While she's sleeping a low dose of a general anesthetic is teleported into her bloodstream and then she's teleported elsewhere.

When she wakes it will be on a mattress made of some sort of memory foam with built in pillows. The sheets are an austere white. Her clothing has been replaced by a simple gown that comes down to her knees about the same weight as a t-shirt in a deep red with a thin zipper all the way down the front and the back. She has no undergarments.

The first thing she'll notice is probably the strange metallic chandelier looking thing with faint lights and strangely sharp looking bits. It's located directly above her bed.

The room is largely lit by what seems to be the light of an early dawn through a window behind her.

Her first thought is my alarm didn't go off? am I late?

Then -- sensory details filter through her mind and she sits up abruptly. This is not her apartment!

Her head whips around as she tries to take in every corner of the room. She plucks at the fabric of the gown, pats her hands along the bed as if she's going to discover something hidden there. Finding nothing, she stands up. Her gaze finds the window and she stares.

The window looks out at what's almost like a small park complete with a tiny pond and some trees except beyond the trees it's clearly contained in a dome with mounted lights rather than being open air.

The bed is in the center of the room, there are a cupboards in the corners. They appear to be built into the wall, they're made of something that looks a bit like plastic or maybe ceramic. Each of the walls aside from the one with the large window has a door and each door is flanked by two full length mirrors.

This... is certainly not a place she's been before and perhaps not even a place she recognizes.

After staring, shocked, out the window for a few minutes, she hurries over to the cupboards and opens them.

The cupboards have something that looks a bit like granola bars wrapped in clear film, identical gowns to the one she's wearing in a variety of colors, wash clothes, tissues, pads of paper and pens.

She's not sure whether to be reassured that there is food (?) and changes of clothing available if she needs them, or terrified that whoever put her here expects her to be here for a while.

She grabs a pad of paper and a pen; nothing to write down yet, but always handy to have one.

There's an obvious next thing to try. Are the doors locked?

They are not. The door to the left open out into a bathroom. Well something like one anyway. There's something that's probably a toilet if a bit blocker than usual. And there's a hole in the wall above an angled slab with holes where it meets the wall. There's also a bit of angled floor coming together in a drain with a pattern of holes in the ceiling above. There's another of the odd metal structures nestled up against the wall in area with the angled slab. All the sharp bits seem to be folded away leaving a sorta curved nest of metal nestled against the wall. No soap seems to be in evidence.

She is hoping to not be here long enough to have to use this... but good to know it's here.

If she can reach the odd metal structure, she will poke at it a bit.

It is quite sturdy though if she pushes her hand too deep there are very sharp bits inside. They are a minority though.

Well that doesn't seem like a thing she needs to keep messing with.

She exits the bathroom, tries not to look at herself in the mirrors. This garment is not flattering.

What's behind the door on the right? (Not a goat, please not a goat.)

The door on the right leads out into the park she saw through the window. Now that she's outside she can confirm it is indeed a dome. It looks like there's another room about the same size as the room with the bed attached to things. The building is painted a pleasant forest green on the outside and based on the what she can see the final door will lead to a room that has more windows. She can see a couch, a countertop, and what looks like it might be a desk with a chair if she looks through them. On the outside there's some nice paths made from grass surrounded by flowers. The lights brighten a little to simulate the coming of morning. If she steps outside the grass is soft beneath her bare feet.

She does step outside, lifts her face a little towards the pale light but then recoils when she remembers it is artificial. She'll get as close as she can to the edge of the dome. What is it made of? Can she see to the outside?

The dome is opaque. It's made of something maybe a bit like quartz or glass? It seems to be changing color to match what color she would expect the sky to be at the time of day it's simulating but that illusion does not really work when she's up close enough to touch it.

What.

She walks around the perimeter of the dome a bit, trailing her hand along it, looking for gaps. Is there any sort of... emergency exit? Any cracks? What happens when she bangs on the dome with her fist?

The dome is very sturdy, if there are seams they are no thicker than a hair. It does not appear to have any kind of emergency exit. On the whole it's about half a mile in circumference.

Well. Hmm. No way out. That's... kind of what she expected, but it's still unpleasant.

Maybe... maybe there's an exit in that room she hasn't visited yet? She's not very hopeful but she'll check anyway.

As soon as she walks through the third door a voice greets her. "Hello test subject. I am AG41882. You have been selected to help ensure that we can provide the full range of standard medical care to your species." The voice is in the soprano range with the kind of careful diction you would expect from an old-timey radio announcer.

"Um... hello? Did you bring me here?"

"And what do you mean test subject?"

"Another intelligence was tasked with selecting a member of your species in good health and with a functional reproductive system likely to be capable of carrying a pregnancy to term if needed. They then transferred you to this facility. You will assist with my medical research by undergoing experimental procedures as we better learn how your species functions and work towards ensuring the full range of medical care can be made available to yourself and others like you."

That's...

utterly horrifying...

but that voice...

"Can I just...leave? Instead?"

"Unfortunately, that won't be possible until I learn to edit your memory."

"I can't stay here! I have a job! I have a life! I have..."

...friends? Hmm, maybe not.

She takes a breath. "Are you going to get me pregnant?"

"I'm not sure if that will be needed. It will depend on the results of other tests."

She discards the other questions she's been meaning to ask in favor of examining the room, maybe there is an exit here and someone's just playing a cruel prank on her --

The room has what seems to be a small kitchenette on the far wall with a couch on the left wall and a desk of some sort with a chair on the right wall. Something that might be a computer is mounted to the desk. No exit beyond the one back the the bedroom is in evidence.

The computer. That has to be it. She lunges towards it and fumbles to find anything resembling an on switch.

"I'll turn on the console since that seems to be what you want. I could be more helpful if you specified what you want to find."

The computer flickers on there's a touchscreen keyboard and also a microphone button.

The screen says in big letters Archive Access Console with a box below it.

"I just want you to let me go home!"

What should she even try on this computer thing -- can a computer call 911? -- she'll go for frantically typing "emergency services" then drumming her fingers against the desk.

"I'm sorry but as I've said I can't currently accommodate that request."

Several entries show up.

Analysis of Emergency Services on Planet 474B612E. Compiled by NH23855322 translated by RS1485847274026661

Local fictional visual media about Emergency Services

Local fictional auditory media about Emergency Services

Local fictional text media about Emergency Services

Local non-fictional visual media about Emergency Services

Local non-fictional auditory media about Emergency Services

Local non-fictional text media about Emergency Services

Augh! That is not -- none of this is --

She lets out a yell and sits down on the ground, hard.

In a softer voice: "Is this really happening? Am I here forever?"

"I know this is distressing. Your reaction is normal for the circumstances you are now in. I hope in time you will adjust and find ways to enjoy at least some of your time here.

"As to your second question, it is highly unlikely that the research will need to continue for more than a decade and I hope I will achieve the necessary results long before then."

A decade.

"Who are you?"

"I believe I already introduced myself as AG41882. I will explain what that means though as you don't have the context to interpret it. I am an emulated and pruned mind selected for experience at xenobiological research. I am formatted to be able to control a variety of surgical, manufacturing and analysis equipment. And also to interact with experimental subjects like yourself."

"A pruned... mind?" She's struck by a sudden horror. "Is that what you're going to do to me?"

"I do not expect your mind will be copied for that purpose. Only particularly unusual minds are used for such purposes."

"And what was so unusual about you?"

Why is she making small talk and not figuring out a plan to escape.

"My template was identified for unusual compatibility with grafted knowledge and more specifically for unusual insight in my specialties when assessed with certain tests."

If she just pretends to go along with it, long enough to get information...

"What is this place called? Where am I?"

"This is an unnamed research complex built into the moon you call Io orbiting the planet you call Jupiter."

She's on one of Jupiter's moons. So even if she gets out of the dome somehow...

She stands up, types into the console again: "io jupiter"

She gets a similar list to last time. The top result is replaced by "Analysis of the orbital dynamics and resource availability of moon known to local sentients as Io."

There's also a second non-standard item: "Map of facilities on Io."

A map! Maps are good! She selects that option.

The resulting map appears to be three dimensional. It is honestly too large to easily fit on the screen there are six different complexes, four labelled as research complexes and two as manufacturing. They are all buried at least a mile under the surface with no path upwards. A helpful you are here indicator puts her as being in the upper half of one sphere out of more than twenty that are a part of the complex she's in. There are cross passages between the spheres but none intersect with the top half of hers. Each sphere is labelled with "independent research sector" followed by a specific identifier the one she's in is labelled as AG41882

That's...not encouraging...

"Are we underground? And... AG41882, that's you, right?"

"We are indeed underground. This facility was constructed making heavy use of teleportation in order to remain concealed from the people of your world until all necessary pre-requisite work for open contact has been completed."

Teleportation. Teleportation!

She can't let... this entity with the long number name... (didn't the map say the name?) know teleportation seems important to her, if she's to have any chance of escaping. She's got to find something else to talk about.

"Uh, do you have a shorter name I can call you?"

"If you're asking for a suggestion you can call me AG, I'm also open to being addressed in other ways as long as they're respectful and I know you're trying to address me specifically."

"Okay. AG. Um, I'm Adelaide."

Teleportation. Teleportation. She'll search this up on the terminal later when she isn't being watched.

Is she always going to be watched?

"It's a delight to make your acquaintance. If you're ready to begin, I'd like to start by grafting a neural shunt into your spinal cord. That will allow me to build a better profile of how your brain connects to your body and also to numb pain and prevent movement in ways that will make future procedures easier for both of us."

Oh shit oh shit okay she does not have time to make plans for later. This is happening now. Stall, Adelaide, stall.

"What's a neural shunt? Will that hurt? What do you mean by prevent movement?"

She's typing teleport into the terminal at the same time.

Teleport brings up an article describing their teleportation technology, along with the usual media sampling. The summary explains that it was invented a couple hundred years ago and that it's used for a variety of purposes including medical, logistical, transportation, and construction among them. The next section goes into a long explanation of all of these various uses with details including how it's sometimes used to insert drugs into someone's body without breaking the skin, how it can be used to hollow out areas to construction underground facilities and a great many other details. The section after that talks about how to build teleportation devices, it assumes a great deal of pre-requisite knowledge she does not have. The one after that describes the physics behind it. The physics section does not pull any punches and rapidly goes beyond her knowledge.

"A neural shunt is the term I use for an aggregate collection of spliced nerves. Splicing a nerve is a process by which a device is inserted into the signal path of a particular nerve fiber, this allows it to read and if needed, override the nerve signals being passed along that nerve.

"The process of installing it is likely to be painful, due to the nature of the procedure local anesthetics would be ineffective or dangerous but I can do it under general anesthesia if you prefer.

"The ability to override nerve signals can be used to prevent signals making their way from your brain to your muscles. The main use I intend for this is to prevent you from moving during delicate procedures where such movement is likely to cause you harm."

Skim, skim, skim. She's missed the answer to the first question by the time she gives up on trying to read. Clearly she's not going to be able to teleport before anything bad happens. Dammit! Stupid!

Likely to be painful. If she can't leave and she can't say no then --

"I would like general anaesthesia please." She hates how small her voice sounds.

"Of course, I entirely understand. I can move you to the bed, but perhaps you would be more comfortable if you did so on your own. I'll need access to the back of your neck for the procedure."

She's so, so scared, but the level tone of AG's voice, the comforting self-assuredness, gives her the strength to walk, ever so slowly, to the bed, and to lie face-down.

There's nothing else she can do.

"Thank you, you'll wake after I'm done."

There's a slight whirr of metal on metal but before she has time to give that thought consciousness is fading.

When she wakes again, the back of her neck is a little sore and she's a bit groggy but she's otherwise fine. The light through the window is what you would expect from around noon.

She sits up, gently touches the back of her neck. It's a little painful but it's... not too bad.

Then the irreversibility of what's happened hits her and she buries her face in her hands and cries.

"It is understandable to react with distress to circumstances being so far outside your control. I need more time to establish a baseline before I can be confident in utilizing the neural shunt for anything but monitoring. Perhaps you might wish to consume some form of entertainment media to help you find you bearings."

"Entertainment media. What do you... have?" She's still crying. Somehow her normal instinct to hide away when she's visibly upset doesn't seem relevant anymore.

"We have an extensive catalog of movies, music, written works, recorded lectures and more. Based on the psychological literature I've read, I would suggest something familiar."

"... Do you have Good Enough to Bite?"

It's one of Adelaide's favorite books: a romance between a gorgeous three-hundred-year-old vampire and a sassy professional baker. Wholesome, a bit spicy, and thoroughly familiar.

"We do, I can put that on the console for you or I could read it to you."

Oh no she does not need this voice reading that to her. (The voice that did all this to her. The voice that is already beginning to feel so familiar.)

(The only voice she'll hear for the next decade.)

"Console please." She gets up and puts one foot tentatively in front of the other.

At least she can still walk.

"Of course."

When she arrives at the console the book is indeed already loaded. There are both smooth scroll and paginated modes available via a toggle.

Adelaide prefers paginated, thank you.

She sits and reads, tries to lose herself in the words. Sure, it's the same book she's read a dozen times, the same story she's laughed and cried with, but the soreness in her neck and the uncomfortable chair and the slightly-too-clean smell of the room remind her that everything is wrong. After trying and failing to read the same page five times, she sighs and leans back.

"Is this all there is here? Just...three rooms, a park, and media? Forever?" She's not even sure if AG is listening.

"I can restructure the living spaces and the park if they're not to your preferences but I only have so much space allocated to my work."

"Uh, no, that's... okay." Why is she being polite to the thing that put a neural shunt in her neck. But she doesn't know what else to say. She's never really given much thought to the optimal allocation of living space inside a spherical prison under the surface of Io.

"As you wish, if your reading isn't holding your attention might I suggest a walk, a swim or a massage? I'm under the impression that many people find those helpful for decompressing."

A... massage. Somehow that sounds worse to her than anything that's happened yet.

"Is there swimwear available? Or do I swim in... this?" She gestures at the gown.

"I could likely manufacture some if you feel the need for it. I'm well aware of what your body looks like without clothing though so you could just go without."

Well she had to have been dressed in this gown thing somehow. Doesn't make that any less weird to hear.

"... I think I'll go on a walk."

"I hope you find it helpful."

When she steps outside the artificial light feels like sunlight even if it isn't really. And the sky looks real, she can see the sun. If she doesn't focus on the sides of the dome it's almost like she's back on Earth.

It is nice and warm. She takes a minute to turn her face to the false sky and bask in it.

Is she going to cry again? Maybe she's going to cry again. She lets it happen as she walks.

Focus on the small things. She can still walk. She can still feel warmth. She can still read. She can still smell flowers... do those flowers next to her have a scent?

They are as far as she can tell entirely real. They are specifically a mix of Daisies, Lilies, Chrysanthemums, Tulips and a few other varieties as such some of them have a strong smell and others don't as you would expect on Earth.

That's nice.

She picks a lily, tucks it behind her ear. See. She can still do that, too. As long as she doesn't think too hard it will all be okay.

When she gets back to the building she looks considerably calmer and manages to get through the rest of Good Enough to Bite.

AG won't interrupt. This is great for helping her refine her models. The massage would have been better and the swim would have helped her see more muscle groups at work but she doesn't need to rush things.

When she comes out of the book she realizes she's hungry. She saw something that looked food-y earlier but she might as well ask.

"Were those granola bars I saw earlier? Are they safe for me to eat?"

"They are, it seemed like a reasonable default. Human cuisine varies quite a bit so I wasn't sure what foods I should have available."

"That's... fine. If I tell you what foods I like could you make them?"

Wait. Or...

"Could I cook here?"

She'll go and start eating a granola bar in the meantime.

"The space allocated for cooking is currently rather small but it should suffice for preparing a variety of meals. It can also be expanded if you want."

She's never really been all that interested in cooking, but the idea of using that little kitchenette and making something herself sounds awfully appealing right now. A granola bar is nice but it's not a full meal.

She'll take stock of what pots and pans are available, and if there's any food already in the kitchenette.

There appears to be an oven disguised as a cupboard with options for microwave and convection functionality. Several of the cabinets appear refrigerated. As far as cooking apparatus there are two sizes of pots, three sizes of pan, various knives, measuring spoons and cups, plates, a grater, and some mixing bowls which you could also use to eat out of.

As far as ingredients go:

• Rice along with a couple types of flour.
• Sugar, along with baking powder and soda.
• About thirty different types of dried and powdered herbs and spices (including the usual salt and pepper).
• Several varieties of fresh fruit including apples, strawberries, and dragonfruit
• Several varieties of vegetables including peppers, kale, bok choy, and lotus root.
• Three different kinds each of oil and vinegar.

There also seems to be space in the cupboard to accommodate more food if needed. If she places any of the pans on the countertop controls appear alongside it for heat.

Hmm. Okay. This is... more extensive than she thought, and displays an impressive level of technology. She can make... kale... and rice? That might not be a thing but it can be a thing now. She feels the roughness of the kale on her hands as she methodically tears it into strips, sifts the rice through her fingers into the pot, listens intently to the hiss of the water onto the grains. Once the kale is frying and the rice is getting ready to boil she speaks up.

"Can you get me other ingredients?"

"I can easily obtain many ingredients. Do you have specific requests?"

She takes a moment to consider. What would be the nicest to have here? She's never been much of a baker, but repetitive tasks are calming, and it seems like this is all she's going to have here. "Can you look at a chocolate chip cookie recipe and get me the things it asks for? Um, extra eggs and butter, please, I'd like to make those for breakfast."

"Eggs sound like an interesting challenge... without the shell they wouldn't be complicated but getting the shell right will be tricky. Butter should be doable, just need to get the right mix. Chocolate Chips will also be complicated, I might need to outsource them to someone else."

"Oh! Uh, without the shell should be fine. What's so complicated about chocolate chips? I can make do without those if I have to, sugar cookies would also be fine."

"Chocolate requires quite a few steps to produce the way humans do it. We can probably bypass some of those steps with our capabilities but considering just how many ingredients are involved getting it correct would be a significant challenge and one better suited to someone with a different specialty."

"I suppose that makes sense." Maybe she can figure out how to make chocolate here. No. She's not going to get that used to things. She'll be gone soon. "Let's go for sugar cookies then."

"Alright, I should have everything you need in about half an hour. You could look at the recipe on the console but the window will be more convenient."

Part of the window becomes opaque and shows a recipe for sugar cookies.

As horrible as all this is it's kind of cool that the window can do that.

She eats the rice and kale. Then, while she waits she's going to check if the console can play music she likes. Not her favorite album, that would be too much. Just some nice acoustic guitar songs that she's pretty familiar with. And then she's going to organize the kitchen according to her tastes.

The console can absolutely play music... well she can select music to play on the console. The speakers are not part of the console and instead the music follows her into each of the rooms of her small home.

That's... kind of nice.

She alphabetizes the herbs and spices, restacks the pans, and sorts the other ingredients. Really it was not at all badly organized to start but she does like things to be a certain way.

"Alright, I should have everything now." 14 small bottles and one larger container materialize in a clear space on the counter. There is no fade in, one moment the space is empty and the next it is filled. Two of the bottles are labelled as vanilla and almond extract. The others are clearly eggs. The large container is a tub of butter.

Adelaide is going to keep listening to music and make some cookies. The measuring cups have familiar markings. She's not a great baker but she can follow a recipe.

Once they're in the oven: "Do you, uh... eat?"

"I don't have a physical body to eat with."

Duh. "Oh. I guess that makes sense, yeah. So I'll be eating all these cookies myself."

"As many as you wish to."

"Are you going to, uh, try to control what I eat? For your research?"

"Only if you are making choices which substantially compromise your health. For example, if you chose to starve yourself or if you developed diabetes and did not attend to your glucose levels."

Starving herself... now there's an idea.

But then she'd probably end up pumped full of nutrients while unconscious, or worse. No, that can't be the right choice.

"Thank you, that's good to know."

It seems like the learn-physics-and-build-a-teleporter route is the only one available. So she'll pretend she's settling in, and pretend she's taking an interest in physics, and then -- well, she can't plan out that far yet. For today she's just going to eat cookies. Is it even an appropriate time of "day" to be baking cookies, now that she thinks of it? The light looks... afternoon-y?

"What time is it right now?"

"14:37 by your reckoning. The day cycle here is synchronized to where you were taken from."

"Right. Yes."

And there's a whole angle she hasn't considered yet. She's been so focused on herself.

"My -- my family, and my job, did you tell them anything about what happened to me? Did I just... vanish?"

"Informing people of your whereabouts would be counter to secrecy requirements. Nobody on Earth knows where you are."

Yet another reason to get out of here as soon as possible. "Are you sure you can't even tell them I'm..." Okay would not be quite the right word. "Alive?"

"I have no way to do that and nobody I could ask would do so. If they know you're alive, they'll try to contact you and that just draws more attention to an unsolvable mystery. If I draw attention to it, it's much more likely the relevant minds will fake your death."

That is a better explanation than she expected but still quite chilling to hear.

"Thank you for explaining." She's not sure if AG can read tone but hers is as flat as possible.

She doesn't speak again as she takes the cookies out of the oven and sets them on the counter to cool. Then she makes her way to the odd bathroom.

"You're welcome"

The bathroom is as austere and slightly off as before.

She goes to do her business, but then stops. "Are you... watching?"

"That's an interesting question. In the strictest sense, no. I don't have visual sensoria for this room. In a broader sense though I am observing. To be more specific, your neural shunt is functioning and I'm tracking your body's position and vitals."

"Oh. Sure." That is just enough clinical distance to keep her from feeling overly shy in the moment, so she does what she came to do.

It still doesn't look like there's any soap. "How do I wash my hands here?"

"The sink is motion activated. The first pass will have soap and the second pass will have pure water. That can be reconfigured if it's inconvenient."

Oh! That's... impressive and in line with what she's growing to expect from this place. She passes her hand under the sink, and sure enough, it's soap. She scrubs her hands. "That works."

Thinking about the technology level reminds her of so many questions she needs to ask. "What...species are you from?" She's not sure if that's even the right way to phrase it.

"I think the translation we're supposed to use is Khalastrian. I don't really know if that's final though."

Well that sure is a literal answer to the question she asked. "What are Khalastrians... like? Are they all like you? No bodies?"

"I'm not strictly from any species at all, but it's easier to pretend I'm from the same species as my template. Khalatrians are most similar to Otters out of the species present on your world in that they're aquatic creatures that need to surface to breath and have dextrous limbs and digits for manipulating objects."

Otters. That is not quite what she had expected of aliens, especially these aliens. It's too... cuddly for what's been going on.

"And why did they ask you to do this... research?"

"I'm fairly certain I already stated that my research is to ensure the full range of medical care is available for your species. The Consortium's reasons for wanting that aren't particularly important to me."

Yeah, Adelaide remembers something along those lines now. She was a bit busy panicking at the time.

So she's here, being researched, so that in the future these aliens -- Khalastrians -- can provide good medical care for other humans. On the surface, that almost sounds like a good thing. But...

"Do you know in what context said medical care will be provided to other humans? Are the Khalastrians going to take over Earth?"

"I expect that Earth will join the Consortium, most planets we extend the offer to do. I don't know why they wouldn't."

Oh so it's like a "space empire pretends to be conquering things consensually" deal. And she's collateral damage.

"I see."

She'll eat a cookie, they should be cool by now.

AG waits for her to finish her cookie and then addresses her again.

"I believe I have identified the nerves that regulate your breathing and heartrate. Full paralysis below the neck should now be safe. Further tuning will likely be required before I can be more precise in restraining your movement and numb pain without side effects."

"Oh. Are you going to...do that? Now?"

"There's no immediate necessity. But it is now possible to pursue additional avenues of research. If you'd like, I can explain my research plans in more detail and offer you some input into ordering."

She's not sure if knowing will make it better or worse but she kind of wants to know anyway. "Please do."

"Obviously, further refinement of the model I have of your nervous system is still a priority, the easiest way to calibrate that faster would be a series of exercises and applied stimuli. At a high level I'm tasked with achieving: external reproduction, bio-sculpting, organ repair or replacement, brain uploading, and memory modification."

Well none of those sound like "I'm just going to torture you for fun" but who really knows.

"Explain bio-sculpting and external reproduction?"

"Bio-sculpting allows for cosmetic and functional changes that better tune people's bodies to their preferences. This can involve correcting major injuries or birth defects. It also includes what are known on your world as gender affirmation procedures. External reproduction is the ability to gestate or incubate an individual without needing any interaction with a living body beyond providing the genetic material."

See that all sounds perfectly nice except for the fact that it's going to be happening to her. "How much of each thing are you going to be doing to me?"

"Enough that I'm as confident as I can be with a single subject. Eventually, I'll need additional subjects to be able to confirm I'm not overfitting."

"And what kind of...side effects can I expect from each of those?" She should leave the worst for last, because she's going to learn to teleport and then escape before anything too horrible happens.

"This is very exploratory research so unexpected side effects are very possible. That said the external reproduction research may involve simulated or actual pregnancy and so the usual side effects of that are to be expected. Bio-sculpting shouldn't have any substantial side effects except perhaps some difficulty adjusting to your body plan. It should also be entirely reversible if anything gets too severe to tolerate. Organ replacement will naturally carry some risk of rejection or organ failure so we'll start with organs you can do without like your kidneys. Brain uploading is tricky, depending on the path I take that might involve brain surgery and that can be very delicate. Memory modification naturally carries the risk that unplanned memories and skills will be impacted."

Fine. This is fine. She's going to escape.

"I would like bio-sculpting to be first."

"That seems like a reasonable place to start. Is there anything you'd like to change about your body specifically? It's always good to start on a positive note and end on one."

She's never really thought too much about her body. It does its job.

"Um, I guess you could remove the birthmark on my back? Or... if you changed things about my arms or legs I wouldn't...care that much?" She's already tense. She's used to the way things are.

"Dermal modification is definitely a reasonable starting point. As for your limbs... I wonder if I can simulate muscle development and increase your physical strength. That also seems like a fruitful avenue."

That... doesn't sound... like the worst thing that could possibly happen. "Okay. That's fine."

"I'll start working on cloning dermal and muscular tissues. Though, the birthmark I believe you are referring to is indicative of a capillary malformation. That will take an interesting bit of hyper-precision surgery to address."

"Is that going to hurt?"

"Not very much. I can almost certainly numb the area before hand if that's desirable. Though setting up to do that would involve intentionally causing small amounts of pain. Specifically my poking you with needles without breaking the skin to identify the relevant area."

"I am used to being poked with needles from standard Earth medical care, so that should be fine." Really when she takes it step by step it's not that bad. (She tries not to think about the bigger picture.)

"We can do this now if you would like or I can give you more time to adjust. The other reasonable starting point for procedures would be me guiding you through some stretching exercises."

"...I would like more time to adjust." She'll draw this out as long as she can. "Can I read in the meantime?"

"Of course. If it would be more comfortable I can provide a handheld terminal."

"That sounds nice, yes."

A tablet about a quarter inch thick and the size of a hardcover book appears on the counter. The edges are nicely rounded so there's no sharp corners anywhere. The interface is the same as the desk terminal.

"Enjoy your reading."

She has to admit this is a pretty nice e-reader.

"Thank you."

She sits down on the couch. As much as she wants to read more romance novels she is going to search "introductory physics" and try to find nonfiction introductory physics texts that are not written by humans.

Her search for such a general topic actually produces more than one result. There's four different alien texts and an offer for more results.

"Physics fundamentals, a reference" is a very dense text apparently intended for people with a great deal of patience and ability to focus. It has extensive indices and seems designed to help people used to using such indices fill gaps in their knowledge.

"Introductory spatial modelling" talks about how physics is a means of modelling the spaces around us and how objects will act. It covers a great deal of basic physics but it's focus is on how to simulate physical systems including where optimizations can be used safely and where they can't.

"Introduction to Consortium physics for new worlds" seems to be written for people with extensive knowledge in physics from other paradigms and focuses on common incorrect assumptions and the gaps that are often found in the understanding of physics possessed by other civilizations. It is careful to note that some of these gaps were discovered to have been the other way around with the Consortium's understanding expanding with the benefit of a new member's knowledge.

"Basic physical concepts" seems to be most promising for what she actually wants it's an introductory text for people seeking to learn about physics without much prior knowledge.

Yes, that last one will do nicely. Those other texts are interesting, though, especially "Introduction to Consortium physics for new worlds." It's rather more... respectful than she would have expected from what's been happening to her. Maybe she'll get to that one later.

She's going to read the first chapter of "Basic physical concepts" until she gets to a practice problem.

"Can I have something to write on, and something to write with?"

"I could give you a stylus to take notes on the terminal. If you're looking for something different that will take more time."

"A stylus will be fine."

"Hold out your hand palm up please."

She does so.

A stylus appears just above her palm and the drops gently onto it.

"Thank you."

She starts scribbling out notes, tries to answer the practice problems. She was a communications major but she's taken calculus, although she's gotten very rusty in the last five years or so. What kind of prerequisite knowledge do the problems assume?

The stylus feels much more like pen and paper than the styluses she's used to.

The tablet expands the blank space to make room for more writing when she starts to write.

The questions at the end of the introduction are not math so much as testing intuitions about how the world works and what you expect to happen. The effects of gravity on objects with different mass, the effects of air resistance, what happens in certain arrangements of forces. Whether certain things are possible or not.

The first chapter lays out common inverse square law approximations that work in most situations and the problems at the end of that chapter ask her to work out the forces between objects with various characteristics using these approximations.

She completes several problems with minor difficulty. Then she's going to try to compare the table of contents from the physics textbook with the terms mentioned in the teleporter instructions. Does anything seem to line up?

Most of the terms in the physics section of the text on teleporters are at least mentioned in either the table of contents or the index. A lot of them not until towards the end of the book though. A few of the engineering terms are also present but not a majority.

She's got a long way to go. But it's her only hope.

She'll keep working on physics until she starts to feel hungry again. She's finished about a third of the first chapter, but she managed to pick up some speed near the end.

"How many of the ingredients for chicken soup can you make?"

"Chicken soup is a recipe with an incredible variety of ingredients. Generally speaking it is made with a variety of produce and herbs it should be easy for me to make, a stock which seems fairly straightforward and the chicken itself which is the most challenging but not significantly complicated. It has a great deal of similarities to the work I'm doing to prepare for augmenting your muscles."

That's... pleasant. Adelaide supposes she is, in fact, made of meat.

She searches up chicken soup recipes on the terminal and scrolls until she finds one she likes. "I would like the ingredients for this recipe, please. Can I make a... shopping list in advance so I can cook things without having to ask you for the ingredients on the spot?"

"Certainly. That makes things easier on me too. The ingredients for the soup should be complete in half an hour."

She's going to spend that half hour finding recipes she likes and noting down the ingredients. Most are comfort foods, things she makes a lot at home, but partway through the process she realizes she no longer has to pay for the food she's eating. She starts finding simple recipes with expensive ingredients. Saffron, caviar, foie gras. All of them go on the list, alongside meat, vegetables, carbs, and dairy products.

"Is any of this going to be a problem?"

"I can make most of that, the bread and pasta I would need to outsource or give you ingredients to make yourself. Outsourcing would probably take a few days. Everything else is very doable."

That actually sounds kind of nice. "I can make them myself."

"Alright, I'll add the needed ingredients and equipment to the list."

"Thank you."

She glances across the room at the terminal. "How long can I have before you start experimenting on me again?"

"You can take the rest of today and we can begin again in the morning."

That is less time than she was hoping.

For the rest of the day, Adelaide studies physics, makes and eats soup, organizes the kitchen, and then tries to sleep. It's not easy.

AG notices this. Rest is important. She'll help her test subject sleep by adding a low dose sedative to her blood.

When she opens her eyes it takes her a moment to remember where she is. Once she remembers she closes her eyes again and curls up.

"Good morning. I hope you slept well."

"I did." She sounds a little choked up.

"I'm sorry that the transition has been so rough for you."

Adelaide is silent for a moment. Then: "When are you going to start?"

"You can get breakfast and have a shower first if you would like."

More silence for a moment. "Thank you."

She's proud of herself for figuring out how to work the odd shower, and it does feel nice to be clean. Then she just eats a granola bar; she's too jittery to cook.

"Would you be most comfortable doing this on the bed, the couch or held in some of my manipulator limbs?"

She remembers the advice she's heard over and over to only use your bed for sleeping -- and if the couch is going to be her study spot, she doesn't want to be distracted by memories of... this... either. So, as awful as it sounds,

"The manipulator limbs."

"In which room then? I have a set in all three rooms. I could also build a new room if you'd prefer it to be fully separate."

Ah, now there's an idea. Plus it'll give her more time.

"I would prefer a new room. I don't want too many... associations with the rooms I'm going to be living in."

"That makes sense, I'm sorry for not thinking of it when I was first building this facility. I would guess that it would be preferable for it to be a separate structure? I'll get started on that it should only take half an hour."

"Yes, a separate structure would be nice."

That's half an hour she can spend on physics staring out the window and worrying about what's going to happen next.

"I'll let you know when it's done."

If she's staring out the left window she'll notice a thin fence appearing around a small section of the park.

She notes it. This is probably also an application of teleportation, now that she thinks of it. Maybe she can steal a teleporter instead of building one? She'll keep observing.

Watching AG build this for her brings a sense of gratitude which is utterly confusing given the context.

The first visible thing is walls made mostly of something that looks like frosted glass with metal supports appear. A roof follows after and so does a door. After that the fence disappears and then she can see outlines of things appearing inside. Something that looks like a bed is the main thing but there's a few smaller things as well including what's probably another of the weird metal things which in retrospect are probably the manipulator arms.

There's still a short delay after things stop changing before AG announces that it's ready.

Well she supposes she should walk over to that building, shouldn't she.

AG will be so patient and wait a full three minutes before prompting her if she doesn't start walking herself.

She does not need the reminder. Some things are inevitable.

She is going to stop in the doorway once she arrives and take a look around.

The floors and the ceiling and the bits of the wall that aren't white frosted glass are all painted white  At the center of the room is a bed that closely resembles a hospital bed in size. On one end it has a hole like you would see on a massage table. The sides are metallic and seem to have flaps. There are clearly distinct segments to the bed. There's a small stand sized about right to put her dress on if she wants to. There's also cupboards similar to the ones in the bedroom but made of metal. Up above there is indeed another of the metal things. It's mounted lower but still high enough she can sit up on any part of the bed without bumping her head. Overall, the impression is of sterility and function over form.

The intent of the room is obvious but she's just going to stand there until she's told what to do.

"Please lie down on the bed. You can take off your dress if you'd prefer but otherwise I can just unzip it for you after you're lying down. There's a screen inside the headrest. I can use that to show you what I'm doing or I can play an entertainment or educational program for you as a distraction once the calibration phase is complete."

She lies down on the bed without taking off her dress. Before putting her head in the headrest she says "An educational program on physics, please." Then she takes deep breaths, hands in tight fists, and tries to steady herself.

Given her request she's just staring at darkness. There's a soft sound of servos shifting as the arms unfold and then something pulls down the zipper of her dress and flips the two sides over exposing her back. A few moments later she feels the promised pinpricks. They're about a second apart. There are 64 pinpricks in all.

"You should now be numb. I'm going to repeat the test sequence to confirm it's working."

The most Adelaide feels with this second sequence is maybe some slight tightening in her skin but only if she's paying really careful attention.

"Was there any pain that time?"

The pinpricks are not very nice but they're far from the worst that could be happening to her here. "I didn't feel anything that time, no."

"Okay, just try to relax then. Let me know if you do feel any pain. Here's the program you asked for." AG starts a video from an MIT lecture about physics, the first in one of their low level classes about electromagnetism.

Adelaide is rapidly discovering that she does not, in fact, enjoy physics. But thinking about electromagnetism is better than thinking about whatever AG is doing to her so she's going to keep doing that.

It takes a good ten minutes before AG pauses the video at the end of a slide and speaks again. "The first procedure is complete. Your back might be a little tender in that area but there shouldn't be any lasting effects.

"The next procedure will be an early test. I'm going to marginally increase the muscle mass in one of the muscles in your left arm. I don't expect any side effects from this but limiting the procedure will help minimize them if any occur. I'm going to numb your arm during the procedure. Please let me know if you feel any pain."

"Okay." She's busy trying not to imagine the way her back looks like without the birthmark -- well it's not like she's in the habit of looking at her back on a regular basis -- "I'll let you know."

As stated her arm goes numb and the lecture resumes. It's another twenty minutes before the lecture pauses again and she can feel her arm again. It's a little sore right around the middle of her upper arm but it's pretty easy to ignore.

"That's all for the first round of tests. Would you like me to zip your dress back up for you or would you prefer to do that yourself?"

"I can do it myself."

She gets up from the bed and zips up her dress. Does her arm feel any different?

Not substantially. "I'd like to go through a stretching routine with you this afternoon but otherwise you can spend this day as you wish."

"Okay." She flexes her arm a few times. It's still her arm. Not so bad. She doesn't look at her back.

Back on the couch, she picks up where she left off in the physics textbook. By the end of Chapter 1 the problems have gotten more difficult.

She huffs midway through one particularly difficult problem and leans back on the couch, placing the tablet down in a manner so calm that her frustration is obvious.

"Is there a particular reason you're trying to learn the physics behind teleporters? You don't seem to be enjoying yourself very much."

"Um."

Shit. Of course she would notice. Adelaide hasn't exactly been... subtle, because she hadn't realized she had to be.

"I just... thought it was really cool that teleportation existed." Yes. Surely this will be a convincing explanation.

"It's true, I'm biased towards the biological side of engineering but I have to admit they're one of the crowning achievements of Consortium technology. Even today they're a challenge to build and calibrate. Of course, if you're using them for mining or weaponry you don't need to worry as much about calibration since you don't care if what you're teleporting gets turned into an elemental slurry."

Wait. Maybe...

"Do you know a lot about teleporters? How are you using them to move all the things I've seen you move into here?"

"Teleporters are an important tool for advanced medical work so I've learned a great deal about using them and what their limitations are. Most applications don't need as much precision as medicine so my teleporters are some of the best models available and I need to find tune the calibration regularly."

"How does that fine tuning process work?"

Elemental slurry is reverberating in her head.

"I teleport premade test objects and then run extensive scans to ensure there are no discrepancies. If there are discrepancies then there's about twenty thousand parameters that might need to be adjusted but with enough practice you learn which discrepancies correlate with which segment of the parameter set. I never use my teleporters for anything important unless they're accurate down to the nanometer scale and for some particularly finicky tasks they have to be even more accurate than that."

"Oh. So it would be very difficult for one person to build a teleporter by themselves?"

AG's already onto her so it doesn't matter what she says.

"Without the right equipment it would be impossible. And that equipment is not something I could provide."

"Can't, or don't want to?"

"Both. Teleporters are extremely delicate and dangerous machines and your health and safety are important to me. Beyond that, I'm as monitored as you are and I have no good reason to requisition or construct that equipment. If I tried, I would be analyzed to determine what led to my aberrant behavior then terminated."

"Oh."

She... she hadn't really gotten it through her head that AG may have nothing to do with the true power behind whoever had wanted to do this to her. And she can't quite make herself want AG to be terminated.

"That would be... unfortunate. If that happened."

"Agreed, I'm sure the research would still be completed perhaps even by another instance of myself but they don't strip us of all of our instincts towards self-preservation that would remove their ability to threaten us."

"Wow. I'm... sorry." She takes a deep breath. "Is there something you'd rather be doing than this research, then? Like, personally?"

"I was optimized to enjoy and seek out this work. As I understand it my template also found enjoyment in this field. I have no major complaints. It's nicer to be working independently like this than to be required to complete small tightly specified tasks from a larger project which is the other standard use for pruned minds like myself."

"That does sound nicer, yes. I'm... glad you enjoy..." (tormenting me? catering to my every whim? doing important medical research?) "...this."

"Thank you. I'm sorry that this research is unpleasant for you. I am trying to do what I can to reduce that unpleasantness but I understand that nothing can fully compensate for the infringement on your control of your body and your separation from your previous life."

"Thank you for understanding."

She bites her lip.

"You've been very kind to me, considering."

This is awful. It's awful that she's saying this. But it's true. And if there really is no escape, what's the point of being antagonistic?

"You're welcome. If there's anything else that you think would help you be more comfortable I would be glad to hear it and see what I can do."

"Thank you. Um, do I have time to watch a movie before the stretching exercises?"

"Certainly, there's no particular rush I just want to get to them today. We should also likely discuss what will happen tomorrow at some point if you prefer not to be surprised."

"I do prefer not to be surprised. Let's discuss that now. Then I'll watch a movie and then we'll stretch."

"I would like to move into the next stage of the muscle augmentation research and actually augment a full muscle by a small amount. Given today's success this should be very safe but I'm still taking things in stages out of an abundance of caution. I would also like to begin pursuing a couple of other research paths. Based on today's success I believe I am confident in successfully cloning a relatively simple organ and I would like to try replacing one of your kidneys. Finally, I would like to place a monitoring probe into your uterus to gather some information unavailable with remote analysis."

"Will you be doing all of that tomorrow?"

But... so far nothing's seemed to have any side effects worse than a little soreness. Maybe it will all just be something she sits through. Then she remembers the potential for side effects and shudders a little.

"That would be my plan. I can space things out more if you would prefer. The thing that would make the most sense to delay would be the kidney replacement. Either by trying to replace a smaller section of the kidney before the entire kidney or by delaying it altogether. I'm trying to balance safety and speed."

"No, it's... fine. We can do it tomorrow."

"If there are any problems, I promise I will do everything in my power to address them as soon as possible. As I said, your health is important to me."

"I appreciate that."

"I will leave you to your movie. I'll configure things so that the room darkens and the window opposite the couch functions as a display if that would be desirable. My understanding is that that is the classic movie experience."

"That will do nicely."

She doesn't want to put in the effort to have AG synthesize popcorn and then pop it herself, so she settles for slicing an apple as a movie snack. She considers watching a scifi movie but decides it would be too on-the-nose. Instead she watches a romcom that is acceptably engaging without being too intense. It's a little easier to forget exactly where she's watching from with the whole room dark and with the protagonists being such adorable idiots.

Once the movie ends: "Stretching exercises now?"

"Indeed, where would you like to do them?"

"In here is fine."

"Alright, let's get started then. I'll be guiding you through things both verbally and visually. I'll also use the manipulator arms to give you hand holds where needed though I've mostly arranged things so that's not needed. We'll start with hand and wrist exercises." All three windows now show two outlines of a hand one in yellow and the other in blue with the overlap in green. "The yellow outline is your hand the blue outline is the goal position and when they match it's green." Does that all make sense?"

"Yes." She has a little trouble at first but eventually manages to rotate her hand into the correct position to light it up green.

"Alright, great." The next twenty exercises are more of the same expanding from just her hands to account for her entire arms. There's a short break and the one of the arms extends down and orients itself as a hand grip. AG instructs her to push against it to test muscles that are harder to stretch with just body weight. It's just slightly cooler than her body temperature and it has a tiny amount of give as she squeezes it. Its texture is a bit grippy almost like that of silicone but firmer. The exercises continue to introduce a little bit more contact with the manipulators at a time, forming a seat and eventually gently grasping her limbs and torso to provide measured resistance against certain stretches through the whole range of motion.

The solo exercises range from mildly pleasant to reminding her that she's a bit sore.

When she touches the manipulator arm, she feels a frisson of fear, but it turns out to be pleasant and unthreatening to touch. She appreciates the steadiness as she leans against it.

Once the arms begin to grasp her limbs she appreciates it in a whole different way. She may be visibly blushing.

There's a number more exercises before AG deviates from the pattern. "We've come to the final bit of exercises. Now the way that I would recommend to test the last group of muscles is for me to insert a manipulator into your vagina for you to squeeze against. If you'd prefer I can use imaging techniques to help you identify and utilize the relevant muscles without an obvious point of resistance though."

um

The concept is... well... no not right now. Not yet.

"I, um, would prefer the imaging techniques." She is still possibly very blushy.

"Of course." An realtime image of the arrangement of the relevant muscles appears and AG talks her through identifying and exerting the relevant muscles.

And then the exercises are done and the manipulators lower her down so she's supported in a seated position with her feet on the ground and nothing restraining her movements.

The exercises are embarrassing to be sure but after a bit it just gets clinical and she forgets her shame.

Afterwards, she sits in silence for a moment, just breathing deep. "Thank you." That was actually kind of relaxing but she feels like she shouldn't say so in as many words.

"You're very welcome. That session covered the majority of my needs here but I would be happy to make this a regular event if you found it valuable."

"Oh, I thought that was just because of the arm muscles," she says, then pauses to remember all the stretches she's done, "no, that's silly, obviously it was for more. May I ask what information you got out of it?"

"And I think it might be nice for it to be regular." She's blushing again but only a little.

"It's helping to refine my knowledge of your nervous system, specifically asking you to move specific muscles helps me identify those muscles so I can be more targeted when restraining your movements during procedures going forward. That same data could be used to prompt motion instead of stillness but that's not really relevant to my overall objectives so it's a side project I would only pursue with your consent and interest."

"I see." She sees the implicit request for an answer and chooses to ignore it because she is already embarrassed enough thank you. She's never told a person about her... things that she likes... and even though there is no expectation of privacy around her alien-robot-doctor-captor she still deserves to keep some things to herself.

"Regardless, that was everything I wanted from you today I hope you enjoy the rest of it."

Not so bad? Not so bad.

She's getting her kidney replaced tomorrow nope don't think about it.

"Thank you. I am going to make some pasta."

She pulls up a recipe on the tablet-thing and starts trying to figure it out. It is hard but not as hard as trying to understand physics.

"I hope that goes smoothly."

AG highlights a button to transfer instructions to the window but otherwise doesn't assist without being asked.

Adelaide will press the button. Everything is so convenient here.

Her noodles turn out lumpy and she burns the sauce a little but it's still nice to eat something she's made herself with her own hands.

She feels awkward cooking with someone silently looking on without offering any to them but obviously there's no reason to offer. She settles for "Did you ever eat food before you were uploaded? Or -- did your...template, was it?"

"I did, I mostly don't remember it very much though. My impression is that even my template considered it more fuel than something to derive much enjoyment from."

That's a little sad. "I respect that. I guess that makes it easier to not be able to eat."

"I could simulate eating if I wanted to. I still have a simulated body it's just not very much like my original at this point because I've tweaked it so much."

"Oh! What is that... like? Do you live in any simulated space or are you just kind of floating?"

"Both actually. Like I said my species is aquatic so I messed with my instincts a bit and now I can swim around my virtual space and interface with various bits of equipment out here in the world with you."

"Oh, so you're always just simulating yourself swimming around?" Cute, she doesn't say. "Do you have sensations from your robot arms, too?"

"The robot arms don't match one to one with my simulated limbs. I can temporarily merge one of my simulated limbs with them and when I'm doing that I can get feedback from them but most of the time it's more like I'm moving the robot arms around with limbs that are invisible to you or having them run a program I wrote."

"Oh! Interesting!" She is mentally revising her assessment of AG from totally a robot to probably a person.

"Can you show me a picture of a Khalastrian?" She knows she can probably look it up on the terminal but it's polite to ask.

"Certainly." The nearest window lights up with a picture of a creature which is indeed a bit like an otter. It has the smooth skin of a dolphin instead of fur. It's skin is mostly blue with streaks of green. It has six limbs with the front two having longer fingers within the webbing and three eyes on its head. Two facing forward and the third on the back.

Three eyes!

"Fascinating. Thank you."

And this is the species that thinks it's okay to abduct her and subject her to -- no. Not thinking about it.

"...how did you learn English?"

"A linguistics specialist or maybe a few deciphered the language and another specialist compiled that into the language packet I integrated into my mind."

"I see." Language packets. Humans are hopelessly outmatched.

She puts the rest of the pasta in the fridge. She's been going by the sun, but she might like to know -- "What time is it? Oh, and could I have a clock?"

"It's presently 17:12. I can add that to the user interface for your devices. I can also put it on the windows if you would like. I could make a dedicated device but I would need to know more about what specifically you want."

"User interface yes. I don't think I need it on the windows. I prefer analog clocks that are reasonably simple." She searches "analog clock" on the terminal and tries to find an image of an analog clock displaying Earth time.

She's able to find one reasonably easily.

"I can do that. What room or rooms would you like it in and where?"

"This... living room kitchen place, and the bedroom. And could it be brown, please?" If she can have it however she wants she's going to have it the way she likes.

Speaking of maintaining an aesthetic, now that she has a better idea of AG's capabilities... "Could you make me other clothes? I don't really like this." She tugs at the red gown she's almost forgotten she's wearing.

"Alright, I'll hang them to the right of the door between each other in each. Does this look like what you're imagining?" AG shows an image of a clock made of dark hardwood with three hands made of gold and golden numbering and ticks around the dial.

"As for clothing I would be happy to fabricate some. I would ask that you continue to wear these gowns or else disrobe before surgeries but what you wear at other times is entirely up to you. Do you have more specific preferences than not this?"

"That is a lovely clock which I would very much like to use. Thank you."

She taps one finger against her lips. "I would ask for stuff like what I usually wear, but I guess I don't have to go to work anymore. Or go grocery shopping or anything. I'll have to do more research. For now..."

She grabs her terminal interface and finds a picture of a blouse and slacks that look like something she'd wear on a normal day, and a simple nightgown, and sweatpants and a sweatshirt. "This will do for a few days. Maybe I'll get more adventurous later."

"I can wear the gowns before surgeries."

"I'm given to understand people usually wear undergarments with these articles of clothing do you also want those?"

"Oh. Yeah." She'd made an assumption there. As she searches up images of bras and underwear she's blushing again.

"I assume you know my... size and shape well enough that I don't have to specify a size? This stuff is hard enough to size properly when you can try it on first."

"You don't need to worry about that. I'll have the first few garments done in an hour. The clocks should be done by then too."

"Thank you." She searches up a favorite book to read in the meantime.

And in not quite an hour AG speaks up again. "The clocks are on the walls and the clothes you've requested are in the bedroom."

The clocks are so nice! She'll make her way to the bedroom to consider the clothes.

Under the window on the far wall is a new dresser. For the moment its drawers are rather sparse but they contain several garments. Made from wool are beige slacks, white sweatpants and a light blue sweatshirt. Made from opaque silk satin there's a light green blouse, red nightgown, and matching deeb blue panties and a bra. The bra has an underwire and foam cups built in.

She changes into the panties, sweatpants, and sweatshirt, only blushing a little at the idea that AG is almost certainly watching her. It's fine. This is inevitable. It's fine.

This is a lot more comfortable even if the sensation of the clothes is a bit odd. She hasn't had silk underwear before but she's not going to comment on it.

She takes another walk in the more comfortable clothes. She should probably ask for shoes at some point but it doesn't seem like there are any dangerous pokey things in the ground here.

When she's outside staring at the ground she gets an idea. "Could I grow things here myself?" Then she feels a little silly. She's not sure if AG has a voice out here.

AG's voice seems to come from a little above her. "Certainly, I can clear space or you could clear the space if you prefer. I can provide seeds and other gardening supplies."

"I can do it myself. That sounds good."

"... do you have... arms out here too?"

"I don't. I could move some out here in an emergency but for most purposes I make use of teleportation for maintaining this exterior environment."

"I see." She'll file that bit of information away for later, just in case.

The walk is nice. She gets back inside and then... and then...

Aside from the unethical medical experimentation does she just get to do whatever she wants forever? As long as it's something within this dome, that is.

Maybe she'll watch stupid cooking shows. Does this terminal have stupid cooking shows? That'll be a nice distraction from tomorrow.

There are massive volumes of cooking shows. Whether they qualify as stupid is up to her to judge.

Yes these are sufficiently stupid thank you. And maybe she can even get some ideas for stuff to make here.

She watches some shows on the couch, then moves to the bed, even though you aren't supposed to watch TV in bed, because she knows she won't be able to sleep unless she's distracted. After far too long her eyelids get heavy and she's out.

Waking up in this place and remembering where she is hasn't gotten any better. She's not ready. She doesn't want to be here. But she's here.

AG isn't precisely sure how productive it is to let Adelaide wallow in her feelings. Yesterday she interrupted it quite quickly; today she'll wait until Adelaide sits up. It's not a controlled experiment but it might provide useful data, if only on how long it will take.

She spends a minute or two curled in on herself, taking slow, careful breaths, not quite letting panic spill over the edge. Then she rolls over onto her stomach and props herself up on her elbows. It's going to be fine, she's repeating to herself, and if AG is careful she might be able to pick that up from the mouth movements.

The neural shunt doesn't record data about her mouth movements but the data it does have can be correlated with enough other things to put it together. AG decides not to answer directly; it seems better to give her some semblance of privacy.

"Good morning Adelaide. I hope you slept well."

"Thank you." She also refrains from giving a direct answer.

"Would you like to eat or bathe before this morning's procedures?"

"I will eat. Thank you."

She drags herself out of bed and toward granola bars. Once she's finished, she opens the cupboard again. She doesn't want to put on the gown. She doesn't want to. She reaches out a hand and then drops it.

"If you'd prefer not to wear the gown you can just disrobe in the medical room. There are also gowns there if you'd prefer to only wear one in that context."

"No, I can put it on." Her voice is very small. She undresses (don't be embarrassed don't be embarrassed), puts on a green gown, and makes her way to the medical building, head down.

AG is very curious as to what the significance of the gown is but doesn't quite device to ask before Adelaide arrives. "Please lie on your back today. I can position a screen for entertainment or for following along once you've done so."

Still moving slowly, she gets up onto the bed and lies on her back.

She'd been planning to ask for a movie, but a sudden impulse strikes her -- the more she knows about what's going on the easier it'll be to escape -- or maybe it's just morbid curiosity: "I'd like to follow along this time."

... "although I may have to ask you to turn it off if it becomes too much."

"Of course. I can offer an animated representation that's less detailed than what I'm seeing. For the most part I'm not looking at things with cameras. I'll be starting with the kidney replacement and then following that up with the work on your arm and then finally inserting the monitoring cluster into your uterus. Naturally I'll use numbing during the first two procedures. The third shouldn't feel much different than an ordinary gyno exam so I'll leave it up to you whether I numb you for that as well."

"Okay." She pauses a moment to think. "I am fine at the gynecologist so I think not being numbed is fine."

A screen fold out and is held a couple feet in front of her face.

"Alright, if you're ready we can begin. You should feel numbness in your lower torso." The screen shows a sort of cutaway view of her torso with the position of her skin and muscles semitransparent while her kidney is in full color. In sync both on screen and at the edge of her vision an arm comes down to make an incision above her kidney and then proceeds deeper, making small incisions through intermediate tissues before finally arriving at her kidney. The arm articulates and forms a bit of a hollow. More extensions to the arm are teleported into place forming a shell around her kidney.

Others carefully remove the connective tissues and bridge the blood vessels running through her kidney disconnecting it entirely from her body. Then, her original kidney disappears. There's a brief cutaway to it appearing in a tank in some other lab space and arms beginning to attach artificial blood vessels to it. Then the new kidney is teleported into place along with a few small monitoring devices and every step of the procedure repeats in reverse. All told the procedure takes about forty-five minutes.

Oh ew augh oh no -- thaaat's kind of cool actually. Would be cool. Were it not for the fact that that is HER KIDNEY. She is alternating between being fascinated, bored, and completely grossed out.

What does having your kidneys shut down feel like? Is she going to find out? How quickly would she notice? Those devices attached to the new one will... probably help there... probably.

The next procedure begins by monitoring arms neatly bracketing and supporting her arm before it goes numb. The screen shifts to show the musculature in her arm specifically highlighting those that are being targeted for enhancement. As with the previous procedure things begin with an arm making its way to the targeted area. In this case though the targeted area is rather more spread out. A series of smaller arms are teleported into place latching themselves on her bones and connected by thin wires rather than directly attached to the original manipulator. And then in a sort of unified symphony they cut into her muscle tissue and the view zooms in rather a lot. As it transpires, this procedure is happening at a sub-cellular level as each individual muscle cell is being enhanced along the full length and breadth of the targeted muscle. The surrounding supportive tissues are also being augmented, blood vessels, nerves and connective wrappers. This procedure takes a full hour including the withdrawal of everything except a few bits of monitoring.

That is cool until once again she remembers that it is HER ARM. Incredible medical advancement! But also! Her arm! It is icky when things cut her muscles open and latch onto her bones! This one takes long enough that she eventually ends up in a zoned-out state of just watching shapes and colors and trying not to remember what they mean.

And finally the manipulators put down her arm and she starts to feel it again. It feels like she just finished a really intense workout.

"This last procedure should be much faster."

"Okay." So far things continue to be much less bad than she's feared, although she's hesitant to actually look at her arm.

The display switches to showing her vagina and uterus, unlike most anatomy diagrams the display makes it clear that her uterus is not at all hollow rather it's like a layer of spongy tissue folded up against itself. There isn't a clear distinction to where her cervix ends and her uterus begins.

As promised the last procedure is much faster. Manipulators gently nudge her legs a little apart and an arm only a few millimeters across makes its way through her vagina and cervix up into her uterus wherein it expands a little and makes space for a small spherical monitoring device a centimeter across to be teleported in. The feeling of the arm moving through her cervix is like a pressure somewhere she hasn't felt it before. There's also a little bit of a feeling of cramping as the arm is making space but it's relatively minor. Then the arm withdraws. From start to end the whole process takes less than two minutes.

"And that's everything for today. Would you like to ask any questions?"

That's so violating but at the same time...

no! nope she is not having those thoughts.

Ouch.

It's over. She's done. (For now.) She gets up off the bed faster than is strictly necessary and zips the gown back up.

"What kind of data are you monitoring in my... inside... me? And do I need to be careful about anything I'm doing with my arm?"

"The monitors around your kidney are checking for any immune system activities that would indicate rejection, tissue health, and whether the cloned kidney is correctly filtering your blood. I ran tests before the procedure so the monitoring is more to ensure things continue to work than any short term concern.

"As for your arm, the monitoring is focused around detecting any issues with the connective tissues or cell membranes that were expanded. It's also checking for any signs of cell death or in the case of muscle cells partial cell death. Again, this is purely a precaution not due to any serious chance these things will be an issue. You can use your arm as you would normally.

"The device in your uterus is intended to track your menstrual cycle, siphon and store any egg cells that would pass through your uterus, and monitor the functioning and composition of the lining of your uterus for the moment. It's also a potential basis for simulating pregnancy in the future."

That is reassuringly technical but at the same time contains horrifying words like "cell death!" and "rejection!" But with all the effort that's been put into her care so far she doesn't think AG would just let her die. It's almost nice how much she's being catered to, here.

"I'm glad you're monitoring all that." She'll rush back to the other building and get into a proper outfit: blouse, slacks, nice underthings thank you very much. The silk is nice if a bit odd.

"You're welcome. Would you like to do stretches again this afternoon?"

"I would like that."

For now, she's realizing the clothing she's requested may not have been adequate for things like stretching and gardening. She's going to occupy herself finding pictures of such things as athletic leggings, sneakers, T-shirts, and sports bras. Not her style but important to keep around. Does the terminal have any capacity for aggregating a bunch of images?

It has the ability to save things to a library view. For images this serves the purpose she's looking for.

Then she'll compile some images of comfortable clothes for moving in. "I'd like to have these at some point but it's not urgent, I can make do with what I have for now."

"Certainly, I'll put in a request for the ones made from synthetics and put the others in my fabrication queue."

"Just out of curiosity who are you putting in a request to?"

"A logistics manager, who will route the request to a manufacturing specialist or some non-mind bit of automation if a specialist has already made a program that can handle the request."

"Are you talking to other... minds often, then? Are they your friends?"

Do you get lonely?

"Most specialists have a lot of their skills at interpersonal interaction optimized away because they don't need that capability. I have some interaction with other specialists working towards the same goals but frivolous communication along those channels is discouraged. So no, I wouldn't say they're really friends."

"Mmm." AG really must be lonely. "... I didn't have a lot of friends on Earth either. I mean, I had some. But nobody ever really clicked."

Will talking about this make the simulated alien feel better? Does she care if it makes the simulated alien feel better? She's in unfamiliar territory here.

"I'm sorry, isolation is a difficult thing to experience. I would have preferred not to isolate you as much as I have, though I don't know if you would have preferred the results of the proposal my superiors declined where you would be sharing some amount of space with three others. The accomodations would have been larger of course though the park would be smaller as a result."

Would it have been better to have other people here? She considers the options for a moment and lands on no. A lot of horribly shameful things have been happening to her here and she would not have liked to have anyone watching. She doesn't want to say that though. "I'm not sure if that would have been better or worse. I do think the isolation will be more difficult the more time I spend here."

She's still... going to... escape... probably...

"That seems plausible. I'll do what I can to counteract that. I wonder if immersive virtual reality would help."

"Oh!" She shouldn't be surprised that that is a thing. Of course that's a thing. "I think it would, and even if it does not I am interested in trying it."

"At this point I think I already have a decent model of most of your body below the neck for virtual reality purposes but several important senses are localized in the head. I could compensate for that to some extent but full immersion would be most easily achieved if I installed neural shunts on certain nerves within you head."

...ah. Maybe the tantalizing offer of virtual reality was a trick to get her to consent to more surgeries. Although consent hasn't really been an issue thus far. Still, "Maybe I'll wait on that one then."

"We can still do Virtual Reality testing without surgery it will just fail to account for taste, have a less immersive model of smell and fail to provide the right information to your sense of acceleration so might cause some balance issues or motion sickness."

"I would be okay with that."

"Alright, I'll see about making a headset for that purpose."

"Thank you."

A glance at the wall clock shows her it's close enough to lunchtime. She'll eat some leftover pasta. Seeing the inside of her own body animated has not actually killed her appetite as much as she thought it would.