Dorothy sat at the edge of the table as she went through various movement exercises at the doctor’s direction. Some of the movements felt sluggish at first, like the body— no, her body, wasn’t listening to her. After a couple of times, the movements came easily and naturally. Once they had gone through the basic movements, Doctor Shack instructed her in more complex movements that normal people can't do, like completely rotating various joints around in a continuous circle. The doctor also walked her through the process of calibrating her vision, testing different settings, and customizing her HUD or Heads Up Display to provide the information she was most interested in.

To test her legs, Dorothy got to walk and then run on some sort of moving floor section. As the floor moved beneath her, she had to keep moving in order to stay in the same place. It got faster and faster until she was sprinting as fast as she could, though she wasn’t feeling winded at all. It was simply a feeling of “this is the limit of my speed right now.” Small ridges started appearing on the moving floor and Dorothy had to hop over them. After all the time she’d spent in bed, it was amazing to be able to walk and run and jump again. She felt way faster and stronger than she had ever been, even before she had gotten sick. Once her new body was completely tested and calibrated, Doctor Shack brought her over to a corner of the room and turned her to see a padded target on the far wall.

“Now Dorothy, to get you started Janos has requested that you be installed with a My First Blaster arm upgrade. Focus on your left arm and think about the blaster,” the doctor instructed.

Dorothy did as asked and was shocked when her left arm split apart, flipped around, and closed back up again. Instead of a hand, she now had some sort of pipe. She looked at the pipe and could almost angle it to look down the opening but the doctor gently pushed it away from her face.

“That, is your blaster, and you must not point it at your face,” the doctor chided. “Now here.” He pointed to a cart nearby that had several densely packed bean bags of various sizes sitting on it. “Focus on your blaster and speak the magiCode word [load].”

Again, she did as asked and her arm split open again but this time it remained open and she could see a compartment inside large enough to hold four of the smaller bean bags. The doctor took 2 of the small bean bags and placed them into the compartment and tapped a spot inside her arm and the whole thing closed back up again. In her HUD she could now see an icon in the shape of a cylinder with a drawing of a bean on it and the number 2 next to it.

“I have two cans of beans?” she asked.

“Two bean bag rounds, yes. Now point your blaster in the direction of that target over there and you will see a new icon show up that looks like a small window with four panes. That is your targeting site and it shows you where your bean bag is likely to go when you send it on its way. Do you see the little window? Good. Okay, now think about pushing the round—”

A round flew out and hit one of the control panels but it didn’t do any damage.

“...Now think about pushing the round out when the little window is over the target,” Shack continued with the tone of one who has had to repeat this particular line a great many times.

This time, Dorothy lined up the little window over top of the padded target and thought about pushing the bean bag and, with a little thoop sound, it went sailing across the room and hit the target and fell into a little tray on the floor with other such rounds.

“That was really neat!” Dorothy exclaimed.

“Mmm, yes. Now your blaster can hold four rounds before it needs to be reloaded, however since you opted for the Inventory add-on, we have linked it to your loading functions. So if you have rounds stored in there, you can simply use the magiCode word [reload] and specify which round type and it will automatically load it for you.”

“Mister Doctor, sir? I had opted for the blade skill too, do I also have a sword or something?”

The doctor tilted his head slightly before answering, “A blade augmentation was not purchased.”

“Oh, I see...” Dorothy said, a bit crestfallen.

“Are you all finished with her, doctor?” Janos said, from the room’s doorway.

“Hmm? What? Oh. Yes, yes. She can figure the rest out as she goes,” he said waving one of his skeletal hands in a shoeing manner.

Dorothy gave the doctor a big hug, “Thank you doctor!” Then she turned and ran for the door where Janos was waiting.

“Yes, well... just part of the job,” Shack mumbled before turning his back to focus on one of the control panels.

“There are some people in the waiting room that are very much looking forward to seeing you. The AutoForge doesn’t allow guests into the operating area, I’m afraid,” Janos said casually.

Dorothy followed Janos down the hall to a small room no bigger than a closet. When they entered, the doors closed on their own and Dorothy could feel the room shaking.

“What’s going on? What is this room?” Dorothy said nervously.

“Nothing to worry about,” Janos calmed as the doors opened back up again. The hallway looked exactly like how Dorothy expected it but Janos stepped out. This time instead of the side door leading to the operating area, it led to the waiting room. Before Dorothy could ask about the strange, shaking closet, she saw her parents and all thoughts of such rooms evaporated. She raced over to them and wrapped her arms around the both of them, squeezing.

“Augh!” her dad called out.

“Sorry! Sorry!” Dorothy apologized, “I guess I’m still getting used to this new strength and body.”

Her dad made a big show of how hurt his back was now and how he might not make it back home and that now Dorothy will have to carry him back instead. Dorothy laughed while her mother just squeezed and squeezed her. Dorothy absolutely loved the embrace of her mother but it felt different now. She could detect the heat coming from her mother and the amount of mass that was displaced on her mother’s body when it pushed against her, and she knew that her mother’s tears and hugs were a release of emotion and stress... but for some reason she didn’t feel like she was properly processing the hugs. It wasn’t like something was lacking on her mother’s end but more like Dorothy had forgotten how to be hugged.

“I guess now, you’re my little AutoDot,” Papa joked, giving the tried and true dad “eh, eh?” face. Dorothy rolled her eyes at being compared to the elite Automata/Botanica Royal guard unit that the empire employed, but couldn’t help but laugh at her dad’s terrible jokes. Janos sat on one of the plush chairs and motioned for the others to join them.

When everyone was seated, Janos retrieved a stack of documents, most of which already had her parents' sigil prints pressed into them.

“I’m really sorry, for having to do this after your conversion Dorothy. Normally this would all be sorted beforehand, but your condition had worsened to the point that we felt you might not have made it to the AutoForge in time and you certainly weren’t in any condition to have a proper conversation about these sorts of things. I hope you can forgive them, but your parents made most of the decisions on your behalf, leaving the final decision to you.”

“Just... just what decisions did they make?” Dorothy asked, looking from Janos to her parents. Her mother squeezed Dorothy’s hands in her lap as her father took a deep breath before clearing his throat.

“Well, Dot... as you know, I’ve been working a lot of hours at the guild so that your mom could stay home to take care of you... but the thing is, working as a clerk for the guild doesn’t pay nearly as well as working as an Adventurer for the guild... and I’m afraid that we went through all of our savings on doctors and treatments for you... It’s just...”

“Oh mi love, I so verr sorry. I know we shooda talked wit you faast, but I was juss so scared I was gon lose yuh,” mom added as new tears threatened to burst out.

“What... What did you agree to?” Dorothy asked with growing apprehension.

Janos shuffled the papers a bit and looked pointedly at Dorothy. “What we do at the Primercy is find Automata candidates like yourself, we can then apply for imperial grants and loans on your behalf to cover the costs of the conversion. We’re like a middle agency to help move the process along for folks that can’t normally afford the conversion costs.”

“So what does that mean now?” Dorothy asked.

“In order to pay back the loans, your new body will be put to work. Half of your earnings will be applied to paying off the debt.”

“And I keep the other half?”

“Of course.”

“What is it that I have to do?”

“Normally, you would have the choice of working at the mana grid where excess daily mana is collected from Automata to supply the city mana banks, enlisting in the guard— which is no place for a child—, or working for the Capital’s Courier force; but your parents decided, instead, to make you an Adventurer for the guild where your father works.”

“I’m sorry Dot, I know Adventurer work can be a little rough but it pays the best and I thought that I’d be able to keep an eye out for you...” Papa said, knitting his eyebrows, pleading for Dorothy to understand.

Dorothy suddenly stood up, to everyone's surprise, and shot a finger in her father’s direction. “HA! That’s exactly what I was planning on doing when I picked out my skills! You and I are gonna be coworkers, Papa!”

A silence hung in the air for several seconds and Dorothy started to feel very self conscious all of the sudden. Then her father burst into laughter and nearly fell out of his seat and the laughter flowed to Mama and even Janos had brought a gloved hand to their mouth to stifle a chuckle.

Dorothy turned to Janos and held up her left hand. “The doctor said that you had requested the blaster augmentation. You did that because you knew that I was going to be working at the Adventurer Guild, huh?”

“Got it in one, Miss Dorothy.”

“Well thank you. I won’t let you down.”

“Glad to hear it. The guild will send over our cut of your earnings automatically but I’ll still check in on you from time to time.”

“Oh yeah, who was that little toy robot I keep seeing everywhere? There was even some sort of drawing of one when I was picking out my skills and stuff.”

“Oh him? That was Prime, our founder.”

“THAT was Prime? I’d heard about him in school and the freeing of the Automata and all... I thought he would have been... I dunno... bigger?”

Janos laughed, “yeah... we hear that a lot.”

By the time that Dorothy and her parents left the AutoForge, it was already evening and the first of the three moons had already started to appear in the sky. Dorothy laughed at her father’s terrible jokes and held her mother’s hand as they walked the city streets back home. Light stone lamps were coming on, to light the way as the shops closed up and restaurants and bars opened up.

A scream sliced through Dorothy’s jovial mood, and she saw a hooded figure clutching a purse and running in their direction. Beyond them she could see an older goblin woman on the ground. It looked like she had been knocked over and might be hurt. Dorothy recoiled from the sight of the thief racing in her direction and pulled behind her mother. Papa put himself in front of his family and raised his fists, ready to attack or defend as needed.

A thin snake of light zipped across the street, hitting the thief in the back. The thief’s whole body went rigid and their eyes rolled back in their sockets before they collapsed on the ground, twitching. Now that the figure was closer, and on the ground, Dorothy peeked around her mother to look and could see a young, male harpy; at least, she thought he was a harpy. Strange that he hadn’t flown away then.

A blue light flashed from across the street and one of the Knight Patrol slowly pulled up on a large motorcycle. The shock bolt must have come from the knight to subdue the thief. The knight got off of their motorcycle and stepped over to the prone harpy. She pulled her helmet off to reveal bright golden eyes, long blood red hair, red skin, and dainty horns. The motorcycle converted into a large Automata and walked over as well.

“That him?” the motorcycle asked in a low rumble as the knight pushed the thief onto his back with her boot.

“Nah, looks like another harpy kid though,” she replied matter-of-factly.

“Um excuse me?” Dorothy spoke up.

The knight looked over at Dorothy’s family, then down at her and tilted her head.

“What’s going to happen to him?” Dorothy asked.

“Well aren’t you just the cutest?” the motorcycle said as they stepped over to her and squatted down to get a better look. “Don’t worry, we’ll be taking the kid to the station where we’ve got a healer that will look ‘em over. The kid will probably get some community service. What’s your name kiddo?”

Dorothy looked up at her parents and her father gave her a small smile. “I’m Dorothy.”

“It’s nice to meet you Dorothy, my name is Jenny. Did you just convert?”

“Um... yes? Just today. How did you know?”

“Well, one day I’d like to try for a detective position, but your body is all shiny and new and doesn’t have any upgrades or cosmetics. So it’s pretty easy to tell.”

“Oh, I didn’t think about that...”

“Yo, Jen! Let’s get this kid back, I’ll get the statement from the vic!” the knight yelled out.

“Well, duty calls. Have a good night folks,” Jenny said as she stood up and walked back over to the harpy.

“Jenny!” Dorothy called out, “can I talk to you sometimes?”

“Sure kiddo, I work out of station 4. Come see me anytime,” she said, giving Dorothy a wink before she transformed back into motorcycle mode.

The knight picked the harpy up and sat them in a new seat that definitely wasn’t there before. The knight had placed restraints on the harpy and those restraints then locked into place on the motorcycle seat. Jenny drove off with the harpy secured and her blue light flashing. Dorothy watched her go as the knight walked up to them.

“Okay folks, I’m going to need a brief statement about what you saw,” the knight said.

“Sure, sure. Though there isn’t much to tell,” Papa offered.

Dorothy stopped paying attention to the adults speaking and walked over to the old lady that was now sitting in a chair that someone had brought out for her.

“Don’t yuh git too faar nah,” her mother warned.

Dorothy gave her a bit of a wave of acknowledgement and stood in front of the old lady.

“Are you okay?” she asked the goblin.

“You’re sweet to ask,” the lady replied. “I’m fine. Just a bit shaken is all. Must have been one of those harpy gangsters you hear about lately.”

“Harpy gangsters?” Dorothy asked.

“Oh you hadn’t heard? Yes! I heard from Martha, who’s son is friends with someone in the watch that there’s been a growing number of gangs on the rise. All young harpies and none of them able to fly! Quite the mystery. I heard from Gina, who’s husband heard it from somewhere that all the knights are busy trying to find... The mastermind.”

“Oh my! A mastermind, behind it all?”

“I know! I can’t wait to tell the ladies in the bridge club that I was assaulted by a real harpy gangster!” she said with a bit of a mischievous giggle. “Oh that Anya will just be green, well more green than usual. She thinks she’s some hot stuff just because her son in law builds suspension bridges but everyone knows that trusses are better anyhow, right?”

“I’ve never thought about—”

“Yes, I think so too, though you can’t beat a nice covered bridge over a tranquil stream for charm. My Herburt, bless his soul, used to shingle the roofs on covered bridges, you know.”

“Did he now? That’s an interesting line of w—”

“I told him it was dangerous work, of course, but did he listen to me? Of course not. What do you think happened, well of course he slipped right off one day, bless his soul.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“What for dear?” the old lady asked, looking confused.

“Well, for your loss.”

“Loss? I should be so lucky, that lump is in the bar across the street.”

Dorothy couldn’t help it and started giggling. The old goblin gave her a sly smile and a wink as the knight finished up with her parents.

“Off you go dear,” the old lady said, turning her attention to the knight.

“It was nice talking to you!” Dorothy called back as she ran back to her parents.

The rest of the walk home was uneventful but Dorothy couldn’t help replaying the events in her mind. How might things have gone if the Knight Patrol hadn’t shown up? What if she had stepped in front of her father to protect them instead with her new Automata body? She was now supposed to be skilled in both ranged and bladed combat, though she wasn’t currently armed with anything more than an empty blaster. Maybe she should have gone for the unarmed combat plugin after all.

When they got home, Mama started to make dinner and Papa brought Dorothy up to the small attic space that was over her parents room.

“So Dot, you know that I used to be an Adventurer, right?” he asked.

“Sure, till you took an arrow to the knee.” She’d heard the story plenty of times about how Papa and Mama were both Adventurers and trying to stop some criminals from escaping when Papa was shot and his knee never healed properly. The injury took him out of the field and he’d been working as a clerk for the Adventurer Guild ever since.

“Right, so if you’re going to become an Adventurer then you’re going to need some gear to get started.” Papa opened up an old chest, inside was various tools, weapons, belts with pouches, and some armor. “This stuff might be kind of old, but it should still be serviceable and we can try to alter what doesn’t fit to make it work for you.”

“Oh! Thanks Papa!” Dorothy exclaimed, giving her father a hug. She started going through the chest contents. Some of the leather goods had become brittle and weren’t holding together so well, though his old leather cuirass was still good if you replaced the straps. She found an old short sword that would work well for her size, the scabbard was faded but was clean and free of any rust or mold. She found some pouches full of what were once smoke bombs, some potions, a length of twine, a compass... all of which had long passed their individual shelf lives. The twine might come in handy though, so she kept that. She pulled out her father’s old boots, they were far too large for a human child but her Automata body had different proportions than a human; namely her lower legs and forearms were a bit thicker and her extremities a bit larger. They might fit. Her father’s adventure pants were in mostly good condition, except for a hole in the knee. They had reinforced gussets, extra padding at the hips and knees— which were useless to her now— and pockets. Nice big pockets too, on the thighs. Dorothy had the Inventory add-on but it had a finite storage space so the more she could save it for really important things, the better.

When she’d finished raiding her father’s old Adventurer chest, they headed back down to the main family room where Mama had finished preparing dinner.

“We dun have much till mi get to da mahket,” her mother explained, “But I wah still able ta make da plop bread yuh like sah much Dotty mi love.”

Dorothy sat down at the table and instinctively tried to smell the food before her but without lungs or even a nose there was no way to inhale. Instead she simply became aware of the chemical compounds in the air. She picked up one of the plob breads that her mother had made, she loved those, especially with the chickie bone soup and some butter. Instead of eating, she just looked at the bread in her hand. There was no sense of hunger, no desire to eat this, no matter how good it looked. She gently felt her mouth and though it opened and closed, she realized that it wasn’t actually an opening. There were teeth and a tongue, but the teeth were actually all one solid ridge and when she explored with her tongue she found the back of her mouth to be solid. She focused on keeping her mouth closed and straight and asked her father if she could go to the guild hall with him in the morning. To her surprise the sound of her voice came out and her words were spoken perfectly even though her mouth hadn’t moved.

“Well sure, that’s the plan,” Papa answered.

“Great, thanks,” she said, giving him a smile.

Dorothy realized that her mouth was entirely cosmetic. Its sole purpose was to make facial expressions and to communicate with others. You never really think about how much communication is done without words and simply by reading people’s faces, Dorothy thought.

“Erra ting okay, mi love? Yuh not eatin’ a bite,” her mother asked.

“I’m sorry Mama... I don’t think I can...” Dorothy said sadly, setting down the bread. She opened her mouth to show her mother how it was a fake.

“Well if that don’t beat all,” Papa said. “I guess we’ll save some money on food expenses!”

Mama gave him a glare.

“If it’s okay, can I get up?” Dorothy asked.

“Uh ‘course mi love,” Mama answered, though she gave a worried look to Papa when Dorothy wasn’t looking.

Dorothy got up from the table and brought the collection of Adventurer gear that she’d claimed into the family room and set up a work area for herself. She sorted what could be used right away from what needed repair and got to work popping rivets and removing damaged leather straps.

“Mama? Can I get some new leather straps from your shop?”

“Yuh know where day be?”

“Yup,” she called back as she raced out of the room and to the front of the building where her mother’s store front was.

She returned to her work station with a selection of different leather strapping of various thicknesses and widths along with some rivets, grommets, and some tools.

“‘Ey now, I don’t tink I aut’orized alla dat now,” Mama said with a bit of faux indignation. “Yuh best put it all back whera yuh foun’ it when yuh done.”

“Yes Mama,” Dorothy replied absently as she got to work. To Dorothy’s delight, she found that with her new Automata strength, she could punch the awl through the leather without any effort at all. She also discovered that she could be extremely precise with the tool without shaking hands or finger cramps. As an added benefit, she could spin her wrist around in continuous circles while holding the tool and be her own drill. She was so excited by the discoveries that she had to show her mother who told her that the next time she has any client work that deals with punching leather that Dorothy will be the one handling it, which filled Dorothy with joy and she bounced lightly on her way back to her work.

Mama cleared up the remains of dinner and would check on Dorothy’s work from time to time as she worked on her own hand sewing. Papa was lost in the pages of a novel and rarely heard anything that was said to him. At this point it was pretty much a running joke between Dorothy and Mama.

“Owa kay now mi loves, e’ time for bed,” Mama said, gathering up her supplies and powering down the light stone lamps. “Comme now Papa, up yeh git.”

Dorothy looked at her father to see that he was already sleeping in his chair. Mama poked him with the end of awl but he didn’t stir. Eventually she gave up with a shrug and left him sleeping.

“All right Dotty Oh, yah too.”

“Mama, I’m not even tired. Not even a little bit, besides I’m finally free from that bed. Can I stay up a bit longer? I’ll keep an eye on Papa and the fire.”

Her mother sighed, but relented. “Fine, yeh can stay oop till yuh faha come to da bed.”

“Thanks Mama!”

As luck would have it, Dorothy’s father slept soundly through the night in his chair. When morning came and Mama emerged from her bed room, bleary eyed and scratching her hip, Dorothy had completed all of her equipment alterations and had coffee and breakfast ready and waiting for her.

“Wass all dis now?” her mother asked. “Deed yeh git up early after stayin’ oop late?”

“No Mama, I’ve been up the whole night! And I’m still not tired at all!”

“Ah mi love, yuh s’posed ti go to da guil’ wit yuh faha todee. Yuh gon be too tied ta a’vencha.”

“Maybe Automata don’t need to sleep,” Dorothy wondered aloud.

“Wee joss see ‘bout dat,” Mama said as she sat down to the prepared meal. She took a sip of the coffee and immediately spit it back out.

“Mama! What’s the matter?” Dorothy asked, concerned.

“Dorothy mi love... dit yuh use da filtah?”

“Filter?”

Mama closed her eyes and took a deep breath and let it out slowly before putting on a smile. “Tanks fah da t’ought mi love.” She then got up and dumped out the coffee and started a fresh pot. “Come. I show yuh da right way ta doit. Mayb I shood ha’ sa’ed some fah yuh faha.”

Dorothy felt bad for making a mess of the coffee but still had to laugh at the idea of her Papa trying to drink it down. He would have pretended it was the best coffee he’d ever had too and probably ended up sick for his efforts.

“Git up nao yuh lump!” Mama shouted as she tossed a spoon at Papa. The spoon was on a collision course with Papa’s head but in a flash, his arm lashed out and he appeared wide awake as he snached the spoon out of the air. Dorothy noticed that while he gave the impression of being wide awake, his eyes were still focusing as he was piecing together where he was and what had happened. Must have been those old Adventurer honed reflexes.

Papa’s battle alertness faded and he slumped back into the chair before groaning and slowly pulling himself up. He smacked his lips and looked at the spoon in his hand, then looked around the chair confused.

“What’s the matter Papa?”

“Um... I have a spoon. Did I fall asleep eating? I don’t see a bowl or anything,” he said scratching his head.

Mama and Dorothy burst out laughing and he shuffled over to the table to sit down to a breakfast of burnt toast and undercooked grackle eggs.