“A formidable question! Well…I was close to death when Myrmidon rescued me. Jumped by some xenos and scrapped for parts. The hospitals didn’t know what to do with me. They couldn’t rebody me because my mind rejected all the hosts. They were hours from pulling the plug.” 

“But Myrmidon saw my potential. They put me in a pod with all the individual parts of my new body and just attached a few connector appendages to my core. I scraped and crawled for months putting myself together from scratch. They brought me back from the dead by understanding that for us a body is more than a hunk of metal. It's our masterpiece.” 

The Utaysi spoke passionately and eloquently, the silence heavy when he finished clasped his hands back together. A few heads had turned from nearby groups to listen to his answer.

“So to answer your question, living in these bodies feels like being reborn. Wiser to challenges the galaxy gives us, and more secure in our ability to meet them. I hope that helps?”

[hr]

Light regarded Jess skeptically, then sighed.

“No. Someone like that would never be friends with someone like me.” There was a tinge of sadness in his synthesised voice.

“She looks like the warrior priestesses we learned about as juveniles. I can’t believe she’d work…here.”

A soft announcement drifted across the room over the tinkling of music to them.

“Welcome all guests. We are seeking volunteers at the RepairX product suite to take part in a disassemble/reassemble timed competition. The winner will receive a Styx Four auto-tool chest and Myrmidon mascot.”