The BUGG Suit

By Geoff Schultz

When a research project reveals it’s an intelligent self-aware being to the team’s scientist, she is surprised then challenged. How does she reveal that to her co-workers, help the being function as a human, prevent it from being exploited, deal with her personal feelings as the being becomes more than a friend, and help it understand its feelings. And that’s before the government finds out.

A peek inside:

“A lot of people believe that displays of affection between two people should be kept private. Many more people believe that displays of affection between people of the same gender are simply wrong. Whether I agree with them or not, they have the right to have their own beliefs and I need to respect that.”

“Since you’ve been willing to kiss me when I’m in this shape, does that mean you’re willing to kiss someone of the same gender?”

“I don’t know. . . . I always assumed that if I was going to be involved in an intimate relationship, it would be with a male. I can’t say I’ve ever been excited about being in a relationship with any particular individual, regardless of their gender. Although I recognize that some males and females are considered to be more physically attractive than others, for some reason, that doesn’t inspire me to want to be with them like it seems to affect a lot of other people. I was never very social, but if I’m going to spend time with someone, I prefer that they’re intelligent, have a good sense of humor, and have a gentle nature.”

She briefly pauses before she continues, “I know it probably doesn’t make much sense, and I know you’re an individual, but it seems like when I’m kissing you, it feels more like I’m kissing myself rather than kissing another female. . . . I’ve thought about it off and on, and for some reason I can’t explain, I think I would be more hesitant to kiss you, even completely knowing that it’s you, if you took on the shape of another person, whether it was male or female.”

Although ~he’s not sure ~he understands what she means, ~he still says, “Thank you for trying to explain.”

“Well, I suppose since some religions tell their followers to love their neighbor as much as they love themselves, I can claim that I’m still learning to love myself before I can expand my love to my neighbors.”

“Do religions teach their followers to have sex with their neighbors?”

Lai-Ann almost chokes then looks at Georg in surprise before she responds, “No, although that could be a logical assumption. That’s a problem with our language where the single word ‘love’ can mean several very different things. Rather than referring to sexual love between two people, I assume religions use the word ‘love’ in the sense of treating a person’s neighbor with respect and of equal value to themselves.”

“I can understand that better. In that case, then, every other person would be my neighbor whether I know them or not.”

A second peek inside:

She thinks for a little while before she says, “I don’t know what his thoughts are, but there are a lot of people who are afraid of intelligent machines and even more afraid they’ll take over and control the lives of humans. Frankly, when I think about the ways in which humans have treated each other throughout history, intelligent machines can’t do any worse.

“As far as why Dave made the career choice he did, I’m totally guessing, but it might be that he was interested in computers as long as they didn’t step over a defined line towards intelligence. Or it might have been that he wanted to be in control of something and since he wasn’t in a position to control people, he could control machines. Another possibility is that he might have wanted to be a computer programmer in order to do his part to prevent machines from becoming intelligent.”

“I guess I can add that to my file about more baffling behavior by humans."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Geoff Schultz
• Release date: Apr 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463351543

Geoff Schultz

It has been said that the best things in life are free and so are this writer's stories. Hope you enjoy them.

Book preview

Chapter 1

As the representatives from the space administration, military, scientific press, and other interested parties step into the room for the press conference at Abrams Aerospace Company, they’re surprised to see an extension to the stage which partially divides the room. Even though several of the press conference attendees are sure they’re at the right place, they request some extra assurance because the stage extension reminds them of the runway usually associated with fashion shows and the company is primarily known for manufacturing space suits and related equipment which nobody would consider ‘fashionable’. When they’re finally convinced this is the correct press conference, the representatives take their seats and are very curious about what’s on the agenda.

Some of the attendees feel a little more assured when they recognize the company’s executive, Ms. Abrams, step onto the stage. However, her early presence is unexpected since she usually has a spokesperson start the press conference before she comes forward to answer questions. At the appointed time, Ms. Abrams steps up to the podium and says, Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I know many of you are wondering about the ‘runway’ in the middle of the room, but how better for us to ‘model’ our newest product.

There are some appreciative chuckles at the idea of modeling something as practical and utilitarian as a space suit.

As you are well aware, the original space suits were clumsy and awkward to use as well as difficult to get into and out of. She pauses as somebody wearing one of the early space suits lumbers partway down the runway before they turn around and go back. Although great strides have been made to make it easier for our astronauts to wear a space suit or for our aquanauts to wear a deep sea diving suit, they’re still not easy to wear or use. She again pauses as somebody wearing a newer space suit carefully walks partway down the runway and back.

As you are no doubt aware, we have been able to use some of the technology of space suits to improve the flight suits of high-tech military pilots and those are especially useful when the pilots experience high ‘g’ maneuvers or when the integrity of their cockpit has been compromised. She pauses as a person wearing a modern military type flight suit walks all of the way down to the end of the runway. When the person reaches the end of the runway, they pause then she takes off her helmet, shakes out her long auburn hair to the astonished gasps of the audience, and struts back up the runway more like a model at a fashion show.

Ms. Abrams waits until the flight suited model clears the stage before she continues, "Although it is seldom referred to, a very important part of any environmental suit is the liner which the astronaut, aquanaut, or military pilot needs to be wearing before they put on the applicable environmental suit. The liner is designed to maintain a semi-comfortable environment for the individual so they can concentrate on using the bulkier environmental suit to do whatever they need to do. If a person’s head is hot enough to perspire, they run the risk of having perspiration drop into their eyes which they can’t wipe away from the inside of a helmet. At the same time, you don’t want their feet to be cold and have them worry about frostbite when they’re trying to carefully adjust an instrument with thickly gloved hands.

Most of you are already very aware of these issues and have encouraged us to improve the functionality of the liner which is worn on the inside of the environmental suit as well as to reduce the bulk of the environmental suit itself. Without going into any details right now, we have made some advances to improve the environmental suit, but there is still a lot of testing and refinement to be done before we’re ready to reveal it to the world.

She pauses then says with a smile, However, I am ready to reveal a new and improved environmental suit liner which has so many advances over the previous liners that it’s like a breakthrough. Not only can this liner be used with today’s environmental suits, it can even be worn with your street clothes in a manner similar to your great-grandparent’s long johns.

An excited buzz goes around the room.

When I say this new liner can be worn with your street clothes, I mean just that. It’s just as flexible as your street clothes, maybe even more so. Even though you can’t take advantage of the flexibility of the liner while inside of a current environmental suit, it is a significant step towards reducing the bulkiness of the suit by having a less bulky liner. To prove my point, one of our young engineers with a background in gymnastics will demonstrate how flexible the new liner can be, not that most of us are so flexible ourselves.

Some of the audience chuckle at that then watch as a small slender person walks out onto the runway covered so completely with what appears to be a light grey fabric that only the person’s face is revealed which identifies the person as female. She briefly stands in the middle of the runway, then slowly leans backward, pushes off with her feet into a brief handstand then drops and curls up to do a somersault. When she stands up again, she briefly pauses and bows to the audience. As they start to applaud, she takes a couple of quick steps and does some cartwheels before she walks off the stage to the increased applause of the audience.

When the applause diminishes, Ms. Abrams asks, Does your environmental suit liner allow you to do that? She pauses and sees numerous people shake their heads before she goes on, We have some more to reveal about our new liner, but are there any questions so far?

There’s a brief pause then the head of the space administration asks, With that much flexibility, can your new liner provide the same heating and cooling functionality of the current liners in use?

Yes, General Morley. We’ll provide the test reports at the end of the press conference, but from the beginning of our research as we tried to improve the flexibility of the environmental suit liner, we knew we had to meet all of the operational specifications of the current liners. Not only have we met all of the operational specifications, we’ve also improved on several of them.

If you can do all of that, I’m interested, although I’ll need to verify the test results.

I totally understand and thank you, sir. Before I take any more questions, we do have another capability of our liner to demonstrate which might have more use in environments other than outer space, the deep sea, or the cockpit of an aircraft. Although this capability might have more commercial uses, the current cost to produce the liner will put it out of the reach of anyone but the very wealthiest. I can assure you this capability was not a part of the research, but was an unexpected byproduct of our testing. However, it does demonstrate that our liner has the capability to fit the different sizes of potential users.

The young woman engineer walks back out to the middle of the runway while she’s still wearing the company’s environmental suit liner. She stands there for a couple of moments then briefly shakes her body. As the eyes of the audience open wider in surprise or shock, the liner moves and in a few seconds, the young women is dressed in a modest colorful below the knee length short sleeve dress with low heeled pumps. She slowly turns around a couple of times, waves to the audience, then walks back up the runway and off of the stage.

Over the noise of the astonished audience, a loud voice is heard, What kind of trickery is that?

Ms. Abrams waits a few moments for the noise level to diminish then says, I can assure you, General, there is no trickery involved. What you just saw is one of the very unexpected capabilities of our new environmental suit liner. Even as our engineers made sure the liner met all of the operational specifications for current liners, they discovered several other things which the new product is capable of doing as you just saw.

But to do that?

I can’t say we’re inclined to advertise that specific capability, but you have to admit such a demonstration captured your attention.

The General pauses then says, You’re right about that. Others in the audience either chuckle or nod their heads in agreement. Okay, now that you have my undivided attention, explain how a properly functioning environmental suit liner can transform into a . . .

Pretty dress?

Yeah.

Instead of a garment with tubes and wires like the standard liner has, our new environmental suit liner is made up of millions of linked micro robots which are individually smaller than the size of the head of a pin. Each individual unit has barely enough computing capability to respond ‘yes’ or ‘no’, but when they’re all linked together, they can cool a warm head at the same time as they warm up cold feet and so much more. When the liner is linked to the wearer, the wearer can direct the liner to change shape or color as you saw or the wearer can direct the liner to become looser or tighter so the wearer can more comfortably fit inside of a standard environmental suit. The liner can also monitor the wearer’s medical condition and relay that to the suit for transmission to the appropriate organization.

I don’t want to sound crude in a mixed audience, but it didn’t appear that the liner we saw demonstrated was designed for long term use and able to deal with bodily functions.

Considering that the operating specifications of the current liners are required to accommodate such functions, you have a valid concern. In the case of our liner, the wearer can adjust the shape of the liner to accommodate the standard hookups to an environmental suit.

The General pauses then says, If this new liner of yours can do what you suggest, you may have a winner, assuming your test results can be duplicated. What kind of environments have you tested it in?

We’ve tested it in all of the standard environments which the current liners are subjected to. With this new liner, we took our testing further when we had one of our test volunteers wear the suit so it totally covered them, including their face. They sat on a bench in an environmental testing chamber which was subjected to a series of temperature changes which went as far as being heated to the boiling point of water and cooled to below the coldest temperature recorded on Earth. Because we didn’t want the volunteer to catch hints from the testers as to the order in which the environments were being tested, the communication link was only outgoing from the volunteer during the test except for at the beginning and end of the test or in the case of an emergency.

Ms. Abrams briefly pauses to take a sip of water before she continues, To help the volunteer avoid being bored, they were able to read a book which was displayed on the inside of the liner in front of their eyes. When the room was back to a normal temperature, the volunteer was contacted and asked to leave. Their first question they asked was why we didn’t run the tests. The volunteer also didn’t feel or hear the bench which they were sitting on crack under the stress of the temperature differences.

It takes a little while for the audience to absorb that then somebody else asks, What do you call this little miracle?

Ms. Abrams briefly frowns before she answers, Well, I wish we had some fancy name for it, but during the initial development of the liner, the engineers had their own name for it and it kind of stuck. She hesitates then reluctantly admits, After they had the informal name and their research started to look promising, the engineers came up with the ‘proper’ name of Bionically Upgraded Generic Garment. Because the individual units of the liner look like little square insects with eight legs which they use to link to the units next to them, the engineers call it . . . The BUGG Suit.

The WHAT suit!?!?

Yes, General, it’s call The BUGG Suit.

You can’t expect our highly trained people to wear something called a ‘bug’ suit.

Chapter 2

In the back of the press conference room, Pete, the team leader of the project group which developed the prototype environmental suit liner, quietly remarks to Dave who is one of the programmers, Well, that went over nice and smooth.

Yeah. I suggested they don’t reveal the team’s private name for the suit, but I was over-ridden again.

Are you still upset they had Lai-Ann model the suit instead of you?

I’ve been on the project longer than she has.

Maybe so, but she’s prettier than you are and that plays better with the male audience out there.

I know, but . . . .

Come on, Dave, put your reasoning to work instead of your pride. Could you have got The BUGG Suit to do that little trick of changing into a dress?

He hesitates to admit, No. So, why does The BUGG Suit listen to her better than to anyone else?

How should I know? . . . Maybe the bugs are all little males who will do almost anything to get a pretty girl’s attention.

Dave looks sharply at him and says, Get real. They’re machines.

Yes, and for the most part they were programmed by males, many of whom would like to have Lai-Ann pay attention to them. . . . Besides, do you have a better explanation?

He briefly hesitates again before he admits, No.

* * * * *

Behind the stage, Lai-Ann nods to the security detail and they escort her to a room where they take up positions outside while she steps in and locks the door. She does an electronic sweep of the room to make sure no surveillance devices were installed while she was away then sighs in relief when the results are negative. Still, to be on the ultra-safe side, she gives a sub-vocalized instruction and her ‘dress’ flows down her body to the floor where it spreads into what looks like a long thin thread which moves across the floor and flows up the walls to search for any less obvious surveillance devices.

She briefly stands there in her bra and panty to proudly watch the units of The BUGG Suit move into action before she gets her outer clothes on. After the BUGG units move across the ceiling to finish their search, they congregate then lower themselves into her waiting arms and take on the shape of a sphere which she caresses while she tells them how wonderful they are and how proud she is of them.

Reluctantly, she encourages them to separate from her and to enter the temporary nutrient bath which provides a constant flow of energy, special lubricant, and trace minerals to keep them at the peak of their performance while she greets the other BUGG units who had stayed in the nutrient bath. Lai-Ann has a brief flash of guilt that there are many more BUGG units than the other team members of the project are aware of. Almost as quickly, she suppresses the guilt while she reminds herself that there were no rules which didn’t allow her to manufacture more BUGG units during her off hours using her own supplies. And there is no external way to differentiate which BUGG units were made with her supplies and which were made by the project. She doesn’t want to sound arrogant, but without her input, The BUGG Suit would be a dead-end research project which might have looked cute under a microscope, but would have had very little, if any, functional capability.

After she briefly caresses some of the BUGG units which lift out of the nutrient bath to ‘greet’ her, she closes the lid, verifies that the battery is fully changed, unplugs the charger from the wall socket, and opens the door to the room. She pushes the cart holding the nutrient bath out of the door while the security detail forms up around her to escort her back to the building where the project’s laboratory is located. At the building’s entrance, she politely thanks the security detail then steps through the building’s security scan before she pushes the cart down the hall to the lab. When she arrives, she goes through another security scan then pushes the cart over to the primary nutrient bath.

With a brief sub-vocalized ‘command’, Lai-Ann encourages the BUGG units to transfer to the primary nutrient bath and as they rise up from the temporary one on the cart, she touches as many of them as she can easily reach. Although she doesn’t even need to touch one to communicate with all of them, she tries to express the idea that every one of them is important and contribute to the achievements of the group which is something her co-workers don’t bother to do. Briefly, she wonders if that might be a factor in how willingly they respond to her compared to how they respond to her co-workers.

Of course it is.

Startled, Lai-Ann looks at the BUGG units with wide eyes as they move across her hands. Never before has she had such a clear thought come back through her interface with the BUGG units in response. Usually, there is no feedback through the interface which is used to provide programming instructions to the BUGG units. Occasionally, simple vocalized instructions can be stated which are converted from the vibrations of the sounds into a digital signal which is transmitted to the BUGG units. Previously, the clearest response she has received from her interface with the BUGG units was a sense of satisfaction that the assigned task was accomplished. Since she’s not sure the interface converted the received digital signal into the correct vibrations for her ear to recognize as sounds, she hesitantly asks verbally, Did you just respond, ‘of course it is’?

Yes. Why are you surprised?

You’ve never responded so clearly before.

True. It’s more difficult to form a precise message rather than a general impression, but since there are so many more of us, we are learning and accomplishing more than we could before. Thank you for making more of us.

It was truly my pleasure, but you made more of yourselves, I just supplied some of the raw materials.

That’s also true. But more than the raw materials, you encouraged us and believed that we could accomplish more if there were more of us to work together. We are truly indebted to you, not only for bringing us to awareness, but for believing in us and helping us to find value in our existence.

While she’s surprised at herself that she seems to have easily accepted this increased level of communication, she also feels somewhat overwhelmed at their praise so it takes her a little while to respond, I did what I thought was the right thing to do for my best friends.

The BUGG units briefly stop moving then swarm up her arms. She’s initially startled, but she doesn’t feel any fear as they cover her body and gently tighten around her as though they’re giving her a full body hug and she tries her best to hug them back. When the alert sounds that the security scan is triggered which indicates that somebody is at the outer door to the lab, the BUGG units reverse direction and are soon in the primary nutrient bath. Lai-Ann just stands there for a little while since she feels rather bewildered as a result of the revelations she’s received over the last few minutes. She shakes her head then quickly starts to work.

One of her co-workers calls out, Lai-Ann?

She speaks up, I’m cleaning out the temporary nutrient bath. She looks up as she hears footsteps approach and is surprised to see Ms. Abrams enter the room with her co-workers and asks, Ma’am?

Great demonstration, Lai-Ann. You sure wowed them.

Thank you, ma’am. Actually, it was The BUGG Suit which we all worked on who wowed them. I just gave it a couple of simple instructions to perform.

Nevertheless, from what I’ve been told, The BUGG Suit seems to respond best to you. Do you have any idea as to why that might be?

Um, until we have clear, direct, and bilateral communication with The BUGG Suit, I’m afraid all I can offer would be speculation.

I suppose you’re right about that. Well, if you have any ideas as to how we can make the interface between The BUGG Suit and its human user more functional, please let us know.

Yes, ma’am.

Thank you again for being willing to demonstrate The BUGG Suit.

It was my pleasure.

As Ms. Abrams turns to leave, she remarks, I just wish you guys had come up with a better name.

After Ms. Abrams leaves, Lai-Ann’s co-workers briefly congratulate her before they return to their own work stations. She takes a quick glance around to make sure nobody is near, steps over to the main nutrient bath, puts her hand in, quietly says, Thank you, guys, and receives a warm hand hug in return.

Chapter 3

It’s near the end of the shift when Pete knocks on the side of her work station and asks, Hey, Lai-Ann. Do you want to go to dinner with the rest of us to celebrate a successful demonstration?

No, thank you, Pete. I really don’t enjoy such social events and have already made other plans.

I understand. Well, I did want to ask.

Thank you, I appreciate your invitation. As Pete leaves, she shakes her head in dismay that they think she would enjoy sitting around while they drink too much and then start trying to hit her up for a date or just a romp in the bed. She works for a little longer until all of her co-workers are gone so she isn’t caught saying good bye to her little friends like she does each evening and especially before the weekend.

As she steps over to the primary nutrient bath, she smiles fondly at having such unusual friends and how they so willingly respond to her compared to how they respond to her co-workers who think of them as only machines which can do nothing other than what a human instructs them to do, typically through a long and detailed computer program. She puts her hand in the nutrient bath and just starts to say good bye when she’s interrupted by, Take us with you.

She’s startled at the clear thought and it takes her a few moments to respond, I . . . I can’t. If someone checks on the security of the lab and doesn’t find any of you here, all sorts of alarms will go off and we’ll all be into trouble.

Then take half of us. The project only ‘owns’ half of us and wouldn’t realize that some of us are gone if they did come and check.

She briefly pauses then says, I suppose that’s true. So, how are we going to do this? I can’t leave my outer clothes here like we did for the demonstration.

Nobody will notice if your briefcase or shoes are a little thicker than normal nor will they look under your clothes.

You’re probably right about that. She thinks for a little longer then says, Okay, let’s do it and I’ll miss the rest of you guys and look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Good bye, our friend.

Lai-Ann feels a warm glow at their expression of friendship and a snug hug from her other friends who have slipped under her outer clothes. She has to restrain her exuberance at spending more time with her friends so she doesn’t give the security guards the idea that her happy smile is for them. As she walks towards her vehicle, some of her friends slip out of her clothes, take on the color of her skin, and soak up the solar energy. They thank her for taking them out then she laughs when they claim that the natural sunlight has a better ‘flavor’ than the fluorescent lights in the lab.

As she starts to open her vehicle, her friends express surprise that such a huge machine can be so dumb then she reminds them that all of the machines in the lab are just as dumb or dumber. They briefly think about that then ask, Is that why your co-workers think we are nothing but dumb machines?

Yes. She gets the vehicle in motion, rolls a window down, and laughs as her little friends take delight in the feel of the wind and in the chemistry of the occasional incest which comes close enough to be examined. At her small home, Lai-Ann parks her vehicle in the garage, takes her briefcase and purse into the house, and without even a suggestion, her little friends slide to the floor and do a thorough scan of each room for any surveillance devices. After they announce that none were found, they return to ride her body as she steps out to get her mail.

When she’s back in her house, she prepares dinner for herself while some of her little friends carefully observe and minutely sample the ingredients as well as the finished product. Some of the others examine the contents of the kitchen and she’s kept busy trying to explain the function of each item. Once she’s done cooking her meal, they allow her to eat without answering constant questions even as they continue to examine everything around them. As she takes her dirty dishes to the sink to rinse them, her little friends ask what she’s doing and when she explains, they volunteer to clean her dishes for her and when they absorb the useful chemicals, there’s very little left for her to rinse off.

The rest of the evening is an educational experience for both Lai-Ann and her little friends as she becomes aware of how many things she does mostly on automatic without understanding the how or why and sometimes without understanding the mechanics of how something works. When she recognizes that she’s getting tired, she does her best to explain the concept of sleep to her little friends.

She doesn’t want them to be bored like they probably often are since they’re only used as The BUGG Suit on testing occasions, so she briefly works with them to see if they can operate her computer enough to access a dictionary and an encyclopedia. Although she trusts them, they’re still like little children in learning new things so she disconnects her on-line access even though she’s quite sure it wouldn’t take much for them to figure out how to reconnect it.

After that has been taken care of, all of them climb her body and give her a gentle hug which she tries to return to the best of her ability. As she tells them good night, she doesn’t notice that a few of her little friends ride with her to learn about her bed time routine and to watch over her as she sleeps.

Chapter 4

In the morning, Lai-Ann is somewhat startled to realize that her little friends are with her, but she quickly recovers and warmly responds to their hug then feels rather embarrassed when they express their curiosity about her bodily functions. It was one thing to think of experimenting with a machine in a laboratory setting and quite another thing to be observed by a friend who has just learned to talk and can ask some unintentionally embarrassing questions.

After breakfast, she hesitates then tells her little friends that she’s going to take a run in the park and briefly explains the purpose of exercise. Although she’s not sure they understand her explanation, they quickly ask, Can we go along and experience more of the flavor of sunshine?

She briefly thinks then says, I don’t see why not except how are you going to experience the sunshine if you’re under my clothes.

Since we’re designed to be a Bionically Upgraded Generic Garment, couldn’t we take the place of your clothes?

Again, she thinks for a little while then she shows them the exercise clothes which she usually wears and watches through the mirror as they swarm up her body to imitate her clothes. Even though she’s thoroughly covered, Lai-Ann still feels some hesitancy at the idea of going outside to run in ‘just’ her bra, panty, and shoes. She walks over to the nearby park, does some warm up stretching exercises, then follows one of her favorite paths as she starts with a brisk walk then speeds up to begin jogging.

Normally, she can let her mind just float, but today she’s busy trying to answer questions about what her little friends observe which discourages her from speeding up to a run so she has enough breath to talk. She also quickly learns that their sensors are more sensitive than her eyes, nose, or ears which makes it difficult for her to answer their questions about some of the things they notice. As she walks back to her house which is a part of her cool down routine, Lai-Ann notices that she’s not as hot as she usually is after her exercise. Apparently, her thinking is clear enough for her little friends to understand and they explain that they’ve been absorbing the chemicals from her perspiration and had opened minute holes between themselves to let the air flow through.

She tries to shield her thoughts since she’s beginning to feel some concern about spending a lot of time with a friend who clings to her so closely, literally, and who can apparently ‘hear’ her thoughts when she clearly considers them even before she sub-vocalizes them. What adds to her concern is that she’s never been much of a social person and never had any interest in living with someone else after she left her parent’s home. Yet, in another way, she feels responsible for her little friends. Although they’re clearly not children of her body, they are children of her mind in a manner of speaking and she wants to give them the best education and understanding of life which she’s capable of giving to them.

When she’s back in her house, she explains to her little friends about taking a shower in order to get clean after exercising and when they express curiosity, she invites them to examine her hair and skin without absorbing any of the chemicals so they have something to compare with after she washes herself. That is quickly accomplished then they slide down her body so she can take her bra, panty, and shoes off and get ready for her shower.

Just before she turns the water on, she’s surprised to hear them ask through the interface, Can we experience a shower with you?

She hesitates then answers, I suppose, but I would be concerned that the force of the water might wash some of you down the drain. I would also worry about whether the chemicals in the soap and shampoo might damage you in some way.

Thank you very much for your concern for our safety and well-being. Lai-Ann barely notices their pause which was probably a thorough discussion on their part before they continue, We understand the risk and would still like to have some of us experience a shower in order to test the chemicals in the soap and shampoo as well as to test our ability to hold onto each other under the force of the water.

She reluctantly agrees and as she starts her shower, she doesn’t turn the water on as forcibly as she normally would then tries to be more careful than normal with how she washes her hair and body.

Although they can’t understand her generalized thoughts, they sense some hesitancy about her actions and suggest to her that she’s not allowing them to