ANIMUS EX MACHINA

"Great job out there, team!"

"Oh, c'mon Lee. That was nothing!"

She's honestly right, but his enthusiasm is worth it anyways. Following them into the locker room, you take a moment to check the less-than-urgent notifications from your suit that you ignored earlier.

[Cerebrovascular anomaly detected, engaging backup procedure]
[Backup procedure complete]

Huh, you've never seen any messages like that before. Probably a good idea to ask Liam about that later, he knows everything about how these suits work! Well, whatever it was doing finished automatically, so not to worry.

Your thinking is interrupted by the unmistakable hiss of power armor opening to the atmosphere, thanks to Ember. She's always the first to get out of her suit, with how impatient she is. Or maybe it's just because she wants to show off her body; even with the suit doing the heavy lifting, she still makes sure to stay in shape. Perfectly toned, and right now covered in a sheen of undisturbed sweat that she barely even bothers to towel off… and now she's looking right at you.

"Hey, what'cha staring for, kid? And, uhh… why are ya still in your suit?"

Liam, who got out of his suit already while you were busy staring, giggles a bit.

"But seriously, is something wrong in there?"

You stammer out an apology to her, before exiting your suit. You hear the hiss, and... nothing. You look down to the abdomen of the suit; the hatch has opened, blocking your view of anything below it.

"What the…"

THUD. Something large and heavy just fell out of the cockpit. What the hell is going on here? You panic and try to shove the hatch closed again, but it simply springs back open again. Whatever it is, it's enough to get Liam to run out of the room, screaming. You use one hand to hold the hatch as closed as you can, just to get a look at what's going on.

"H-hey kid, is that…"

Lying on the ground is a body that, after a few seconds, you recognize as your own. It sits there motionless, the cold droplets of sweat that coat it slowly dripping down onto the tile of the locker room beneath. You politely confirm her suspicions.

"So, you're a ghost now? I don't think Lee knows how to fix that, but I'll try to find him."

In the moment alone, you decide to feel around the cockpit. While being inside of it is nothing special to you, feeling it from the outside perspective is entirely different. Yet despite being so abnormal, the emptiness doesn't feel wrong. A void that could be filled, but not one that needs to be.

"S-sorry for running away like that…"

You snap back to reality.

"Oh, it's fine. I barely kept it together myself!"

"Anyways, there's a diagnostics port inside the cabin, which should give me access to the compute system. The first thing I'll do is run a quick snapshot of everything in memory, that's for sure."

Liam pulls out a cable and plugs it into the port inside of you. You almost expected it to feel like something, but you wouldn't have noticed if he didn't tell you he was doing it. He plugs the other end into his computer, and starts to look over the data. You can't exactly understand anything of what's on the screen, but he definitely looks surprised by it.

"Ya sure they're not just a ghost, Lee? I think they're a ghost now."

The body begins to snore, yet the silence that fills the room is much louder. All you can do is stare, each shallow breath feeling like an eternity.

"Hang on, I have an idea."

Liam types something in to his computer. Before you can ask what he's doing, you hear what sounds like a latch from inside the cockpit. Everything turns to black.

The nothingness is all-encompassing, replacing every aspect of your perception. As if all of reality has been disconnected, yet you are still thinking; alive. But what is a mind without a body? Is this the truth of your existence?

You wake up. You bolt upright, covered in a cold sweat.

But the nothingness returns. Was that just your imagination? Perhaps you simply wish this was all a dream. Is it?

The sweat still covers you, soaked through your clothes. Your eyes strain to open in the harsh light.

"Hey kid, you in there? Hello?"

You sit up slowly. You try to say something, but the words just won't come out. Your mouth is dry.

"Okay, so that definitely needs to stay plugged in…"

Your eyes finally adjust enough that you can get a decent look around. You're in the locker room, sitting on the cold tile floor. Ember is looking down at you from above, and Liam is doing something behind you. Something itches on the back of your neck. You go to scratch it, but your hand hits a cable plugged in to the interface port there; the one you use to control the power armor.

Liam grabs your hand, as if to stop it.

"B-be gentle there! But, I think I've figured out what happened to you."

You ask him to elaborate.

"I, well… I can probably just show you faster than I can explain it."

He points at what the other end of the cable is plugged into. A relatively small metal box with various indicator lights, cooling vents, and plenty of connectors.

"That's the processing module from your suit. And, well… where your mind seems to be stuck now."

You stare at the box. It blinks irregularly, yet you feel as if you understand. Ember laughs.

"So their ghost is possessing the computer, and you just plugged it back in?"

"I mean… you could say it like that, I guess."

"Well that sounds good enough to me! Still wanna get some drinks tonight?"

You could use a drink.