Cleo's new form.

The hologram began to materialize from the feet up, slowly forming a figure until it was a bluish, female shape with long, flowing hair that reached down past her waist. Once the hologram was fully shaped, it started to take on more detail.

The figure became covered in a sleek blue and white battle suit, with touches of golden accentuating certain parts. Her skin was a luminous pale, her eyes a striking amber, and her hair was an inky, abyss-like black.

She stood there for a moment, her gaze fixed on Rex, before her lips began to move.

["Host, please close your eyes. Since you're still partially organic, the recharge could damage your sensitive eye tissue."]

Rex could hardly believe what he was seeing. Standing in front of him was a stunning figure, exactly the kind of beauty that matched his taste.

"W-wait, Cleo? Is that you?" he stammered.

["Affirmative. Now close your eyes; I'm initiating the recharge sequence."]

Even though Rex's gaze was lingering on Cleo's shapely figure, he finally decided it was best to close his eyes. Just in case. A few seconds later, he felt a gentle tingling sensation spread over his body. It wasn't unlike what he'd felt the first time he recharged by biting the cable, but this time, it was oddly soothing.

As he recharged, Cleo's lips curled into a faint smile.

["So, he likes this body, huh?"] she muttered under her breath. "Wait, why do I even care? Is there something wrong with me? running a scan for malfunctions... scan complete. No system failures detected."]

After about an hour, Rex was fully recharged. The tank's glass door opened automatically, and he stepped out, stretching before getting dressed.

"So, Cleo, care to explain how you have a body now?"

["To answer the host question, this has always been my original form. What you're seeing is a stored image from my memory archives. I figured it would make communication more effective."]

Rex looked her over from head to toe, his eyes finally meeting hers. He gave her a thumbs up, though Cleo seemed a bit puzzled by the gesture.

"Alright, what's our next move? Still heading to the mines?" he asked.

["Affirmative. I need the resources to repair the ship. In its current state, leaving the planet or defending ourselves is not possible. Shall I set a course for the mines?"]

"Yeah, let's do it," Rex nodded.

In a graceful motion, Cleo gestured for Rex to follow her. They made their way toward the pilot's cabin, a spacious area with six chairs, one for the pilot, another for the copilot, and four more for passengers. Cleo walked straight to the copilot's seat and sat down, nodding toward Rex to take the pilot's chair.

Once seated, Rex scratched his head and looked over at Cleo.

"You know, I appreciate that you have so much faith in me, but I've never actually flown a ship before. Shouldn't you be the one doing this?"

Cleo let out a soft laugh, covering her mouth with her hand.

["Worry not, host. I'll guide you through it until you learn how to pilot on your own. Since I don't have a physical body, it's impossible for me to control the ship directly. Only someone with a physical form can do that; it's a security measure put in place during our race's civil war to prevent hacking."]

"Makes sense. I guess for a race of super AIs, hacking would be like breathing for you. So, shall we get started? I won't lie, I'm pretty excited to fly this thing," Rex said, grinning like a teenager who's about to drive a car for the first time.

Cleo nodded, and with a fluid motion of her hand, holographic screens blinked into existence in front of her. She began activating various systems, adjusting settings that Rex couldn't even begin to understand. He decided not to ask about any of it, his focus entirely on the idea of powering up the ship.

["All the systems are online. We're ready to move whenever you are."]

"Great! So... what do I do now?"

Cleo stood up and moved in front of Rex.

["First of all, get ready. It's probably going to hurt, since this is your first time connecting to the primordial memory."]

"Hurt? Prepare for what?"

Before Rex could finish, three cables shot out from the pilot seat, one plugged into the back of his neck, the other two into his shoulders.

"WHAT THE—! That feels like getting kicked in the nuts! Wait, I can feel the ship?! How is that even possible? It's like I can—"

Rex moved his left hand instinctively, and the entire ship lurched hard to the left. From the cargo bay, there was a loud thud.

Carlos, who had been napping inside the car with the door open, was flung out headfirst onto the floor. Groaning, he grabbed his head from the impact. As he stood up, dazed, he heard Rex's voice from the cabin and noticed an unfamiliar girl nearby.

He staggered towards the cockpit.

"Rex! What the hell's going on? And... who's that girl?"

"Oh hey, Carlos! Pretty cool, right? I'm just figuring out how to drive this thing. Oh, and this here is my wife."

"Wait, what?! Since when do you have a wife?!"

["Negative. I am an AI of an ancient robotic race. Due to certain circumstances, I am now sharing my body with him."]

"WHAT!? You guys already... did it?!"

["W-WHAT!? No! It's not like that!"]

Rex couldn't stop himself from bursting out laughing at Carlos's wild misunderstanding.

After the conversation finally calmed down, Cleo started explaining slowly to Rex how to control the ship. In theory, Rex's body was now like a human-sized game controller; all he had to do was move his arms to steer, and his fingers would control the ship's main guns.

But since the weapons were damaged, they'd have to save that part of the training for later.

"By the way, Rex, how are you even breathing without a helmet?" Carlos asked, scratching his head.

"Oh yeah, good point. Cleo, how long do I have before I need to recharge the oxygen?"

"Answering the host,] Cleo replied in her calm, robotic tone, ["You've been breathing just fine. When you were in the recharge bay, I instructed the drones to build an oxygen generator. It'll last until the ship's energy runs out."]

"So... how much energy does the ship have left?" Rex asked, a bit concerned now.

Cleo brought up the holographic display again, scanning the data.

["Energy remaining is 50%. I recommend the host recharge the ship as soon as possible to avoid a power shortage."]

"Oh, if you're looking for a recharge bay, I saw one at the colony's landing zone when we arrived," Carlos chimed in.

Rex sighed. "Carlos... just so you know, the colony is overrun with bugs. There's no way we can get there without any weapons. We're heading to the mines first to gather resources to fix the ship's guns."

As Rex filled Carlos in on the colony situation, the ship arrived at the coordinates Rex had inputted. The autopilot took over and guided the ship to land. Once they touched down, Cleo immediately activated the recon drones, sending them into the mine to scout for resources.

Before long, data started streaming onto the big screen inside the ship. The recon drones had found plenty of metals and precious minerals; it was stuff that would fetch a high price on other planets, but for now, they needed it all to repair the ship. Cleo gave another command, and soon the miner and cargo drones were dispatched to start collecting the materials.

"So?" Carlos asked, "What are we repairing first?"

"From what teacher Cleo's been drilling into my head, the turrets are our best bet," Rex said, rubbing his temples. "She can control those and fire while I focus on flying. The only downside is, with the resources we have, we'll have to settle for dual machine gun turrets. No high-tech stuff."

"Machine guns, huh? What about the ammo?" Carlos asked.

"We can make it ourselves. Any kind of metal will work, since they don't need gunpowder. That's a lifesaver."

As Rex and Carlos talked, the first batch of cargo drones finally arrived, hauling various metals and unloading them into the cargo bay holders. The foundry drones quickly took over, processing the materials to repair the turrets and start manufacturing ammo.

Carlos glanced at Rex, a serious look crossing his face. "By the way, Rex... I've been meaning to ask you something. How are you holding up after... everything? I mean, killing all those bugs, seeing so much death. We've been in plenty of scrapes, but you've never killed anyone before."

Rex froze for a second, meeting Carlos's gaze. He knew his friend was right. The question had been nagging at the back of his mind too. How had he managed to stay so... numb? No sadness for the workers they saw slaughtered, no disgust when he killed the bugs; he'd just done it, like it was the most natural thing in the world.