They exited onto Main Street, re-boarded the Corpse Seeker and then rapidly arrived at the pier and once again disembarked.

  Katherine's height drew stares from passing pedestrians, but Cascade had seen enough alien visitors in the past few days that nobody panicked, although a few people sneakily pulled out their phones.

  "So," Maksym said as they walked, "you mentioned Kawathra designed your body under your specifications. What made you pick the whole geometric cyborg aesthetic? Why not go for something more, I dunno, organic? Like... your actual body? Can't your fancypants alien fabricator make literally almost anything?"

  Katherine eyed the human as they walked down the weather-beaten planks of the pier. Seagulls circled overhead, their cries mixing with the sound of waves lapping against the pilings. "The Seeker fabricator is indeed capable of printing organic materia, but I wanted something that reflected who I am now and who I want to be. I can always ask Kawthy to change things up if I discover any deficiencies in my current body.”

  "Deep and handy," Maksym said, pulling open the door to Pier Shark. A bell jingled. "So you're like, embracing your inner robot? That's metal. Literally."

  Katherine's hexagon-pixelated mouth twitched.

  "What?" he asked.

  "I'm judging your terrible wordplay," she fired back.

  "Lies, you love it." Maksym grinned. "Come on, let's procure aquatic espionage gear for my best friend-o."

  The interior of the shop smelled of salt, neoprene, and a rather particular brand of maritime commerce that catered to tourists who watched one too many diving documentaries. Racks of wetsuits lined the walls alongside snorkels, fins, and various other equipment designed to keep humans alive underwater.

  A grizzled, ginger man in his sixties sat behind the counter, reading a magazine about bass fishing. His name tag outed him as "Captain Dick."

  "Can I… Help you?" Dick looked up, then did a double-take at Katherine. "Oh sheet… Is that one of them aliens?"

  "Yep!" Maksym bravely strolled up to the counter. "She's my girlfriend. We need diving equipment. Full oxygen tank, mask, the works. Rental for like… seven hours?"

  Dick squinted at Katherine. "Your girlfriend, huh?"

  "Yep." Maksym leaned against the counter, radiating maximum confidence. "We're very much in love. Been together for..." He glanced at his smart watch. "Twenty-three minutes now. It's getting pretty serious."

  Katherine's three eyes blinked from left, right to center. "Pretty sure that's... not how relationships work, Maksym."

  "Says you!" Maksym turned back to Captain Dick. "She's always saying stuff like that. Very literal. It's one of her quirks. I find it freaking adorable."

  The shop owner scratched his salt-and-pepper beard, still staring at Katherine. "She's got three eyes.”

  "Good observation skills!" Maksym gave him a thumbs up. "Top A+ customer service. Now about the diving gear?"

  "And her legs bend the wrong way. And it looks like she's naked. No shirt, no service."

  "Hrm," Maksym evaluated the cyborg's large chest and grabbed a "I AM A SHARK-BAE!" extra large shirt with a stylized art of an anime girl shark holding an achor and rapidly pulled it onto Katherine. "There. She's in a shirt now. I'll take the shirt too."

  "Uh-huh," Dick huffed. "Still got them weird legs."

  "Captain Dick, can I call you Dick? Actually, gonna call you Dick anyway. My girlfriend's legs are perfect exactly as they are. Alien bod and post-invasion positivity, Dick. It's 2025. We don't judge."

  Captain Dick set down his bass fishing magazine. "I've been running this shop for thirty-seven years. Seen a lot of weird shit. Tourists trying to dive drunk. City folk who think a wetsuit is a fashion statement. But I ain't never rented equipment to an alien before."

  "First time for everything!" Maksym spread his arms. "Come on, Dick. Where's your sense of adventure? Your pioneering spirit? Your capitalistic drive to make money regardless of species?"

  "The last one," Dick admitted. "That one I got plenty of." He stood up. "You want the full package? Tank, regulator, BCD vest, mask, fins?"

  "Yes to all of that!" Maksym pulled out his wallet. "How much we talking?"

  "Ninety plus tax for the day for everything. Plus twenty for the shirt."

  "Deal!" Maksym slapped down his credit card. "N'ways the rental is for me, it obviously won't fit her sexy alien cyborg bod. She can probably exist underwater without the need for such primitive breathing devices, right, babe?"

  "Right," Katherine said, making a cute, slightly annoyed, but mostly amused face.

  "Uh-huh." Dick scratched his beard again. "N’hows, tank's got about three hours of air at recreational depths. Don't go deeper than sixty feet unless you want nitrogen narcosis. And for the love of god, don't hold your breath on ascent or your lungs'll explode like a party balloon. More warnings are in the brochure that comes along with the rental."

  "Noted! Two tanks then," Maksym hefted the tank onto his back, staggering slightly under the weight. "Lungs not exploding is definitely on my to-do list today."

  Katherine reached out and effortlessly took the tank from him, holding it one-handed. "I'll carry this."

  "See?" Maksym gestured at her. "Best girlfriend ever. Strong AND hot. Total package."

  "You've known me for twenty-four minutes," Katherine pointed out, grabbing a second tank.

  "Twenty-FIVE now," Maksym corrected. "Time flies when you're in love. Come on, let's get back to the Seeker before Kawthy starts criticizing our slowness."

  . . .

  "You know what's funny?" Maksym said as they climbed back into the Seeker's crystalline-organic interior. "I bet Captain Dick is gonna tell that story for the rest of his life. 'The day an alien rented diving gear from my shop.' Probably frame the receipt."

  Katherine settled into one of the crystalline seats, the diving tanks resting beside her. "Why would he frame a receipt?"

  "Because it's a STORY, Kat!" Maksym flopped into the seat beside her as the Seeker began moving. "Humans love stories. We collect them like magpies collect shiny objects. Five years from now, Dick's gonna be at some bar telling everyone about the three-eyed cyborg alien who came into his shop with her human boyfriend."

  "You keep calling yourself my boyfriend. Is that really just to relax other humans?"

  "Nah! I'm manifesting!" Maksym grinned. "That's what you do when you want something. You speak it into existence. The universe hears you and goes 'okay, sure, why not?' It's basically magic."

  "That's not how reality or magic works. Local humans aren't wizards. You don't have any magic powers, I'm quite certain of this fact," she stated. “The local humans are null on the Aetheric scale.”

  "Wrong!" Maksym pointed at his chest triumphantly. "I have the most OP magic power of all—social skills! Watch and learn."

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  The cyborg raised a single red eyebrow.

  He turned to Kawathra, who sat in front of them. "Hey Kawthy! You think Kat and I make a cute couple?"

  Kawathra glanced back from the pilot's nest. "Oh absolutely! You two are adorable together. Very shippable."

  "See?" Maksym declared triumphantly. "The bird ships us. Do you require more affirmation? Hey, Linari! Do we smell like we'd make an amazing team? Rate our love compatibility with your Scrutery!"

  "You want me to Scrutinize your... Love compatibility?" The wolf girl's dry tone suggested she thought Maksym had suffered recent brain damage. It definitely looked like nobody'd ever asked her to smell such a thing before. Or maybe she was simply exhausted from fighting with the bird over boyfriend scheduling.

  "Yeah!" Maksym added. "Come on, Linari! Use those fancy wolf powers! Tell us what our combined scent profile reveals about our romantic potential!"

  The Scrutimancer yawned. "That's not how Scrutiosmia works."

  "How DO you know?" Maksym pressed. "Have you ever tried? Maybe you're sitting on this incredible matchmaking superpower and just never explored or exploited it!"

  Linari pinched the bridge of her snout. "I can smell emotional states. Fear, arousal, aggression, stress. I can detect lies through pheromone shifts. I can locate magical items. I cannot divine romantic compatibility from—"

  "Ah, but… you CAN smell if she's into me, no?" Maksym interrupted triumphantly.

  Katherine's digital face flushed red. "What… you…”

  "I don’t need to smell shit. Look at her screens," Linari rolled her eyes. "She IS obviously into you."

  “The screens aren't a trick then?”

  “No.”

  "Ha!" Maksym grinned at Katherine. "Sniffing Science has confirmed our love!"

  "That's not what I said," Linari protested mildly.

  "Too late!" Maksym declared. "It's canon now!"

  "I see how this game is played," Katherine said, "Linari, does he like me?"

  Linari's ears twitched.

  "For Slayer’s sake," the wolf groaned with a single sniff in Maksym’s direction. "I'm definitely not drunk enough for whatever this is. Yes. He's into you. Hard. His thoughts are screaming 'PLEASE NOTICE ME' extra loud."

  "HA!" Katherine pointed at Maksym. "Sniffing Science strikes again."

  "Betrayed by my own biology!" Maksym clutched his chest theatrically. "My body has ratted me out! This is a violation of the bro code between a man and his hormones!"

  Piotr snorted from where he sat in Linari's lap. "Bro, you literally just asked her to smell-check your feelings."

  "Totally different!" Maksym protested. "I was supposed to use Lin's powers to prove Kat likes me, not expose my own thirst!"

  "You're an idiot," Linari said flatly.

  "An idiot with excellent taste in alien cyborgs!" Maksym shot back. "Kat, now that we are bird and wolf shipped, I'm officially petitioning for a date. A real one. Not this thing where I drag you around town for twenty minutes calling you my girlfriend."

  "When?"

  "Right now!" he declared boldly.

  Katherine's pixelated expression slid from giddy amusement to mild exasperation. "We're in the middle of helping your friend escape forest predators, no?"

  "Perfect first date activity!" Maksym laughed. "Kawthy stop at the Alcohol shop on 35th and Main. The wolf must be paid in booze for her great services!"

  Linari lit up with a canine smile.

  "Actually... Everyone will be paid in booze for this glorious mission. Hiking and booze go great together." Maksym declared. "Kat, have you ever sampled our Earth beers? Also can you drink through that mask?"

  "I've never tried beer," the cyborg admitted. "My face can unlock for food consumption, see?"

  Her magitek snout suddenly split open along the digital mouth line producing a real mouth which she opened wide to demonstrate. A long, dark, wet tongue emerged, licking the air.

  "Yass!" Maksym clapped, staring at the fantastically long tongue with wide, excited eyes.

  Everything was turning up Dax.

  . . .

  As the Seeker banked smoothly around other vehicles, Katherine found herself intently studying the human who'd declared himself her boyfriend after mere twenty-some minutes of acquaintance. His social energy was relentless. Somewhat exhausting, even. Not unpleasant though.

  It was nice to be appreciated, to be stared at. Being admired and complimented was an entirely new and wonderful feeling.

  She had obviously known Dax for far longer than twenty minutes as a gun unit, but he didn't show anywhere as much interest back then, did he? Then again, he did give her and Etty a compliment when they met yesterday.

  "So Kati-o-sama," Maksym said, turning to face her. "Tell me about yourself. What do you do when you're not getting dragged into forest warfare by strange humans?"

  Katherine's processors flagged this as a dangerous question. She didn't exactly want to outright out herself as Galateya's Keiy. The longer she spent in her new partially organic body frame, the less she felt like a gun unit and more like an actual... Person. She really didn't want to give any of it up.

  "I'm... recovering. As Kawathra mentioned," she said simply.

  "Right, right. The whole 'incompetent commander destroyed a third of your brain' thing. That's rough. But like, before that? What were you into?"

  "Killing things for my Commander," she replied simply.

  "Okay. That's... direct. But like, what KIND of killing? Hunting? Combat? Pest control? Because those are all super different vibes."

  "Combat primarily. Hostile target elimination. Threat neutralization."

  "So you were like... a soldier?"

  "A tool," Katherine sighed. "A very... efficient tool."

  "Ouch." Maksym winced. "That's some heavy self-perception there, Kat. You know, you're more than a tool, especially now that you’re on Earth chillin’ with humans!"

  "I'm... aware." Katherine displayed a half-smile that decayed into a grimace. "That's... part of the recovery process. I am gradually redefining my sense of self beyond parametric obedience functionality."

  "Self therapy!" Maksym snapped his fingers. "Makes sense. You're basically going through an identity crisis. Been there. Senior year of uni, I had this whole crisis about whether I actually wanted to be an engineer or if I was just doing it because my dad expected it. Turns out I DO love engineering, but only after I stopped trying to be the kind of engineer he wanted."

  Katherine tagged this as [personal-vulnerability-sharing] and cross-referenced it against social interaction protocols she'd absorbed from the Weapon-Net. Humans bonded through mutual disclosure of weaknesses. It was… odd… inefficient, but… effective.

  "What kind of engineer did your father want you to be?" she asked.

  "The boring kind!" Maksym spread his hands. "Structural engineering. Buildings. Bridges. Very respectable. Very stable career. Meanwhile I wanted to do robotics and automation. Make things that MOVE. Things that DO stuff. Dad thought that was frivolous."

  "Is it?" Katherine tilted her head. "Frivolous?"

  "Hell no!" Maksym grinned. "Robotics is the FUTURE! Well… it was, until you aliens showed up with your fancy crystalline biotech and made almost all of our technology look like Stone Age cave paintings. Thanks for that, by the way."

  "You're welcome," Katherine said.

  Maksym stared at Katherine for three full seconds before bursting into laughter. "Oh my god, you're so literal! That's mega-cute!"

  "Was I supposed to detect sarcasm?" Katherine asked.

  "Probably, but don't worry about it." Maksym wiped his eyes. "Honestly, the deadpan delivery makes it even better. You're naturally funny and you don't even realize it."

  "Humor wasn't part of my original programming," Katherine said, then immediately cursed herself internally.

  Too much information, idiot! She was supposed to be a recovering pradavarian soldier, not a gun unit learning to be a person.

  "Programming?" Maksym latched onto the word. "You mean like training? Military conditioning?"

  "Yes," Katherine said quickly. "Intensive behavioral modification protocols. Very rigid. Not conducive to developing personality quirks. I was on a… Very tight… blood contract leash."

  "Sounds sucky." Maksym nodded. "I’ve got a buddy in the military… Uhrm, Polish military, not alien military. N’ he said boot camp basically strips you down to parts and reassembles you into a weapon. Took him years to remember how to laugh at stupid shit again."

  Katherine nodded, relieved that her cover wasn't blown.

  “We're at the Alcohol shop,” Kawathra announced.

  Linari disembarked rapidly, dragging Piotr out after herself. Etty skittered after them, blessing Katherine with a suspicious look.

  Katherine stood up and wondered what it would be like to get drunk as a person who was secretly a gun. She looked down at the "Shark-bae" t-shirt and turned off her emotion-displays before they exploded into revealing brilliant hearts on fire.

  She wasn't going to make it THAT easy for him. The emotion-displays seemed like a great idea, but they were far too revealing as she had learned. There was definitely an art to love and she wasn't going to be blatantly obvious about it like… Galateya.

  Hiss.

  Galateya. She was going to make Galateya pay. Not painfully by freezing her mind, but maybe with a prank or twelve.

  He he he.

  Katherine focused on the nice things in her life.

  Her first shirt! Her first gift from a human... suitor! Her first date!

  Eeeeeee!

  In the depths of her neuralscape, a new tree bloomed from the ice, covered in colorful shirts.