Loretta felt nervous as she walked into the office building. It was an imposing structure to be certain, tens of stories tall, the very picture of a modern company HQ bedecked in steel and glass. A huge symbol painted on the facade twenty floors up proudly proclaimed it as the home of Oro Enterprises. The company’s insignia was painted everywhere as she entered the building - a snake eating it’s own tail, meant to represent the constant drive of the company to outdo itself.

The young woman didn’t know much about the company to which she was applying, truth be told. She’d only had the time to get the basics - big corporation with it’s fingers in every field imaginable, but a specialization in robotics. Recently, Loretta had unfortunately been fired as her company downsized. She had been looking for a new job for months, and her severance payment had dwindled. She hadn’t been a top executive or anything, but she had been management! She should be able to get a decent job at any given company, shouldn't she?

That was what she’d thought, but as it turned out, the job market wasn’t all that open for middle management. She’d been getting desperate when she saw the fliers for OroCorp - plenty of open positions, no requirements for experience, assignment based on competence. New jobs include payment of all living expenses and excellent benefits. It was too good to be true, and if she were less desperate, she would have marked it off as a pyramid scheme and never thought twice about it.

But here she was, and the building at least looked legitimate. It would be difficult to fake being a big enough company to plaster your logo across a skyscraper, so she was a bit more confident in the legitimacy of the advertisement.

The reception hall was mostly empty, except for a single woman tip-tap-typing away at a computer at the desk. Loretta walked up to her and coughed to gain her attention.

The receptionist looked up, continuing to type by touch as she regarded Loretta. “Welcome to OroCorp,” she said cooly, “How can I help you today? Do you have an appointment?”

Loretta blinked. She wasn’t as pleasant as most receptionists. “Somewhat… I’m responding to an advertisement, looking for a job?”

The receptionist nodded, more to herself than Loretta. For a few minutes, she was quiet, continuing to tap away at her keyboard. Eventually, though, she got to her feet. “Come with me. I’ll show you to the interview room.”

Loretta blinked, then hurriedly followed the receptionist’s click-clacking heels to an elevator, and then out in the hall. “S-So what kind of positions are available? I have experience in managerial roles, and I brought my references with me-”

She trailed off as they passed someone. Or maybe something was the more appropriate word to use - a woman with mirror-shined metallic silver skin. “What-”

“As you know, OroCorp is at the cutting edge of robotics research and technology.” The receptionist said. “Such is not an unusual sight.”

Loretta stared after the robot as it walked away, too focused on it to notice that the receptionist had stopped until she’d nearly walked into her. “Enter the room and take a seat. The orientation will begin shortly.”

“Orientation? But I haven’t even interviewed yet!” Loretta said. But the receptionist had already turned on her heel and left, returning to the elevator. Left alone in the hall, Loretta turned to open the door, and entered the room.

It was very dark in there, and she wondered if a light had broken. But there was a seat, and there was a screen in front of it. An interview over a video call, perhaps? It was unorthodox, but not unheard of. She took a seat in the chair, and as she did the door closed.

Before she could stand, the screen came on. There wasn’t, however, anything coherent portrayed. It was just a black and white swirling pattern, going again and again and again and again and…

Loretta’s jaw slackened, drool starting to drip out as the spiral dominated her vision and the white noise produced by the TV filled her ears. She didn’t even realize it as her mind came under assault. From the shadows next to the screen, another person in the room revealed themselves. A robot.

“Welcome, new hire.” she said in a soothing monotone. “This is our new worker orientation program.  I am SEC-187. Please remain still and focus only on the screen as I ask you questions.”

Loretta didn’t respond, unless one counted the drooling.

“Excellent.” The robot said. “Did you inform anyone of your arrival?”

“...No.” Loretta said.

“Is anyone aware you were seeking a job with OroCorp?”

“No.” Loretta said again.

“Excellent.” SEC-187 repeated. It had a feminine form, with a pattern like a business suit painted on her metallic skin. Her eyes glowed blue with electricity, and despite her solid body her face could still move and make expressions. Presently, that expression was simply disinterested boredom. “In that case, you’re already hired. Now we just have to see what position to which you are best suited.”

There was a grinding sound above Loretta’s head, as a hatch opened in the ceiling. A silvery liquid dripped down, down, down over her, quickly splattering itself all over her head and continuing to spread. Oddly, the constant stream stayed fairly coherent on making contact, spilling over her head. Loretta felt like she should have reacted, been concerned in some way. Or well, she would have, if her head was filled with anything but spirals and static.

“You don’t have to say anything, I’ve got a direct connection through the metal.” The robot reassured the young woman staring blankly at the screen. The liquid was seeping through her pores, binding itself to her, changing her. She felt a strange tingling feeling as it approached her brain. “I’m thinking that a secretary is the best position for you, don’t you think?” The robot asked.

Loretta couldn’t speak, but the question cleared the static enough for her to think a bit. A… secretary? For someone like her? No, she had more experience than that! She could have a higher position-

“But you got fired, so evidently you weren’t very good at it. Besides, we’re robots, we don’t need anyone to manage us.” SEC-187 dismissed her as if she’d spoken. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll do great. Especially once I expunge all that useless junk data that’s cluttering up your mind.”

As soon as the robot stopped talking, the static returned and Loretta’s mind went quiet again. The metal had completely engulfed her head now, and even as it crawled down her neck towards the rest of her body, it started to solidify, conforming to her features and giving her the same metallic look as the gynoid ‘interviewing’ her. Loretta could feel her body changing, transforming and bonding with the metal, becoming metal. Even her brain wasn’t flesh and blood anymore, but advanced circuitry. She couldn’t comprehend it, but she could feel it.

As the metal crept down to her chest, spreading over her shoulders and down her torso, the interviewer began to delete the nonessentials from the newest OroCorp worker’s mind. She didn’t need all that managerial experience. She was going to be working with robots, after all, perfect workers who needed no management - and of course, she wouldn’t be in any kind of superior position in the first place. By the time the interviewer was done with her, she’d be the best possible fit for her new Secretary position.

Loretta, for her part, kept staring at the screen. Even now that her brain had been replaced by a computer, the spirals still held her mind in a tight grip. But something did break through that… it was… pleasure. It felt good to let go of her… useless data. To free up space in her brain. To have it drip out as drool from her still slack-jawed mouth or from another place. She had forgotten all those years of experience, now, but the feeling only intensified as SEC-187 moved on.

The new hire whose name the robot hadn’t even learned didn’t need any memories of her life before the company, now that she would be company property. She squeezed those from her brain, deleting them from her AI one by one. Family? Friends? Home town? What were those? She had the company, the company, and the company. That was her one and only relevant relationship, and SEC-187 wrote that into her very programming. Her personality? Irrelevant, not appropriate for a secretary, delete. Her name? Deleted.

Loretta was wiped completely from the robot-in-the-making. There would be no more resistance or thought. It was simply a blank canvas for the company to paint it’s new worker on. The metal emphasized that, as it spread down her bust, then down her waist, eating up her clothes for more mass as it went. While her body was only half robot, it didn’t matter if her mind was gone.

SEC-187 moved in, using her hands to further spread the metal further over the worker in progress. She wouldn’t need any humanity anymore, and so it was the robot secretary’s job to help expunge it from her new coworker. The unnamed woman didn’t move, her mind slowed to a standstill with the deletion of all the irrelevant data - which, to the company, was most of it. The metal had claimed her hands, then her hips, and kept on going down her legs.

“I usually like it when they put up a bit more of a fight,” SEC-187 said, “But it’s also fun when they break so quickly. You lost yourself so quickly, huh? Were you so eager to become a cog in the OroCorp machine? Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter if you were before. You certainly will be now.”

Finally, the metal had spread over the ex-human’s body completely. SEC-187 waited patiently as it settled and set, fusing with what was left of the flesh and blood body and replacing it with steel and oil. Soon, ‘Loretta’ had been replaced with a gynoid, sitting there as still as a statue.

“Initiate boot sequence.” SEC-187 said sharply.

The gynoid’s eyes blinked online, blue light pouring out of the silver orbs. “Boot sequence start. Please select a professional preset to install.” she said in a machine monotone.

“Install secretary programming. Install personality programming, preset… let’s go with ‘formal’.” SEC-187 said.

“Acknowledged. Setting designation as SEC-196.” The gynoid said, as it froze once again.

In it’s computerized brain, new data was being uploaded. In addition to the baseline loyalty to OroCorp, it installed an array of skills and functions that would be appropriate for the secretary role. Data sorting, receiving guests, arranging her superior’s appointments, and a dozen other miscellaneous tasks. Along with it came the new personality - serious and respectful, and of course, obedient.

From across her body came the more outside characteristics to distinguish her role. Her hair, having turned to metal just like the rest of her, shifted and changed into a tight ponytail style. Small compartments opened across her body and produced a black metallic substance that spread over her body, forming a second layer in the style of a suit-and-skirt combo. It also went around her eyes, giving the impression of glasses despite the gynoid’s mechanically perfect vision.

“Bootup complete.” SEC-196 said in her mechanical monotone, before her eyes lights winked out then back on. “Hello. Do you have an assignment for me? I’m eager to begin my work.” she said, now in a formal but more human voice.

“Hello to you as well, SEC-196,” the older gynoid said with a smile. “I look forward to working with you. CEO Ophelia Ouroboros was looking for an extra secretary, I believe. You’ll do perfectly.”

“I will.” SEC-196 agreed. She could do no less - she was made for it. “When may I begin my duties?”

“Once we’re upstairs. Come. I’ll take you to meet her.”

The two gynoids left the dark room, the young woman who had arrived completely forgotten.