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Her prosthetics do have a diagnostic mode for regular maintenance.
It’s not like they are needed while you’re running the Frame, taking care of the basic operations of movement.
Backlinking through her VDNI port to trigger it, and give you the data you seek, would be child’s play.
Your mind brushes hers in low-sync, pushing and prodding. Thea winces a little. It appears that working on them undetected would be a bit beyond you. Time to try another tack. Vocal inquiry.
“Pilot.”
“Go on, Core.”
“You mentioned at one point that your augments were troubling you with software problems. May I set them into diagnostics mode, in order to read your responses and work on improving them?”
“Not in the middle of a mission. I’m tired, Core. I don’t need you probing me even more than you are already. Hey, stop that.”
The last words followed you triggering her eye’s infrared mode. You can see the innards of the chamber in more detail, heat residue from where the reactor’s heat has conducted in slightly. And the nice and even temperature inside.
A thought of hers flickers it through a few more modes, before it rotates back to merely ‘traditional’ visual range. And then off.
There’s a slow exhale.
“Because you’re not going to let this go, stop screwing with my eye and focus on what works. I need the eye, I can skip the leg while I’m sitting. It’s closer to a better baseline, anyways.”
She reboots her eye.
“Just the leg, core. Mess with the eye again, and I’ll take the trip back on manual.”
A hollow threat. If that.
“Establishing a baseline is the minimum, if I am to fix your responsiveness problem.”
You share your own complaints.
But it is a start. And something to do.
The majority of your attention for the next several hours is pleasurably diverted to the task of mapping her neural pathways, checking the triggers for each joint, and making a copy of the inferior existing code to retain functionality.
Despite her annoyance and occasional pain responses that ping through the link.
You Will make it better. For her, and for you.
