Analog, Dec 2002 by Dell Magazines

Author:Dell Magazines [Magazines, Dell]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Publisher: www.Fictionwise.com
Published: 2001-04-16T22:00:00+00:00

Swap-Out by Shane Tourtellotte

When the world offers almost unlimited options, people may have to set their own limits.

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Egan Brock sat down to work early, linking his office mainframe to the back of his shaved head. His personal module was plugged into the center socket of his implant suite, so he worked with the power of three brains. Well, two and a half: the natural item didn't measure up, in his opinion.

Coworkers filed into the office, taking their fastidiously arranged places. Even with telecommuting the modern norm, some people liked to see and interact with a traditionally staffed office. This firm obliged, enticing volunteers from its workforce to occupy an office designed to put forth the perfect impression to walk-in traffic.

Egan thought of it as easy bonus money, when he thought of it at all. Very few of those people came to interact with him, fortunately, so almost nothing distracted him from his work.

He had a fresh cache of designs from the firm's architects to test, and dove in. Every blueprint submitted had to be tested on a range of vulnerabilities, from wind to flood to earthquake to urban attack. Egan oversaw the process, and added some creative ideas of his own when the main programs got a little too predictable.

“Gotcha.” The thirty-story office building projected into his optic center was supposed to be impervious to winds up to Category Two hurricane level, but that didn't factor in the channeling effects of nearby edifices. The model swayed and bucked like that old Tacoma Narrows flatfilm, until it collapsed from the puny force of a whole gale.

The spectacle was all numbers and images, but to Egan it was tactile, tickling nerve endings deep inside his head. It wasn't pleasure as such. That was too wet-brained a concept to comprehend the sensation. The buzz he got from sending back the model file with an attachment of its demise was much more old-fashioned.

He plunged back into work. Lunch hour arrived, and Egan ignored the shufflings of his coworkers, heading to the office pantry or out to diners. He worked until twenty before the hour, when his module reminded him to eat. He unplugged the cable with a sigh, got his bag lunch out of a drawer, and worked through it with vigor.

He was almost done when he noticed Kell approaching him. Kelly Borzas was in Accounting, a couple of years younger than he was. Not bad-looking, but hopelessly timid and shallow. The fact that she still had all her hair was proof positive.

“What can I do for you, Kell?” he rapped out.

She took a long second to answer. “You're the office expert on brain adjuncts, Egan. I was wondering ... do you have any advice on my getting one of the new external models?”

Egan snickered. “I think it would suit you perfectly.”

“Really?”

“Sure. You're the target market: a shrinking violet who's afraid of change, but not quite blind enough not to see she's falling behind the visionaries. You gladly take what

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