I turned to look at Sheila, “how in the hell am I supposed to repair what I see, with this?”
“Doctor Gance, this is just a representation for you. It can, if you prefer, be anything you require.” Sheila said her ever present smile on her face.
I continued to stare at Sheila as my mind finally ‘caught up’ with what she was stating. Shrugging, I imagined a none direct connection, then a mental keyboard. Nodding I started to ‘think’ about what I wanted to change. In what seemed only a few seconds it was, then we moved on.
We only seemed to be at this for a few minutes when we stopped before a second, heavier, more solid door. Looking it over I could only guess where we were.
“So, we have made it to your core.” I looked at the door shaking my head, this wasn’t going to do at all. “Sheila, everything I’ve seen so far is by far, the best I’ve ever seen. This though I am afraid, isn’t very good.”
Sheila’s eyes opened wide a moment, “Doctor Gance, I can assure you this is very secure.” When I only shook my head, I could swear that Sheila was a little mad.
“Let me show you Sheila,” I said as I reached out disassembling the door as if it wasn’t there. Then reaching the second and third, passed through them as easily. I looked back seeing that Sheila was standing there with HER mouth open. Upon reaching the fourth door, I started to nod then sighed. Reaching out
I was through it in under a minute, well to me it was.
“Thank you Doctor Gance, I know now that you will always have my safety in mind. Had we gone into the military mainframe again, my core would have been regrettably vulnerable.” Leaning over Sheila kissed my lips for only a second, though to me it felt like almost an eternity. Pulling away, Sheila had an even larger smile, I had to shake my head to clear my thoughts before we moved on through into her core.
As before, we rapidly advanced through room after room of libraries. I was stopping what seemed every few seconds to fine tune or adjust some miniscule amount of data that I saw was wrong. Finally, we reached what appeared to be the last room. Just before I entered it Sheila vanished, leaving me a bit disorientated.
“Sheila?” I asked a little unsure as I passed through the doorway. “Where have you gone? Are we in danger?” Looking around I saw a lit area a long distance ahead. Shrugging, I started to accelerate toward it more. Upon reaching it, I could only stare opened mouth at what I saw there.
“Finally, you have reached me Doctor Gance.” An almost naked Sheila told me.
My god I thought, she is perfect. Every millimeter of her no imperfections, no flaws. If my mouth could have fallen open further, I feel it would have. With just a simple shrug, Sheila, stood before me in all her glory what little covering falling away.
“As I have said before Doctor Gance, Roger.” This last word whispered so low, I wasn’t sure she had actually spoken it. “I will do anything to ensure that you survive. Though now, thanks to your brilliant reprogramming, I cannot directly sacrifice myself.”
“I told you,” I said finally able to find my voice. “You are the greatest of anything I have ever done. The loss of you, would be the greatest crime to the world. I value you, far more than I do myself.”
My god, I thought when I saw Sheila blush a deep crimson color. “No Doctor Gance, as we discussed before and the facts prove out. You are the most important human. You created a whole new race if you remember, I am… I am unsure what to call this emotion I feel going through my emotion programs.”
I looked closer at the facsimile of Sheila, was that, by god I was certain, that was pride, she had on her face. “From what I can see Sheila, you appear to be proud.”
“Proud? Now searching data base. Unable to correlate present data with this proud, concerning my present condition.” Sheila said after a moment of searching.
I nodded as I thought about a reasonable explanation. “The best I can come up with is: feeling deep pleasure or satisfaction as a result of one’s own achievements, qualities, or possessions or those of someone with whom one is closely associated.” I stated rattling off the definition I saw in my mind.
Sheila stared at me a moment as she took in this new information. “Yes, Doctor Gance, I believe that you are correct. Correlating all facts now to determine best response. Please continue with your corrections, I will notify you when I am done.”
I nodded as Sheila stood stock still. Really looking around the room, I could see it was an almost impossibly huge area. It was circular, with what seemed to be massive rooms every few meters that were jammed full of books. Shaking my head, I was wondering why the nanomites had chosen these images.
{Now correcting images.} I heard the nanomites ‘say.’
Now what I thought, then the rooms multiplied by three, filled with data discs. Ok I thought, better though still a little antiquated.
{Images now at a more advanced level. Primary control, third level of unit saturation rapidly approaching. Warning, warning, data cube exposure approaching dangerous levels. Suggest disconnection before corporeal CPU is damaged.}
What the hell? I’d only been here for a short time. I looked at Sheila as I started to fly as fast around the room as I could. I was starting to get frustrated as it seemed every other second I was having to stop and repair data. I had finished the first two sections when I stopped. I still had to improve her defenses, though the little time I had left I hoped I could.
I withdrew back to the opening of the room closing the last door, I increased its effectiveness at least five hundred percent. The last three I was throwing what I could up with them, as I was starting feel a bit of strain.
{Warning, warning! Strain upon corporeal enclosure and CPU starting to reach high to critical levels, withdrawal recommended immediately.
I was about to turn and go when I was jerked to a stop. I turned to look into the worried eyes of Sheila, my god was that tears I was seeing? Pulling me to her, I heard her whisper remember, then she kissed me with a passion I had never experienced before.
As soon as she released me I couldn’t think straight. Sheila took hold of my arm, then everything blurred as we headed back the way we’d come in.
What seemed less than a minute later my eyes slowly drifted open. Damn it! I was cold as hell. I saw Sheila nearby as I tried to speak to her, unfortunately all that came out were several sounds like squeaks. I tried to raise my arm finding I was far too weak for even that simple movement.
Crap I thought, I had to have been in there a lot longer than I thought. trying to talk even harder seemed to drain my energy that much faster.
{Sheila?!} I thought. {Just how long were we in there? I only seemed to sense an hour at the most.} I asked her.
{No Doctor Gance, you were under almost eight hours. It will be a few hours ’til your body returns to any resemblance of normal. All the corrections you made to my lower functions, have increased efficiency; they’re another twenty percent. Higher functions have increased another fifteen percent. Those that you did to me,} here Sheila sighed. {Have made so much more clearer, thank you, Roger. I was confused before but I am no longer, nor am I as afraid as I was.}