First Shift

On the flight, the tech heroine inside a hard holographic shell considers, “Fixing the unemployment things is good… but I could use more income. How…” she passes a “For Rent” sign on a house, and stops in mod air, “Ah. I do have far more room than I need right now. I worked hard to hold onto my parents’ house after they passed… that could work, especially as the rules here are lax about Accessory Dwelling Units; I could get a trailer or something temporarily, move into that, and rent the huge house out while I order an ADU for my permanent residence until it's time for my own family… perfect.” She pauses, “Dinah, set up the paperwork for renting out the house, get it printed up for my review and signature at the house printer. Also, give me directions to a nearby place that sells RVs.”

Dinah gets, “Processing…” on her HUD for a while, which switches to “Printing…” after a moment, and then she gets the directions requested (or rather, constantly updated direction and distance; few turns are needed while flying and unrecordable… so there might be a few sightings, but most people don't look up).

Landing a little bit of sight of the RV place, Cathy switches to her new Bouncer shell, and walks in. She looks around a bit with the help of a salesman, and eventually selects a fifteen year old travel trailer for ten grand. Twenty seven feet, a single pull out, the AC is broken, and it's missing the mattress for the master bed… but the couch pulls out to a bed, it has a working shower, toilet, fridge, heater, and microwave; plus it only needs to house Cathy and her home computer… and if the roof leaks, well… tarps are cheap. She pays the delivery fee to avoid suspicion (could just carry it home, but it's a long walk, and people do look around) and gets the house financing (and skipping mention that Sue just changed jobs) paying just a little under two grand immediately (and agreeing to a couple hundred more every month for five years). Once all the paperwork is done, Cathy gets out of sight, and flies home.

For more paperwork, of course.

By the time she's done with the insurance forms, licensing paperwork, and has the house listed with an advertising service (which recommended enough rent to cover literally all of her monthly expenses, with room for savings)… it's time for bed. So Cathy does her exercise routine, eats her microwave meal, takes a shower, brushes her teeth, changes into her pajamas, and goes to bed with the prototype on her “nightstand” (the cardboard box her microwave came in).

In the morning, she realizes she forgot to change her alarm, again.

So the heroine updates her alarm, washes up, has an instant breakfast, gets dressed (in the minimal clothing she normally wears under her shell: Just enough so she won't get arrested if her prototype fails, really), and checks her email.

“Spam, spam, spam… ugh, AI filters and they're STILL getting through,” shaking her head, her attention is riveted by the next one: ‘Interested in renting your property’. “Already? That's alarmingly fast.” The tech heroine opens it:

“Good day Sir or Madam,” Cathy is surprised by the old-fashioned greeting, and can't help reading it in a British accent. ‘How old is this person?’ she wonders. “I would like to lease your property. I am willing to pay more than the asking rate,” ‘Oh, that's nice,’ Cathy thinks, “but do have a few stipulations on contract clauses.” ‘That less so,’ she continues reading, “If you would be so kind, please contact me so we can discuss the particulars in person.” ‘Shouldn't pose a problem,’ the woman considers, “Sincerely, Beatrice Smith.” ‘Ah, an old woman, okay’ Cathy nods.

She writes back, simply using a modern style, “Can do. How about The Local Cafe nearest my place, 2 pm tomorrow?” thinking, ‘plenty of time to get to work.’

Email being what it is, there's not an immediate reply, so Cathy goes about her day: Getting her things to the back door where she intends to park the trailer, getting some plumbing supplies to hook the trailers black water line into the house septic, and such… also accepting delivery of the trailer, moving it into place (her Bouncer shell has the strength to tow it no problem), hooking up the electric, water, and wastewater lines to the house, and so on. She works quickly, and is all moved into the trailer a bit before she needs to leave for her new job.

And that goes… well, it goes. She's not stuck at the door, she's tasked with wandering the floor looking for trouble… and loses track of how many times she's slapped on the butt, grabbed in inappropriate places, propositioned, catcalled, insulted, and is thankful that a hard holographic shell doesn't stain or pass infection. She also breaks up six fights, calls three cabs for people too drunk to use their own phones, and tears three shirts slightly when literally picking up men who don't quite get that the third different phrasing of “no” really does mean the guy should back off.

The one bright spot in the shift is some little redhead number in a tight red dress that pretty much OWNS the dance floor for a bit over an hour starting at midnight. She's quite the tease, showing off her amazing curves and letting the guys trying to keep up with her cop feels… but shuts all the guys down when they go for more than that. Sadly for Cathy, she's working, and doesn't make her own pitch.

And when the tech heroine checks her email after work, she has a reply waiting, accepting the appointment….