The first thing you felt was the cold of the metal against your back, the touch of interlinked plates settling along your spine, resting against warm skin. The sound of carefully assembled joints moving into place, aligning themselves perfectly to the shape of your body, a chorus of servos whirring into life. The air crackled with the sound of hundreds of tiny sparks, carrying the scent of metal and ozone.

       Then the warmth of a thousand tiny needles pushing into your skin, anchoring the metal to your body, the electric rush of millions of connections branching across your neurons as flesh and machine became one. You could feel the metal spine digging into your own, becoming a part of you now, as you were a part of it. Sensations started to creep into your mind, the probing connections of the machine bridging the gap into your nervous system, your thoughts registering small packets of data sent back and forth. A moment later, your mind was granted full access to the system, a cascade of information flooding into your mind. The magnitude of the new data overwhelmed you at first, struggling to register it all, every minute bit of information in the machine’s data cores gradually being indexed by your subconscious. Thousands of individual sensor readings, the status of each working part, the combined knowledge of the machine, the schematics for the hardware now joining with your body.

       The hardware was originally a military project, a medical pod to heal traumatic combat injuries and make augmented soldiers in the process: smarter, stronger, more capable, and working in perfect unison. A few bribes to gain site access, some modifications to the hardware, the insertion of thousands of lines of programming, and now the system would serve your own desires instead.

       You felt the weight of it next, the frame that held the metal spine disengaging and pulling away, leaving it tethered with a tangle of loose cables and hoses as the machinery continued its work. Looking back, you could see the gleam of the dorsal exoskeleton stretching behind you, a wide and powerful tail tapering away from your back, tapering to a point about a meter down. 1062.5mm, your subconscious informed you, automatically retrieving the information. The length of armour plating, data cores, actuators and miles of cable that made up the tail settled into place, the weight of it pressing down against the bare flesh of your rear, tugging you backwards slightly.

       An electric tingle spread out from your dorsal plating, running across your skin, tensing and tightening across your body. More nanites doing their work, you realised, converting your skin into synthetic armour: smooth, flexible, and resistant to most forms of physical attack. The change flowed over your body like a wave, nanites reknitting your skin as they went, organic cells replaced with the perfection of synthetic material. Your skin darkened rapidly, turning a gleaming black, tugging a little tighter as any imperfections were smoothed out. Rippling around, it joined around your waist, your navel smoothed out into nothing. Up and down it crept, tugging and adjusting your body as it went, morphing and sculpting you to match your own ideal form.

       You couldn’t resist running your hands across your changing body, soft flesh running across the smooth, latex-like material before the wave of gleaming black reached your hands, your whole body soon covered up to your neck. This was still the first phase, you knew, preparing your body while nanites saturated every part of you. Muscles across your body tensed, synthetic fibres interweaving through them, increasing your strength ten-fold while maintaining the response time and dexterity of your old muscles.

       Your legs tensed next, bones strengthening with metal composite reinforcements, stretching out, lifting your higher. Your tail shifted as you grew taller, adjusting automatically to match your new height, maintaining a perfect balance. Muscles changed in turn, the familiar feeling of synthetic fibres merging with them, your thighs pushing out slightly, calves toning. The synthetic armour covering your feet started to stiffen, the base material thickening and reinforcing itself, smoothing out the shape of your feet.

       Extra material formed under your heel, gently shifting your stance onto your toes, joints up your leg and down your tail subtly adapting to the improved posture. Glancing down, you watched your toes blending together, skin settling into shape, joining with your thighs to form the perfect profile of a boot. Sturdy, practical, and perfect for pinning people down.

       You flexed an arm, turning it this way and that, calibrating your artificial muscles together with their organic base. You could feel the power and ease of your stronger body, the subtle way they tensed and relaxed, the weight of your dorsal plating and tail now seeming so light. Enhanced strength had always been a part of the old project, essential for combat as well as supporting the mechanical augmentations. With all the additional hardware you were adding to your platform, you had been sure to maximise your new strength, pushing the limits of the hardware.

       Deep inside your torso, more drastic changes were taking place, converting your old organs to support your new body. Your digestive system shrank, growing dense and compact, converting into a highly efficient, self-sufficient system to support your remaining organ components. The transition to your new lungs was more uncomfortable, an edge of primal panic as your breathing slowed, replaced by the satisfaction of your new air intake system coming online. You felt the subtle vibrations of the fans through your body, drawing in air through concealed vents. A shift in weight inside you as pressurised tanks emerged, ready to store a reserve supply in case you needed to seal the vents. A moment later, your heartbeat shifted to a perfectly steady beat, muscle replaced by machinery, blood vessels adapting to become the support system of your entire augmented body.

       While your body changed, becoming more mechanical with each passing moment, the support machinery around you continued its own work, another array of servos whirring into life. Four pairs of segmented manipulators descended from the ceiling, each holding a folded assembly of gleaming metal. Your subconscious acknowledged the incoming hardware, mounting points opening automatically along your dorsal armour, ready to receive the new equipment. The first pair docked just above your hips, the extra weight settling into place as clamps secured them, new connections linking them to your core systems

       While you continued to run startup routines on the first pair, the second joined at your waist, shortly followed by the third at your shoulders, the final pair locking into place at the base of your neck. Within seconds, the status on each flashed green, the new hardware ready to be brought online. With a subtle mental command, each started to power up, servos adjusting subtly as their calibrated. A rush of new information flooded your mind, each new attachment sharing data from dozens of sensors and status indicators. Your new hardware unfolded behind you, eight new arms stretching out, flexing each finger in turn. Controlling them was effortless with your augmented brain and processors working in concert, each movement graceful and precise.

       Joined with the support system of your mechanical heart, nanites flowed into each new limb. A wave of black liquid quickly bubbled out of the gleaming metal, coating each with a protective layer of flexible armour. Soon they matched the rest of your body, only the metal joints left bare. With a thought, you dismissed each arm in turn, feeling them fold up neatly against your back, settling into place. Your dorsal armour shifted again, plates shifting sideways to cover each arm, protecting them until they were needed.

       You took a moment to survey your new body, taking in the sight of your new body, the perfect blend of humanity and machine - a gift you were all too eager to share with everyone else. Only your head remained unchanged, at least externally, out of place amongst the synthetic perfection of the rest of your body. Another manipulator descended from above, carrying a smooth helmet of black crystal glass and metal. You reached out for it, grabbing the helmet, sending an unlock command to the manipulator. This was something you wanted to do yourself.

       Systems in your body were already priming themselves to receive the helmet. Your dorsal armour extended segments upwards, settling into place against the back of your neck. Synthetic, black skin covered what was left, toughening your neck, extra reinforcement to protect the vital parts of your systems. The wave of nanites flowed upwards, merging hair with smooth skin, ready to join with the helmet. You turned the helmet around, looking at the smooth, black glass - your old face reflected in what would become your new face. Your true face.

       Spinning it around, you slowly drew it down over your head. It fit perfectly. Within seconds it was sealed into place, joining with the synthetic skin around your neck, dorsal armour locking securely in place. For a moment, the world was black, your organic eyes so unsuited for your new form, though that was soon to change. You could feel your head pressing out against the black glass, ears and nose flattening almost to nothing, primitive organs replaced by the sophisticated sensor suite of your new form. Your mouth was next, deprecated by a new sound system, offering perfect modulation of your voice. Last to change were your eyes, optical nerves re-routed to wide-spectrum cameras. The whole world seemed to open up before you, a clarity of vision you’d never imagined before, expanding visible light out to infrared and ultraviolet. At the edge of your vision, displays flickered into place, contextualising the automatic sensor information that was already filtering through your subconscious.

       You were complete.

       Instinctively, you started the disconnect routine. The conduits, support systems, and power cables that had facilitated your transformation were no longer required. One by one, they disconnected from your dorsal armour, retracting into the ceiling. A deep thrum started inside you, temperature indicators rising as the new reactor core in your torso powered on for the first time. Surveying your new body, you ran a full diagnostic of your systems, watching in satisfaction as each system, in turn, flashed green on your display. This was who you were always meant to be, the pinnacle of synthetic life.

       “Now,” you thought to yourself, an arm held in front of you, nanite injectors on your fingertips priming themselves, “to find the first of my new hive.”