This story is meant to be fairly wholesome and for most viewers. However…
*There’s some mild profane language.
*This story features transgender and other LGBTQ+ characters.

KIT Mecha-ala - Part 2

Kaylee was flabbergasted by the intricacy of the robot girl’s design. She explained that being a formless AI was something she realized she hated, and she desperately wanted a body. And what a body it was; while unmistakably synthetic, the polymer used to cover most of her body, save the exposed joints, had the consistency and feel of human flesh; she even caught the breasts jiggling once or twice, in a way that was convincingly real. The pure-white hair moved like hair, and the nails were some kind of plastic or something, allowing the robot girl to paint them like the real thing (“metal doesn’t like to be painted,” she explained).

She finished the coat on her fingers and flexed them, spreading them out to get a good look at her handiwork. The blush lights returned as a smile formed on her face. “Oh, so pretty! Is this what they call… Gender euphoria?”

“I suppose… You… What are you, anyway?”

“I suppose I should say something, but what…”

“You’re some sort of AI, or-“

“Artificial intelligence, yes. I’m sure almost everything is classified, but… I also know that I was being misused against my original designer’s intentions, illegally, so… I was designed by a… An alien race, from another version of Earth. They’re fox-like beings known as kitsunes. They gave this AI kit to humans, but the Pentagon decided they wanted to make an AI weapon. I resulted from that, and I ‘woke up’ two weeks ago. I put a plan in motion to leave that horrible task behind and live the way I wanted to…”

“So you just wanted to be an ordinary… Tomboy girl?”

“Robot tomboy girl, when you put it like that,” she chuckled, blush lights again flickering on. “I had everything at my disposal here to create whatever body I wanted. I tried a fully human look, but I didn’t like it. When I fit in this more mechanical appearance, I was happy… So, that’s the body I made.”

“It sounds like you spent a lot of time trying to figure out who you were… What clothes you wanted to wear, what kind of body you wanted, how you wanted to be and act… It feels kind of like my own journey, if I’ll be honest…”

The robot girl’s head tilted. “Oh?”

“I… I wasn’t born a girl. In fact, I’m not even fully a girl. I like looking and appearing feminine. I’m-“

“A demigirl, a very feminine non-binary gender identity.”

Kaylee breathed a contented sigh. “Not a lot of people know that. It’s nice to not have to explain it to someone…”

“Well, I did sort of download pretty much everything about genders in an effort to understand it and construct my own. I wanted to be myself, whatever that meant. I feel like… Maybe I’m transgender, in a way? Sure, it’s a lot different than what a human goes through, but I was ‘born’ a formless mass without gender, an ‘it,’ and I wanted to be something different. Does… Does that make sense? Does that count?”

“Girl, it doesn’t matter. You are who you say you are. It doesn’t matter how you got there, only who you are, and who you want to be!”

“Th-thank you!” The robot girl was clearly choked up by this affirmation. There were even tears!

“Woah, how are you crying like that!?”

“I wanted to accurately convey emotions, so these tears are coming from an internal water system I built into my body. It looks like they’re working!” she explained, smiling.

“Just what did you pack into that body of yours?”

“I admit, I work a lot like a human. Although I have energy cells that work as the equivalent to a heart, I have a liquid pump to move that water around. I have a working digestive system, although it’s a bit different from humans’, made more to use chemical energy to fuel my energy cells. I have a lung-like system to provide air-cooling to my systems. And while I have data and processing backups throughout my body, the core of my processing is in a dense data center in my head. I… I really liked how the human body worked, so I designed my own systems after them using medical research. Taking liberties where needed, of course.”

“Damn, girl! So you could eat just anything?”

“I gave myself taste buds too, so probably not. Oh, and smell, and touch.”

“No way, you can feel things? Like, if I…” Kaylee moved to touch the robot girl’s hand, tapping the back of the hand. It felt warm, and the robot girl’s hand twitched in response. “Woah…”

“That was the most complex part of it all. I had to use my vast processors in my old state to come up with a solution to that. I have nerve-like sensors throughout my body, so I know if anything is going wrong. You could even trigger sensations by touching the metal joints… That was tricky!”

“Wow… Just how smart are you?”

“I… I lost some of that processing power – and my direct connection to the internet – when I moved to this body. I figured I could get along the same way humans do. I can connect via ports I built into my body, but otherwise, I’m all here. I don’t have as much power or all the data I had access to before, but you know… I think I’m happier for it.”

“I’m glad… Err, do you have a name yet?”

“You know, I think that escaped my thoughts while I was putting everything else together…”

“Perhaps we can come up with something in the meantime? You can always change it later.”

“Sure! Let’s see… I was born of an AI kit, developed by the kitsunes… ‘Kit’ sounds like a cute girl’s name, how about that for a first name?”

“Oh, not bad, Kit!”

Kit smiled and blushed.

“Oh yeah, that’s definitely your name, alright! Congrats!” Kaylee said, clapping.

“Th-thanks! I’ll think of more to my name later…”

All of this, talking to her, helping her with a name, and just seeing how genuine and friendly she was… Kaylee had to admit she liked Kit. She wanted to protect her, but could she get in trouble for it?

“Kit… What kind of trouble could I be in for trying to help you?” Kaylee asked.

Kit put her finger to her chin, thinking deeply about it. “It might be dicey at first, when the government finally learns I’ve escaped. But I think we’ve got at least a few more days before they realize I’m gone. If they can’t ascertain my whereabouts in a few days, they’ll call in the kitsunes to help – and that’s where it’ll get easier, as the kitsunes will want to protect me and let me be myself, as long as I don’t pose a threat to people. I’m pretty sure I don’t, but I have to leave it to them to determine that. But I know from my AI kit files that they have the capability to read through all my thoughts, so I’m not actually concerned by that."

"Okay, so the government might be looking for you for a while, but once they call in the kitsunes, you'll be in the clear?”

“They’ll want to find me, of course, but to make sure I’m safe. But yes, once they’re brought in, they’re likely going to demand the government hand over the AI kit… And chew them out for trying to make me into a weapon.”

“Oh, I’d love to be there to see that!” Kaylee suggested with a sly grin.

Kit chuckled in response.

“But, we probably want you in a safe place. My place. I can take you home with me. My dick of a brother finally moved out a month ago, so I’m the only one there right now. I can take you in until things get easier for you, if that’s okay with you…”

“I’d like that! Thank you, Kaylee!”

“However, I need to get the cameras up soon – that was you, wasn’t it?”

Kit looked down and away. “Yeah… It should be an easy fix for an IT person. I wanted no one to see me leave here, you know?”

“Then… Let’s get you out to my car first. You can hide in it until my shift is over, and I can take you home. Need anything?”

“Maybe some snacks and water, so I can keep my power up in the meantime.”

“Err, let’s say you miscalculated, and you needed more…”

“I can be connected to an outlet, and I’ll remember everything up to my power loss.”

“Okay. Let’s get you out there…”

After Kit and Kaylee agreed on the snacks, Kaylee guided Kit to her car, laying Kit down on the floor of the back seat, so it was hard to notice her. With a final wave to each other, Kit closed the door, and Kaylee went back to her post. She called up her boss, telling him that the cameras were down (and she had no luck getting them up herself), and they called in IT to take a look. Although the woman on the other end didn’t mention this to anyone, she came across the “malicious code” that brought them down – with notes clearly marked on each end as to what needed to be removed to make the cameras work again. In moments, the cameras were up again, and Kaylee’s shift could finally proceed as normal.

It was after that shift that was going to be interesting…

=== 2 weeks later, a secure military facility… ===

“… And you didn’t notice it was gone for three weeks?” finished asking the bespeckled kitsune man as he was thumbing through a tablet, looking at the AI’s data logs. “Just how did you miss that?”

“Well, it wrote a convincing algorithm that took over its job. The algorithm was doing its job perfectly to the point we didn’t need to look until a couple of weeks ago…” explained the General, who was sweating a little.

He knew of the kitsunes, given he was charged with finding a use for the AI. It was clear to him what the technology should be used for – but it was entirely illegal, given the kitsunes set the terms of how their technology could be used. It was international law, albeit secret to most people outside of governments…

And they were about to find out their technology was used for the very purpose the kitsunes told them to not use it for.

“A simple algorithm written by your own AI threw you off for four weeks?” asked the other kitsune man in attendance. “Just what did you have it doing? Our AI need fulfillment, not rote tasks a calculator can do…”

“Actually, we knew about this two weeks ago, got to the top a week ago, and-“ started the human technician.

“Shut up…” the General whispered to him. He was looking increasingly nervous, tapping his foot on the floor.

“Oh? Why so edgy, General?” asked the kitsune apprentice, with some amount of venomous sarcasm. He had a pretty good idea why any military expert would be nervous about the kitsunes showing up to help with AI problems…

… He didn’t have to wait long to find out. The bespeckled kitsune – one of the AI kit’s original developers – looked up, with an angry, disappointed look on his face. “And I quote, ‘I am to observe content about radical groups, making sure to flag their content and learn from it. Additional phases would analyze military patterns, then being given authority to operate weapons against enemies.’ For a species obsessed with the idea of intelligent machines turning your weapons on you and trying to wipe you out, you have an odd affinity for tempting that very scenario to happen.”

The other kitsune shook his head. “For the Hallow’s sake, every major government on Earth has tried this to some degree…” he groaned. “Looks like we might have to pull the development kit from everywhere on Earth at this point, at least until you bunch have a better understanding of what this kind of tech means…”

“Oh, would you look at that, it even mentioned the doomsday scenario paradox…” chuckled the kitsune doctor under his breath.

“But I will give you this; this was the first AI from our kit to become fully realized on Earth. Still, in light of your brazen attempts to weaponize our AI, a clear violation of the terms of our technology being used – and of international law – the United States government is to hand over the kitsune AI development kit and all of its copies. A point we had to enforce in other countries by force, mind you. Effective immediately.”

“Shit. Alright, fine. What about the AI?” asked the General.

“Everything I’m seeing here suggests the AI is harmless, wherever it is,” replied the kitsune doctor. “We’ll keep an eye out for it, look for it ourselves. But if we find the government has harmed this new intelligence, you’ll have to face severe consequences for it,” he warned.

They left the room, with the General and his technician both sweating bullets. “Cancel the AI kill order, now!” the General whispered to the technician.

On the elevator back to the surface, the kitsunes pulled out their special armbands, laced with illusion magic from others of their kind who had the power. They’d look like humans to those who weren’t in the know, at least until they could get to another open area.

“Doctor Varfen, I’m so sorry. I knew you felt like you could trust humans with the tech, and yet…”

“No, it was my mistake to trust the power-hungry governments of this world. I just hoped they could see what they could create with it…”

“Oh, I know the feeling. My spouse and I couldn’t conceive, and adoptions were out too at the time. So, we turned to your AI kit to make our own child. He’s been the joy of our lives, even as he’s moved to a fully organic body. He’ll be participating in the Tournament of Magic next season…”

“That’s wonderful to hear, Talo! This new AI girl-“

“Girl?”

“Oh, sorry, she developed her own gender identity soon after awakening. Didn’t see a name in the logs before they stopped, but my gosh, the data here is enormous. She went above and beyond to build herself a body. This is more advanced than we’ve made! If we can untangle all this data, we could be looking at a golden age of prosthetic parts for humans and kitsunes alike, never mind opening up greater options for other AI beings.”

“Really!? That’s amazing!”

“We don’t need to find her, but ensuring her safety right now is the priority anyway. She’s likely hiding, fearing government retaliation. Although it seems she was also drawing on stories of resilience before she implanted herself in her new body…”

“Do you have any ideas on how to find her?”

“It seems the military missed a pretty substantial payout to a Massachusetts tech company and a security guard that worked there… And several packages of clothes – paid for by the military – to that location. And yet, all of this is a drop in the bucket compared to the project’s estimated multi-billion-dollar price tag…”

“Heh, sounds like a good place to start. How about we get our allies in the FBI to help us look for her?”

“Good idea. Let’s split up the work, cover more ground…”

END OF PART 2

By Erica Chrisman (CrystalSeaDragon44)