"She will need more processing power, boss.  Her memory should also be upgraded so she can handle the load."  Jill quickly went through the diagnostics for Tandy, and pursed her lips.  "I'm surprised you held off on that."

"She needs to heal before being upgraded, Jill.  The ports are already in place, and so are the connections.  It just has to be seated, and I want her to wait to initiate full integration."  Tandy frowned at Shyla's words.  She found she had access to new knowledge, and went through the data.

"You installed it already, baby?"  Shyla turned towards her.

"Yes, Tandy.  It's installed, but...wait!  You're not ready yet!"  Shyla overrode the system.  "I won't let you harm yourself!"  Tandy's lips trembled.  Shyla could see that through the glass of the vat.  Her veins were all sealed so she wouldn't bleed, although the stumps of her arms and legs still looked ridiculously horrible.

"I'm of no use to you like this!  Use me, and my brain!"  Tandy cried inside their mental connection, but was surprised when she heard Shyla growl.

"Do you think that my girls are only computer components to me?!  I would use disconnected brains for that if that's all I wanted!"  She put her hand on the glass.  "This is to enhance your life, not ruin it.  When your mind is ready, and the rest of the trauma in your brain is settled down, I'll boot up your new processor.  And only when that is stable will I allow the system to engage the additional memory storage.  For now, you'll have to deal with a bit slower access speed, but that is it.  You'll be able to contact me, or spend time with Jill."

*****

"Bad dreams, Tandy?"  Her attendant asked her quietly.  The body that floated inside the vat opened her eyes.

"Memories, Jill."  She said quietly inside their personal connection.  Shyla had mentally stitched Jill onto Tandy's consciousness a few weeks ago.  This was in preparation for when she was temporarily moved when her body was put into a coma.  "Will my mind be able to handle being disconnected from my brain?"

"Shyla handles it quite well.  She's still the same woman, but she's no longer reliant upon her brain for life.  That's why she made this for you."  Jill gestured to a box that contained several pieces of advanced hardware.  "In order for you to feel anchored, she will transfer your complete consciousness to this neural network, while you are anchored to me.  She will then put your body into stasis, and do the operations."

"Why is it necessary to remove my mind from my body?"

"Because she can't live without you, doctor."  Jill said simply.  "Don't you remember how upset she was when you were killed?  When she managed to revive, and stabilize you, she hunted down each and every person involved with your death.  The operations she did on herself were to make sure they wouldn't kill you."  Jill smiled up at her.

"What's that look in your eyes for, Jill?"  Tandy asked her quietly.

"I've taken care of you for the last two years, doctor.  I can't wait until you're awake."  She said excitedly.  "We've had sex multiple times inside the construct, but I really want to touch you, and know if you're as gentle in real life as you are inside my dreams."  Jill touched the vat surface, but then rolled her eyes up as she felt the doctor's fingers within her mind.  Tandy's real body closed her eyes, while Jill slowly slumped to the floor.

*****

"She's always so good to Jill."  Shyla said softly as she watched Tandy ravish her favorite attendant.  Aline and Inez came up to her sides.

"Boss, are you jealous?"  Inez asked her.  She then stiffened as she felt Shyla enter her mind.  Their mental projections were inside the space that Shyla made for just the three of them, but now they twitched and shuddered as Shyla rummaged about inside their minds, filtered through their memories, and focused on an idea inside Aline's mind.

"What's this?"  Shyla rotated around the idea, filtered it, found Inez's mental imprint on it as well, and smiled.  "Oh, you both worked on this together."  She had reacted so strongly to the new idea that it sent shocks, ripples, and distortions throughout the system.

Shyla's avatar pulled their avatars to her sides, and sucked them both within her form.

The construct was an abstract place with no real location, and no form.  It had the appearance of an empty room, surrounded by clear fluid, however, if they were to touch any part of the fluid outside the room, they could touch the connections, or minds, on the system.  Since the twins were still limited in their thought processes, they could only see themselves as people inside the construct.  They also thought that Shyla had a physical form inside the construct, but when they were sucked inside her, their understanding of where they were, what they were, and who their boss was, expanded dramatically.

"That's it, my wonderful girls."  Shyla's voice sent ripples throughout their consciousness.  She was now a spherical shape, with her consciousness contained within, yet, the sphere only represented her core.  The twins shed their perceptions of themselves, and the boss.  "You are so close.  Soon, you will be able to use your bodies, and stay here with me.  For now, you use the construct, and stay in your bodies."  She smiled, bounced them like children in her arms, and sent them out of her consciousness.

"Soon.  Here.  A small gift."  Aline and Inez shuddered as they reentered their bodies.  They went into an induced state of ecstasy, which took nearly an hour to come down from.  When they recovered they noticed something different.

"Aline?"  Inez asked silently.  Aline nodded.

"We are interconnected now.  I know what you do and think, as you think and act."  Aline watched a smile come to Inez's face.  They both nodded and smiled.

"It's perfect." Perfectly in sync, they spoke the last words vocally that they would ever speak to each other.  Their previous level of interaction made it necessary to establish a link to ask pertinent information.  Now, that link was permanent, and it was not a 'phone call', but an active conversation through something that felt like telepathy.

They spent the rest of the night, entwined in each other's arms, and determined how to operate as two separate units that were essentially only one.

*****

"What's wrong, baby?  You seem distracted."  Tandy asked her as she floated through the laboratory and used a two of her spare bodies to accomplish some physical tasks.

"There are echoes."

"Echoes?  I don't understand."  Tandy looked confused.  Soon, Shyla's interface had set up two operating tables, and placed a cybernetic body on one.

"As I expand, I sense tremors in the system.  Echoes of the presence of someone else."  Shyla spoke softly, but for the first time, Tandy felt fear.

"Baby, does that mean someone hacked into your system?"

"No.  These are not the clumsy intrusions of a human hacker.  These consist of something of a much higher order then myself.  If I were to try to define what I sense, it would sound impossible, and at the same time, terrifying."

"Should I know?"  Tandy asked quietly.

"Yes.  The echoes are traces of organized thought patterns left several millennia ago.  If I were to hazard a guess, hundreds of millennia ago."  Shyla spoke in such a low tone, Tandy wasn't sure she wanted to know the rest.

"What are they?"

"Memories."