Improved Carbon

The year is 2500. In the middle of the 21st century, when humans started colonizing Mars, they discovered that they were not alone in the universe. Or, at the very least, they were not the only intelligent species ever to have existed. Archaeological digs uncovered the remains of a long-dead advanced civilization - much more advanced than humanity itself. Their technology, at its peak, had been stunning. Humans, being the thinkerers that they are, managed to reverse-engineer a lot of their technology. One results, in particular, had an enormous impact - the technology to digitize a consciousness. Soon, all humans were upgraded with a "stack" at the base of their neck - an amazing quantum computer that became the new seat of an individuals consciousness. No longer where they bound to their bodies - a stack could be surgically removed and implanted into a new body, a new "sleeve".

For the ultra-rich, sleeves became almost like clothing. They could have bodies grown - or even bioprinted - to their own preferences and designs. The more moderately wealthy - but still rich beyond the reach of most of the population - could maybe afford to save up for a designer sleeve, to switch into once their bodies started to fail them. Or they could buy "off-the-rack", living their lives in a succession of "used" sleeves from various sources - people who had elected to move on into VR, convicted criminals, or the , who rented or sold their sleeves to the highest bidder - and once in a while, a designer sleeve that had been discarded by its previous owner, for one reason or another. Used sleeves were much more affordable, and even most regular, middle-class people could afford one of these every twenty to thirty years or so, or, in the case of an accident, have one covered by their insurance.

The problem with used sleeves, however, were that one never could know exactly what one got. Even though ones consciousness was in your stack, there were a lot of biological functions that were more intimately connected to the body. Base emotions, from fear to arousal and attraction, were prime examples. Sleeves with particularly strong arousal and attraction patterns could even rewire the occupants sexual preferences and orientation.

For the ultra-rich, all this was just fun. It wasn't uncommon for them to take a vacation as the opposite sex, or as someone with a different sexual orientation, just to experience new sensations. Some even offered highly sexed designer bodies to regular people, to become what was basically glorified pets and sex slaves. For regular people, however, it proved more of a challenge. It was not uncommon, if one wasn't careful, for relationships to dissolve after a resleeving, due to one of the partners no longer finding the other person attractive. Getting resleeved into an emotional and fearful sleeve could wreak havoc on a business career, and there were a myriad of other, lesser problems.

But enough background.