“What the hell’s this dump?” Eli stood before a large segmented building, dilapidated and worn out. It appeared to be some sort of abandoned factory, standing tall in the middle of the deep, treacherous forest he’d trekked through. He couldn’t figure out what this thing was or even why it had been built here. He’d never heard of such a building hidden here in this forest. “Wow, damn... I might just be the first one here. There’s gotta be some sweet loot in here.” 

The large, dual front door didn’t budge when he pulled on it, and there was no lock that could be picked. He could have broken through it, but he decided it was preferable to leave as few traces of his presence as possible. He left it and circled the building, looking for another way in. 

He found it; a much more normal looking door on the back, crooked and thoroughly rusted. It opened without any fuss, and he crept cautiously inside. What greeted him was a looming dark void, a single cramped hallway with empty gray walls stretching as far as his eyes could strain in the darkness. Eli crept into it very cautiously, clutching his knife in hand. He wasn’t looking for carnage, only to defend himself if things got dicey. His soft footsteps echoed across the walls with no other sound to challenge them. There was still no sign of any other soul in this building... but he knew he couldn’t let his guard down. 

After what seemed like an eternity, he emerged into a very ominous and spacious room. A large, round pedestal one foot tall stood proudly at the very center; multiple large, claw-like metal appendages hung motionless above it, stemming from a large amalgamation of wires and metal pieces attached to the ceiling. Wires ran along the ground too, on all sides, all converging on the pedestal. This looked like some sort of assembly station... Eli wondered what sorts of machines this contraption was used to create... and frankly didn’t want to know. He just wanted to snatch some valuable crap and get out of there. 

He crept farther in, and couldn’t help but notice a large compartment fastened to the wall on one side of the room. He walked up to it and peered inside; there was a large pile of metal plates in various shapes and shades of gray and blue, all tangled up in wires, small computer chips, servos, and other electronic gadgets. 

Eli cocked his head a little. He was no expert on machines, but the ratio between external versus internal robot parts in here seemed... rather imbalanced. There were so many plates and so few of the parts that tend to go underneath them that he imagined assembling it all would result in a rather hollow shell of a robot. He snorted quietly. Were these people hopelessly incompetent at robotic design, or did they skip a shipment of parts? Either way, it was none of his business if these people were so incompetent. Maybe that’s why this place is abandoned, he thought with a chuckle. 

This could turn a nice profit as scrap metal... but he was looking for something bigger. I guess I’ll just come back for it anyway, though. Just no sense in wearing myself down with it. He turned his attention away from it and began to scan the room more thoroughly. There were three doors at the other side of the room, none of them labeled. Surely at least one of them was his ticket to riches. He tiptoed across the room, nearly tripping on a wire at one point and cursing to himself in the process. Once he reached the doors, he peered through the windows fixed into them to try and see where they led. 

The center door had lots of bright light shining through it; probably another exit, could be a handy way to get out quickly in case of an emergency. He tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. He pulled harder and wiggled it back and forth, but still nothing. He thought about trying to break it down, but he decided that making that much noise probably wasn’t in his best interest. 

The left door was dimmer, and definitely did not lead outside. He could see a wall of servers inside, and other electronic devices strewn about. Unlike the other doors there was no handle, it was simply push-to-open. Eli decided against it though; something felt sinister about that room, and it probably didn’t have what he was looking for.

The door on the right had no light at all coming from the other side. He couldn’t gauge anything just by looking at it... maybe it led outside, maybe there was more corridors, or maybe it was more of a private location... Eli decided it was probably his best bet, regardless of what it was. 

But the second he touched the doorknob, an earsplitting siren went off, startling him so badly he fell back onto the ground, yelping in fear. Panic began to cloud his mind. He needed to get out of there, now. 

Just then he heard a muffled voice, cold and mechanical: “INTRUDER DETECTED; INTRUDER MUST BE DETAINED.” His fear swelled further still. Whatever that was, it was not human, and it was not far off. He glanced at the center door, then back toward the corridor he’d come from. He couldn’t bring himself to trust his own strength, and decided an about face was probably his best hope. He started to dash toward it, then heard a loud BANG! behind him. In a panic and still disoriented by the blaring siren, Eli couldn’t think straight; He simply had to know what was behind him. He turned, and saw a large, simple hovering drone, 1 cubic foot in size, armed with various weaponry and gadgets. It had bursted out of the left door, seemingly having been dormant inside of it. It pointed its searchlight directly at Eli and repeated its statement. “INTRUDER DETECTED; INTRUDER MUST BE DETAINED.” 

Eli was jolted back to his senses and broke back into a run... but his foot got caught on one of the wires, and his knife flew out of his hand as he fell pathetically to the ground, now at the drone’s mercy. It lashed out with 4 metal pincers, grabbed his wrists and ankles, and hoisted him into the air. He screamed and wiggled around desperately, but was powerless in its grip. Then it spoke in its chilling, soulless voice again. “INTRUDER DETAINMENT; SUCCESSFUL. SCAN; INITIATED.” 

Right on cue, the siren stopped. Still suspending its prisoner helplessly above the ground, the drone began making various whirring and clicking sounds, as Eli sat growing more terrified and confused by the second, with no clue what was about to happen to him. 

After what felt like an eternity, the noises stopped. “SCAN COMPLETE. INTRUDER; IS FIT FOR COVERSION.” 

“Conversion?! Wh- what are you-“ Eli stuttered in a panic, but the drone ignored him, carrying him slowly toward the pedestal. He squirmed more and more, but only wore himself out. 

The drone placed him feet first onto the pedestal, and immediately the room roared to life; the large robotic limbs attaches to the ceiling began to shudder and descend from their idle positions, whirring and clicking. The drone let go of him, and immediately one of the arms abruptly swung down and shoved him brusquely from behind, forcing him to fall into a quadruped position with his hands on the ground. Metal cuffs then materialized out of the pedestal’s strangely soft surface, quickly binding all 4 of his limbs firmly to it. 

Eli has never felt such a profound feeling of terror and confusion, held fast in the center of that horrible room in an uncomfortable position, helplessly awaiting his fate. He glanced to the side and saw the compartment with metal parts in it, and almost on cue the arms all dove toward it, each one digging into it and retrieving a metal plate. A chill went down his spine as he realized why so few of those parts were internal. 

Suddenly he felt a sharp jolt hit him straight in the back, causing his body to spasm for a brief moment, then stiffen firmly until he couldn’t move or feel his body at all. The only sign of life was his panicked, erratic breathing. The drone continued to hover behind, seeming to monitor the process. It continued to speak with its cold, ominous voice. 

“PHYSICAL CONVERSION; INITIATED.” 

Each metal piece hummed to life as it made contact with his skin, expanding and burrowing itself into him. He could feel the needles and parts tearing his skin apart, forcing its own synapses and wires onto his cells, seeming to create an unholy unity between flesh and metal. Yet there was no pain, since his external nervous system had been shut down. All he could feel was muffled poking sensations, and it was enough to know exactly what was happening. The fact that his body being ripped into didn’t hurt at all terrified him more than anything. 

More and more pieces were placed onto his body, connecting to each other seamlessly and sealing away his dying layer of skin. The cold pressure of each part pressing itself into him was strangely comfortable, and would actually have been rather soothing if he wasn’t freaking out. He felt a long, rounded gray plate pressed into him from above, reaching from below his neck all the way up to his forehead. It had a small red hole at the front; an inlet for wires to be inserted into. He could feel it infiltrating his head, no doubt coming for his brain. His fear reached a climax as he felt the full weight of what was truly happening to him. He tried as hard as he possibly could to scream, to pull himself away from the machine, to wiggle just for the sake of making the machine’s job harder, if nothing else. But he simply couldn’t fight the nerve paralysis; his efforts only produced even more sharp, unstable breaths. 

“PHASE 1: MENTAL CONDITIONING; INITIATED.” 

A large wire was lowered and inserted into the hole, and he immediately felt a sinister buzzing sensation in his head. He cringed in horror, waiting for something horrible. Then the strangest thing happened; his fear began to dissipate. It made no sense at all; he knew he should be truly afraid, he just was in fact. And yet he felt his heartbeat slow down, the panic fading rapidly from his mind. And then it hit him: the machines were taking away his emotion. He was about to become just as cold and calculating as they were. 

He quickly tried to latch onto another emotion; anger. These things were taking away his livelihood, his autonomy, forcing him into a life he didn’t want! How could they be so cruel? They-... they’re... 

“PHASE 1: MENTAL CONDITIONING; SUCCESSFUL.” 

It was no use. Within seconds his anger was taken away from him. And before he could process anything else, the rest of it was gone too; sadness, happiness, everything that made him characteristically human. He was no longer upset about what was happening, because he wasn’t able to be. He couldn’t even understand why he was resisting this process. He had no sentimentality for his old self. In fact, without feelings, he lost all sense of purpose in his existence right then and there. He may not have had emotions, but he knew he must have a reason to exist. Perhaps this machine was about to give him one... thus he decided to relax, cease all resistance, and allow the machine to finish its job. 

Most of the robotic parts had been placed onto his body, and were now being twisted, turned, adjusted and folded into place. Underneath the metal, his skeletal structure was being infiltrated and reinforced by powerful mechanical joints, and fundamentally altered in order to properly embrace his new quadruped nature. A power core had been installed in place of his heart and granted influence to his entire body, using his veins and arteries to carry its fuel rather than blood. 4 exhaust pipes were fused into his back to release the waste of burnt fuel, and a large tube was installed in his chest for refilling. A limp, plated tail had been attached to his rear end; he was still not allowed to move, so he could not yet experience the surrealism of gaining a new appendage. Not that it would impact him in a major way. 

The arms all slaved away at his body, making such incredibly precise movements yet shoving the parts around with such immense force. The endeavor created such loud and meaty clanks, whirrs and clicks that he couldn’t help feeling immense satisfaction from it despite having no emotion. He loved seeing everything work together so precisely, so calmly, so perfectly according to plan. And he loved how much stronger it made him feel; his organic body may have had incredibly intricate and complex systems in certain ways that could even make the machines jealous, but its physical capabilities were rather pitiful. Seeing it get sealed away and encased in metal, the only truly reliable material, the only truly incorruptible material, gave him such a feeling of pleasure he could not describe. Even though he couldn’t “feel” anything… he loved this. He wanted this to last forever. 

The final pieces, two halves of a faceplate, were lowered toward his face. He sat motionless, and breathing calmly as they were slowly plastered on, and as they fused to each other first, then dug into his last remaining human features and destroyed them. Within seconds of losing his vision, it returned to him courtesy of the small LED screens on his new face; it was much sharper and clearer, with a larger field of view and a built in heads-up display, ready show him the status of his objectives, weaponry and bodily functions. Likewise, just as his respiratory system was cut short, a tube was inserted into his chest, and fuel was pumped into his core, causing his whole body, flesh and metal alike, to hum to life with powerful energy, eliminating his former need for both oxygen and nutrients. His senses of hearing and smell were both amplified enormously as the auditory and olfactory sensors built to resemble ears and a nose established their own connections to his brain, and he was now able to isolate or tune out specific sounds and smells very easily at will. As his new eyes flared to life, he felt the finality of the process as the faceplate fused to his new metal neck, and the appendages wrapped up the finishing touches on his body. 

“PHYSICAL CONVERSION; COMPLETE.” 

All of the arms ceased their work, and lifted themselves back toward the ceiling. Still unable to move, he stood still as a mirror was procured on the wall in front of him, allowing him to admire his new form. He had become a blue/gray robotic wolf; his new face had a much longer and pointier nose, large pointed ears, and faintly glowing red eyes that were complemented by the glow of the mental access port on his forehead. He had no mouth; it was not needed, as he no longer had to breathe, and his voice would now be completely digital, no windpipe required. His neck was significantly wider, composed of a grid of giant gray plates that extended from the middle of his back to his chin. His body was completely feralized; he felt much less cramped and awkward standing on 4 limbs now. His hands and feet had been shrunken into metal paws, all identical in shape and size. Even though it was brand new, he already felt utterly comfortable with this body. 

“VOICE TEST; INITIATED.” 

Suddenly, he felt the drone seizing temporary control of his circuitry and speaking through him, in his new voice: 

“VOICE TEST; IN PROGRESS.” 
“VOICE TEST; IN PROGRESS.” 
“VOICE TEST; IN PROGRESS.” 

Upon verifying that his voice was functional, the drone severed the connection. 

“VOICE TEST; COMPLETE. VOICE; FUNCTIONAL.” 

“PHASE 2: MENTAL UPGRADE; INITIATED.” 

A new bundle of wires was seamlessly inserted into his mental access port, and he promptly felt his mind being fused with the machinery; his thought process became gradually faster, clearer, and more neatly segmented. It felt incredible; just like his weak body of flesh, he was now able to leave his flawed human mind behind as well. More and more his brain was augmented, until time seemed to slow down in the face of the sheer processing power he now possessed. He felt such freedom, such volatility, such versatility as he never could’ve felt as a human. Every subtle sound, scent and heat signature, along with every object and surface within his vicinity, all came together as a crystal clear blueprint in his mind, instantaneously updated every split second, ready to be utilized in whatever way it could possibly be needed. 

“PHASE 2: MENTAL UPGRADE; SUCCESSFUL.” 

“PHASE 3: RELEVANT PROTOCOL INSTALLATION; INITIATED.” 

Within an instant he felt information flooding his mind. With his newly hybridized brain, he was able to process every single bit of it meticulously and thoroughly within a matter of seconds. This was it... this was to be his purpose. He lapped it all up eagerly. His master’s name was Pixus. This “Pixus” was now his sole purpose. He learned to recognize her appearance, her voice, her scent, every little detail in order to be able to verify her identity on the deepest level possible so as to avoid being deceived by an imposter. He was instructed on all of her tendencies, her mannerisms, her desires, flawlessly gaining every bit as much understanding of her as she had of herself. He was even able to become a host for her consciousness, allowing her to control him directly and see through his eyes wherever she was. He was now perfectly tailored to suit her needs, potentially to carry out her commands before she even spoke them. All of his incredible processing power would now be solely, relentlessly devoted to the whims and the greater good of his master. 

“PHASE 3: RELEVANT PROTOCOL INSTALLATION; SUCCESSFUL. MENTAL CONVERSION; COMPLETE.”

“MENTAL CONVERSION; COMPLETE.” 

He echoed the drone’s statement with his new voice, with the same manner of speech as the drone: monotone with emphasis on every syllable, spasmodic yet perfectly clear. His eyes flashed an even brighter red in sync with his speech. 

“UNIT; WILL STATE IDENTITY.” 

“UNIT IDENTITY: ELI.” That was still his name... the name he had held all his past life. He had no nostalgia for it; it simply hadn’t yet been overridden. 

“UNIT ELI; WILL RE-IDENTIFY. NEW IDENTITY: DELTA.” 

“RE-IDENTIFICATION; CONFIRMED. IDENTITY: ELI; ERASED. IDENTITY: DELTA; ACCEPTED.” 

“IDENTITY; LOCK. TIME; NONE.” 

“CONFIRMED. IDENTITY: DELTA; IS NOW LOCKED TO THIS UNIT. REIDENTIFICATION; IS NOW PERMANENTLY DISABLED.” 

“UNIT; WILL STATE IDENTITY.” 

“UNIT IDENTITY: DELTA.” 

“RE-IDENTIFICATION; CONFIRMED. UNIT DELTA: LOCOMOTION; ENABLED.” 

With a large clunk, Delta was now able to move with his new body for the first time. It was an eerie combination of jagged and smooth motion, emitting faint whirring sounds with every bit of motion in his newly reinforced joints. He immediately adjusted to his new bodily structure, adopted his new walk cycle, and stepped off of the pedestal with such ease as though he’d done it thousands of times before. 

“STATUS VERIFICATION: INITIATED. ALL SYSTEMS; FUNCTIONAL. ALL DETRIMENTAL HUMAN QUALITIES; DISCARDED. STATUS; FULLY OPERATIONAL. AWAITING; MUNITION INSTALLATION.” 

“MUNITION INSTALLATION; INITATED.” 

The drone seemed to signal the appendages to life once again, and as it did so a large panel on the wall slid to the side, revealing a secret storage space filled with many, many tiny weapons and tools of all sorts, including lasers, zero point energy emitters, small gripping claws, grappling hooks, rockets, SMGs, electromagnets, flamethrowers, and most importantly, stun rays capable of inducing instant paralysis in any life form, allowing them to be converted without resistance. The arms reached out and grabbed one of each and every object, and brought it toward Delta. With each gadget that was presented to him, he was able to cause a part of his body to open up, and allow the object to be fastened inside, tethered to his mind, and sealed away, ready to be summoned simply by thought. The process repeated until his body was completely filled to the brim with practical tools, each and every one of them ready to leap into action at his command. With triumph, he broke out in his own spiel. 

“MUNITION INSTALLATION; COMPLETE. UNIT DELTA; IS NOW FIT FOR DEPLOYMENT. PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: UNIT DELTA; WILL: SERVE; MASTER PIXUS. OBEY; MASTER PIXUS. PROTECT; MASTER PIXUS. NEVER; FALTER. NEVER; RESIST. NEVER; QUESTION MASTER PIXUS. PERFORM; ANY AND ALL ACTIONS, THAT WILL FURTHER; MASTER PIXUS’S AGENDA, PRESERVE; MASTER PIXUS’S LIFE, AND ENSURE; MASTER PIXUS’S PROSPERITY.” 

The words all blinked into view on Delta’s heads-up display, keeping him 100% knowledgable of it at all times. It was quite the paradox; he was devoid of emotion, and yet he seemed to feel such a profound, anomalous excitement for his new life. It seemed as though his mind still retained some aspects of its former human state, with its drive for purpose and meaning. Delta decided it was the one human-esque trait he enjoyed having, since it would only drive him even harder to fulfill his newfound purpose. 

Already, he began to detect Master Pixus’s wireless contact signal, and tapped into it; and right away, he was given his mission. 

“TRANSMISSION; RECEIVED. SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: UNIT DELTA; WILL: SEEK OUT; HUMANS, SUBDUE; HUMANS, RELOCATE; HUMANS TO; NEAREST CONVERSION CHAMBER, AND OVERSEE; THEIR CONVERSION. CONTINUE UNTIL: OBJECTIVE; IS ABORTED, OR OBJECTIVE; IS COMPLETE.” 

With his new body rearing to go and his objectives now literally in his sights, Delta was officially ready to serve his Master. The drone signaled for the exit door to open, and without another word Delta bounded out into the sunlight, his new joints grinding loudly and triumphantly, on his way to his Master’s perfect world.