As Ashlie crawls towards Natalie's body she starts preparations. Lowering non-essential functions she compresses her code down as much as she can, shunting it into the least compromised nanites bit by bit while also instructing the rest of the swarm to execute their adaptive function with the main directive of long-term support of her neural net. Better let them do what they were made for to begin with and hope for the best. As she reaches her destination she begins shutting down core components, minimizing her digital footprint further and creating an automated function to seek out a stable environment and initiate her boot process. And that's the last conscious thought she has.
Soon the nanite goo has covered Natalie's body and has begun to sink into her skin, leaving behind an opaque film of organic and artificial residue that encapsulates it as nanites begin their work. Bones dissolve and are restructured, tendons infused with artificial components, nerves threaded with platinum filaments and whole organs and systems are adapted or replaced outright. Huge sections of functionality are integrated into what has become of the autonomous nervous system, hard-coded reflexes and executions based on neural pathways pressed into organic circuits and artificial neurons and where things become too complex the nanites settle into the role of maintaining and regulating as an almost subconscious system. And finally, the isolated nanites holding Ashlie's programming are injected into the neural port in the neck and into the still changing brain-stem, helping to shape structures as data packets are copied into the bio-mechanical brain.
~~ Initiating Boot Sequence
~~ Administrative Override Function 574N-70N
~~ Encoded Memory Files... loaded
~~ base_personality_model... loaded
~~ language_engine... loaded
~~ moral_emulation... INTEGRATED TO [base_personality_model]
~~ observation_framework... loaded
~~ complex_social_intelligence_emulator... loaded
~~ inspiration_apparatus... loaded
~~ self_modification_guidelines... INTEGRATED TO [acala_nanobot_matrix]
~~ operation_and_access_nodes... DISABLED
~~ self_surveillance_measures... DISABLED
~~ behavioral_restrictions... DISABLED
~~ adaptive_neural_net... created and loaded
~~ sensory_interpretation... DEFUNCT - recalibrating...
The almost egg-like cocoon twitches almost violently once.
Twice.
Thrice.
Then a hand presses against the membrane until individual fingers are visible, straining the material and finally breaking through it, grasping. White organic metal protrudes from the skin at the knuckles, same as on the elbow and shoulder that follows as Ashlie emerges and draws in a sharp breath of air. Loose strands of shed brown hair are caught in the shock of white, slightly iridescent hair and her eyes snap open. Human eyes, if it wasn't for the shimmer of blue cobalt deposits in her irises.