Just after Samson had typed that, I was slapped with a flash a pain as what felt like thousands of needles being jabbed into my flesh all over my body. It passed quickly and was followed by the more surreal if relatively painless feeling of ants crawling under my skin and all over the insides of my body. I endured the sensation while watch the percentage of the collection go up steadily over several minutes. When it reach 100%, the sensation went away and I breathed a sigh of relief.

  COLLECTION OF TOMAS’S BIOLOGICAL DATA 100% COMPLETE.

  ANALYZING AND PROCESSING. . .

     Nothing happened to me during the few seconds it took to complete.

  ANALYSIS AND PROCESSING OF TOMAS’S BIOLOGICAL DATA COMPLETE.

  STAGE ONE OF BONDING PROCESS COMPLETED.

  MOVING ON TO STAGE TWO.

  ENHANCEMENT OF PILOT’S BODY AND ASSIMILATION INTO SYSTEMS.

     “Wait, what?” I said when I saw the word ‘assimilation’. Then the pain hit my body like a sack of sledge hammers and it felt like I was being torn apart from the inside out. There was only so much I could endure and the thought that I might be absorbed into the robotic suit put me into panic mode.

     “Ow! Stop! STOP!” I yelled.

  RESISTANCE FROM PILOT TOMAS DETECTED.

  HALTING PROCESS AT 15%

     The pain went away the moment Samson stopped.

     “What the hell, Samson!? What are you trying to do!? Eat me!?” I yelled.

  PROCESSING COMPLAINT. . .

  PILOT TOMAS’

     “You don’t have to call me your pilot. Just call me Tomas.” I told it. I watched as Samson corrected its previous line.

  TOMAS’S ASSUMPTION IS INCORRECT.

  I WAS NOT TRYING TO ‘EAT’ YOU. I WAS INTEGRATING THE NANITES INTO YOUR TISSUES THAT I HAD PREVIOUSLY INJECTED TO COLLECT YOUR BIOLOGICAL DATA. THIS IS NECESSARY FOR YOU TO BE ENHANCED AND A CONNECTION FORMED BETWEEN YOUR BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS AND MY OWN MECHANICAL AND DIGITAL ONES. ONCE COMPLETED,WHENEVER YOU ‘WEAR’ ME, WE WOULD ESSENTIALLY BE OF ONE BODY. OUR MINDS WOULD STILL BE SEPARATE.