>>>>>>>REBOOTING…..

    REBOOTING….

    OS_VIVI….ONLINE.

Vivi woke up screaming. The pain of her final moment was still fresh on her mind. She stopped screaming when she realized Olivia was nowhere to be found, and she was in someplace totally unfamiliar to her. It looked like some kind of mechanic’s workshop, all metal girders and concrete floors. There was a table directly across from her. Judging by the tools and half finished metalwork on top of it, it belonged to someone of some technical skill.

She blinked.

How am I still alive?

>>>>>>>CALCULATING…..

    CALCULATING….

    ANSWER: YOU ARE NOT ALIVE.

Vivi jolted upright at the sudden text appearing at the corner of her eyes. Where the hell had that come from? What the hell was going on?

>>>>>>>I AM THE VOICE OF THE HARDWARE YOU ARE CURRENTLY BEING OPERATED ON, OS_VIVI. I AM HERE TO GUIDE YOU THROUGH YOUR TRANSITION.

Transition? What are you talking about? Where am I?

>>>>>>>THESE ANSWERS MIGHT BE BEST LEFT TO MASTER JINSOUL. YOU SHOULD WAIT UNTIL SHE ARRIVES.

Suddenly, a sedate feeling of submissiveness washed over her, as if someone had just given her some calming tea, or some kind of mood-altering medication. But neither were true, and Vivi pushed past the feeling to continue asking questions.

There was loud laughing from outside the workshop. Clearly, whoever had done this to her was having themselves a good old time. But what had they done, exactly?

A worried-looking blonde girl burst through the door an instant after this thought crossed Vivi’s mind. The first impression she got of the girl was of just how pretty she was. Like a doll. The second thought was much less kind. She’s the one responsible for this!

Vivi tried to shout as much at the girl, but once again that damnable pink text popped up in her field of vision.

>>>>>>>ERROR: VOCAL SUBSYSTEMS OFFLINE. FEATURE UNAVAILABLE.

Feature unavailable? What the hell?

The blonde girl in the blue overalls scrambled around the room, picking up various tools and running them over and around Vivi. Vivi tried to get her to knock it off, but found she couldn’t move when it came to this girl. She had an inkling this “hardware” she’d been speaking to had something to do with it.

When the girl spoke, it was frantic, worried. “Oh my god, I’m so, so sorry. We’ve been trying so hard to get the soul acquisition hardware working...so many failures. I tried something new last night and it looks like it worked, but you’re unfinished. Or rather, your body is unfinished. You were never supposed to see this part. Oh, you must be terrified. I’m so sorry. Ah, Choerry’s usually the one who babbles on...I’m Jinsoul.” And she just kept on talking. Vivi would have rolled her eyes, but she didn’t feel particularly capable of it. In fact, nothing about her body felt right.

She pointed at her face urgently, hoping Jinsoul would get the message. Jinsoul gasped. She looked a little bit like a fish that way. “You want a mirror? Are you sure...it’s not pretty.” How could she know if she wanted a mirror or not without a mirror?

Vivi nodded. The girl pulled a hand mirror out and gave it to Vivi to hold.

Vivi held up to her face and screamed internally. Oh my god!

Instead of her face, there was a metallic looking shell with glowing blue eyes. It was a robot, an unfinished robot that could never be mistaken for human. It was her! This was her face now….

She panicked and thrashed around, knocking tools off of the table

>>>>>>>CEASE THIS AT ONCE.

She had gotten onto her feet and she was about to try running away when her legs froze in place. Jinsoul walked up to her, a remote control in hand. She was in control of her...she wasn’t her own person anymore. She wasn’t a person at all. Just a thing,

Jinsoul shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Vivi. I never meant for you to see this. We’re going to do everything we can to restore you.” She sighed. “We can’t shut you off without risking killing you, again. Yves wouldn’t like that. So...I’m going to put you under. Repress your memories until you can handle them. I’m really sorry.”

Vivi panicked and tried to snatch the remote out of Jinsoul’s hands, but it was already too late. Jinsoul had already pushed the button.

>>>>>>>INITIATING BLANK SLATE PROTOCOL. SCANNING MEMORIES. STORING MEMORIES. WIPING….WIPING….

Vivi would have screamed in pain if she could have. She could feel her memories being stolen away from her, stored on a hard drive in some distant part of her. She was losing herself...becoming nothing...becoming….

>>>>>>>BLANK SLATE PROTOCOL COMPLETE. MEMORIES SECURELY STORED. REBOOTING….

The android closed her eyes and fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.