---    Reboot

"What do you think you are doing?", shouted Preston in a panicked voice, as he edged away still clutching the coins.

"Funny, I was just asking myself the same question", growled the dragon, as he retrieved a long tuning fork shaped object from his vest.

Placing the tines of the fork near the girl's nostrils, he adjusted their spacing to match, then inserted the tool, pushing it in until the tips contacted the back of her skull from the inside with an audible clunk.

This caused a brief burst of activity in the parlor.  Someone screamed.  Someone fainted.  Patrons rapidly disentangled themselves from their escorts, and made for the exits.  One of the canine girls sat perplexed by the panic around her.  Her programming not designed to cope with this situation.  Two others had gathered on the floor around the enormous black wolf, who had fainted.  The rest casually stood up, straightened their clothing, walked out the front door, and resuming their positions on the stairs, awaiting new clientele as if nothing was unusual.

Placing a thumb in the girls mouth, and the other hand on the tool, Dro pried her mouth open.  The tool causing the jaw bone to unhinge and distend much further than it normally would.  He then began turning a small ring near the base of the handle.  On the third revolution, the upper jaw detached with a snap from the nasal cavity, and hinged down to meet the lower jaw.

Preston stared at this gruesome scene in shock, unable to look away.  In all his years of dealing with AI, he had never seen this, or even knew it was possible.

Taking a firm grip on the tool, the dragon placed a talon between the tines where they met at the base of the handle and gave a sharp tug.  The girls body suddenly convulsed, her hands clenching into fists, and her legs and tail going fully rigid.

Preston shrieked, and leapt backwards, falling off his bench and crashing through the beaded curtain.

When Dro removed the tool, suspended between its tines was a small silver box with smoothly beveled edges.  Removing the box from the fork, he deposited it in an interior vest pocket.  He then produced a significantly larger, gloss black box of similar design from another pocket and fitted it into the tool.

It took some extra pressure on her jaw to make room for the larger box, but after some coaxing and only a little mumbled swearing, he managed to get it into the compartment at the back of her skull.  Carefully wiggling the fork handle in small circles until the box snapped into its socket, and the girls body relaxed.

Closing the upper jaw back into place, he turned the ring on the tool's handle in the opposite direction several times, until he felt resistance, then closed the lower jaw, making sure that the teeth aligned properly.  Wrapping one hand around her entire muzzle, and gripping the tool with the other, he pulled on the handle until it popped loose, and its entire length was free.

During all of this, Preston had managed to clamber his way back up onto his bench behind the counter.  His fancy jacket now sporting a torn sleeve, and looking rumpled as if he had slept in it.  He frantically patted his pockets, and looked around desperately for the massive coins.

"You have a couple minutes to find them", said the dragon as he placed the fork back into its sleeve inside his vest.  "You wont want to be here when she wakes up.  I certainly don't."

Seeing Rook passed out in the atrium, Preston began chattering and swearing in Raccan.  He didn't know whether to focus on looking for the coins or to call in some muscle to restore order to his little empire.  He was well into telling the dragon what he thought of his lineage when Dro cut him off.

"And you can keep the change.  I'll be taking Mira as well", the dragon added, as he moved the girl's body into a sitting position, turning her head side to side, looking for signs of activity.

The little raccoon exploded. "You will NOT take Mira!  You will get out!  Whatever all of this is, take it and get out, and if you so much as touch Mira, I will call security!"

The dragon's eyes lit up at this.  Part of him wanted the little pervert to call security, just so he could see his reaction when the comms in his pocket lit up.  To see the look on his face when security asked the dragon to assist at the location he was already standing in.  But the other part of him did not want to deal with the reports he would need to file, explaining why he was already at the location, and why he was the cause of the call to begin with.  Especially when he didn't know all of the details himself.

Instead he turned to the overstuffed Raccan, eyes flashing and performing that toothy smile which dragons should not attempt.  "Yes, by all means, call security.  Tell them everything you have seen.  Especially tell them everything you have seen, and recorded on that little voyeur setup you have behind the curtain.  I'm sure they will find the records you have kept of your clients fascinating.  Clients who will be so happy when they find out how famous they have become, all because of you."

Preston shrank back, all his bluster leaving him like a deflating balloon. "What is it you want", he finally asked, his anger gone, replaced by defeat.

"First, you will provide me with a receipt for this body", said the dragon calmly. "Then I want one for Mira, along with her binder."

Preston frowned unhappily, but began gathering the necessary documentation. "Why Mira?", he eventually asked, "She's one of my oldest models."

"How old?", asked Dro.

"Honestly, I dont remember.  At least fifteen years, maybe twenty", said the raccoon.

"Ever had her tested?"

"Constantly.  All of our employees are checked weekly by a medical..."

"For sapience, you moron", the dragon snarled.

Preston was taken aback. "What?  Mira?"

"She shows the signs", said the dragon. "She nearly burst into tears when you shouted at her earlier.  Twenty years of social interaction is plenty long enough for some AI to develop the required neural paths, and I dare say she has been very social."

The Raccan was still in shock when he handed the dragon an itemized receipt and two ident cards.

"And her binder?", the dragon prompted.

Preston looked down at his ring encrusted fingers.  Slowly turning each one to read its ID number, he found the match on the twelfth attempt.  After much struggle to remove the rings which preceded it, he eventually removed Mira's ring, placed it on the counter and slid it across to the dragon.  His face was noticeably sad as he placed the other two rings back on the finger.

"She was special to you", Dro realized.

"I didn't know.  I never noticed", said Preston, still shaking his head in disbelief.

"Where are we?", came a small voice.

The dragon and Preston both turned to the skunk sitting on the counter.

"Shannon!", the dragon brightened, "Good to have you back."  

"It's good to be back", she replied, rubbing her jaw, obviously still sore.  She looked around the room, and took in the details of this unfamiliar place.  The cold black counter top she was sitting on and the little raccoon behind it.  The cloth draped walls, plush carpeting, and furniture for lounging about.  The enormous wolf, unconscious on the floor, being attended by a pair of courtesans.

Turning her attention to herself, she noticed her tiny hands, her tiny feet protruding from the shift she was wearing, her tiny... everything.  She suddenly spun to face the dragon, brow furrowing and eyes flashing.

"Uh oh."