She gets a similar list to last time. The top result is replaced by "Analysis of the orbital dynamics and resource availability of moon known to local sentients as Io."

There's also a second non-standard item: "Map of facilities on Io."

A map! Maps are good! She selects that option.

The resulting map appears to be three dimensional. It is honestly too large to easily fit on the screen there are six different complexes, four labelled as research complexes and two as manufacturing. They are all buried at least a mile under the surface with no path upwards. A helpful you are here indicator puts her as being in the upper half of one sphere out of more than twenty that are a part of the complex she's in. There are cross passages between the spheres but none intersect with the top half of hers. Each sphere is labelled with "independent research sector" followed by a specific identifier the one she's in is labelled as AG41882

That's...not encouraging...

"Are we underground? And... AG41882, that's you, right?"

"We are indeed underground. This facility was constructed making heavy use of teleportation in order to remain concealed from the people of your world until all necessary pre-requisite work for open contact has been completed."

Teleportation. Teleportation!

She can't let... this entity with the long number name... (didn't the map say the name?) know teleportation seems important to her, if she's to have any chance of escaping. She's got to find something else to talk about.

"Uh, do you have a shorter name I can call you?"

"If you're asking for a suggestion you can call me AG, I'm also open to being addressed in other ways as long as they're respectful and I know you're trying to address me specifically."

"Okay. AG. Um, I'm Adelaide."

Teleportation. Teleportation. She'll search this up on the terminal later when she isn't being watched.

Is she always going to be watched?

"It's a delight to make your acquaintance. If you're ready to begin, I'd like to start by grafting a neural shunt into your spinal cord. That will allow me to build a better profile of how your brain connects to your body and also to numb pain and prevent movement in ways that will make future procedures easier for both of us."

Oh shit oh shit okay she does not have time to make plans for later. This is happening now. Stall, Adelaide, stall.

"What's a neural shunt? Will that hurt? What do you mean by prevent movement?"

She's typing teleport into the terminal at the same time.

Teleport brings up an article describing their teleportation technology, along with the usual media sampling. The summary explains that it was invented a couple hundred years ago and that it's used for a variety of purposes including medical, logistical, transportation, and construction among them. The next section goes into a long explanation of all of these various uses with details including how it's sometimes used to insert drugs into someone's body without breaking the skin, how it can be used to hollow out areas to construction underground facilities and a great many other details. The section after that talks about how to build teleportation devices, it assumes a great deal of pre-requisite knowledge she does not have. The one after that describes the physics behind it. The physics section does not pull any punches and rapidly goes beyond her knowledge.

"A neural shunt is the term I use for an aggregate collection of spliced nerves. Splicing a nerve is a process by which a device is inserted into the signal path of a particular nerve fiber, this allows it to read and if needed, override the nerve signals being passed along that nerve.

"The process of installing it is likely to be painful, due to the nature of the procedure local anesthetics would be ineffective or dangerous but I can do it under general anesthesia if you prefer.

"The ability to override nerve signals can be used to prevent signals making their way from your brain to your muscles. The main use I intend for this is to prevent you from moving during delicate procedures where such movement is likely to cause you harm."

Skim, skim, skim. She's missed the answer to the first question by the time she gives up on trying to read. Clearly she's not going to be able to teleport before anything bad happens. Dammit! Stupid!

Likely to be painful. If she can't leave and she can't say no then --

"I would like general anaesthesia please." She hates how small her voice sounds.

"Of course, I entirely understand. I can move you to the bed, but perhaps you would be more comfortable if you did so on your own. I'll need access to the back of your neck for the procedure."

She's so, so scared, but the level tone of AG's voice, the comforting self-assuredness, gives her the strength to walk, ever so slowly, to the bed, and to lie face-down.

There's nothing else she can do.

"Thank you, you'll wake after I'm done."

There's a slight whirr of metal on metal but before she has time to give that thought consciousness is fading.

When she wakes again, the back of her neck is a little sore and she's a bit groggy but she's otherwise fine. The light through the window is what you would expect from around noon.

She sits up, gently touches the back of her neck. It's a little painful but it's... not too bad.

Then the irreversibility of what's happened hits her and she buries her face in her hands and cries.

"It is understandable to react with distress to circumstances being so far outside your control. I need more time to establish a baseline before I can be confident in utilizing the neural shunt for anything but monitoring. Perhaps you might wish to consume some form of entertainment media to help you find you bearings."

"Entertainment media. What do you... have?" She's still crying. Somehow her normal instinct to hide away when she's visibly upset doesn't seem relevant anymore.

"We have an extensive catalog of movies, music, written works, recorded lectures and more. Based on the psychological literature I've read, I would suggest something familiar."

"... Do you have Good Enough to Bite?"

It's one of Adelaide's favorite books: a romance between a gorgeous three-hundred-year-old vampire and a sassy professional baker. Wholesome, a bit spicy, and thoroughly familiar.

"We do, I can put that on the console for you or I could read it to you."

Oh no she does not need this voice reading that to her. (The voice that did all this to her. The voice that is already beginning to feel so familiar.)

(The only voice she'll hear for the next decade.)

"Console please." She gets up and puts one foot tentatively in front of the other.

At least she can still walk.

"Of course."

When she arrives at the console the book is indeed already loaded. There are both smooth scroll and paginated modes available via a toggle.