Maya awoke many hours later to find herself in bed alone. She half expected to find the bed soggy with sweat and cum and yet there was none of that. If anything she felt and most importantly, smelled quite fresh. Perks of being synthetic she figured. The more concerning part was that she was alone, neither the Hound nor Cassie were in the room with her and she couldn't hear or sense them anywhere close by either. So she decided to try something, focusing and closing her eyes.
-+Cassie? Where are you?+- She didn't really expect a response, but if she could talk with Harmony this way then perhaps she could do so with anyone that she's directly or indirectly assimilated.
+❤+I'm at home, doing some research. Gotta know who we bring aboard right? Sorry for bailing without waking you up.+❤+ Came the almost immediate response. +❤+Oh and btw, that was incredibly hot and I can't wait to pay you back for yesterday.+❤+
Yesterday? Surely she couldn't have been asleep for that long...could she? Maya hunted about for her cellphone and after finding it she was surprised to see that it was indeed the next day. Which meant that tomorrow would be the last day before school... She'd need to figure out some sorta tactic to go unnoticed, her drastic change in appearance was sure to cause a stir. Oh well, a problem for later.
-+I look forward to it. Talk to you later.+- Maya said, turning her focus to the only other member of their little party. -+And where are you, Hound?+-
+-We are on the hunt. We have already acquired a candidate for shipboard chief medical officer/breeder. We are moving to acquire further crewmembers.-+
Well they were certainly busy, Maya felt a hint of pride at the Hound's 'hop to it' attitude towards the mission.
-+You're being careful not to be seen by anyone right?+-
+-Affirmative. The only humans who see us are those we intend to assimilate.-+
-+Excellent. Keep up the good work.+-
+-As you command, Mistress.-+
Well, now that she had a clear idea of what was going on it was time she got to work on her own part of the plan. Conferring with Cassie, she learned that her friend intended on securing security personnel for the ship and crew, as no doubt space would be no safer than Earth and it was a good idea anyway. While they were fully synthetic and capable of altering their forms at will, neither Maya nor Cassie had any clue on how to properly fight and would leave such things to those that could. Of course, later on when they were actually out there in space they'd have plenty of time to learn from the professionals.
Maya decided then that her next contribution to the mission would be acquiring support staff and bridge crew. She knew exactly who to get, though they'd probably be only good for a few things. The real professionals would be harder to source but she doubted she'd have too much trouble.
However, actually putting that plan into motion would have to wait till school started, and so she played around with her shape shifting abilities a bit. It did not take her too long to discover that she could create clothing with her nanites, though she made sure to keep them completely separate from her physical body. So really she was creating them like a replicator would from Star Trek. She also took the time to make adjustments to her old clothes which was simple enough really, she just bathed them in nanites and they were reconfigured to fit her new body shape.
With that done to her satisfaction she decided to interrogate Harmony a little more.
-+Harmony? I have a few questions.+-
+-We are ever at your disposal, Mistress. What do you seek answers for?-+
-+Earlier when I ran into my parents, I thought something and it came true, how does that work?+-
There was silence for a moment.
+-As part of the upgrade procedures, your mind has had portions of its capabilities unlocked. In simpler terms, you are able to use more of your brain than an average human can. This has allowed for the ability to actively or passively influence the perceptions of other living beings and, with time, more thoroughly control them. It is entirely possible that you could control a person entirely once you have learned how to better use this ability.-+
-+So it's like... Hypnosis?+-
+-Yes and no.-+
Well, that was neat, though the thought of being able to fully control the actions of another person was a bit worrying, and had the potential for her to abuse such a power.
-+Can this power be used on assimilated people?+-
+-Negative. While you are able to issue orders to those you have assimilated, you cannot command entities that are part of another network. You can of course connect and communicate with them, but that will be the extent of your influence, unless they leave their network and join yours.-+
Okay, that was good to know. At least she didn't have to worry about anyone swooping in and taking over the people she assimilated.
-+Alright, last question. How many ships like yours did your creators deploy?+-
+-Twenty, though we lost contact with four of them two years after deployment. Last reports say they were attacked and overwhelmed, though one ran afoul of a black hole.-+
-+Well, good to know we won't be alone in this endeavor. Thanks Harmony.+-
+-Happy to have been of assistance, Mistress.-+
With that all out of the way, Maya found herself wondering just what she'd do now. She had an entire day ahead of her after all, and after the last few days of weird alien stuff, perhaps she needed to just do normal teenage girl things. And that is what she did, spending the day like a normal person and eventually going to bed, nestled cozily under the blankets.
The next day was more of the same, just spending time with her family, doing normal things and preparing for the start of school. When that finally came around she had a plan ready. It turned out that any alterations to a person's perception of her that she made was permanent, as she was not required to alter her parents again, and she could expand her sphere of influence pretty easily so the ride to school was pretty chill. Nobody thought anything about her new appearance was out of the ordinary, if anything it was like they were truly seeing her for the first time.