Tammy.

  Two days until expansion.

  A progress bar subtly appeared in Tammy’s vision, its abrupt intrusion making her blink in slight annoyance as she made her way to her station.

  “The colors off…” She found herself muttering, even as the woman picked up her belt of tools and headed into the greater facility, jogging a little to catch up with the others.

  Tammy had no idea just how many times she’d watched the official videos, how many streamers she’d followed as they moved through their lives, watching themselves from the online world.

  At first, it had been terrifying.

  Then, it had merely been eerie.

  Yet, the more she watched, the more she realized how happy everyone seemed to be while letting themselves be ‘piloted’ like a drone.

  API, the company that had both exploded and come up with the revolutionary idea, cimed they used highly trained ‘machine’ intelligences and finely tuned predictive models to operate a user’s body in their stead.

  It was recommended that a new user ‘allow’ the accompanying app to monitor one's daily routine for at least two weeks before permitting the system to take the reins.

  Tammy had first downloaded the application two entire months prior. And she’d had it open and observing her life ever since.

  And yet, in every single video she’d consumed while struggling with the decision to buy, use, and or return the neurological augmentation, she’d never ‘seen’ the progress bar appear as a color other than the standard gold interface provided by API.

  “So then, why’s it blue?” She, again, questioned, not exactly upset about it—it was just, it felt strange, was all! She preferred the gold… It—w-well, it felt more luxurious and expensive!

  Was there an update? Was she, ugh, mentally color-blind? Was that even a thing? No, that was stupid… M-maybe she should just contact support—

  Frowning and already navigating to the API’s domain, she watched as the bar reached seventy percent, then eighty, eighty-five—

  “Tammy!”

  “What?”

  “What-what? I was calling for you! The hell, woman? We need to know if you're set to take the lower levels or the higher ones? You're at the top of the list this week!”

  “Ugh—lower.” Tammy blurted, again needing to shake herself as her attention span seemed to wander. Lower levels were always cooler than the higher ones.

  It was getting harder and harder to focus, and her vision started to swim as she rubbed at her eyes, putting on a fake smile as she took a tablet from her foreman, tapped the screen, and activated the corresponding drone.

  The machine, one of many lining the wall, lurched into motion at her input, the tablet quickly sending her HUD a popup confirmation to link with her mind, which she immediately accepted as she stepped to the side.

  Her dismantler shuddered as it accepted her neural handshake, and climbing aboard, she began directing it down a nearby tunnel, the number and lights all lit up and glowing to her sight via the drones overy.

  Piloting the rge mech was easy as ‘thinking’ a command and waiting for the lumbering machine to obey, only, there wasn't much waiting involved unless a complex task was presented.

  For the most part, it was the extreme heat generated by the machines as they tore down whatever their pilots set them upon that truly sapped the energy from her. And while the link was mentally exhausting as well, the constant climbing up and down and over the piles of city detritus, using handheld scanners to search the rubbish for anything of value, didn't little to help her often weary state by the end of the day.

  Because an operator could only feasibly pilot a single drone at a time before the strain on their mind threatened mutiny, and because the city didn't want the extra expense, technicians were required to act as the ‘hunter-killers’ of their man and machine team.

  Rare resources were expensive. So much so that all city waste of a non-biological nature was stripped down to its raw alloys in an attempt to ensure no critical materials were lost.

  Her job was to get at the real jewels hiding in the heap before it all went to general processing.

  And while the procedure, in the past, had been automated, advances in human-worker rights had seen the job of ‘recycling’ find renewed purpose where ‘efficiency’ wasn't necessarily the point.

  As it was said, idle hands were tools for the devil.

  People needed money, people needed work. And while machines had, once upon a time in humanity's history, relegated humans to mere managerial roles, the final bastion of their species' usefulness had been thoroughly threatened when the first true AI models had hit the market.

  After a disastrous series of conflicts, all that had been left were the corporations, their money, and their ideologies.

  Tammy wasn't needed for this job.

  However, if capitalism was to survive, she needed a paycheque.

  So, to ensure their own continued existence, companies and those who ran them had conceded that some inefficiency was required, simply to ensure the status quo.

  Sadly, none of that made Tammy's job any easier for her. In fact, in many ways, it was a solid kick to the gut knowing that her ‘purpose’ was deliberately strenuous just because some corporate executive had decided this was the exact level of effort required for her position.

  Yeah, it was no wonder why people with easier jobs were letting ‘autopilot’ do their work for them… When subjected to the sterile environment of carefully curated routine and effort, notions of ‘fulfillment’ were few and far between.

  That was why Tammy felt a small butterfly emerge in her chest as the bright blue bar that had slowed significantly when she’d interfaced with her drone, finally completed, and why she outright paused, stopping what she was doing to fully focus on the slowly cascading words that flowed across her vision.

  Thank you for choosing—crrchhhh—Autopilot—crrchchchh—Please standby—

  Tammy’s heart dropped right into her guts the moment she realized something was most definitely wrong beyond just a simple palette of color, those innital sequence of words she'd seen slowly form across a new user's HUD time and time again, now making her asshole pucker with outright concern.

  Worse? She found herself unable to move, her limbs locked out of her control! The world momentarily spinning as panic flooded her like a tide, around and around and around until—darkness…

  What followed was a spectacurly terrifying moment in Tammy’s life where she felt things couldn't have gone worse any faster than they had.

  She’d stood up for herself!

  Made a decision to focus on 'her' rather than bending to the will of others, and she’d even asked a guy out who she was interested in for more than sex, for the first time in—dear god, far, far too many years.

  So when she ‘popped’ into a virtual meeting room, one furnished like the headquarters for high-css shareholders, all as they overlooked Luna-C from their lofty towers in the Ptinum Mile, Tammy was, rightfully so, very confused.

  “So sorry!” A chipper and overly upbeat voice called to her, Tammy’s attention snapping like a torsioned rope as her gaze fixated on an elegantly dressed woman sitting directly across from her… “Unfortunately, from what I can see—you’ve experienced a small bug in the software…”

  “Ugh… what?” Honestly, it was all Tammy could say! Yes, she was very pissed off, not just because she’d been ‘whisked away’ to some—fucking chatroom, but because she was fairly sure she’d bloody fucking fainted! Y-yeah, she was clearly still alive, which, big win, so far as Tammy were concerned, but that didn't excuse the part where she'd... well, you know, fucking passed out!

  S-still, the confusion was all but overpowering. As was the disorientation. Thus, rather than getting angry, Tammy was simply still trying to get a handle on the abrupt transition…

  “A glitch!” The woman preened, “Again, you have API’s deepest apologies, but in a manner of speaking, congratutions are in order! You, out of thousands and thousands of others, have been chosen to help us trial run our next ‘big’ sensation!”

  “Trail run? I—no!”

  “Please, if I can just have a few minutes of your time—”

  “I'm at bloody work!” Tammy burst, leaping to her virtual feet and noticing that her Sub-verse avatar was currently the one she was riding in.

  She knew those boots anywhere. And there was no way that normal Tammy would ever be so bold…

  “You fuckers just made me faint on the job! I’m underground, surrounded by garbage and—my fucking drone is—”

  “Please, calm down, your body is safe, even now, it’s being piloted by your new augmentation. In fact, your body is currently reaching a one hundred and seventy percent increase in functional efficiency. Everything is fine.”

  Tammy blinked, staring hard at the petite and blue-eyed beauty across from her, her porcein features, slick corporate suit, long bck hair, all of it was—unquestionably administrative to the extreme. Why, the other woman practically breathed low-level executive.

  Beside her, a sudden window appeared, the familiar scene of the underground piles of garbage, all of it seen through the eyes of someone who was currently working like they were possessed by a demon, had Tammy pausing, especially when she caught a glimpse of her drone and its rge identifying number.

  Her body was moving, on its own! It was doing it, her job... but that wasn't...

  Slowly, and despite her reservations, anger, and underlying fear that her body was dying beneath a ndslide of waste—Tammy’s immediate temper quickly settled…

  Narrowing her eyes, she bit at her bottom lip while trying to parse the situation.

  “I didn't think ‘my career’ was on the approved list of occupations that autopilot would work with.”

  “It's not! However, that’s the old version, one-point-O, if you will! What you have in your head is our next and greatest innovation to date!”

  “But I didn't agree—”

  “You—did, technically…” The woman smiled, though it was an apologetic offering, so far as they could go, “You agreed to our contract the moment you set up our app. Now, that isn't at all a bad thing!” She ughed, seeing Tammy's horrified and quickly flustered face, “We're not some sinister and dark organization that wants to take over the world! Goodness, why bother… No, as I said, Mrs Lovel, may I call you Lovel?”

  “I prefer Tammy…”

  “Wonderful! But as I said, this is big for you! In addition to receiving our model ‘two’ before it even hits the shelves, you’ll receive it's full functionality, even after our testing phase! Along with a lifetime subscription to all of our additional services as a personal thank-you, from our family, to yours! We realize how difficult this might be to accept, but think of it as winning the lottery!”

  “You—people…” Tammy began, “Put an experimental cybernetic upgrade in my head?”

  “No! Of course not! It’s perfectly safe and operational! In fact, it's more than three times as capable as our base model!”

  “So the fainting, the loss of concentration, whatever the fuck this is? I didn't even agree to—”

  “Again, you did agree to this. But please, Tammy, just wait for a single moment and let me try to expin.”

  Tammy—okay… maybe she was upset, and rightfully so! S-still, the more time passed, the more certain ‘buzz words’ began ringing through her head. Nothing like this had ever happened to Tammy before.

  Not ever.

  And while she didn't exactly see how getting an upgrade to Autopilot was anywhere near as good as winning the lottery, part of her, despite her reservations, was intrigued.

  As if sensing she was being given the opportunity she asked for, the other woman smiled brightly again, nodding a single time, as if in thanks, before powering through like she wanted to prevent any possible tangential decisions.

  “We at API pride ourselves on providing the very best neurological impnts we can deliver! That is why we came out with our newest upgrade! It’s more than just some ‘new tier’ of a basic subscription! It's—why, it's revolutionary! And, I might add, it is prohibitively expensive.”

  “How and or why is that even a good thing? Most people wouldn't be able to afford—”

  “That’s the point!” The bubbly exec interrupted, spreading her arms wide with delight, “It's not meant for normal people! I won't sugar coat it, your involvement and selection for our trial run wasn't completely random. You were picked from a small pool of people within an environment that we deemed stressful enough, based on our program's algorithmic observations. Not only that, you work in a field that is extremely challenging, both mentally and physically. This is a stress test before we release it to the customer base we're trying to reach.”

  “But I get to keep it…”

  “You get to keep all of it! As I said, we are immensely grateful for the opportunity to collect important first-hand data! However, model two was never intended for individuals within, mhm, your economic means, no offence intended.”

  There was definitely offence taken! Y-yet, now, Tammy was curious. Was she getting a ‘premium’ cybernetic enhancement? The sort that people like CEO’s or politicians had access to? That—okay, yeah, that was sort of amazing… But, what did it—

  “What does it do? And no, I’m not reading your mind, it's the question that was simply written all across your face! Like I said, Auto-pilot 'Two' is big. Not only does it blur the line between true AI capabilities, but it also allows the user full control of its cognitive improvements!

  “Not only will you perform better at your job, which is fully within the model's capacity, but outside of work, you will experience a near sixty-percent increase in cognitive function, even without the augment running things for you! Everything from your reflexes to your memory will be enhanced whenever you choose to retake control of your body, and it only gets better the more you use it!

  "Plus, you'll have exclusive access to our 'skills' program! Want to be better at cooking? Just boost the associated skill for a few hours! Want to know how to remodel your new cybernetic hand's firmware? Well, with 'Skills' you can do exactly that, all with the slide of a single finger! At all other times, our specialty and trademark SMI—”

  “SMI?”

  “Super machine intelligence,” The woman offered, a slightly crooked smile letting Tammy know how silly she felt the name was as well, “It's lightyears ahead of the competition, and the cornerstone of what makes our company so successful! But I digress, you will be connected to our SMI, which will act and function nearly identicaly to yourself, only it will operate, at all times, as though you were at peak efficiency.

  “We're so confident in our product, that we are anticipating you will receive an offer of promotion within the first month of letting Autopilot deal with your pesky job for you.”

  “A—promotion? But I don't have the credentials—”

  “Auto-pilot-two-point-O will get you whatever missing education you need! It will determine the best way to improve your world, it will help you exercise, aid in your sleep, and let you recim your life, that's a guarantee!”

  Tammy could practically see the glint of shining teeth from the commercial, its jingle pying out in her head as the exec mimicked their company's trademark slogan...

  “And bour ws?” Tammy demanded, still not sold, though, at this point, it felt as though that came from sheer stubbornness for the underhanded situation. All in all, it was sounding more and more like she might have been wrong about winning something here…”

  “API does not, under any circumstances, use AI.” The representative stated. “Thus, we are in no way in contempt of Republic regution!”

  “And what about having a machine do my work for me?”

  “You will be doing your work for yourself. Our SMI will simply be helping with that! Trust me, we’ve already gone through all the due process with the courts. Nothing about Autopilot is in any way illegal, nor can it get you in trouble. Plus, though I’d personally think you insane for not jumping on this, you can say no, if that’s your desire.”

  “I can—say no to this?”

  “Of course! We're not evil, Tammy! If you're not interested, we will simply fg your model to be restricted to the baseline augmentation capabilities! You won't even notice a difference beyond the lifetime warranty.

  “However,” She continued, “If you do accept, we will need both your verbal and written consent to keep all aspects of your upgrade, a secret. The NDA is longer than both our family-trees combined!” The executive ughed, giving Tammy a small wink, “But, the agreement is non-negotiable. Mostly, it's to ensure product secrecy, which is for your safety as much as our shareholders.”

  Shit…

  Oh boy… oh dear oh boy oh my…

  Tammy—Tammy was seriously considering this…

  For as much as it had started off as a fiasco, even when pitted against the odd ‘small glitch’, the benefits for it all just sounded—almost too good to be true.

  And yet, she could walk away.

  Despite being dragged into the chat room, she wasn't a hostage… Maybe not a guest, but not a hostage…

  Shit…

  “Alright—” Tammy whispered, watching as the other woman's expression brightened, even as she voiced her agreement, “I—I’ll take the deal… I, it honestly sounds amazing!”

  “Oh, it is…” The representative grinned, the glimmer in her eye bright as a shining star...