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mentioned Cracker?”
    “She had a repair on her table with a malfunction. He kept grabbing her ass, so she grabbed a hammer and cracked his fingers open.” Stitch grinned. “She then fixed him, but he stopped being grabby and spread the word.”
    “So, the names are a defense.”
    “One of many. We can all look up your files, and we know where your implants start and end. The right jab to the right pressure point and you are down for the count.”
    Nikolai smiled. “It is a good thing to remember, but I trust that no one on this base has made you feel uncomfortable.”
    She grinned. “Things are fine. What most men don’t seem to understand is that it is a fine line between discomfort and fear. When that line is crossed, there isn’t any going back. The woman either pulls back or attacks. We agreed to attack.”
    “Who is we? ”
    “The women of Adaptation Base. We had a meeting.” She laughed.
    A chime sounded from somewhere in his desk. “That is medical. They are eager to get started.”
    She nodded. “Right. I still want to know if I can go for a walk outside when this surgery is finished.”
    “We will see if we can find some exterior gear that fits you.”
    Stitch got to her feet and smiled. “I have a suit in my quarters. Just in case. Am I dismissed for my surgery?”
    He nodded. “You are dismissed. I am curious to see what could possibly be so different about the coding your nanites have been given.”
    She grinned. “Lucky has a knack for putting the right code together. I am pretty confident about this.”
    One last look at Nikolai and she was out the door, heading for the med lab where every doctor on the base was waiting to participate in her alterations. The funniest thing was the adaptations were all going to be administered by the automated surgeon. The doctors just wanted to watch.
    It felt surreal to be giving the briefing while she stripped behind the privacy screen. “The adjustments that are going to be implanted today are to increase my quality of life and make the implants I have more effective.”
    “Why are you opting for the automated surgeon?”
    She wrapped a thin cloth around her like a towel. “Because I have existing implants, the automation can work faster with the multitude of limbs it has. Keeping me splayed open for that long with a human surgeon would probably kill me.”
    “How will the automation minimize the problem if you are being opened all at once?”
    “Shorter sedation period and my nanites can be set to numb my nerves. Now, if you want to watch, feel free, but don’t interfere. The coding is very specific. Don’t fuck with it.”
    She smiled brightly and climbed into the machine. Peeling away her wrap, she settled her tailbone against the calibration tab. The sharp stab of the sampler registered her identity, and the calibration began.
    Bands held her limbs, and she was relieved that the machine knew that she had all parts intact.
    She lost feeling in her limbs and the skin of her scalp, and the machines whirred to life. Sterilizing mist washed over her, and the blades and injectors came out. She could have closed her eyes, but she watched.
    It would not be one of the moments that she sent home to her family if she was ever allowed to send a data packet home, but the details were needed to find out how the machines were behaving.
    She couldn’t watch as the upgrade port was added behind her ear. The drilling through her skull had her passing out from sheer self-preservation.
    When she woke up, she was in the recovery centre, and there were flowers of several different varieties next to her bed. The doctors were deep in conversation, and her detailed stats were on the monitors all over the room. She was the only patient in the space.
    She scooted up in the bed and stroked the flowers. “How long was I out?”
    Captain Blue came to her side and checked her vitals. “Three days. The nanites kept you out, and the communication with Omega Base said it was