Curt opened his eyes as his alarm went off. No nightmares, at least nothing that had survived the transition into the waking world. A small grace, and one he tried to always spin into a good omen for the day. A good start. A good day. Putting good thoughts out. Intentionally starting with a good mood. Whatever worked. He pulled his Genie phone off the charging plate to check overnight messages. One from Carmichel – a series of gifs and personalised reaction images expressing frustration at the contractors doing the overhaul of his holiday home. The frustrated images stopped, with a short message indicating he was going to have a…

‘I’m running out of jokes to make about dissociation.’ Sometimes, people would question how undead mythologies worked – if it was possible to get both a ghost and a zombie from the same person. Apparently, the answer was “yes”. Stef looked down at her ever-so-slightly transparent hands and flexed her fingers, enjoying the little bits of code that peeked through as she did. Jones had explained that it was a kindness they did for most augments – and anyone else who had to undergo extensive post-upload testing. Something to make the entire process a lot less traumatising. The “desire path training” which would ensure that all of her code was…

Taylor opened his eyes. His HUD initialised. Four AM. Expected. Some agents missed dreaming. He had no opinion. Having an opinion would require- He ran his morning macro as he stood from his cot. A thought out of place was something that could be dealt with. Unexpected but manageable. His uniform appeared, its weight expected, as it should have been. His desk appeared. Everything as it had been the day before. A note from Magnolia, with the hours she had requested off, in her neat handwriting. The adjustment had been made to their schedule. Was visible in his HUD. The note was unnecessary. The note was…appreciated. The request was unusual…

‘I need to know something before we start.’ ‘All right.’ Stef stared across the table at Ryan and gave up trying to find a sensible way to ask the question. ‘Okay. So. The System is sensible and fills in logic and knowledge gaps.’ She required a trade copy of Days of Future Past and waved it at him. ‘I know this exists. I’ve not read it, but I know if I read this copy, it’ll be the content of the comics and not just a collection of random panels I’ve seen online.’ ‘I’m following you.’ ‘Same thing for food. You don’t need to know a recipe for-’ ‘Stef, I get…

‘Do you want to see something fucked up?’ Stef looked up and shied back slightly at the evil look on Jones’ face. ‘Buh?’ ‘The Agency isn’t perfect,’ Jones said, scooting his chair over to the bench table where she was working. ‘We fuck up things sometimes. You can’t account for every possibility, or…sometimes, someone just isn’t careful. Most of the time, things are caught in beta, but sometimes, things are pushed to live that are…buggy.’ He laid a tablet on the table and hit the “deploy” button on the next of her patches. In her HUD, a notification appeared and let her know that something was being installed. ‘How high…

So far, the mirror hadn’t granted her any magic powers – no ability to point at a thing and zap it with a laser or to portal through bathroom mirrors. It did heal her, though. Papercuts disappeared immediately, and stubbed toes and clumsy shins never bruised. It was quick and represented one of the many wrinkles with this process. Stef stood as still as she could as Parker-1 unzipped the little square in the chest of her wetsuit – one strategically placed to preserve her modesty, and sprayed her skin with something cold. ‘This will numb you,’ he said. The bottle disappeared from his hand and was replaced with a…

The tank was a three-foot cube, full of blue. ‘You’ll actually get to use one of the proper tanks later,’ Jones said as he positioned certain pieces of equipment, some closer to the tank, some further away. ‘Those we generally use for injuries, but you’ll go for a splash when we do all the updates.’ Stef nodded and fidgeted with the towel that hung around her neck. Even with only one extra person – Parker-1 – in the room, the lab seemed crowded. Parker-1, Jonesy, Ryan, all in their normal uniforms…and her in what amounted to a custom wetsuit. It felt weird. Everything was weird. But it was probably normal…

Agent code was beautiful, glorious and the most complex thing she’d ever seen. Stef stared at the single segment she’d pulled from the code at random, which hung in the air in front of her, thanks to her HUD glasses. Electric blue numbers and letters, line after line of a language she was going to spend decades understanding, described just part of what went into blinking her left eye. Without much effort, she highlighted a section of code, copied it and pasted it into the notes window she’d pinned to the actual window in her office. As she’d spent more and more time with the practice HUD, two modes of…

Taylor opened his eyes. His HUD fully initialised, coming up to speed from the minimal mode that was online during a sleep cycle. Four AM, as expected, as predicted, as programmed. He lifted the light blanket back from his body, stood from the military-style cot, felt the ambient coolness on his skin, and ran the morning macro. His uniform appeared, its predicted weight assuring him that every item was in its place. The cot was dismissed, replaced with his desk and its attendant chairs. No paperwork had been left unfinished the day before, so no outstanding work marred its surface. The lights brightened to normal, and the door to his…