Sentient Worm

Memories

Memories

Taylor slowly compresses her body down into a human form, and holds it for a few minutes. Ever so carefully, she relaxes her concentration until she can do other things without the whole thing unravelling.

She does a little cheery dance, "Yay! I did it. Oh pooh." Before losing control over her form again.

Natah looks at her critically, "You're coming along well. Most mimics don't learn to control their change until they're a couple of years old."

"You say that, but this, no that, has been my body for basically my whole life. I kinda know what it feels like from the inside. How are you getting on Anet?"

"I'm, finding it easier to get around in this body. I still haven't got my head around the fact that directions aren't just arbitrary yet, but I haven't got into the exfil port the wrong way in a week."

"Yeah, children often find the non-forward and backwards aspects of directions challenging too. I had to wear a watch before left and right finally sunk in."

"A watch?"

"A piece of jewellery that shows the time on a mechanical or digital display. Typically in the form of a bangle or bracelet, and worn on the left wrist. Also, on the subject of children, don't forget it takes them around 3-4 years to get walking and running in a straight line down pat. You're miles ahead of the curve in that respect."

"You say such strange things."

"Yeah, I do. I'd imagine that if I hadn't been mastered into forgetting basically my whole life, those things would have faded over the last something hundred years."

"I do not know. I've never forgotten anything."

"Never? Wow!"

"No, not even when my personality was supressed when I was first given my subframe. There are memories I couldn't access, and a few I still can't. I...am also having trouble with my personalities. Like I keep switching between different ones."

Taylor carefully puts her hands, tendrils, actuators, let's go with limbs, on Anet's shoulders, "Anet, you aren't switching. You are always you, they are different aspects of you. You are Anet Natah Lotus of the Tenno. Being a person isn't about only having one set of traits, we're complicated, and I include you in that. You're still Lotus and Natah when you're hugging soft toys or looking curiously at the sparkly blue dress."

"Is that what that colour's called?"

Taylor nods, at least she hopes she does, "It is, next time we visit civilisation we can buy some childrens books, they tend to deal with things like colours. If we were on Earth Bet, I'd just grab a Pantone catalogue. Anyway, when you're being cold an analytical you're still Anet and Lotus, and when you're being all detached, caring, and in charge, you're still Natah and Anet. You've only had the freedom, to be all of these things at the same time, for little over a month. Give yourself time."

"What about you? You keep asking me how I'm doing, and giving me reassurances. But how are you doing."

Taylor falls heavily backwards into the air and floats there, "Ugh, I still haven't worked out how to do that. It's so unsatisfying not being able to just let gravity take over. No, I'm not avoiding the question, this time anyway. I'm coping. My life before coming here was pretty good until the last few years. I'm still remembering stuff from then, but it's a little hard to be the bullied 15 year old when you're inhabiting a living supercomputer, or you look around and see evidence of everything you've achieved since then. I don't think the locker is ever going to leave me, as it was such a defining moment in my life. However, I am more than I ever could have imagined being. I've been a superhero to many of the people here, as well as being a supervillain to some too. Do I miss my Father? Yes, it's been nearly 1,000 years so he's probably dead and hopefully buried. Your body can't help but run calculations, and I know that there is absolutely no chance that there is any organised civilisation left on Earth Bet. The Endbringers may have even wiped out humanity. I also know that there were only two reasons why we had any reasonable technological advancement. It was due to our connection with Earth Aleph and Dragon Tech Systems. Without them, I calculate that technological development would slow and then, over a period of 20-30 years, as the rich invested in Tinkers rather than basic science, it would effectively come to a halt once children stop going into science fields. How are you dealing with not calculating everything, instantly, all the bloody time?"