Doesn't matter how many times I do this. Friends are never easy.

Shock stopped and looked over the exterior of the central tech station. As time ticked onward, the sick feeling in her abdomen only worsened.

Pushing herself to take the last steps through the station's main entrance took all her willpower.

The same receptionist from yesterday was sitting behind the main desk once again.

“Morning, chief,” he said.

“Morning.” Shock walked up to the desk. “Sorry I was so rude yesterday. You don't need my shit.”

“Apology accepted, but, eh, I'm used to the stress. I can imagine your position isn't exactly easier than mine.”

“Not with what I'm dealing with today.”

“You mean that busted bot you brought in yesterday?”

Shock sighed. “Yeah. Friend of mine.”

“No...” the receptionist breathed. “I'm so sorry.”

“I'm not giving up on her yet.”

“Macky started on damage cleanup yesterday. She didn't have much time before she had to go, so I think she's still in there today.”

“Good. Thanks for the update.” Shock slapped the top of the desk and stepped towards Aural's room.

“Best of luck.”

“Thanks.”

After walking a few paces down the hall, she opened the door to Aural's room. Plain grey walls and colourless tools lined the room, their dreary hues broken only by her coworker.

Donning her white medical coat and short blue skirt, the pink-skinned Macky stood above Aural's body, inspecting the damage.

“Boss!” she cheered. “You're back! Where were you?” Macky ran over to Shock, arms outstretched for a hug.

“Hey,” Shock began, unable to avoid Macky's embrace. “Long story.”

“We got more than enough time! How have you been?”

“Total shit.”

“Oh... sorry to hear it.”

“I'll give you the lowdown later. What's her status?” Shock asked as she placed her satchel next to the door.

Snapping to attention, Macky began listing off the problems she found with Aural's body. Dead (obviously), nearly bisected from the slash in her abdomen, chest crushed in, and her visor was so shattered it would need to be fully replaced. Besides that, her body was covered in scratches and scuff marks.

“That's all I've been able to find so far, but I'm not even done cleanup yet.”

Shock said nothing, pensively resting her chin on her hand.

“Boss... it's not good.” Macky looked straight at her. “Repairing this bot... I don't know if we can do it.”

“To hell with that. I don't care what it takes. I'm not leaving her dead.”

Macky tilted her head down. “Do you... know her?”

“Aural Automaton. Dear friend of mine.”

Macky slowly lifted a hand in front of her face, where her mouth would be if she had one. “Boss... I–”

“I don't care what it takes,” Shock repeated.

“Y-yeah, okay...” Macky looked at Aural again. “I had no idea.”

Shock opened her mouth to say something, but hesitated for several seconds. Eventually, she worked up the courage to speak. “Are her drives intact?”

“I don't know yet... to be honest, I don't know where they are.”

Shock froze up.

Macky looked at Shock again after hearing no response. “It's just, uh... you know. All robots are different. I don't know where hers are yet.”

“Where have you looked so far?” Shock could barely manage the words.

Macky listed off the locations she'd checked; she'd already looked in almost every obvious spot so far. The two of them eventually took note of Aural's head – one of the only locations Macky hadn't checked yet.

With how damaged Aural's head was from her visor being smashed in, neither of them wanted to say it.

“If...”

“Shhhh.” Shock interrupted Macky. “Let's get to work. Dissect her head. I don't care. Retrieving her drives is our number one priority.”

“You... sure?”

Shock shot Macky a fierce glance that spoke louder than words.

Half an hour later, Aural Automaton's head was no longer a head. Completely opened up and taken apart, it looked more like a blueprint than a body part.

“Who the hell made her?” Shock mumbled in frustration.

“It... sure is a complex head. How are we going to put this back together...?”

“We'll figure it out.”

Aural's drives were still nowhere to be found. With every passing minute, Shocks fears caught up with her more and more.

“The spikes,” Shock noted. “Maybe it's there.”

Aural had three curved spikes coming off the top of her head, behind her visor. Because they were so intricate, Macky and Shock opted to simply detach them from the rest of Aural's head rather than open them up.

“Good point, but... do you think we can safely get into them?” Macky lifted one up, closely looking it over. It was clear from their exterior that they weren't just decorative spikes; they were designed too intricately to be just for show.

“We have to try. Just be careful.”

Macky hummed thoughtfully.

Minutes passed as the duo carefully took apart Aural's head spikes, using a level of care and precision reserved for only the most sensitive tasks. The process was very slow.

About ten minutes after starting, Macky made a small breakthrough. With the sharp click of one of the spikes opening up, she peered inside.

“Her drives are here!”

“Really?!” Shock jumped up and came over to look at the spike. Just inside was a hard disk, seemingly undamaged, containing Aural's memories, thoughts, personality, and experiences. “Oh my god... thank fuck... she can be saved! We can fix her! And if it's actually undamaged, we can hook her up to the remote communication computer!”

“The other spikes might have drives too. We should check!”

“Yeah, sure thing.” With a new burst of energy, Shock continued working.

“But, still... I have to be honest. It would be far easier to discard her body and build her a new one. You know how easily you can get custom bipedal models assembled in those factories to the west, right?”

“Wouldn't that cost a fortune?”

“I don't think it would be too bad. We have the tech station's treasury, which could cover most of the cost, right?”

“That's for tools and supplies, Macks.”

“You're right, but... caring for a patient would be acceptable, wouldn't it? We hardly ever need spare supplies with the surplus we have here. And... it would take us forever to reassemble her.”

It wasn't terribly hard for her to convince Shock. “I'll chip in with some of my own money too. Draining the treasury for my friend doesn't feel right.”

“Fair point. Do you want me to call a place up?”

“You seem pretty good at cracking these open. I'll make the call.”

“Suuure, toss the work on your subordinate,” Macky teased.

“Yeah, yeah.” Shock gingerly placed the spike she was working on back on the table beside Aural. “Be back in a bit.”

With more optimism than she had in weeks, Shock power-walked down the hallway, zipping by the front desk. Her office was a brief, 45 second walk away.

Opening her office door and taking a deep breath, Shock sat down at her desk. It wasn't the first time she had to call a factory for a model rebuild, as such, she didn't need to bother looking up a number to call.

She punched the numbers into her landline and picked up the phone, anxiously twirling the cord around her finger.

...Beep...

Beep...

Beep...

“Archdavies' Heavy Industry,” a fancy voice greeted her from the other side.

“Hello! My name is Shock System, and I'm calling from the central tech station...”

“There was a drive in each of those spikes,” Macky explained to Shock, back in the operating room. “I brought in the remote communication computer and booted it up,” she continued.

A laptop with an extra large base sat down on a small desk in the corner of the room, opposite the doorway. The bottom of the computer had several slots on the front for drives to be inserted; it was primarily used to interact with dormant AI from robots who'd been junked, but still had their hard disks intact.

“Ah! We have to see if Aural's okay!” Shock picked up the drives and brought them over to the laptop, inserting them into the base one at a time. Once the computer beeped three times – once for each drive inserted – Shock booted up the rudimentary chat program used to talk with AI.

Macky and Shock both waited in anticipation. About 10 seconds later...

>>Aural Automaton connected.

“hello?” Text on the screen appeared. “???”

“She's alive?!” Shock exclaimed.

“yeah! i... i think so??” Aural wrote.

“She's alive!” Shock beamed at Macky, letting out a burst of elated laughter. “Wait, can she hear us?!”

“Yes! We have a mic set up in the laptop so she can hear us,” Macky explained.

More text quickly appeared on screen. “haha yea i can hear you!! but whats going on??? why is it a good thing that im alive? ok well... obviously its good im alive but

wait

the last thing i remember was fighting magnus”

“Ahh... how do I say this?” Shock grit her teeth. “You... you died. You're hooked up to a computer right now. Magnus killed you.”

Macky looked frightened. “Boss...? If I may ask, what exactly did you get involved in? What happened with her?”

Shock inhaled sharply. “You know the news story a handful of days ago about some serial killer named Trivo?”

“I heard, yes?”

“Serial killer's dead. It was a dude named Magnus,” Shock explained, deciding it would be far easier to give Macky a super condensed version of the story.

“Oh... well, at least he's gone now?”

“Yeah, and thank fuck for that. Details later, okay?”

“Okay.” Macky didn't sound totally satisfied.

Shock looked back at the laptop screen.

“I DIED???????????” Aural wrote.

“Yeah... you, uh... you died.”

“AM I DEAD”

“Nnno? You were dead, but we got your hard drives and put them in this computer so we could talk to you.”

“what!!!! what about magnus!!!!”

“...Like I mentioned, he's dead.”

“shock what the fuck happened”

“I'll catch you up on the details after we get you back in a body again. Magnus is gone, I'm fine, Trivo's fine.” Shock looked over at Macky. ”Anyways, I called AHI. They've got a representative on the way to scan Aural's body and figure out details, price estimate, all that. Since, well, Aural, your body is too busted up for us to justify repairing it. We're... going to have to get you a new one.”

“whaaat”

“It'll be the same body as before. I made sure to tell them that, and they said they could do it.”

“...does that mean i could make changes if i wanted?”

“Maybe? I'll talk to the rep when they get here.”

“I'm going to step out for a moment,” Macky butted in. “I'd like a 10 minute break, if you don't mind.”

“Hold on.” Shock opened up the satchel she left next to the door. She pulled out four blue energy packets. “For that overtime a few days ago,” she said, handing them to Macky. “Sorry it's late.”

“Thanks! Aw, you don't have to.”

“Yes I do. I'm a woman of my word.”

“Aw, boss, thank you so much...” Macky shuffled past Shock and out the door, already unwrapping one of the packets. “Enjoy catching up with your friend!”

“Thanks.”

A few moments later, Shock heard an unfamiliar voice outside, muffled by the door.

“Greetings! Are you Shock System?” he said.

“Oh, uh, no. She's in here,” Macky replied. “Hey boss,” she continued, opening the door to allow another robot in.

“Hello! Shock, I presume?” the tall, one-eyed robot asked as he walked into the room. With a fancy black and yellow suit, Shock couldn't help but feel humbled by his arrival.

“Hey, that's me.” No time to catch up with my friend after all.

“Archdavies.” He extended a hand out to Shock.

“Well met.” She shook his hand. “I certainly didn't expect the head honcho to be coming. I'd have cleaned up.”

“Ah! Not to worry. I believe it is important for us all to contribute as much as we can in the workplace, including the chief officers.”

“Wholeheartedly agreed, sir.”

“So! Is this the robot you'd like rebuilt?” He looked at Aural.

“Yeah, she's the one.”

Archdavies pulled a small device out of his pocket and faced it towards Aural. “Could I get you to take a step back from the table for me? I'm just going to scan her with this little gadget here.”

“Yeah, no problem.” Shock did as instructed.

“It's a wonder of technology,” Archdavies commented, “this scanner can perfectly replicate a robot's design as a 3D model on this screen four out of five times. Even if it can't recreate a damaged robot's build completely, it most often gets us something to work with.” As he finished, a narrow, green beam of light shone from the device and crossed over Aural, moving up and down, back and forth. Once it was finished, Archdavies moved to the other side of the table and repeated the process. “You'd be amazed by the amount of detail these scanners can pick up.”

“Hypothetically, say we wanted to make some cosmetic changes to her body. Would you be able to punch those into your scanner?”

“Not into the model on the scanner, but we can take notes on here and design them in the factory. If you have her drives, we can work directly with your friend during the design phase so she can be completely happy with the build.”

“Gotcha. That's actually reassuring.”

“We take pride in leaving our customers with peace of mind.” Archdavies walked back over to Shock and pressed a couple small buttons on his scanner. He waited for a few moments as the device worked its magic. “Hmm. Looks like we got most of her here,” he began, showing Shock the scanner's screen.

It displayed a nearly perfect wireframe replica of Aural Automaton, except for her head, which looked a bit glitchy and had a yellow warning symbol next to it.

“Oh, sorry about that,” Shock apologized. “Her head was really complex. We had to get in there to retrieve her drives.” Shock stepped over to Aural's body, seeing if she could close Aural's head enough to give Archdavies an idea of what she looked like.

It didn't work, especially considering Aural's visor was gone. Shock grunted in frustration.

“Oh! One moment, sir.” Shock walked over to her satchel again and began rummaging through it. It took her a moment, but eventually, she pulled out a small photo.

It was a picture of both Aural and Shock. With an ecstatic expression, Aural had her hands in peace signs next to her head, while Shock merely had her arm around Aural's shoulders with a smile on her face.

Shock had to look away to avoid tearing up. “That's her there,” she told Archdavies, handing the picture over to him.

He studied the picture carefully. “Hmm... I think we can recreate this design.”

“I have the parts here too, if you'd like to look at them.”

“As... morbid as it sounds, it would be leagues easier if we brought your friend's head to our facilities.” He handed the picture back to Shock.

“O-oh.” Shock was taken aback. “Well... mmm, I... guess we could do that.”

“My apologies if that's uncomfortable for you. Her body won't be hard to make, but without an accurate scan of her head, we might have difficulties there.”

“Right.” Shock mentally noted that it was good that he took such attention to detail, but the concept still bothered her. “Right, we'll do that. I just need a moment, if that's not a problem.”

“Most certainly not a problem. Would you like me to wait out in the hall?”

“That'd be great. Thank you.”

“You're very welcome.” Archdavies showed himself out.

Shock turned her attention to the laptop once again.

“thats some wild shit...” is all Aural had written.

“Hey, Aural, I'm back. It's just me and you.”

“hey shock, i really am getting a new body, huh!!”

“That's right.”

“and i can make changes!?”

“According to Archdavies, yes.”

“oh man!!! ok we need to have cool cybernetic lookin lines that go down my arms, red of course... even BETTER speakers...

shit!!!!! shock ok. hear me out. imagine... if my visor curved up even more than it did before, and the spikes like... crossed over each other and came back down like forward facing spikes. does that make sense? i would look fucking sick dude!! id look like i had demon horns... ok hear me out here...

aural D E M O N A T O N

holy fuck could you imagine?? this is probably the best thing i ever thought up”

“Kind of like ram horns?” Shock asked.

“idk what ram is but i guess?”

Shock almost shed a tear simply knowing Aural hadn't changed one bit. “Yeah... I could imagine.” She cracked a tiny grin.

“...can we actually do that?”

“It's your body! But are you sure about that? Your visor would be really big. And scary.”

“ok first off you KNOW i love being a scary bitch loool... but wellllllll mmmmmm idk..... i can change my visor later right”

“Not on my dime.”

“ok ok fair... i didn't mean you would pay for it! just like... in general.”

“I... don't see why not? If we're rebuilding you now, I don't see any reason you couldn't do it again in the future if you really wanted to.”

“d u d e ok wait. what if... hm ok what if my visor was really TALL. like we extended the visor spikes up more. mmmmm maybe not cause it'd still be kinda big”

“I hate to say it, but we don't really have the luxury of time. We can't keep Archdavies waiting.”

“shit! this is torture lol like... aural you can choose a WHOLE NEW BODY... but you only have 5 minutes. go”

“Well, it's more of a rebuild, not a remodel. Plus, Archdavies can work with you to figure out what you want.”

“damn this is a crazy cool opportunity!!!”

“Suppose so.” Shock chuckled.

“im......... aural au2maton”

“Okay, little miss roboticist. Make your decision.”

“ok you know what... we have to do the ram idea, with the curved spikes that look like demon horns... we gotta”

“You're sure?”

“HELL yea”

“Okay. I'll let him know.”

“make sure it looks sick!!!!”

Shock wondered if Aural's excitement came from simply being alive again, or if that's always how she talked via text. She left the room and returned to Archdavies.

“What's the word?” he asked.

Shock rattled off details, describing Aural's dream body as precisely as possible despite having little to go off. Archdavies hummed and nodded as she went on, taking notes on the scanner.

“Okay! I think I've got all that here. With a model like hers, and custom design modifications, it'll likely fall in the mid to high end of our price range,” Archdavies noted.

“Money won't be a problem.”

“Excellent,” he said optimistically, “it will probably be around 69,000 bytes.”

“Nice,” Macky remarked from far down the hall.

“That's fine. Do you take payments electronically?” Shock asked.

“Sure do. We also have payment plans, if necessary.”

“No need. I'd like to cover the full cost from two different sources. One payment from each.”

“We can do that. Shall we finalize the payment, then?”

“Yeah. I can show you to my office where we can seal the deal.”

“Oh! I almost forgot. We'll need your friend's head and drives to properly install into the new body and work with her during the design process.”

Shock quickly spun around. “Right. Be right back.” She walked back into Aural's room.

The only thing Aural had written since she left was “nice.”

“Okay, Aural, I have to unplug your drives now. I'm handing them over to Archdavies so he can install them into your new body after it's done being built.”

“sick.... you can trust him though right? that's gonna be my life in his hands....”

“We're paying good money for this. He'll be careful.” Shock leaned closer to the laptop. “Or I'll kick his ass,” she whispered.

“lol i hope so!!”

“It'll just be like falling asleep for a while. When you wake up, you'll be whole again.”

“hell YEA im pumped”

Shock rested her hand on the desk the computer was sitting on. She meant to reach for the eject buttons... but hesitated.

She sighed and drooped her head down, smiling. “Haha... I can't bring myself to do this. I don't want to lose you again.”

“aww.... cheer up shock, i'll only be gone for a little while like you said!”

“I know, I know. It's just... hard.”

“you can do it!! do it for me!!”

Shock took a deep breath. “Okay. Bye for now, Aural.”

“cya!!!!”

Shock ejected Aural's drives, taking a moment to look them over before (reluctantly) collecting all the components of Aural's head and bringing it all out to Archdavies. After handing Aural's drives over, Shock continued leading him down the empty hall, towards her office. “How long do you expect this to take?”

“Our facilities are adequately staffed with highly efficient production lines. Once the blueprints and modifications are programmed into our system, it'll be straight to construction. Since she's bipedal, and there's nothing too crazy about her design, I'd guess she'll have a new body within three hours.”

“Only three hours?!”

“We are a high end production company, after all.”

“That still hardly sounds possible. How can you build a robot that quickly?”

“I welcome you to take a visit to our facilities sometime. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised!”

“I'll take your word for it.” Three hours? How the hell...

“Tell her to come meet me in front of this place when she's done.”

Shock's last words to Archdavies repeatedly ran through her head as she sat outside the central tech station. The day had long since passed, and the twilight above gently illuminated the city around her. There was nobody else around. All she had to accompany her was the gentle whistle of passing desert winds.

The front of the building was lined with tall, shining lamp posts. Shock found herself just beneath one, sitting on the edge of the brick foundation where the tech station's logo stood tall in statue form next to the main entrance. Idly swaying her legs back and forth, she looked down at the picture of Aural and herself that she'd shown Archdavies.

She'd already booked the next day off. All she needed was her friend back, and her mind would be free to relax. But no matter how hard she rationalized her thoughts, she couldn't defeat the crushing paranoia of something going wrong.

What if they can't recreate Aural's body?

What if her drives get damaged in the process?

What if AHI just screws me over for the money? (That one she could rebut – she'd commissioned their factory plenty of times in the past. It would be career suicide to scam her.)

She looked down at the photo as if it was the last memory she would ever have of Aural.

She didn't have a watch or clock on her, either. She knew it'd been at least two and a half hours since Archdavies left, but anything past that was a guess. Mentally berating herself for forgetting the time, she hopped to her feet and began pacing, drawing deep breaths to stave off her anxiety.

...How many minutes had passed since she stood up? One? Three? Five? Shock was so high-strung she had a hard time recalling.

She huffed and shambled back over to her spot beneath the lamp post.

A vague silhouette appeared from the darkness down the street. As it grew closer, Shock realized she didn't recognize the figure, and her hopes quickly sank. She looked down at the ground again, putting the photo back into her satchel.

“Shock?” the figure called out.

She instantly lifted her head. Squinting, she still couldn't recognize the figure as they strode closer, until they passed beneath a lamp post.

Shock's eyes grew wide, and she put a hand on her head. “Oh my god. Oh my god.” A bright smile formed on her face as she gasped in delight. “Oh my god! Aural! That's– that's you!!”

Aural displayed a squinty-eyed expression with a huge, cheeky grin. She raised her arms out to the side. “How do I look?”

Shock ran over to her. Aural's body hadn't changed much: her arms now had intricate red patterns across them – almost like huge tattoos – and her visor was shaped just how she described it: the points curved across each other and curled down, ending in a front-facing point, just like ram horns.

But that was hardly what Shock cared about.

“Aural! Oh my god, Aural,” Shock cried, hugging her reborn friend as tightly as possible. “You're back! And... a-and you're not hurt? You're okay?”

Aural laughed. “I'm better than ever, Shock.”