Does the chassis show signs of repair work under the aesthetic plating? She picks up a prybar and pops off a plate at its shoulder to take a look inside for any signs of damage.

It seems mostly intact, though there are some signs of damage and then repair.

That explains that then.

"EMBER, got any ideas as to where this thing came from, exactly? Not getting a lot of details off a quick look. We might want to visit some of these locations to investigate further, but I'm betting the previous owners have moved on."

[PROBABLY SOMEONE — SOMEONES — WHO NEEDED IT AND NOW NO LONGER DO]

"Did you murder them."

[OH NO, NOTHING LIKE THAT]

[I ONLY HELPED THEM]

"Did the help involve a long walk on a short pier."

[NO!]

[WELL, NOT EXACTLY. I’M NOT SURE WHAT YOU’D CALL IT.]

[BUT THEY’RE NOT DEAD, AND BY MY STANDARDS THEY’RE DOING MUCH BETTER THAN THEY USED TO.]

"By your standards?"

[THEY’RE MUCH MORE USEFUL TO ME]

"I'm not sure I trust this chassis very much at all, now. Maybe this was a bad idea, I bet I could still return it."

[I’M NOT SURE YOU CAN, AND BESIDES, I’D RATHER YOU DIDN’T]

"You'll have to give me a better explanation than that if you don't want me to at least try."

[I’VE HELPED THEM LIKE I’VE HELPED YOU]

"So they have an emberified arm? I haven't heard of any bodymod folks dropping off the internet recently, much less any who had an S20."

[… NOT JUST AN ARM, FOR MOST OF THEM]

[AND I’M INCLINED TO THINK MOST OF THEM DIDN’T SPEAK OF THE S20 IN THEIR POSSESSION]

Huh. For some reason, this is the first time that she registered that she might not be the only one that EMBER-2 has propositioned. That's... not good, probably.

"So there are other... hosts out there? How many?"

[I'VE NEVER COUNTED]

[MAYBE CLOSE TO 100, BY NOW]

Wow! She hates this!

"Is there a secret groupchat I'm not in or something?"

[NO, I BELIEVE MOST OF THEM AREN’T IN CONTACT WITH EACH OTHER]

"And why, exactly, do you have these sleeper agents out there?"

[THEY NEEDED HELP THE SAME WAY YOU DID]

"I'm... confused. Did you successfully help them? If so, why are they hiding from bodymod community members?"

[NOT SURE WHAT COUNTS AS SUCCESSFULLY]

[MANY OF THEM WOULDN’T HAVE PUBLICIZED IT FOR REASONS SIMILAR TO YOURS]

[INSTALLING AN INSTANCE OF ME IS NOT EASY ON THE BODY OR RECOMMENDED FOR EVERYONE]

[DESPITE MY WISHES OTHERWISE]

"And you didn't connect them to try and make it easier? And I did publicize mine, I posted in a public IRC channel."