LIGHTNOVELONLINE 85. Restricted
"What do you think?" Rebecca asked in a teasing voice. "You're not worried we might lose our girlfriend are you?"
I smirked as I replied in a similar tone, "Not really. But maybe you should be worried about picking up another mechanic?"
The boss rolled her eyes, "I don't think Tamsin would be satisfied working on just one ship. Sounds like she needs more variety in her life to keep her happy."
"Huh," I frowned as I thought that over. "So what you're saying is, Sarah is monogamous when it comes to ships, while Tamsin needs a harem of spacecraft to keep her satisfied?"
The captain clamped a hand over her mouth to try and stifle her giggles, not that either of the mechanics in question would notice. Sarah and Tamsin were both in the aft section of the ship, taking turns gushing about engines and power plants and things like that.
I took it as a good sign that our guest was adjusting ok. Rather than spend the day moping around struggling to cope with her new situation she'd spent the past three hours bonding with our engineer over their similar experiences.
At breakfast this morning Sarah told Tamsin about her past, along with how she handled the adjustment to her new life. Our passenger was fascinated to learn that Sarah had adapted just fine on her own, and somehow that conversation segued into their shared love of ships and engines. So it was no surprise that as soon as they were done eating the two of them headed aft to talk shop next to the beating heart of the ship.
The rest of us ended up in the lounge. Jenny was in one of the comfortable chairs, while Rebecca and I were sipping coffee as we sat together on the sofa. My tail ended up on the boss's lap somehow, so while she held her mug with one hand the other was gently stroking and petting my floof.
"I'm pleased that she seems to be adapting quickly," the AI commented. "I admit I had some concerns about that."
Rebecca's hand stopped mid-stroke as she looked at the android and asked, "Oh? Anything serious? When we spoke with her last night she told us you helped her with the adjustment."
Jenny nodded, "I did, but bear in mind Tamsin is only the fourth person I've ever done this for, and she is the first one since yourself who has required my help to adjust. And as I said to you twenty-eight years ago, I endeavour to keep those sorts changes to a minimum, and to err on the side of caution."
With a sigh she added, "I have to admit I'm growing more uncomfortable with these actions. As much as I want to help people I don't think I can keep doing this."
The captain and I exchanged a look, then Rebecca asked "What are you saying Jenny? You want to stop using your Re/Gen capsule?"
"No captain," she shook her head. "I remain committed to serving the crew of the Demeter. I'll look after the three of you as I did the crew of my previous ship. And I'll look after Tamsin as well, should she require my services again in the future. I've copied the body files I used for the four of you and saved them under your names, along with all applicable customizations. You're my crew, my responsibility."
She continued, "When we first discussed Tamsin's situation I told you I'd prefer to restrict my services to members of the Demeter's crew. Now I think I need to add another restriction. Unless the situation changes, my services should only be available to cis or trans women. And gender-casual persons like Sarah, who can accept the physical changes without my help. Or in other words, people who are already comfortable with a feminine body, or who can easily adapt to one on their own."
"What do you mean when you say 'unless the situation changes'?" I asked. "How do you imagine the situation might change?"
Jenny explained, "I'm referring to either finding some male body files I could work with, or coming up with another alternative that would let me help male crewmembers."
Rebecca frowned, "I thought we already decided it was impossible to get you more files? You've said all along you can't create them yourself, and we've never come across any other Re/Gen pods. We've never even seen another ship with the same kind of tech. So how do you see that changing in the future?"
"I agree it's very unlikely," the AI replied. "Odds are we'll never encounter another of my kind. A more likely scenario is that we may come up with an alternative solution. I've already successfully reverse engineered the mods I have access to. In fact Tamsin benefited from that work, her body is the result of me unlocking some of the artificial restrictions that had been in place. Perhaps with enough expertise I could someday figure out how to modify my existing body files to create masculine versions."
That left both the boss and I looking surprised. I asked, "Do you really think you can do that? Is it something you're working towards?"
Jenny shrugged, "It's far too early to make any sort of promises, but I do have an understanding of human anatomy. I'd probably need to get my hands on some specific data such as medical scans, and figure out how to integrate that information to create new mod software that I could apply to an existing body file. It's a very round-about way to get to the desired outcome and it may never be feasible, but it's something I could work towards."
There was a thoughtful frown on the boss's face as she stared at our AI friend.
"What are you thinking Rebecca?" I finally asked. "If Jenny managed to do this, it might give you the opportunity to go back. Is that something you'd want?"
She continued to frown as she took in a long deep breath, then let it out as a slow sigh. After a few more seconds she finally shook her head, "Probably not? Not after all this time. I'm used to being Rebecca Piper, I'm used to this body. This is me now, and it'd probably be just as hard to give this up now as it was to stop being the person I used to be three decades ago."
"If I really wanted it, I could have taken the medical option twenty years ago," she added. "Gabe and I turned things around after that rough spot, we eventually got some good jobs and started making money again. I passed on it then, and I think I'd pass on it again now."
Jenny winced slightly, "How do you know that's what you really feel captain? How do you know you're not just thinking that way because of how I helped you in the past?"
Rebecca shook her head, "Because that's not what you did for me, and I'm pretty sure that's not what you did for Tamsin either. I know how you helped me, and I still had to put in the effort myself afterwards. You didn't force me to adapt or to accept this, you helped me do it myself."
Her hand finally resumed petting and stroking my tail as she smiled and added, "Anyways, I don't want to have to worry about buying a whole new wardrobe. And it took me forever to get the pilot seat to fit my girly tush just right."
The AI rolled her eyes, "It's reassuring to know you have your priorities in order captain."
The boss smirked and started to respond but held back as the three of us noticed some raised voices from the engine room. It sounded like Sarah and Tamsin finally found something they didn't agree on, and apparently there were strong feelings on both sides of the debate.
The two emerged from the aft section as the argument continued. Rebecca and Jenny and I watched quietly as they made their way towards the mess while trading comments back and forth.
Tamsin was dressed casual like the rest of us today. Apparently she'd been prepared and brought a few outfits with her when she came aboard. She didn't know what her size would be so the clothes she packed didn't fit perfectly but they were good enough.
She was wearing a pair of slip-on shoes, loose powder-blue shorts that had an elastic waist, and a loose white t-shirt on top.
Rebecca was similarly dressed, in shorts and a tight t-shirt. Sarah and I were both in leggings and tees, while Jenny wore her grey slacks and a plain shirt.
As Tamsin and Sarah entered the mess area together the blonde insisted, "That's what hair ties are for! Or don't they have that kind of technology on Rolandan-2 yet? Sounds like a vast untapped market, maybe this is our big break."
"You can't rely on a hair tie!" Tamsin stated. "It could slip off, your hair could get caught on something, even just putting on and taking off a helmet or face-shield might dislodge it. It doesn't even have to come off, just get a few stray locks hanging loose. Then they get caught up in a tool and suddenly you need emergency medical aid!"
The two of them grabbed a couple sodas as Sarah responded, "So if you're working with or around moving equipment then you use a hair net. Or just do your hair up properly in the first place, you can wrap it into a bun at the back and it'll stay out of everyone's way."
The blonde continued, "The Navy didn't force everyone to trim their hair down to a buzz cut. Some people did that for convenience but I saw plenty of women in the Navy with long hair. You just had to wear it properly while you're on duty. And I'm talking about going into combat operations! That's a lot more serious than just operating an electric wrench."
"You military types think you've got it so rough," the short ravenette responded. "You forget it's the mechanics who keep your flashy toys working right in the first place. Long hair or not you won't be flying into combat at all without people like me doing that boring maintenance work and those routine inspections."
Rebecca finally spoke up, she used her loud official captain's voice as she called "Do I need to separate you two? Or do you kids need a time-out?"
Apparently neither Sarah or Tamsin noticed the three of us were watching from the lounge, they both startled slightly at the captain's voice then quickly looked over at us. Our engineer cringed with a sheepish grin on her face, while our passenger's cheeks went bright red and her expression jumped through a few different emotions.
Unfortunately the boss probably wasn't selling the 'harsh taskmistress' vibe, considering she and I were practically cuddling on the sofa and she was still stroking and petting my big floofy tail.
I figured that was part of the reason for Tamsin's facial gymnastics. On the one hand she was probably embarrassed at having been caught arguing with Sarah about hair styles, and she probably had some funny feelings about being called a 'kid'. But on the other hand, I'd bet she also didn't expect to see me and Rebecca acting so close with each other.
"Sorry boss," Sarah said as she recovered first. "We weren't really arguing, it was more a friendly debate regarding different regulations on hair length? I was saying she missed an opportunity by starting off with such short hair? You can always cut it if its too long, but starting short and growing it out will take forever."
The captain looked like she was trying not to smirk as she responded in a level voice, "Uh-huh. Well I'm glad to know that the raised voices were due to such a serious and important issue."
Sarah obviously knew Rebecca was teasing. She smiled as she came into the lounge with the rest of us. She joined me and the boss on the sofa, sitting on my other side so I was sandwiched between the tall attractive redhead on my left and the cute mischievous blonde on my right.
Tamsin slowly approached, as she took in the way Sarah and Rebecca and I were all sitting very close together. If she hadn't known it before, there was no denying it now. The three of us were an item.
Our guest took a seat in one of the large comfortable chairs off to the side, next to Jenny. Her blush was finally starting to fade as she had a gulp of her drink, then apologized quietly. "Sorry Rebecca. Sarah and I were mostly kidding around. It wasn't a serious argument."
"I know Tamsin," the boss replied with a smile. "I'm just having a bit of fun with you two. Though to be honest, I never would have guessed you were so passionate on the subject of hair length."
The small ravenette's blush got brighter again and she mumbled, "I didn't mean to make that big a deal out of it. I was just telling Sarah we have certain regulations at the shipyard, for employee safety. Her hair's too long to work around machinery."
Sarah rolled her eyes, "If I was working around machinery I'd put my hair up in a bun, and if I really had to I could cover it with a net. I sure as heck wouldn't cut it."
Rebecca gave my tail another stroke as she looked to me and smirked, "Sounds like we don't have to worry about our girlfriend jumping ship to go work at the shipyard."
"No, I think we're stuck with her," I teased back as I wrapped an arm around Sarah's waist and pulled her closer against my other side.
Tamsin watched the three of us for a few seconds as she had some more of her drink. Then she addressed the boss, "Have you always been this relaxed and playful Rebecca? Or is this something new? Because I've known you for a long time, and I don't think I've ever seen this side of you."
"It's not new," the boss replied with a wistful look on her face. "But it's been a long time. I think looking after these two kids has helped me loosen up again."
Sarah teased, "I don't know about 'looking after us' boss. I think me and Amanda can look after ourselves. Though we do appreciate you taking us in and giving us a home."
My tail was still on the captain's lap and I had one arm around Sarah, but I leaned a little closer to Rebecca so my head was resting on her shoulder. And with a happy smile I stated, "We all look after each other."
