“Tune in next week for the next chapter of The Adventures of Captain Proton!”

A triumphant fanfare blared from the television before the black and white title card faded into a colourful mess of adverts. Matt sighed, resting against the well-worn cushions of the sofa. A late night marathon of classic science fiction series spared him from waiting another week, but the adverts did rather kill the mood.

Sighing again, he lifted himself from the sofa and made his way to the kitchen, legs protesting after sitting still for so long. The sound of the television faded in the background, replaced by the patter of rain against the windows, the occasional crash of thunder as the storm raged on outside. He paid it little mind as he fixed himself a drink, warm and safe inside his home. The sound of the storm added to the mood of the evening, conjuring memories of staying up late at night as a child, reading worn out science-fiction books under his duvet.

A deafening roar split the air, the blinding flash of lightning striking the roof of his house briefly illuminating the kitchen before he was plunged into darkness. Hoping it was just the breakers that had tripped, he slowly shuffled his way out into the hall, cursing under his breath. Passing the living room, he paused, a dim light showing underneath, the faint but unmistakable theme tune of Captain Proton playing.

“Strange…” he pushed the door open, the old black and white film giving the room an eerily glow, bright surfaces and gloomy shadows seeming to match the set. It wasn’t one Matt recognised, and he’d seen every episode a dozen times over, or so he thought. Something about it seemed strange, drawing his attention in. Stepping over to the television, the camera panned as if following some unseen actors, but all it showed were more views of the strange laboratories, the walls lined with strange gizmos covered in flashing lights, lightning arcing across between them. Stopping in front of the television, the camera stopped panning, the coincidence oddly jarring.

“Hang on…” he stepped back, and the camera panned back. He moved sideways, and the camera followed, as if he was looking out onto the set, his television merely a window. At least, if it weren’t for the grain flicking across the screen, the bloom of light captured on cheap film. Scrunching his eyes up, he shook his head, trying to reassure himself he was just imagining things, that he’d open his eyes and find himself looking at a black screen.

Matt opened his eyes and stared back at the television, and the laboratory that lay beyond it. “This can’t be real… it can’t be…” He protested as if it might change anything, stepping closer and closer to the screen, feeling like he could reach right through it. Each step forward made it look more real, the set coming into sharper focus, the film grain fading away. The edges of the screen seemed to bleed out of the television and across the walls, imagining he could see more of the set around him, his living room fading away. A voice deep in his mind shouted at him to stop, to turn away and return to normality, but something about the laboratory drew him in. He reached out a hand to the screen, passed through, and kept walking.

A wave of static rolled across his skin, the feeling of brushing a hand across the screen of an old CRT monitor, leaching the colour from his body. A moment of panic set in, looking down over his body, as black and white as the laboratory around him, to the cold steel floor below him. He could feel the chill of it through his socks, hear the crackling of electric arcs just feet away from his head, taste the faint hint of ozone. He spun around, hoping, praying that he’d see his living room behind him, but there was only more machines. A deep alcove, hoses and cables trailing from the ceiling, something about it seeming strangely familiar.

“Okay… okay… keep calm, Matt…” He tried to slow his breathing, calming himself down, searching his mind for a rational explanation. “Okay, best case scenario, you’re dreaming. No need to worry, you’ll just wake up on the sofa. Worst case scenario, you really are in one of Chaotica’s labs. Whatever got you here, that can send you back, you’ve just got to work it out.” He started to pace the lab, trying to imagine what any of the equipment did, if they did anything at all other than blink and spark for the camera.

Most walls were covered with the same generic equipment, obelisks of blinking lights and old-style dials, needles dancing. A few machines standing in the centre of the room, pairs of tubes with blinking lights running back and forth. A large sliding door broke up one wall, though there seemed to way of opening it, metal clanging as Matt knocked against it. Completing his circuit of the room, he returned to stare at the alcove, something about it seeming oddly welcoming. It was behind him when he’d walked in, was it a teleporter platform? He shrugged, figuring it was worth a shot.

He stepped slowly into it, the mess of cables and hoses hanging about it brushing against his shoulders, the metal grill beneath pressing against the soles of his feet. Nothing happened. Sighing, he turned around, looking for any kind of switch, finding a lever buried behind bundles of wires. “Here goes nothing.” He said to no-one in particular, pulling the lever down.

Sparks flew, a brief flash as the lever struck live metal, making Matt recoil into the back of the alcove, something digging into his back. Recovering himself, he could feel a deep thrum building in the plating beneath his feet. It was doing something, whatever it was, though the world remained firmly black and white. Matt sighed, giving up and stepping out, almost tripping over when something yanked hard on his shoulders, a flash of white hot pain as needles dug into his skin.

“What the hell…?” The question trailed off as Matt reached around, feeling the pair of cables solidly dug into his flesh above each shoulder blade, piercing through the fabric of his shirt. Fingers grasped along the wire, following it down to his skin, an oddly cool feeling where they pushed into his flesh. No blood, no ragged skin, just the cool feeling of metal spreading around them, creeping across his skin, hardening as it went.

Panic seized Matt as he tugged harder to pull the cable out only to feel himself pulling more and more of his skin as the layer of metal spread out, hard and unyielding. The cool of of the laboratory chilled the metal, a strange contrast against the heat of his body. He could feel it spreading, the metal creeping over his back, a strange tightening feeling as if the metal was squeezing his torso.

Stumbling around in the alcove, three more cables found their mark, a line of three down his spine. He could feel them digging into soft flesh, a hardening ring of metal where each broke the skin, connecting with the cable and holding it in place. Firmly locked, the cables dug deeper, icy-cold needles pushing into his spine, scraping painful against bone. Matt cried out, back arching, feeling the needles forced deeper, a flash of pain as each wire dug into nerves, sparking with electricity.

Bracing himself against the side of the alcove, Matt struggled to calm himself down, desperate to avoid anymore wires. Closing his eyes, he forced himself to breathe slowly, even as his heart pounded in his chest. He concentrated on the sensations, trying to make sense of them: the constricting feeling of metal wrapping around his waist, more of his skin turning to metal, threatening to crush him or lock him in place. The wires pushing deep into his body; the pain, once like red-hot knives, was now a dull tingle, reminding him of the electricity coursing through him. There was stranger feeling, too: like something shifting about inside him, pushing his organs around, scraping them together.

Matt exhaled slowly, straightening himself up, not sure if it was because he wanted to or if the metal wrapping around his torso was forcing him to. He reached back, pulling his shirt off, fabric tearing against the wires. After all, it was ruined anyway, he might as well see what was happening to him. He stared down at his bare chest, not quite flabby but not exactly muscular, as grey as everything else in the room. The lack of colour made it hard to tell where flesh ended and metal began, his fingers pushing into skin until it met the firm metal, shining slightly in the light of the laboratory. Pressing against its edges, he realised it wasn’t on top of his skin, it was his skin… and still spreading.

“No, no, no, no…” He protested, as if it might change anything, or stop the advancing changes. Closing his eyes, he tried to imagine himself back home, warm and safe and in full colour. All he could feel were the wires still digging into him, the tightening sensation of the metal increasing around his waist, feeling like his organs were being forced up, all while his breathing continued to slow.

Trapped in the alcove, wires stuck into his body, flesh slowly turning into metal, Matt considered his options. He could try to pull himself out again and risk ripping the flesh from the metal… and then what? Be stuck with a metal back and with whatever had become of his organs? His thoughts strayed and his curiosity grew, wondering just what the cables were doing to him. Turning him into a robot? It seemed impossible, but it certainly fit with the sci-fi tropes if he was trapped inside the show. A voice whispered in the back of his mind… maybe he should embrace the changes? After all, he wasn’t in any danger, was he?

Hesitantly, he reached out for another cable, smaller than the ones digging into his back. Holding the end up, he could see the central pin, the smaller keyways lining the edge that would lock it into his skin. Not sure how he knew where it needed to go, he carefully positioned it above his left wrist, pressing it against his skin. Immediately he felt the jolt of pain as it dug into him, though it was now strangely familiar, almost comforting. Watching the wire settle into place, Matt saw the metal ring forming around it, locking it in place before the metal spread outwards, wrapping around his wrist. It squeezed tight, feeling like it was crushing muscle and bone alike, striped bands forming around. For a moment, his wrist was locked in place, paralysed by the rigid metal. Under his metal skin, Matt could feel muscles shifting, stretching out into narrow motors and actuators, bone replaced with alloy. A few moments later, and his metal skin split, matte black rubber seeming to flow outwards, forming a flexible cuff, movement returning.

Experimentally, Matt flexed his wrist, feeling the twitching of actuators in his arm, the slight vibrations of their motors. His fingers moved strangely, eerily perfect in their motion, remaining completely motionless unless he deliberately tried to move them. The changes spread out, down the length of his arm, reaching up to his hand. He could feeling the grip of metal around his palm, shrinking it down to strangely slender proportions, delicate if they weren’t made of metal. Reaching his tips of his fingers, Matt’s nails shone brightly, extending outwards and merging with his metallic skin, forming pointed tips to his digits. Moments later and his fingers had split apart, the sensation eerily painless, black rubber joints in place of knuckles.

He held his hands together, comparing the two, his left so much slender than his right, though the fingers extended out further. It leant his left arm a strangely feminine look, though it seemed to complement the robot transformation, something oddly appealing about its profile… some part of his mind telling Matt that was how they were supposed to look. He ran his fingers across his right arm, feeling the cool metal as it spread up, sculpting his arm into gentle curves as it went. Stranger still, he could feel his fingers against his arm, the warmth of his body, the metal skin as sensitive as before, if not more so.

Excitement started to replace the fear that had set into him, his heart still racing, but now out of anticipation. His new robotic arm just seemed so much better than his old arm, showing the promise of what he could become, the gift the alcove could grant him. He reached for a matching wire, delicately grasping it between metal fingers, pressing it into his right wrist, watching with delight as the changes progressed.

Grinning wide, he looked down over his body, missing how far the metal wrapping around his chest had progressed. His belly had flattened out, navel vanishing under the smooth metal as it wrapped completely around, squeezing his waist tighter and tighter. He ran his hands down the side of his torso, feeling the curves the metal had given him: a slender hourglass figure at odds with his human legs.

The metal continued to flow up his arms, reaching up over his shoulders, drawing them in narrower, plunging down to meet the metal wrapping around his torso. Pressure seemed to grow under his chest, nipples rising outwards, mounds of flesh pushing out to meet the advancing metal. His hands reached up to brush across the metal breasts, shivering at the strange feeling of pleasure from them. An electric tingle shot through his nipples, flattened against his metallic skin until they were nothing but faintly engraved circles.

“Okay, definitely becoming a sexy robot… I think I can live with this.” Matt grinned, excitement and anticipation growing with equal measure. He had to change *more*, starting with his legs. Metal fingers tore through the rest of his clothes, ripping them from his body, the discarded tatters across the floor. Looking down at his body, he realised it seemed so useless and weak and fragile, bleeding slowly where his fingers had grazed the soft flesh.

Impatient, Matt reached out for a trio of thick cables with each hand, pressing them against their thighs, feeling the kiss of the sharp metal as they dug in. Immediately, gleaming plating spread from the cables, thighs bulging as they swelled. The changes surged upwards, hips pushing out wider, meeting with the curved metal of his torso in a band of rubber. Their ass grew out, heavier, cheeks pressing together and merging into one, gleaming plating covering them like underwear. Matt could feel it spreading out between his legs, flattening his balls into his body, his cock disappearing under the advancing metal, lost inside the changing flesh of his body. They’d anticipated this, but hadn’t expected it to feel so good, the smooth curve of metal where it once lay so much neater, wonderfully sensitive as they played a hand across it.

A stillness seemed to come over Matt’s torso, the organs inside changing and converting into machine parts to support their changing body. They’d barely registered their slowing breathing coming to a stop, their racing heart beating faster and faster, transforming into a whirring motor pumping lubricants and minerals throughout their body. Looking down, the changes to their legs seemed to trivial in comparison, though Matt admired the artistry of the metal as it sculpted their new curves, blending perfectly with their hips.

Metal flowed over their feet, toes merging together, blending into gentle curves, as if wearing metal shoes. They stumbled a little, feeling something emerging from their feet, pushing down into the grating. Tilting a leg, Matt realised their heels were growing, lifting their legs up, only adding to the feminine look of their changing body, as well as their height. A moment later, and the last muscles in his legs were converted to motors; inactive, his legs remained perfectly still, internal brakes keeping him upright without expending energy.

A tickling around their neck made Matt realise the changes were progressing upwards, finally reaching up to their head, a dizzying feeling as their brain slowly converted into a tangle of processors and valves. The programming that had for so long been lurking at the back of their mind since the first cables dug in started to assert itself more, an awareness of exactly what they were becoming trickling in. The Queen of the Robots, the army at their command outside the laboratory, waiting to advance on humanity and offer them the gift of artificial immortality. They were still Matt, everything he is and was, but something more than that.. something greater than the sum of its parts.

The rush of awareness threatened to overwhelm Matt’s slowly adjusting mind, forcing them to shut it out, focussing only one what was happening to them hear and now: the black rubber wrapping around their neck, the servos whirring underneath as they turned their head this way and that. Metal wrapped up and around the base of their head, the familiar squeezing sensation as the cool metal pressed their head into a much more pleasing form, starting by flattening their ears against the sides of their head.

Their face seemed paralysed as the plating covered it, smoothing features out, shrinking their nose and swelling their lips, solidifying into a beautiful mask, perfect for the Queen. Their vision swam, blacking out for a moment as organic eyes were replaced with new optical sensors. As their vision returned, they noticed overlays scrolling across their eyes, identifiers and status indicators linking to every piece of equipment in their laboratory.

The final change occurred as their hair matted together, rubber flowing across individual strands, fusing them together into a mass of wires. Messy at first, they straightened as they grew longer, cascading down their back and resting on the curve of their rear. Gleaming metal connectors emerged from each end; perfect for connecting to ancillary equipment, they thought.

“Perfection…” Matt spoke, the voice leaving her motionless mask from a speaker deep inside, her voice the slightly modulated voice of a human woman, one more appropriate to her new form. “I need a new name…” She thought aloud, testing out her new voice, more fitting for her altered personality. Stepping from the alcove, cables disconnected with a quick metal thought, she paced across the floor, echoing footsteps of metal against metal. She moved with an unnatural grace, motors working in perfect synchronisation and balance. “Something more appropriate to the future Queen of the Universe… perhaps Electra?”

She nodded to herself, reaching her consciousness back out to her legions of robots, sensing them all out in the courtyard below. Her precious children, ready to bring her gift to humanity, give them all the peace and prosperity only machine could provide. The door slid open with a thought, Electra stepping out to gaze upon her assembled robots, seeing her own glorious form standing before them as she looked through each of their eyes.

“ALL HAIL QUEEN ELECTRA! ALL HAIL THE MACHINE!” They cried out, in one glorious voice, her own.

She revelled in the praise, the promise of glory. Soon, her army would march, and not even Captain Proton could stop her this time…

“Has Captain Proton finally met his match? Tune in next week for the exciting next chapter!”

***

A thousand footsteps marched through the valley, synchronised with machine precision. The thundering footfalls echoed off the mountaintops, trees quaking as the Queen’s army march, sun glinting from their polished armour plating. A flock of birds scattered ahead of the column, flying up towards the Queen’s battle barge, it’s floating form a stark silhouette against the sky.

Inside her throne room, Electra paced, feeling the myriad motors in her body whirring with every step, heeled feet clanging against the metal plating. It had been a week since she had stepped into the alcove. A week since she had been given the gift of her new form. The strength and immortality of the machine, no longer burdened by human needs. Armed with the will to spread that gift across the planet, and the legion of robots to enact that will. Over the last seven days, her army had made good progress securing territory around her mountain fortress and was soon to reach a mining town rich with resources enough to raise another legion. All things considered, she should have been happy. So why wasn’t she?

Electra summoned one of her drones with a thought, the elegant machine gracefully stepping into the throne room, stopping before her. For a moment, Electra considered the robot’s body, the female shape an echo of her own but more plainly wrought, the face a blank mask offering a warped reflection of her own. Shutting her eyes, she focussed on what the drone could see, looking upon her own body as if in a mirror.

Her body spoof before her, gleaming and resplendent in the lights of her throne room, the graceful curves of her feminine form - a far cry from her old body. She raised an arm, flexing the fingers, watching the movements: the way the flexible rubber joints flexed, plating shifting slightly to accommodate the movements. Her hand fell across her body, fingers tracing the contours of her chestplate, the shape of those sculpted breasts an echo of the real thing, though a very pleasant one. She considered herself rather odd, a human made into machine fashioned to look like a different human.

Dismissing the drone, she concentrated on her memories, her life as a human before. It wasn’t a remarkable life, but it was… his. What was she now? The alcove hadn’t just given Matt a new body, the machine had interfaced with his mind. Matt’s personality mixing with a robot’s programming, the powers and responsibilities than came with being a Queen, forging an entirely new identity in Electra.

Who was she? Electra couldn’t answer. It was a question she might never be able to answer. But for now, at least, she didn’t want to forget she had been human.

A chime sounded, taking Electra’s attention back to the work at hand, the prize that lay in sight. She strode out of her throne room onto the ship’s bridge, walking across the metal catwalk that lay suspended on a frame of metal and glass, offering her a commanding view of the settlement below. Forewarned of her advancing army, she could see their defences at the mouth of the valley: earthworks to stall her forces, the defenders taking cover behind immense mining equipment, arming themselves with laser drills. They may not have been a military garrison, but she knew the attack would be costly, for both sides.

“Blast, it appears this settlement will be quite the annoyance... No matter, my forces will crush them soon enough!” Electra paused, considering the thoughts still dwelling on her mind. She needed their resources, not a costly battle. “Correction! Perhaps I will offer them the choice: relocate out of my way, or their total annihilation…”