Iron angel (Book 1 of IA)

[5] My AI is my crush

Lights?

Voices?

So tired...

Here we go again.

Darkness.

***

​When I opened my eyes again, I found myself lying in the same room and bed as before. Outside it was day and I had absolutely no idea how much time passed while I was unconscious. I began to notice a little squeaking sound coming from my left side.

​Holy shit.

​Where my left arm used to be a sleek white cylindrical steel arm now lay. It had dull gray rounded shiny ball joints, with elaborate metal fingers each as long as a piano key. For a moment I couldn't breathe properly as I tried moving my new arm. It didn't move in a fringy or robotic way like I expected, but rather it moved fluidly, like how a fish would move through water. I tried wiggling my fingers and they obeyed, just like that. Both curling and curving my fingers, the hand did it all. I even tried a few complicated hand gestures such as the alien, which I couldn't even achieve with my old hand, and after several miserable attempts with my new hand, I gave up. With a sigh, I turned hand over as I lean back on the pillow and noticed here was a small black lens on my wrist, curious of what it was for, I tapped it once, then all of a sudden a blue light blast through the lens and hit me straight in the eye, the light was blinding but there was no heat. Scared that I had triggered some sort of self-destruct function, I tried to pull my new arm off. I failed, the thing was just glued to me, worst of all an unexpected pain shot up my shoulder, the part where the arm was connected.
"I wouldn't recommend trying to pull of your arm while it's still intact with your nerves..." A high pitch girlish voice came out of nowhere, followed by a yawn that was not my own.

"Where, where are you?"

I frantically looked around the room searching for moment. Aware of another being inside the room able to hear it yet unable to see added an extra set of nerves on me.

"Down here you dimwit!" the voice came again.

When I looked down, everything made perfect sense, yet all I could do was stare.

"You know staring is kind of rude right?"

Out from the lens was a holographic projection barely the size of an action figure, but the shape was unmistakably...

"Illyria." I realized I just blurted it out at the time, but I couldn't care less in that situation.

"Ha? Who's that?" the hologram figure protested with elbows arched, hands on her hips and a big grumpy expression on her face.

Her attitude and the way she spoke, was nowhere near how Illyria acted. The only thing this hologram had in common with the real Illyria, were those dashing twin blue ponytails, crystalline eyes, petit build, white uniform dress and that cute expression. 

"Then..." I began.

"It's also rude to stare you know?"

"Uh-huh..." I was completely dumb fooled by the sight and not knowing what to say, I decided to keep quiet and wait. Wait till the whole thing is over, and the batteries dry up, perhaps I would die sooner from awkwardness, who knew?

"Huh? What kind of response is that?" She replied, as she stared at me in a posture. With back leaned forward, hand under her jaw and knitted eyebrows; the way she looked at me was like how one would study a specimen. I couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous it looked, and the figure stumbled back in surprise too, and I mean literally stumbled back. As I watch the figure get to her feet and straighten herself-up, I found tears in my eyes.