Interstellar Age

Chapter 255 Becoming a Lab Rat

Having secured the allegiance of another orc clan, Erich had immediately shipped them off to the remainder of his horde to be re-outfitted with the latest equipment that Tia had manufactured. Meanwhile, Erich began to focus on Tia's efforts to perfect the truth serum, and within two weeks, she believed she had the results she was looking for. All the little AI needed was a test subject.

Of course, Sages were hard to come by, and because of this, the little devil approached Erich with an interesting offer. Which she made once they were alone in his captain's quarters.

"Master... Tia believes she has found the solution to the serum, and how to prevent total brain death... However, she needs a test subject, and since Sages are hard to come by, and are valuable prisoners. Tia suggests that Master volunteer to be the subject himself.

Make no mistake, Master, if my results are still flawed and you do end up dying, you will be cloned almost immediately and will be back to normal. It is perhaps because of this that Master is the best test subject that Tia could get her hands on.

However, Tia is aware that this is a big request, and is thus willing to do anything that Master says if he agrees. So, Master, will you allow Tia to experiment on you?"

Erich did not know how to react to this news at first. After all, being a test subject was something that he had been trying to avoid in his entire life. But Tia made a solid point. He had wasted two prisoners due to a terminal side effect of the truth serum. And he had to work hard to get his hands on the both of them.

Because of this, Erich became more and more convinced that using himself as a test subject would provide Tia the data she needed to truly perfect the serum. After all, if his body died, his consciousness would be transferred to the body of a clone. Which meant that he could theoretically die as many times as needed to perfect the serum. Which he hoped was none.

As much as Erich wanted to deny Tia, he understood the need to perfect this serum before getting his hands on another sage, and thus, he sighed heavily before agreeing to Tia's request.

"Very well... I will agree to be your test subject until you can perfect the serum so that it is compatible with Sages. However, I want you to know, that I do not appreciate being a lab rat."

Tia smiled when she heard these words, and grabbed hold of Erich's hands, before thanking him for assisting her in her research, even if the whole point of it was to help Erich.

"Thank you, Master! Tia promises to complete the serum with a satisfactory amount of casualties!"

After saying this, Tia led Erich to the medical facility, where he was strapped into a chair, and injected with the serum. His nanites were temporarily paralyzed, as the serum begun to affect his mind.

Before Erich knew it, he was a completely mindless slave, with no will of his own. And thus Tia began to ask her questions while monitoring his brain for potentially lethal activity.

"What does Master think of Tia?"

Erich had no chance but to answer the little robotic loli with the honest truth.

"I think... That Tia is very important to me. Without her, I would not be where I am today...."

Tia frowned when she heard this, before asking an even more specific question.

"Does master think Tia is cute?"

Erich once more complied without any resistance as he spoke his true thoughts aloud.

"Of course, Tia is the most adorable girl in the world!"

This caused Tia to frown even more than she once more spoke with further clarification of her intent.

"Then why won't Master have sex with Tia? Despite the fact that he thinks Tia is cute!"

There were several seconds of silence as Erich's sedated mind tried its best to come up with an appropriate answer about how he felt towards Tia's physical form.

"While Tia is an adult by the standards of the Germanic Star-Empire, her robotic form and holographic projection are that of a child. And because of this, I am not attracted to her in such a manner. Perhaps if she got a new robotic form and holographic projection that resembled that of a mature woman, then I would be more inclined to sleep with her..."

Tia pouted at her master after learning the real reason he avoiding sleeping with her. All this time he had said she was cute, but he meant it in a childish way. This made her so angry she did not know what to think. How could she not think of that? Why was she so blind to such an obvious answer, and why had her previous master designed her to look like a literal child?

With a heavy sigh, the robotic loli nodded her head before responding to Erich's statement, just as his nanites began to flush the drug from his system.

"Tia understands, and will manufacture a new robotic form in accordance with Master's preferences, as well as update her holographic projection to match. If Master has any suggestions to make regarding her personality matrix, she will also adjust those as well..."

After saying this Erich finally snapped back to reality, and looked around, as if he had gone to sleep for a few moments, before asking what had happened.

"What happened? Am I still alive?"

Tia was pouting towards him as she confirmed that he was indeed still alive.

"That is correct... Master is still alive, and there were no signs of his brain activity fluctuating. However, we will have to run more tests to ensure that this result can be reliably be produced. Prepare yourself, Master, for the second injection."

After saying that, Tia injected Erich again with another dose of the truth serum, and began to interrogate him further about his thoughts towards her, especially regarding any information he might be hiding.

These trials went on for another whole month, before Erich was released, and Tia could confirm that her serum was now 100% safe for Sages. By the time Erich had snapped back to reality, he felt as if he had slept for an entire month, because he had almost no recollection of what had happened.

But the good news was that Tia had also managed to track down several potential hideouts of Thyrin's replacement. And thus she gathered the crew at the bridge, where, much to their surprise, she had appeared in a new form, with an entirely new personality matrix.

Tia no longer had the body of a middle school girl, with twintails, and an adorable face. Instead, she was a fully grown woman, with a voluptous body, long silver hair that cascaded over her left side, and most important an alluring and sultry voice. When she spoke, it almost resembled that of a femme fatale, as she approached her Master and kissed him on the lips so brazenly in front of everyone else.

Good evening, Master... What do you think of Tia's new appearance?"

Erich was at a loss for words, especially since Tia's soft, and supple silver robotic breasts were pressing against his chest. He had no idea what material she used to build her chassis, but it genuinely felt like human skin.

Erich could hardly believe this was the same Tia who he had fostered into sentience. And was just about to ask her what the hell had happened when she turned around and activated the star map on the bridge's central terminal, which quickly zoomed into Asuran space.

"After what happened to the despot who harbored Thyrin, there is no independent world or system within Asuran space who would knowingly harbor a sage. Which means he or she is likely hiding in a world that belongs to a Deva or Devi.

Tia has narrowed down a list of Cabal members who are sympathetic towards the Sages and have found four potential territories where the Sages might be hiding. She then cross-referenced that list with another from customs departments, which contained the identities of visitors and immigrants who had arrived since Thyrin's death. After searching for those who are of the Elven species, Tia found a total of five worlds which might be hiding our target.

So, Master, which world will you choose first?"

Erich honestly did not know what to say... He was still confused about why Tia had suddenly chosen such a mature figure, not remembering that he outright admitted to her he was not sexually attracted to her previous form.

And more importantly, he was starting to wonder just how soft the rest of her body was. Although he couldn't see it due to the dress she was wearing, Erich could bet he could bounce a quarter off of Tia's new ass. Thus, he stared in silence for several awkward moments before Tia asked him again for his decision.

"Master? Weren't you listening? What world will you choose to search first?"