My immediate impression was that it was a body suit. I seem to remember it having a sort of collar. I only played that mission once so far, so I could be misremembering. I can definitely see where people get robot, and either way is alright with me. I just thought it was a body suit.

: Keeps people off balance? I assume you're alluding to O'Connor saying
: "she does it to put people off". Why is Cortana suddenly being
: ascribed with this shallow and petty attribute? I don't see her like that
: at all.

Really? I feel like she is very much characterized like that in the novels. That doesn't really come off in the games, no, but I always got the impression from the books that she plays up how smart she is and tries to be intimidating because she's ultimately somewhat insecure.