“Error. Error. Power source unstable. Life support offline. Trial period is about to expire. Error. Life signs not found…No oxygen found. Attempting to contact Hallett Starship….Attempt failed. Error. Errer found. Recursion error found. Error has reerr9er…Errorer.”

Her eyes blinked to life, mechanical motors clicked when she expanded her retinal apertures. Her stomach churned with the fans placed near her heart to keep it cool. Old but new with life. Angel awoke to find herself faced with several warning messages on the life capsule. “No oxygen found. No life signs found. Are you OK? Errooorrrrr. Press OK if you’re alive. Are…errorr you alive?” She didn’t know if she should. She wasn’t alive. But she wasn’t dead. The capsule that brought her to this space station was open. Her internal body clock told her that four thousand years had passed since she had left Earth.

The dark chamber outside the capsule was cold and uninviting. She had never seen a place like this, having been a home bot for so long. As she initiated a scan she found that this was an ingress room for traveling space farers. Wires hung from the ceiling in the dark. There didn’t seem to be any power. A hallway opened up beyond the chamber as she awkwardly stood on the quivering pistons in her legs. The errors from the capsule disappeared.

This space station must’ve been dead, drifting in space. There was a bulkhead at the end of the lifeless hallway. She pressed the latch with her weak arms but couldn’t force it down. There was a button, in the center of the door, with small lettering that said, “For all you sexy beasts, muscle bound hulks, beautiful wavy creatures, and arousing cyber chicks, Press hard.” She wasn’t sure if she was any of these things but she felt relieved. Finally, a mechanism she could operate with her failing arm motors. With her left hand she clutched the winged pendant that she had taken from her owner’s apartment back on Earth. Long ago her owner’s name had become lost to her, lost inside the failing memory chip in her head. Her owner had been dead for some time but Angel could still feel her presence, the rubbing of her shoulder and gentle kisses. She pressed the button hard.

The bulkhead slowly opened outward on a creaking hinge. A waft of compressed air pushed through and nearly toppled her. Brilliant light caused her irises to blur, like a tunnel of heaven that her owner told her about when humans died. As her retinas adjusted she was meant with a radiant vision of color and sunlight. The main chamber of the space station was more of a fantasy world than anything she could imagine to be constructed for the purposes of interstellar travel.

It was a playground, a playground in a giant garden with adult…people? Real people? Human people? Unlike her…They were naked and spread out in a massive crowd, all in different positions, all different shapes and sizes. Her retinal zoom swiveled and focused. A tree, this one was alive, compared to the 90% of trees on earth, sat on a hillside with green grass flowing across a meadow below. In the meadow the grass morphed into other colors, purples, yellows, pinks, and violets, and swayed in an artificial breeze. Angel stepped forward on the metal platform to where the grass ended.

“Hi there, cutey pie. You look a little worse for wear but you’re still a dazzling specimen. Welcome to the Pleasure Palace!” A being of pure energy seemed to materialize in front of Angel. The voice was just as kaleidoscopic as her appearance, being made up of neon energy particles of beautifully shifting colors. The being looked directly at her with a kind feminine face and an even more feminine body and an angelic, yet impartially formed face. “Which star system did such a charming being come from?”

“Earth. I mean Sol.” Angel’s voice box echoed an awkward and unstable response, like a child learning to speak. “This…is a space station?”

“Yuppers. Constructed long ago by our earthling ancestors for the purposes of sexual expression. Intelligent humanoids from across the universe come here to experience all their desires in any way they see fit, within reason of course. I will be your guide. Tell me, what brings you to the Palace?”

A place of human pleasure, when she previously believed that all humans were extinct. She clutched her owner’s winged pendant around her neck. Could her owner have escaped Earth the same way Angel did? “I…I didn’t.” Her voice crackled. “I was brought here–“

“Without consent, huh? Well we don’t allow that here. You’re safe here. No one will make you do anything here. This place is all about freedom. You can call me Locus. Let me show you around.”

The soft face of the female entity waved her forward. The “ancestors,” as Locus had called them, must’ve created her as an AI, giving her an inviting and friendly face and a non-threatening, almost ethereal frame, her bust being of moderate size and shape. The details of which were somewhat fuzzy and wavering in the air. “Okay, but am I allowed to be here? I’m not human. I was created to be a companion bot for an elderly woman. I’m not a sexy beast or a creature of any sort.”

“Of course! The Palace is not just a place for humans. We haven’t seen a real human in eons. And I think you are quite striking.” Locus grew red all over, the color seemed to shift with her mood, the nano particles shifted with frenzied excitement like feathers in the wind. “What should I call you, sweetness?”

“Angel. That was my model version.”

“So fitting.” Locus fluttered about in a trillion nanos. “And you’re AI?”

She didn’t know what to say and hated the robotic, yet appropriate, sound of her own voice. It came out as dry. “I–I don’t have such a thing. Can you help find out?”

They approached a gathering group of naked beings she thought to be human, made clearer to be alien in nature. A bulbous purple humanoid, with an extra set of wobbly arms and stumpy legs and flat feet stretched his long neck above the crowd, edging to see something beyond them. A robotic fairy, about the size of her owner’s dog, sprang by, and danced on the cool air and made her way through varied shoulders, dangly appendages, and other body parts. “Of course.” A field of interwoven bodies, all brushing up against each other stood before them. A half-robot, feminine she/him displayed his half-engorged genitalia with a round posterior and rosary tattooed back. The excitement and curiosity was contagious but awkward and gross, even for a machine.

“I don’t like this. I don’t belong here.”

“Silly. Everyone belongs here. You’ve arrived just in time for Seraphim’s dance. She loves it when people watch.” Locus’ nanos formed around Angel’s legs and lifted her off the ground. From even a few feet above the crowd she could see the pond that they were gawking at. Floating on the water was a flower, a large purple iris. Upon it sat a tall female queen, in the form of human woman, bust slightly larger than her own. The queen with her feathered head was moving in a smooth motion, her body swaying with the wind. How strange…The varied crowd was drawn to her like moths to a flame. Were they receiving data from her? Was this their entertainment?

“Seraphim dances like this for hours. Does this appeal to you?” asked Locus.

She had to confess to herself that it did not. Should it? Was she lacking some internal cranial mechanism that prevented her from having empathy for this nude display? Angel shook her head.

“Perhaps there’s another activity that would be more to your liking.” Locus soared through the landscape, carrying Angel with her. The two came to the great tree at the crest of the hill. There were large knots in the tree that she didn’t notice before. Beings of all shapes, including humanoid machines and alien creatures were crawling into them, yellow sap seeping out around them. “There’s an appreciation for nature here at the Palace, since most planets connected to this hub don’t always have such gorgeous foliage. Some landscapes are quite barren. But here the flora is as diverse as its inhabitants. Long ago Oudica wished to be made into a maple tree so we granted his wish. He enjoys being penetrated in all orifices.” The tree seemed to heave in and out, seemingly breathing and sighing.

Locus and Angel then drifted beyond the green grass and into a plane of blue dirt. Here, Locus explained, giant worms existed, who mingled with each other under the dirt. The sand undulated and shifted, revealing a long tail or brownish worm hide. Angel definitely didn’t think she belong here either. Further along the space station she saw that the landscape curved upward like a massive torus. She clutched the winged pendant tighter, feeling the shape of the upturned feathers that formed an open hole in the center, deeply wishing she could see her owner again.

The pair swam over land masses and strange villages of varying construction. One area showcased a plethora of mechanical devices that pumped and gyrated, whereupon alien beings sat, lay prone underneath, and exposed their posteriors to accept the devices inside their bodies, pumped, penetrated, or squeezed. It seemed barbaric but the various lifeforms seemed to enjoy it. Another area, filled with clouds and floating bubbles, showcased winged creatures, mostly humanoids with wings like the ones around her neck, flew through the clouds making love to each other while other beings mingled inside the bubbles, usually one on one. This was all so much for Angel to take in. Would this be a place her owner would have wished to visit? If she had survived human extinction, would she had been to the Palace at all?

When Locus brought her to a rocky nook of tiny robotic creatures with tails, frolicking down below, she questioned whether Angel felt any more comfortable. Once again she shook her head. “Oh dear, the truth of the Palace will set you free. This space station was established to be all-inclusive. I can see you are afraid but we make up reality as we go along, as much as it makes us up.”

Angel listened to her comforting words and tried to process everything she was seeing. They talked for hours, flying above the filthy acts below, talking not much about anything. Angel experienced more pleasure talking with Locus than she would ever have down there.

Angel’s curiosity got the better of her. She had never seen anything like Locus back on Earth, having been confined to her owner’s apartment for so long. “How did you become like this?”

“My memory banks only go back so far but I can deduce that I was created during the birth of this station as a guide. I was given the freedom over the creation engines that border each areas to create new life and new areas for people to experience. These creation engines can allow you to become anything you want, be any extraterrestrial creature or machine. I chose this form because it best represents the constantly changing beings inside the station. A being of freedom and change.”

Angel continued to clutch the winged pendant, her hands started shaking, struggling to operate her internal motors. Even if she did have any interest in the physical activities below she wasn’t sure if her robotic body could handle it. “I can be anything? And do anything?”

Locus smiled with a face split into a thousand particles. “And go anywhere! Our transports can take you to any world you so please. Let’s go. We can get you into a new body right away.”

She remembered all the times she wanted new parts, all the days and nights wondering when her batteries would run out. Locus fluttered and soared towards a great circular opening. It was a small round opening beyond the vines of a round puffy eggplant bush, hidden underneath. The opening was a tube. They flew in and were met with glowing neon wires that seemed to stretch further into the station. “What were you before?” Angel’s voice cracked.

“Oh, nothing important I suspect. I was likely a program, a map of sorts for the Palace. AI, in a computer. I evolved on my own, just like others who come here with the help of the Master Protocol, the master AI that runs this magical place. And you? Have you been introduced to the realm of human pleasure?”

“I don’t remember much about humanity but I don’t recall sexual activity ever looking like this. My owner has touched me in gentle ways, and we’ve kissed of course. It was her way of greeting me. I do miss that sensation.” Said Angel.

“Why do you say ‘of course?’ It seems she had a lot of affection for you.” They traveled deeper into the inner workings of the underground tunnel.

“Is it not normal for owners to show affection to their bots?”

“It is more normal here but on Earth bots were treated as appliances, as inanimate tools, sadly. Were you a sex bot?”

Angel felt the wings in her hard fingers. “Of course not. She only ever…” She stopped and considered her failing body. Long ago her prosthetic skin had slouched away, exposing the chassis and servos underneath, except for her face and arms. She couldn’t recall what she was created for and wondered if her owner ever looked at her with disgust for not having a smooth and fleshy body. But why hadn’t she disposed of Angel for newer model? “I can’t remember. My mind is as old as my body and can only store so much information.”

“Would you like a new one?” Smiled Locus. Without waiting for a response they swam through the tunnel at such a high speed that Angel’s sensory organs couldn’t comprehend what she was seeing. They turned into another tunnel and came to a port where Locus brought her into a chamber with a central glass tube. “Here we are. Go ahead inside. I can create a model of your current figure and accentuate your form to make it look more human if that’s what you prefer. You can always come back and change it. A new cranial organ should give you more mental facilities and capacity.”

Angel looked down at her metal, robotic feet. She didn’t know what she wanted to become but knew she couldn’t last in the shell for much longer. Reluctantly she entered and Locus closed the glass door behind her. “Get ready. This may feel a bit weird, but you’ll come out feeling like a new woman.”

Locus disappeared into a computer console nearby, completely evaporating before Angel. Machine humming below her made her question whether this was a good idea or if she should panic. Locus’ voice told her to relax and she did, letting her arms go numb. The humming became louder as purple and blue particles swam around her. Was this Locus…?

She was blinded and felt her body started to grow with mass, energy, and a sensation she couldn’t explain emanating in her groin. The wires, inorganic organs, splints, pumps, cranial vacuum chamber, circuitry, lubrication fluids, the remaining soft polymer skin, hair, organic gut fluids, and batteries that composed her became energized with warmth. New breast tissue formed over the chest pouch that was there before. It was soft and pleasant, unlike the wrinkled flesh of her owner, even well before her death. New muscled formed everywhere else, in places she didn’t know she needed it, such as her posterior and abdomen. Organs and crevices developed in these areas too, causing a strange sensation on her stomach, new connections, new arteries, new tingling, and new pathways. Was this what it was like to be a human woman?

She held onto the winged pendant even harder, her hands growing with girth, and brought it to her lips. Every part of her started to ache, a sensation she hadn’t felt before. A moan escaped her lips but another voice suddenly came to her fresh auditory receptors, whispering. “…lost in the ether. It will guide you to me. Find…Mother Protocol. Bring back…” it was a woman’s soft voice. The nanos dissipated and the glass door cracked open. She held the pendant to her ears. The whispering was coming from the object…

“Well, don’t you look spectacular. I knew there was something special about you.” Said Locus reforming in the dark room with her. Angel stepped down from the glass chamber and suddenly felt exposed. Her skin was human shaded, pale and unblemished. She would have been happy in the new body except that she was also naked. The air touched her delicately, a new discomfort she didn’t know she could ever feel.

“I heard a voice…” Angel’s vocal oscillator was different. The static, dryness changed to something smother and feminine and she was happy she could be heard with such quality. But the other whisper she heard was neither her own nor Locus’ “…the Mother Protocol? What is that?”

As Locus’ face reformed there was a look of concern. “I haven’t heard that name in some time and only in rumors. Echoes in the machine ware. I thought they were just distortions in the system.”

Having just received the gift of a reshaped body she touched it awkwardly, rubbing her fingers with reinvigorated strength. She couldn’t believe this was real and oddly became remorseful for all the times she wasn’t able to pick up a cup or even grip a door handle. And even still her thoughts drifted back to her owner, whose name she still couldn’t remember, of how she would have reacted to Angel’s new body. She remembered a time when she bathed her owner and touched every part of her, including her soft genitalia. With one hand she gripped the pendant and with the other she felt her own genitalia and was shocked with what she discovered. The pendant wasn’t wings at all…It was the same rippled flesh that she felt below, in her fingers. They weren’t wings at all. They were labia lips…All this time she was rubbing a metal recreation of a human vagina…Her owner was celebrating her femininity and Angel suddenly realized that maybe so should she. Created to mirror a woman. Now that her owner was gone, she could live her own life, free from any responsibility and ownership. Free to simply exist. The possibilities were endless and made her shiver under her skin.

“Whoa, simmer down there, cowgirl. Show a little modesty, at least. There’s a lot I’ll have to teach you about your new body.” Locus seemed to wink at this. “But that will come with time. The Mother Protocol, hmmm, I bet I know someone who can help. He’s older than this place and can show you how we travel between worlds. Oh! This’ll be fun.” She spun around in diffusing sparkles. “A fun mystery. I love a good adventure. They show us how to truly live.”