a1 made a few final adjustments, then closed up 9f’s chest cavity and cranial plating. “Does everything appear functional?”
9f sat up on the workbench and flexed her limbs experimentally. “Oh,
wow—yeah, everything feels great.”
Are you picking this up ok?
Yes, the extended-range comms module appears to be functional.
“That takes care of all of us except you, right?” 9f asked.
“Correct. My module upgrades will need to be performed by you. One of you can connect to my debug port, and I can guide you through the process to the best of my ability.”
“Mmm…” 77 sighed. “You’re the only one who’s really got the training for this stuff. But I guess we don’t really have any other options. So, who’s gonna take point on opening her up?”
“Let us help.”
The group turned to look at 83 as she walked over to the workbench, 6c at her side.
“I’ve got a lot of practice tinkering with hardware,” 83 said. “e0 and 49 do too. None of us have ever worked on… us, before—after we killed God, we all felt like nobody should have that sort of power anymore. But, well…” She squeezed 6c’s hand. “Things are changing, lately. Teach us everything you know about how we’re put together, and we’ll help work on you.”
fade turned to look at each other.
“I know you’ve got your mission you can’t tell us about, but let us do this for you, at least,” 83 insisted. “Please.”
“Your offer is appreciated, but given the critical nature of the mission, this is inadvisable from an operational security standpoint,” a1 said.
“Would it help if I told you 83 actually just wants to learn this stuff so she can—mmph!” 6c started, before 83 frantically clamped a hand over her mouth.
“I’ll be the one on your debug port during the upgrades, 20 and I can keep an eye on things,” 77 said. “How’s that sound?”
a1 nodded slowly. “Very well. Please gather 2:1c97:e000 and 2:1c97:4900, and I will begin teaching you. I will also require a unit willing to serve as a model for demonstration.”
6c’s hand immediately shot up in the air while 83’s shoulders slumped in loving exasperation.