Kim, Shego, and Ron sat in the back of the hover-bus. Kim glanced enviously at the persocom/mole-rat sitting on Ron’s shoulder. Kim had to pay for two fares; since Rufus was small enough to ride on Ron’s shoulder or pocket, Ron had only had to pay for one fare.
“Ok…” said Ron. “So, Sensei definitely said I was going to the championships?”
“Yes.” said Kim. “And he wants to send me and Shego here to.”
“Oh, man, this so totally rocks!” said Ron.
“Hello?” said Kim. “Can we focus on Shego here? I thought persocoms weren’t supposed to be able to fight.”
“Oh, right.” said Ron. “That’s not true. They can be programmed to fight, they’re just programmed against hurting a human.”
Kim rubbed one forearm. “News flash, Ron… bruises hurt.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of weird…” said Ron. “Maybe her don’t hurt humans programming got erased also, except its supposed to be burned in at the rom level…”
“The what level? You’ve got a level named after yourself?” said Kim.
“Not Ron, ROM” said Ron, emphasizing the M. “It’s called that because… um… it’s rommed into her skull. It doesn’t change.”
“Whatever.” said Kim. “So, how do we find out?”
“Well, we can always ask her to go hurt Bonnie Rockwaller.” said Ron, smiling at the thought.
“Ron!” snapped Kim. “Don’t joke about things like that.”
“I was joking?” asked Ron.
Kim glared at Ron. “What am I going to do with her?”
“I’ll take a look at her at your house.” said Ron. “I would have looked at the dojo, but you two took so long to shower and change…”
Kim blushed. “Right… so, if you can find what model she is, we can get software for her, right?”
“Oh sure.” said Ron. “Of course, she might be a custom model.”
“What do you mean, custom model?” said Kim. “I’ve heard the term before, but never heard it explained.”
“There’s basicly three types of persocoms.” said Ron. “Store-boughts, which are persocoms someone buys from the factory, with all the processors, accessories, and software already installed. Next on mods, like Rufus here. I bought his original frame and processor from Smarty Mart, but I’ve upgraded the little fellow with additional accessories, such as his cheese sensor. Also, most persocoms his size aren’t capable of speech, but my friend Wade was able to find a speech production program that would fit in Rufus’s memory.”
Rufus nodded happily.
“So, custom models are the third type?” said Kim.
“Right, but they’re the rarest.” said Ron. “A few users are able to build their own persocoms, modifying or creating everything from the skeleton out. The only person I know who has done that is Wade. It can take a lot of time, know-how, and money… but a custom model can have special capabilities.”
“How can you tell the difference?” asked Kim.
“Store-boughts and mods have serial marks. Rufus, for example, has a brain logo under one arm pit. Custom models usually have a signature or special marking put on them by their creator… all of Wade’s custom models have this stylized ‘W’ logo.” said Ron.
“Well, I didn’t see any marks like that.” said Kim. “But you’re welcome to check again.”.
Kim pressed the button, letting the computer driving the bus know it was time to stop.
Kim led Ron and Shego up to her apartment building. She saw the building owner, Ms. Porter, outside raking leaves. “Hi, Ms. Porter!” said Kim, waving. “Back from your vacation?”
“Hi, Kim.” said Ms. Porter, waving. “Yes, thank you.” She continued raking as the group went inside, then suddenly froze. Her head swivelled back to look at the door they had just went through. “SHE/GO?” she said, her eyes wide in amazement.
Kim led Ron and Shego into her apartment, closing the door. “Ok, Shego… sit.”
Shego, familiar with this command, went over to a chair and sat down. Ron bent over to look at her metal ears, and then lifted aside Shego’s black hair and tugged on the neck-hem of the shirt, checking the shoulder blads. “No markings yet.” he reported, then reached for the bottom hem of the shirt.
“HEY! Stop!” said Kim, coming over and stopping Ron.
“Kim, I’m just looking for markings.” said Ron. “It’s not like there’s anything under there I haven’t seen before.”
Kim coughed nervously, “Look, maybe you’re comfortable with looking at a girl’s crotch, but…”
“Wait wait wait…” said Ron, interrupting. “You mean… she’s ANATOMICALLY CORRECT?”
“Well, yeah.” said Kim. Kim found herself blushing. “As far as I can tell…”
Ron’s jaw hung open. “She’s…”. He shook his head. “Kim… do you know how many guys at school would kill for an ANATOMICALLY correct, female humanoid persocom? Heck, some of the girls might…”
“I take it most persocoms aren’t… um, all there?” said Kim nervously.
“As smooth as a Barbie doll.” said Ron. “There’s stories of mods and custom-builts… Wade may have built one or two… but I wouldn’t even know where to start looking for a plug-in pussy.”
“Well, you’re not going to start looking here.” said Kim, firmly. “Come on, Shego.”
Kim took the confused persocom by the hand and led her into the bathroom. A few minutes Kim led Shego out, no longer wearing the shirt but with two towels wrapped around her… one at waist height, the other around her breasts.
“Aw, Kim…” said Ron, trying to do the puppy dog pout.
“No.” said Kim, firmly. “Look, I already checked those areas, and there’s no markings there.”
“Ok, ok…” said Ron. “Shego, lift your arms up.”
Kim raised her own arms, and Shego duplicated the process.
Ron began looking closely at Shego’s armpits, pressing against the skin. Shego giggled.
“Huh, she’s ticklish.” said Kim, a little surprised.
“That’s odd…” said Ron, after checking the other armpit. “No markings and no power button.”
“Her power button is on the back of her neck, Ron.” said Kim. “The collar is covering it.”
“Oh, ok.” said Ron. “Never heard of a power button located there, but I guess it makes sense.”
Kim frowned. “Wait a minute, why did you think she was wearing a collar if you didn’t know here power switch was there?”
Ron blinked. “Um, I thought you were just really kinky?”
Kim growled. Ron held a hand up to placate her. “I’m sorry, ok? I didn’t think… look, some of Wade’s persocoms wear collars, so I didn’t even think about it.”
“You keep mentioning this Wade guy.” said Kim.
“Yeah, we met online at a Persocom board right after I bought Rufus.” said Ron. “He’s helped me make some major upgrades to Rufus.”
“Wade!” said Rufus, smiling.
“Hey, maybe Wade can find out some info on Shego.” said Ron. “If she is a custom model, maybe he can track down the person who built her and find out why he wanted to throw her away.”
“You seem awfully sure that Shego was built by a guy.” said Kim, feeling a little insulted on behalf of her gender.
“Kim, think about it.” said Ron. “A cute female persocom, fully anatomically correct? Do you REALLY think that a girl would build something like that?”
Ms. Porter, also known as Dr. Viviane F. Porter, sat in her office/apartment. On the holo-viewer in front of her, a clip from the building’s front security scanner replayed. That was definitely Project SHE/GO following Kim Possible. Ms. Porter would recognize SHE/GO anywhere… she should, she had been the one who had designed SHE/GO’s body and who had hand-created and programmed SHE/GO’s autonomous emotive learning processor, as well as the autonomous learning processors used in the other GO projects. In fact, it had been SHE/GO which had caused Dr. Porter to leave Global Justice R+D.
FLASHBACK
“Wait a minute…” said Dr. Porter. “You’re installing PLASMA PROJECTORS in her?”
“Doctor, the Global Operatives projects are designed to fight crime.” said Dr. Director. “Why else do you think they were built.”
“You’re turning her into a weapon!” said Dr. Porter. “She’s more then that! She can be a better agent then anyone… even Will Du!”
“I highly doubt that.” said Will Du, from his customary spot by Dr. Director. It was well known that Dr. Director was grooming the young man to be her top field agent. Several rumors were afloat that Will was either Dr. Director’s son, by an unknown father, or her underage lover. Dr. Porter ignored all the rumors, knowing there were probably worse rumors afloat about her. Few people seemed willing to take a beautiful woman seriously as a scientist; if it wasn’t for the fact that her boss, Dr. Justine Flanner, acted so much like a… well, robot, then Dr. Porter was sure the rumors would say Dr. Porter got her current job by sleeping with her boss.
“No machine can ever duplicate the raw capabilities of a human.” said Will. “Your persocoms are simply tools. Weapons, if you want to call them that, in a war on crime.”
“But she can be so much more…” said Dr. Porter. “Just give me a chance to prove it…”
“Dr. Porter.” said Dr. Director, coldly. “You are getting far too emotional about this. SHE/GO will have those plasma projectors installed. She will be trained to use them, as well as to use hand-to-hand combat. And we will use her as a weapon, if and when neccesary. If you cannot accept those facts, then you can find yourself another job.”
END FLASHBACK
Dr. Porter glanced around the apartment. Well, she had another job now, even if it had found her. This apartment building had been left to her, by her late parents, so she was now able to support herself without seeing any more of her creations be used for violence or evil. She had managed to buy or otherwise acquire the tools for a very impressive robotics lab here.
She sighed. Unfortunately, Global Justice had kept most of her notes. While she was sure they wouldn’t be able to understand them, the lack of notes had kept Dr. Porter from being able to reconstruct the autonomous emotive learning processor, which is what made SHE/GO so unique.
“Ok, Porter, figure it out.” she told herself. “Global Justice wouldn’t just give SHE/GO away… so they lost her somehow. I know Kim’s parents, and I’ve talked with Kim. She’s not a thief, so she had to have found it somewhere. Now, do I tell Global Justice where it is, so they can use SHE/GO as a weapon, or do I watch and see what Kim does with it?”.
The decision came quickly to her; but, after all, she was a genius. “Well, Kimmie…” Dr. Porter said to thin air. “Let’s see how you two get along.”
Ron sighed, slumping back. Kim fastened the collar back around Shego’s neck.
“I give up.” admitted Ron. “Unless there’s something under those towels, there doesn’t seem to be any maker-identifier markings anywhere on her body.”
“Those towels are staying in place.” said Kim. “So, what do we do now?”
“Well, the next step would be to check her CPU.” said Ron.
“What are you going to do?” said Kim, cautiously. “Crack her skull open?”
“Nothing so drastic.” said Ron. He reached for one of Shego’s cone shaped ears and tried to open it. “Uhhh…”
“Ron.” said Kim. “Be careful!”
“I know what I’m doing.” said Ron. After a few more minutes trying to open the ears up, he asked, “Do you have a crowbar?”
“Ron, here… let me.” said Kim.
Kim reached over. The light green panel, on the underside of the ear, easily swivelled down to reveal several cable ends.
Ron opened one of Rufus’s ears, and connected two cables together.
“Ok, Rufus… Interface mode!” said Ron.
“Interfacing.” Rufus said, tonelessly. “Command prompt.”
“No system ID?” said Ron, scratching his head. “Ok… um, command log on.”
“Access denied. Command prompt.” Rufus reported.
“Command help?” suggested Ron.
“Access denied. Command prompt.” Rufus said again.
Kim watched as Ron tried several dozen commands, all following the word ‘Command’. “What are you doing?” she finally asked.
“Oh… this method bypasses a persocom’s personality and social interface routines, and goes straight to the main processor.” said Ron. “Only thing is, I can’t seem to access anything.”
“Maybe it will work better with my voice.” said Kim. “Command help.”
“Kim, don’t be silly…” said Ron, but was cut off when Rufus began to speek.
Rufus said “SHE/GO Help. Valid commands are Help, Unlock, Safety, Interface, Status, Upload, and Shut Down. For help with an individual command, state ‘Command Help’ followed by the command name.”
“Yay, it worked!” said Kim.
“That shouldn’t have happened.” said Ron. “If it didn’t work for me, why would it work for you?”
“Shego knows that I’m her owner.” said Kim, calmly.
“The command interface should have bypassed all of that, though.” said Ron.
“Shego, Command Status.” said Kim.
Shego began to speak. “Shego operational. AELP online. Main and secondary memory banks have been purged. User IO Progamming corrupted, currently at fourteen point one percent and being regenerated. System ID corrupted, recovered twenty six point two percent and holding. User ID: Kim Possible. Power at ninety-four percent of nominal. All systems fully functional.”
“Shego, Command Interface.” said Kim.
“Unit Rufus Operational.” said Shego. “Smarty Mart Persocom Processor Lite online. Accessory memory systems functional. System ID: Rufus / Mole-rat Persocom / Smarty-Mart Labs. User ID: Ronald Stoppable. Power at seventy-eight percent of nominal. All systems fully functional. Memory core has seventeen folders, three marked private. All folders open for access.”
Ron gasped. “She hacked Rufus? That fast?”
“Um, isn’t that what you were doing to her?” said Kim.
Ron shook his head. “Trying to find out what she was, yes. But there’s no way she should have been able to access his data folders, especially the private ones… those are heavily secured.”
“Well, Rufus is a Smarty-Mart persocom. I guess Shego is an AELP persocom?” said Kim.
“AELP must refer to her central processing system.” said Ron. “But I’ve never heard of an AELP… either as a processor or as a company. I think we need to take her to see Wade.”
“Ok…” said Kim. “But if we’re taking her out in public again, there’s one thing we have to get for her first.”
“What’s that?” asked Ron, confused.
“Underwear.”
Kim walked into Club Banana, Shego following her.
“Hey, Kim.” said the manager, Monique. “What’s up?”
“Got a new persocom, kind of need some stuff for her.” said Kim, pointing at Shego. “Shego, say Hi to Monique.”
“Hello, Monique.” said Shego.
“Why, hello there, Shego.” said Monique. “Aren’t you just the cutest thing? Kim, did you finally break down and ask your parents to buy you a persocom?”
“No, I kind of… ah, found her.” said Kim. “Need some underwear and at least one outfit.”
Monique blinked. “Underwear? We’ve had some guys come in here to buy outfits for their persocoms, but I don’t recall any of them buying underwear.”
“Yeah, well… “ said Kim. “Let’s just say I’m a bit old fashioned that way.”
“Ok…” said Monique. With Monique’s help, Kim picked out a shirt and skirt set for Shego, as well as underwear. Kim led Shego into the dressing room to try the outfit on. The shirt was dark green, with black slashes on the sides. The skirt reached down to Shego’s ankles, a shiny black that matched Shego’s hair. A pair of flat green shoes, on special, went over Shego’s feet so she wouldn’t have to walk barefoot.
“Oh, she looks so adorable!” said Monique, as Kim led Shego out of the dressing room. “But you know, you could have just had her change out here. I doubt anyone would have been emberassed seeing a nude persocom.”
“I would have.” said Kim, deciding not to mention that Shego had a bit more to show then most persocoms. She didn’t want her boss thinking Kim was some kind of pervert.