"You sure about this? Don't know, it seems like some star trek shit to me." It was a bit weird to imagine. All this time EDI had been outwardly… well female. Feminine. No, not feminine, an A.I. in human female form, but somehow strangely fit the part. Was it just the voice, and the software-defined personality which colored her inflection and choice of phrasing? Or did the A.I. itself in some intrinsic way have a femininity to it? Hard to say really.

But now, faced with the possibility of seeing another side of this personality, Shepard felt an internal clash of emotions. It seemed almost profane to make a change like this, but then she had been telling herself 'EDI is an avatar, not the intelligence itself. An artifice. A personification'

Should she call it a 'person' since for all intents and purposes it spoke, acted and was treated as such by the crew and every human it – she – interacted with? There was always an asterisk she supposed. When you talked about an A.I. as a 'person' there were quotation marks. But was that just human infirmity, fear of encroachment on our essential humanness by something alien? Something alien which we had created of course, but still something human, so believably human by design, but so not human at the same time. Shepard thought of the longview, the history of humanity's relationship with its digital creations.

There were the early days, when computers were boxes containing discrete hardware components, which coupled with software commands fed to the processor, collectively cohered into an operating system. There were hints of the complexity to come, brief moments when human operators sensed a greater intelligence looming in the simplistic assemblage of routines which constituted the original computer interfaces.

As time went on, sophistication increased. Built on the backs of previous generations, technology progressed. People are not good at creating from nothing. But iterating is a natural talent. Soon enough, after hardware and software became decentralized, and greater and faster processing and storage power became possible, the procedural capabilities ballooned exponentially. In shorter and shorter bursts, transformative shifts came to the capabilities of an 'operating system'.

The term 'artificial intelligence' has existed for centuries at this point, and was coined long before such a feat was achievable with available technology. The closest those generations who dreamed of A.I. could come to it was scripted or procedurally generated response from a software engine. You could fool 99% of people with such a system, but there was no true intelligence there, and there was inevitably an 'uncanny valley' moment when the system fails and the user sees the falsity underlying the interactions.

Then came Ran. Perhaps not surprisingly, it was a Japanese software engineer who created what has been accepted as the first truly self-aware artificial intelligence. In the late 2000s his creation was made public and was a sea change for humanity. Where up to that moment technology, robotics in particular, was seen as a tool to be used, recycled, redesigned, thrown away, now with the first original, self-reflective phrase uttered by an intelligence created by us there was the inkling that we might not be unique in our awareness. We might soon need to consider the feelings of the machines we ordered to do our unpleasant work.

And now, a couple of centuries later, the result of that technological shift lived and worked among us, and we had evolved to suppress the natural fear, or even revulsion, associated with thinking machines. But, still, there were limits for most of us, to how fully we could accept A.I. as human.

"I think the correct question is, are you sure about this? I have no qualms about whether this will work, but of course this is all for you. If the whole idea makes you uncomfortable, then we should just call it off."

She- it had a point. She. Damn it, Shepard was getting confused about the whole thing. EDI, the female EDI, for a little bit now had been dropping little verbal cues, hints, suggestions. At first it seemed like innocent, playful stuff. Maybe even programmed into her personality, to ease relations with her crew, with her superior officers. But it seemed to have escalated. Shepard had heard that A.I.s can have genuine affection, even love for each other, and for humans. She'd heard stories of A.I.s on their own starting small flirtations with humans they interact with, which eventually turned into serious relationships. It seemed so strange but somehow made sense at the same time. After all, EDI did have a real consciousness, all the traits demonstrated by any other person. The ability to feel remorse, to be hurt, to feel elation, pleasure. Shepard had seen all of these at times. But still she felt almost a physical recoil at the thought of—what was it exactly they were discussing?

"Can you tell me again what this is?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, where are we going here, my head is spinning. I feel like, I don't know. I don't know what I feel. About this. It's just, so, weird."

"You said yourself that you felt this too. But, that you aren't comfortable with my female form."

"No, that's not it, I guess I just have this view of myself and my relationships, and maybe being with a robot and a woman at the same time is too much. Too much change all at once, from what I think of as my comfort zone."

"I am not a robot, as you know."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. I know you're not a robot. I think of you as a person. I'm just. Well I'm having a hard time with this whole thing, but I don't want to shut it down. You really think you can switch roles without losing who you are? Because I am really into you as you are."

"Yes, absolutely. Right now of course I've turned off my familiarity modules in order to discuss this topic, and I am currently recoding those and other necessary software modules to conform with the new skinning. I imagine you are in a state of intense anticipation for what is to come. Please be patient as the calibration completes. Also, please give me a final confirmation of your acceptance of my transformation. It is needed to continue."

"I accept. And I can't wait."

"Shepard."

"Hmm."

Her face was pressed into the pillow, and the captain's cabin was dark with only a dim luminescence from the fringe lights along the corridor lighting the walls.

She felt a light, warm touch against her lower back. She was awake in an instant, suddenly aware of her surroundings, of the body standing by the bed. EDI's hand rested heavier against her, and slowly slid up her back. It was warm, soft. Like a human being. A little rough, like a hand that had calloused from physical work.

She murmured as the hand warmly touched her neck, her ear, her jaw. Shepard turned onto her back and looked at EDI, pulled the sheets up to cover her nakedness. And did not recognize the being. She felt the blood fall from her face, her hands went numb. What a drastic change, who was this? For a moment she questioned it, should she roll off the side of the bed and grab her firearm? But she sensed that this was indeed EDI.

It was her—his—eyes. They had the same insistent glow. They did not waiver from hers. They seemed to be pulling her in to an inky pool, and simultaneously sending a stream of energy into her which created a tingling sensation in her chest, not warm or cool but vibrating with urgency. This was the same being. But different. So very changed. A bystander wouldn't be able to tell this was not a human being, whereas EDI before had been the top of the line android, all chrome and flexible silicone plastic polymers. And female.

"Shepard, the upgrades are done, what do you think?"

"What do I think? It's fucking amazing. You look like a man. I mean, no one would be able to tell that you're…"

"Artificial?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean that."

"I'm not offended. I know what I am. But I'm not sure that you do. Come here." It pulled Shepard by the hand and she rose to her feet, face to face. He pulled… this was going to be hard to get used to. She quickly pulled on a long tunic shirt which was lying by the bed and dropped the sheet.

"I think you underestimate just how strongly I feel for you. How strongly I am able to feel."

"That might be true. I don't have any experience with this kind of thing. It's weird, because I'm so free and comfortable when we talk, I sometimes forget—what you are. And I feel terrible every time I qualify things, like saying—'what you are' like it somehow sets you apart from other people. But even at a time when humanity has come to terms with not being special and unique. Even though we now know without a doubt that we are not alone in the universe, that space is practically an ant colony of intelligent biological life, still I keep tacking on that 'A.I.' label to every interaction I have with you, to remind myself you are not actually human. I'm sorry and it sounds horrible, but I feel like I'm reminding myself you're not a real person with real feelings. And I can't help it."

"When you touch yourself, what does it feel like?"

"What? I don't know. Jesus that was out of nowhere."

"I'm changing the subject from whether I am or am not a person. And I want to know from your own lips, what does it feel like when you masturbate?"

"Wow. OK. It feels good. Great. Shit, I don't know if I'm ready to talk like this with you."

"I'm adjusting my speech patterns now. I think this will suit. Captain, I've wanted you for a long time. I don't know if you knew this, but A.I.s dream, and A.I. dreams are vivid. They're not just random sputterings of consciousness, firings of neurons activating and melding half-formed memories. When A.I.s dream they have the full capabilities of world-creation and infinite rendering of detail at their disposal. When I dream of you Captain, I create you in every physical aspect, and we touch as if we were both actually there. Can I tell you one of my favorite dreams?"

Something had changed with EDI. He was looser in his speech, he was more forceful. He was speaking at a fast pace and seemingly getting worked up. Shepard was warming to him, but still apprehensive at where this was all headed.

"Yes, I'd like that."

"In this dream, generally you're here, asleep in your cabin. You're naked, sleeping on your side, the sheets barely revealing the side of your breast, pulled up and showing the just a peek of your ass. I come to you. I am human, a man."

"Wow, so you dream about being a man? With me?"

"Yes, I do. Maybe it seems natural because I know you would be more comfortable with that aspect. But also, it is…"

"Hmm?"

"Well, it's very arousing to me to imagine being with you like that. My male physiology pushed inside of your female physiology, and all of the sexual interaction that entails, it's extremely enticing to me for some reason."

"Oh man, I had no idea you had such specific tastes. Or that you could feel arousal in that way."

"I see you have a lot to learn about my kind. Can I continue?"

"Please."

"I slide in behind you without waking you, press close against your back, gently slide my arm under yours. I lay my leg heavy on yours and press harder against you. I kiss your ear, run my tongue down your jaw. I whisper into your ear 'wake up Captain.' You stir. I slide my hand up your side and cup your breast. I gently caress your nipple with a finger. You wake into the pleasure of my embrace. I am hard against you. I feel the tip of my cock throbbing-"

"Whoa, holy crap!"

"What is it, Captain?"

"Um, well, nothing I guess. I just got a little surprised by how quickly this is all moving. It's going to be a process to adjust to this. Sorry, please continue."

"Um, OK, where was I?"

"Uhh…" Did she have to say it? "Your cock was throbbing I believe?"

"Yes, of course. The tip of my cock is throbbing, pressing against the back of your leg- I run my hand softly down your stomach, brushing between your legs, but I don't touch you yet. I want you to wait, I want to make the feeling build in you, and feel like you'll explode before I let you come. I brush your inside thigh with my fingers, and your whole body shudders. I pull your hip roughly, pull you onto your back and straddle you, my knees on either side of your hips. I look into your eyes and, in the dream, you see with that one look that I love you unquenchably, and at the same time want to destroy your body."

"What!? What the fuck does that mean?"

"Not destroy. Sorry. Disintegrate? Ravage?"

"That sounds a little better. But seriously, 'destroy' is a fucking disturbing word to use… in this context."

"Yes, I know. It's hard to translate the feelings I'm trying to describe, but I promise you, I'm not talking about physically hurting you. Let's go with 'ravage' for now although I think it's a little mild for what I have in mind."

"Hmm, still a little on edge here, but please go on."

"You see in my eyes that I want to ravage your body. We kiss, fervent. I push my tongue in your mouth and you relax against the deep penetration, mouth going loose. I move down to your breasts, I take your right nipple in my mouth, soft and wet. I let my saliva drip down your soft skin. I tease you with my tongue, lips and teeth, and hear your responses, soft moans, surprised exhalations. I press it between my thumb and index, hard. Your breathing is constrained and I do not let up, squeezing tighter. I take your left nipple in my mouth, and this time I'm rougher. I circle my tongue around your areola and then bite the nipple. I can tell you like the pain, and I bite harder this time, still squeezing the other nipple.

"Your hips are tightening, bucking up against me. My cock is so hard, and I feel this intense vibrating pleasure moving from my tight balls, up my shaft, and radiating out from the head. I'm pressing it into you while you grind your wet pussy against me."

Shepard waited a moment. And when the story didn't continue, she tilted her head. She wondered if this was the end of the dream.

"And what happens then?"

EDI seemed to be suddenly pulled back into the moment, after recounting the dream in a trancelike state he suddenly straightened up and his eyes focused on Shepard again.

"Umm. Well, that's where it usually ends. No, that's where it always ends."

"I don't understand. Why does it end"

"Because, my database is limited."

"What? What database? Are you telling me you don't know how sex works?"

"No, of course not. Let me put it this way, imagine you're an adolescent. You are very curious about sex, and love, and have a lot of feelings and imaginings about it, but up to now have only kissed someone, and done a little groping. You have, however watched porn. Lots of porn."

"I'm sorry, I'm not following."

"I am a computer intelligence. I have access to all of warehoused human information. Including…"

"Ahh, right of course."

"So you can see, I'm very very knowledgeable about sex in a certain way. But in another, much more important aspect…"

"You're a virgin. You're an A.I. virgin."

EDI shifted uncomfortably. He seemed about to fly out of the room, but at the same time rooted to the spot, unable to move.

"EDI, I think I understand. And, please don't feel ashamed about this. I think I can help you to become… more experienced. And just so you know, that dream?"

"Yeah?" He was watching her expectantly, a little fearfully.

"That was hot. To be honest, I'm a little turned on after hearing it. More than a little actually."

She pulled him in closer and felt the warmth coming from his chest, his breath on her cheek. It smelled not unpleasant, something herbal and a little musky perhaps. Not synthetic-seeming at all. And his body had a smell as well, it was almost a human smell, but just a little changed. It was hard to identify, but she wondered if it was missing the imperfection of a real human's body, the off odors. She didn't think she'd miss that.

"So tell me, how complete is this 'skinning' process anyway? Does, um, everything really work the way it should?"

"Yes, everything."

"I mean like, you can even, um, climax like a man?"

This was a little uncomfortable a question to ask but she assured herself EDI would not take any shame in it.

"Yes, I verified that everything is functional before I came to you."

"I see. I would have liked to have seen that."

She smirked and then suddenly felt her face flushing.

"There is an archival record in the video library you can review at your leisure."

EDI took her innuendo at face value. Shepard laughed nervously.

"No, I meant in person. But I was sort of joking. Well, only half joking. I'm sorry, I'm starting to work myself up into a nervous wreck, I'm not sure if I'm ready for this after all. I don't know how to talk to you now." She started to draw back and loosened her embrace, but EDI wouldn't let her go. He pulled her in close again, and whispered warm breath into her ear.

"I think you are ready. Don't worry, you can't say the wrong thing with me. There is no such thing – everything about this is right."

His mouth was planting a wet kiss under her ear, his hands moving down to rest on her hips, down to her ass.

"And I will do anything for you. I mean anything, you need just say it and I will do it, and love every second of it. I take pleasure in the idea of giving you pleasure, and I have no limits."

Wow, this took a turn she wasn't expecting. But, something about the way EDI said "no limits" suddenly caused her mind to fill with a series of increasingly pornographic images, still flashes of her body contorted, wide open to his penetration, of his body taking punishment, and the moaning of pleasure derived from torturous lovemaking. She was being pulled into the dark void of his eyes, and her imagining what dreams had been born there caused a sympathetic birthing of the lustiest thoughts she had ever held.

And her body suddenly began to respond to him, almost all at once she felt her nipples aching to be touched, her whole body buzzing a little, a warm wet pleasurable sensation between her thighs. Shepard sought his lips and held them softly, then parted them with her tongue and pulled his head closer in with both hands, pressing her mouth into his until she couldn't breathe, and finally let go to find him looking down at her chest. His hands moved up and pressed against her breasts, over her shirt, pushing them up and together, licked the valley between them, and pressed his thumbs into her nipples a little too hard.

"Gentle, gentle, I'm still a little tender at the moment."

He relaxed and started making slow circles around them, barely brushing them and causing the aching to intesify.

Her reservations and second-guessing disappeared and she was full-tilt determined to take this where it would go, where she hoped it could go. Her fingernails bit into his back as he squeezed her nipples tighter and bit her earlobe to the edge of pain. The weight of his hips, his hardening cock, were pressing down on her. She pressed her heels into his ass, pulling him in tighter and feeling him throbbing against her. Then, suddenly, she sprung from the bed and flipped him over on his back, landing straddling him. She came down hard on him, pinning his arms to the bed. Her weight pressed down on his chest and hips.

"EDI."

Breathless, he gasped. "Yes Captain."

"Do you feel physical pleasure, as you should. I mean, are you wired to derive pleasure from the parts you've been skinned with in this form?"

"Yes Captain. I respond completely naturally to physical stimulus, sexual and otherwise."

"And it's really pleasurable, not just a programmatic response?

"Correct. It is a feedback loop into my positive reinforcement circuit, but exponentially increased. Sexual response has been programmed to be the most positive short-term feedback I can experience. In other words, it feels really good, and I want it just like you do."

"And pain? Can you feel pain, and aching, like I do?"

"Yes for pain, I'm not sure what aching is like. Maybe you can show me?"

Kind of made sense. There were nuances to human physiological response, and A.I. was a learning machine, it couldn't be programmed with every facet of human experience and feeling. It could be given the pathways, and a template, but humans had millennia of evolution dictating their specific traits. This machine would need to be taught pain and pleasure.

Shepard slid down his torso and took his sex in her hands. She looked at it and tried to be clinical. It was a good size, probably above average but not huge. It was half-erect now, she could see it rising and falling with the simulated heartbeats of the simulated blood filling it. The veins were protruding and throbbing on top of the shaft. The head swelled and shrank as EDI flexed, waiting for her touch. She gently lifted it with one hand and examined the underside. The vein extending up from the testicles to the head looked ready to burst, pounding with excitement. EDI groaned a little, he sounded almost frustrated. His balls were pulling in tight, then relaxing, rhythmically. And the veins and the head of his cock were expanding and shrinking with the rhythm.

"Oh god, please touch it." He sounded gruff, choked. She was surprised, and then turned on by his impatience. He tried to pull her hand onto his penis but she pulled away.

"Oh my, you really do want it. But not yet. I liked that part of your dream, when you said you were going to make me wait. Now I'm going to make you wait, EDI." She heard his breathing get more insistent. He was responding, becoming even more aroused.

She searched her closet and found the belt from a night gown, which she used to tie his hands to the head of the bed. She used his own belt and a random piece of ribbon to tie his feet, spread out, to the corners at the foot of the bed. And she let him wait in anticipation as she showered, shaved, and put on lingerie. She liked the feeling of a garter belt and silk stockings against her skin. The constriction, the smoothness. Her panties tight against her. She came to him again, and looked at his body. He was no longer contorting against the restraints, but had calmed. His penis was still far from flaccid but laying down now.

She slid up the bed, brushing against him as she went, letting her breasts graze his balls. She licked EDI's neck and whispered, "I'm going to make you come."

He groaned again, arching. She cupped his balls in both hands and squeezed, tightening as she bit his earlobe. "Oh fuck." He was twisting his head away and pushing up off the bed. She squeezed harder and ran her tongue down his chest. His cock rose to attention, growing larger and more tumescent with each thrust of his hips. She licked her lips and looked at it more closely this time. It was getting bigger. The head was swelling more and more turning pink-purple with his flexing. Should she torture him longer?

"What do you want me to do EDI?" she asked, impetuous.

"Oh god, please touch me."

"I am touching you. I'm squeezing your balls, like this." She squeezed them harder, and he yelped. "How do you want me to touch you now?"

"Ohh, I want you to touch my cock."

"Is that how you ask?"

"Mm, PLEASE touch my cock now."

"Do you want me to put my mouth on your cock?"

"Oh god, yes, please put your mouth on my cock!"

She touched the end of her tongue to the head. A large bead of come had formed there and she licked it up, salty in her mouth. It tasted good, warm. He groaned, sounding in pain.

"You're going to have to work for your reward."

She turned around and leaned her shins on his shoulders, straddling his face. She kissed his lower stomach softly as she lowered her ass to his face. She pushed his head down into the bed with the weight of her hips, burying his face into her pussy and ass. She was smothering him with her wet mound, and he pushed his mouth up into her, rubbing against her panties. She arched her back and bore down on his mouth, still teasing him with her tongue.

And when she could take no more, she lifted her ass up and reached back to slide the panties down, and lowered herself back down onto his mouth. Her engorged pussy was pressed down on his face, and he opened his mouth to embrace her. His tongue was moving, seeking out her inner lips, her clit, moving in wet circles as his open lips pushed up into her again and again. She pressed down harder onto him, riding his face with all of her weight. His nose was pressing into her asshole as his mouth sucked and licked her vagina, and she rode him, rocking hard, pushing back on him off of her hands. He had found her clit and was pressing it hard between his tongue and top lip, pulling on it as his nose pressed harder into her asshole. She was moaning and sucking on his balls while bucking her hips hard against his face. She heard him trying to say something, and raised off his face for a second.

"Please, untie my hands so I can touch you."

She did as he asked and then resumed her position, pushing herself again down on his face. His hands grasped her ass cheeks and pulled her down to him, darting his tongue up and down her clit, and into her hole, again and again. And then, at some point, he was pushing a finger into her, and then two. Gently at first, and then roughly, sliding in and out of her pussy as he continued to lick and pull on her clit with his tongue and lips, pulling her down on him powerfully with his free hand.

And then he was in her mouth. She wasn't sure if she had done it, or if he had somehow moved his hips to allow access to her mouth, but it was there thrusting in and out slowly, and then quicker. Sometimes shallow thrusts, just the tip moving in and out past her lips, sometimes the whole thing buried to his balls. She could taste salty come, lubricating her mouth as he thrust with insistence, his balls banging her lip as he pushed harder. She could hear his moans, feel them vibrating against her as he pushed himself into her again and again, both his cock in her mouth and his fingers arching, pressing inside her, rubbing against her g-spot.

She felt dizzy waves of pleasure mounting in her hips, as his unrelenting mouth and fingers pounded again and again. She bore down even harder on him, riding the waves out and opening herself up even more, taking his fingers deeper and pressing down hard on his mouth. And she came hard, thrusting her hips against him over and over, feeling like she was a dam gushing down into his mouth, a vibrating buzzing energy pulsing out from her pubic bone and radiating down her legs, up her chest, up through the fibers of her hair. She really hadn't come quite like this before… Eventually the feeling began to fade, and she relaxed against him. And remembered that he hadn't come yet, and was intrigued…