[A mantis elbow blade is a high performance combat blade for artificial arms, mainly used for decapitation of targets]

Kindly explain to me Hallie, where is said blade? Because I’m just looking at a simple tin arm.

[Deploying mantis elbow blade]

A click sounds and then a curved blade, similar to a scythe, pops out of my right arm. I nearly fall flat on my ass from sheer shock. What is this thing doing here?!

I look closely and my arm has no slot open for this to have come out, so how?

[User’s arm is made of metal alloy and synthetic nanites that allow changes in shape and structure]

So this thing comes out of my arm and then it closes the exit by itself? That is equal parts useful and disgusting.

Looking closely at this mantis blade thing, it’s actually just a scythe, the “handle” part is connected to my elbow, so the blade is positioned to do a sweep attack, that explains the “mainly used for decapitation”.

How do I retract it?

As i think of it, it automatically retracts, and this time i watch closely as it goes in. The arm opens up a slot for the blade to come in, and then it automatically closes like a liquid. Makes me feel like I have a jello arm.

Alright, so now, what about the wrist blade and burst beam?

[Deploying Wrist Blade]

A long, sharp blade starts to come out of the top of my wrist, stopping after it reaches around half a meter. It’s basically a sword at this point, and has a double edge which looks extremely sharp. I have to be careful waving this around. As with the mantis blade, i just think of storing it and it goes back to the wrist, the same procedure as before.

And what happened to the burst beam?

[Use of bust beam indoors is not recommended, risk of fire and risk of explosion is above 99%]

Oh my, now I'm even more curious. Can you explain to me what it is?

[Burst beam refers to a charged laser shot that is fired from the user’s Tracer. It’s considered a rare module because it’s use is limited to a range of 3 meters and the side effects include loss of vision from the device and it’s high risk of collateral damage]

So can I shoot lasers from this red eye? That’s… unsurprising. But I’ll have to remember not to try it until later.

I pass some more time learning about this body’s capabilities until I hear a ring from the door. After that, it slides open and there’s 3 people outside. I recognize one of them as Arman, the lead scientist from before, but the other two are unknowns. The one in front is a tall, broad shouldered, intense looking dude, and judging from his uniform and medals, it has to be a soldier, highly ranked. The other one is a woman, the first one i’ve seen since waking up, finally.

- Lieutenant Lilith Zsofia - Said the guy, his voice as thick as his arms - I’m General Hyrvin from the Stellar Union of Humankind military, this one is Miss Anne Carbuncle, the head of this space station and an executive from Dominion Corp.

I just nod at his words. I just realized that I've been foolishly thinking we were on Earth, I didn't ask where exactly we are.

The woman just smiles slightly at me while standing completely straight, hands behind her back.

I nod at the General, and he just stares at me, as if waiting for a salutation. You might be a general but I'm not your underling so shove it.

After a while he just coughs and continues - We’ve come to escort you to the army quarters here on Arkanth-1, please come with us.

I sigh, which apparently annoys the general as I hear a low snort, but I don't care. I get up and start following them.

We walked for around 15 minutes, during which I could actually see a bit more of this place. Before when i was directed to the room i just saw white corridors and that’s it. Now, we’ve left this building that looks like a small tower, and I'm greeted by the view outside.

It’s a beautiful city, full of buildings, both tall and small, and there’s views of parks in the distance, and the most notorious, the force field in the sky, which simulates a blue sky but you can see the technological particles here and there, and my now enhanced eyesight pinpoints that which i want to see.

Before, there were only small space stations that were all in the form of ships, this worldlike simulation was just a goal in the future, it’s nice to see that humankind managed to achieve it.

We enter one of the tallest towers on sight, and from the door I can see a lot of military. The uniforms are white with blue stripes, and they are wearing what I can tell at first sight is high-tech armor, some even have full body armor and heavy weaponry on hand. What are this guys so armed for? I read via Hallie that there are some terrorist groups here and there, mostly religious and extremist groups but it said that incidents were rare.

We get on what looks like an elevator but as soon as we are all inside, the view instantly blurs and changes in a second, and we are on another floor. Was that teleportation? I feel like a grandma, gawking at everything.

Arman, with his perennial smile, looks at me with delight, ready to explain, but I refrain from asking.

As we step onto the floor, I see that we are in some sort of meeting room. There’s a table in front of us, and the three I came with just leisurely walk to and sit down in front of the table. I follow them, seating in the closest chair I find.

- Connect us to the meeting - Says the general, and several holographic projections are shown on screen.

There are at least 20 projections, each showing at least one person, some showing a meeting room similar to this one. The one thing in common is that I feel all eyes on me.

- We can start the meeting about subject 00-001, Lilith Zsofia - Said a voice coming from one of the holograms, an old woman in a business suit, with a dead look in her eyes - Greetings Miss Zsofia, i’m Vanessa van der Mann, the CEO of Dominion Corporation, we’d like to welcome you to the team and are here to give you a formal welcoming and brief you on our expectations about our work together.

I raise an eyebrow at the comment. I expected some kind of shady business some time along the way, but fuck, these guys don’t mess around.

I close my eyes, and after a deep breath, calming my raging mind, I recline myself on the chair, and look at the hologram with a serious look - Who said i wanted to work with you?