Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Rebirth Amidst the Rumbling Storm

Callie

 

The lights in my room gently came to life, steadily bringing the levels up to ease me from sleep into wakefulness as soft melodies played. I uncurled from the center of my bed, stretching with a smile and reflecting on all the little differences in my life now. No more morning wood, that was nice, only morning good. 

 

… Okay, that was pretty terrible. Whatever, I’m cute now, I can get away with being insufferable. I did a few more full body stretches, enjoying the strain from my tail to my hands, and quickly realized that the nightshirt I wore was not sufficient to make me decent. Woops. Going to have to get used to going from wearing pajamas from head to toe to rockin’ the sleepy oversized t-shirt look. Pity Selene wasn’t here…their flustered reaction would be priceless. My confident partner usually got the better of me, but there were times that I could bring a blush to their face. 

 

I missed them. This whole expedition was the longest we’d been apart since we met. I remember Selene worrying about whether I would be okay or not. The fact my emotions were a dulled mess is probably all that made the whole thing bearable, because the ache was intense now that I was more present and aware. Still, the ache was soothed by the presence of Alexis. Now there was a girl who I could fluster! She probably thought I hadn’t picked up on her crush, but I had spent enough time around Selene and the metamours to avoid being entirely oblivious. 

 

She liked me. My face ached from how intensely smug I was over that knowledge. Of course she did, I’m a delight. Yeah, confidence, Callie. Project it. Definitely don’t dwell on the fact that you too are a blushy mess and being around Alexis sets your heart aflutter. Focus on how awkward she is. That’s the trick. 

 

I rummaged through the piles of clothes I’d made and picked out a sensible outfit. Today was the day we got her a new body. The ship chimed quietly to let me know that Alexis had left me a few messages while I slept and I sorted through them while I set about getting breakfast. Most important meal of the day, even though I could never get Selene onboard with eating that early. 

 

The smell of fried potatoes brought a smile to my face and I let out a contented sigh as I opened up files and scrolled through system specifications. Alexis had sent over the entirety of her design and I could see some flaws in my initial blueprints that could be improved with this information. What really surprised me was finding out that there were also some very detailed documents about the colony and its various systems. 

 

Kudos to the original designers, this place was a masterpiece of engineering. No wonder it had stood the test of time so well. I could see places where executive meddling had resulted in cut corners, but there was some really clever design work that accounted for that and incorporated it into the design. Reminded me of a colleague on the Climatefall project who would talk about how if she wanted something specific from management, she would make a far more ambitious proposal and present it with what she wanted, knowing that those in charge would choose her real proposal as the sensible option. 

 

The key thing that the documents provided was clear details on the prime foundry of the colony. That would be where Alexis’ new body would need to be created; nothing else had the level of sophistication we would require. Raw materials would be a bit trickier, but I was fine with sacrificing a few drones to supply parts, yet the colony systems indicated I might not have to. 

 

I munched happily away at my breakfast, humming quietly as I refined the design for her new vessel. Having precise specifications regarding her core, the object that held the sum of her and propagated it over the network, meant that I could see how to engineer a smaller version, a miniature core that I could install in the proxy body. The colony and my ship still operated on tried and true network technology, but there had been some exciting new developments back home regarding subspace communication, ways to keep Alexis in communication with her core no matter the distance. Building a miniature core also would give her a failsafe, a way of preserving that self to integrate with the original in case of disaster. 

 

True AI. I shivered when I realized the implications of just what that meant for Alexis. Things that humanity could only dream of in the wildest of dreams were trivially possible for her. My mind was already piecing together ideas of how to reverse engineer that for humanity as well. Could we live as she did? Between the nanomachines and this proxy body, the potential benefits for humanity were boundless. The bodies we could build, the evils we could eliminate, the–

 

Hang on. Someone was scratching my ears and oh~

 

“Good morning, kitty cat. You were clearly thinking about something hard because I’ve been trying to get your attention for a good twenty minutes now and it took ear scritches to shake you out of it.” 

 

I would pout at how insufferably smug she sounded, but I was too busy luxuriating in the bliss of skritches. Stupid cat girl body that I really loved having. “This is unfair, Alexis. How could you be so cruel, I was working! You can’t just – wait, don’t stop! I never said stop!” 

 

“You really are very cute. It is adorable that such a minor thing has such an effect on you.” Alexis chuckled quietly, completely unaware of the little fire that her husky voice lit in me. 

 

I pulled my head back and looked away, hiding my blush. My voice was shaky as I spoke. “I was just polishing some of the last details on your proxy body and planning out the trip to make it. That’s all. It is very important to me that everything with your proxy body goes well and you like it, so I’m working very hard on it.” My voice was very quiet as I focused very intently on consuming my breakfast as Alexis took a seat across the table from me. 

 

Alexis looked at me with wide eyes before clearing her throat and speaking in a stammering tone. “We’ll, uh, need the foundry, right? Mmm, I was able to reconnect to the orbital satellites earlier and it looks like there is a fierce storm approaching later in the day, so we’ll have to set out soon if we want to beat it. The foundry should provide plenty of shelter, it’s one of the most durable complexes on Venus. Do you want me to pack up some food for you in case the fabrication takes a while?” 

 

Her voice was so incredibly gentle, I could listen to it for hours. I imagined her telling me a story while running her fingers through my hair as I rested my head on her lap, focused entirely on her words in a haze of bliss. Oh, my face felt very hot now. C’mon, Callie, now is not the time to waste on sapphic daydreams. Gosh, sapphic. That applied to me now. Golly!

 

Coughing quietly, I responded. “Yeah, that would be great. Thank you, Alexis. I’ve got a hover bike that should be able to support both of us and will make getting there easier. Truthfully, I’m very excited to get to work!” 

 

The dazzling smile she flashed me in response made me melt. Oh, I had it bad for her. When Selene found out, I’d never hear the end of it. 

****

 

The sky rumbled above us as I did my very best to focus on navigating the ruins of Cryptopia. It was proving very hard to concentrate as Alexis’ arms were wrapped around me as we zoomed along and the physical sensation of touch in my new form was incredibly distracting. It wasn’t just that the feeling itself was different, because it was, nor was it entirely because I was unused to being touched directly for so long. My past self had been pretty weird about being touched and Selene had respected that; it had taken a lot of patience to get me to where I could be hugged without flinching. No, the biggest reason it was all so much was because I definitely was in love with Alexis and being held by her, even in this mundane context, was firing off blissful gay bursts of joy in my mind. I wanted nothing more than to be held until the heat death of the universe.

 

This was a very bad thing to be thinking about when piloting a hover bike through the ruins of a colony on another world, full of debris and hazards to avoid. The wind whipped through my hair, another wonderful sensation with my hair being longer, as I yelled back at Alexis. “Could you loosen your grip just a bit? We are nearly there.”

 

I could hear the sadness in her tone as she responded. “Oh, right, of course. Sorry about that!” 

 

I’d done it now, she probably thought I was mad at her for holding me so tight. If she only knew the real reason. I was fortunate that, as we neared our destination, my attention was directed ahead of me and she couldn’t see how badly I was blushing. The foundry loomed ahead, set into the walls of the basin that contained the colony. It was an imposing, yet beautiful structure. The entrance hinted at the massive size of the complex that was hidden within the land of Venus, but even on its own it was a spectacle to behold. Covered in art nouveau architecture and statues of faceless people pounding away on anvils, the foundry was a work of art dedicated to the human capacity for creation. I marveled at the lavender vines and bright blue flowers blooming on the surface of the statues, Venus slowly reclaiming the structure as her own. 

 

Alexis’ lovely voice murmured into my ears. “It’s really something, isn’t it? According to the records, the foundry was one of the first things they built and it was before Founder really got going on his ego trip and the whole god-king thing. It’s a shame that the architect for it was one of the first that Founder exiled when she started questioning his leadership. Tabitha’s notes say that she only found out about it a year after it happened, having been told at the time that the architect was part of an expedition to chart more of Venus and see how the terraforming was going.”

 

You are reading story Catnip at novel35.com

I shuddered. “That’s horrible.” 

 

“A thousand deaths would not be enough for that man. Still, I suppose the architect got the last laugh: her work outlived Founder and will be remembered far more fondly.” Alexis stared at the edifice with a far-away look in her eye, thinking.

 

I gave her some space as we pulled up to the entrance and I found the doors wide enough to admit the bike. The sky overhead was dark and stormy and the wind had started to pick up. I was uneasy about the idea of leaving our transport out in the elements, my ears flat against my head as I peered around inside for a place to park. Fortunately, there was a room near the entrance, a former security booth perhaps, that would work perfectly. 

 

Alexis hopped off and followed me out of the room with uncharacteristically stiff movements. I frowned and touched her shoulder gently, only for her to flinch. “Sorry, didn’t mean to spook you.”

 

She shook her head. “No, it’s quite alright. I was just thinking about Mother, some of the things she left behind in her journals…and feeling a little nervous about what we came here to do. Are you sure you want to do this, Callie?” She looked me in the eye, her face concerned. 

 

“Of course I’m sure! This means so much to you and you are important to me and–”

 

“No, no, I understand why you are doing it and I’m very grateful, believe me. But–” She sighed and looked down, fidgeting with her hands in a very human fashion. “Aren’t you afraid of giving me too much freedom? You know so very little about me and I just…I don’t deserve this kind of trust.” She kept looking away, her voice getting quieter with every word.

 

I knew exactly what I needed to do. Taking her hand, I pulled her into a hug while whispering quietly into her ear. “I must not have spoken clearly enough. You are very important to me, Alexis. I trust you and want to help you in any way I possibly can. You are kind, thoughtful, always thinking of me and caring for me ever since we met. It hasn’t been that long, but I’ve always considered myself a good judge of character. You aren’t going to scare me off or drive me away. Face it, silly, you’re stuck with me. Cats are very stubborn.” I pulled back and gave her a smug little smile. 

 

Alexis stared at me as she processed my words and then she burst into laughter, pulling me up off the ground and hugging the ever-living daylights out of me. (Which was a very powerful hug, she was very strong!) “Thank you, Callie, you absolute dork. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

 

“Reread your favorite yuri manga for the thousandth time, probably. Least, that’s what I assume you got up to before I got here.”

 

“Oh noooo, you remember that?? Shit, I’ll never live that down.” 

 

“Hehe, I’m gonna tease you about that for years and years.” 

 

She set me back down with a grin. “Stars above, I swear those nanites not only turned you into a cat, they also made you an absolute brat.” 

 

I stepped back and dipped into a demure little curtsy. “Guilty as charged and you love every minute of it, I can tell.” 

 

Alexis laughed and took my hand. (Which did not make me blush, shut up, I wasn’t flustered at all.) “C’mon, you little hellion. Let’s do what we came here for.” 

 

Our footsteps resounded through empty halls as we walked deeper and deeper into the complex. Soft blue lights hummed as they flickered on, responding to our approach. Running my hand along the walls, I noticed soft green moss and glowing purple flowers growing in the cracks and crevasses. The air was humid and charged with ozone due to the outside weather flowing in through the entrance and ventilation systems. I jumped at the rumbling boom of distant thunder, a sign of the approaching storm. Alexis gripped my hand tighter in support and I leaned against her arm. Finally, we reached one of the main fabrication labs. Everything was covered in sheets to keep the dust off and I spotted a few little maintenance drones scurrying about, fighting an endless war against the ravages of time. 

 

Alexis and I moved to uncover the equipment and it was oddly quiet as we worked. I kept sneaking little glances at her, noting how nervous she was. To be so close to having something you’ve dreamt of so long and yet having to wait through each aggravating moment knowing that haste won’t make it happen any sooner. 

 

Holographic displays lit up as we worked, the facility waking up bit by bit. I ran into another couple of paywall systems, similar to the one I found when I connected to Alexis. Thankfully, I knew the tricks to bypass these and in no time at all, I was feeding data into the system. Why would you put a paywall system in your foundry? I glanced around and spotted a few withered portraits of Founder with terrifying little platitudes engraved on the plaques beneath. ‘Blockchain is liberation. Capital fuels industry and creates purpose. Labor justifies existence.’ Oddly enough, I noticed that the maintenance drones seemed to avoid the portraits and the plaques. A little bit of rebellion on behalf of their lost creators?

 

The center of the lab contained a miniature, glass-enclosed room. Robotic armatures hung from the ceiling and an array of tubes set in the walls connected back to the various fabrication machines. Everything we needed to make Alexis a new body was here. I fired up a few programs that Alexis had sent me, a parting gift from her creator, her mother. The materials to build her body had been set aside long ago in the depths of the facility and were awaiting the call to action. 

 

The programs began to run, automation engaged to follow my schematics. I glanced over at Alexis as she stood next to a large terminal set near the entrance to the assembly room. Her hand was poised over the console, ready to connect her very core, yet hesitating. I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight. “It is going to be okay, you’ll only be offline for a few hours as your data syncs with the proxy core.”

 

She nodded. “I know, I know, I just…I’ve been awake and aware for so long now, ever since Tabitha pulled me out of hibernation…I’m a little scared. It’s silly, I know. Humans sleep all the time and it is no big deal. And yet… it eats at me. This gnawing feeling of dread. What if something goes wrong? What if the data gets corrupted during the transfer and even my primary core is affected? What if–”

 

I interrupted her with an upraised hand. “It’s going to be okay, Alexis. I checked and rechecked everything, just to be safe. And don’t forget, I’ll be here the whole time. If anything goes wrong, I can stop the process and ensure you are safe. You just have to trust me, alright?” 

 

“Alright, I do trust you, Callie. More than anything. I just can’t really believe it’s finally happening. A body that can feel and live and connect with humanity. A body that is mine.” She hugged herself, gazing upwards as she pictured it. 

 

A soft beep alerted me to a notification on my HUD letting me know the system was ready. All that remained was for Alexis to start the process. “Let’s do this, Alexis. A bold and wonderful step for you and for humanity and AI alike.” I took her hand in mind as she smiled and her eyes lit up as streams of data connected from her primary core to the foundry. The holographic image of Alexis that overlaid the drone body flickered and vanished as the entirety of her resources were focused on her apotheosis. 

 

I grinned and grabbed a nearby chair and pulled some water from my pack. It was going to be a long night and there was nowhere else I would rather be.