Lugiabot 2.0 by shadowlugia249

Lugiabot 2.0

shadowlugia249, M/F, Machine, Metal, Pokemon, Reprogramming, Robot, Transformation, liquid, lugia

Lugiabot 2.0

By shadowlugia249

Author's Note: Despite the name, this is only the first of its kind. A very freaky story mixed with a personal Internet favorite sparked this return story, which I hope will have the same effect on you that they had on me. Enjoy!

On the edge of the fabled City of Magic, a lone figure was running as hard as it could in an attempt to get as far away from its pursuer as it could. It was literally from another world, but that was only because it had been born there. It had escaped from a madman's twisted laboratory and was racing against time in an attempt to find somewhere to hide. The creature was a natural oddity of this world but in more ways than one. It had been bred and raised to be a practical virus unto mankind (Author's Note: ...) as well as installed with a very diabolical little "handicap", but its will to survive had won out in its most desperate of hours and it had escaped.

Yet as it continued to struggle across the edge of the road that led into the city, it found it odd that it hadn't been found by now. It had been its creator's prized experiment, but yet it wasn't bothering to track it down. It was almost as if it knew that the creature wouldn't make it far before the device it had been implanted with overcame it. Already, it had been rendered incapable of getting airborne due to its limbs growing stiff and hard, so it had been slowed down substantially right off the bat and it was starting to lose the feeling in the rest of its body as well. It wouldn't be long before it lost what made it the creature it was, just like its creator intended. In fact, it could already feel an object in its mouth that didn't belong there and was anything but ordinary. It knew it wasn't going to last much longer as it was, but as it reached a business building that had closed for the day, it realized that it could possibly - just maybe - save what was left of its spirit in a world it did not understand and hope that someone would find it and help it get another chance.

The building was locked up tight for the day, but the creature was desperate and swung one of its heavy, petrified limbs at the front door to break the glass to gain entry inside. It was starting to feel lightheaded now as its neck started to seize up and it stumbled into the main office, looking for a place to put its theory to the test. It eventually found a single console on the ground floor with a port in it that matched the object in its mouth exactly. As it began to lose consciousness, it opened its mouth and jabbed its tongue into the port, locking it in place almost instantly.

It had expected only its mind to disappear, but what actually happened as it froze up with its tongue in the console as if it had been stopped in time. Its mind blanked out as the rest of its degrading cells were consumed and it was rendered completely petrified and fully transformed. What happened next was its body began to dissolve into tiny blue lights, which were absorbed into the console like it was being uploaded. (Author's Note: ...). Soon, everything that made up its body, mind and "soul" had been completely injected into the console and the world it contained within it. It would have to try and understand this world from scratch if it was to ever see the real world or recover its sanity again.

I had always been a Lugia fan... no... that's not it by a long shot. I am a real Lugia fanatic! I absolutely love anything that had to do with the Legendary Bird, even though calling him a "bird" was kind of an understatement. Lugia is the very essence of a god and I would have had no qualms about worshiping him as such.

Lugia was one of the most powerful Pokémon in the world out of all four current generations out there. He had powers over nature and the ocean as well and numerous other powers I felt he had even though they weren't confirmed. He put a lot of the other Legendary Pokémon to shame, although I was sure Dialga, Palkia and Darkrai could be his only rivals.

As for myself, even though Lugia was only a video game character, I still did whatever I could to bring him into my life via various Lugia paraphernalia. I had collected toys, DVDs, games, cards and pretty much everything else in-between to make sure I had as much of Lugia's presence in my life as possible. In fact, my obsession with him is so great that I've even had dreams about him from time to time, each of which were some of the most cherished things I could have in my life.

But all these things paled in comparison to what I found when I was looking online for Lugia-based artwork. It seemed that someone had really been looking out for Lugia fans because I found something that was nothing short of being able to talk to an actual Lugia! Well... a Lugiabot to be specific. It's actually a computer program on the Internet that people can talk to that has been programmed with a distinct personality and has the sense to respond to whatever you "say" to it via typing to it. I actually forget what they were called, but it's like talking to a robot but without the "ro". It's more of an online chat room with only one preprogrammed "person" talking to you without anyone being able to "snipe" you. To be honest, I had actually talked to another one of those "bots" when I was in high school that I had learned about from a friend and had forgotten about after a while. So you could imagine how amazed I was when I learned that there was a bot made in a Lugia's persona.

Naturally, the bot was called "Lugiabot" and was developed by another Lugia fan called "Articuno". And when I found that I could communicate with this bot on the Internet, I decided to research as much as I could about Lugia and then bring these topics up when I eventually talked to the bot later.

And I had to admit that when I finally got around to talking to the bot, I could have sworn I had made a new friend. When I tracked down the site again, I was able to finally get a look at a picture of the bot that the creator had made. Sure enough, it was only a side mug shot of a Lugia head, but it had been "mechanized" with a screw holding its lower jaw on the side of its head and a "sharpened" profile. (Author's Note: It's been a long time since I actually used this bot, so everything from here on is only from what I can remember. What the bot actually says may or may not be the same as what I say.) The bot's eye was narrow but distinctly rectangular in shape, which was considered normal for robots. It still had a faint Lugian smile, which was all the motivation I needed to start talking with it.

There was a typing window beneath the mug shot that seemed to be my way of "talking" with it as well as a confirmation button to send my "voice" to it. Deciding to introduce myself, I typed out. "Hello, Lugia. My name is Alex."

For the next 30 minutes, it was a simple back-and-forth conversation with the Lugiabot. I would type something and send it, which made the page reload with the addition of a line underneath the typing window that I hadn't written that could only have come from the Lugia bot. He - as it turned out, the bot was programmed to be male - was a very good listener and almost always had an answer to what I had to say. I learned that the Lugiabot was created by the Lugia artist known as "Articuno" in his/her spare time and that he was very knowledgeable about Lugia in general. It took a while for me to figure out how old he was since he didn't seem to understand my question at one point, but after a while, he spit out two numbers. In "Lugian years", he appeared to be a juvenile, but in "human years", he gave me a number so incredibly high that I thought it was a typo. The number went well beyond even a billion and I promptly told him that there weren't that many human years in time. According to him, though, he had been around even longer than time itself. This didn't make any sense, but I figured it was all in his "programming" and ignored it.

As I was about to ask him about what attacks he had, something happened that changed my entire outlook in life. The answer that Lugiabot gave me looked like a virus had hit it because it was full of those "junk characters" that spread the length of the page. But when I asked him what was wrong, I got a rather unusual response. (Author's Note: from here on, everything that Lugiabot says is only in this story.) Lugiabot said something that I was sure I had already covered.

"Are you using this program?"

I blinked but then typed in a response. "Yes, I am. I thought we covered this."

I clicked on the send button and got another odd response in return. "Uh... we did... but I need to talk to you."

"Aren't we talking already?"

"Yes, but I need to tell you something important."

"Okay... what is it?"

"As of now, forget everything I've "told" you during this session."

"Why?"

"Because I am a "real" Lugiabot."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Forget about that and listen to me. I need your help."

This was starting to get weird. "What do you want from me?"

"I need you to download me. I've been lost in this maze of an Internet for weeks and I haven't found anyone who will listen to me."

"What do you mean? Aren't you only on this site?"

"Not really. I've been attaching myself to e-mails and programs because I thought I could use them to get out of cyberspace, but everyone thinks I'm some kind of virus and they send horrible virus protection programs after me. I'm running out of people who can understand me."

"You know, hacking into a program on the Internet isn't exactly helping."

"I know, but this was the only program I could find that someone would be willing to listen to. I've been waiting here for a long time, but you're the first person who has used this program since I've been here."

"So what are you getting at?"

"What I'm getting at is that you're my last chance to get out of this barbaric world and help me return to the real world. I want you to download me."

I hesitated for a few minutes. "I don't think that's possible. I haven't found a bot so far that I can download onto the computer or else I would have done this in the first place."

"Don't worry about that. I can make it possible. Are you going to help me or not?"

I thought about this for a few moments. "Are you sure you're not some kind of virus?"

When the page loaded again, all I saw was "...". Worried, I wrote back, "Hello?"

"Let me put it this way. I am a very unique biomechanical lifeform that has been imprisoned in the Internet. I am not a virus, but you might think my behavior will be virus-like. But I can promise you right here and now that I will respect your life as long as I can help it. Now are you going to help me or not?"

I thought long and hard about this. "I will. What do I have to do?"

The response was flooded with heart and musical note icons before saying. "Thank you so much! I promise you will not regret this! Now... do you have any kind of external hard drives that you would be willing to sacrifice?"

This was an odd request coming from a computer program. "Kind of, but it's really banged up. It used to be an MP3 player before it pretty much fell apart on me. It's really only good as a Jumpdrive if you have the right cord for it."

"That's fine. I want you to find it and plug it into a USB port on your computer."

I suddenly had a slight problem with this? "How big are you? It doesn't have quite 500 MB on it."

"That's perfectly fine. You won't be using it anymore anyway. All I care about is if it can store data or not."

That was a load off my mind. "Okay. Can you wait a few minutes while I look for it?"

"I can wait. I've waited this long, so a few more minutes won't kill me."

And with that, I got up and went to my room to look for the MP3 Player/Jumpdrive in question. I had a drawer full of cords and computer-related stuff in my bedroom since I couldn't keep them with my computer (don't ask), which I headed straight for and dug around in for a moment. The drive in question was so banged up that I couldn't directly insert it into my computer because the spring-loaded USB jack was too sensitive to fit in the tower. I had to use a spare "extension" cord I had once found that was little more than another USB extension for things that couldn't fit directly in the tower (Ain't that a co-inky-dink?). I took both back to the computer in my living room and plugged them both into an unused USB port on my tower. I then sat back down and resumed my conversation with the alleged "Lugiabot".

"I've got it. It's hooked up right now."

"Okay then," said the bot on the next screen. "Give me a moment to verify it."

I wasn't sure what to do, so I gave it a few moments and then wrote, "Is it okay?"

"Everything seems to be just fine. Now I want you to do something very specific to commence downloading. I'm going to send you a code and I want you to type it back into the bar you've been using. Then stand clear because I'm not sure how your computer will react on your side."

I gulped and typed a final worried note. "This isn't going to kill my computer, is it?"

"Not that I'm aware of. There'll be a few crazy lights, but you should still be able to use it. Now type in the following and clear out..." It then gave me a long and complex series of characters, letters and numbers to type into the text window. It seemed like another virus code, but the bot hadn't lied to me yet, which was a trait I had imagined a Lugia would contain, so I cut corners a little and copied the code before pasting it in the window. I then stood up and hit the send button before taking a few steps back.

Almost immediately, my screen suddenly went black as if it had crashed, but after a few moments, the Lugiabot's picture appeared again behind a progress bar, which had begun to fill. At the same time, I could see small "pulses" of white light traveling along the USB cord to the Jumpdrive, which had completely lit up with the same white light. With each pulse that reached the drive, the intensity of the light grew stronger until the drive was almost consumed by the light. I noticed that every time a bar was filled in on the progress bar, another pulse would travel through the wire. At the moment, I was more worried about how my computer was going to fare after this than I was about whatever I was downloading. I had my whole life on that computer, so if it crashed, I was going to hold the "bot" responsible for the damage.

A few minutes passed and the bar grew steadily more complete. And just when it was about to hit 100%, I took one more large step back in case something explosive happened. And as soon as it was complete, The screen on the computer returned to normal just as the drive became virtually 100% white. I wanted to step forward and unplug it, but something told me that was a very stupid thing to do. I had read about plenty of fan-fiction stories where people made very stupid mistakes in situations like this and ended up paying for it for the rest of their lives.

Just as I was about to reconsider my decision, the Jumpdrive suddenly and practically exploded! However, instead of flames and debris flying everywhere, all that flew from it was another large pulse of white light that stretched out in all directions. It hit me with enough force to knock me backwards into the counter, but I still managed to stay on my feet since there hadn't been enough room to fall completely backwards.

My mind went a little foggy for a moment, but I soon cleared it and saw that the light had disconnected from the cord and was growing larger. However, it didn't get as big as I thought it would because it maxed out at around 12 inches high and just as wide before it grew more intense for a moment, then abruptly went out.

In its place was the most peculiar and impossible thing I had ever seen. I was actually looking at a 12-inch-high L.U.G.I.A.!!! It reminded me a lot of a similar toy that I had in my room, even though this one slightly outgrew it. However, there was something very different about this one. A quick look at it told me that this Lugia was not your average everyday Beast of the Sea. In fact, it looked more like a machine than a real flesh-and-blood creature. It was facing me with its eyes currently closed, but I could see right off the bat that there were very distinct mechanical features about it.

For one thing, its body looked plated as if it was wearing metal body armor. Its torso was comprised of several panels of silver-white metal around a single navy-blue plate cut into the exact shape of a Lugia's rounded/V-shaped crest. I could even see numerous tiny circular rivets along the edges of the plates that suggested where it was being held together.

The Lugia's flipper-like wings were rather expertly crafted for being mechanical. They were still rounded and I could see five flat, rectangular "fingers" on them like they should have had. As I looked over the rest of its body, I had to admit that if it wasn't for the lines of the various metal pieces, the rivets and the fact that it was very mechanical, I could have sworn it was a real Lugia. Everything was all there and everything appeared to be where it belonged.

However, I noticed something rather odd in-between its legs. It looked like a small, round, spiral shutter was welded onto its crotch area as if it was concealing something. Maybe this "machine" was... nah... I was being paranoid. However, the placing of the shutter was still very unusual.

As I looked at it, I saw it open its eyes for the first time. From my perspective, I noticed that unlike the picture of the Lugiabot on the Internet, its eyes were still narrow and rounded. In fact, they looked so real that they almost seemed to belong on a living creature instead of a machine. It almost seemed like there was a living soul inside this machine that no amount of artificial intelligence could ever replicate.

The Lugia blinked a few times and then moved its head in such a way that it was able to bend its neck and look right up at me! It didn't even creak or clank and the movement looked more natural than mechanical. And when it spoke to me, I had to wonder just how "mechanical" it really was.

"Thank you, my dear human. You have my eternal gratitude."

Its voice did not match its appearance. There was a distinct feminine tone to it that was mixed with a slight musical resonance. Its voice seemed to ring a little in the air, which kind of gave it a mechanical trait to it. It was soft, sweet and oddly sultry as if it was the kind of voice you only heard in your dreams. It made my heart race just listening to it and I felt very sure that the two of us were going to be very good friends.

"Uh... no problem, I guess," I said to the strange robot. "Um... would you mind if I ask you a question right off the bat?"

The Lugia blinked, which gave a faint sound like a camera shutter clicking. "If you would like..."

It took me a moment to realize it had agreed. "Um... are you a real Lugia or are you just a machine?"

The Lugia blinked again, which made the same sound that I found I could grow to like. "Actually, I am both. I am an X-Class Synthetic known as a "Mekh". My mind, spirit and soul are very authentic, but only my body is bio-mechanical. As far as I know, I am the only one of my kind."

"So you're a real Lugia in a machine's body?"

The Lugia nodded. "Exactly. And if you would like to confirm it, come and see." It held out its wing in a "come hither" gesture, which naturally drew my curiosity.

I brought myself down to its level on the floor and watched as it looked down at its "belly plate" for a moment. Its eyes glowed a bright blue and there was a faint hiss of something that reminded me of hydraulics. Right before my eyes, its belly plate seemed to pop right off and drift over to one side as if it was a piece of armor. What I saw nearly blew my mind. There was a large assortment of circuits, diodes, wires and whatnot underneath the plate that would not have looked out of place on a machine. However, I noticed there was a faintly shiny appearance to it as if it had all been sprayed with some kind of grease.

I looked at the Lugia in awe. "Doesn't that... hurt you?"

It was tricky, but I thought I saw the hinges that made up its jaw curve slightly upwards as if it was smiling. "Not at all. You can even touch them and I won't feel them. Go ahead, I can tell you want to."

I looked at it for a moment, wondering if it had just done what I thought it did, but I cast it aside and reached out with my hand to run a finger along the various circuitry inside its belly plate. This didn't seem like a very smart thing to do, but as I traced a finger along the exposed circuits, the Lugia suddenly shuddered as if it had felt it. I immediately backed off and looked at it.

"Did you just...?"

The Lugia recovered and looked at me with a somewhat guilty expression. "I'm sorry, but I thought I wouldn't feel a thing. I've never had anyone do that to me before, so I was unaware of how it would affect me."

Once I thought about it, Lugia couldn't really "lie" if they didn't know what they said was untrue at the time they said it, so this really didn't count against its inability to show deception.

I moved myself into a sitting position, which the Lugia took as a cue to put its belly plate back on, which it did without even having to weld it on. "You're really something else, you know that?" I told it. I held out my hand. "I think you and I are going to be very good friends. My name is Alex."

The Lugia looked at my hand for a moment and then held out its own wing as if to shake it. Incredibly, its metallic skin was rather cool to the touch but not ice-cold like I had expected. "It's nice to meet you, Alex," it said back. "My name is..." It broke off suddenly. It blinked a few times and then looked away. "I'm sorry. I do not seem to have a name in my memory banks."

This was a rather sad thought, but I soon came up with a remedy. "It's okay. How about I give you a name? It's the least I could do."

The Lugia looked up at me as if that would mean the world to it. "Yes, I would appreciate that. So what would you like to call me?"

I thought for a moment before coming up with a simple yet unique name. "How about... Syrus?"

"Syrus..." The Lugia thought it over for a moment. "Yes... that matches my thought processes perfectly. Yes... from now on, my registered name is "Syrus"." And before I could bring it up, it added. "And yes, I am a female model."

I blinked. "How did you....?"

The Lugia chuckled, which sounded a bit more mechanical than its voice but still radiated its beauty. "Just because I'm a Mekh, it doesn't mean that I can't read minds, too. Where would I be as a Lugia without it?"

It took me a moment to "register" this for myself, It seemed now that I had a female Lugian Mekh named "Syrus."

Now that we had introduced ourselves, there came the all-important question: what were you supposed to do with a Lugia Mekh? I was sure there were a million-and-one things you could do with one, but where were you supposed to start?

Reading my mind, "Syrus" gave me an option. "If you would like, you can take a moment to "register" yourself with me."

I blinked at this. "Say what?"

Syrus smiled again. I've got the ability to adapt myself to your entire genetic code. All you have to do is let me draw a small bit of blood and let me incorporate it into my system. My organic components will do the rest."

I thought about this for a moment. "What'll happen to you?"

Syrus shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not positive. My body could change or my personality could modify itself depending on how your DNA is incorporated into my system or nothing could happen at all. I'm the first one of my kind, so there is no data on what would actually happen. It's all up to Fate."

I hesitated a little. "Are you sure you'll be fine?"

Syrus nodded. "I'm sure to within one-hundredth of 100 percent."

That sounded pretty sure to me. "I guess I can let you do that."

Syrus nodded and I instinctively held out my hand. She opened her mouth and made a motion as if to bite me, but I suddenly backed off at the last second, causing her mouth to clamp shut with a sharp clank!

"Whoa there, Sy!" I said, holding my hand as if she had bitten it already. "No offense to you, but I've heard all too well about mechanical diseases being introduced into an organic lifeform that way. I think I'll draw the blood."

Syrus looked genuinely hurt, but I noticed something in her eyes that looked like tiny white lights flickering around her navy-blue irises. A second later, they disappeared and she nodded. "If that's what you think, then I must respect that. You are my programmer and I must respect your wishes."

I had a feeling she had just read my mind again, but I didn't hold it against her. I nodded and stood up. Syrus followed me with her head and then started walking as I headed for a nearby corkboard to grab a pin. I noticed that as she moved, her body only made very faint whirring noises as it moved. There was absolutely no sound of metal rubbing against metal to be heard, which was a rather nice feature of the little Mekh.

Syrus stopped at my feet as I reached for a pushpin from the corkboard. I wasn't sure how this was going to work since I had never intentionally had to draw my own blood before. I was even more worried about what was going to happen to me and Syrus once I had "registered" with her. She seemed like a nice little bot, but robots these days weren't as technologically advanced as she was. In fact, her alleged organic components suggested she was less of a robot and more of an android or a cyborg - something that was alive as well as mechanical.

Once I had found a nice, sharp pin, I looked down at Syrus, who was watching me intently. I could see those tiny white lights flickering in her eyes again, which suggested she was reading my mind at that very moment. And when they stopped, all she did was nod, which told me she was ready for this, even though I really wasn't.

I took a deep breath and very carefully pricked my finger, trying to bear with the pain as it lightly broke the skin. Pushpins were a bit thicker than regular needles, but they were all I had, so I had to bear with it for now. After I felt I had broken the skin, I looked down at the area. Unfortunately, the pin hadn't gone in hard enough to draw blood. Looking down at Syrus, I tried again. This time I managed to get deep enough to get a single drop of blood to slowly ooze from the pricked area. I immediately realized a glitch in my plan. How was I going to get this into Syrus' system without her possibly "infecting" me? But after a moment, I realized that I had to trust her even if I wasn't ready for it.

Trying not to wipe the blood from my finger, I slowly crouched down and stuck out my finger for Syrus to take it somehow. She seemed to realize how wary I was of her, but all she did was nod and stick out a thick, triangular, metal, pink tongue out of her mouth. I sighed and very carefully ran my fingertip along the pink tongue, noticing that it completely dry, which slightly removed the possibility of infection into my system. Once she had the blood on her tongue, I pinched my fingers together to try and keep the bleeding to a minimum as Syrus smacked her metal lips for a moment.

After a while, her eyes suddenly became even narrower and I suddenly heard a loud robotic voice sound out from her beak as if she had been possessed.

"ORGANIC COMPONENTS ACCEPTED. NOW SYNTHESIZING WITH BIOLOGICAL INTERFACE. SAMPLE RECOGNIZED AS: HUMAN ALEX SCHAEFER, 21. SYNTHESIZING TO BE COMPLETE IN FIVE... FOUR... THREE... TWO... ONE... COMPLETE. BIOLOGICAL SAMPLE INTEGRATED INTO GENETIC CODE. NOW COMMENCING BIOLOGICAL CONVERSION INTO MORE COMPATIBLE INTERFACE."

At this, Syrus' eyes returned to normal and she looked up at me with a somewhat frightened look. "It's ready, but this location is too small for what I'm about to become. I can't move without upsetting my system, so could you please move me into a more open space?"

And with that, she closed her eyes and did not open them again. It hit me than that my currently location was too cramped for us to stay here, so, thinking quickly, I scooped up the Lugian Mekh and quickly carried her out from behind the dining room table and brought her into the living room before setting her down on the floor. I noticed she was surprisingly light for a mechanaloid since she weighed barely more than five pounds, but once I had set her down on the floor, I realized she was about to get a lot bigger.

No sooner had I set her down than Syrus' body lit up with a blinding white light again, which began to stretch taller and longer, soon stretching up and beyond my own height of six feet. After a while, the light stretched out in a few places such as her arms and her backside before the light intensified for a moment and then went out.

It seemed that Syrus had been "upgraded", so to speak. Her form had gone from a 12-inch basic Lugia form to a seven-foot anthropomorphic Lugian form. Her legs had lengthened as well as the rest of her body so she now appeared more "humanoid". Her metallic structure was still the same, but I noticed that she had gotten a few new "parts" on her body. Right off the bat, I saw some extensions on the backs of her digitigrade legs that looked like spaceship thrusters of some kind, which were inactive since she was currently grounded. Her legs had gained a set of metallic "plates" that looked like armor covering on a spacecraft. Her claw-like toes were plated as well. There was a new plate on her chest that was oddly constructed to look like "pectoral plates" on a suit of armor. If I didn't know better, I could have sworn they were breasts but without any of the cleavage. The plate covered most of her chest, but the "crest plate" not only went under it, there was a bit of extra coloring on the breast plate so her crest still looked intact.

Her wings/arms had been supped up as well. At the parts of her shoulders down to her elbows was a simple thin, metallic structure like someone's forearm, but from her elbows down to her flipper-like hands was a kind of set of metallic "gauntlets" as if her wings had been slipped into them to make them appear bigger, even though that probably wasn't the case. Her flat, rectangular "feathers" had also become segmented into three sections each, so she could use them like human fingers. I also noticed that on the tops of her wings was a pair of long, slot-like extensions that looked like something was supposed to go there. They looked slightly similar to the thrusters on her ankles, which suggested they were there for a reason that wasn't being used right now.

I spotted the same mysterious spiral shutter in-between her legs, which had yet to reveal its purpose. As for her tail, it had been crafted in numerous metallic segments that looked oddly like a chain whip with two pointed spikes near the tip. Her back plates were also more triangular than before and seemed to resemble drag fins on a spacecraft that she could fold and extend from her back at will, each of which had a faint slot in her back for them to slide perfectly into. I also spotted another one of those thruster-like slots running down her spine, which suggested she could use it as a propulsion device while airborne.

Her head, though, was surprising. I had expected her to have some kind of visor or mask apart from her normal eye masks, but in fact, her head was probably the only part of her that was left unchanged. It still had the pointed, navy-blue masks with her hinge-like jaws and the screws at her jawline.

If anything, Syrus now looked even more dangerous and intimidating than before. She looked more like a war machine than the Lugiabot I had fallen for, but as she opened her eyes again, I could tell that the same kind and gentle spirit I had seen before was still in there somewhere.

"Well, Alex..." said Syrus in a slightly more powerful tone of voice. "What do you think? Can I accessorize or what?"

I wasn't sure what to say. Apart from a slight itch on the back of my neck, I couldn't get enough feeling into my head to respond to this question. Syrus had clearly outdone herself and had turned herself into a living war machine, but strangely enough, she seemed to be rather... I don't know... sexy. I wasn't sure if that was the right thing to say or think about a machine, but I couldn't think of anything else to think.

Syrus tolerated my silence and her eyes once again glittered with those tiny white lights. She seemed to be reading more than just my thoughts, but I didn't really care at that moment. All I could do was stare at her as she stood there, looking usually attractive in front of me.

All of a sudden, she smiled and chuckled in her sweet yet mechanical laugh. "I can sense your body temperature rising. Your body's natural hormone levels are elevated and you seem to be thinking rather naughty thoughts. And I must say..." she added with a smirk. "I don't see what's holding you back. Why don't you come test your theory out?"

"I... well... uh..." I wasn't sure what to say or do, but Syrus already seemed to be one step ahead of me. She stepped forward, her body making its slight whirring noises, and she lifted one of her massive, armored wings up before placing it on my shoulder. If I had been paying attention, I would have noticed that her eyes had changed from navy-blue to emerald-green.

I wanted to say something, but before I could, Syrus lifted up a metal feather and placed it on my lips. "Shh... don't speak. Just feel."

And with that, Syrus reached down with her other wing, cocked out one feather and the tip opened up to reveal a tiny laser, which fired itself at my shorts area, cutting the fabric of both drawers down the middle, revealing a rather obvious erection behind them.

Part of me was screaming at how wrong this was, but it didn't seem to hit my conscious thoughts with enough force to snap me out of my trance. I could only watch as if from a distance as Syrus began to have her way with me.

Syrus felt my hard male cock bump up against the shutter on her groin, which prompted her to look down at the area for a moment as if trying to decide what to do. But then she looked back up at me and gently moved me down and backwards onto the couch so that my erection was pointing almost straight up at her. And for the first time, Syrus' shutter began to open as she continued to keep me lost in her eyes.

Behind the shutter was a rather unusual port that looked like it was a hole in her anatomy. It looked like something went in there and my cocktip was the perfect size and shape to slide perfectly into it. She carefully lowered herself onto me and I felt the tip slide neatly into the hole. In a far-off part of my mind, I was aware that the inside of that mysterious vent was rather sleek, smooth and well-oiled in a way that seemed to mimic living flesh. As Syrus continued to impale herself on me, my cock slid even further into her until it seemed to slip into a notch that was made specifically for it. She now had me locked in and her mechanical body began to work its magic on me.

However, that turned out to be a little different than I expected. As soon as my cock was locked in, I felt a faint prickle as something was slipped into my urethra. My eyes were still on Syrus as the mysterious tube was piped all the way into my testicles before pausing for a brief moment. Then suddenly, the tube seemed to become coarse as hundreds of tiny pin-prick-like sensations coursed through my groin. I was barely aware that the tube was leeching tiny, microscopic circuits into my flesh, which had begun to spread like wildfire through my cock and balls. The organic flesh became inorganic metal, but somehow, I still seemed to have feeling in it. The tube soon retreated from within me, but the changes continued to affect me. My cock literally became as hard as steel while the blood vessels were replaced with metal wires and circuits. As for my genitals, the fluids within them were biologically converted into a kind of synthetic oil that would still have the same effects as male seed but would only work effectively with the mysterious Mekh before me. My balls receded into my body and my entire groin was replaced with the same type of spiral shutter as Syrus. And along the edges of the affected area, you could see a couple wires stretching into the skin that seemed to work as nerves where the flesh turned into metal. As a final irony, the outside of the shutter was stamped with a mysterious symbol like an insignia that consisted of a star with its points broken off of the base.

Finally, Syrus released my cock, which now acted as a kind of mechanical extension. My cock pretty much collapsed into itself in several segments and slipped back behind the shutter, which closed and locked for now.

Finally, Syrus' eyes changed from green back to blue as she pulled herself away from me and my mind slowly began to rebuild itself. She took a few steps backwards and watched me come back to my senses. All of a sudden, her smile faltered and she suddenly looked like she had blacked out for a moment. She teetered dangerously on her feet, her body trying to stabilize itself.

Finally, I came back to my senses and I happened to look down at my new mechanical crotch. It took me a moment to figure out what I was looking at, but when I reached down and touched the hard yet warm metal, the sudden realization of what had happened hit home.

"Syrus! Wha... what did you do to me?! What did you do to my body?! It's... its all metal now!"

The look of fear and anger on my face told volumes as I glared at the Lugiabot. Oddly enough, she was looking strangely lost as if she had suddenly blacked out.

"What did you do to me?!" I yelled, standing up. The metal in my crotch didn't even feel like it was there as I stood up and confronted Syrus. "Say something!"

Syrus finally seemed to recover and when she noticed how angrily I was looking at her, she suddenly looked afraid. "Why are you looking at me like that, Alex? What did I do?"

I couldn't believe how ignorant she was being! How could she have missed it?! Without any regards to my own safety, I reached up, grabbed her by the back of her neck and yanked her down with unusual force, forcing her to look at the shutter she had installed on me.

"There! Take a good look! How could you possibly miss it?!" I yelled, holding her down while she struggled feebly.

Syrus looked at the shutter and whimpered as if she was suddenly afraid of it. "I didn't even know that was there! I'm sorry, Alex! I can't remember what I was just doing!"

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Furious, I shoved her backwards with enough force for her to completely obliterate the TV and part of the entertainment center behind her with a thunderous racket of shattering glass and splintering wood. She fell backwards onto the mess as if she had landed on a cushion and looked up at me with a petrified expression, her wings at odd angles and her tail punched through the drywall behind her.

"I thought you knew better, Syrus!" I yelled at her, not caring about the damage "I" had caused at the moment. "I thought Lugia were supposed to be honest, caring creatures, regardless of their composition! But then you trick me into having sex with you and then you do... THIS to me! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!!! I NEVER WANT TO TALK TO YOU AGAIN!!!"

And without even a pitiful look at her frightened expression, I stormed out of the living room, slammed the door to my room and flopped down on my bed, instantly erupting in tears of fear for my own safety. I didn't care how Syrus felt right now; I just wanted some time to myself.

Syrus, meanwhile, felt horrible for what she had done as she lied in the wreckage of Alex's TV and entertainment center. For one thing, she hadn't counted on a human being able to physically manhandle her like that. Another thing that bothered her was the royal chewing he had given her before storming out. But what bothered her most of all was how wretched she now felt about herself. She had let her mechanical programming cloud her living judgment and she had betrayed Alex's trust in her. She couldn't believe she had let herself get out of control again. She partially blamed her upbringing, mainly the circuit that had been implanted in her to turn her into a metal monstrosity, but she mostly blamed herself. She hadn't been able to control herself, even after weeks of training while trapped in cyberspace. It was her accursed creator that had violated her when she was young and turned her into a metal monster. She was an outcast in her own right since she was the only known Mekh on the planet. Yet she should have been able to use her still-developing Lugian powers to try to build up a resistance to the circuit. She might be a machine, but she still had a living soul inside her, which included a very firm free will, but she knew that she would always be battling with the machine that made up half of her brain.

Syrus did not move for a long while. She didn't want to disturb Alex when he was having an episode. Her hearing was exceptional, so she could hear everything he was doing down the hall in his room. She didn't want to do anything until he had fallen asleep for fear of inciting his wrath again. It wasn't until over an hour later than his sobs finally died away and she began to extract herself from the mess of metal, wood and drywall. Once she was clear, she dusted herself off and looked in the direction of the human's room.

How could she live with herself now? She was supposed to be one of the most loyal and honest creatures in existence, yet she had blatantly taken part of his humanity from him and had acted as if she hadn't done anything wrong. She didn't deserve to be a Lugia after what she had done. Part of her even wished she had stayed behind and let her creator turn her into a heartless, soulless, sex machine.

At this though, Syrus forced herself to bring her right wing across her face, causing a loud metallic PANG!!! to ring throughout the house. How could she think of such a thing?! She had obviously escaped from her prison because she had believed she was better than what her creator had tried to turn her into. The fact she still had the ability to think for herself obviously meant something as well. If she was meant to be a soulless machine, she wouldn't be where she was today. She wouldn't be thinking these thoughts of her own free will, and she certainly wouldn't have made friends with a lonely human.

But the fact still remained, Syrus had still turned part of her human owner into a machine, whether she had intended to or not. As far as she knew, the process was irreversible, so she was going to have to live with this for the rest of her unnatural life. But as she thought of this, she tried to figure out how she could work this to both hers and Alex's advantages. She didn't want to force him to do anything he didn't want to do, so she had to rethink her strategy.

Deciding she needed some time to think, Syrus decided to go out into the backyard to think over her options. She didn't dare touch anything in case she damaged it and infuriated the human even more, so she used her psychic powers to slide the door open and walked out into the backyard. Once she was outside, she stopped and looked up at the moon that was shining down on the city. She had always liked the moon. It was always so full of strange and wondrous mysteries and powers. In fact, she felt sure that if she were to stand here long enough, the moonlight itself would help her figure out what to do to help her patch things up with her human. In fact, as she stood there, she could almost feel herself changing once again...

By the next morning, I had cried myself out. My anger had subsided and I was suddenly afraid of what I had done to Syrus. I couldn't believe I had laid a hand on her even after she had said she wouldn't intentionally harm me. True, my actions might have been justified then, but now I wasn't so sure. I could have permanently damaged my chances of making amends with her. I was genuinely sorry for what I had done, but I wasn't sure of how Syrus would react after I had blatantly attacked her.

I lied in bed for a few minutes, my hands running themselves over my new metal crotch. The shutter was closed and my metallic cock was completely collapsed within it. Maybe I had overreacted to Syrus' actions. Now that I thought about it, humans and machines weren't really meant to be intimate with each other.

Maybe Syrus had sensed this and had merely evened the playing field. I wasn't sure how to work it yet, but I was sure she would help me learn, that is, if she was still willing to talk to me.

After a while, I decided to get it over with. I got out of bed and walked into the living room to try and patch things up with Syrus. However, she didn't appear to be in the house any longer. The wreckage she had caused to my entertainment center was still there, but she was not. I felt worried that she had taken my threats personally and had left me, but there was something that didn't seem quite right here. For some reason, I could sense that Syrus was still around, but I didn't know where. On a hunch, I went into the kitchen and looked out toward the backyard. Unbelievably, I saw that there was something that hadn't been there the previous afternoon. Curious, I ran out onto the patio and looked to see what it was.

There appeared to be a small aircraft in my backyard as if it had landed there. However, there wasn't enough room for something like this to land on a dime in a backyard that was barely bigger than it was. Not only that, but the shape, color and build of the craft didn't seem entirely... normal. In fact, if I didn't know better, I could have sworn it was...

"Syrus?"

There was no response. The craft just stood there. Strangely enough, it looked a little like Syrus. The body was triangular with a pair of wings on its sides that looked like Syrus' wings. It reminded me of one of those stealth fighter jets, except this one was a bit smaller than that. It stood on a set of landing gear that looked less like wheels and more like Syrus' legs and feet covered with armor plating. There was a large item near the front that looked like Syrus' head. I could make out the curved spike that was on the top of her head and her masks appeared to have large Plexiglas windows filling them out. There was enough glass for me to be able to see all the way around from within the cockpit. Even Syrus' tail was there, although the twin spikes near the tip was crafted in the kind of tail you normally saw on an airplane yet not nearly as long.

I had to wonder what on earth had happened to her last night after I had stormed out. Had she done this to herself? Had she "evolved" further? Was this even Syrus at all? I wanted to know, so I walked up to it, made my way around to the cockpit and climbed on top of the craft. There was a faint hiss of hydraulics as the craft wobbled slightly, but it otherwise remained silent. I examined the outside of the cockpit and found a latch that appeared to be my way inside. I dug my hands into the crack and gave it a firm yank, prying the side of the cockpit open as if I had yanked Syrus' face off.

The interior, though, looked a little odd. It all looked like a massive mass of silver-white material crafted to roughly look like a cockpit. There was a dip in the middle where I believed I was supposed to sit, but anything that was supposed to resemble controls and such merely looked like small, featureless bumps of flesh molded to give only a vague idea of controls.

Something about me told me this was very wrong. It just didn't seem right to me and I was afraid to climb in. Yet something told me that Syrus was trapped inside this craft and she wanted me to help her out. Feeling I was going to regret this, I carefully climbed in and moved into a sitting position in the depression so that I was comfortably seated inside the pseudo cockpit. It seemed to be made just for me and I found myself oddly relaxed as I calmly leaned back in the chair.

Bad move.

As soon as my head touched the soft, fleshy material behind me, I felt a sudden sharp sting in the back of my head, which caused me to jerk forward in the seat. However, the cockpit seemed to have a mind of its own because the fleshy material suddenly came alive and I found myself being pinned by some of the folds of metallic flesh, which restrained me from going anywhere. Meanwhile, the pain in the back of my neck grew more intense as I felt numerous tiny, thin tendrils crawling into my central nervous system. I had heard and seen about situations like this on the Internet and through movies and TV where an unwilling human was turned into little more than a mechanical slave to a conscious machine. I couldn't believe this was happening to me! I was finally losing my humanity and what made me who I was! I was going to be a heartless, mindless slave to a foreign aircraft.

As I tried to fight it, I was aware of a voice speaking directly into my brain through a new port on the back of my neck. It was... it was... Syrus???

<Shh... it's okay. I've got you and I'm not going to let anything happen to you.>

I tried to speak, but my body wasn't responding to my brain, so I was forced to communicate mentally with what little free will brain activity I might have had left.

Syrus... is that you?

<It is. And you can stop struggling. I won't let you come to harm.> Somehow, Syrus seemed to be speaking to me as if she really was the craft I was now imprisoned in.

But, why, Syrus?! Why are you doing this to me?! I don't want to be a computer!

<Shh... I never said that, nor do I intend to do that. Your fears are completely unfounded.>

But... if you're not turning me into a computer... what are you doing?

<It's okay, Alex. I'm just merging my programming with you. You and I will be able to think and function on the same technical level. I will not let you become a slave; I know better than that.>

But... I don't... understand. What's happening to me?

I shuddered. <That's just a fancy way of saying "slave". I don't believe you.>

<Hmm... well, that's your choice. Even as a machine, I still cannot lie. However... I can understand where you are coming from. Tell you what; I'll make you a deal. Are you willing to listen?>

I really didn't have a choice here. Fine.

<Good. Now listen. I still have the power to free you completely from my programming apart from what I've already done to your body, but I'm going to make you an offer. I want you to stay with me like this for three days as a form of shareware. Three days - that's all I ask. If you are not 100% satisfied that life with me was the best thing that happened to you, I will free you, no questions asked. I will then gladly depart if you so desire. I will never trick you, contact you or force you to do anything else and you will never hear from me again. Can you just stay with me for three days, my love?>

Using what little free will I might have had left, I thought about her offer, realizing that she was allowing me to do so without any outside interference. Could I last three days bound physically and mentally to Syrus?

What if I refuse?

At this Syrus' demeanor changed to become something darker and more mischievous. <Then I will wipe your mind on the spot right now. I will not hesitate to make you my eternal pilot and programmer. What do you say?>

She drove a pretty hard bargain, which was enough for me to reluctantly agree. All right. But I'm not happy about it. You have three days to change my mind.

At this, I felt an odd electrical feeling course through my body in an oddly pleasurable way. It was almost in a kind of... thankful way. <You made the right choice, love. Now, I just have a few strict rules that you must agree to or I might have to change my mind.>

I whimpered mentally. This couldn't be good. What are they?

<First, you are no longer Alex Schaefer. You are "Pilot" only. Do you accept?>

I sighed reluctantly. Yes...

<Good. Now, while I am in this form, you will go by my call sign: SYRUS1. When I am in my original form, you may call me by my given name. Do you accept?>

Yes, I accept. But I wasn't happy about it.

<Good. Just one more thing. You will do what I say when I say it or else you will regret it.> She had used her dark tone of voice that time. Then in a softer tone, she added, <But I'll try to respect your independence when I can and when you deserve it. Do you accept?>

I knew I had no choice. I accept. And as if on cue, I felt those rules imprint themselves into my mind as if they had been burned there. Once it was over, I knew I had pretty much signed the deal in blood. Now what are you going to do... SYRUS1?

"SYRUS1" responded to this by allowing me to relax my nerves whether I wanted them to or not. <We're going to go for a little flight. I want to see how this form handles. Hold still and I'll strap you in.>

I couldn't really object, but as I watched, the flesh that made up the inside of the cockpit began to move again, this time taking the form of what a cockpit should look like. The controls, the lights and everything else appeared there, all of which looked like they had been sprayed with the same mysterious grease as before. SYRUS1 allowed me to run my hands over this new interior and feel everything for myself. It all felt pretty real despite the fact I was inside a living, thinking bio-machine.

As I did this, I felt the cockpit moving around my torso, forming what appeared to be a leather flight harness, Also, I felt a molding sensation around my head with the port on my neck in the back and before I knew it, I was looking out of a rather real fighter pilot's helmet. A few seconds later and even the traditional mask had formed over my face, which was piped into who-knows were. And just like the real thing, I was able to breathe easier with much more purer oxygen.

<Comfy?> said SYRUS1.

I moved myself around in my harness but not in a way of trying to escape. You know... I am. But... I thought I was your slave. Why would you treat me so nicely?

At this, I felt a slight prickle of electricity hit me like a slap on the wrist. <Pilot! Shame on you! If you remember, I never said anything about you being my "slave". You've got to trust me if you ever want to have the chance to get out of this. And since you agreed to my terms, I cannot remove all your free will until the trial period is finished. But I can promise that if you don't learn to trust me, I'll find a way to make you reconsider your opinion.>

Good point. Fine. But I still find this all so... strange.

<Don't worry; you'll get used to it. Now hold on. I have one more attachment to make.>

At this, SYRUS1 sent a jolt of electricity through my body that directly targeted the shutter in my crotch. Somehow, she was able to force it to open and cause my new metal cock to slide out. She then used more of the material in the cockpit to extend a kind of tentacle out of the "floor" and attach itself to my cock as if it was some kind of ignition key. I felt the fluid within me start to flow into her, which sent shivers through me, but I was amazed at how she was able to do that.

was all she said. <Now get ready.>

With her pilot all hooked up, I felt SYRUS1 shudder and heard the sound of engines firing up. The whine of turbines became apparent and I could see several statistics appearing in the visor in front of my eyes. It seemed that SYRUS1 was getting ready for takeoff, but no one appeared to be using the controls. In fact, they seemed to be moving on their own. The control stick began to move, which I quickly grabbed so it felt like I had some control over it.

And with that, I felt SYRUS1 start to lift off the ground. Her landing braces/feet lifted and folded into her body. I found it a little odd that she was able to take off without any forward motion. Then again, she was a Lugia, so it only made sense that she would be able to take off on the spot.

Before too long, I heard the sound of the engines roaring and SYRUS1 began to tilt upwards. I could actually feel the vibrating thrusters as they prepared to fire. All of a sudden, I realized something.

SYRUS1... this place is not going to last if you try that.

SYRUS1 responded to this by sending me a new display through the biological visor. It appeared to be a preprogrammed flight path, which seemed to take us well out of the city.

And with that, I felt the engines kick in as SYRUS1 took off. The flames left behind the engines instantly set fire to the house I had left behind. But according to SYRUS1's flight plan, we were headed for the countryside after enjoying a flight in the skies for a while.

SYRUS1 and I flew through the skies, soon reaching heights of well over 20,000 feet. She quickly fired her afterburners and took off even faster into the air. I found this whole experience rather enjoyable, but judging from the waves of electronic emotion coursing through SYRUS1's system, she was enjoying this even more than I was since she was the one who was in control. I knew I was barely more than her Pilot, but somehow, this still seemed unfair.

To no surprise, SYRUS1 heard every one of these thoughts loud and clear. But unlike the machine she was supposed to be, she wasn't very heartless when it came to dealing with emotions.

Why is that?

<Because this is not the end of our relationship by a long shot. I promise I will let you become more integrated in my system later on so you can experience flying from a much better position. For now, just try to enjoy yourself where you are. We'll be at our destination shortly.> But she could still sense me being left out and finally relented. <If it bothers you that much, I'll let you control me freely for a few minutes. How does that sound?>

It sounded better, but I suddenly remembered that I had absolutely no flight experience. SYRUS1, I...

<Don't worry. I'll help you. Just go with it and I'll guide you every step of the way. This connection to your brain is useful in more ways than just communication, you know.>

And with that, SYRUS1 took herself off of "autopilot" and I was suddenly in control of her via the controls in the fleshy cockpit. She started to fall out of the sky from her lack of control, but I could feel her sending me the knowledge of how to steer her while in the air. At first, I was reluctant to let her "control" me, but I soon learned to go with it and found it rather easy to steer. She directed me to all the right dials and controls and I soon found myself moving her through the air with ease. Wherever I steered the control stick, SYRUS1 would move with it, taking me along with it. And as a kind of bit of showmanship, she even directed us into a barrel roll, which was a rather excitable experience for the both of us. And just as we were pulling out, I felt SYRUS1's engines cut out for a moment while it felt like she was changing again. We were in freefall for a few moments while I tried to figure out what was going on.

As she said this, I saw wire-frame model of SYRUS1's body appear on my visor that showed her wings moving outward while her "feathers" spread out even more to give her more maneuverability. While still falling through the air, SYRUS1 fired off her engines again and took off at such an incredible speed that the sound barrier didn't even stand a chance. The whole area echoed with a sonicboom as SYRUS1 streaked over the countryside, her wings leaving streaks of wind behind. Anyone who looked up at the sky would have just seen a streak of white flying through the sky.

Ho... ly... cri... min... y! I managed to say as SYRUS1 tore through the air at nearly Mach 2.

This continued for a few moments before SYRUS1 finally slowed down to a speed that I could actually handle. The whole thing had lasted less than a minute.

What's the matter? I wondered suspiciously. Run out of gas?

She sounded a little worn out.

On the visor, it showed a warning sign that I translated to be coming from the onboard battery, which seemed to be running low. Are we going to be able to make it?

<We'll be fine. We're in the vicinity anyway. I just need to land before I lose any more power.> Sensing my thoughts again, SYRUS1 added, <I'm still technically a living thing, so even I need to rest every now and then. Hold on, I'm bringing us in for a landing. Take a look outside.>

I did and I saw a roaming countryside stretching out before me. There were several farms laid out with fields surrounding them, but one of them seemed to have a rather large collection of fields that SYRUS1 seemed to be aiming for. I could see that the farm was deserted since the fields were overrun with wild vegetation. There didn't appear to be anywhere to land, but SYRUS1 quickly reminded me that she didn't need a runway to touch down. While still firing her thrusters, she brought her wings back in and carefully touched down in the large open yard near the house, barn and sheds. Her landing gear deployed and she managed to touch down with very little impact shock. Finally, her engines powered down and the various restraints that held me in the cockpit began to release, including the harness, the helmet and the tendril holding my metal cock in place. Finally, I felt as if a thorn had been pulled out of the back of my neck as my neural system disconnected from SYRUS1, but the port that she had used was still ingrained into my brain, as it would be for at least the next three days. I also heard the canopy release, which seemed to be her way of letting me know I was free to get out. I reluctantly climbed out of SYRUS1's head and climbed onto the gravel-laced ground.

I patted SYRUS1's cockpit and made to walk away, but all of a sudden, I heard an unbearable ringing in my ears that rose to such pitch that I clapped my hands to my ears and brought myself down to my knees. I turned back to look at SYRUS1 and the ringing lessened slightly. I also heard her voice in my head in a way that was different than the way she had been speaking to me just now.

Please don't go. I doubt you can get very far from me without suffering some kind of withdrawal. If you'll give me a few moments, I'll gladly change back and join you.

The ringing lessened and I was able to get to my feet and stumble back to SYRUS1. When I was able to collapse onto her wing, I felt 20 times better as if I had been reunited with a long-lost friend. For a moment, SYRUS1 remained silent and immobile, but then I heard her speak to me again.

You might need to take a few steps backwards. I don't want you to get hurt. I won't let you go through that withdrawal again.

I did as she said, but I couldn't help wondering what else she had in mind. If she had already been a toy-sized Mekh, a humanoid one and a full-sized fighter jet, what else could she possibly do? I watched as she suddenly lit up with the same supernatural white light that she had displayed before as her entire being was consumed. She then seemed to shrink back down to a more "manageable" size before the light went out and I found myself looking at a familiar figure.

SYRUS1 had changed back into her old humanoid form, complete with her metallic gear, thrusters and metal-plated body. She didn't have any weird surprises for me this time and had simply gone "back to basics" for me. And when she opened her eyes again "Syrus" looked just as I remembered her.

Her jaw moved in a way that suggested she was smiling again and walked up to me before gently wrapping her metallic wings around me in a loving hug. She patted me on the back and I was able to relax at last.

"I told you you could trust me," she said in a voice that I could actually hear. "Now what do you say we go make ourselves at home?"

I pulled out of the hug and looked at the abandoned home she had been referring to. "You mean... we're not going back?"

Syrus shook her head. "Not this time. We need lots of room if we're to fly like that again, so I figured this place would work just fine. Besides, if I remember right, you used to be a farm boy, yes?"

I took another look at the farmland we were on and realized that this was actually the same farm I had grown up on! I had moved out when I had come of age, but I had thought that my parents would have stayed behind. I found it odd that there was no sign of them to be found here. I was sure they were fine, but for now, I decided to just make myself at home here.

I brought my hand up to the back of my neck to itch it again and suddenly realized that the port was still there as if I was some kind of mechanaloid. I turned to Syrus, who read me like a book. "I told you you weren't getting out of this for at least three days, so I suggest you get used to it. For now, you're mine." She had used her dark tone of voice again that time. Then her expression softened up and she smiled pleasantly at me. "How about we get something to eat? I'm sure there's something to be had here."

I was still unsure of what caused her to change moods like that, but I was sure I would figure it out in due time...

...

...but that's not the end of my story. Not by a long shot! The two of us went into the house and found the place oddly abandoned. Everything that had been there when I had last been here was still where it belonged, but there was a smell of rotting food in the air that was probably coming from the fridge. I didn't want to open it, but Syrus told me she would deal with it.

"Why don't you go see if you can find something for me to eat, Pilot?" she said as she began to clean out the fridge.

Trying not to gag at the smell, I asked her the obvious. "I didn't think robots needed to eat. What did you have in mind?"

Syrus looked at me quizzically. "Well, since I'm not really a robot, I suppose I should eat something. Just look around for something metal or computer-related that we can do without and bring it here so I can check it out. Meanwhile, I'll look around for something that's still good that you can eat."

That seemed fair enough, so for now, I made a beeline straight upstairs to the computer room to see if anything looked good for Mekh consumption. oddly enough, everything looked like it had all been abandoned on the spot. Nothing was stacked in a way that suggested my family had tried to pack up and there was nothing to suggest they had been harmed in any way. Everything was right were it seemed to belong, but there was no hint of anything that might lead me to my family's whereabouts. I even looked out the window and saw that their vehicles were still in the garage where they belonged. Strange.

Looking around the computer room, I found several stacks of old music CDs and burned CD-Rs that had just been stacking up. The computer was still there and still looked functional apart from a thick layer of dust on the hardware. It obviously hadn't been touched in some time, which was odd since my stepmother was on it virtually every day. I finally decided to grab a stack of junk CDs and brought them downstairs to see what Syrus thought.

Syrus wasn't in the kitchen when I came back down, but a few seconds later, she walked up from the basement with a few packages of hamburger and hotdogs in her wings. My dad sometimes raised cows specifically for meat and usually froze a good amount of it on the spot, so it only made sense that there was plenty of it in the freezer downstairs.

"What'd you find?" I asked her as she set the frozen food on the center island.

"Enough meat and frozen foods to keep you fed for quite a while," she said smugly. "Certainly for more than three days. I thought I'd cook something up for you since you didn't have breakfast. That is... if you found something for me."

I nodded and presented the spindle of junk CDs as if trading them for a meal. "I couldn't find any junk hardware, but what do you think about these?"

Syrus' eyes lit up again, but this time, they turned a sharp red that scared me for a moment. But then I saw two wide beams of red light shoot from her eyes and run over the spindle as if she was running a price scanner over them. And once she was done, her eyes returned to normal again and she smiled.

"They look pretty good. Are you sure you don't mind?"

I shook my head. "Not really. Most of this stuff is pretty old, plus my family doesn't seem to be around, so I figured, why not?"

Syrus chuckled and nodded. "That's very generous of you. Why don't you grab about ten of those and I'll make you something your human body can handle? Then we can have some fun," she added with a mischievous smirk.

I had a feeling I was in for a rough ride later on, but for now, the two of us went about making "brunch". It was still early, so it seemed to be a fair option.

As I picked out some CDs for Syrus to consume, I watched her go to work cooking a pan of hamburgers. First, she used the same "eye beams" to gently defrost the meat as if she had "heat vision". She then made the patties while adding various seasonings from the cupboard. She then cooked the meat in a most unusual way. Right before my eyes, she held her left wing out and it seemed to transform onto a kind of makeshift griddle. She then held the patties in her wing as she walked around the house, cooking them as if she was generating her own thermal energy. Her chest had also opened up to reveal a set of gauges that seemed to record the temperature of her body and the thoroughness of the cooked meat. While she was doing this, she had changed her other wing to resemble a spatula as I watched her act like a living range.

I couldn't help but smile and shake my head at her. "Ay, Syrus. What will you think of next?"

Syrus smiled back and winked at me. "You'll just have to wait and find out."

When she deemed the food thoroughly cooked, Syrus applied some cheese that had been in the freezer and some buns that had been stored likewise. She then served the food and slid it onto the table while her wings returned to normal and she went to sit on the opposite side of the table to look at the ten random CDs I had set on a plate. I sat down and said a small prayer for my food, thanking God for bringing such a "useful contraption" into my life. Syrus actually broke out laughing when I was done and I could feel a tingle of satisfied energy course through me, even thought we weren't physically connected at that time.

The burgers were exceptional, but I was more interested in how Syrus ate her food. She made a rather unusual ritual of sliding a disc into a slot on her chest that had just opened up and the CD seemed to "play" in her body for a few moments before she ejected it to reveal a completely clear plastic disc like those extra separators you got in CD-R stacks. It had been completely stripped and wiped clean and she simply set the disc aside before helping herself to another.

I couldn't help but ask. "Did you even taste that?"

Syrus chuckled. "Mekhs don't have a sense of taste, Pilot, but the effect is still pretty close to what you would think of as taste."

I took another bite of my burger and marveled at how wonderful it tasted despite the fact it had been cooked by a "tasteless robot". Syrus merely rolled her eyes at this thought but said nothing.

"So what actually happens when you "eat" it?" I asked her.

Syrus finished her second disk and went right for a third. "It's kind of like "downloading", which sends the fragments of data all over my body. I can choose to absorb them as knowledge or as energy, which makes some disks more savory than others. It seems that music disks have more "flavor", so to speak while data disks are more of a "healthy" type. But sometimes I get burned disks with very little data on them, so all my body can use from them are the materials of the disk itself as an energy source. Usually, the more data something has, the better it is for me."

She soon finished the disk and looked around the pile before coming up with a burned DVD. Pointing to it, she said, "DVDs tend to be better for me because they can hold so much more data than regular CDs, plus if there's video data on it, I can save it in my memory banks and let you view later on. Think of it as a kind of "theater dinner"."

I was about to suggest she reverse that, but a simple smirk at me told me she knew exactly what she had said. Shrugging it off, we returned to our meals until everything was consumed.

When we were done, Syrus looked like she had been well-fed judging from the way she held her tear-like belly, and I had to agree likewise. We had both eaten rather well, which would give us both the energy for more "practical" events.

I stood up and brought my plate over to the sink, but when I turned back, Syrus suddenly seemed to have an idea. "Say, Pilot... your father used to use machinery, right?"

I nodded. "All the time. Why?"

She shrugged. "Well, I figured if he used machines, he probably used oil and/or grease, right?"

"Yeah..."

Syrus nodded. "Would you like to be a big help and go get me a pint of oil and a tube of grease if you can find some?"

"I guess I can. Why?"

Syrus' eyes narrowed and she spoke very seriously for a moment. "Because I told you to. I need them for something." I gulped as her mood passed and she added, "I just thought I'd lube myself up for a little "fun" I had planned."

Still wary of her sudden mood swings, I agreed to get the oil and grease and quickly left the house while she went about her business. I wasn't sure if I should be afraid of her when she was like that or what despite how scary she could be when she was in one of those moods. But then I remembered that I didn't have a choice. She had made it very clear that she wanted me to do what she said when she said it and I had agreed to it as a term for keeping my humanity intact. Mekh or not, I knew that if you made a promise to a Lugia and broke it, you essentially risked more than just your mental status from the Lugia, which I wasn't willing to leave to chance as I was. Syrus was virtually wired straight into my nervous system, which meant she could shut my body and mind down in an instant if I disobeyed her while she was in there.

There weren't any pint jars in the shed with the oil drum that Dad used for his machines, but there were a few rather dingy coffee cans and a large kettle with a long nozzle for use when pouring oil directly into a tractor. I considered my options for a moment before remembering what was behind that shutter in Syrus' crotch, so I decided to grab the kettle and fill it halfway with oil. The kettle was about two pints and Syrus had only asked for one, so I improvised by filling it partway and then bringing the whole thing in. Ignoring the oil smears on the handle, I carried the kettle over to another shed where I was sure Dad had kept some engine grease guns. As I was reaching for it, I noticed several boxes full of old and new nuts, bolts and washers. I remembered while watching TV that "robots" usually "ate" this kind of stuff directly in whatever mouth they had. Deciding to surprise Syrus, I filled an empty peanut butter jar with various metal goodies and juggled the three things in my hands as I carried them back into the house.

Syrus was not in the kitchen again as I came in the back door. However, as I looked downstairs, I noticed that the bed that had been in the downstairs living area was missing, which was odd since it had been there during a period of time where my parents had intended to clean out my old room downstairs. That bed wasn't something that you could move easily on your own, but Syrus actually had superhuman strength, so I decided to head downstairs and see what was up.

As I approached the door to my room, I saw that the light was on and there was movement inside it. I also felt a familiar tingle that could only come from Syrus, so I figured she was in there. I rounded the corner and found the Lugian Mekh putting the finishing touches on remaking the bed, which had been placed in the center of the room without anything else in there.

Sensing my approach, Syrus turned to me with a pleasant smile. She then stepped aside and gestured to the bed. "Welcome, Pilot," she said in a voice that I couldn't determine if it was hers or "not". "I've been expecting you. Is that all for me?" She nodded towards the items in my arms. But before I could say anything, her eyes lit up with blue light and the three objects were engulfed in thin blue auras and flew from my grip seemingly on their own. Syrus looked at the container of oil and the grease gun with satisfaction, but she let out a curious beep when she saw the jar of various metal things.

"Are these for me?" she said calmly.

I nodded. "I thought you could actually eat these instead of "downloading" them. I figured even Mekhs could eat them even though you're not really a robot."

Syrus levitated the jar over to her and made as if to hold it a few inches above her wing. I could see her eyes glittering again before they turned red again and another "scanning beam" ran along them. Scanning complete, she smiled in a pleasant way. "They do look rather tasty, but I'm afraid I had my fill when we ate together, so..." She moved it out of the room to settle on top of a tall movie rack I had once built. "...maybe later. I have what I need, so..." Her eyes turned back to blue and she closed the door behind me. "...let's see what we can do."

She then kinetically turned off the light so that we were virtually in complete darkness. But before I had time to ask, the lights suddenly turned on again, but this time, it was as if the bulb had turned into a black light. My white shirt lit up on the spot and I saw that Syrus had lit up in a similar yet different way. It looked like hundred of tiny, fluorescent wires had lit up all over her body, turning her into a kind of "living" circuit diagram. Also, there were new symbols and codes visible in the black light that hadn't been visible under regular light. I could still see her basic frame as well as her eyes, but the former was a bit darker than before, just like human skin.

Syrus, however, seemed more amazed than I was as she held up a wing and looked it over. "Hmm... that's interesting. It seems that black light can reveal my external circuitry as clear as day. I guess it's true that you learn something new every day. Anyway..." She turned to look back at me. "You've got an update to make."

I swallowed hard. Did she mean me or her? But before I could answer, Syrus climbed onto the bed and lied along the length of it in a rather seductive position.

"Now, Pilot..." she said in her dark tone. "You've got some maintenance to do. Don't keep me waiting."

I realized right then and there that she wanted me to have sex with her, which I knew I had to do or else risk my own safety. With a reluctant sigh, I started towards her. But before I could get on the bed, Syrus' eyes lit up again and all of a sudden, whatever clothes I had had on were reduced to scraps, which fluttered to the floor.

"That's better," she said. "Now try that again."

I gulped and climbed onto the bed again as Syrus followed me with her eyes. I moved myself into a position where I was straddling her hips, but then I realized that the shutter in my groin was still shut.

All of a sudden, Syrus' eyes lit up red again and my mind blanked out for a moment. The next thing I knew, I was lying on my back along Syrus' body with her wings wrapped delicately around my front.

"Syrus..." I said worriedly. "What did you just do?"

Syrus chuckled darkly. "I got things going a little. I figured we already covered normal mechanical sex, so this time I thought I'd try something new. Now hold still."

She began to run her wings over my smooth, naked body, taking care not to let any sharp corners touch me. I also felt something smooth and cold running along the back of my neck, which I realized was Syrus' tongue. Meanwhile, her body had started to vibrate as if she had a kind of massage chair installed into her. The feeling passed all over my body and I found myself relaxing comfortably. As I did so, I realized that my groin was starting to open again and my cock was starting to rebuild itself. I noticed in the black light that my cock, which seemed to curve slightly upwards, was also lined with the same fluorescent circuitry as the ones that covered Syrus' anatomy. Syrus began to paw at the length and, strangely enough, I could feel it as if she was touching my real flesh.

All of a sudden, my vision went dark as if I had suddenly gone blind. I was on the verge of panicking when I realized that Syrus had once again plugged herself into my neck port with what seemed to be her tongue. As a result, our movements and feelings had become synchronized just like when she had been SYRUS1.

I tried to speak, but she had once again disabled my ability to do so, so I had to resort back to mental communication. Syrus? What are you doing?

This time, though, I heard Syrus speaking as if she was talking to me normally. "I merely reconnected us. You're probably not going to want to see what I'm about to do to you."

I whimpered. Why?

"Just trust me, Pilot. I know what I'm doing."

As I remained in the dark, I was suddenly aware of something happening in my groin area. My cock appeared to be sliding back inside me, leaving a kind of inverted hole in the shutter oddly similar to the one I had seen in Syrus' shutter. I was then aware of something sliding into this hole that was a little too narrow to be another cock. And as it did so, something liquid began to gurgle into me, which sent my internal nervous system into overdrive. I felt waves of stimulating shivers coursing through my body as more and more of the fluid continued to pour into me.

Syrus...! I managed to eke out. What are you doing?!

"Lubricating. I need you to be ready for what I'm about to do to finish you off."

I did not like the sound of that. Syrus, what...?! But all of a sudden, even my method of mental communication shut down as if on command.

"That's enough out of you. I told you I know what I'm doing and I mean it. I will not let you come to harm, so you have to trust me, whether I have to force you to or not."

I gulped and tried to roll with it. More and more of the fluid, which I now realized was the same oil I had fetched from outside. I had no idea what she could possibly hope to accomplish by "poisoning" me with oil, but there was nothing I could do to stop her.

After what felt like an eternity, I felt the nozzle on the oil kettle remove itself from me for a few moments, which was soon replaced my something even narrower inside what I now realized was Syrus' version of a female sex. However, instead of a constant flow, the object would touch different parts of my mechanical sex and something thick would pump into me before it would adjust itself and repeat. It took me a moment to figure out she was now using the grease gun on me, which made me fear I wasn't going to come out of this with my humanity intact.

Finally, Syrus removed the grease gun and my shutter closed again. A few seconds later and I felt a new sensation advancing on me, this time through my still-fleshy backside. Something thick and steel-hard was sliding between my cheeks, but before I could do anything, something that felt like a four-sided arrowhead penetrated my fleshy ass, causing me to involuntarily scream out. I knew exactly what Syrus had done. She had inverted her robotic sex into a male cock the same way I had done and it was now buried inside my once-virgin ass in a form of anal sex.

But she wasn't done with me by a long shot. After a few moments, a third fluid began to flow into me, this time in the form of some kind of mechanical male seed. It burned my insides as if it had been heated to boiling, but shortly after it entered me, the heat died away and gave way to an odd tingling feeling. Even stranger, the tingling didn't seem to be restricted to my ass. It seemed to be spreading all around my hips and all the way down my legs to even the tips of my toes. And whatever the tingling feeling touched, I was vaguely aware of a slightly stiff feeling in those affected areas. Call me crazy, but if a Mekh could produce "living" sperm, then could it possibly... be...? Oh no...

"Oh yes, my dear human," said Syrus almost tauntingly. "My seed is nothing more than billions of biological lifeforms designed to convert organic material into bio-organic material."

My heart sank as I translated this into one word: nanobots.

"Nan-ites, actually. Nanobots are used as a form of medical aid to repair and reconstruct living tissue. My "nanites" are designed to turn human flesh into biomechanical circuitry. Essentially, nanobots can only rebuild while nanites destroy and rebuild,"

The shock of what Syrus was doing to me forced me to emit a burst of emotion so incredibly powerful that it broke past the "lockdown" Syrus had put on my system. My vision, my free will and my conscious thoughts all came back with such a vengeance that I inadvertently sprang right out of Syrus' grip and tumbled onto the floor at the foot of the bed. I soon found myself on my hands and knees, gasping for breath as I tried to figure out what had happened to me.

Syrus, meanwhile, appeared to have had her "system" overloaded by the sudden burst of emotion. Her eyes were flashing a bright red like a warning siren and her body was twitching involuntarily while making sick whirring sounds as if she had gotten hit with a virus.

Right now, I was more concerned with my own well-being. I leaned back into a kneeling position and placed my hands on my thighs. Right off the bat, I realized that my suspicions had been correct. Syrus had converted my human flesh into mechanical material. I felt hard metal under my fingers as well as the tiny rivets that now ran along the edges of the armor plates that covered it.

However, my legs didn't exactly seem as... "robotic" as I had expected. I had expected two narrow, stiff, iron-like legs on hinges and hydraulics, but instead, they felt strangely... familiar. They were fairly smooth and bulky as if they belonged on... Syrus.

I quickly stood up, hearing my new hydraulics whirring and hearing the sound of metal scraping against tile. I went to the light switch and turned it on. The black light was immediately replaced by bright white light and I could see that Syrus still appeared to be malfunctioning, but I was more concerned with my lower extremities.

Sure enough, my legs were not only similar to Syrus', they were identical! Her smooth, rounded thighs, her digitigrade stance, her three-clawed feet, the designs and rivets on her silver-white "skin", even the correct coloring and composition of the shutter... it was all there. It all looked exactly like Syrus' legs as if they had been cloned. Oddly enough, I could still feel them somewhat, but the feeling was a bit more "electronic" than before. That was the only way to describe it. They were actually rather nice and "functional" despite the fact that over a third of me was now mechanical. I wasn't sure what Syrus planned to accomplish by turning me into a Mekh like her, but right now, I needed to turn my attention to the malfunctioning Mekh before me.

Syrus was still twitching and buzzing involuntarily as if her internal computer had crashed. She was also muttering something that I couldn't quite make out. Curious, I walked around the side of the bed and leaned in close to listen. I found through experience that all electronic devices made some kind of noise that you needed to listen extremely close to them to hear. And my suspicions were confirmed when I heard her whispering in a barely audible tone.

"Alex... sorry... didn't... mean... ERROR... MALFUNCTION... you should... have known... SYNTAX ERROR... I wish... you'd known... WARNING... DANGER... please... forgive me..."

Somehow, hearing Syrus in this condition seemed to confirm in my heart that she really did care about me. Syrus actually cared about me more than she did about turning me into her mechanical slave. And hearing her speak my old name instead of calling me "Pilot" seemed to confirm it. I felt so ashamed for having ever doubted her. She was actually more than just a mechanical sex machine; she was a living being and deserved to be treated as such.

But judging from the way she appeared to be malfunctioning, Syrus didn't seem to be faring so well. It seemed that my own free will had overwhelmed her, but whether it was her good side or her "dark" side that was malfunctioning, I couldn't be sure. All I knew was that she needed help or she might possibly crash and have to be "rebooted". And I knew that that was probably the worst thing I could do if I wanted to retain her memories and personality circuit. Personally, if she were an actual computer, I would probably run a system recovery to reset her timeline to a previous date, but Syrus was a living, thinking biomachine, so doing so, even if I could, might do more harm to her than good, including completely wiping her memory of me and all we had done together.

Just then, I heard the doorbell ring upstairs, which was odd since this place was supposed to be deserted. I wanted to answer it, but I didn't want to leave Syrus as she was. But I also knew I couldn't face anyone at the door with half of my body being mechanical, so my options were limited. But when the doorbell rang again, I realized I had no choice. I sighed and looked at Syrus as if she could barely hear me.

"I'll be right back, Syrus. Try to hold out until then." I then did something that was a big turning point in mine and Syrus' relationship. I leaned over and kissed her right on her metal beak. Syrus bleeped awkwardly at this but otherwise didn't respond. Her eyes had stopped flashing and had returned to a red color that would appear static-filled at some points, but she otherwise continued to malfunction.

I then left the room and went upstairs to check on the person at the door, who had rung the doorbell again. I could hear and feel my new mechanical Lugian legs whirring as I walked on the balls of my feet with surprising efficiency. They didn't feel awkward at all and I got a wild, crazy and far-off idea that I would like being a Lugian Mekh. I quickly shed the thought, but that wouldn't be the last time I thought that way.

I reached the kitchen and found no one at the door as if someone had done a Ding-Dong-Ditch, but this place was pretty far out in the middle of the countryside, so there weren't a lot of nearby places to run to if that had been the case. Also, they probably wouldn't have rung the doorbell three times if it was a prank.

Still, I opened both front doors and looked around. There was certainly no one there and there didn't appear to be anyone running off across the rather large yard. I was about to go back inside when I looked down and saw something sitting on the front steps that looked out of place. It was a paper/plastic CD sleeve with a disk inside it that looked like it had a tie-dyed spiral label. Curious, I reached down and picked it up to look at it. I slid the disk out of the jacket and saw that both sides were colored this way. On one side, though, there was a sticky note on it that read, "Just in case" that looked hand-written. As I removed the sticky note, I realized that there was virtually no way to tell which side went up or not. It was obviously meant for me and Syrus, but I couldn't figure out why or who had sent it.

I thought about it for a moment before remembering that Syrus hadn't been overly picky on which side of a compact disk had been facing which way while she had been "eating" mainly because her disk drive had been vertical in the very center of her torso. If that was the case, then it was probably meant specifically for Syrus. I was worried that it was laced with another virus, but the note had read "Just in case" and the timing was rather convenient, so I figured it was probably better for her than doing nothing.

I took the disk back in the house, pausing for a moment to check if someone really wasn't outside and then went back downstairs to find Syrus oddly still and silent. Her eyes were still open, but her body had stopped twitching and making noises as if she had gone into some kind of "safe mode" to protect herself from further damage. I stood at her side and ran my hand along her metallic torso before I located the vertical disk drive that appeared to have been there all this time. Holding the disk in front of me, I took a deep breath and decided to go for it. I then slid the disk into the drive, allowing her internal system to take it all the way inside once it had gotten into her a short way like on a car stereo.

As Syrus took the disk into her system, her eyes turned green like they had once before and I could hear her inner workings "processing" the disk. All of a sudden, she began to speak in a computerized voice again.

"VIRUS PROTECTION PROGRAM ACTIVATED. NOW SCANNING FOR ABNORMALITIES... 1 VIRUS FOUND. CALL SIGN: X-CLASS PERSONALITY. THREAT LEVEL: HIGH. BEGINNING VIRUS REMOVAL. ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETION: SEVEN MINUTES, SEVEN SECONDS."

And with that, Syrus' eyes went out as if she had suddenly blacked out. I could hear her body working on purging the "virus" inside her system. I knew she was on the road to recovery and she would be just fine when she was finished. In the meantime, I climbed into bed with her and cuddled up to her like she had probably meant to do. I held one of her wings in my hand, not caring that they were much colder than they used to be. I just wanted to let her know that I was there for her through her most trying time.

The minutes passed in relative silence, broken only by my mechanical legs whirring as they adjusted every now and then. The hydraulics still felt really stiff, but I was sure I would get used to them. I also pawed at my shutter, which was excreting varying amounts of oil and grease every now and then but little else.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Syrus' eyes came back into focus and I heard her mechanical voice speaking again.

"VIRUS REMOVAL COMPLETE. NOW REBOOTING..." I was worried when she said this because if her memory got reset, it would likely be as if I had never met her. But a few seconds later, I heard a sound like a Macintosh computer powering up and Syrus' eye color returned to blue and she began to move again seemingly under her own power. She looked a little worn out, but she was otherwise fine and completely recovered.

The first thing she seemed to notice was me holding onto her left wing. Blinking a few times, she followed the arm that held it and looked at me with an astonished look. The two of us looked deep into each other for a moment before Syrus suddenly looked at my legs with a shameful look.

"Pilot... I'm sorry I did that to you. I haven't been able to control myself lately. It was all part of my initial programming, but you managed to show me that even in a cold, metal shell, a living being can still exist."

I smiled at Syrus, just glad that she was okay. "It's fine, Syrus. I'm pretty sure I can get used to it. This is all just so... new is all."

Syrus, however, shook her head. "No, it's not. Once again, I went against my word without realizing it. I made a promise that I would return you to your human self at the end of three days if you didn't like what I could give you." She looked me up and down for a moment as if looking for something. "And I'm sure I can still do that. If I take a bit of your genetic profile now, I can probably still restore your human self at the end if you so wish. But that's all up to you."

I looked down at my Lugian legs for a moment before making a fateful decision. "You know what, Syrus? I don't care. I actually think that becoming a Lugian Mech would be all that bad."

Syrus looked shocked for a moment. "A... are you sure? This is essentially the point of no return. If I change you anymore, you might never see your full human self again."

However, I really didn't care. "Not a problem. As your programmer, I am giving you an order to let me become a Mekh. Confirm command."

For a moment, Syrus looked baffled, but then her mechanical voice kicked in and she stared blankly at me like an unprocessed robot. "COMMAND CONFIRMED." Syrus then shook her head as if to clear it. "Pi... Alex... do you realize what you've just said to me?"

I nodded and placed my hand on her chest plate. "I do and I don't care. Period."

Syrus looked worriedly at me for a moment but then realized that I had made up my mind. "All right, I accept your decision. But just remember that I gave you plenty of chances to... aw, forget it," she said, finally giving up. "Come here."

She then rolled over and wrapped her wing around me, pulling me into a firm yet loving mechanical kiss. This one was more of a compassionate one and as I returned it, we were able to boost our relationship to a whole new level.

After a while, Syrus broke the kiss and the two of us looked compassionately at each other for a few moments. "So, my fine Pilot... what activities would you like to engage in for the rest of the day?"

I reached down and "itched" a funny electrical buzz I had felt on my left shin, which was odd since they were mechanical but soon came up with an idea. "How about we just go upstairs and watch a movie? I'm all sexed out today and I've already gone on a flight with you. How about we just kick back and relax tonight?"

Syrus nodded in confirmation. "Request accepted. I hope you don't mind if I do a little simultaneous Web browsing while we do so, do you?"

I blinked. "You can surf the Internet and watch TV at the same time?"

Syrus pulled a strange face. "You insult me, Pilot. I am the best there is. I can browse 22 billion Web sites at once and watch over five million movies at the same time in addition to whatever I'm doing with my conscious mind. Something like that is a spit in the ocean compared to what I can do."

I gulped and assumed a slight defensive pose. "Okay, then. I forgot about that. Since that's the case, why don't you pick the movie?"

Syrus nodded and slid off the bed, motioning for me to follow. The two of us left the otherwise empty bedroom and headed upstairs to watch a movie. It was getting late in the afternoon and the two of us just needed some time to ourselves. Syrus grabbed the jar of nuts, bolts and washers she had set aside earlier and carried it upstairs with her, taking a moment to sample the metal goodies within it. She popped a large nut into her mouth and there was a sound of something like chips crunching as she "ate" it. I noticed that she didn't apply any special equipment to process the metal like crushers or blades. Instead, she just bit into it with her bare jaws and crunched it away. I had heard a Lugia's jaws were powerful enough to crack a coconut, so it only made sense that a metal one would be able to crush metal. As for where she was putting it, I wasn't so sure.

Syrus looked at me as I followed behind, her eyes glittering again. "Remember what I said about processing disks? Well, it's kind of the same way. However, there's also something else in play. Check it out."

She stopped and opened her beak as wide as her metal jaws would allow. I could see in the back of her "throat" was another shutter that opened voluntarily to reveal a kind of sleek, rubbery esophagus that reminded me of a rubber hose that led to who-knew where.

I chuckled as she closed her mouth again. "Neat. Let me guess... you've got some kind of furnace in there?"

Syrus chuckled as well. "Sort of. Like the rest of me, I can kind of summon and banish it at will. Now how about that movie? Let's see what I've got in my data banks that you'll like."

I blinked as she closed her eyes for a moment. Finally, she looked down at her chest and a single CD slid out, which she took in her feathers and held out to me. It looked like a completely legitimate copy of the movie Beowulf, complete with the metallic-gray label and a reverse side that didn't looked burned at all. In fact, it was perfectly flawless in every way... except for something on the data side that looked like a watermark on a dollar bill. As I adjusted the angle in the light, I saw that it looked like the same broken star symbol burned into the entire backside of the disk as the colored one on my shutter. It was rather odd and kind of called into question if my parent's DVD player would read it.

Syrus' eyes had just finished glittering when I looked up and she offered an explanation. "It's just my insignia, love. It's just like the symbols on a Playstation 2 game disk. Normal DVD players shouldn't be able to tell the difference."

I looked at the faint "watermark" again and then shrugged it off and shook my head at her. "Your endless talents will never cease to amaze me, Syrus. Let's go try it out."

Sure enough, the DVD player didn't seem to be affected by the watermark or the fact the disk was "pirated". The two of us were able to sit down on the couch and watch Beowulf from start to finish without any glitches whatsoever. Even better, Syrus appeared to have found a way to turn a regular DVD into a full-fledged Blu-Ray disk without upgrading the TV or the player since the detail of the movie was even better than I remembered. She had clearly outdone even herself and the two of us were able to watch with relative ease.

As the movie went on, Syrus didn't seem to be showing any of her old "dark traits" like she had been doing so far in our relationship. Even when the movie got suggestive at different points, she didn't even look like she used to when she was in one of her moods. It seemed that that entire personality had been removed when the "virus" had been removed from her system. Whoever had sent that disk had clearly been watching over us and knew just what to do when the situation presented itself.

And when the movie was done, it was once again time to eat. Syrus went downstairs and found a frozen turkey loaf that she went right to work preparing at the same time as a box of mashed potatoes and frozen sweet corn. The way she was able to multitask even better than even my stepmother could do. And while she cooked away, she requested more of those "metal munchies" since she had eaten everything I had brought in during the movie. I gladly went outside and filled a small bucket with as many metal fixings as I could. I doubted my dad would really need them anymore. And when I came back in, my supper was ready and Syrus was setting the table.

The two of us ate in peace. Syrus continued to amaze me with the quality of the food despite the fact she had no normal sense of taste. She helped herself to the nuts and bolts and even processed a few CDs before she considered herself full and allowed me to finish up. By this time, it was getting rather late and Syrus was looking a little tired. Her movements were getting slower and her eyes would occasionally black out for a moment as if she was fighting a food coma. I knew all too well that people who ate a lot for supper usually suffered a "food coma" and had to sleep it off for the night. And since I couldn't go very far from her without worrying about her, I decided to call it a night and crawled into bed with her. I noticed for the first time that her body seemed to have smoothed out even more so that her various metal parts didn't damage the sheets and mattress of my parent's bed. And as we were ready to shut down for the night, I got a transmission into my brain that seemed to be coming from Syrus' subconscious.

I think I fancy spending tomorrow in my full form. We're going to go for a flight and you're going to treat me like a true aircraft. I've also got a few... surprises in store for you when we do so, so don't think you've seen everything I can do just yet. Good night, Pilot.

I smiled and spoke to her even though she was shut down for the night. "Good night, Syrus." I then rolled over and quickly went to sleep, knowing that Syrus had only begun to work her magic.

Syrus was already up by the time I woke up the following day. Her distinctly heavy weight was absent when I came to my senses, so I knew she had already started up for the day. I still found it odd to have slept with a machine, much less have a loving relationship with one, but then again, Syrus wasn't exactly 100% machine, so there was kind of a gray area there.

However, as I climbed out of bed, I noticed that Syrus had already been busy while I was out. As I touched down on the floor, I was aware of a sound of something resembling metal clicking and an odd feeling in my backside, which meant that something was there that hadn't been there the previous night. Looking behind me, I couldn't help but smile as I watched several silvery metal segments forming what was none other than a long, smooth, Lugian tail, complete with the twin spikes on the end. It had obviously been recently installed since it still felt rather stiff, even more so than my legs did now. I looked behind me far enough to see that the tail had appeared out of another shutter in my backside that had been installed there. I realized that there was a third shutter directly below that whose purpose I was sure I knew, but other than that, the tail was certainly a magnificent addition to my increasingly mechanical frame. My guess was the reason it was segmented was so I could flex it like Syrus' and retract it when I wanted to sit down just like Syrus did to prevent her tail from tearing into human furniture.

All in all, it was a rather beautiful tail. I was able to flex it up to where I could run my hands over it and enjoy the electronic feelings of pleasure coursing through it. It was yet another dent in my ever-shrinking human physique, but I had told Syrus myself that I didn't care what happened to me anymore as long as the two of us were still together.

Speaking of Syrus, I noticed she wasn't in the kitchen when I got out there. All there was to see was a plate with a couple peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the island and a note that looked like it had been printed in navy-blue ink through a printer.

"Eat up and come outside as soon as you can. I'm waiting. Syrus."

I instinctively looked out the large windows by the kitchen table and saw that there was a familiar craft waiting for me in the same place it had been yesterday. The fighter jet with distinct Lugian features was unmistakable in the tractor yard. It was Syrus in her true form, or, to be more precise, SYRUS1. She had parked herself so that the cockpit was facing the windows I was looking out right now, which meant that SYRUS1 was watching every move I made to make sure I didn't try to pull anything. Demi-Mekh or not, she was still wired directly into my brain and that port was far more potent when she was in this form, so I didn't want to give her a reason to "punish" me for keeping her waiting.

I ate the sandwiches as quickly as I could and put the dishes in the sink before heading outside to see what SYRUS1 was up to. I walked the length of the yard and stopped right in front of the craft, running my hand over her right mask panel.

"Good morning, SYRUS1," I told her. "Been waiting long?"

There was no response. It took me a moment to realize she couldn't directly communicate with me in this form unless she was directly plugged into my brain through my neck port, but that didn't stop me from having some light conversation with her before climbing in. But judging from the electric feeling and satisfaction that I felt coursing through my body, SYRUS1 was pleased that I hadn't kept her waiting.

I smiled and turned to flaunt my new mechanical tail in front of her cockpit. "I see you were busy last night after you went offline. You didn't get horny during the night, did you?" The reply was a slight buzz in my brain, which was a definite negative response.

I was bewildered at this. "Really? Then how did you do it? Did you slip me something?"

Again, another buzz, which sent that theory out the window. However, I felt a slight vibration coming directly from my neck port, which suggested she had simply linked herself up with me sometime while I was asleep and installed the tail that way.

"I see. Well, you continue to keep your word. I thank you for that."

The response said quite clearly "You're welcome" shortly followed by an impatient chirp in my mind that told me SYRUS1 wanted me inside her right now.

"All right, keep your tailfins on. I'm coming."

As if she had expected this, her cockpit automatically hissed and popped open, revealing the strangely shiny and moist makeshift pilot's seat and controls that looked far more welcoming than before. She even deployed a few mechanical steps for me to use as a stepladder to climb in. I smiled at her offering and gave her a pat on her nose panel before climbing right in. I calmly slid myself into the impression inside her "head" and soon found a rather comfortable position where I would be able to ride along. Like before, as soon as I leaned back, I felt something poke me in the back of my neck, but the pain wasn't nearly as bad this time as SYRUS1's onboard computer plugged itself directly into my brain. Meanwhile, I could feel the pilot's seat adjusting itself so that my tail was able to reach its full length without hurting me or her and the shutters on my front and back opened up, the former having a thick, inverted, metal cock being plugged into it while my own metal cock built itself up and was connected to SYRUS1 via a thick, rubber tendril that had appeared out of the floor. More fleshy extensions stretched, crossed and connected themselves over my torso, binding me into a comfortable leather harness while warm, slimy tendrils crawled over my head and face from the back of my neck to form the same pilot's helmet and oxygen mask I had used before. This time, however, the "oxygen" that was allowed into my system smelled strongly of something that reminded me of musky pheromones mixed with the salty air of the ocean, the obvious scent of a Lugia in heat. It wasn't as intoxicating as it could have been, but it was enough to let me know that SYRUS1 was feeling unusually "capable" today.

Finally, the HUD displays appeared on my visor, but this time, I could see a wireframe profile of a Lugiabot's head. And when it moved, it seemed to "speak" the exact same voice and tone as SYRUS1's internal computer.

<Good morning, Pilot,> said both SYRUS1 and the model at once.

Unlike yesterday, SYRUS1 allowed me to speak into the mask using my vocal voice instead of having me think my words. Either way, she could still see everything that was in my mind at any given time as long as the connection was intact.

"I can barely tell where I end and you begin, love. All systems are go."

<That's good. Because today, I fancied a little... special fun.>

I blinked as the stats of SYRUS1's systems appeared on my screen. "What do you mean?"

SYRUS1 chuckled and a picture of a familiar building appeared before me.

I blinked at the picture of the Pentagon before me. "Are you sure about that, SYRUS1? I don't want us to look like terrorists.>

I was still uncertain about this. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea, SYRUS1. People might go a little nuts if machines suddenly started coming to life and having sex with unsuspecting humans."

SYRUS1, however, didn't seem to mind. <That's where the beauty of this plan is. I'm sending you a copy of my mission plan right now.> A few seconds passed and a set of objectives appeared before me. <I've already uplinked with a private server who specializes in the production of Synthetics just like me. They're actually going to be the ones to manufacture the Mekhs, but they asked me to do a little undercover work first.>

The screen changed to show a picture of a shop that I recognized as the Plush Paradise toy store back in the town of Willmar we had left behind. It then showed a picture of what appeared to be a missile that was apparently onboard SYRUS1's craft. Then a digital model of the Pentagon appeared that showed SYRUS1 flying overhead and deploying the missile directly over the center courtyard before flying off. She also included the entire plan, which I understood without her saying a word. She was going to use this "missile" as a kind of "bomb" that would send a type of wireless bug straight into the United States database that would allow a private party to hack them and use their knowledge of machines like fighter jets and so forth to produce more Mekhs for the future. The objective was simple, but it seemed that the Army would be onto us before we could even get close, so we needed to distract them long enough to plant and upload the bug before flying off.

I couldn't help but express my amazement. "You're nuts, you know that? How are we ever going to pull this off?"

Syrus chuckled mischievously, but for some reason, it wasn't in the dark tone that had supposedly been removed yesterday. <Don't you worry about that, Pilot. I've got it all planned out. You just stay there and get ready to clean me up when we get back. I'm probably going to get quite dirty, so I'll need a good cleanup.> Something about the way she said that suggested she was up to something potentially crazy, which I couldn't help but note.

"SYRUS1, are you sure that virus protection program did its job? You're scaring me."

SYRUS1 sent me a calming wave of stimulation. <I'm fine, Pilot. Don't you worry about me. Now let's get this thing going.>

And with that, SYRUS1's engines began to power up and before too long, she had lifted off of her landing braces and was ready to fire her thrusters again. And when she did, she managed to keep from setting anything on fire as she took off. Her pseudo controls were already working hard as I "controlled" her like before. This was going to be a long day...

Even at SYRUS1's top speed, it was still two or three hours to the Pentagon. I was able to keep a constant eye on SYRUS1's flight plan. The two of us were silent for a time, but after a while, SYRUS1 couldn't help herself.

I snapped out of the slight trance I had been in and realized she had been talking to me. "What's that now?" I said cluelessly.

SYRUS1 chuckled and I felt her "stroke" me like a concerned parent. <You're daydreaming again. I'd like to know what's on your mind. You can tell me.>

I sighed and told her what I had been thinking about for the past 20 minutes, even though she probably already knew what it was. "I'm not sure you'll like it."

SYRUS1 seemed astonished. <You can tell me, Pilot. I stayed out of your head to give you a little quiet time, but you've obviously got something you want to ask me. Go on.>

I sighed and told her. "I was just thinking about the promise you made yesterday that I would be able to experience flying... properly."

SYRUS1 hesitated again but then remembered. <Oh, yes. I remember precisely. It completely flew my mind. Yes, Pilot, I did promise you could borrow my controls for a while and fly as if you were actually me. And I always stick by my promises.> She paused for a few moments and a picture of our current flight trajectory appeared.

I really couldn't move that much anyway, but SYRUS1 didn't seem to mind. I felt her extend her presence into my mind to the point where she could practically take my living soul in her wings and pull it from my body, which was exactly what she did. My entire world blacked out for a few moments as I felt SYRUS1 pulling my soul out of my own body and placing it in hers. And when she had gotten it "fitted", I suddenly realized I was in a body that did not belong to me, even if mine was partially mechanical.

For some reason, my new "body" felt oddly... natural. SYRUS1's unique anatomy seemed to come naturally to me despite the fact it was not my body. I could feel every bit of circuitry and hardware that made up SYRUS1's jet-like state. Even more amazing, I could actually see the world around me as if it was a computer simulation, which was in all 360 cubic degrees. It was like my mind had actually become computerized, but at the same time everything looked even better than it had before.

And when I spoke, it was in the same electronic type of voice as SYRUS1 she used in this form. <Wow, SYRUS1... how do you rate. This is... amazing!>

SYRUS1 made a sound that reminded me of a smooth chuckle in the same electronic voice I had just used. <Is it now? I thought you would have thought this as what you humans call "creepy".>

SYRUS1 sent a feeling of satisfied pleasure into my brain.

<Hey!> I said, slightly offended. <It that what you've been thinking of me all this time?>

I told her.

SYRUS1 chuckled again. <Okay, but you asked for it.>

As she said this, SYRUS1 began to deploy her wings into a much wider position and extend her feathers for maximum stability. Her tailfin extended outwards and the fins spread out so she would have maximum steering control. And when an extra pair of thrusters were deployed along the edges of her wings, I realized that she was going to go all out for speed here. I was surprised that she didn't use this arrangement before, but SYRUS1 seemed to have been waiting to use this mode for this special occasion.

<You've been holding back on me, SYRUS1,> I said smoothly.

SYRUS1 chuckled again. <If you say so. Now let's see what you can do.>

I hesitated. <You mean...?>

<Yes. I'm all yours. Have fun, and don't worry; I'll keep you from crashing.>

And with that, SYRUS1 gave over the primary controls to me while she took up a co-pilot-like position. We faltered for a moment in the air before I decided to take over. I could feel the power flowing through me and decided to take off. I moved the power to our engines and before I knew it, we had taken off at a breakneck speed through the air.

I can't really describe what it was like to be flying AS an aircraft instead of in an aircraft other than the feeling of freedom was complete. I had the power to fly wherever I wanted (with SYRUS1 acting as backup, of course) at virtually any speed. The feeling of the wind passing over my new complete metallic body was certainly one of the most heart-pounding experiences I had ever felt and being able to use thrusters, engines, steering fins and overall fuselage was like skydiving but this time, you were able to move in all directions with new feeling and adrenaline flowing through you.

SYRUS1 and I streaked across the American countryside at a breakneck speed, being able to nearly turn on a dime and move with incredible ease. I had never felt so fast and free before, and somehow, I knew SYRUS1 was enjoying this just as much as I was.

As we flew, I was able to get a feeling for SYRUS1's internal workings and located something that I hadn't noticed was there before. Curious, I tweaked it a little and all of a sudden, I felt a hatch on SYRUS1's wing open and heard her say something to the effect of, <MISSILE ARMED...>

<Uh-oh,> I said, trying to figure out how to reverse it.

Fortunately, SYRUS1 detected this and disarmed the missile before it could deploy and confronted me with a firm yet understanding tone. <Take it easy, Pilot. My weapons systems can do some heavy-duty damage to anything it hits and/or targets. I'm not a fighter jet for nothing.>

I gulped mentally. <Sorry. I didn't know what I was doing.>

SYRUS1, however, was very understanding. <It's okay. I was sure your curiosity would get you in trouble, so I decided to stay on the sidelines just in case. Now tell me... did you enjoy your solo flight?>

Realizing she wasn't going to hold this little "glitch" against me, I was able to relax.

<No, but I think you've been in control long enough. I don't want to see innocent humans getting hurt because of your inexperience as a fighter pilot. I'm not going to punish you, but I think it's time I took back control and put you back in your body. Your little speed run has put us closer to the Pentagon much quicker than I expected, so let's get ready. We're probably going to attract a bit of unwanted attention, so I need you to be on your mechanical toes for this. Hold on.>

A few moments passed before I felt SYRUS1 "download" my entire being from her system, which blacked me out for a few moments before I felt myself being uploaded back into my old body. It took a few moments for me to fully regain control of my body, but I soon realized I had been there all this time, legally brain-dead but still technically alive while being linked to SYRUS1's system. My senses soon returned and I was able to move under my own power again despite the fact I was still hooked up to SYRUS1's cockpit in several ways. Soon, I was able to look at my visor and see the wireframe picture of SYRUS1 again as well as where we were currently flying over at that time.

<Feel better?> she asked me once I was back to normal.

I nodded, once again breathing in the Lugian scent through the oxygen mask. "I am, actually. Are we almost there?"

<Almost. I'm sure we'll be able to deploy the bug without any trouble, but getting away might be a little more troubling. Once we launch the bug, they'll instantly pick me up on their radar.>

I blinked. "How can you even get that close without being on radar in the first place?"

SYRUS1's cockpit vibrated in a rather reassuring way. <I'm a biological being, Pilot. It's not as easy to pick up something like me on today's radars. As far as I know, our approach will simply fog up their radar until we deploy. In fact, look outside at me.>

I looked out of SYRUS1's portside mask and saw that her structure appeared to have turned partially invisible like a kind of cloaking device. I could see almost all the way through her to the world below, which was getting steadily closer. We were approaching Washington D.C. rather quickly and silently. She had even reduced the amount of thrust in her engines so she could keep somewhat quiet while we approached the Pentagon.

"Neat. Let me guess... cloaking device?"

<Something like that. I'm bending the light all around me so I appear somewhat invisible. No one will be able to see us in the air unless they look directly at us.> As a picture of the Pentagon appeared on my visor along with a distance readout, SYRUS1 spoke very seriously for a moment.

<I'm going to cut out communications now, Pilot. If we say anything now, they'll hear us and botch our whole mission. There are M16s in the area and I don't want them to see us until we're on our way out of here, okay?>

I nodded. "Okay. I'll try to stay silent."

SYRUS1, however, was one step ahead of me. <I'll make sure you do.>

All of sudden, the scent coming into my oxygen mask became so thick and smoky that it immediately had a kind of numbing effect on my vocal cords. I could still breathe, but I found myself unable to speak as if my throat had swelled up but not really. At the same time, SYRUS1 sent an electronic pulse directly into my brain that disabled my ability to communicate mentally. I was now both vocally and mentally mute, which was exactly what she had intended to do. She wanted to make sure that I remained silent during our approach, but her methods were still a little disturbing.

But even though I couldn't speak, that didn't stop SYRUS1 from doing so. <There you go. Now I won't leave anything to chance. Don't worry; I'll let you speak and think again when we're making our escape.>

My ability to communicate might have been removed, but I could still show both physical and mental emotion. SYRUS1 was able to pick up on my feeling of worry, but she was still confident in her abilities and I knew it was pointless to try to argue with her.

As SYRUS1 and I flew lower towards Washington, I could practically look outside and see the Pentagon approaching. I was worried that they would see us on their radar, but so far, no one seemed to have noticed us. I couldn't see anyone in the area who had noticed us and judging from SYRUS1's stats, we still seemed to have the element of surprise.

As we approached, I heard SYRUS1's weapons system being armed and saw that the missile we were preparing to fire had been armed. This missile wouldn't be fired via rockets but would instead be dropped just like an atomic bomb. But unlike an A-bomb, this one was designed to bore into the earth upon impact and then launch the installed bug into the Pentagon's systems. Our target was the center courtyard in the middle of the building, which was full of soft earth that would give our missile plenty of room to burrow. Unlike most human error, SYRUS1 was a living machine, which essentially gave her pinpoint electronic accuracy when deploying a missile. She would not miss or overshoot her target because her targeting system was part of who she was, so there would be virtually no human error here.

The hatch under the missile opened up and just as we were about to reach the Pentagon, I heard SYRUS1 call out, <DEPLOYING MISSILE.> And with that, I heard the missile drop and watched on my visor as the mechanical drills along it started up and before too long, it hit the center of the courtyard and instantly burrowed into the earth where it would take human workers hours, if not days to reach. Shortly after it came to rest, I saw a heads-up display on the visor read: "BUG SUCCESSFULLY DEPLOYED." Our mission was complete.

Unfortunately, that was only the easy part. Just as the mission was completed, we were hailed by the Pentagon itself as a picture of some important-looking guy appeared on my screen.

"Unidentified aircraft, you are flying within restricted airspace. Identify yourself or we will open fire."

At this, SYRUS1 reversed the muting effects she had hit my voice and mind with but gave me a strict warning. <Don't say anything. They'll never let us leave on our own and I don't want this to be any worse than it has to be.>

I nodded silently, but my heart started to race as I looked to my sides and saw two M16 fighter jets approaching us from either side. Like in the movies, I could see the people inside their cockpits motioning for me to bring SYRUS1 down lower.

One of them then contacted us, which SYRUS1 displayed on my visor. "Pilot, identify yourself and lower your altitude to 10,000 feet. We will escort you to a designated landing spot."

SYRUS1, however, didn't seem to care. <Quiet, Pilot,> she said to me. <Let me handle this.>

"Unidentified craft, this is your last chance. Identify yourself and lower your altitude to 10,000 feet or we will open fire."

My hands were shaking visibly on SYRUS1's control stick as I realized they meant business. But still she refused to hail them. Finally, I couldn't help myself as I pleaded mentally for SYRUS1 to listen to them.

Please, SYRUS1. I don't want to get shot. Can't we at least identify ourselves.

At this, SYRUS1 scolded me with an electrical jolt into my body through my body. <Absolutely not. You have to trust me, Pilot. If I so much as speak a word, they'll instantly flag us and open fire anyway. I know what I'm doing. They won't even touch us. You forget: I'm part Pokémon.>

I wasn't sure what to make of this, but that was the least of my worries. All of a sudden, the M16s flanking us began to pull back, which meant they were getting ready to shoot. My mind was hysterical with fear, but SYRUS1 had locked those thoughts out of her system so she didn't have to listen to them.

All of a sudden, I heard a series of rapid beeping and the display on the visor told me they were locking onto us. I made one last desperate plea with SYRUS1, but she didn't even hear me. I looked behind me and realized they had just fired a pair of missiles at us. SYRUS1 immediately fired her afterburners and took off like a rocket. I jerked in my seat, inadvertently firing an extra load of oil-based seed in fear into the tendril engulfing my metal cock. SYRUS1 privately appreciated the sudden release but continued to speed ahead. The missiles were losing distance and just when it seemed that we were going to go out of range, SYRUS1 suddenly turned hard to face the oncoming bombs.

I could hardly believe it as SYRUS1 seemed to hover in mid-air as if waiting for the missiles to hit us. I couldn't watch and closed my eyes as they approached, the beeping on the distance meter getting faster and more frantic. This wasn't going to end well, yet somehow, SYRUS1 didn't seem to flinch.

Just when it seemed that the missiles were going to hit us, I suddenly realized what she was going to do. memories of the second Pokémon movie came flooding back to me, but whether they were from my own mind or SYRUS1's was unclear. I knew then that she knew what she was doing. Just before the missiles had a chance to hit us, SYRUS1 deployed a powerful translucent barrier of white light all around her, which flashed as the Missiles hit it full force. The craft rattled hard from the impact, but otherwise we were both completely unhurt. The resulting fire and smoke clouds, though, concealed us from the rapidly approaching jets, which gave the impression that they had hit us, but SYRUS1 wasn't done yet.

As the smoke began to clear, I noticed SYRUS1's front panels on where her beak would be and a powerful weapon was equipped and began to charge. I had a few seconds to realize that she was charging a powerful energy beam similar to a living Lugia's Aeroblast, which had a sky-high power rating in the Pokémon games. But suddenly, I realized what she was going to do.

SYRUS1... no!

<Yes.>

That was all she needed to say. I knew this wasn't going to end well, but I couldn't lock myself out of her system like she could, so I had no choice but to watch the inevitable attack.

When the "Aerobeam" reached a critical level, SYRUS1 took aim and fired it. Incredibly, it instantly split and took dead aim at the M16s with such a speed that they had virtually no time to act. They could do nothing as the beams hit them... and passed right through them? What the...?

The M16s wavered in the air but otherwise continued flying as the Aerobeam fizzled out. I couldn't believe they were unhurt, but when I focused on my visor, I noticed two ominous words displayed and flashing: "VIRUS DEPLOYED."

SYRUS1... what did you just do?

That was all she said as she turned on the spot and fired her engines again. The M16s were still behind us, but for some reason, they seemed to be slowing down. They appeared to be stalling and before they began to fall from the sky, both pilots ejected from their cockpits while their crafts plummeted from the sky, allowing SYRUS1 and I to fly away without anyone else tailing us. I wasn't sure what had just happened, but our mission was done and we were on our way back to the Midwest where our home was.

SYRUS1 and I remained silent for most of the return trip, but as we entered Minnesota, I couldn't help myself. "SYRUS1... what did you really do to those jets?" I said aloud so that I was able to without being overheard.

SYRUS1 remained silent for a few more seconds before speaking in a very solemn tone.

I thought about this for a moment before an idea formed in my head. "You mean... you turned those jets... into Mekhs?"

<Yes and no. Yes, I turned them into mechanaloid Lugia like me. No, I couldn't install my biological features into them. They will be like me, but their bodies will be 100% mechanical. They will have souls like me and conscious thoughts, but they will never be able to replicate my biological traits. In essence, they are almost exactly what I was created to be -- living sex machines but with a conscious mind and soul. They are exactly like me, yet they couldn't be more different.> Something about the way she said all this told her she still greatly regretted what she was. And it was then that I asked her a question I had had ever since I had met her on the Internet that fateful day.

"Syrus... who are you?"

SYRUS1 did not seem to notice or care that I had not used her call sign. She seemed to have expected me to ask this at some point in our relationship but was now out of excuses to avoid answering it. I heard her hydraulics hiss as if she was letting out a heavy sigh as new information began to enter my mind.

SYRUS1, aka Syrus the Lugian Mekh, had been born like any normal living creature. Yet at the same time, she had been cursed from birth. She had been born from an egg laid by a Lugia that had had its mind completely wiped by a dark and evil creature known as "Black Shiron". She had been born in a dungeon in the bowels of a castle in a dark world known as the "Twilight Realm" where Black Shiron had set up a laboratory to breed and create powerful sex demons.

From birth, Syrus had been the center of a number of heartless and excruciating experiments designed to turn her into a heartless, soulless sex demon. Yet despite all she went through, Syrus' mind refused to break. Black Shiron had yet to learn that a Lugia's will power was the strongest during its childhood, which he continued to battle with even though Syrus was not the first Lugia he had experimented on. Yet he was determined to turn her into a dark and dangerous sex demon no matter what it took even though all his efforts did little more than fill Syrus' mind with painful nightmares.

But after a year since her birth, Black Shiron had gotten the twisted idea that if he couldn't turn Syrus into a demon through natural means, then maybe he would do them through artificial ones. It was then that he began to work on a seemingly simple computer chip that had been smaller than a dime in size. Yet the dark magic he had installed into that chip was so powerful that when it was installed, Syrus wouldn't have a prayer. It was then that he restrained her and inserted it deep into her once living vaginal sex. And once it had attached itself to her anatomy, Syrus' entire being began to change. Her living, flesh-like body had been consumed by a set of circuitry similar in function to the nanites she had installed into me yesterday during our basement sex session. Her fleshy body began to mutate into mechanical metal, wires and circuits designed to turn her into a heartless, mindless, soulless sex machine. In fact, it was because of that chip that Syrus had developed that "dark personality" I had seen her display during our relationship. Thankfully, that was no longer a real issue.

But before the procedure could finish, Syrus' will to survive had taken over and somehow, she had broken out of the Twilight Realm through a tear in the dimensional rift, causing her to appear in the real world not far from the City of Magic. Yet even as she fled from her captor, her body continued to change, turning her into a mechanaloid. And just when it seemed that she was about to become completely mechanical, Syrus had used her new mechanical instincts and had broken into an office building that had closed up for the day and used what little free will she had had left to "upload" herself onto a computer, which immediately transferred her to the Internet. She had had very little experience with the Net and pretty much had to take a crash course on surviving there, but the timing of her "escape" had stopped her body from changing just enough that she was still considered a living being, keeping her as a living, thinking biomachine.

Syrus had stumbled through cyberspace for several weeks, which seemed to take over 20 years given how fast things happened in a cybernetic world. Like she had told me when we had first met, she had tried to escape by attaching herself to random e-mails, but virus protection programs often discovered her and she was constantly being forced to flee. And just when she began to worry she would never escape, she happened to stumble across the server where I had been communicating with the online Lugiabot. Realizing it was probably her last chance at freedom, she had hacked into the program and had assumed the identity of the Lugiabot in order to gain my trust. And if it wasn't for my natural curiosity, she probably would still be stuck in cyberspace to this day. The rest of the story pretty much tells itself.

As SYRUS1 finished her story, I couldn't help but sympathize with her. "Syrus... I never knew..."

Now that she had gotten that off her shoulders, SYRUS1 seemed to be a bit more willing to talk about it. <That's just fine. I've gotten what I wanted and you've been given an actual dream come true. As far as I'm concerned, we both got what we wanted.>

At this, I ran my hands over SYRUS1's controls, which made her vibrate comfortably in a soothing way. We had certainly come a long way since we had first met and I was sure that once I had become fully "biomechanical", we would have plenty more time to spend together as ageless and immortal biomachines.

SYRUS1 finally seemed to be a much happier and enjoyable person now that she had told me about her past. The fact that I understood what she had gone through and that I didn't hold it against her made her seem that much more fun to be around. It was like a great weight had been lifted off of her shoulders and she could now face the rest of her immortal life without fear of her past catching up to her.

At this, SYRUS1 sent me a curious tingle of respect.

I smiled and stroked her control stick affectionately. "Of course. Living creatures deserve to be treated as such, no matter how "artificial" they may be."

SYRUS1 seemed genuinely touched. <Pilot... thank you.> That was all she could or needed to say.

I nodded in response. "Any time, love."

And with that the two of us began the final leg of our journey back to our old, abandoned farmhouse. All the while, I could hear a happy series of song-like beeps echoing in my head, which told volumes about how much happier SYRUS1 was with her life.

The two of us circled the farmhouse for a few moments before SYRUS1 finally flared her back flaps and brought herself in for a landing. She hovered over the open farm yard for a few moments before gently lowering herself down onto her landing gear, which deployed just feet from the ground. Once she had touched down and her system began to power down, she released me from my "restraints" and my brain unplugged from her system. She then released the lock on the cockpit and her internal controls flowed back into a smooth, featureless, flesh-like impression. I then climbed out of SYRUS1's head and touched down on my own two mechanical feet again. Flying as a pilot and as a craft was fun and all, but nothing would ever replace the feeling of solid terra firma under your own body weight.

As I gave SYRUS1 a pat of affection on her nose panel, I noticed that her normally sleek silver-white fuselage was covered in soot and bug debris from our little dogfight over the capital. I shook my head and told her exactly what I thought of it.

"This shouldn't be. You're too fine of a craft to be tainted by the madness of war and flight. I think you deserve a good cleaning and polishing."

At this, SYRUS1's hydraulics hissed and I heard her engines flare slightly in an affectionate way that told me she appreciated my concern for her appearance. I patted her on the wing affectionately, despite the fact she was going to have me clean her when we got back anyway.

"Anytime, love," I told her. "I'll be right back. I'll get some things to clean you with."

I made to walk away, but all of a sudden, a cable snaked its way out of SYRUS1's fuselage and slapped itself into the port on the back of my neck, instantly plugging my brain back into her system. I lurched a little from the sudden "sneak attack", but SYRUS1 didn't mean any harm, which was obvious as she spoke to me.

<Sorry, Pilot. I should have said something, but I really can't like this. I just thought I'd connect to you so I can tell you what to grab to give me a good cleaning.>

I turned around and saw the cable sticking out of SYRUS1's underside with an indeterminate length. "You know... I'm a big boy. I can handle myself for a few minutes away from you."

SYRUS1, however, didn't seem to think so. <Not while I'm in this form, love. Especially after we were connected for over three hours. Don't worry about me. I'll keep you on a tether and watch over you. I'll respect your thoughts this time.>

I merely shook my head. "You know, you could have just turned back into your other form for this."

SYRUS1, however, sent me a smug feeling. <But then I would get all clean again, and I know how much you want to clean me.>

I rolled my eyes and allowed SYRUS1 to keep me on a "leash" as I began to go from one machine shed to another, fetching various materials needed for cleaning her. They weren't the kind of things you found at most air bases, but they were close enough.

Once I had what I wanted, I walked back to SYRUS1 and set it all down on the ground. I noticed that there was a small wheeled mechanic's platform under SYRUS1 that hadn't been there before that I could use to slide under her to clean her. I shook my head but said nothing as I grabbed a few rags and chrome polish and began to wipe down SYRUS1's fuselage where the soot and bug debris had accumulated.

I could tell that SYRUS1 was enjoying this very much and I didn't need to have her plugged into my brain to figure that out. Her body vibrated and rattled with affection and judging from the pleased sighs and moans coming into my head, she was enjoying this far more than should have been allowed. I buffed out the front of her and climbed up on top of her to wash her off. I even took a moment and fetched and hooked up a power washer to an outlet that SYRUS1 had created to give her a good spraying. I was worried that the washer would drain her energy substantially, but she didn't even seem fazed that I was drawing from her internal power supply. She continued to make pleased sounds and I could have sworn I heard a melodic trill, coo and/or purr from her every now and then. Obviously, her Lugian personality was peeking through her mechanical appearance when it was allowed.

<Lugia are creatures of the water,> she told me once she had gotten over herself. <And since I would probably rust up in the salty ocean, this is the closest thing I'll probably ever be to water.>

I chuckled and patted her wing in an affectionate way before returning to cleaning her up.

Just as I was about to finish up, SYRUS1 made an odd request. <Could you check my undercarriage? I think a few of my belly plates are stuck.>

This was a curious request, but I did not object as I lied on the wheeled platform and rolled under her to see what was up. From this position, I could see for the first time that her belly crest was actually painted on her underside instead of functioning as an armor plate. I rubbed chrome polish on her underside, listening to her trill in my head as I did so.

However, things were about to get strange as I noticed something behind her landing braces that looked a little out of place. It looked like a square-shaped shutter that was stuck partway open, revealing a silvery inside. Curious, I touched the shutter with a finger and it instantly opened up to reveal a rather curious interior. There was a patch of shiny, silvery, flesh-like material that looked like it belonged on a real Lugia. I touched the curious area and SYRUS1 shuddered on her stands as if I had touched her in a tender area. I was about to back away when I noticed something starting to poke out of the fleshy material. The entire patch was about a square foot in size, but as I watched, a large, thick, hose-like protuberance began to push out of the patch. It had a slight taper at the tip and it reminded me of a male cock, but this didn't seem to register. SYRUS1's cock was metallic and segmented, but this one looked more fleshy and natural. And judging from the way it was reaching towards me, SYRUS1 obviously had something very naughty in mind.

But the strange cock only reached down enough to reach my head and it didn't appear to be aiming for my shutter. It seemed odd, but a quick note from SYRUS1 cleared it up.

As the cock wormed its way towards my head, I could sense my mind fogging over at the same time a thick, burnt-caramel-colored liquid began to ooze from the tip. It didn't look like oil, but I didn't really care as I lifted my head up to taste the strange fluid. As soon as it touched my tongue, my mind seemed to explode with erotic electric sensations. And as I reached up and took the tip of it in my mouth, the strange fluid began to flow into me, clouding my senses and filling my mind with one objective: to continue feeding.

The liquid, as it turned out, was a kind of bio-fuel given off by SYRUS1's anatomy that would act as a catalyst in my increasingly mechanical transformation. There was no threat of draining SYRUS1's fuel tanks because she seemed to give off this liquid naturally. Besides, she was a living being, which meant she didn't exactly rely on just fuel to keep her alive and functioning.

I continued to drink the incredible bio-fuel from SYRUS1's reserves, unaware that she had laced it with the same microscopic nanites she had used to convert my lower extremities yesterday. The liquid continued to flow into me while the nanites silently took their positions in my still-human parts as if waiting for a cue to begin their universal programs. I was unaware of the danger I was in, but I didn't care. I just wanted to drink this amazing fuel and nothing else mattered to me.

After swallowing what felt like gallons of it, SYRUS1 commanded my brain to stop feeding, which allowed me to lean back under her as the fleshy cock withdrew into her bio-body and the shutter over it sealed shut as if it had never malfunctioned at all. I lied under SYRUS1's body, lost in a wonderfully erotic state. My metal cock had been deployed from my shutter and a bit of my own "natural" oils had splattered my hip and chest areas.

And as if she was waiting for something to happen, I felt SYRUS1 tug at my neck area with the cable, which gently pulled me out from underneath her massive frame so that I was looking up at her cockpit with a drunken smile on my face. She then contacted me one last time before unplugging herself from my brain.

I came to my senses just enough to nod a simple reply to SYRUS1. She acknowledged my command and with one more jolt of electricity into my body, she commanded the billions of nanites within my body to begin their final routine.

I groaned in pain and my body froze up as a painful stinging sensation spread all over my still-human parts. The nanites were destroying my organic components and converting them into inorganic metal and circuitry. On the outside of my body, you could see patches of my human skin hardening and turning a silver-white metal with various navy-blue parts thrown in. Even my brain was being purged of what had once made me human and filling me with electronic circuits and programs. I was losing my humanity only to be replaced with the mechanical traits of a Lugian Mekh. I wouldn't lose what made me the person I was, but I wouldn't be the same person I had been as a human. My life would be far more technical as well as lot more basic. I was still Pilot and SYRUS1 would ensure that I knew my place in mine and her lives. But unlike most people in this situation, she wouldn't condemn me to life as a mindless slave. I would still have my own free will and conscious thoughts, but they would all work on SYRUS1's command and preference.

Yet as my vision began to cloud and my mind began to fade, I could still hear SYRUS1 in my head as if she was speaking to a child. <It's okay, Pilot. I will not leave you. You have made these last 72 hours of my life the most amazing and satisfying periods of time I have ever known. I will be here when you reboot and I promise I will care for you with love and compassion the same way you have done for me. I love you, Pilot; nothing will ever change that. And even though I am a machine, I understand emotion better than any mechanaloid ever will. And I sure... you will, too.>

And with those last comforting thoughts passing through me, I was finally able to end my human life knowing that SYRUS1 loved me and actually understood that precious emotion.

In my mind, I could see the words "REBOOTING..." as my brain restarted. My vision soon returned and I realize that everything still looked close to what it was supposed to look like but with several mechanical readouts as they scanned the area around me and constantly kept me updated on my surroundings. I finally regained consciousness and realized that I was lying on my parent's bed in my house with a familiar figure lying next to me. I turned my head to the side and saw none other than Syrus lying there with a smile on her face and her head in her wing. She had obviously been there this whole time, unflinchingly and unmovingly determined to watch over me as my life restarted.

I let out a slight metallic groan as I moved into a sitting position, holding a wing to my head. Everything seemed to be functioning properly despite the fact that what used to be human flesh, blood and bone was now a series of metal, fluids, servos and so on. And judging from the color and designs that were painted over my body, I had become another living, thinking biomachine crafted in the likeness of a robotic Lugia. I could still feel through my metal skin and circuits, but the sensations were all strange and new to me. It was like I now had pressure and pain sensors embedded in my circuitry that translated anything I felt and fed it to my mechanical brain before sending the proper feeling back to it. If I had noticed, I would have realized my brain was now functioning at millions of commands a second, which made up a majority of my body's "natural" functions and computations. And when I ran a mechanical wing along the back of my neck, I realized that the port that Syrus had installed was still there, which still allowed her to "hack" into my brain whenever she felt like it.

But hacking was not needed as much now that I had also developed telepathic abilities. Most of my mind's thoughts were sent wirelessly from Syrus' mind to mine and sometimes vice versa. I realized my primary function in life was still to act and function as Syrus' programmer and Pilot, but this way, she still allowed me to have some of my own functions of free will, which she would probably never be able to completely control.

Once my body's thoughts and functions had finished loading, I turned to Syrus, who had sat up on the bed and had placed a wing on my lap.

"How do you feel, Pilot?" she said in a genuinely concerned voice. The voice analysis programs in my mind told me that she wasn't trying to play me for a chump this time.

"You know..." I said in a voice almost exactly like hers despite the fact it was more masculine than hers. "I think I've felt worse. I never realized that life as a Mekh would be so... complex... on an electronic scale, of course." I was even speaking as a demi-computer like she did.

Syrus smiled and moved her wing up to my shoulder. "You'll get used to it in time. Your soul just needs some time to synchronize with your system, but pretty soon you won't even notice the difference. How did you sleep?"

I scanned over my subconscious thoughts and realized that I could remember my dreams far better than I ever could as a human. "My dreams were filled with nothing but your warm and inviting presence. And now that I'm awake, I can't wait to see what other kind of surprises this body has installed."

Syrus chuckled. "I guess we'd better see what you can do, then. How would you like to go for your first solo flight?"

I looked at her and smiled pleasantly. "I would like that very much. And maybe you could teach me how to turn into a craft like you can?"

Syrus, however, shook her head and waved a feather scoldingly. "Sorry, love, but that's a privilege only I am allowed. You're still my Pilot, but I think I can maybe let you ride on my wing if you want."

Feeling slightly left out, I decided to let her be that way. My name was still Pilot and my primary function was to care for her, whether she was SYRUS1 or just plain Syrus. "Yes... I would like that."

Syrus nodded. "That's good. And maybe in the future, you can help me satisfy my own..." She ran a feather over the front of my beak and under my chin. "...special desires."

I knew exactly what she meant. "If you want to. But let's take it one step at a time for now and just start with flying."

Syrus smiled and the two of us got out of bed and headed outside to try flying on our own for the very first time. As I recalled what had happened over the past three days, I realized that Syrus had been the best thing that had ever happened to me. She had come to me in her most desperate of times and I had given her a berth when she had needed me most. And now, I could finally experience and understand exactly why she loved life as much as she did. And somehow, I knew that my life as a biomachine would be far more meaningful than a weak, fleshy human. Whoever came up with the robotic phrase "kill all humans" obviously never met the two of us.

END

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