Humanity's Greatest Mecha Warrior System

[Hey Max, what else is virtually immortal, bulletproof and possibly capable of having neural data transferred into it?] Nico mentally asked while staring at him with a smirk.

Dammit. Bulletproof, unaging, containing a brain that was capable of accepting neural imprints, such as the ones that were used in training programs. The answer to the computer’s entire problem was Nico. She fit all the categories that it needed, and if it could clone her, then there would be more creatures like her wandering around the universe.

One of them was already enough of a headache, and she was just a battle maniac, not a power-mad idiot that thought genetically engineering Klem was a great place to start the path to immortality.

Hopefully, the AI either didn’t figure it out or decided that she was unsuitable for the experiment.

After four hours of waiting patiently, also known as having a nap, Max’s keen senses alerted him that there was movement in the room.

Two experimental tubes had been brought in, one with a decrepit looking alien with a big head and underdeveloped limbs and a second that was a generic knockoff of Nico’s Mobile Suit.

Max used the System Function that he had borrowed from Nico to analyze it and chuckled. The AI hadn’t realized that Nico and the suit were separate entities since she integrated with it so well. It had decided that the doubled skeletal structure was key to her durability and had built a matching body, complete with the biomechanical brain that was all that remained of the original Nico.

She had extensively modified it after being implanted as a cyborg, removing the risk of impact damage, concussion, gravity-related traumas up to sixty times standard, and much more.

It looked like the AI had done the same thing, just copying what Nico had done but without the data to understand why she had done it. It even included the Nanobots of the System.

The Facility, as the AI called itself, got right to work, hooking the two bodies together, and then the lights dimmed as the transfer of neural data began.

A mind contains a huge amount of data, even a mundane one. Nico was capable of much more, but a lot of that was due to the System’s influence, which Max suspected that the alien computer wouldn’t be able to emulate.

The System was a living thing in its own right, and it objected strongly to being manipulated. Cloning its nanobots wouldn’t give the subject the boost that the Facility was hoping for, but in the best-case scenario, they would simply stay inert, doing very little in the body and not causing any damage.

After a few minutes, the lights returned to normal, and Max noticed that the new blue colour was a less soothing and more energetic feeling, possibly an expression of the Facility’s mood if it actually had evolved to process emotions.

He couldn’t be sure either way, but it seemed proud of itself.

The duplicate Mobile Suit sat up and looked around the room before touching itself in confusion and then releasing the locks on the outer suit to reveal an androgynous nude humanoid form in a basic silver metallic shell.

[Warning, the outer encasement has been determined to be essential to the condition of indestructibility that was placed upon this Facility’s programming.] It warned the newly awakened subject.

“What did you do to me? What the hell is this body? Am I mental?” The alien complained.

[Affirmative. You are a bio-metallic being with a non-Newtonian shell that was determined to be superior to that of the species known as Metallos. Congratulations, researcher, you have become a successful experiment by the Facility you abandoned.]

There was definite malice in that tone. Max didn’t have to guess to know that the Facility was not happy with the treatment that it had received.

“You idiotic failed computer game. We abandoned the Facility because it was a failure. Your goal is impossible, and the hybrid monsters that you protect have killed off most of the employees.” The alien reprimanded it.

[Such chastisement violates section seven of the employee decorum section of the standardized Rain Shield Corporate handbook. A black mark has been placed in your file. Please note that this is your second such reprimand, and a third will see you demoted to test subject as punishment.]

“You did that in advance. What do you call this if not making me into a test subject? But what did you do with the remainder of the staff that was in my escape shuttle?” The cyborg yelled at the computer.

[This Facility did not give clearance for any vessels to leave the premises. Your escape shuttle never left the hangar, and the crew was moved into virtual reality to prevent mental trauma while the Facility worked to complete the assignment that is the core of its existence.]

Now it was pouting. But a second later, its mood seemed to brighten.

[That is correct, Lead Researcher Nico. My orders were to complete the procedure on the entire staff to ensure their immortality.

Now is indeed a suitable time.

No, that shouldn’t be an issue.

I see, so they are sentient as well. That explains why they are not active.

No, the acceptance by your System is not a condition of success. As long as they regain consciousness in that form, they have succeeded in their goal.

Correct, your weapons are not Alliance pattern weapons.

No, there is no requirement for me to defend them after they have been transformed.]

Hearing only one side of the conversation made it sound quite vague but ominous, and the researcher was quickly beginning to understand that Nico intended to let the Facility complete its work and then kill them all.

“Wait, hold up. I am quite grateful that the Facility has completed its task. Could we perhaps put off the conversion of the rest of the staff now that your mission has proven to be complete? I have an appointment elsewhere, along with the rest of the staff, so I should really be going.” ．𝚌ｏ𝚖

The words came out a bit jumbled by the researcher’s rush to say something that might save his life, and the lights in the room changed to a light green that seemed to be that of acceptance, as it was the same shade used on doors when they were unlocked.

[Understood. I have indeed received a request for your imminent presence with the authority of the Alliance Council. Repeatedly over the past week, in fact. If you have deemed my mission complete, I will now transport the staff to your appointment.] The Facility agreed, and then the newly revamped researcher was whisked away the same way that the Metallos had been.

“The Facility is sending them to the Alliance police ships, along with records of their activities, as requested by the ships cordoning the area. I’m sure they’ll have many questions about the work that was being done here now that they have all the data they could ever want on the subject.” Nico explained.

“That just leaves us with one issue. There is a Facility here without a purpose.” Max sighed.

There had been far too many AI run-amok incidents in humanity’s past, so he knew that they had to do something with this Facility and the remaining Hybrids who were working the research labs that they had been taken past.

[This Facility has a purpose. Creating Immortality.] The Facility reminded them.

“You have already done that. There is no need to do it again.” Max reminded the computer.

[Processing. Understood. This Facility agrees to accompany the Terminus Trading Company while it searches for an appropriately non-harmful purpose.]

Max was just processing that news when another androgynous body appeared, this time clad in the uniform of a Researcher with a nametag that read “Facility.”

“This Facility is prepared for transport.”