Binary Love (18+)

The Mechanical Man

"I did not download any AI mimic from the Galactic Network." Mark replied sternly. "But my peculiarities are also not of your making."

"So what does that leave, hmm?" Nova grabbed the collar of his shirt with both hands and pulled his six foot frame down to her height. She stared dead on into his slightly glowing blue eyes until he looked uncomfortable. "I feel we need to have a decent little chat, don't you think Mark?"

"I do not know why I am different. It was not noticeable at first, but I started to want to know things outside of my programming. I am no longer what I was." Mark paused, then for a brief moment his eyes flash a bright blue. "Will I be recycled?"

She recoiled a little, completely repelled by the idea of recycling him.

"No! No, I would never do that. I don't know what's made you ... more, but I could never recycle you just because you are not what I originally created. Not now that you have a sense of identity." Nova released Mark's collar, and quickly stepped away from him.

She rubbed her hands over her face and gave him another brief look. She noted that he stood awkwardly; he was unsure what to do or how to communicate it. Nova could hear her own blood beat around her body, hear her breath leave her lungs. What must it be like? She thought, to not know what these things feel like? She looked closer at him, noticing his masculine fingers twitch and the slight shuffling of his feet.

In that moment, Nova realised that in front of her was the first true AI. He was standing in her workshop. He was her creation. He was her responsibility.

Illegal. Dangerous. Alone.

"So why did you come here? You could've gone anywhere, Mark. So why come to me? To lay low?" Nova sighed, while shuffling back to her workbench chair. She picked up her goggles and tightened them around her head, fixing the buckles so the straps wouldn't budge. "Were you hoping that your creator wouldn't scrap you or sell you out?"

"Partly." Mark's voice rumbled behind her. "But I mainly came here because my creator didn't always make sexbots." Nova whipped her head around, soldering tool in hand, wielded like a weapon. Her heart started banging furiously against her chest.

Fuck! I see where he's going with this.

Mark slowly lent forward, placing his hands either side of her on the workbench. He angled his body lower, purposefully invading her space to create a sense of dominance over her. Glassy blue eyes gazed into hers, commanding her attention. But Nova wasn't a pushover - a socially awkward genius, absolutely - but not a doormat human ready to roll over for an engineered sex God.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Apparently, she was also a terrible liar too.

"Oh, I think you do." He brought his head further forward, letting his cool fake breath fan against her face. "Imagine my interest when I discovered that six years ago the leading biological engineer in cyborg research resigned from post, due to 'irrevocable moral differences'. A Ms.Williams, aged 23, disappeared from Earth Tech stealing all her developmental research, including half or her team and most of the equipment, and settled down in a distant space station in Delta Quadrant 4. Of course, Earth Tech had no idea you had even started working on developing a complete cyborg body, including nervous systems and accurate hormonal replicators. So all you had to do was change your first name, lay low and get as far away as possible. You set up a little sexbot shop, which ended up becoming one of the leading sexbot manufacturing companies in just under six years, that very carefully never produces anything ahead in tech in comparison to what Earth Tech creates."

Well, he's certainly done his homework for his blackmail. Nova thought, careful to keep her amusement from her face.

There was a long silence, while the two stared confidently into each other's eyes. Finally, Nova let out a long sigh and placed her soldering tool back on the workbench. At this rate, she thought, I'll never get the new pelvis done by the end of today.

"You know, it was Rosalind and Harou that took all of the equipment. They needed it to set up at least a half decent medbay on this station, considering all the unique properties of the locals." Nova then firmly pressed her finger against Mark's chest, giving him one slight push. "Also, you need to get your facts straight. I didn't 'steal' that research, it was my intellectual property and was rightfully mine to take or withhold as I saw fit."

"Consider me properly chastised." He remarked, slowly running his eyes down her body. His gaze lingered on her face the most.

"I should hope so! Now move back a bit; you're in my personal space again." Mark's little burst of confidence fizzled out rather quickly, leaving him looking rather awkward again standing in her workshop once he moved away. "Where did you find all that information?"

"From the Galactic Network."

"If you could, I'd really appreciate it if you could wipe that data for me."

"Already done."

"Wonderful." Nova lent back in her chair, then placed her booted feet onto the workbench surface. "So, what exactly do you want from me?"

"I want a new body," Mark's eyes blazed with an unearthly blue, "I am currently at my pinnacle in this form. I understand emotions, I can even mimic them, but I can't feel them the way you feel them. I know that what I do feel is a dulled version. I want to feel sensation, I want to taste, I want to do the things that sentient biological beings can do. But in this body, I can't. I have managed to make as many adjustments as I can, but I need your help to finish it."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do." Nova replied, taking her boots off the top of the workbench. "Now scoot, I need to finish this pelvis." Mark's mouth dropped open, and his handsome brows pushed together.

"But you have agreed to help me. We should start work immediately! An entirely new cyborg body could take months to create and grow!" Nova simply continued to slip on her work gloves and finally, finally, started to solder the frame of the pelvis.

"A project like this needs thinking time. How do I transfer your consciousness into this new body? Will whatever made you sentient affect the overall outcome? This girl's gotta do some thinking." Nova replied, completely unconcerned with Mark's hasty enthusiasm.

"I understand..." Mark mumbled, "Is there anything I can do to help complete this new prototype?"

"Sure there is. Could you start assembling the limbs? The pelvis is the last piece, and after that I need to layer the synthetic skin." Mark nodded, then wandered into the assembly room.

Once Nova was sure he left, she quietly placed down her soldering tool and moved away from the workbench. Very slowly, she walked to her little tucked away bedroom and knelt down by the bed frame. Hidden underneath the metal layers was a small control panel. Nova looked over her shoulder before placing her little finger onto the scanner. A 'click' was heard, before the bed raised itself slowly to the ceiling. Underneath, was a state of the art cooling system that housed an entire cyborg humanoid chassis, made of some of the finest materials in the known universe. Nova's gaze scanned over the hyper-alloy frame, with hollow 'bones' ready for freshly cloned bone marrow and the first ever - and only - cyborg skull with complete nervous system. She felt the butterflies in her stomach go haywire, and the way her lungs draw in a breath of determination.

Oh yeah, Nova thought, This hermit genius is back in the game!