The alarm on her internal clock went off; a nerve-jangle that only ceased when she opened her eyes and sat up. The retinal display kicked in immediately as her Angel displayed a list of reminders and appointments for the day before politely asking if she wanted media streams based on her sleep-cycle or news. She reached up, her hand moving jerkily as she swiped the reminders and offers away, uncomfortable surprise still hitting her at the pale flesh where she was used to nu-flesh covered cybernetics. The Department had given her a new cloned body to ride when she retired from the Cybernetic Enforcement Division, taking back the fully-modded Kit she’d used for the last 15 years. She was still trying to get used to how slow and soft she was now.
Swinging out of the bed, she wandered across the one-room flat to the kitchen station as the bed retracted into the wall. The Vid-unit turned on automatically as she stood up, tuning the local weather and news channel. An AR display activated as soon as she approached within range of the food processor. While she dialed in a light breakfast, her Angel politely intruded again, popping up an indicator on her retinal display to tell her she had an urgent message.
She sighed and tapped the icon where it floated in her vision. It expanded out into a full screen video stream window, filled with the friendly visage of a stock Kevin clone.
“Akiko,” the Kevin said. “We’ve never met, but I’ve followed your career for quite a while now. A woman of your special talents would be highly useful to my organization. If you’re interested, please drop an email to the address attached to this message. Of course, we’ll just have to get you out of that meatsack and back into a Kit, but I’m sure I can arrange something that you’ll like.” The Kevin gave her a smirk. “Look forward to hearing from you.” The message ended, and her Angel asked if she wanted to reply.
Akiko sat down at the table in the “kitchen”, and stared into space, breakfast forgotten as she considered the mysterious offer.
