panel, because she had been immediately notified that my comm pad had been reactivated without me being issued a new one.

“What is it?” Nurse Deloris and Alyssa asked at the same time.

“He... he really...” Amanda tried to speak, but it sounded like she was crying.

“Jack, what did you do to her?” Nurse Deloris asked.

“I told you.” I said and smiled. “I made her dream come true.”

“Stop beating around the bush and just tell us.” Alyssa said.

“I knew he had added it to the program he wrote, and I never even suspected that... I thought he was using it for its communication protocols between different systems, not to... his new circuit board, it...” Amanda muttered something unintelligible.

“Amanda?”

“Jack has an active communication pad installed in his cybernetics.” Amanda said.

“He WHAT?!?” Nurse Deloris exclaimed loudly.

“It's also keyed to him personally, so no matter where he goes or what he does, I... I can...”

“She can always talk to me.” I said proudly. “I hadn't intended that when I thought up the new circuit board design; but, once I started adding the things I wanted, I thought about what else it could be used for.”

“Good lord.” Alyssa said and sat down on the edge of the bed. “When you said it was a booster and signal converter, I didn't even think about using it for that.”

I chuckled. “Well, Amanda had the circuit board and the full program, and she still didn't figure it out.”

“Hey, that wasn't fair!” Amanda pouted. “I can't connect my virtual machine to a live signal, because it can't generate a unique ID for the communication network.”

“I did say you had try and figure it out on your own; but to be fair, I knew you wouldn't discover that part without my help.”

“At least you admitted you cheated.” Amanda said smugly, and I laughed.

“How else was I going to surprise you with it?” I asked, and she didn't say anything. She wasn't going to tell me any other ways for me to keep things from her, even though she liked to be surprised.

“Well, there's no problems with it mechanically.” Nurse Deloris said and used a small mirror to reflect the spot the new circuit board was installed in, so she wouldn't have to put her face near the hole in my chest to try and see the circuit board firsthand. “It hasn't caught fire, or looks like it's going to spark.” She said. “How's the internal temperature?”

“It's right at the perfect temperature for what it's being used for.” I said. “I designed in a lot of redundancy; but, it's nice to have it fall right in the middle of the average temperature zone I was aiming for.”

“I can't believe you made an integrated communication pad.” My AI Amanda said.

“It's more than that.” I said. “With the onboard rechargeable battery backup, it will never run out of power, even if I'm unconscious.”

“Jack.” Nurse Deloris sat down on the bed next to Alyssa. “Do you know what this means?”

“Since it seems to be working so far, I think so.”

“It's not a joke, Jack.” Nurse Deloris said. “If everyone had one of these, they would never have to worry about losing their communication pads or the combinations for their number.”

“Not everyone.” I said. “As you clearly saw, it was a circuit board.”

Nurse Deloris opened her mouth to respond, and she realized what I meant. “Oh, the norms.”

“I never did like that name, and now that I'm not one of them, I dislike it even more.” I said. “But, yes. No integration for them.”

“You'll have to come up with something else for them.”

“Who said I didn't?” I smiled at her, and she smiled back.

“What are you going to do?” Alyssa asked.

“I'd like to have a bath, if my nurse would be so kind.” I said, and Nurse Deloris nodded. She closed my chest cavity and made sure it was seated properly and applied a small bit of lubrication oil to seal it, then she washed the normal side of my body.

Alyssa had moved to her chair and appeared to be watching us, but I knew she was using the secured short wave one-way communication protocol she had with her squad to tell them about my new circuit board and the possibilities it had. It was just too good of an invention to keep a secret. While I was getting the synthetic side of my body cleaned, I received a popup on my HUD for an incoming call from Alyssa.

“It seems someone is trying to call me.” I said and glanced at Alyssa. She had her communication pad out and her face was a little red. “Please excuse me while I take this, Nurse Deloris.”

“Go for it.” Nurse Deloris said. “I'd like to see how it works.”

I accepted the call using my HUD. “Hello, Alyssa.”

My voice came out of her pad at almost the exact same time as I spoke. It was only microseconds out of sync, and only cybernetic ears could tell there was lag at all.

Alyssa smiled at me and spoke. “I guess that means it works.”

I heard her voice double, since I could hear her physically and the new program also fed her voice into my auditory receptors. “I think it would have been a more valid test if you weren't 5 feet away from me.”

Both of my voices said, and she giggled.

“That sounds so weird.”

“I'm getting the same thing.” I said and tapped my ear. “The program lets me hear you with my ears, too.”

“That's amazing.” Nurse Deloris said and applied a layer of lubricating fluid to my synthetic parts, and I could see that she was happy. I couldn't tell if it was about my invention or that my body hadn't reacted to her in a sexual way. I suppose it didn't matter, because either way she was happy.

Alyssa ended the call and I received a disconnected popup on my HUD, and it asked me if I wanted to call her back. I chose yes, and her communication pad beeped at her. She looked down at it with wide eyes, and saw it was me returning her call.

“It really works.” Alyssa said and denied the call.

“Wow, she snubbed me.” I said and looked at Nurse Deloris. “She's sitting right there, and she didn't want to talk to me.” I made a really sad face. “I feel so... rejected.”

Alyssa stood up and walked over to me. “I would have answered; but, I believe you would rather have me do this in person.” She said as she knelt by the bed and kissed me.

I wasn't sure how to react to the attention, especially with Nurse Deloris standing right beside us, so I only moved my lips perfunctorily until Alyssa broke the kiss.

“You don't know what this is going to mean to me and my squad.” Alyssa said.

“Well, considering I only wanted to order ten of the things, I'm pretty sure I do.”

“Wh-what?”

“It's new technology, so I only wanted a limited amount of them for testing.” I said. “I mean, if they didn't work, like when I tried to run the program without rebooting first, I didn't want to waste a ton of Points on a huge order.”

Alyssa looked around her cubicle apartment and the 20 large boxes. “Jack, you bought a thousand of them.”

I chuckled. “It was the same price as buying ten of them.”

Alyssa and Nurse Deloris stared at me and didn't say anything.

“I only wanted ten at first so that I could have one to play with, and if it worked, as it does, I wanted enough for you and your squad.” I said to Alyssa, and her eyes widened a little. “That would leave four of them; one of which I would gratefully give to my care-giver.”

Nurse Deloris' eyes widened as well. “R-really?”

“I needed you to install it in me, since someone I won't mention keeps claiming she's not qualified.” I said, and Alyssa's face flushed red. “Once you knew what it could do, I figured you would want one.”

“What about the last three?” Nurse Deloris asked.

“It doesn't matter.” I said. “I've got a thousand of them, without an instruction manual and in plain white boxes. There's no way I can sell them or do anything with them until I come up with the design, the name, a slogan, and a sales pitch.”

“Don't forget a price.” My AI Amanda said. “Even divided up a thousand times, it was still a lot of Points.”

“How... how much?” Alyssa asked, and I put a hand on her arm.

“You and your squad have been watching my back for a while, now. If I'm going to benefit from this, so are you.”

“What about me?” Nurse Deloris asked.

“I'm charging you full price.” I said. I saw her start to gasp and quickly continued. “Minus installation fees for adding currently unregistered mods into 6 cybernetic humanoids, and hush money to keep quiet about it until Amanda and I send the official records into the modifications registry... once we get the product information sorted out.”

Nurse Deloris took a breath and smiled. “How much do I owe you after that?”

“Actually, I'd owe you, so I'd offset it by giving you a spare.”

“Wh-what?”

“I'm sure you know someone that can use something like this.” I said with a smile, and she chuckled.

“Yes, he'll enjoy having one.”

“Jack and I will have the instruction manual finished by tonight.” My AI Amanda said from the vidwall panel. “You'll have to wait until then to learn what the options are and what you can do with the circuit board once it's installed.”

“I can easily reach my thigh, so I'll put mine there.” Nurse Deloris said and looked at Alyssa. “So, you first?”

“Please, and I'm using the thigh access port as well.” Alyssa said. “I've asked Evilin to come down and get hers installed, too.”

“Great.” Nurse Deloris said and pat my leg. “You're done. Get up and get dressed.”

I pulled the maintenance kit leads out of the ports behind my ear and rolled off the bed, then walked over to the dispenser and grabbed a new unitard. Alyssa opened hers and pulled it down to expose her thigh and laid down on the bed. I got dressed, and when someone knocked on the door, I started to check the vidwall panel.

“It's just Evilin.” Alyssa said, and I opened the door without comment.

“Geez, are you moving in permanently or something?” Evilin asked me when she saw all the large cardboard boxes.

“There's no room for an immersion chamber in here, so I can't do my full job.” I said, then smiled. “Actually, I think the chamber is bigger than this apartment.”

Evilin laughed and ducked her head to enter. “Everything is bigger than this apartment.”

“Try not to bump into any of the boxes, please.” I said. “The contents are packaged well, but not that well.”

“I'm always careful.” Evilin said and smiled evilly. “Even when I'm causing destruction and devastation, I'm careful.”

I gave her a respectful nod and watched her move across the small space, and her large frame navigated to the bed without incident.