Meeting Delta- [Gift Story] [Part 1]
I woke to the sound of rain against the windowpane. I yawned, feeling exhausted and covered my eyes with my right arm. I listened to the rain, the day barely even started, and- save for the rain, which soothed me- I was already sick of it.
My phone buzzed and I sighed, I uncovered my eyes and sat up, stared at my phone as the notification light blinked on and off. I reached over to it and affixed it to my temple, the screen projected in public mode- when had I re-enabled that? I wasn't certain.
I read the message I'd received as I switched to private mode, a black hologram surrounded the back of the screen, just translucent enough that I could walk without worrying about bumping into anyone.
[Up for another match at 17:00?] It was Marcus, I flicked my ear. It had been, what, a year since he'd suddenly stopped outright antagonizing me and chilling out? I still didn't trust him, but so far he hadn't done anything to outright embarrass me.
[Maybe.] I replied. [Just woke up.] What time was it? The phone's clock read 13:00.
[Alright. Let me know if you're up for it.]
In all honesty, I just put up with him because it was better than being humiliated. He had that domineering presence that I fucking hated, and all-too often, I felt like I was being dragged into doing things, even when I didn't want to go.
I stood up, the mirror in front of me detected my standing and synced with my collar, the nanosuit I wore took care of bathing for me, so I didn't even have to worry about showering. A list of currently popular designs lit up the interface, I chose a matte gray pattern with blue accent lining. It didn't really blend in with my gray fur, it was just light enough to obviously be a nanosuit, and the blue highlight reflected my favorite color- which also apparently helped with the production of serotonin, which was always in short supply for me.
I ran a quick suit diagnostic, made sure everything was good, and headed out of my room.
“Good morning, Grimm. Would you like for me to produce breakfast on this rainy day?” A mechanical male voice spoke, each variable word had a noticeable pause between it and the word spoken before it. Absolutely artificial, in spite of the Male Default 3 voice.
“Good morning to you, Vox.” I said tiredly as I sat down at the dining table. “Yeah, bacon and eggs with green tea.”
“Order received. Producing meal.”
It was a fairly standard A.I. with equally standard machine learning, not good enough to hold an actual conversation, but good enough to do exactly what was needed without too many issues.
A drone lifted a plate with cooked bacon and eggs to me and I silently ate, taking a quick glance at the news. There wasn't anything particularly noteworthy, another dumb resource war was started, even though the economic infrastructure was improving- at least this time it wasn't us who started it.
An advertisement for an newer exosuit model showed up, stark white with strength enhancements for handling most jobs, with stamina compensation actuators to prevent exhaustion. I cringed at the design, it was sterile, too bright, I'd stand out like a sore thumb if I could afford it.
'I hope work doesn't order these things, I might actually die from the embarrassment.' I thought. The thought of having to shell out for a less garishly bright personal exosuit hurt my mood, and my wallet.
'It doesn't even have customization.' I thought bitterly, not that exosuits had customization.
My phone beeped and I answered. “Grimm, are you available?”
“Seriously, Gale?” I asked. I sighed. “Who's the no-show?”
“Brigid, she called in sick.”
“That's the third time this month. Gods-damn it. Yeah, I can come in, I've got literally nothing better to do.”
“You're a life-saver, get here ASAP.”
I shoveled down my food and said, “Vox, antidepressants.”
The drone flew over to me and latched onto my back. There was a slight pinprick, followed by a pneumatic hiss, before the drone unlatched and flew off. I got up and left my apartment. I sent a message to Marcus.
[Work called in, I won't be able to do another match tonight.]
[That sucks. Oh well, there are worse things, I suppose.]
I walked into work, my collar pinged the store hub and my nanosuit changed coloration to match the store's uniform, my name glowed on my breast.
“Grimm, you're right on time!” Gale yowled. “They need you over in receiving.”
I smiled, receiving wasn't bad, it was hard work, and the exosuits were outdated, but the feeling of being much stronger was nice, the fact that I could actually get some exercise in helped matters. I worked for a few hours, lifting large palettes of stock and shelving them for later retrieval, taking stock down and getting them prepped for going out on the shelves.
When break time came, the store A.I. made me a burger with cheese and served it to me.
“You look tired.” Gale remarked as he sat across from me, the A.I. made him fish sticks with tartar sauce. He picked one up, dipped it in, and took a bite. “You good?”
“Yeah, just the antidepressants need adjustment.” I remarked. “If Brigid keeps calling in sick, I won't be able to actually schedule my appointment.”
Gale nodded, it was a foregone conclusion Brigid would be fired soon if her antic kept up.
I didn't mind Gale, for a Cat, he was kinda cute.
“Oh, did you hear? Corporate's going to scrap the old exosuits we have and get the newest model.”
“Oh, gods. Those?” I asked. “The bright white ones?”
He nodded. “Don't complain too much, we need new ones, and unless you've got the money to shell out for a decent exosuit...”
“Yeah, yeah...” I said sourly.
“They've got hard light capability, that's been an exclusive feature for years.” He pointed out. “You won't even have to lift palettes yourself, and it's not like exosuits are part of the uniform.”
“Don't give corporate any ideas.” I warned. “My antidepressants are broken enough.”
An alarm indicated my break was almost over, I finished my burger and got back to working.
At the end of my shift, I clocked out, my nanosuit changed back to what I'd selected, and I started walking home. The rain hadn't relented, if anything it had gotten worse. I quickly walked past a homeless man, the spiral on his glitching phone indicated he was using a recreational hypnosis program- I already had enough problems, I didn't need to catch any mind viruses.
The rain intensified further, and just wanting to get out, I ducked into an alleyway, staying close to the sidewalk. A nervous glance down the alleyway showed it was- at the very least- a through path, and if my phone wasn't wrong, it could cut my on-foot commute by several minutes.
“Either wait here for the rain to settle down, or hurry home through this obviously dangerous alleyway?” I muttered. I sighed, this was a stupid idea. I walked down the alleyway, my fingers sparked as I readied the taser function of my nanosuit.
Ahead, a door opened, and someone in a matte dark gray exosuit with orange highlights stepped out. The design was something I hadn't seen before, I found myself stopping in spite of how leery the alleyway was.
The shape was vaguely feliform, large and imposing, with metal plating across the arms, shoulders, and under the jaw, with two triangular metallic 'ears' resting on top of the head. I could not see their eyes, rather, there was what looked like a triangular symbol I was unfamiliar with on the 'face', pointed directly at me.
They turned heir head toward me as two orange hard-light holographic hands floated out of the door carrying a large pot, which was placed into what I recognized as a matter decompiler.
“Oh? Did I startle you?” The voice was definitely that of a person, layered with a mechanical one. Masculine, strangely deep and soft.
“Is that an exosuit?” I asked. He nodded. “What model?” I knew I sounded like a complete idiot, but under the circumstances... well, I was a nervous talker.
He pointed at a QR code painted on the building, my phone automatically scanned it, processed it for any viruses, before displaying what looked like a local bulletin board. The board itself was a glitchy mess, likely being just out of range or connected to a faulty server. Most of the postings were from people local to this block of the city, except for an advertisement from NanoSkin, a relatively recent startup that dealt with nanosuits- mine was from their company, and despite being budget price was actually pretty solid.
[Introducing our Matrix Series of Exosuits: Current model- Delta.
Our top-of-the-line Exosuits are affordable and user-friendly with a variety of built-in features including:
Our patented Nano-lattice Plating- This reactive plating is as pliable as rubber and as hard as titanium, stiffening when detecting rapid velocity and diffusing the force to protect the user from harm.
Our patented Nano-lattice exoskin- This soft and silky material provides the maximum comfort in any situation, whether at work or play, and works with NanoSkin™ Nanosuits to keep you clean and healthy.
Our patented Digital Hands hard-light external manipulators help keep you at a distance from dangerous or caustic materials, and are gentle enough to pick up and hold a child.
A VR-style Heads-up Display for AR interaction for the purpose of familiarizing yourself with Delta's functions.
More information can be found through our app. Apply today for the first and only advanced exosuit you will ever need or wear!
Integration, Conversion, Accretion, Revision, ___________. NanoSkin.]
I checked out the app. “Wow, one hundred credits for a subscription is pretty fucking cheap for an exosuit.” I remarked. I looked at the guy to ask him how it felt, but he'd already gone back inside. I sighed, I wasn't desperate enough to knock on the door to badger a guy who was clearly working, so I just continued walking. When I reached the other side of the alleyway, the rain had lessened significantly, so I just walked the rest of the way home.
I read into the exosuit, most of the features were pretty standard for NanoSkin; integration into local systems for user convenience, conversion of waste products into energy or repair materials, accretion of nanites into desired forms, user revision for the sake of self-care, and customization.
The price did bug me, I looked at it, one hundred credits wasn't a small sum to sneeze at when it came to subscription services, I-
Wait.
“This... isn't a subscription service.” I stared at the app page for several minutes. The app existed solely to purchase an exosuit. Yeah, that was four times the price of a nanosuit, but for an exosuit, which ran for c200 a month on subscription?
The phrase 'too good to be true' ran through my mind, but then I saw an option for a trial run of the exosuit. Thirty days to decide if the exosuit was a good fit, and the more I read, there was also a thirty day refund window for the purchase.
I'd known NanoSkin prioritized user-friendliness above all else, but the fact that they were going this far...
I tapped [Purchase] and received a notification it would be delivered today, with a delivery time of fifteen minutes, which surprised me, considering how long most drone-based delivery went. Within fifteen minutes, I received an alert that my delivery had arrived, and gave permission for it to open the door.
The door swung open, and I was surprised to see a weird-looking drone fly in. It landed on the floor as the door closed, before leaking a black liquid onto the carpet. I stared in shock for a few seconds, before shouting, “Oh, what the fuck!? I just had that cleaned!” I started to open the app store to send a complaint, when I heard a voice.
“User proximity detected. Constructing.”
I looked at the puddle and watched in fascination as it slowly rose, a caniform shape manifesting from the goop like some sort of cartoon villain. It looked almost exactly like the one the other guy was wearing. A yellow hard light hand manifested and picked up the drone as the voice spoke again.
“Battery charge full. Core temperature... nominal. All systems online.” An orange triangular symbol appeared on its 'face' in my direction. “Welcome, User. Please state your name.”
“Uh... Grimm.” I said, I moved to the right, the symbol seemed to follow me as I moved- no, it definitely was following me, like an eye. It was weirdly uncanny.
“User name is Grimm.” It spoke, I was shocked not to hear a space between 'is' and my name. The hard light hand brought the drone closer to me as another one appeared, along with a holoscreen that read [Terms of Service].
“Before activation, please carefully review the Terms of Service.” I realized it was the exosuit itself that was speaking. The holoscreen came closer, animated so that it seemed like the other hand was pulling it closer. I skimmed it. At the very bottom, where one could accept or decline, were the options:
[I ACCEPT]
[I AM NOT A ROBOT]
I smirked, I loved it when companies actually had a sense of humor. I tapped [I ACCEPT] and the holoscreen vanished.
“Matrix Nº Delta has been activated. Welcome to NanoSkin technology, User Grimm. Call us Delta. Once verification is complete, please wear this Heads-Up Display to begin onboarding and familiarization of all options.”
I realized the drone wasn't a drone, but a headset. I took it in my hands and put it up to my face. A strap of nano-lattice exoskin wrapped around my head, securing the headset in place.
[Detected: User Account- Grimm. Welcome to the Delta Catalyzer Heads-Up Display.]
A fractal pattern appeared in the background of the screen, swirling and expanding, creating the sensation that I was moving forward. I sat in my chair as the exosuit's options were listed for me.
Like everything NanoSkin made, there were a staggering amount of features available, far too many for me to sift through in one sitting. The recommended setting was to allow the exosuit, Delta, to try everything over a period of time to set things up just the way I wanted them, with the reminder that Delta was designed to be worn for an extended period of time, that I would need to wear it for as long as necessary to get it just right.
No, wait, I'd skimmed over the words, that I would want to wear it for a long period of time to get it just right. Those two words seemed to cycle in my mind.
Need.
Want.
Need.
Want.
Need.
Want...
I felt like I was sinking into something, something soft and warm, almost pleasant. My heart thundered as I stumbled forward, tearing the visor off.
“User Grimm, you appear to be experiencing a panic attack.” I looked at the exosuit, my head swam from adrenaline and stress. I fell over, only for the exosuit to catch me. “User Grimm secured, moving to secure location.” It lifted me up and sat me on my couch.
For a moment, the world seemed to darken around me. I saw the exosuit crouched in front of me. “Administering calming hypnosis protocol. Say 'stop' to cancel.” I wasn't really in a position to say no. A holoscreen appeared in front of me and displayed a hypnotic pattern. I felt the exosuit gently, yet firmly take hold of my head and felt its thumbs enter my ears.
A calm, steady recording of a man's voice echoed in my mind, bidding me to take deep breaths, to count down from ten to zero. The next thing I knew, the exosuit was pulling away from me. “Calming hypnotic pattern administered to User Grimm.”
My heart rate had calmed down considerably, the shaking in my hands had stopped. I'd heard terrible things about hypnosis, like you would end up not remembering anything, or you'd be forced to do terrible things, but... I remembered everything, there were no gaps in my memory, though it felt like barely any time had passed.
“User Grimm, your mental state appears to have reached a nominal level of activity. How would you rate your experience with hypnosis?”
I shook my head. “What the hell are you?” I asked.
“We are Matrix Nº Delta. You may call me Delta.”
“No, what are you?”
“We are a personal nanite exosuit, assigned to User Grimm to assist in all necessary tasks.” It spoke. “We are capable of assisting with any and all tasks, up to and including: Lifting heavy objects, assisting with weight and muscle training, personal and medical care, and more. We are powered by a personal AI assistant with a machine-learning algorithm to ensure optimal User satisfaction.”
I rubbed my temples. “And what the hell happened?” I asked.
“User Grimm experienced heightened stress response with elevated adrenal activity during calibration. Diagnostics indicate User Grimm felt threatened, and thus we terminated calibration to ensure User safety.”
There was a pause. “We hypothesize this increased adrenal activity may be a result of fatigue from overwork, in addition to an increase of local stressors. On-site house A.I. indicates User Grimm is administered an anti-depressant at regular intervals. May we check for potential overdose?”
I nodded, the fear I'd felt seemed to have abated. The exosuit reached for my arm and gently, yet firmly, grasped it. I watched in silent fascination as its hand melted, drawing tight around my arm.
“Overdose hypothesis incorrect. Calibration will commence on User input.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Except in emergency, we will not provide User alteration until informed consent is granted. Accepting the Terms of Service is considered informed consent, until User terminates calibration, further attempts at calibration must occur upon User consent.”
I nodded, that made sense. “Alright, I suppose I'm ready.” I remarked.
“Does User Grimm wish to have hypnosis used to assist in calibration efforts?” It asked.
“Is that necessary?” I asked.
“Hypnosis is offered to facilitate User calibration in the event of complication.” It replied, the triangle on its face seemed intent on focusing on me.
I sighed. “If it'll help.” I said.
“Beginning User calibration, administering hypnotic pattern.” It held up the headset to my face, inside, I could see the undulating pattern, it seemed to pull me in, to the point where I barely registered the headset touching my face. I could distantly feel the exoskin wrapping around my head, holding the headset firmly, but comfortably, in place.
I was dimly aware of Delta lifting me up, and then suddenly hyper-aware of my body sinking into it. I felt my hands being wrapped in nanites before slowly sinking in, the process felt almost agonizingly slow, yet at the same time, the sensation of strands of nanites wrapping around my arms and pulling me in felt pleasant and soothing. I could feel the exoskin hardening, felt each of my fingers bending one by one, as if testing them out.
The sensation of the nanites soon began to envelop my legs, drawing them in closer, followed by a thick, almost goopy heaviness wrapping around my torso. Thick, metal plates formed along the back of my neck, spreading down and across my shoulders. I could feel stress and tension slowly fade from them as my body slumped, yet remained standing. The nanites wrapped around my neck and formed a solid, metal jaw, it took until now to realize the headset was gone, and I was staring into the interior of what looked like Delta's head as it formed above me.
I felt nervous, I felt excited, a part of me feared this was a permanent construction, and a part of me wanted it to be permanent. The interior of the head melted against my face, and even though I could feel it against my eyes, I didn't feel any need to blink.
Everything was pleasantly dark, and I felt nothing. Suddenly, there was light, I lifted my arm to block it out, only to realize I was looking at a completely different hand.
“What in the world?” While my voice could still be heard, it was overlaid by a calm, bass tone that sounded almost uncannily like mine. I touched my face and could feel the smooth exterior of Delta.
I rushed to my bathroom and stumbled, I was much larger than I was used to, even the stock reception zone was roomier than my apartment to compensate for the comparatively bulky exosuits. Yet, in spite of my size, it felt staggeringly easy to catch my balance without knocking anything over.
I opened the bathroom door and Delta's symbol stared back at me. I turned my head, and the symbol remained trained on me.
Even though I was wearing Delta, I felt... good, As surreal as it was to stare into a mirror and see another, artificial face, I liked what I was seeing. I raised my arm, feeling silly, and flexed it, the resulting musculature was bulky, yet not chiseled, which was what I personally wanted.
Wearing Delta was like wearing my idealized self, and for a brief moment, I felt a sense of self-loathing.
“We can help you become this.” Delta stated. “Explore our body until you are satisfied.” The meaning wasn't lost on me, I had acquired Delta, and as long as I had them, as long as I wore them, we essentially shared a body.
I wanted to see myself, and Delta seemed to peel away from me, stepping back. I felt and looked weak and useless compared to it, and when Delta absorbed me into their body, I felt strangely confident, like I could do or be anything.
“Delta.” I said, the resonant voice I spoke in no longer seemed as jarring. “I want to get stronger, and...” The desire felt sudden, yet I realized I felt a significant yearning for it, almost like it wasn't my own. “I want to be bigger.”
Delta made a sound like a chuckle, though I was certain it was some sort of vocalization that indicated they heard me. “Then we shall make you bigger, User Grimm.” They spoke...
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A gift story for @deltacatalyzer, who has created a very fun and interesting character, whom I absolutely had to write a story about.
I would highly recommend checking them out, they've got more content coming, and are definitely worth following.
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My phone buzzed and I sighed, I uncovered my eyes and sat up, stared at my phone as the notification light blinked on and off. I reached over to it and affixed it to my temple, the screen projected in public mode- when had I re-enabled that? I wasn't certain.
I read the message I'd received as I switched to private mode, a black hologram surrounded the back of the screen, just translucent enough that I could walk without worrying about bumping into anyone.
[Up for another match at 17:00?] It was Marcus, I flicked my ear. It had been, what, a year since he'd suddenly stopped outright antagonizing me and chilling out? I still didn't trust him, but so far he hadn't done anything to outright embarrass me.
[Maybe.] I replied. [Just woke up.] What time was it? The phone's clock read 13:00.
[Alright. Let me know if you're up for it.]
In all honesty, I just put up with him because it was better than being humiliated. He had that domineering presence that I fucking hated, and all-too often, I felt like I was being dragged into doing things, even when I didn't want to go.
I stood up, the mirror in front of me detected my standing and synced with my collar, the nanosuit I wore took care of bathing for me, so I didn't even have to worry about showering. A list of currently popular designs lit up the interface, I chose a matte gray pattern with blue accent lining. It didn't really blend in with my gray fur, it was just light enough to obviously be a nanosuit, and the blue highlight reflected my favorite color- which also apparently helped with the production of serotonin, which was always in short supply for me.
I ran a quick suit diagnostic, made sure everything was good, and headed out of my room.
“Good morning, Grimm. Would you like for me to produce breakfast on this rainy day?” A mechanical male voice spoke, each variable word had a noticeable pause between it and the word spoken before it. Absolutely artificial, in spite of the Male Default 3 voice.
“Good morning to you, Vox.” I said tiredly as I sat down at the dining table. “Yeah, bacon and eggs with green tea.”
“Order received. Producing meal.”
It was a fairly standard A.I. with equally standard machine learning, not good enough to hold an actual conversation, but good enough to do exactly what was needed without too many issues.
A drone lifted a plate with cooked bacon and eggs to me and I silently ate, taking a quick glance at the news. There wasn't anything particularly noteworthy, another dumb resource war was started, even though the economic infrastructure was improving- at least this time it wasn't us who started it.
An advertisement for an newer exosuit model showed up, stark white with strength enhancements for handling most jobs, with stamina compensation actuators to prevent exhaustion. I cringed at the design, it was sterile, too bright, I'd stand out like a sore thumb if I could afford it.
'I hope work doesn't order these things, I might actually die from the embarrassment.' I thought. The thought of having to shell out for a less garishly bright personal exosuit hurt my mood, and my wallet.
'It doesn't even have customization.' I thought bitterly, not that exosuits had customization.
My phone beeped and I answered. “Grimm, are you available?”
“Seriously, Gale?” I asked. I sighed. “Who's the no-show?”
“Brigid, she called in sick.”
“That's the third time this month. Gods-damn it. Yeah, I can come in, I've got literally nothing better to do.”
“You're a life-saver, get here ASAP.”
I shoveled down my food and said, “Vox, antidepressants.”
The drone flew over to me and latched onto my back. There was a slight pinprick, followed by a pneumatic hiss, before the drone unlatched and flew off. I got up and left my apartment. I sent a message to Marcus.
[Work called in, I won't be able to do another match tonight.]
[That sucks. Oh well, there are worse things, I suppose.]
I walked into work, my collar pinged the store hub and my nanosuit changed coloration to match the store's uniform, my name glowed on my breast.
“Grimm, you're right on time!” Gale yowled. “They need you over in receiving.”
I smiled, receiving wasn't bad, it was hard work, and the exosuits were outdated, but the feeling of being much stronger was nice, the fact that I could actually get some exercise in helped matters. I worked for a few hours, lifting large palettes of stock and shelving them for later retrieval, taking stock down and getting them prepped for going out on the shelves.
When break time came, the store A.I. made me a burger with cheese and served it to me.
“You look tired.” Gale remarked as he sat across from me, the A.I. made him fish sticks with tartar sauce. He picked one up, dipped it in, and took a bite. “You good?”
“Yeah, just the antidepressants need adjustment.” I remarked. “If Brigid keeps calling in sick, I won't be able to actually schedule my appointment.”
Gale nodded, it was a foregone conclusion Brigid would be fired soon if her antic kept up.
I didn't mind Gale, for a Cat, he was kinda cute.
“Oh, did you hear? Corporate's going to scrap the old exosuits we have and get the newest model.”
“Oh, gods. Those?” I asked. “The bright white ones?”
He nodded. “Don't complain too much, we need new ones, and unless you've got the money to shell out for a decent exosuit...”
“Yeah, yeah...” I said sourly.
“They've got hard light capability, that's been an exclusive feature for years.” He pointed out. “You won't even have to lift palettes yourself, and it's not like exosuits are part of the uniform.”
“Don't give corporate any ideas.” I warned. “My antidepressants are broken enough.”
An alarm indicated my break was almost over, I finished my burger and got back to working.
At the end of my shift, I clocked out, my nanosuit changed back to what I'd selected, and I started walking home. The rain hadn't relented, if anything it had gotten worse. I quickly walked past a homeless man, the spiral on his glitching phone indicated he was using a recreational hypnosis program- I already had enough problems, I didn't need to catch any mind viruses.
The rain intensified further, and just wanting to get out, I ducked into an alleyway, staying close to the sidewalk. A nervous glance down the alleyway showed it was- at the very least- a through path, and if my phone wasn't wrong, it could cut my on-foot commute by several minutes.
“Either wait here for the rain to settle down, or hurry home through this obviously dangerous alleyway?” I muttered. I sighed, this was a stupid idea. I walked down the alleyway, my fingers sparked as I readied the taser function of my nanosuit.
Ahead, a door opened, and someone in a matte dark gray exosuit with orange highlights stepped out. The design was something I hadn't seen before, I found myself stopping in spite of how leery the alleyway was.
The shape was vaguely feliform, large and imposing, with metal plating across the arms, shoulders, and under the jaw, with two triangular metallic 'ears' resting on top of the head. I could not see their eyes, rather, there was what looked like a triangular symbol I was unfamiliar with on the 'face', pointed directly at me.
They turned heir head toward me as two orange hard-light holographic hands floated out of the door carrying a large pot, which was placed into what I recognized as a matter decompiler.
“Oh? Did I startle you?” The voice was definitely that of a person, layered with a mechanical one. Masculine, strangely deep and soft.
“Is that an exosuit?” I asked. He nodded. “What model?” I knew I sounded like a complete idiot, but under the circumstances... well, I was a nervous talker.
He pointed at a QR code painted on the building, my phone automatically scanned it, processed it for any viruses, before displaying what looked like a local bulletin board. The board itself was a glitchy mess, likely being just out of range or connected to a faulty server. Most of the postings were from people local to this block of the city, except for an advertisement from NanoSkin, a relatively recent startup that dealt with nanosuits- mine was from their company, and despite being budget price was actually pretty solid.
[Introducing our Matrix Series of Exosuits: Current model- Delta.
Our top-of-the-line Exosuits are affordable and user-friendly with a variety of built-in features including:
Our patented Nano-lattice Plating- This reactive plating is as pliable as rubber and as hard as titanium, stiffening when detecting rapid velocity and diffusing the force to protect the user from harm.
Our patented Nano-lattice exoskin- This soft and silky material provides the maximum comfort in any situation, whether at work or play, and works with NanoSkin™ Nanosuits to keep you clean and healthy.
Our patented Digital Hands hard-light external manipulators help keep you at a distance from dangerous or caustic materials, and are gentle enough to pick up and hold a child.
A VR-style Heads-up Display for AR interaction for the purpose of familiarizing yourself with Delta's functions.
More information can be found through our app. Apply today for the first and only advanced exosuit you will ever need or wear!
Integration, Conversion, Accretion, Revision, ___________. NanoSkin.]
I checked out the app. “Wow, one hundred credits for a subscription is pretty fucking cheap for an exosuit.” I remarked. I looked at the guy to ask him how it felt, but he'd already gone back inside. I sighed, I wasn't desperate enough to knock on the door to badger a guy who was clearly working, so I just continued walking. When I reached the other side of the alleyway, the rain had lessened significantly, so I just walked the rest of the way home.
I read into the exosuit, most of the features were pretty standard for NanoSkin; integration into local systems for user convenience, conversion of waste products into energy or repair materials, accretion of nanites into desired forms, user revision for the sake of self-care, and customization.
The price did bug me, I looked at it, one hundred credits wasn't a small sum to sneeze at when it came to subscription services, I-
Wait.
“This... isn't a subscription service.” I stared at the app page for several minutes. The app existed solely to purchase an exosuit. Yeah, that was four times the price of a nanosuit, but for an exosuit, which ran for c200 a month on subscription?
The phrase 'too good to be true' ran through my mind, but then I saw an option for a trial run of the exosuit. Thirty days to decide if the exosuit was a good fit, and the more I read, there was also a thirty day refund window for the purchase.
I'd known NanoSkin prioritized user-friendliness above all else, but the fact that they were going this far...
I tapped [Purchase] and received a notification it would be delivered today, with a delivery time of fifteen minutes, which surprised me, considering how long most drone-based delivery went. Within fifteen minutes, I received an alert that my delivery had arrived, and gave permission for it to open the door.
The door swung open, and I was surprised to see a weird-looking drone fly in. It landed on the floor as the door closed, before leaking a black liquid onto the carpet. I stared in shock for a few seconds, before shouting, “Oh, what the fuck!? I just had that cleaned!” I started to open the app store to send a complaint, when I heard a voice.
“User proximity detected. Constructing.”
I looked at the puddle and watched in fascination as it slowly rose, a caniform shape manifesting from the goop like some sort of cartoon villain. It looked almost exactly like the one the other guy was wearing. A yellow hard light hand manifested and picked up the drone as the voice spoke again.
“Battery charge full. Core temperature... nominal. All systems online.” An orange triangular symbol appeared on its 'face' in my direction. “Welcome, User. Please state your name.”
“Uh... Grimm.” I said, I moved to the right, the symbol seemed to follow me as I moved- no, it definitely was following me, like an eye. It was weirdly uncanny.
“User name is Grimm.” It spoke, I was shocked not to hear a space between 'is' and my name. The hard light hand brought the drone closer to me as another one appeared, along with a holoscreen that read [Terms of Service].
“Before activation, please carefully review the Terms of Service.” I realized it was the exosuit itself that was speaking. The holoscreen came closer, animated so that it seemed like the other hand was pulling it closer. I skimmed it. At the very bottom, where one could accept or decline, were the options:
[I ACCEPT]
[I AM NOT A ROBOT]
I smirked, I loved it when companies actually had a sense of humor. I tapped [I ACCEPT] and the holoscreen vanished.
“Matrix Nº Delta has been activated. Welcome to NanoSkin technology, User Grimm. Call us Delta. Once verification is complete, please wear this Heads-Up Display to begin onboarding and familiarization of all options.”
I realized the drone wasn't a drone, but a headset. I took it in my hands and put it up to my face. A strap of nano-lattice exoskin wrapped around my head, securing the headset in place.
[Detected: User Account- Grimm. Welcome to the Delta Catalyzer Heads-Up Display.]
A fractal pattern appeared in the background of the screen, swirling and expanding, creating the sensation that I was moving forward. I sat in my chair as the exosuit's options were listed for me.
Like everything NanoSkin made, there were a staggering amount of features available, far too many for me to sift through in one sitting. The recommended setting was to allow the exosuit, Delta, to try everything over a period of time to set things up just the way I wanted them, with the reminder that Delta was designed to be worn for an extended period of time, that I would need to wear it for as long as necessary to get it just right.
No, wait, I'd skimmed over the words, that I would want to wear it for a long period of time to get it just right. Those two words seemed to cycle in my mind.
Need.
Want.
Need.
Want.
Need.
Want...
I felt like I was sinking into something, something soft and warm, almost pleasant. My heart thundered as I stumbled forward, tearing the visor off.
“User Grimm, you appear to be experiencing a panic attack.” I looked at the exosuit, my head swam from adrenaline and stress. I fell over, only for the exosuit to catch me. “User Grimm secured, moving to secure location.” It lifted me up and sat me on my couch.
For a moment, the world seemed to darken around me. I saw the exosuit crouched in front of me. “Administering calming hypnosis protocol. Say 'stop' to cancel.” I wasn't really in a position to say no. A holoscreen appeared in front of me and displayed a hypnotic pattern. I felt the exosuit gently, yet firmly take hold of my head and felt its thumbs enter my ears.
A calm, steady recording of a man's voice echoed in my mind, bidding me to take deep breaths, to count down from ten to zero. The next thing I knew, the exosuit was pulling away from me. “Calming hypnotic pattern administered to User Grimm.”
My heart rate had calmed down considerably, the shaking in my hands had stopped. I'd heard terrible things about hypnosis, like you would end up not remembering anything, or you'd be forced to do terrible things, but... I remembered everything, there were no gaps in my memory, though it felt like barely any time had passed.
“User Grimm, your mental state appears to have reached a nominal level of activity. How would you rate your experience with hypnosis?”
I shook my head. “What the hell are you?” I asked.
“We are Matrix Nº Delta. You may call me Delta.”
“No, what are you?”
“We are a personal nanite exosuit, assigned to User Grimm to assist in all necessary tasks.” It spoke. “We are capable of assisting with any and all tasks, up to and including: Lifting heavy objects, assisting with weight and muscle training, personal and medical care, and more. We are powered by a personal AI assistant with a machine-learning algorithm to ensure optimal User satisfaction.”
I rubbed my temples. “And what the hell happened?” I asked.
“User Grimm experienced heightened stress response with elevated adrenal activity during calibration. Diagnostics indicate User Grimm felt threatened, and thus we terminated calibration to ensure User safety.”
There was a pause. “We hypothesize this increased adrenal activity may be a result of fatigue from overwork, in addition to an increase of local stressors. On-site house A.I. indicates User Grimm is administered an anti-depressant at regular intervals. May we check for potential overdose?”
I nodded, the fear I'd felt seemed to have abated. The exosuit reached for my arm and gently, yet firmly, grasped it. I watched in silent fascination as its hand melted, drawing tight around my arm.
“Overdose hypothesis incorrect. Calibration will commence on User input.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Except in emergency, we will not provide User alteration until informed consent is granted. Accepting the Terms of Service is considered informed consent, until User terminates calibration, further attempts at calibration must occur upon User consent.”
I nodded, that made sense. “Alright, I suppose I'm ready.” I remarked.
“Does User Grimm wish to have hypnosis used to assist in calibration efforts?” It asked.
“Is that necessary?” I asked.
“Hypnosis is offered to facilitate User calibration in the event of complication.” It replied, the triangle on its face seemed intent on focusing on me.
I sighed. “If it'll help.” I said.
“Beginning User calibration, administering hypnotic pattern.” It held up the headset to my face, inside, I could see the undulating pattern, it seemed to pull me in, to the point where I barely registered the headset touching my face. I could distantly feel the exoskin wrapping around my head, holding the headset firmly, but comfortably, in place.
I was dimly aware of Delta lifting me up, and then suddenly hyper-aware of my body sinking into it. I felt my hands being wrapped in nanites before slowly sinking in, the process felt almost agonizingly slow, yet at the same time, the sensation of strands of nanites wrapping around my arms and pulling me in felt pleasant and soothing. I could feel the exoskin hardening, felt each of my fingers bending one by one, as if testing them out.
The sensation of the nanites soon began to envelop my legs, drawing them in closer, followed by a thick, almost goopy heaviness wrapping around my torso. Thick, metal plates formed along the back of my neck, spreading down and across my shoulders. I could feel stress and tension slowly fade from them as my body slumped, yet remained standing. The nanites wrapped around my neck and formed a solid, metal jaw, it took until now to realize the headset was gone, and I was staring into the interior of what looked like Delta's head as it formed above me.
I felt nervous, I felt excited, a part of me feared this was a permanent construction, and a part of me wanted it to be permanent. The interior of the head melted against my face, and even though I could feel it against my eyes, I didn't feel any need to blink.
Everything was pleasantly dark, and I felt nothing. Suddenly, there was light, I lifted my arm to block it out, only to realize I was looking at a completely different hand.
“What in the world?” While my voice could still be heard, it was overlaid by a calm, bass tone that sounded almost uncannily like mine. I touched my face and could feel the smooth exterior of Delta.
I rushed to my bathroom and stumbled, I was much larger than I was used to, even the stock reception zone was roomier than my apartment to compensate for the comparatively bulky exosuits. Yet, in spite of my size, it felt staggeringly easy to catch my balance without knocking anything over.
I opened the bathroom door and Delta's symbol stared back at me. I turned my head, and the symbol remained trained on me.
Even though I was wearing Delta, I felt... good, As surreal as it was to stare into a mirror and see another, artificial face, I liked what I was seeing. I raised my arm, feeling silly, and flexed it, the resulting musculature was bulky, yet not chiseled, which was what I personally wanted.
Wearing Delta was like wearing my idealized self, and for a brief moment, I felt a sense of self-loathing.
“We can help you become this.” Delta stated. “Explore our body until you are satisfied.” The meaning wasn't lost on me, I had acquired Delta, and as long as I had them, as long as I wore them, we essentially shared a body.
I wanted to see myself, and Delta seemed to peel away from me, stepping back. I felt and looked weak and useless compared to it, and when Delta absorbed me into their body, I felt strangely confident, like I could do or be anything.
“Delta.” I said, the resonant voice I spoke in no longer seemed as jarring. “I want to get stronger, and...” The desire felt sudden, yet I realized I felt a significant yearning for it, almost like it wasn't my own. “I want to be bigger.”
Delta made a sound like a chuckle, though I was certain it was some sort of vocalization that indicated they heard me. “Then we shall make you bigger, User Grimm.” They spoke...
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A gift story for @deltacatalyzer, who has created a very fun and interesting character, whom I absolutely had to write a story about.
I would highly recommend checking them out, they've got more content coming, and are definitely worth following.
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Category Story / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Gender Any
Size 640 x 640px
Listed in Folders
All parts can be found in my 'Gift Stories' folder, or since they were released in a row, by simply clicking 'Previous'. I haven't had a time to manually insert navigation.
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