by Jamie Davis
Chapter 13
Cass woke up the next morning to an incoming text message from her father. It was still strange to her to receive one directly via her connection to the Mantle over her implant. The words seemed to hover in front of her via the neural input from her right eye. She stared at them, marveling for brief second at how much her life had changed. Then she remembered who the message was from.
Cass, I want to connect with you later. Let me know when you can face chat this afternoon.
Cass grimaced. She’d deceived her parents on two different occasions so far. She wasn’t exactly worried about talking with her father again this afternoon, but it still made her anxious. He probably only wanted to see how she did on the test in her psych class this week.
She rolled over to hug Shelby where she lay curled up against her side. Shelby murmured something in her sleep and threw her left arm across Cass’s waist.
Cass glanced down and saw the smooth contour of Shelby’s cybernetic forearm and hand. She no longer recoiled from touching it. She didn’t even notice when Shelby reached out to her with that arm anymore. She accepted her girlfriend’s differences without question or apprehension. It was a big step for them and it helped her to accept the things that had changed for herself, too.
Sliding out from under Shelby’s arm, Cass got out of bed and left to use the bathroom down the hall from their room. No one was up yet this early on a Saturday and she had the bathroom to herself.
Cass made a point to get up early to be alone. The implant still made her self-conscious. Several people on her floor noticed it when she got back from the trip and commented on it. Most of them thought it was a spur of the moment decision she’d made in a drunken stupor on fall break.
Eventually, word got around to most of them that it had involved a medical emergency. That didn’t stop them from staring at her face as she walked by.
As Cass washed her hands, she looked up into the mirror, catching her profile in the reflection. She didn’t look that different from before, at least she didn’t think so. The implant was there, though, no matter how much she wished it was gone.
The hair had started to grow back on that side where the surgeons had shaved it. The follicle stimulator the doctors gave her helped with that. Soon, it would be long enough to reach down to her shoulders on that side as it had been before the accident.
Cass leaned forward until she was only a few inches away from the mirror. She stared at the cybernetic right eye gazing back as her. Cass made an adjustment with her mind. The eye began to glow with a blue backlight just barely visible in the well-lit bathroom.
She didn’t know why that particular option made her smile. It was a purely aesthetic enhancement. It served no function other than to draw attention to the cybernetic eye.
Cass turned off the blue glow and the eye faded to normal. The surgeons did a good job matching up the color to her real eye.
After splashing water on her face and drying off, Cass headed back to the room. Shelby had an outing of some sort planned for them later. She’d told Cass it was a surprise, refusing to tell her anything else about it. Cass was excited to see what it was.
Shelby rolled over in bed and smiled at her as she came back to the room. “Hey, you’re up early.”
“I got a text from my dad. He wants to talk to me later today. How long are we going to be at this thing you have planned?”
“It won’t be long. We should be back a little after lunch time. Will that be all right?”
“It should be. He said he wanted to talk this afternoon. I’ll send him a message telling him to check in with me around three o’clock.”
“That should be perfect,” Shelby said.
“Are you hungry?” Cass asked. “I’m feeling like my stomach is going to shrink to nothing if I don’t get something to eat soon. I swear all I do is eat all the time.”
“You’ll get used to it, I promise,” Shelby said with a laugh.
Shelby referred to the fact that Cass’s new cybernetics required additional energy to operate. The need for more blood sugar to power the implants increased her caloric needs by a significant amount.
Cass never had to watch what she ate before the injury, but she’d never been one to eat a lot of food in one sitting either. Now she was eating amounts that astounded her. She felt like the electronic interface chewed up those calories as fast as she could eat them. Because of that, Cass had lost weight since the accident despite her attempt to eat more.
She tossed Shelby a sweatshirt from the laundry basket. “Why don’t you get up and get some clothes on. We can head over to the cafeteria together. It opens in a few minutes.”
Shelby nodded and sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and sitting for a moment as she rubbed her eyes.
Cass waited while she pulled on the sweatshirt and a pair of shorts and headed down the hall to the bathroom. Shelby came back and slipped on some sweatpants and announced she was ready to go.
“I hope they have the waffle station open this morning,” Cass said. “I plan on eating four or five of them.”
“Don’t worry, hon,” Shelby assured her with a chuckle. “They’ll have something for you to eat. I promise.”
All through breakfast, Cass tried to get Shelby to tell her what they were doing later that morning.
Shelby smiled each time and said, “You’ll just have to wait. I promise you it’ll be something that will open your eyes in a way you haven’t had before. This is going to be an important step for you, sweetie.”
Cass considered the cryptic words from her girlfriend. Shelby loved surprises. This was just another one of her attempts at catching Cass off-guard. Because of that, she didn’t want to give Shelby the satisfaction of seeing her squirm.
Even so, Cass bubbled with anticipation beneath the surface as they finished breakfast and headed back to the dorm. “If we’re going out, I should know what to wear.”
“I would wear something warm. It’s going to be chilly out today,” Shelby said. “We’ll be walking outside at least part of the time and where we’re going doesn’t have heat, so you’ll want to be comfortable.”
Cass thought maybe they were headed to the city park. There was often a festival or fair happening on weekends. She resisted the urge to access her connection to the Mantle for a listing of events going on in the city. Despite the way she felt, Cass didn’t like to spoil surprises. She also still cringed almost every time she had to access the Mantle for something.
Back in the room, Cass pulled on a clean pair of leggings instead of the sweatpants she’d worn to breakfast. She also got out a wool sweater and her winter vest. That should keep her warm wherever they were going but not overheat her if they ended up indoors for a while at some point.
“Do I need a hat or anything?” Cass asked. She had picked up her wig and stood in front of the mirror to put it on. If she didn’t have to wear it and could get away with merely a hat she’d prefer that.
“No, it’s not going to be super cold today just a little chilly and windy. You don’t have to wear that thing, either. Leave the wig here. I like you just the way you are and honestly the way your hair is partially shaved back on that side is kind of hot.”
Cass’s hand drifted up to the right side of her head. She pulled it back down again, self-conscious of her injury and implant. She worried about people staring at her.
“I’ll wear it if it’s all right with you,” Cass said. She pulled on the wig and stared into the mirror as she shifted it into place. She brushed a few stray strands of hair into place and smiled. She looked a lot more like herself again.
“Are you ready?” Shelby asked. She didn’t hide her disappointment with the wig.
Cass ignored the response and changed the subject. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going now?”
“You’ll see,” Shelby said with a laugh. She led Cass out of the dorm. An auto cab already waited for them at the curb. Most people didn’t own personal vehicle
s anymore. They trusted the driverless cars when they needed safe transportation around the city.
Her parents, of course, didn’t trust anything that used the Mantle to navigate so they and other Sapiens families still used old-fashioned vehicles configured for manual operation.
Cass climbed in the back seat with Shelby and sat back while the car pulled away from the curb and drove downtown. The city had many different neighborhoods. The University sat in one of the more affluent areas. Cass covered her surprise as the car turned into one of the nearby neighborhoods her father had warned her about when she first arrived.
The car pulled over to the curb and a chime sounded, signaling they had reached their destination. The crowd of people on the sidewalks outside the car looked like variations on a melding between people and robots. There were all sorts of enhancements visible.
A man with what looked like silver skin over his entire body passed by her car window walking an android dog. Next to him walked a woman with shimmering strands of foil hanging down from her head like hair. It sparkled with rainbow hues in the bright sunlight overhead.
Every single person on the street had at least one major cyber body enhancement. Most were more extreme than just v-tats, though there were quite a few of those in evidence, too.
“Shelby, what are we doing here? Is this neighborhood safe?”
“It’s perfectly safe, Cass. These people may not look like what you’re used to, but they aren’t criminals or gang-bangers. Come on out. I want to show you something. There’s a whole world waiting out there for you.”
Shelby climbed out and waited on the curb. Cass slid across the seat and got out beside her. The auto cab drove away leaving them on the curb in the strange neighborhood.
Cass moved closer to Shelby and her hand drifted down to grip her girlfriend’s, their fingers interlacing.
“Cass, relax. It’s going to be fine. Nobody here’s going to hurt you.”
“If you say so,” Cass said. She couldn’t stop herself from staring as a woman walked by on metal stilts in place of legs. Cass hoped she had lost her legs in an accident. Who cut off their legs like that on purpose?
“Come on,” Shelby said, pulling Cass’s attention back to her. “Follow me.”
Cass didn’t let go of Shelby’s hand, staying by her side as she led the two of them to an alley between two buildings.
Cass held back from the shadowy side street. “Shelby, are you sure?”
“Trust me. Prepare to be amazed.”
Shelby stopped halfway down the alley in front of a door in the side of one of the buildings. She pulled open the door, revealing a metal staircase leading down.
The only small comfort for Cass was the stairwell was well-lit. It shouldn’t have mattered. After all, she could see in near total darkness now. Old habits kept her watching for trouble, though.
Shelby tugged at Cass’s hand and together they started down the steps. The door closed behind them with a clang.
Their steps echoed as they descended. After the first two flights, the sound of high-energy dance music drifted up to her ears from below. It sounded like there was a party of some sort going on down there.
The stairs turned through several more landings before reaching the bottom. When they stepped out of the stairwell, Cass stood with her mouth open, staring at the mob of people filling the underground parking garage in front of her.
Stretched out before her was a large underground garage area. There were tables and display stalls set up all along the perimeter and in rows down each section of the concrete floor. Each of the tables or stalls had items or services for display and sale.
It only took a few seconds for Cass to realize all the stalls had something to do with cyber-enhancement or personal image for a cyber-human. Some of the vendors sold things as simple as pierced earrings with tiny LED projectors inside them. Others offered instant v-tat installation for those that were willing to sit for the procedure. She saw several people lined up next to those tables. They were popular it seemed.
“So, what do you think?” Shelby asked.
“I don’t know what to think,” Cass replied. “What is this place?”
“This is the Bizarre. This is where the city’s cyber-human population comes to show off their look, add to their style, and talk about what they want to have done next.”
“Shel, I don’t want to get anything done,” Cass said. “You know that, right?”
“No one’s going to do anything you don’t want, Cassie. I thought it was important for you to see the new world open to you now. These people are all just like you.”
Cass knew Shelby meant well. Despite the fact several people in their dorm had v-tats and other similar minor enhancements, very few students had any sort of major add-ons like Shelby and herself.
Cass knew the population of truly enhanced cyber-human persons in the country as a whole was less than a half percent. She had that information from her father’s statistics. He talked about them all the time. Cass knew she was in a very small minority of people, but that didn’t automatically make her one of them in her mind.
In an effort to be polite and to cover her uneasiness, Cass forced a smile. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to look around a little.”
“That’s what I thought you’d say. Come on, I want to show you around. My brother’s supposed to be here somewhere and I want to introduce you to him.”
Cass smiled genuinely at that. She’d wanted to meet Shelby’s brother for a while. She talked about him all the time. He was an activist in the cyber-human community, advocating for equal rights and protections for all.
She followed Shelby around the room, stopping occasionally to check out an item here and there at one of the stalls. Her eyes drifted again and again to the v-tat studios around the room. Each of them were well attended and had a line of at least two or three people waiting their turn.
Shelby spotted Cass checking out a woman getting a new v-tat installed across her upper back. “Are you thinking about getting one?” Shelby asked, running her hand up Cass’s back.
“No, I was just checking them out.”
“You and I could get one together.” Shelby squeezed Cass’s hand as she said it. Cass surprised herself when she nodded and said, “That might be nice.”
“Really?” Shelby couldn’t hide her surprise. “Um, I think it might be fun to get something like a tropical palm tree waving in the breeze or something like that.”
“Why something like that?”
“A lot of people get things that signify the underlying reason for getting their enhancements. It’s sort of a rite of passage. For you and I, it could signal our trip to the islands and what happened to you there.”
“I don’t think I want to commemorate that occasion, Shel. I would do anything to forget it ever happened.”
Shelby started to say something and stopped.
Cass waited, trying to calm herself before saying anything else.
Eventually, Shelby found her voice. “I’m sorry, Cass. Forget I said anything. Come on. Let’s find Eric. He’s excited to meet you.”
Chapter 14
Cass and Shelby continued browsing around the Bizarre while Shelby tried to locate her brother. They found him standing in front of a booth displaying several custom options for cybernetic hands.
Some of the options looked almost human with supple pink or brown skin. Others looked more alien in nature. Cass thought some of the options to be downright frightening and creepy.
Scanning the collection of hands and arms lying out on the table as they approached distracted Cass. She didn’t see Shelby’s reaction to the young man standing and chatting with the vendor. Her girlfriend ran up behind him and jumped on his back. She flung her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist.
“Eric!”
Though Shelby’s apparent assault on a stranger shocked Cass at first, the move didn’t surprise Shelby’s brother at all. He reached down and grabbed Shelby
’s legs under her knees to hold her in place and turned around towards Cass, laughing along with Shelby.
Eric was about six feet tall, which put him just a few inches taller than his sister. His head was shaved, showing off a one-inch wide metal bar running from the back of his head, across the top, and ending just above his eyes. Instead of eyebrows, another, thinner metal bar stretched across just above his eyes. It mounted a mirrored glass visor in front of his eyes. The visor had a curved cut out for his nose and fit up against the skin of his face all the way around.
Cass couldn’t see his eyes, instead the visor projected a single holographic eye, like that of a cyclops, in the middle of the screen. The eye rotated in place as if looking around. When it locked onto Cass, seeming to meet her gaze, she looked away.
“Hey, sis, how the heck are you?”
“Did I surprise you?” Shelby asked.
“You can’t surprise me, kid. You haven’t been able to sneak up on me in a long time.”
A brief flash of disappointment spread across Shelby’s face. It disappeared as fast as it arrived, replaced by a huge grin. She let go with her arms and legs, sliding back to the floor.
Eric smiled at Cass and pointed to her. “Is this who I think it is?”
Moving around in front of her brother, Shelby gestured to Cass. “Eric, this is Cass.”
Eric stepped forward, surprising Cass by pulling her into an embrace. “It is so nice to meet you finally, Cass. You’re making my sister very happy. She never stops talking about you.”
“I feel the same way about you,” Cass replied as Eric let go of her and stepped back.
Eric smiled and gestured around at the underground marketplace. “So, what do you think? Shelby told me this is your first time to a cyber-friendly swap-meet. It must be a lot to take in to the uninitiated.”
“It is pretty different from what I expected,” Cass said. “Of course, I never even knew places like this existed until today. Everyone is so friendly. I expected it to be sort of...”