<div></div><br> <br>Sally passes through the door, lightning coming on as she enters, bathing the room in the flickering light of fire math. Perched on a pedestal in the middle of the otherwise mostly empty room is a single egg shaped object. A creator communicator. "That," she says, directing towards it. "We need to know what it can do, without actually doing anything. They're all tied together, we know that, so if we get reckless, it will be noticed, and they'll want it back."<br> <br>The tiger stares for a moment at the device. "Should I ask how you got this?" Fenris asks, "Or am I better off not knowing?" Without waiting for an answer, he steps up to the pedestal and chants one of the most fundamental of the machine priest mantras. "Run local diagnostic code delta seven gamma," he intones, "Show data on alpha display!"<br> <br>The device makes an affirmative beep, then fires a thin line at Fenris, running rapidly from his feet to his head. A soft and friendly voice, female, speaks, "Unknown user, Nya. Please offer passphrase or override credentials."<br> <br>Sally raises a brow, then leans in to whisper, "I'll be just outside." And excuses herself, lest she mess up the thing with an inadvertent sneeze or other misstep.<br> <br>Fenris hesitates a moment, nods to Sally,  then resumes chanting. "New user," he says, slipping out of the chanting mode now that he is on his own, "Request user's manual." He had found out weeks ago that the chants were really just a memory aid for certain passwords, but he did not really want to guess at a Creator's password without a little more thought.<br> <br>"Nya!" says the voice in a strange imitation of a house cat. "It's nice to meet you. What is your name? I wasn't told you expect you, so you will be treated as a guest. I love guests!" Much more cheerful than most techs as well.<br> <br>Huh. This might be fun after all! Not often that Fenris got to practice SPEAKING Creator talk. "Register new user Sam Spade," he says, referencing an ancient Creator legend, "I am happy to be a guest."<br> <br>"Nice to meet you Sam. Do you want to set a secret password? If you see Wide Tail, please remind him to have me inspected in exactly [Translates to 2 years and some odd days]."<br> <br>Fenris nods at the machine spirit's response and tries to make his words more conversational. This thing was very different from anything he had seen in the Church vaults. "I will do that," Fenris says, "Set my secret password as A Light In The Dark." He thinks a moment, then asks, "What should I call you?"<br> <br>"Password stored," it says in a more official tone before the friendly notes return, "That's a spooky password. Or is it hopeful, nya? I'm Sylvia! You have no messages. Error, I cannot locate your files. Please consult the nearest office. [untranslatable directions to a planet somewhere]."<br> <br>"Thank you, Sylvia," Fenris says, "For now, disable communications, I do not wish to be disturbed." The tiger rather likes talking to tech this way, it seems much easier. "Please list available functions," he says.<br> <br>"Aw," says the communicator. "Don't be a pouty face. Do you want to play a game? Or record something? Maybe take a picture? Most of my functions require the rrrradio," it says with a purr. Radio being a strange word for the way creator devices talk over distances without actual sounds.<br> <br>"I am a new user Sylvia," Fenris says, "And I would like a list of all available functions. May I read your user manual?" The tiger is a little worried that the machine spirit is giving him suggestions. The ones in the vault never did that. "Did Mister Wide Tail have any special functions for you?" he asks.<br> <br>"Oh yes. He is very naughty. But I can't share that with a guest no matter how cute you are!" says the device, "Have you never had one of me before? You poor thing!" The voice stills a moment, and a bar appears, empty, but filling up quickly.<br> <br>Fenris ponders the device. He could try to override the security. There was a chant passcode that the priests used with uncooperative machine spirits, but he had no way of knowing if it would work on this obviously newer device. Best to get this information first, then try the override.<br> <br>The bar fills up all the way, and an image replaces it with a creator with cat ears and tail, "Nya, hello kids!" says the virtual creator, "I'm here to tell you about your universal tool! Your universal tool is the last key you'll ever need. We send and get your mail, open your house, start your vehicles, and play awesome [unknown word] games!"<br> <br>Fenris smirks. Did all creators use such silly tools? The tiger folds his arms and watches, hoping that this introduction does not take too long. If he took too long, Sally might burst in ready for a fight!<br> <br>It drones on and on about how to properly register your new device(Which seems to require being part of the system creators are part of), and a reminder that [unknown] adjustments should be handled with care. "Remember kids, don't use [unknown] without proper training and practice! I'll show you an easy one!" And she begins to show a three step motion with her fingers across the eggs, which causes the fake holographic egg to glow, "Ta da! When you've practiced enough, you'll be able to do a lot more!"<br> <br>This was going to take too long. Fenris would have to get permission to really study the thing. But first he needed results. "End playback," he says, "log out user Sam Spade." Now came the iffy bit. The tiger chants this one to be sure he does it right and prays to whatever gods might be listening that it does not blow up in his face. "Log in primary user, initiate override code," he intones, "Sigma seven theta lambda nine eight zero." He steps back a little, fearing the worst, but hoping for the best.<br> <br>The device gives an unhappy tone and Sylvia appears, shaking a finger at Fenris, "If you forgot your password, you should have just said so. Please answer this super secret question only my proper user would know!" This devolves into a back and forth, as Fenris struggles to get an override that functions while keeping Sylvia from getting too wary to work with him. After five tense minutes that feel more like negotiation than debugging, Sylvia relents, "I told you not to keep doing that. I didn't recognize you at all, Wide Tail! [Unknown] therapy is very dangerous!"<br> <br>Fenris sighs in relief. "I know Sylvia," he says, "Thank you for the warning. Please scan me and set me as the primary user. Also, please reset my password to Sylvia Knows Best." Wow! That had been touch and go for a while. "Please show my personal menu after that," he says.<br> <br>The thin line appears again, running over Fenris, "Permission to activate my radio? I need to register your new [unknown]. And that's a very sweet password, thank you!" She blows a kiss at Fenris and smiles at him.<br> <br>"Not right now, Sylvia," he says, "please wait to register my new information." He smiles at the flirtatious machine spirit. "For now, just show me my personal menu," he says.<br> <br>"Nyaaa, alright." Sylvia vanishes away, and a menu appears. It is not hovering, instead it seems to overlay Fenris' field of vision, as if it simply became part of his reality to have this menu there. No matter which way he turns, there it is, hogging up the bottom left corner of his field of view. It indicates he has ten messages waiting, has received 18 new 'commendations', and that there are fourty 'alerts'. It also shows vital signs and other esoteric information that is difficult at best to decipher.<br> <br>"Remarkable," Fenris murmurs, "You are a wonder, Sylvia!" The tiger is tempted to read the messages and alerts, but first he needs something to show Sally. "Sylvia," he says, "show me a list of your specialized functions."<br> <br>The image of Sylvia appears perched on that built in menu instead of hovering in mid air, "Specialized? Oh! You mean project deep fur. I can't do that without being plugged in."<br> <br>"But Sylvia!" Fenris says, "It has to stay secret!" He thinks for a moment. "Can you turn on radio so that Mister Parsons can't hear us?" he asks, hopefully.<br> <br>"Not that kind of plug, silly," says the cat girl creator spirit as she sticks out her simulated tongue, "I need power, a lot of it! I don't see any plugs in this room." She pauses a moment, "Ah, Mister Stinky Pants. I'm afraid I can't hide from him. He has all the big passwords and he'll spank me if he sees me hiding from him."<br> <br>Fenris laughs. "I know!" he says, "That jerk! He has all the plugs too!" Whatever a plug is. The tiger thinks for a moment, then produces his small pouch of lunar dust. "How about this?" he asks the machine spirit, "Does this have the power you need?"<br> <br>A line fires out from the communicator as Sylvia looks in its direction, "That's a funny power source. There's enough power for one run of project Deep Fur. You will have to feed it to me directly." A small hole opens up in the device.<br> <br>Fenris hesitates for a moment. "Well," he mutters, "Here goes." The tiger pours the glittering lunar dust from his pouch carefully into the machine's waiting opening. "Run project Deep Fur," he says, his adrenaline starting to pump.<br> <br>A little symbol appears. Fenris' knowledge of creator technology allows him to recognize it as the vitality and stamina of the device. It had one bar, but it quickly fills up to the top, then '+6 appears next to the battery<br> <br>"All charged up!" chimes Sylvia as she makes chewing motions as if she were actually eating something. "What do you want to be?" she asks, and vanishes, replaced with a staggering array of images of all kinds of beings done up in rather colorful renditions.<br> <br>Sally peeks in through the door, and sees Fenris in one piece. That's good! And he's talking to himself... that's.... well, machine priests. What can you do with them? She quietly closes the door again.<br> <br>Fenris's eyes widen. This thing was a portable fleshcrafter! Even the tiger's inner kitsune was dumbfounded. He starts a little at the sound of Sally entering and exiting, but he is not ready to show her anything just yet. The temptation to just TRY it was almost overwhelming. "Um," Fenris murmurs, "Show me all tiger files."<br> <br>"Filtering!" comes Sylvia's cheerful voice as all the other non-tiger images fade away and the remaining images resort themselves. "Do you want boy, girl, both, neither?" she asks in a helpful sort of tone, "You have a lot of cats."<br> <br>"Neither?" Fenris asks incredulously, wondering what sort of creator Wide Tail had been to have such a wide, strange portfolio.<br> <br>Most of the images disappear, leaving behind the more cartoonish renditions that have nothing objectionable in that fashion remaining. Most seem to err on the side of cute, though some are quite pointedly dangerous looking.<br> <br>Fenris hovers a finger over one of the more realistic looking felines. This thing couldn't really be a fleshcrafter, could it? He looks at the image under his finger of a large, stately looking tiger being. It was nude, like most of the other pictures, but showed no genitalia, though the rest of its form was certainly male. "Well," he says, "What could it hurt?" He taps on the image.<br> <br>"Nice choice!" says Sylvia, "Much better than that beaver, no offense. Why did you pick that one? This one is much cuter." Even as she says this, the egg starts to glow as strange symbols appear in the air around it of ever increasing mathemagical complexity, "Now stand still. This is going to tickle a bit."<br> <br>Fenris holds very, very still. What had he just done? Nothing to do now but wait it out! He does his best to watch the complex mathemagic and symbols. Perhaps there was something there that might be helpful later. Gods Spirits and Creators, he hoped that thing remembered the way he was supposed to look!<br> <br>Tickle it does, as the math reaches out to wrap up Fenris and start doing strange things to him. His vision fades out as even his eyes are subject to the whims of the hopefully benevolent Sylvia. "Half way there," comes her voice from nowhere at all, "You're being a real trooper! It's not my job to say so," Not that this seems to slow down Sylvia much, "But I'm surprised you went with a neuter. I thought you wanted a family?"<br> <br>Fenris does his best not to panic. This has happened before, after all. The healing device was very similar. "Just trying something different, Sylvia," he tries to say, unsure of what will come out, "I can change back later, right?" He then waits in silence. This was not what he expected at all!<br> <br>"I hope so," comes the creator spirit's uncertain words. "I'll need more power, and it's really hard on a gal to do that. We're not rated for over level 16 [unknown] operations, you know that. You're going to break me if we keep it up too much." She says this in a pouty voice, "Almost done! Last chance to keep your bits, going once!"<br> <br>"Keep the bits! Keept the Bits!" Fenris says, finally realizing the gravity of the situation. He himself may not be planning on a family, but that's no reason to become a doll! He does wonder what he looks like now.<br> <br>Her image appears with a sultry grin, "I had a feeling you'd change your mind so I saved that for last. All done!" she says proudly, then stretches out, "I'm tired. I'm going to take a nap, bye!" Poof, sylvia, and her menu, vanish, and the egg goes still.<br> <br>Fenris looks over his new, altered form. Stronger, broader, a little taller even. "Oh boy," he mutters before closing his eyes and focusing his kitsune powers. Gradually, his ordinary proportions return and he sighs. "This could be trouble," he breathes to himself before picking up the egg and walking to the door. "Sally," he says, opening the door, "I'm going to need some more time with this thing." He holds up the egg shaped device. "Good news is, it now recognizes me as its primary user," he says, "Bad news is, it is out of power and will need to be recharged."<br> <br>Sally raises a brow as the report comes in, "That's too dangerous to have floating around the city. That room's built to take a big blast, the marketplace isn't," she says in a scolding tone, "And it's not safe to have you in there without a spotter, so to speak. Leave it in there, it isn't going anywhere, we hope." She makes a soft shooing motion back towards the pedastal it started on, "Good job tho... you changed?" she just notices the tiger is not the same tiger, "I expect a full report on your findings on my desk by dinner call."<br> <br>:relaxes his kitsune power, showing the extent of his changes. "I didn't think it would work," he says, his voice altered slightly a little bit fuller and deeper. The altered tiger replaces the egg on the pedestal. "I hope you will let me continue to work on it," he says, "I imagine there is a lot I could learn from it! And it's communication functions are disabled. I will have a report ready for you by this evening."<br> <br>She nods, looking him over again, "You keep up that disguise for the others," she suggests, "I imagine that's how our creator was hiding as a beaver... Submit your report as soon as possible and we'll go from there."