The template engineer was called Teresa and she was a very friendly and welcoming squirrel. Buck teeth, heavy tank like tail and very strange forearms, they were long clear cylinders full of strange coils of metal and plastic. They made it hard to believe she was anything other than an automata; Stardust had been very rude when he first saw her, staring at them as she introduced herself.

She'd noticed but just laughed and escorted Stardust to a chair, showing them off and chattering away. She'd been more concerned that Stardust wasn't freaking out after his change and that he not worry about staring. Now the raccoon was standing on a large platform in the middle of her lab, his feet hooked into two pins on the floor that were holding him in place.

Teresa was now creating the template that she assured Stardust would transform his base body into a much more unique shape. She was standing in front of him, holding her hands just apart as the tank that was her tail pumped what she called foundation material onto the catalyst reactor. It looked like a pair of large white panniers hanging off her hips but she explained the inert nanites of the rubberised foundation would be programmed in the reactor.

From the reactor they led through more pipes to the centrifuges that made up her forearms. Stardust watched as pale grey liquid was sucked into the spinning blades. The liquid was whirled around at intense speeds growing thicker and starting to take on colour as other nanotic emollients were added to the mix.

“So, ah what is your body doing now?

“Magnetising the catalyst, helping it to bond together and imparting final instructions,” the palm of her hand irises open and thick purple and lavender liquid oozed outwards. It formed a thick, viscous looking sphere that wobbled gently as Teresa maneuvered it above her hand.

“There we go,” the squirrel said with a smile, “One Template, this is for an Orientation Office with a raccoon body template,” she smiled and moved it towards Stardust’s body, “Ready?”

“Not really,” Stardust whispered, “This is all a bit more surreal than I was expecting…”

“That’s understandable but I'm afraid we're past the point of no return,” she pressed the sphere of gelatinous rubberized nanites against Stardust’s chest and watched in satisfaction as it spread out surrounding their CPU-Assist crystal. The status indicators on the squirrel’s screens showed her interface was complete and the nanites were getting ready to execute their instructions.

Stardust’s eyes dimmed slightly as the template shut off his motor cortex and suspended user access to his frame. The lavender and purple goo them spread out across his body, encasing all they grey-plates whilst leaving his synth-muscles clear. As an orientation officer he didn't require much in the way of body modifications, his frame would stay within the light category with a minimum amount of extra machinery inside.

The template was essentially taking away the drab uninspiring colours of the base form and the extra ports and accesses hatches that were used to cyberise the original organic body. They were superfluous to requirements now, unless Stardust was assigned to another planet and put into storage he'd not need to use the base form again. His collapsible rib cage was strengthened and proper batteries were installed. As an orientation officer he'd mostly be working on new sites like this one or in VA conversion centres so would receive power from the building mainframe. The raccoon’s large blocky base form battery was ejected by the template and a pair of high density energy coils requested. These batteries were a pair of long blue and silver tubes; they slotted into his back, angled down so they rested in their chest cavity with the smooth, blue-grey metal of the charging contacts visible just below his shoulder blades.

The actual liquid metal of the template was transforming his plating, covering his chest and exposed synth muscle stomach with a smooth, shiny rubber-metal coating of silver, purple and black. It was arranged in overlapping plates that merged into the standard upper torso arrangement of plates that framed his CPU-Assist crystal. It looked like he was wearing a long, thigh length tunic, the clothing affect tailored to his body perfectly. It created the illusion of clothing whilst matching the rest of his synthetic bodies aesthetic

The back of his legs were exposed black synth muscle, smooth silver plating with purple highlights created the illusion of trousers. Some synth muscle was exposed under his shoulders at the back and his forearms were black muscle whilst his hands were again silver and purple flexible plastic. His head like all automata was entirely encased in the rubberised material that made up VA body plates. A lavender raccoons mask had been arranged around his eyes and his nose was purple. The colour scheme was friendly, open and inviting and Teresa was quite proud of how she had incorporated the clothing idea into the template. Stardust’s body was nearly complete, the last few patches of liquid template oozing into his body, leaving behind shining smooth rubberised plating.

With a quick command thought at her laboratory systems Teresa created a communication link with Stardust. The templating was complete but she had some tests to run before she turned his body over to him.

TE-267: Are you receiving this message ST47-5U5T? Please think your reply back to me. The knowledge of how to use this internal communication method should have been loaded during cyberisation.”

OO-313:.”Yes I can hear… see your messages, is everything OK? Why are we talking like this? I can't move my body.”

TE-267: “Everything is fine, we just need to do a check of all your systems before we return control to you.”

OO-313: “Ok though… I thought my employee idea was ST47-5U5T?”

TE-267: “That is correct but our full designations can get a bit long, so we are assigned a short designation for this type of communication. Mine stands for Template Engineer two hundred and sixty seven. You are,”

OO-313: “Orientation Officer three hundred and thirteen,” Stardust interrupted Teresa with a burst of pride, “This all starts to make sense, it's like I'm remembering things I'd always known but forgotten.”

TE-267: “That is about right, the information you need to operate your body was uploaded during cyberisation and refined during templating. It's stored in the CPU but basic info was implanted for natural recall, disguised as old memories to help you adjust to your new body.”

OO-313: “That’s a little scary, that the CPU can just upload information into my brain.”

TE-267: “It isn’t that scary I promise, no data is uploaded that isn’t needed for us to do our jobs. The AI is very much in favour of us retaining our individuality. Now then I am going to start the system test.”

Stardust didn’t even have time to reply before his vision flickered and words scrolled across his sight. Most of it was a mixture of strange letters and numbers in odd combinations. Then it cleared again and displayed a single message:

“Motor Cortex Power Restored - Limb Actuator Test Engaged”

It was such a strange sensation, he could see his body moving, fingers, toes, wrists, ankles, knees, elbows, neck… he bent and flexed and rotated his arms back and forth. What was really weird however was the total lack of any sense of movement, it was like he was riding along behind his own eyes and his body was alien.

“Motor Cortex Tests Complete - Beginning Wi-FI Connectivity Sequence”

This time his body remained perfectly still, his ears twitched slightly as data scrolled across his eyes. Connection to the Administrator AI, the the building Main Frame, to the security communication grid, to the task manager and job overseer. It was all there, pinging away, receiving and sending data as it was supposed to. Then his vision cleared and a single line of text scrolled across it before also clearing away.

“Test complete, returning control to unit.”

Stardust took an involuntary step forward as suddenly tactile senses and motor control returned without much in the way of warning. His feet pulled free of the plugs that had held him in place and with a shiver he felt the holes in his feet iris shut. It was such a strange sensation but despite being new and unusual it didn’t make him feel uncomfortable.

“Well that went well,” Teresa said with a smile lighting up her rubbery features, “I’d say all systems are go. You are adapting well, your subconscious is picking up subliminal adaptation protocols. Soon you’ll be walking around in that body as if you’ve worn it all your life.”

“I… feel very different,” Stardust stuttered, running his hands along his smooth rubbery frame, “I look so different too… I won’t be able to go home or see my parents, not like this it’d freak them out.”

Frowning Teresa took hold of Stardust’s arm and guided him toward the door, “I realise your body is very different to what you are used to, but there are other options the company can sell you to help you adapt if you like?”

“Like what?” Stardust queried as he followed the squirrel out through a door, “I mean I was told this was irreversible, I can’t go back to being organic.”

“True but you are now cybernetic,” she tapped his head, “Which means you can operate shell or proxy bodies. VA has a range of synthetic organic models you can purchase and operate during your down time,” she smiled warmly at him, “You can buy one outright or just book one out for a day or so as and when you need it.”

Stardust frowned, “That sounds… interesting, if I buy one can it be customised to look like my old self?”

“Indeed, the models we have for hire are pretty generic species though you are welcome to use them on your day off. A proxy body of a raccoon with your colour patterns would be…” Teresa’s eyes flicked back and forth as she interfaced with her systems, “$130,000 which would be added to your loan with the company. It would increase your indenture period by a further nine years.”

Stardust frowned as he looked around the laboratory then hesitantly asked with a shy smile, “Can I see the terms and conditions?”

-0-

Waving goodbye to his friends Stardust promised he’d see them all next week for cinema night. As he was climbing back into his pod Samantha caught up with him and caught his arm, she turned him around and kissed him on the snout.

“It’s really good to see you doing so well Stardust, I’ve not seen you this perky in years, that new job is really helping you isn’t it?”

Smiling the raccoon bumped his snout with hers, “Yeah, Vulcan Automata is a pretty good employer and I get to spend all day helping people. So you know it’s perfect for me.”

Leaning back Samantha looked the raccoon up and down, admiring how sleek his fur looked, his neat and tidy his clothing was. It was all smart-weave stuff, self cleaning, self regulating, one of the new innovations coming out of Paris fashion houses.

“I thought if you worked for them you had to become a robot though all the scare mongers in the news are raging on about it?”

Sitting down in his car Stardust offered Samantha a winning smile, “I am a robot Sam, this body of mine… it’s just what I wear to go out and see you all,” he held his hand out to her, “Want to come back to mine, maybe see what I really look like?”

Sam hesitated then took his hand and grinned, “Sure, but only if I get to see what this body looks like under all those swanky clothes.”

Blushing slightly Stardust leant over and kissed the badger girl and scooted over to another chair to let her in. The transport capsule leapt into the sky once the doors were closed but neither of the occupants noticed. The ride was smooth and perfect and Stardust was a bit busy with Sam so the ride home went mostly unnoticed.

Stardust’s new apartment was in a new apartment building next to the VA Recruitment centre. It was all glass and chrome and the car slid silently through the air to alight on the roof. With Sam on his arm he led the way downstairs, doorways sliding open on their own accord as they walked along. She was very appreciative of the decor and the modern look and feel of the whole building and as he led the way into his apartment she cooed in delight at what she was seeing.

“This is so much nicer than your last place Star,” she turned in a full circle, admiring the beautifully curved furniture and modern kitchen space attached to the dining room, “How much does this cost you a month?”

Stardust smiled at her enthusiasm and tugged the badger along with him to another door, “My job covers the rent and I still have enough for fun, well you wanted to see the real me…” he opened the door and led her inside.

It wasn’t the bedroom, he didn’t actually have one, this room was a smooth grey chamber lit with blue led lights. It was only about two metres wide and the only thing in the room of any interest where the two alcoves recessed into the far wall. One of them was empty but standing in the other was himself, Stardust Raccoon, Vulcan Automata Orientation Officer.

His eyes were off, the only light emanating from his body was the purple CPU-Assist Crystal embedded in his chest. He was also clutching his Judy Hopps plush in both hands as he stood there recharging. He’d spent the day out in the construction site talking to some of the workers so had run his internal batteries down quite a lot.

“Oh jeez,” he blushed as Sam laughed and nudged her hips against his with a smile on her face.

“Nice plush toy Stardust,” she grinned and walked forwards, looking his body up and down, she reached out a hand hesitated then pressed it to his chest, “This is so strange, it’s just like they look on the news, all rubber and metal and robotic…” she trailed off and glanced over at Stardust who smiled shyly.

“That’s me,” he said with a grin, then he gestured at the fuzzy body he was currently piloting, “But this is me too, I’m operating this proxy remotely whilst my body charges.”

Sam plucked at one of Judy’s ears then turned away and walked over to slide her arms around Stardust’s body, “Looks very sophisticated to me Star, care to maybe show me what this other body of yours can do?”

Blushing deeply the raccoon stepped back so he could take hold of her hands and kissed them, “I’d be delighted, But i’ve got hours of recharging to go so I am afraid you’ll… have to wait for morning to see my rubberised body.”

“Oh-ho, that is very bold of you Stardust,” Sam teased, leaning down to press her nose to his, “Are you suggesting I perhaps stay the night here my friend with this friendly, fuzzy body of yours?”

With a glance at his automata self Stardust grinned and led Sam back out into the living room, “If you want to stay, otherwise I’ll order my car to fly you home.”

Sam laughed and flopped into one of the large beanbags that filled the living room and crooked a finger at the raccoon, “I think I’ll accept your offer to say, come over here.”

Stardust quickly checked his HUD and ordered the window blinds to swish close as he moved forwards to join Sam. Life was so much better these days and he had Vulcan Automata to thank for it.
~fin