A small team of person-sized cybernetic beings, wired into the mech and each other. Who better to repair you than another version of you?
Such a team doesn't need supervision, but may bear watching, lest they acquire... upgrades.
Earthhome assigns a supervisor to the support team of Lily-of-the-Valley, consisting of Lily-1 through Lily-5 (Lily-of-the-Valley itself is Lily-0). Lily-0's pilot doesn't understand why. The support crew is always plenty effective on their own.
The supervisor is warned by his manager: just watch the support crew. Don't get friendly, they're not people. And don't get involved with the repairs, that's their job.
The supervisor watches. The supervisor is an engineer. The engineer knows how to fix things. The engineer is bored. And so...
He works alongside Lily-4, repairing damage to Lily-0's leg joint. His knee twitches; strange.
He feels sweaty and tired from working on the coolant manifold. Lunch was hours ago. Lily-2 taps him on the shoulder and holds out a vending machine snack. Without thinking, he thanks it.
A series of hazardous deployments has the team on long night shifts. He flags near the end of the second one, unable to keep up with the gleaming metal dance of the Lilies. The next evening, Lily-5 gives him a thermos when he arrives. The warm tea inside is delicious, and keeps the damp at bay all night.
After the worst is over, all the humans are tired. Tired humans make mistakes. An unsecured weight shifts, and the engineer's arm makes a horrible crack as it's crushed underneath. The Lilies are there immediately, tools and hands moving faster than the human eye can track, and suddenly his arm is fine. Better than fine; sleek, hairless, metallic.
The engineer looks up at the faces of the Lilies, and she wonders what it would be like.
A month later, Earthhome assigns a supervisor to the support team of Lily-of-the-Valley, consisting of Lily-1 through Lily-6 (Lily-of-the-Valley itself is Lily-0). The supervisor is warned by his manager: just watch the support crew. Don't get friendly, they're not people. And don't get involved with the repairs, that's their job.
Lily-6 notes that the supervisor is an engineer, and it wonders if he likes tea.
