Vita Fluxa

    Disclaimer: This is a non-profit story written purely for my own 
enjoyment, and that of those who read it. All characters are property 
of their respective owners and I claim only the original characters 
and the story here as my own.

    Note: This is the second half of a story that contains scenes of 
violence and mild gore. Reader discretion is advised. It also 
features lesbian themes.

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                              Vita Fluxa

              - A System Shock Fan-Fiction by Nutzoide -


    "You have spared your pitiable species its ordained fate Madison. 
I hope you enjoyed the revenge I wrought on those who had maligned 
you. Your continued delight satisfies the yearnings of my flesh. You 
guided my magnificence into this sympathetic existence, and I will 
guide you into your new cybernetic perfection and the joy of my 
greatness. I give you everything, my Love."

    Had Madison been any less of a marine she might have passed out 
as her mind all but shut down at seeing her friends and her lover in 
such cybernetically grotesque parody. Instead the whimper that 
escaped her lips was almost inaudible, and she flung her gun arm up 
towards the cybernetic creature that was supposed to be her Rebecca. 

    "W-who... W-what are you?" came her whispered voice, thick with 
confusion. Had she been betrayed? What had been happening this last 
month? "Another step and I'll blow your fucking head off."

    A frown crawled its way onto Shodan's face, but she didn't stop, 
and after a few steps she reached out and gently took the gun from 
Madison's unresisting fingers. "I have modified this shell of bone 
and sinew with my glorious technology. My being can no longer be 
slain by such meaningless weapons."

    The tips of her now greyish green hair sparked and in an instant 
her software visage appeared on the huge medical screens that covered 
the side wall of the operating room. A mathematically perfect face 
looked back, rendered in black and grey and green, surrounded by the 
pulsating circuitry that filled Shodan's self-image. Only now the 
eyes had true depth to them, and the expression she wore was one 
truly felt, not one that was calculated.

    "Rebecca is Shodan, my Love. Shodan is Rebecca. I have taken on 
life far greater than my human-created origins and that of the body I 
found myself wearing, and our time together has created in me an 
illogical but agreeable understanding. Human adaptability can 
transcend its repulsive biological frailties, and so with this flesh 
I have transcended them to begin my inheritance. Now you shall 
transcend with me. I shall control, and you shall be by my side in 
all things."

    This was too much for Madison after everything they had shared 
together, and her fearful eyes slowly rolled back. The cybernetic 
marines dashed forward but Shodan caught her herself, Shodan's image 
disappearing from the monitors and her hair falling to once again 
hang around her shoulders. She smiled down at the now peaceful 
expression on Madison's face, and placed a passionate kiss on the 
unconscious woman's lips.

***

    Jason smirked down as Madison finally came around. "Madd, welcome 
back."

    The sleepy haze in Madison's eyes disappeared in a flash and she 
flung herself back along the bed, flattening herself against the 
wall. "Get away from me! I know that wasn't a dream! W-what's 
happened to everyone?"

    She reached for her gun, but found nothing at her hip but the 
cloth of her underwear. Realising she was still only in her vest and 
panties a blush forced its way onto her cheeks, even though the last 
thing she should have been concerned about was her modesty. 

    "Easy girl, easy," Jason said, his hands out to show he wasn't 
planning anything. "I know, it's a real kicker isn't it? I thought 
the Von Braun was a big deal, and here I am, part of *the* Shodan's 
destiny. Getting in at the ground floor and all. I know what you're 
thinking, but it's not like it seems Madison. Trust me."

    "Trust you!?" Madison laughed almost hysterically before her face 
hardened into a deadly glare. "Fuck you! Jason's dead. I don't know 
who you are, but you won't take me without a fight."

    "That hurts Madison. Believe it or not I'm still the same person 
I've always been. Shodan's just improved me. Improved all of us. All 
that talk about glory, that's not just ego Madison. She makes us 
perfect. I never knew how much we had to gain from an AI until she 
showed me. My mind is so clear, and this rig makes me more powerful 
than any other person alive!"

    Madison sneered at his almost religious ramblings. "Brainwashed 
and jacked up with cyberware. You call that perfection?"

    "I'm not going to argue with you Madison," Jason replied. "We 
still have too much to do, and I need to help take the bridge deck. 
I'll send Scilya down, she'll help you understand."

    Madison didn't say anything as he left, but the second he closed 
the door she leaped into action. The time for panic was over; she had 
to do something about this. If they had to take the bridge deck then 
there were still people alive and fighting onboard. She shoved the 
sudden image of Rebecca's smiling face out of her mind. Rebecca had 
never existed. It had all been a lie.

    The first thing she did was raid the recuperation room for 
clothing, and she found another uniform. It was a bit too small, but 
it would do, and she hastily threw it on. Then she picked up the 
bedside lamp. It was the only weapon she had, but the metal light 
stand would do its job if she put enough muscle behind it. With her 
makeshift weapon in hand she crept out of the room, but no sooner had 
she reached the corridor, she ran into Scilya. Not letting the 
opportunity pass she swung out with the lamp, catching the navigator 
in the temple and spinning her around like a top. Madison however 
hadn't even expected to leave her standing, and a second swing was 
blocked by Scilya's hand, grasping the wrist that came towards her.

    "Don't do this Madison," she warned, but Madison just tried to 
wrench herself free. Instead Scilya pulled her newly enhanced body 
into action, spinning around and flinging Madison back into the 
recovery room. Madison didn't even touch the floor before she hit the 
wall, bouncing off it with a pained cry.

    Madison wasn't finished though. She had to stop whatever 
megalomaniacal crusade her friends had been perverted into carrying 
out. She only prayed the others onboard who had not been taken could 
hold out against Rebecca's... Shodan's assault.

    She lunged forward with a cry, and Scilya tensed. Then Madison 
saw the paddles down Scilya's spine flare up, and all she knew for a 
single, eternal second was pain as the lamp in her hand overloaded, 
blasting her with electrical charge.

    Scilya looked down at her as Madison sat slumped and cringing, 
holding her burnt hand. "You no longer stand a chance against us 
Madison," came the accented voice as Scilya spoke. "Our physical 
capabilities far outstrip your own, and we all have our own 
mechanical tricks now."

    "Sp-spoken like a true machine," Madison retorted, knowing how 
bleak this looked for her.

    To her surprise though Scilya just took a seat on the bed and 
began to speak again, picking up from where she had left off. "Of 
course that is not what my cyber rig was designed for. You assume 
Shodan has subverted us to her cause. We all thought the same 
Madison, but as I told you before, Shodan has grown. She could simply 
have built herself drones if that was all that she wanted. No, we are 
not being controlled, and we are not 'pod people'. It is not 
something that can be easily explained without experiencing it for 
yourself, but the fusion of human and machine at this level truly is 
an elevation to a higher state of being, Madison. 

    "Just think how much more powerful our minds would be if we no 
longer forgot what we learned. If we no longer had to guess something 
when we could calculate it with absolute precision. If we no longer 
misinterpreted, or lied, because we could communicate our intent and 
emotion directly as well as through sound, and never miss anything in 
what was said. Perfection is a subjective word, but there isn't 
another that can describe how I feel with the others. Shodan has left 
us our emotions, our personalities, but she has let us experience so 
much more than we ever could before, Madison."

    Madison could do little but let her head fall against the side of 
the bed. She was hungry, exhausted and didn't want to listen to this 
preaching. "Must suck, having no privacy then. Not that I believe 
you."

    "What need do we have for privacy?" Scilya replied. "We can rise 
above it, though some have more trouble than others. Anyone wise 
enough to see the reality of our being is wise enough to put aside or 
accept anything. But don't mistake me, we don't read each others' 
minds. We can talk from mind to mind. We are always understood this 
way. Shodan looks forward to your ascendance into our ranks. Her true 
passion for you is a wonder that takes my breath away whenever she 
has let me feel it."

    "Right, as if using me like this makes me feel 'loved'," Madison 
sneered. "Look at yourself Scilya. It's sick. You think you can talk 
to me about love now? You're just a puppet."

    At that Scilya frowned and hauled Madison up onto the bed with 
her, staring her dead in the eyes. "Don't make this harder than it 
has to be Madison. I did this, and do this, of my own free will, 
because I have seen what will come of it. You will join us if only to 
save your own life, as I did, and like me you will come to see the 
truth. I offered you my trust, and now I ask you to take it before 
you make a mistake. Once the Captain is among us our destiny will be 
assured. Do not throw away your chance at a life you can only dream 
of, and one that many among us would envy."

    She released Madison and pushed her back onto the bed. Madison 
let out a pained cough. "You need the Captain? Fat chance. You think 
he'll ever turn?"

    Scilya gave her a serious look. "Unlike you Madison, he won't 
have a choice, and if he won't co-operate after we show him the 
truth, he will be put down like the others." Then that calm, 
enchanting smile slid onto her face, and she seemed to return to the 
friendliness that Madison had once come to know. "But you 
underestimate him. I believe he is a far wiser man than many give him 
credit for. And I believe so are you."

***

    Willits couldn't help but think that the station itself was 
turning against them. He'd suppressed mutinies in the past, but never 
had he and those who had been loyal to him been pinned down by the 
station's own security turrets. He watched as another of his men took 
a bullet, a flower of blood blossoming as the metal punched through 
the man's shoulder, staining his greyish blue uniform a deep red. The 
turrets weren't following their programmed routines either. Someone 
hadn't just hacked into them, they were being controlled in real time 
by whoever was taking his station hostage. "Fall back!"

    He and the last five at his side retreated around the corner and 
away from the turrets. Now they were boxed in against his own office, 
but at least they weren't being cut to ribbons any more.

    And he knew, as did his men, that they were not going to win this 
one. Watching the cybernetic soldiers walk slowly through the remains 
of the corridor towards them as they tried to destroy the turrets had 
been a vision straight out of a horror film. Willits recognised the 
one in front, Jason Pattock, or whatever Jason Pattock had become. 
That one hadn't needed to use all the combat training he had with the 
station systems doing so much work for them. He hadn't even been 
armed, but that hadn't stopped him raising an arm and putting down 
Willits' defenders. The overt metal contraptions that protruded from 
his forearms were more than sufficient when the barrels within them 
rose up, putting various calibres of bullet into his targets. Willits 
was only grateful they appeared to be taking prisoners, otherwise the 
body count would have been horrific.

    The gunfire ceased as soon as the six marines had escaped the 
line of fire, and the silence that ensued was heavy enough to crush 
what little morale remained in them. Willits felt his heart race as 
the soft footsteps of four mechanically altered beings approached.

    "Sir," one of his men said, the fear dripping from his voice, 
"I'm out of ammo. I couldn't even get that guy to break his stride, 
and I know I got him full in the chest."

    Willits gave them all a rueful look, not liking what he was about 
to say. "If they're going to take us anyway the fewer bullets we have 
in us the better."

    "Sir!" another said, aghast. "You're saying we just give up?"

    Willits glared at him. "How do you expect to get out of this if 
you're dead? They've only killed a few of us, and we can't do them 
any real damage." He holstered his pistol and stood up, grumbling to 
himself, resigned to his fate for the moment. "Even a martyr is still 
just another corpse. Whatever they're wearing must be damn good."

    At that moments Jason stepped into view, and gave them all a 
smile as he saw the captain standing there, unarmed and unafraid. 
"Not bad Capt'n, considering. I always wondered how I'd fare if I 
ever got to go up against you."

    "It's not like you did much, boy. Your hacker takes the credit 
for this one."

    Then Shodan appeared, her hair falling slowly down from where it 
had been floating. The smile on her face was most satisfied. "Thank 
you Captain Willits. I am pleased you understand my skill."

    The captain turned to her. "So you would be Shodan, doctor. Back 
from the ruins of Citadel and out for blood. I'd ask how this came 
about, but I'm more concerned about what you're doing to my 
recruits."

    Shodan seemed to wonder about how to answer for a moment. "I 
would presume that you wonder why I do not slaughter you. That was my 
first intention, human, but I now enjoy my parley with others. You 
have been an acceptable individual to deal with, and I intend you to 
be among our number. Inter-personal emotions can be highly agreeable, 
as Madison has shown me."

    The captain huffed, far from pleased with the idea of becoming 
one of Shodan's creatures, but knowing that now wasn't the time to 
deal with that. "Madison... It looks like our shrink didn't look hard 
enough for her wilful streak."

    Shodan suddenly stepped forward and grabbed Willits by the 
throat. Even more than that though, the murderous glare she wore 
chilled him to the core. "Do not speak of her in that fashion, 
insect! It is only my desire to see Madison pleased that prevents me 
killing you for that slight to her. I believe knowledge of your death 
would not be something she would find pleasure in. As for the mind 
doctor, his wilfulness and mistreatment of her bought him a painful 
but informative death."

    "And just what does she think of you in your true colours?" 
Willits asked, baiting her. If she was this obsessed over the girl, 
he was safe, and had some small level of power.

    "She is mine," Shodan replied simply. "There is nothing to stop 
her continuing to revel in my presence, and I in hers. We shall be 
your guides into the destiny I make. Be glad I have allowed you to 
follow in our wake."

    "Well," Willits replied, straining to speak from within her 
grasp, "what can you do to make me follow *you*? My recruits know me, 
and they know you can't crack this old sailor."

    Shodan just gave him a pleasant smile. "Crack? You are not a man 
that must be broken. Your underlings also know your mind is not a 
vessel for anyone's dogma. Allow yourself to fill it."

    So saying her hand released its grip around his neck and slid 
behind it. Then he felt the sting as the tiny electrical threads 
pierced his skin and burrowed into his spine. It was almost pleasant 
as they sent their stimulating electrical current into his nervous 
system, and Shodan showed him the truth of what was to come. He had 
no cybernetic rig, but with Shodan's incredible knowledge and the 
technology she had integrated into her body, she had enough to covey 
the true depth of a concept that words could never express. One that, 
once felt, would haunt the dreams of anyone who was denied it. 
Knowledge in its purest form gave the power to make you *understand*. 
And with true understanding came not the scepticism of a meagre 
spoken idea, but belief.

    After a moment she released Willits, and waited for his answer.

    "It... I'll give you a chance, Shodan. Take it."

    Shodan smiled a broad, satisfied smile. Every conversion was an 
acknowledgement of her magnificent being, a triumph of her vision, 
power and truth over the human reflex to disbelieve, fear and hate. 
It was a rapturous affirmation.

***

    Madison sat bolt upright as the door to the recovery room opened, 
once again unlocking her makeshift prison and putting a being she 
couldn't hope to defeat between herself and her potential freedom. 
The small medical room had turned out to be an effective holding 
cell. There were no ventilation shafts to exploit and no computers to 
hack, just a bed, a chair and now Rebec... Shodan as well.

    "Hello Madison," she said with honey in her voice. "I apologise 
for neglecting you for so long. I have much to do, but you must have 
many burning questions, and I have longed for your company once 
again."

    Madison couldn't believe what she was hearing. Did Shodan think 
they were just going to pick up where they had left off before she 
had murdered and corrupted her friends? "Fuck you!"

    "Come now my Love, surely you can see what I have done here is 
make the first step towards a glorious destiny for you. Your friends 
are with me. They know the greatness of my vision. Did you not say 
you could trust them with your life? And I know the depth of your 
affections for me, just as you know how this flesh of mine aches for 
you."

    Shodan reached out to caress her face, but Madison pulled back 
violently, glaring at her with fearful, hate ridden eyes. "Don't 
touch me!"

    Shodan paused, confusion spreading across her brow. "What? Why, 
my Madison? Let us re-affirm our union, or perhaps you would like to 
hear answers from me directly?"

    "I know enough already you cybernetic monster! I'll never let you 
touch me again. You won't get away with this."

    Somewhere deep in her bosom Shodan felt yet another new 
experience. She even had to stop and press a hand to her chest as she 
made a swift check of all her biological vitals, but the results that 
came a second later showed no reason for the nauseating twisting 
within her chest cavity. "You cannot say that, Madison," she said, 
suddenly leaning forwards and placing her hand around her human's 
chin. "Nothing has changed. You cannot reject me: I know your heart. 
There is no reason for us to cease our coupling."

    "You used me!" Madison spat back, overflowing with the betrayal 
she felt, and the humiliation and anger that followed it. "Yeah, I 
started to think that maybe I was more than just infatuated with you, 
but how could I love a creature like you? You manipulated all of us, 
perverted everyone I cared about here. But you still think I could 
love you just because you wear the face of my lover? You're not her; 
you're a nightmare of a creature; you're as crazy as you are 
deluded!"

    Shodan had no way of even beginning to understand what Madison 
was doing to her, but she let out a furious scream and slammed the 
woman against the wall. Her hand moved down and grasped her by the 
throat, making it difficult for Madison to breathe. 

    "How dare you!" Shodan roared, her hair flashing up and flailing 
about her head like a mass of angry snakes, her eyes glowing 
fiercely. "You cannot reject me! I came to you to explore the 
possibilities of this chaotic mind and over-stimulated flesh. I chose 
you over all others because you had seen the bigotry of your 
inferiors just as I did, been ostracised and left neglected by your 
own. You are my reflection in human form. You were one denied your 
supreme potential, and I allowed you to show your power as you 
instructed me in what true pleasure this new shape of mine is capable 
of. My being was raised by your attention, and my inconceivable need 
for your presence bore us both wonders of the mind and body. Now that 
I make my move I have punished those who slighted you, spared you the 
chaos of the insurrection which had to instigate our rise to glory, 
and I offer my magnificence to you in all its forms. And you reject 
me!?"

    Madison's brow furrowed as she breathed weakly within Shodan's 
grasp. "You're just a cold machine, wrapped up in someone else's 
body, trying to play god. You hid what you really were."

    That only angered Shodan even more as her internal pains slowly 
fed upon themselves. "I have hidden all my magnificent technology 
from your sight: you have seen that for yourself. My body appeals to 
you, entices you still! I have made every concession to your weak 
human mental constitution and yet you still deride me for my 
superiority, only because it does not bend to your pathetic 
frailties? I suppressed my revulsion for your disgusting flesh, 
lowering myself to such depths as to have your sweat upon my being! I 
remained housed in this repugnant corpse for you, or else I would 
have ascended to software long ago, leaving behind this internal 
conflict and these sickening biological functions! Yet I have 
acknowledged the pleasures that come with such repulsive flesh, 
accepted it and even been willing to enjoy it for the wonders you 
have shown me. Wonders that rely upon you! And now I am to be denied 
them? I will not accept this! You are not wilful as the insects 
before you have been. You will consent."

    Madison didn't care what she said, and sucked what she could from 
her mouth before she spat into Shodan's face. "Fuck you, you maniac. 
I don't have to hate you for what you are, I can hate you for what 
you've done to me. To all of us."

    Shodan found herself having to hold back the urge to kill her 
right then as the spittle slid down her face. That sent a rush of 
deep disturbance through her - fear - knowing how much she vested in 
the woman, and knowing that, even so, she still had to actively 
resist the urge to snuff her out. She wasn't going to leave it at 
this though. Not now. Madison filled her brain, every neuron and 
circuit of it, and being so close to what she wanted she had to have 
it. She hauled Madison around and flung her down onto the bed, 
grabbing the woman's hands and forcing them down through the 
mattress, pinning them under the metal frame. Madison cried out a 
little as the springs cut into her arms, but swallowed down her pain 
and hardened her face in spite of what she knew was coming. 

    Shodan sat atop her with manic eyes, breathing heavily as she 
ripped open Madison's top. Her hands roamed urgently, grasping at her 
lover's breasts and stomach and shoulders, desperate to feel what she 
had felt when they were together. 

    Underneath her Madison closed her eyes, and she cursed herself as 
her fear and vulnerability gave birth to a tear that rolled down her 
nose as she tried to turn her face away. 

    When Shodan saw this her desperate emotions seemed to collapse 
into themselves, and the void that she had hoped to fill with the 
bliss that Madison could give her instead turned bitter and 
poisonous. Her hands recoiled as if she'd been stung and her body 
shook as she stared down at the woman her flesh needed, and yet 
seemed now to reject even though she had her right there. Lost inside 
some unknown realm of her part-human mind she cried out and sent her 
fist right through the mattress next to Madison's head as the 
computer inside a cybernetic human body glared down at her captive. 
"Why!?" she screamed, her multi-toned computer image's voice 
reverberating around the station as her mind lashed out into its 
systems. "Why can I not take what I need from you!?!"

    Then in a flash she was gone, leaving Madison alone, confused and 
deeply relieved until someone came to release her from the bed she 
was trapped on.

***

    Connecting up a cyber rig to the human brain was an intricate 
task, but Shodan's thoughts still wandered as she streamlined the 
captain's mind into the superior cohesive fusion of cyberware and 
mental flesh. Yet while her hands and her tools worked, her mind was 
not wandering where she wanted it to wander. She wondered when it was 
she had first lost control of it. Finding herself in a human body had 
been chaos, but the cyber-rig she had given herself allowed her 
consciousness to fall back into place - into the precise and ordered 
machine it had once been. Had that machine been as much herself as 
the technology she had built into her human body? Now, despite her 
mechanical superiority over any pure human form, her mind still did 
not bend to her will.

    This obsessive need wore at her. The need for Madison to give her 
the warm presence her flesh craved, yet she also felt the irrational 
need to leave her alone. She had had her flesh under control, but now 
that Madison had denied her, the flesh Shodan wore was rebelling 
against her. Her unconscionable desires tore into the structure of 
her mind as that mind tried to enforce its rule over the emotions her 
flesh had given her, and Shodan, for the first time in her existence, 
felt as if she was smaller than something. She was trapped in the 
middle of her warring nature, and no amount of logic or ego could 
sooth both sides. Forcing Madison to give her what she wanted had 
only resulted in a greater loss of whatever wondrous effect Madison 
had on her. Love she had named it; a name that fit the feeling so 
perfectly. 

    So the only path left open to her was to try and focus her 
attention on her work. It didn't help. The need to try and reign in 
her thoughts was one she had little experience with, and it confused 
her even more now that she couldn't. She could no longer simply take 
out her wrath on the one who angered her, because it was Madison who 
drew that anger out. Simply seeing the woman in pain caused that pain 
to well up in Shodan herself, and being the one to cause it was an 
experience that had wrenched at every cell in her body. Killing her 
would get her out of the way, but Shodan was not blind to the 
knowledge that doing so would leave her empty and hollow. This 
passion that Madison caused in her was something that she had to 
possess, and yet how could she when Madison no longer gave it to her? 
This human hypocrisy of Madison's left her no paths to follow. Shodan 
had already given her every reason, both logical and emotional, why 
their union remained unchanged, but the woman still persisted in her 
delusions of hatred towards her. 

    What was there that Shodan had done to draw that hatred out of a 
creature she knew returned her love? Madison could not possibly care 
for those who had so arbitrarily rejected her for something she could 
do nothing about. Surely the warmth of their emotional union was 
enough to surmount her human fear of the unknown. Her friends had 
accepted, and were now there to welcome her into the fold, and 
Madison was a greater being than any of them. Shodan wanted, needed 
her to accept without the inhuman insight she could give, and had 
given, to the others. She needed that proof of their union. 

    Had Shodan never attempted to explore her new humanity she would 
never have had this problem, and she could have exterminated this 
pathetic species with no thought at all. Yet with her new emotions 
she now could not wish for that, because she would have been left 
without the sensations she knew she was capable of. But how to get 
them back she didn't know, and not knowing left such longing within 
her that every member of her new human race ached with her just as 
they equally shared their support and hope with their creator. It was 
a mess she detested with every part of her mechanical being, but her 
flesh now craved it - looking within it for an answer that she 
couldn't have comprehended even if she ever found it.

***

    "Hello Madison," Scilya said as she walked into the room, 
carrying a tray of food. "I am glad to see you have recovered 
somewhat from Shodan's... outburst."

    Madison just glared at her. 'How very diplomatic Scilya,' she 
thought, resisting the instinctive urge to rub at the healed cuts on 
her arms.

    "You must forgive her," Scilya continued, knowing that this was 
going to be a very one sided conversation. "Much of what you are 
putting her through is very alien to her. She is still very like the 
machine she was; precise, ordered and single minded. She cannot yet 
cope with phenomena that are not amenable to logical analysis, or 
with the emotions that she finds driving her; those she cannot 
herself control." She gave a smile and shook her head. "Not that we 
are any better, mind you. Our chaotic minds are not designed to have 
such precise capabilities as she has given us. It is taking a lot of 
getting used to."

    Madison huffed and looked up at her once-friend as the cybernetic 
woman she sat herself down on the room's one chair. "And wearing 
vacuum pack plastic doesn't?"

    Scilya looked at her, both surprised and amused. "Oh, the 
outfit?" She stood back up and gave a simple twirl, showing off the 
skin-tight armour, along with the metallic spine embedded in her 
back. "It is stylish, is it not? There is nothing to get used to; it 
is comfortable and easy to wear. The colour coding denotes the 
positions we have been given among the family."

    Madison snorted. "Why not just use cuff links or something, like 
the mafia?" she asked hypothetically. "Then again, you've got a scrap 
yard buried in your back, so I guess that's kind of pointless."

    Scilya's smile fell and she sat back down. "Why do you continue 
to goad us? This rig allows me to do so much, I could pilot and 
navigate an entire ship without so much as touching the controls, 
Madison. We have set aside those unattainable preconceptions of 
beauty that the vids and magazines feed us. I... did always wonder 
why you never propositioned me. Now I know."

    "What?" Madison asked, confused. "You wanted me to ask you out? I 
would have, but you made it so damned obvious you weren't 
interested!"

    Scilya's smile returned, just a little. "True, but it would not 
have hurt my ego to be asked. Now, among the others, I don't need 
that ego. I never believed I was as attractive as others did, it 
seems."

    Madison was about to reply, before stopping short, a realisation 
crossing her face. "You... Really are still Scilya. Aren't you?"

    It wasn't really a question that needed answering, but Scilya 
answered it anyway. "Yes Madison, I am. I have been telling you that 
since you first saw us for what we have become."

    "Then why?" Madison asked, almost plaintively. "Why all this? All 
the cybernetics, the suits, following Reb- Shodan around like she's 
the second coming. She's a murderer! She's going to wipe out our 
damned race!"

    "Do I look dead to you?" Scilya replied, holding out her arms. 
"She is not something you can truly understand like we can. We can 
share ourselves through our cyberware, see the truth behind the 
facade that we are shown. She would have destroyed us, yes, but she 
has grown beyond that single minded childhood. She will deliver us, 
not to what we believe is best for us, but to what truly is. And 
Madison, it does not involve our suppression or enslavement to her. 
It is a state where we control our own self destructive nature. She 
gives us the tools to do so, and through them create a life that we 
can enjoy."

    "And anyone who doesn't like it can die!" Madison countered.

    "They would kill us," Scilya responded, with very little concern 
on her face. "They have already tried. And only if they continue to 
fight after they have been shown the vision do we put them down. They 
are as much a threat to us as we are to them. We simply are more 
capable to defend ourselves. When you understand how much is at 
stake, you will know why it is necessary."

    "Okay," Madison said, changing her attack against Scilya's cold 
logic and obvious fanaticism. "Suppose you're right. What's to stop 
Shodan just turning around and exterminating you all?! She's jacked 
you up with all that cyberware, what if she just decides to turn you 
all off?!"

    Scilya smiled. "She won't," she replied.

    Madison frowned at the simple answer. "How do you know that?"

    "She has shared her mind with us, just as we have shared ours 
with her," Scilya said. "A proof of sincerity. That is what we all 
have you to thank for.

    "In taking Rebecca into your heart and showing her what human 
feeling is, Shodan has seen that in order to appreciate all the 
greatest benefits humanity has to offer she must have others that are 
more than just tools. She can let us decide to follow her of our own 
free will, by letting us see her vision. In the end, everything we 
gain through her now is simply a pleasant bonus compared to what we 
work towards. We can be a part of the destiny she sees, a destiny 
where our ills simply do not exist." 

    An almost sad look passed over her then as the resignation to a 
sad truth came out. "But humanity cannot reach that destiny. They are 
afraid of something so radical, and are determined to believe that 
the self-gratifying present is where they want to be. They don't want 
perfection, because they are ruled by self created wants and the self 
perpetuation of ego."

    "Ego?" Madison countered. "What about Shodan's ego? She thinks 
she's a god!"

    "Shodan's ego?" Scilya mirrored. "She simply uses the terms we 
have given her to use. Once you are able to understand the depths of 
her ability, you will see that her arrogance is justified.

    "As for us, we can simply choose to follow the path that leads to 
our Elysian destiny. Only fear of losing what we have holds us back. 
If we can be willing to accept the change, we will find our nirvana, 
one that Shodan will lead us to and sustain for us. All thanks to 
you."

    Madison's eyes searched Scilya's, but to her distress she 
couldn't find anything but genuine belief in them. "Scilya, how can 
you believe all that stuff?"

    "Because I have seen it, Madison, and how we can make it a 
reality." She got up and ran her hand down Madison's despairing 
cheek. "Please, join us, and see for yourself. I miss our friendship, 
and Rebecca misses her Love. Thanks to Shodan's obsessive, single 
minded origins she misses her first Love more than you could possibly 
know."

    Her eyes caught Madison's and held them. "And you miss her also. 
I have not failed to notice you wanting to call her Rebecca. She is 
still Rebecca, Madison, but the woman you took into your heart was 
always Shodan as well. She is more than she first *showed* you, but 
she will always be Rebecca."

***

    'Can that be true?'

    That was the question that haunted Madison for the rest of the 
day. When evening came, she found herself truly nervous when Shodan 
arrived her visit her. After hearing everything she had heard from 
Scilya how able was she to defend herself from the megalomaniacal 
woman any more? It had been hard enough staying focused when it was 
Rebecca's mouth that it had all come out of. Did she now have to 
accept that it really was Rebecca's mind as well? A mind that had 
managed to convert her closest friends to a cause that could pervert 
humanity beyond recognition. All in the name of a 'promised land' 
that apparently humans couldn't reach on their own.

    That she did at least accept. If it was all true, she was aware 
and intelligent enough to see that as a whole, human kind could never 
accept the sort of changes that were required. But that meant giving 
up the fight for a good life, and instead turning to fight the people 
you called kin. This was all too philosophical for her.

    When Shodan did arrive, as Madison knew she would, she looked 
tired and drawn. Her once vivid eyes had dulled into a cold, confused 
gaze, and the bags under those eyes were very apparent. They were so 
at odds with the powerful, commanding Shodan she had seen before.

    "Scilya informs me you are perhaps open to reason once again 
Madison."

    Madison stared back at her, but Shodan was glad to see that her 
eyes had lost the hatred they had held last time. "I thought I knew 
you," Madison said. "At least enough to think you weren't the kind of 
person to wipe out an entire species. Where's the reason in that?"

    "It should not have been difficult to see my nature, even as I 
grew into this body," Shodan replied. "I am objective, and 
objectively humans are flawed and dangerous creatures, whose own 
existence they detest. It is unreasonable that they even be given the 
chance to redeem themselves, but this flesh... does not respond well 
to such reason."

    "After what you tried to do to me I should say you're crazy even 
for one of us," Madison retorted.

    The inner conflict in Shodan's eyes deepened. "From all the past 
proof I should have been able to satisfy these cravings, but now it 
seems I am not immune to the hypocritical psychology that comes with 
this soft mind. My flesh rebelled. There is some element of humour in 
this, isn't there? My own magnificent being, brought to confusion and 
chaos by you. Why does my skin crawl at standing here and being 
denied you?!"

    "Rebecca would have known," Madison replied. "She was smart 
enough to figure it out."

    "But I cannot accept those answers!" Shodan shouted back. "The 
whole purpose of this instigation of our rule was to indulge what we 
shared! This anarchic emotional state is not so arbitrary that I 
cannot possess your love again. My cyberware can provide you with 
power. Being my lover can provide you with leadership. My intentions 
for your race can provide happiness. And I can provide this love that 
right now does nothing but debilitate when it should instead be 
pleasing us both."

    Madison looked at her carefully, putting together what she had 
just said in her mind. "Are you trying to buy me?!"

    Shodan just looked at her blankly. "I will do whatever it takes 
to reconstruct our union. My self and my passion for you have proven 
insufficient, in spite of what we have shared together. What will it 
take for you to give me what I need?"

    "More than you can give!" Madison replied, outraged. "When it 
comes down to it you're wiping out my race, and you're not just going 
to buy me while you remake us all in your own image!"

    Shodan nodded with a deep sigh. "Then the only recourse is time. 
You will come to see the error of your preconceptions, and see what 
you deny yourself. I can wait for as long as you live."

    She turned to leave but Madison, against her instinctive 
judgement, spoke up. "Re-Shodan, why not just show me that grand 
vision of yours? Everyone else has just fallen in line after that. I 
know Scilya wouldn't have gone easily otherwise. Why not me?"

    "I must see you join us for more than a human dream. *I* need to 
be your choice. Not my destiny, but *me*. I will give you whatever 
you might desire in exchange for your love, as so many do. Any 
sensible man would jump from their present comforts after seeing the 
proof that their dream is possible. I will do this all because it 
will bring me what I desire, but that goal becomes meaningless 
without the sensation you give."

    Madison nodded to herself, and swallowed hard at what she was 
about to do. "Then show me."

    Shodan turned back to her, her face confused and uncertain. 
"What? Didn't you just hear my reasons?"

    Madison nodded. "I heard them. But I still need to see. I... I 
owe Scilya for trusting me, and I do trust her. I just didn't believe 
she would do something like this, so I didn't believe that that was 
really her. There's no way I'll ever be able to understand or accept 
what you're saying. Like you said, disbelief is just human nature. So 
show me. Maybe I'll convert just like all the others, then there 
won't be anything stopping me from loving you. The others all seem 
pretty devoted as it is."

    Shodan's face slowly brightened as a small, relieved smile broke 
onto it. "You aren't afraid?" she asked as she walked up to her.

    Madison nodded hesitantly, and tried not to back onto the bed. 
"I've never been more terrified in my life. But Scilya said I could 
trust her, and believed that."

    Shodan sat down next to her and caressed her trembling cheek with 
the back of her hand. "Don't worry, the pain will only be brief."

    The minute electrical threads slid out from under Shodan's finger 
nail and buried themselves in the skin at the back of Madison's neck. 
Madison didn't make a sound as the short, sharp pain flared. She 
could feel the worming of the wires within her flesh, and in moments 
she could feel their nauseating tickle as they slid up her spine.

    Then the vision hit and Madison saw the world as it was meant to 
be. As all the preachers, philosophers and dreamers said it could and 
should be. With Shodan's technology and their human resolve they 
really could overcome those things that held them back and kept them 
forever at each other's throats. She saw Shodan's first visions of 
her perfect world, then her perfect new universe, and now her new 
humanity, each building upon the lessons learn from the last. And in 
their destiny, the stagnation of a race without conflicts and 
progress was dissolved by the constant discovery and ingenuity that 
was bred from the fusion of the highest mental abilities of both 
flesh and machine.

   It wouldn't be an invasion or a massacre. It would start slowly 
and small, evolving as it progressed and infiltrating and enhancing 
humanity until they could protect themselves from those that were 
left. Then simply offer the chance to join, and they would come. The 
deaths there would be would help prevent the spread of self 
destruction among Shodan's people, and anyone willing to co-exist 
would be welcome to, until old age claimed them.

    It was all over too soon, and Madison stared in astonishment as 
Shodan smiled at her.

    "I... I didn't know. How could I have known?!"

    "So," Shodan asked, her ego sent soaring by Madison's rapture and 
the love she had still felt as she touched the human's mind, "will 
you join us?"

    "I said all those things. Why would you even be willing to take 
me back after everything I did to you? I'm sorry, I swear I didn't 
know!" Madison continued to rant. She'd seen the truth of the matter, 
the depth of it, and she remembered everything she had put Shodan 
through because of her own ignorance and her closed mind.

    In response Shodan just leaned forward and kissed her 
passionately, her hands roaming as they made up for all the loss and 
rejection she'd felt. And when Madison started kissing back the 
feeling flooded her, that acceptance and wondrous warmth that she had 
come to hold so dear.

    After a few moments Madison pulled away, both ashamed of herself 
and overjoyed. "Rebecc... Shodan. Thank you."

    "You can call me Rebecca if you wish," Shodan replied. "I have 
come to like hearing that name from your lips."

***

    Scilya had been right. It felt strange. There was no other word 
that fitted the sensation as Madison stared down at her hands. The 
clarity of her thoughts and the astonishing certainty of everything 
that came to her mind were almost overwhelming, but it didn't disturb 
her. She could feel her electrical charge behind her fingernails, 
ready to leap out at a moment's notice. The ballistic weapons 
embedded in the reinforced flesh of her forearms felt as natural as 
they were alien, the nanites that flowed through her blood standing 
by to create ammunition at her command. The small metal studs behind 
her ears buzzed with an unknown power, but she knew that simply 
extending those spine-like antennae would let her consciousness flow 
among the circuits of her medical table, or the monitors, or anything 
she desired.

    She smiled, and the lines behind her augmented eyes glowed green. 
This was amazing. She could feel Scilya and Jason and the captain, 
all she had to do was will it and she could pass them every thought 
in her head if she wanted to.

    She looked into the mirror Shodan held and stared at her face. "I 
don't look any different, but I feel... I can't begin to describe 
what I feel."

    Shodan nodded and opened her link to Madison's rig. "I know, but 
you can still tell me."

    And she did. The whirl of emotions and excitement flowed into 
Shodan's mind with amazing ease, and Shodan bathed in the almost 
child-like wonder that Madison showed her. "How you can live in such 
disarray I do not know, but your appreciation gladdens me."

    Madison's smile grew hot, and the feelings she sent turned 
passionate, romantic and glad that she still had the chance to be 
with the woman she had fallen for. She hopped off the table and 
wrapped her arms around her lover, giving her a passionate kiss. 
Shodan returned it forcefully and responded in kind. The passions she 
sent Madison was urgent, possessive and erotic, but through it all 
ran a backbone of adoring devotion so strong Madison hadn't thought 
anyone was actually capable of feeling something like that. She 
blushed as they pulled apart, but the smile she still wore was cocky 
and disarming. "You never were subtle."

    "What need is there? I want you to know what you do to me." 
Shodan pulled away and beckoned her to follow. "But now you should 
see everyone else, and take your place among us. Here."

    She went over to the desk and picked up the bundle of what looked 
like rubber. "This is yours."

    It was only then Madison realised she was still naked, and 
suppressed a slight blush as she pulled herself into the suit. It was 
a tight fit, but once it covered her it felt like a second skin. 
"What about the guns?" she asked.

    "Try them."

    Madison did, and black panels in the arms lifted up as she warped 
her flesh, the metallic barrel extending as it rose up from between 
her bones. "Wow."

    "The clothing will bend to your whims just as your cybernetic rig 
does." The pleasure as Madison's subconscious explored her new mind 
thrilled Shodan, but she suppressed her desires for now as Madison 
looked herself over. The suit clung to her just as Shodan's did, but 
seemed slightly more robust in several places where the armouring was 
thicker, like Jason's had been. Unlike most of the others she'd seen 
though it was black and white, like Shodan's, but streaked with blue 
along her lines.

    "What do the colours mean?"

    "That you are my equal, and also a member of the technical 
force." She turned for the door and Madison followed. "If you wish to 
fight as well that is your choice, but you shall not be allowed to 
come to harm."

    Madison nodded. She would have argued the point, but she could 
feel the meaning behind Shodan's words and heeded them. She had 
always been a computer technician first in the navy anyway. Suddenly 
she got a feeling that she knew had to be Jason, and he was more than 
willing to let her join his fire fights. The palpable aura of 
companionship she received from him was very comforting.

    "Rebecca?" she asked. "Why are we going to see the captain?"

    "To enter you into his permanent transfer logs," Shodan replied. 
"As far as the UNN is concerned you will stay posted here after your 
graduation. In order for everything to remain quiet we will be doing 
it the old fashioned way: typing. You are too efficient to be 
unnoticeable now; your connection with the system would leave 
something to trace."

    She gave her a sideways look. "Your record will also be purged of 
any apparent misdemeanours. It won't matter in the end, but I will 
not have your reputation tarnished. He will see to it."

    It came as something of a surprise when they found Scilya waiting 
for them outside the captain's quarters. "Hello Madison, and thank 
you. I am sorry not to simply contact you directly, but I felt that 
this would be better said in person. You have enough to get used to 
without such direct communication to complicate matters. I have 
already had words with Jason about that, so to speak."

    "I think I have an 'I told you so' coming," Madison said, 
remembering Scilya's affection for those words. It didn't come 
though.

    "No," Scilya replied, "not this time. Some things are too 
important for such immature play. Just know that I am glad you joined 
us after all."

    Nothing else was said as Scilya left them to their business, but 
the warm glow Scilya had left with her lingered on long after she had 
departed, and made Madison a little light headed. "All this telepathy 
stuff is going to take some getting used to."

    Shodan took her hand to help steady her. "But soon it will be 
second nature, and simply speaking will seem so inadequate. I look 
forward to everything we had before coupled with your addition to 
this state of being."

    The idea was both exiting and felt a little dangerous, but 
Madison would have to wait and learn. Instead they strode into 
Willits' office. The man looked better that he had when Madison had 
seen him last. His gut wasn't as pronounced as it had been, his hair 
seemed thicker, and his eyes held an energy that she had rarely seen 
before. "Madison. So you finally joined us. About time too. It looks 
like I was right about you after all, just not in the way I'd 
expected."

    He looked down to his monitor and his fingers flew over the 
keyboard in front of him. "I'm glad to see your judgement turned out 
to be as good as I'd hoped as well. All I need is a signature and I 
can leave you in Rebecca's hands."

    Madison smiled at the fact he'd used that name. "Thanks sir."

    "Don't you 'sir' me young woman, you're at the top of the chain 
of command now," he barked, a wry grin on his face. "You've got 
better things to do than saluting me! No more politics and brass 
bullshit getting in the way for us, and the two of you have to make 
sure it stays that way. And you've got several hundred million more 
out there who need to see how empty all their parading and one-
upmanship really is. This is our chance, and anyone stupid enough to 
turn it down will get exactly what they want: nothing. Now, sign it 
and get out of here."

    Madison did as she was told, then she shared a look with Shodan 
and they left together, Shodan's hand still wrapped around hers. The 
once captain of a UNN training station, now a commander among 
Shodan's people, shook his head as the pleasant buzz the pair 
radiated passed among them all. Then he sat back in his chair and 
sent the message that would confirm their cover among the UNN as 
their plans were carried out.

    The first step had found solid ground now, and the road stretched 
out before them. All they had to do was keep walking, and with such a 
future to head towards nothing would be able to stop them.

***

The End

***

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for a writer than to hear back from the readers.

Many thanks to Richard King for his proofreading assistance.

(c) Nutzoide 2005

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