Page 3 of Accounting for Taste

The locals were grey with stripes that could change according to their mood.

“Comptroller Reem?”

“Yes.”

“You need to go to medical for a full workup, and then a vehicle will take you to your quarters in the city.”

“Of course.”She inclined her head.

“Comptroller?”

“Yes?”

“You are an actual cyborg?”

“Apparently.That is what they told me when I woke up.”

The male smiled.“I have never met one of your kind.”

“Neither have I.Which way to medical?”

He got up and called an officer, who respectfully led her through the halls and to the medical wing.

The doctor left his other patient when he saw her and escorted her to a private room where he asked calmly, “Comptroller, may I run scans?”

“As long as you keep them in the safety range identified in my file.”

The doctor nodded and asked, “Your clothing is inert?”

“It is.”

“May I ask you questions about the damage?”

“Yes.I have lost emotional responses and social memories, but I will help you complete my file.”

The doctor nodded and helped her into the scanner, set the scan to her specifications, and while she was fully recorded from a genetic, cellular, and mechanical level, the doctor asked her questions.

“Do you know what caused the injury?”

“The visual record indicated a sheet of metal had been propelled into my skull, bisecting my brain.The experimental arm of the station got me before I was cold and applied the implant, restarting me.”

“Your thought patterns?”

“Similar to what I recall from before, but my acquisition of new information is dramatically faster.”

“Can you locate information about your occupation here?”

Reem sought the information and said, “I will sit in my office and process the data to create new contracts on this world and others.”

The doctor nodded.“Correct.Now, you have ovaries but no gestation organ.What caused that?”

“I had cancer fifteen years ago.They cut it out.Nothing left behind.”

“You are not as youthful as some of the other bond servants acquired.”

“No.I am not.I would normally have been relegated to a bulk order, but my reproductive status and the wound in my brain...Special circumstances.”

“I see.Well, you are very healthy otherwise.I do need to explain an outlet that we have made available to new species.”

---