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Cinnamon followed Rolls down a long curving corridor, the left hand wall was glass looking out from Pimlico Eternity across the mega-spires of Upper London. To the right the wall was covered in terracotta tiles, interspersed with bright metallic doors. It was slow going however, his elongated, narrow torso was out of proportion with his short legs. He had a long tail that threatened to trip him if he went too fast but following Roll's instructions he was trying to just walk without concentrating on it. If he thought too hard about it his old expectations for how his body would react would reassert themselves and he'd fall over again.

"It's odd," he staid stopping to stare out the window, pressing his paw against the glass, "It feels almost the same as before, skin against glass... but somehow it's different, I can't place it."

"That's to be expected," Rolls murmured, the fox moving over to stand next to Cinnamon, "You're doing very well though, just like your brother you're integrating very quickly."

"Just... doing as I'm told," Cinnamon squeaked, his ears attempted to pin backwards but failed, they couldn't really twitch about being solid, at least not like before, "Did Nutmeg really do well at this too?"

"Oh yes, how are your other senses doing?"

"Uhm a bit dull actually, my sense of smell seems off, as does my hearing and I've not got any whiskers..."

"That's ok, you're wearing a basic unit shell, all of your advanced senses will be re-applied at specialisation," Rolls explained, "Your DNA and Nutmegs have allowed us to advance our sensor modules greatly."

"Oh..." Cinnamon frowned, which also felt, restrained as if his new rubber face was stiff and unused to shifting, "Why do you actually need us then?"

"Because you and Nutmeg have lived with your advanced sensors all your lives, you have an instinctive knowledge of how to use them that others lack," the fox gestured at his own body, "The Administrator could install the sensor package on me but I'd have to spend twenty years learning how to use it. You already know, now any other questions for me? Or you ready to keep walking for a bit?"

"Ah, just one," the plain, generic mustelid raised a hand and touched his smooth orange lensed eyes, actually feeling over them, "I was expecting some sort of robotic overlay to my vision, but it's clear and plain."

"That is intentional, your physical body may be vulcanized but your thoughts are still your own. You'd go a bit crazy having text overlaid on your vision all the time," the fox tapped the weasel between the eyes, "The Internal Electronic Interface, or IEI will generally only deploy for certain reasons. Like thinking about how much power you have left, or running a diagnostic on why your knee joints are acting up or to deploy specialist gear."

Cinnamon frowned and then squeaked in surprise as he thought about how much power he had left. The display that flicked up showed him a battery symbol with 100% next to it and time remaining as 96 hours. It then faded away again after a few moments, "That's so cool."

"It is and it's easy to get used to and not intrusive, the longest i've ever had it appear was whilst running a diagnostic or during upgrades and messages from the Administrator."

"Well ah neat, heh I was worried it'd be there all the time or something," he looked up at the larger fox and grinned, "It's cooler than I thought it would be."

"It's not bad really, so shall we carry on?"

Cinnamon nodded, turned around and then topped over as his tail tangled around his legs. He only avoided smacking himself against the floor thanks to the fox catching him, "Easy now Cinnamon, just let it happen, don't think about walking too much."

Nodding the former surmelle tried to think about other things apart from walking, staring out the windows at the city beyond, "This is a lot to get used to all at once, neat though and my body is so shiny... is it rubber or metal or both? It's hard to tell from well... in here."

"It's a special type of Vulcanized rubber, a mixture of metal molecules suspended in rubberised chains. It's all complex chemistry and piezoelectric science, I don't understand the technology myself but it works."

"And it really swapped my whole body? Nervous system, brain, lungs the lot?"

"Oh yes," Rolls said stopping by a door and inputting a code, "Your heart and lungs are now your power core, your digestive tract has been replaced by data storage and processor modules." Rolls patted Cinnamon on the shoulders, "Heat sinks are located along the back of your knees and across your shoulder blades. There is also a lot of empty space as well for specialised units to be installed as and when they are needed."

Peering into the room beyond the door Cinnamon could see a strange circular platform in the middle of the room and lots of computer screens. Otherwise the room was empty though there was a door on the far side, he jumped as Rolls encouraged him to enter. Once they were inside the fox touched a panel and the door swished closed and he looked down at the little automata beside him.

"This is a specialisation room, this is where the template for your unique Vulcan Automata will be designed. You've been assigned the master himself, Rufellen or Template Engineer R-001 to give him his technical name, he should be here soon."

"Ok, so what does he do?" Cinnamon asked, shifting nervously from foot to foot, "I've never quite followed his bit of the process."

"Well it's simple really, the template engineer will talk with you for a few hours, learning how best to adapt your automaton body to fit the work you'll be doing." Rolls gestured at his body, "Mine is pretty basic as an Orientation Officer, but even this body was built and designed to suit my personality and my job," he shook his head, "I'm a bit envious, my body was adapted from a general template. Rufellen will be building a unique Vulcan template out of nano-rubber just for you."

"Including the Bio-Modification package?" Cinnamon asked shyly, scuffing a foot against the floor, "I feel like everyone's making a big fuss about me."

"Nonsense, if your skills are as good as the AI Administrator says they are you're worth every penny to the company, ah," he stopped as the far door beeped and started to open, "Here's Rufellen now."

The squirrel that walked into the room was fantastical, Cinnamon found himself staring at the creature as he moved on large, clawed red-feet. His stomach and chest was supple black rubber whilst the plates that made up his legs, arms, shoulders and head were primarily a pastel blue with dusty red hands, feet and ears. The most striking feature was the tail, it was like a segmented tank, currently extended to it's full length. Around his waist a white panelled device of some sort had been installed connected to the tail by flat, strip-pipes. These pipes also curved up to connect to his forearms which appeared to have been replaced by clear, crystal centrifuges. The inner workings of both centrifuge was a spiral of black metal with blades of various sizes and it looked like the centre of each of his palms was segmented.

He smiled, showing off his bright, white buck teeth and walked over to stand before the short mustelid, "Welcome Cinnamon, I'm Rufellen and I'll be building a template just for you today, come and have a seat."

Cinnamon scampered over to the chair the squirrel gestured too whilst the blue and red rubber robot dismissed Rolls. The fox smiled encouragingly at Cinnamon then made himself scarce as the squirrel walked over and stood next to the plain, grey mustelid. He had a visor in place over his pale blue eyes, reading through some text that Cinnamon could see scrolling across the interior of the lens. Cinnamon waited quietly watching the larger squirrel but still jumped in surprise when Rufellen lifted his visor and looked down at him.

"No need to be nervous Cinnamon, we are just going to chat for a bit whilst I build your template," he sat down on a tall chair next to the reclining seat the weasel was waiting on, "Tell me did you have a species in mind for your final form?"

"Yes, I'd like to be a surmelle again," he pawed at his stomach, "I miss my pouch, I've got nowhere to stick my paws."

"Very well, I can arrange that," Rufellen's tail made a soft hissing sound and seemed to deflate in size a bit. Liquid was being pumped through the strip pipe into the device attached to his hips, "Now what about your teeth? Did you want to keep regular weasel teeth or go back to the full hybrid mix?"

"Hybrid please," Cinnamon squeaked, "I like buck teeth too, and a little stubby tail, this long thing keeps tripping me up."

Rufellen nodded and his fingers wriggled up and down against a holographic interface wrapped around his hand. The device attached to his waist started to hum gently as he continued speaking to Cinnamon, eyes intent on the surmelle. "Now it is my understanding you'll be joining your brother Nutmeg in the Security Division. So we'll be installing our advanced sensor system."

"What does that involve?" Cinnamon asked, "and what is that machine doing?"

Smiling Rufellen patted the white machine attached to his body, "This is the catalyst reactor, my tail is full of inert rubber-nanites. I program them in the reactor and then the centrifuges," he held up one hand showing the devices built into his arms, "Form them into a finalized vulcanised template for application or storage."

"Oh, so you make all the templates?"

"Yes, well me and the other engineers in my division, we can build templates and store them for up to a month before they are used," he smiled, "It's quite engaging work and the interface is built into my tactile response system and eyes."

"Ooooh, so you don't use the visor for that?"

"Not any more, I've been doing this since Vulcan Automata moved to earth, so I've gotten used to template programming in my own visual interface. I still use the visor for everything else, now shall we discuss the speciality modules I'll be installing?"

The weasel nodded his grey head and squirmed excitedly on his chair, "Ok, you said I'd be like Nutmeg?"

"Indeed, I'll be installing an advanced sensor modules in your ears, the basic Auditory Receives will be replaced with Networked Audio Sound transceivers." Rufellen pulled a screen down and turned it on to show Cinnamon the schematics for the new ears. It was a lot of technical stuff the little 'melle didn't really follow but they looked cool.

"You'll also have new sensor systems installed, it's based off your organic tactile senses and olfactory organ," the squirrel changed the screen to show whiskers made of some sort of fibre-optic material and a new nose, "It will greatly enhance the senses you had before," he changed the screen, showing different paws and a powerful communications rig built into the tail as well as access ports along the spine. "Lastly the communications grid, it will allow you to log into the VA personnel system and directly link to security and the Administrator."

"What is that for?"

"Simple, your job in Security will be to assist and supplement their tracking system for employees. We'll be able to know where everyone is and most importantly if any of them are in danger or require assistance. A lot of our work teams in construction are often in very inhospitable regions or out of direct over-sight except for the most tenuous of connections. You and your brother working in tandem will be able to cover everyone in the system at once."

"Oooh," Cinnamon breathed as he studied the items on display, "Do we really need to watch everyone at once?"

"Not usually no, Nutmeg and you will be set to monitor specific at risk work-groups. Giving a greater connectivity and overview of their activities and security situation then we would normally provide," the squirrel pushed the screen aside and smiled, "You'll be working the same shifts and training others in the use of your advanced sensors so in time VA will be able to build a twenty-four hour monitoring service."

"It's a bit big brother," Cinnamon murmured, "Besides I thought the AI was always connected to us anyway?"

"He is, but that link can grow quite tenuous in certain locations, your monitoring hardware will allow the Administrator to stay in touch with everyone," Rufellen gestured around at the walls, "VA cares for our workers, we are all living, sentient creatures. If someone runs away or tries to escape what they owe the company the Administrator may ask you to provide greater coverage of that unit's location and activity so they can be recovered," the squirrel frowned, "VA has a care of duty to them, recouping the expenses paid for your cyberization is one cost so someone running away is of concern. But actually making sure you are all safe, happy, secure and free to work is more important to the Administrator, there are some places where it is dangerous to be automata on your own."

"That's a lot of resources though..."

"Yes, but it makes for a productive workforce with high morale," Rufellen smiled, "I'd feel much happier if I am at the bottom of a mine or building a station in close solar orbit knowing headquarters was watching me and could send help at a moment's notice."

"Ok," Nutmeg said with a soft smile for the blue and red squirrel, "What do I have to do now?"

"Nothing, I'm programming your template now, as soon as it is ready I'll apply it. But we do need to discuss your bio-modification package. You've paid for the ability to switch between your templated work form and a more natural looking shape that will fit in with organic creatures."

"Oh yes," Cinnamon squeaked, "I really want to be able to... have a bit of a normal life outside of being a rubbery robot."

"Understandable, but quite expensive, it means installing a complex proxy management package into your synthetic brain. As well as the construction of a secondary body for you to piggy-back about in. Shall I go through the options with you now?"

Cinnamon nodded as Rufellen pulled over a screen, leaning forward to look excitedly at the options avaliable for his organic seeming body! It'd be great to still be able to go outside and socialise with others when he wasn't busy being a Vulcanised Sensor Robot.

End Part 4: