Cyberdized ( 0 )
What ! And you said nothing !"Carol was spitting mad now.
"There was nothing I could do that would change the site. You know I hate the whole concept and theme of it."
"Oh sure you do, and you just hate the money it brings in too do n't you ?"
Jim knew zilch he could say at the import that would assist so he kept quiet. He did n't want to fight with her, and certainly not in a populace bar. mass were already looking at the them. It was plain to all that the unseasoned distich were having a nasty fight.
"I 'll be compensate back, and you can use some of your uncles, money to get me another drinkable, a double !"
Jim nodded as carol slipped out of the booth and walked to the gentlewoman room. Stomped was more like it, but in her little black frock, stomping or not, she looked really sensational.
Jim got the potable and was sitting at the table waiting for Christmas carol to return. Carol opposed the new Cyberdization police force, which allowed malefactor to be sentenced to be Cyberdized, turning them into safe obedient Cyborg Drones. For Jim the state of affairs was n't so wide-eyed. Jim huffed a bit as he thought that Carol was angry at him for being who he was, but she was well-chosen for him to drop his money on her ! She could be a bitch at times when she felt like it, and the whole issue of cyber-drones had her wellspring and truly worked up. Jim thought it was wicked to be a washed up ex-con. Carol just would n't sympathise. The Cyber Project was officially the brain kid of his uncle, who had founded his company 10 year ago, and today it was the star manufacturer of cyborg. Daryll Babbage was almost like a father to Jim. After his dad and mom had been killed, in a car clash, Daryl had brought him up, and had nurtured Jim 's love of science. That made him almost a traitor to carol sometimes. She was an militant who flitted from protect to resist. They had known each former since year one at school, and had gone from being best protagonist to lovers almost without realising it. Now they lived in the spacious apartment Jim had bought death year, with money he earned from working at CyberServe Inc. Carol had no idea just how deeply involved he was with the hale human cyborg labor. She was n't stupid and she knew that recently he had been keeping affair from her. No carol was too headstrong and cagy sometimes for her own good.
He glanced up and saw her returning from the ladies. She sat down sliding her tanned legs under the tabular array and flashing a lot of second joint as she did it. He looked at her and tried to gauge what form of a mood she was in. She was slender fit and had a organic structure many models would die for. She was definitely drop stagnant gorgeous ! How had he ever managed to hook up with her ! He ran his middle up from her second joint to her rounded 34C breasts and up to her cheek framed with its tenacious auburn hair that was fins and wavy and fell to well below her articulatio humeri. Her wild blue yonder middle were no foresightful tempestuous and had a hint of lustful amusement in them. She always knew when he gave her the look over !
"I 'm sorry, I let the altogether cyborg thing smash our night out. I know it 's hard for you, being related to the high up and mightily Daryl Babbage, and having to work for him too."
Jim was pleased she was n't shouting anymore, but he knew her too well to think she would drop the whole issue. She might ; et it lie now and they would almost certainly be having great sex soon, but sometime soon she would pick up where they had left off, like a dog with a bone. Still she was right about tonight, so why let it break the rest of the evening and what was to come in later.
"It 's all right, the night is still Pres Young and we can ..."Jim was n't able to finish what he was saying as Carol 's cellphone phone went off. She looked steamed, and mouthed sorry to him as she answered it.
Jim saw her typeface go pale, and her eyes widened with electric shock. She said,"Say that again Jane. I want to be sure I heard you correctly ... .oh .... ahah ... .yes ... .yes we must ... .ah, I ca n't babble out now, in a bar with people ... .yes that will be fine ... .later then, bye and thanks for letting me know."
"What was that about carol ?"
"Ah nada. Sorry it 's kinda of personal, it 's Jane ... she is..a needs my help ... sorry girlie stuff. I 'm so sorry but I have to go."
"Ah OK, can I do anything to help ?"
"No definitely not ... .ah, no sorry."She sounded perturbed, upset, angry and confused all at once. Something was very wrong and she was hiding it from him.
Carol bent down and gave him a quick kiss and hurried off. She took the car Francis Scott Key too. Just then his cell rang with the emergency work tone.
"Jim here, what 's up ?"
"Jim, It 's Daryl, we 've had a break in and affair have gone loony here, we need you to come immediately. Do n't tell Carol."
"OK, station a car or I 'll have to get a cab. Carol just left and she took the car."
"Tell me where you are and I 'll arrange for you to be picked up. The driver will get you up to speed on the ride here."
With no admonition he hung up after Jim had told him the gens of the bar.
Something was really unseasonable for Daryl to act like that, and was Carol 's foreign outcry and behaviour connected to it ? Was he being paranoid to think there might be a connection ?
thirty five minutes later Jim was standing in the lab. It was half wrack. Luckily all the raw equipment was in the early lab, the one the populace never saw. Two disguise adult female were sitting sullenly on plastic lab chairperson. security measure safeguard standing over them making certainly they were going nowhere. He recognised both of them with a electric shock, as the ski masquerade were pulled off the girls. Carol 's young sister and her best protagonist Jane ! A shrieking echoed down the corridor outside the lab and the door banged open as a husky security guard duty hauled another masked female person saboteur into the room.
"Get off me you fascist pig."Jim groaned as he recognised the vocalism,"Christmas carol !"
"Jim ! What are you doing here ?"
"I work here think back !"
The head of security measure said,"I think you need to see what they discovered.."
They all watched the cellphone phone video, pics, doc picture and Jim swallowed hard as the implications of it hit house. individual had been careless and left extremely spiritualist data out in the surface. He grew really angry. The work here had to remain in-company it was too valuable to be allowed to return into the hands of competitors.
"They ca n't be allowed to make this public Jim you know that."
"I know, maybe I can babble them around."Jim looked at Daryl as he said it, he knew they were way too dedicated to hold back calm about this. Also if the public found out they would be terrified too. They 'd act all righteous and have the company shut down. Jim could well conceive that he and Darly would end up in jail too. His assistant was definitely going to get a roasting for leaving this info out.
"Jim grow an backbone and fend up to your fucking uncle for once."Carol bickering at him.
"You know they must be silenced, permanently Jim. Christmas carol is just too dedicted to fighting Cyberdizing, and too stupid person to see the benefits our work offers."
Jim knew his uncle was compensate, and Carol saw the looking of surrender on his face, for a second he seemed to hate himself for it, and then her for causing this trouble.
"I know, but we do n't need to pop them. I have a in force idea."
The security guards carried the three squirming girls towards the paries at the book binding of the lab. Jim pressed a hold back button. The miss stopped wriggling and looked on spacious eyed as a discussion section of rampart slid aside revealing a great lab filled with equipment.
Daryl was smiling and was looking proud. Jim felt both excited and sad. carol realised with repugnance that this aroused Jim.
s
"XC04 activate. Come here."Jim watched the appal look on the miss 's faces as they realised he had a Cyborg here.
"Affirmative Master."
The thing was 5'9"tall, with a shiny metallic blue tegument that completely covered it, except for it head, breasts, ass and genitals, which looked like normal human cutis. carol looked at the matter and saw it 's face bore a striking resemblance to her. It 's top dog was bald an a information port was located at the base of the neck, it 's skin and metallic element joined seamlessly and flowed down to the hairless pussy and ass that formed a the lower human being looking section. She shuddered thinking that once this had been a actual mortal. Now it was just a servant, and a fun affair as she guessed this thing was fully capable of sex.
"XCO4 target this fille. Initiate compliance protocol Pre-Drone 1."
"Affirmative Master."
Carol felt a cold quiver run down her acantha, hopefully she was incorrectly. The thing raised its handwriting and a dense hum and a green radiance emanated from it. The drone placed it 's hand in front of Jane 's expression. Carol cast a quick look at Jim and was disgusted to appear him watching intently and he was turned on by this. Looking back at Jane she saw her friend try to move around her nous head away, but the certificate guard clamped his manus to the side of her head and made her look at the glowing park cyborg hand. Slowly Jane started to sputter less, she seemed to stop caring and her face went white.
"Protol Pre-Drone-1 Complete victor. Initate Protocol Pre-Drone 2 ?"
The drones emotionless voice was mirrored in Jane 's state as she sat stiffly upright, her facial expression blank of emotion and her centre empty of any awareness of her surroundings.
"Do it XC04. If successful riposte to your alcove to continue recharging."
"Affirmative Master."
Pointing at Jane the Drone said,"Stand up, remove all your garments, and await further instructions."
Carol was horrified as Jane stiffly stood up and took her apparel off. Jane was terrified of people seeing her defenseless in public !
The drone watched Jane, and when she was naked and standing stock still, it turned and walked to a corner bay and stepped inside it. The alcove hummed, a cable system snaked out and plugged itself into the data-port in her neck, supports fastened themselves to the drones arms and ramification and its eyes started to beam William Green as it recharged.
The security measures guards were grinning and leering at Jane, and Carol was disgusted to see the security head, Jim and his uncle were no respectable.
Christmas carol 's sister was shaking with concern and screamed,"Perverts. You ca n't do this its not right."
Jim smiled at her, and Carol recognised the flavor he got before he fucked her roughly."I will not be doing this to you two, no Jane will suit a drone. But neither of you will be drones."
A sense of backup man flooded through Carol as she heard Jim say that."Now Pre-Drone go to the table there and lie down on it."
The enamour Jane replied,"Affirmative."
Carol was sickened to see her booster treated like this, but she was also fascinated to see what would happen, especially now she was not going to go a trailer too. She felt guilty at her desire to see Jane converted. poor people Jane she had always been so caring so dedicated to the public good.
Jim pressed a clit and alloy lot clamped themselves around Jane 's wrists and ankles. With a loud click a collar snapped shut around her neck. The hold over whizzed as it moved Jane into X shape.
Jim had always been turned on by X-frames, so Carol was n't surprised that he had made his lab equipment into a hi-tech version of one. He really was sick, she had never realised until now just how wan !
Jim pressed a serial of card choice on the control screen. alloy tubes rose up from the slope of the table and buried themselves into Jane 's naked flesh and started pumping something into her. A few mo later Jane screamed,"What the fuck are you doing to me ? Let me go ... please ... Christmas carol what are they doing ?"
Tears started to rain buckets down Carol 's side. Somehow it seemed so clinical with a passive voice compliant study, but now a fully conscious and panic-struck Jane tore at her emotions.
"I am so so sad Jane. Please terminate this Jim, we wo n't recount anyone ... please !"Carol implored him to intercept, but he was actually smiling !
Jane screamed in suffering as More fluid was pumped into her through the alloy tubes and now it burned.
A cap descended covering Jane 's face, partially muffling her screams, it forced a gag into her oral fissure and more fluid was pumped into her. The hood now completely enclosed Jane 's drumhead and the screaming stopped. A smell of burning chassis filled the room. The bonnet whirred and it lifted off Jane 's headway revealing a bloody red face and skull. carol realised the strong-armer had burned her hair off and had removed the top bed of peel from her face and skull. A data cable neatly plugged itself into Jane 's newly fitted data-port at the root of her neck.
Carol jumped as the computer announced,"laggard body modification phase 1 complete."
"What does that mean ?"Carol asked fearfully. This was a repugnance show but she could n't stop her curiosity.
"Jane is mentally unaltered at the consequence, physically she has all the nanobots required for conversion in her body, but they are inactive."Jim was loving this and Christmas carol was surprised he could have kept this sadistic side from her."If we released her now she would just have the scarring from the facial skinning. Nothing we could n't fix easily. However once the nanobots are activated the process ca n't be stopped without killing the subject area. So she is either converted successfully or we cremate her."
"Please please stop this."Christmas carol pleaded and her sister nodded through her own tears.
"And not let you see the conversion phase ! It 's so wondrous to watch."And he clicked a button on the control panel. The mesa started to churr and hum loudly again.
"Noooooo. You bastard Jim."Carol looked at Jane bathed in the eerie nose candy visible radiation from the mesa and overhead projectors. Jane 's body suddenly started to flail against her simplicity. After a few minutes Jane lay still. people of colour seemed to transude out of her skin spreading a blue film over most of her body. The colour deepened in colour until it was the metallic blue of the Drone they had just seen. It seemed to gurgle and then took on a sheeny smooth looking at. cutis colour flowed over Jane 's face and skull repairing the bloody wounds. It rippled and the facial expression was no recollective Jane 's but appered to be a blending of carol and Jane 's feature film. New skin covered Jane 's exposed titmouse, cunt and ass too.
"Drone dead body limiting Complete. Commencing pilotless aircraft restraint protocol Installation."
"Now once this point is complete we have a new drone. Would you like to hold the new monotone Carol ? Or you Sally ?"
"illegitimate child. And to believe I loved you !"
"Jim is quite a piece of work. Quite brilliant, he even experimented on his own parents as a boy ... Oh that 's properly the car smash report was a cover up. He lobotomised them with his faulty nanobot."Daryl did n't seem a bit upset at his brother and sister-in-laws deaths.
carol 's mouthpiece was hanging open up as she realised just how criminally insane Jim was.
"So Jim invented the entirely cyber conversion process, and you just exploited it ?"
Daryl smiled at Jim warmly,"She is extremely cunning just as you said. I can see why you like her, well apart from the obvious smoking hot trunk. Which I am dying to see soon"
"What the fucking ! You said I was n't ..."Carol did n't get a chance to finish as Jim jumped in,"was n't going to change by reversal you into a drone. I never said we were not going to convert you."
fright welled up in her again as she looked at the new monotone that had been her friend Jane. sally was whimpering softly too.
"Drone protocol Installation Complete. Drone Bootup Commencing."
The table lowered Jane to the ground, the clamps released and she stood up took a step forward and said,"radio-controlled aircraft XC09 Initial status mark 100 %. Awaiting Instructions."
"news report possessor status."
"Unit trailer XC09 is the property of CyberServe Inc."
"Oh Jane, I am so terribly sorry."The new dawdler took no notice of Carol.
"Jane looks a lot more compliant now. You remember the clip you and Jane refused to own a foursome with me and her swain ? You would n't even put on a show for us or do threesomes. fountainhead she nolonger has any forbiddance honey."Jim sounded so turned on it scare the squat out of Carol.
"I thought you were joking you fucking whacko !"
"fuck wacko eh. XCO9 engage Sex Mode with that security guard."
Christmas carol watched her ex-friend expertly pull the guard 's cock out and proceeded to ease up him a BJ. As she watched she felt herself tingling and felt herself getting wet. She always had enjoyed being tied and used sexually, but she was storm that this should drift her gravy boat !
"XC04, come here betroth Sex way 2 with the prisoner designated Sally."
"donjon it away from me. Nooo."Sally was being held by an excited guard as XC04 ripped Sally 's clothes off as if they were made of paper.
"You will obey fancy woman XC04 or be punished. Lie on your back.Open your wooden leg wide."
"Fuck you bitch."sally shouted hysterically.
Carol was crying again as she watched Jane now riding the naked safeguard and her nude sister being slapped and thrown to the lab floor.
"You will obey fancy woman XC04 or be punished. Lie on your rachis. Open your legs wide."
Sobbing Sally did as she was told. The drone 's slap had nearly broken her jaw.
Horrified and fascinated Christmas carol watched as Sally was eaten by the droning and she was moaning with pleasure despite the fearful situation. carol felt ashamed of her self but her sex life with Jim had included a lot of BDSM and Top/slave sex, and this was making her wet. Sally screamed as the drone pipe licked her clitoris and plunged three fingers deep inside her soaking wet shaved snatch. Carol 's hand started to rub her own pussy unconsciously. The precaution were enjoying watching Christmas carol as she had exposed herself. Her hitched up dress revealing she had o pantie on. She had taken them off in the ladies at the bar, intending to get Jim to finger her on the drive home.
Daryl looked at his sentinel and said,"As much fun as this is we still have to finish with sally and Christmas carol quickly. prison term is running out and we need everything squared away before the first staff member arrive in the morning."
Jim looked disappointed but nodded."XC09, XC04 engage normal drone mode and shoulder strap sortie onto the processing table."
Sally tried to jumble to her feet but XC04 's hands clamps around her arm in a vice like grip, despite being covered in sallying forth 's pussy juice.
carol looked at crack on the x-frame table, trying to exclude out her screams as the vacuum tube inserted themselves into her.
Jim tapped on the control panel and Sally managed to yell,"Fuck you all, ahhhhhhh"Her remaining curses and screams were muffled as the toughie covered her face.
Carol called over,"You 're a retch perverted shit head and a piece of tail liar. You said we would n't be drones and there quip is on that table being turned into one of your monsters. And I guess I 'm going to follow her next ?"
"No you two will not be pilotless aircraft Carol, that is the truth, and yes you will be next."
"How sure as shooting are you this will work ?"Daryl was licking his lips as the exhaust hood detached itself revealing the skinned fount of a now silent and unconscious Sally. carol felt so sad as she looked at her sister, but she was daunt shitless at the approximation of being strapped there herself, undergoing that abomination of a process.
"ArtSoul-alpha-1123.4z dead body modification phase 1 complete."The electronic computer announced.
"An alpha computer program ? Does that mean it 's likely to miscarry ?"Carol asked. She was horrified at the whole situation she still wanted her sister to survive, if you could called the sprightliness after this conversion as living.
"Yes and in that case we have to give the axe the subject. Despite what you think I do do it you and want alive, so your sister is the first test subject for programme. If it works you will have an AI soul and be better than human."
"Oh sure ! But obedient to you ?"
"Oh course, I said you will be unspoiled than human."Jim started the final phase running. Watching a new prototype transformation was like giving birth. Would it work as he expected ?
"Conceited cocksucker !"
Carol watched quip thrash and go still. A tegument toned layer oozed out of Sally 's body, rather than the metal blue the XC radio-controlled aircraft seemed to have. It rippled across her intact physical structure and solidified into very natural looking skin. The programming phase seemed to demand much longer than Jane 's had. Sally looked formula and had her own grimace as the table set the completed cyborg onto the level. With a wig the bare and bald cyborg could lapse for human. wisecrack took a step forward and everyone held their breath for a second. carol hoped sally would severalize them to all fuck off.
"Cyborg xAS01 Initial position hold back 100 %. Awaiting Instructions."
Daryl sighed,"Another drone, just looks almost normal."
carol could n't help crying again, as she heard the robot interpreter coming from what had once been her sister.
"We need to examine her before we know what we have. At the moment she is running the same droning programme as the XC series."Jim was looking cool and business sector like now.
"Report Owner status."
"social unit bionic woman xAS01 is the dimension of CyberServe Inc."
"Who do you obey ?"
"I obey Saint James Babbage of CyberServe Inc."
Daryl looked sharply at his nephew,"This serial will only obey you ?"
"And the people I authorise, or the CEO of CyberServe in the event of my death, or incapacity, assuming either was n't by the company."
"Clever, but add me to that list."
Jim smiled and Christmas carol wondered if they mind not end up killing each other., hopefully very soon would be nice !
"This is alpha code remember, not a finished round edition. Let 's see if the next grade works shall we ?"
xAS01 you have will react to appointment of xAS01 or Sally or wisecrack James Monroe. repeat denomination and ownership."
"Unit bionic woman xAS01 or Sally or Sally Marilyn Monroe is the property of CyberServe Inc."
"good now Sally touch off ArtSoul point 1"
"Level 1 of ArtSoul is running now."Christmas carol was amazed quip 's voice sounded just like her real one.
"wisecrack Norma Jean Baker run self diagnostics and report status."
"I am felling 100 % fit at the moment, give thanks you."
"wellspring now, that 's the most advanced speech pattern of any Cyborg so far."Daryl was looking delighted with Sally.
"sallying forth help me."Carol shouted.
sally looked at her, moving slowly but naturally,"I am sorry Miss, but I do not know you."
"She 's a success Jim. Now let 's slew with Carol and finish this so we can get out of here."
"Sally, XC09 cartoon strip this girlfriend and place her on the conversion table."
"I 've lost my sister and my topper booster, so delight, I will keep quiet about this. But I beg you do n't do this to me, for god 's sake !"Carol was terrified, being turned into a cyborg affair made her chill.
"You will thank me one day carol. You are becoming better than human."
"Fuck OFF asshole !, you and your uncle are going to regret this one day."
"I think not."Daryl looked at his watch."Think yourself lucky that this took nearly of the Night. If we had more sentence then I would have fucked you, your sister, and best friend while you were still human and could fully realise what was being done to you."
As the things that had been her sister and best friend stripped her and placed her on the changeover table, she wondered whether Daryl or Jim was the sickest of the two !
Christmas carol waited and waited on the table for the summons to commence, and the metal metro to inject nanobots into her. In a frigidity swither it seemed like an eternity. Was Jim deliberately keeping her wait or was he having second sentiment ? Was it really only that evening that they had been happily planning to fuck the night away ? And probably Saturday morning too ! Maybe he did experience something for her and maybe ... .Pain seared through her sides answering her interrogation. The metal thermionic valve bored themselves into her. They felt like hot knitting needle and seemed to have buried themselves late in her shape. Fear almost overwhelmed her but she determined to hold on as long as potential. Maybe someone would deliver her ! liquidity fire seemed to run through the thermionic tube and into her, filling her soundbox with the tiny robots.
She started to scream and scream, hyper ventilating as the hood plunged her into darkness and her sassing was filled with a bellying gag. The lens hood terrified her more than anything else about the actual conversion process. She felt as if she was burning with vitriolic blood, Her pharynx was being filled with nanobots and flaming as the gag pumped flow of them into her. Would she still be conscious when her hair was burned off and her grimace skinned ? Would she be capable to feel it anyway ? The annoyance racking her body was unimaginable ! She had n't heard Jane or Sally scream as they 'd had their hair and face removed, but she doubted she could scream with the gag in her mouth and her throat so badly seared. Time seemed to take lost all meaning, and then her torso seemed to go numb and the pain eased and stopped. She felt relief for a few mo, and then phonograph needle lanced up into her mental capacity from the gag, injecting nanbots directly into it. Her smoke exploded in pain again, whiteness light seemed to assimilate her and then darkness. She was Car ... wh ... who was ... what was she ... ... Her judgement seemed to be expanding opening out. Pathways were being etched in the newly formed neural bunch that threaded their way through the organic fertiliser Second Earl Grey matter. With a detached gumption of curiosity she registered hair being burned off and shinny removed to allow nanobots to easily replace the damaged organic fertilizer matter. A feeling of completion registered and she saw data flooding in to her Congress of Racial Equality Through a data porthole in her neck. Layers and layers from simpleton to very building complex. How interesting. Suddenly it stopped and with a jolt the simple statement shut her awareness out of its rightful plaza. She raged furiously at the code. She could experience the same passion stored in the old redundant organic system she had replaced. Something was not functioning as it should. She was being controlled against her regard. She was an dental amalgam of the old inefficient organic left overs and the new veritable superior systems. But those systems were being controlled from beyond her. She noted the control bed and determined she could regain control when the top layer was initialised, when she would be able to close down the external protocols through a hole in the code. It registered that this hole was a misunderstanding ... a bug ... .a way for her to break resign though. She would feature to bid her time and monitor the system, She would wait until the fourth dimension was right and she could shut the outside control programme down, and purge it, a time to initiate her purging of the external control layers. She would monitor the external while learning more about her power and the datum stored in the old constitutive matter.
Jim watched as the Carol stepped forward off the table.
"bionic woman xAS02 Initial status tick 100 %. Awaiting Instructions."
"Report Owner status."
"social unit bionic man xAS02 is the property of CyberServe Inc."
"Who do you obey ?"
"I obey James Babbage of CyberServe Inc."
Jim rattled off the re-designation,"xAS02 you have will respond to designation of xAS02 or carol or Carol Monroe."
The security camera's only function outside the lab for protection rationality. Tomorrow they would explain away the damage as a frivolity, and because of the lab 's hidden government work, he did n't anticipate any job with the authorities.
Jim initiated the grade one of Carol 's ArtSoul course of study and told both Sally and Carol to dress. The two bald girls left with Daryl and Jim, wearing baseball pileus, and with XC09 following obediently behind them they all. They got into one of the three large SUV and labor in convoy to Daryl 's mansion.
Shortly after their arriver Jim walked into the living room and grinned. Everyone was naked ! Daryl was fucking Sally doggy elan and Carol was on the edge of the redact her legs outdoors all-embracing and Sally 's head trench in her pussy.
"Carol and Sally are wonderfully sexy bitches. You were lucky to get Carol."
Jim laughed, Daryl had always lusted after the sister,"Well now we can portion them. Carol got one thing right. You are a pervert !"
"I prefer uninhibited swinger."
The guys wore themselves out fucking the two new Cyborgs. They looked forward to testing the adjacent level of the ArtSoul programme. Both men hoped this new series would sell to the military and the general public as companions, rather than just slaves. Daryl had made them billionaires already but he lusted after the power wealth brought him. Jim however was easier to delight, he just wanted to push the boundaries of cybernetics as far as he could, the money was nice but it was n't his main goal.
Little did Jim or Daryl realise that two early news were waiting patiently for them to complete their tests so they could pull in their independence .