vi-writes-things

[vi-writes-things]

Piece of Mind

By Vivian B

———————

Kira furrowed her brow, not entirely sure she understood the customer correctly.

“I’m sorry, what would you like, ma’am?”

“Just a finger”

“Only a finger?”

“Yes…”

Kira stared at the customer; a tallish woman, blonde hair sitting around the shoulders. She looked more or less like an average, if slightly upper class, customer that Piece of Mind would see.

———

Ever since the Anatomical Exchanging and Modifying Act was passed, anybody could now use technology to enhance themselves legally and without taxation (taxing the use of technology in this way was apparently more of a debate than anything the ‘god made man in his image’ crowd could come up with). funds were made available, scientists and engineers got to work, and pretty soon Bio-Enhancing services were cropping up all over Neo-Terra and all of its satellite colonies and dominions.

The sentiment behind the act was to ensure everybody could have a body they could be proud of, that wouldn’t hurt them physically or psychologically. No longer were the circumstances of birth something to either begrudgingly accept or try to deal with.

It should’ve been a utopia of bodily autonomy.

And then the finance bros jumped in and created franchises.

———

Kira searched through the anatomical databases… they had arms, forearms, shoulders(?), hands, muscles, tendons, veins, arteries, nerves, skin-grafting and even the growth rate of nails.

They had no fingers.

Kira should’ve told the customer that they didn’t provide services for fingers, that they could provide hands at the very least. She didn’t want to draw the ire of the boss, however…

‘IF I HEAR ONE MORE CUSTOMER HAS BEEN TURNED AWAY BECAUSE OF SOME BULLSHIT EXCUSE, YOU’RE ALL FIRED!!!!!’ screamed the angry post-it note on the wall of the break room. The manager, Jones, had left it there after one very drunk customer tried to fight Mathide when they refused to administer breast augmentation to his less than enthused spouse. After several holes punched in the wall, Jones had reluctantly decided not to fire them, just dock a week out of their pay…

Kira couldn’t afford to lose money or get fired. She was so close to finally being able to afford a full-body enhancement. She was this close to freeing herself of the body she was born in and becoming herself…

“I’m afraid we don’t have fingers only in our database…” Kira cautiously explained to the customer. “I’m going to have to consult with my colleague…” she said before nodding her head apologetically. The customer seemed to understand, or at least not scoff at the fact Piece of Mind thought about nerve endings and veins, but not fingers.

———

“Just a finger?” Mathide asked, their furry brow raised.

“That’s what she wants…” Kira sighed, massaging her temples. If she had known this problem would come up today, she wouldn’t have sampled the margarita mix gifted to her last night.

“Who the hell wants just a finger changed?” Mathide scoffed, reaching a paw for their coffee. It tasted godawful, but instant usually does. “Not even, like, the hand… just a finger?”

“She said there’s a wart she doesn’t like…” Kira responded. “Apparently getting it frozen off never crossed her mind. I can’t just refuse her, Jones will skin us alive when he gets back from Titan…”

Mathide took a sip of the coffee, their fur standing on end. Too hot…

“But it’s a finger! What does a finger even cost?!”

“Well we know a hand costs 500 credits…” Kira said, trying to do the math in her head. “We just divide that by 6 I suppose…”

“Shouldn’t the size of the finger come into play? You know how much Jones haggles people…” Mathide said.

“Since when did you care what Jones would do?” Kira chuckled darkly, dodging the empty cup thrown at her expertly.

“So we divide 500 by 6, and charge her that?”

“Sounds like the best way to go forward.”

Mathide looked at their phone and crunched the numbers. “That’s 83.33 credits…” they said with a frown.

“Great, so that’s the price we charge.” Kira said, bending down to look at the calculator. A primitive part of her reckoned standing next to Mathide would make the numbers make sense.

“But the cheapest thing we offer is altering the growth rate of nails…” Mathide explained. “That’s 90 credits. Jones wanted to charge even more but a creditcent more and that would be illegal extortion.”

“Well we don’t have much of a choice. That fucker didn’t even think about what a finger would cost…” Kira sighed. This was the last thing she needed. “Either way, Jones will kill us…”

Mathide looked up at Kira standing over them. They could sense she was stressed. Their tail involuntarily curled around her ankle gently. It was the least they could do as a friend.

Kira smiled in return. She gave Mathide a ruffle of their ears before turning to face the door.

“Need a hand?” Mathide asked, standing up. Despite being a cat hybrid, Mathide had an excellent way with customers.

“Thanks” Kira said as the two of them emerged from the break room.

———

The procedure went surprisingly smoothly for such a hassle. The atomic replacer machine was calibrated to a hand, but the customer was asked to place only the finger into the slot. The machine could recognise what body parts were placed inside so there was no risk of the finger being replaced by a small second hand.

As Kira oversaw the procedure, she felt a pang inside her. A kind of heavy feeling that clung to her heart. People like this lady could come in for something as trivial as a finger and pay as if it was pocket change. Bodies were as valuable as toilet roll to them.

Not to Kira, though. She spent 26 years being stuck in a body she never asked for. She wasn’t skilled enough to build a machine for herself that wouldn’t blow her up or turn her into soup.

Mathide got lucky. They had a friend who was an expert biohacker. They were able to hook Mathide up with their dream body. Unfortunately, that friend left for Androma a long time ago, and Kira still had nerves about going to the unregulated biohackers, despite Mathide’s reassurances.

For now, all she could do was bide her time, watch more rich assholes get custom made fingers…