I awoke slowly, confusion clouding my mind. When I managed to open my eyes, I didn’t recognize where I was, unable to even put words to what I was seeing.

  As I lay there trying to remember, I heard a jumble of sounds that didn’t make sense come from a short distance away, then I saw a face appear in my vision. It seemed familiar, but the name of the person escaped me.

  The face was talking at me, but the sounds didn’t make sense. My confusion was probably evident on my face, though I couldn’t know for sure. The voice just kept talking as I lay there, blinking.

  After some indeterminate time—probably a few minutes but I couldn’t say for sure since time felt fluid in that state—the sounds I was hearing started to resolve into recognizable words, though the identities of the voices were still foggy.

  “—won’t respond! I’m worried.”

  “Isa. There’s nothing for us to do. I’m worried too, but she’ll either recover or not.”

  As soon as I heard the name Isa, it was like something clicked, and my memories flowed back. We were on a mystery planet delving ruins when I found a set of strange spherical objects locked in a cabinet. I picked one up, and it seemed to dissolve into me, causing me to pass out in pain.

  Looking around, I realized I was still in the armory, as we were calling it, and the person sitting next to me was Isa. Off to the side were the other women in our group, and all of them looked stressed.

  My movements did not go unnoticed, and Isa immediately looked at me.

  “Pet! Are you okay? How are you feeling? How many fingers am I holding up? What—”

  “Isa, give her a chance to answer,” Jara interjected before she could keep going.

  “Ahm—” I tried speaking, but my throat was dry and scratchy.

  “Oh!” Isa said, helping me to sit up and tilting a canteen of water to my mouth. Sitting up made me dizzy for a few seconds, but I recovered and drank slowly. Once I felt somewhat hydrated, I tried speaking again.

  “I’m okay, I think. How long was I out?”

  “Over a day! What happened? We saw you pick up that sphere thing, then it disappeared and you fell unconscious!”

  “That’s pretty much it. It sort of dissolved into me, then there was pain and I passed out.”

  “If it is inside you, are you sure you’re okay?”

  “I don’t feel any different, other than a little tired and dizzy. Oh, and hungry. Really hungry.”

  “Oh! I need to get you food!” She immediately started digging through a pack, presumably for something I can eat.

  “Hey, take a deep breath. I’m okay. You seem like you’re panicking a little still.”

  Isa paused and did indeed take a deep breath. “I was just worried.”

  “We all were,” Jara added.

  I looked at the others. They all looked tired, though I thought I saw a hint of relief in their gazes.

  “Thanks for taking care of me, everyone.”

  “Of course,” Ontari said. “Even without a ship, you’re our captain.”

  “And our friend,” Ani added.

  I smiled them. “I appreciate you all.”

  By that point, Isa had opened up one of the meal pouches, handing it over, so I dug in, forcing myself to eat slowly in case I got sick. Once I finished, I focused on the group.

  “So, did you all find anything useful while I was out?”

  Jara was the one to answer. “Mostly objects we don’t recognize and, after your experience, are wary of touching. We did find some supplies that will be useful—rope, cording, tents, that sort of thing.”

  “Excellent. We’ll want to go over and inventory everything we have, but that should help.”

  ?Help.?

  “What?” I asked, after hearing a voice that seemed to come from nowhere.

  “Dax?” Jara asked. “Are you okay?”

  “I thought someone said something.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  ?Something.?

  “There it is again!”

  Jara looked around at the others before gently saying, “Dax—no one’s talking.”

  I paused for a few seconds. “Something’s wrong with me, isn’t it?”

  ?Wrong. Talking.?

  “The voice seems to be repeating words I’ve said or heard.”

  The looks on the others’ faces reflected my own worry. If I was broken somehow, how could I lead?

  ?Broken. Lead.? That one seemed a bit less defined, fuzzier somehow.

  “Okay, so it’s also responding to my thoughts now.”

  Fear flashed across Isa’s face. “Maybe more rest will fix it?” she offered hopefully.

  ?Rest. Wrong. Talking. Fix.?

  “Um, the voice might be starting to make more sense now? It said, ‘Rest. Wrong. Talking. Fix.’ It sounds like it wants me to keep talking.”

  ?Keep. Talking.?

  “It just told me to keep talking. Um, yeah, this is a problem.”

  I noticed Isa was wringing her hands, while Jara looked a bit closed-off with her arms crossed over her chest. Ontari was just staring at me, mouth slightly open, and Ani—well, Ani looked calm.

  “Okay, so you touched the sphere. It seemed to dissolve into you somehow, and now you’re hearing voices. Do I understand correctly?” Ani summarized the situation.

  “Technically, only one voice, but yeah, that about covers it.”

  ?Sphere. Voice. Keep. Talking. Help. You. Understand.?

  “I think it confirmed that the voice came from the sphere. It says to keep talking to help me understand, if I’m understanding its choppy words correctly.”

  ?You. Understanding. Correctly.?

  “Yeah, it says I’m understanding correctly.”

  “Do we really want to encourage this voice in your head?” Jara questioned.

  “What option do I have? It seems to be getting more coherent, so maybe it’ll be able to explain things better if I listen to it.”

  “I guess that’s true. It just makes me nervous.”

  ?Listen. Talking. Help me understand. Help explain things better. Help you understand.?

  “Okay, now it says that listening and talking helps it understand, so it can explain things better to help me understand. It still seems to only be repeating words I’ve heard or maybe thought clearly enough.”

  “What if you just start describing things, build up its vocabulary?” Isa suggested.

  ?Describing things. Build vocabulary. Help me understand.?

  “It agrees.” I then went around describing everything I could see, talking about my companions, our gear, the warehouse, then when I ran out of things to describe, I started talking about our situation. During that time, the others occasionally chimed in with additional information, but mostly they let me talk. Here and there, the voice would say something to encourage me to keep going.

  After a half hour or so of that, the voice interrupted me.

  ?That’s enough for now.?

  “Oh, hey, that was a complete sentence!”

  ?Yes. I understand better. I can try to explain.?

  “It’s going to try to explain,” I informed the others. “Okay, go for it, mysterious voice in my head.”

  ?When you touched the sphere, I activated. I attached to your brain and… other parts. Missing words.?

  “Nervous system?” I suggested. “That’s what we call the brain and the signal carriers attached to it.”

  ?Yes. Nervous system. I attached to your nervous system. It took a long time and caused pain because your body was unknown.?

  “Wait, so that sphere was alive?” The others were giving me confused looks, so I quickly told them I’d explain later.

  ?Not alive. It was a computer that started me.?

  “So you’re a talking computer in my head. I didn’t think that was possible.”

  ?It’s more complicated than that. I integrated with your nervous system, which allowed me to think and feel. In exchange, I can provide direct help as well as augment you further.?

  “You’re not alive, but you’re sentient?”

  ?Sentient. That is the word. I am sentient.?

  “Do you have a name?”

  ?No. No name yet.?

  “Would you like me to give you one?”

  It didn’t respond for a few seconds. ?Yes. A name is good.?

  “Do you have a preferred gender?”

  ?I am in your brain and learned from it. I am female, like you.?

  “Okay, how about Lumira?”

  ?Lumira. I… like it? Yes, I like it.?

  “Okay, Lumira it is. Now, you said something about augmenting me?”

  ?Yes. The sphere contained a database of technology that can be used to add new capabilities to your body. With sufficient time, mana, and supplies, I can augment your body with new parts and capabilities.?

  “How would that work with my shapeshifting?”

  ?Shapeshifting? I see. I will need to adapt the augments to your body anyway—I should be able to account for shapeshifting. I do not detect biological shapeshifting capabilities in your body. Is it a spell, then??

  “Yes, let me pull up the spellform.” I activated my interface, only to have Lumira interrupt.

  ?Oh, that is how that augment works. I can integrate with that.? A few seconds passed, then she continued. ?Done. Ah, a spell repository. Very useful. I see the spell in question. Please don’t use it yet—I need an hour or two to adjust myself to handle it without damaging both of us.?

  “Uh, yes. Please do that.”

  Jara finally spoke up. “Okay, Dax, enough. What’s going on? I have some idea from your half of the conversation, but it sounds really weird.”

  “That’s because it is.” I then went on to explain the situation in more detail.

  “So Lumira is some sort of synthetic symbiote that can upgrade your body?” Jara summarized.

  “Pretty much, yeah.”

  “Can you trust it?”

  “Her, and does it matter? If she were malicious, I doubt she’d need my permission to do something nefarious.”

  Jara nodded slowly. “I guess you’re right. Still worries me.”

  “Yeah, well, there’s nothing else to do.”

  I looked at the others. Ani and Ontari showed varying degrees of wariness, but Isa just looked excited.

  “Isa?” I questioned.

  “Can I have one?”

  I was surprised at that, but I probably shouldn’t have been. She always was eager for new technology.

  “Maybe wait and see if it harms me first.”

  She deflated a little, but nodded her agreement.

  ?I will not harm you,? Lumira interjected.

  “I’m going to trust you, but that doesn’t mean I want to risk my friends,” I told her.

  “Did Lumira say something?” Isa asked.

  “She said she won’t harm me.”

  I noticed Isa’s wings buzzing behind her, demonstrating her excitement.

  ?You know, you can just think things at me—you don’t have to speak aloud.?

  I paused. You can read my thoughts?

  ?Of course. I’m integrated with your brain.?

  Well that will take some getting used to.

  ?You should eat more. Once I’m done with my adjustments, we can go over some of the augments available for you.?

  I sent an affirmation before digging in my bag for another meal pouch.

  Everyone was still staring at me.

  “Seriously. I’m fine. Just hungry.”

  They didn’t relax any, but they seemed to accept my condition for the moment.

  A short while after I finished eating, Lumira informed me she was done.

  ?Shall we take a look at the list??

  I couldn’t help but smile and nod.