Making use of the shower in the bathroom, I rinsed off quickly, toweled off, then slipped back into my street clothes. That done, I took a seat at my vanity table and gently brushed out my hair, using that time to review my situation.
With a good amount of luck, I had managed to find my new apartment, and now I finally had a place to sleep. Plenty of time later to add a few more touches to give the place a more homey feel. What I needed most right now were clothes to wear. While I was reasonably certain Cindi could replicate what I needed, it seemed a better choice to seek out the local merchants who provided such things. It also gave me an excuse to get out and about and to meet the people of this future time.
As I was about to head out the front door, I paused a moment, calling out, "Cindi?"
"Yes, Miss?"
"How do I get back in once I leave?"
"The door sensors are now calibrated to your presence," she explained. "They will respond to you and you alone."
"Is there a way to lock the door?"
"Not necessary, Miss. As the sensors are calibrated for only your presence, no one else can gain entry."
"I see. Thank you, Cindi."
"You are welcome, Miss. Have a good time!"
The front door hissed open at my approach, I stepped through, and it hissed closed behind me.
Personal biometrics, I silently remarked. No key required.
Retracing my steps back to the turbolift, I zipped back down to the ground level and set off to find the clothing stores.
While smaller than the central plaza, this habitation node was still dauntingly vast. It appeared as though there were several levels of shops, each one catering to a particular item or need, leaving me feeling just a little overwhelmed.
It was while I was pondering what to do next that I spotted something that gave me hope… and inspiration. Something I'd only ever seen a few times in my life. And most of those times, it was in a science fiction movie!
A jetpack! Streaking across the sky just above the plaza, I saw a human wearing a jetpack. Apparently, I wasn't the only one. In seconds, I was surrounded by a rather large crowd of teenagers, all of them excitedly pointing skyward, all of them chattering like mad about soon getting their own chance to fly.
"Hey! I'm Dara," a girl next to me greeted, smiling broadly.
"Jayden," I responded, nodding to her.
"Super stellar, isn't it?" Dara sighed, her gaze following the high-flying human.
"Absolutely!" I enthusiastically replied.
"Come on!" she urged, taking me by the elbow as the other teens moved off. "We're going to check out the new Mark III!"
"The what?" I wondered as the teenage tide moved en masse to the far side of the plaza.
Reaching our destination, the guys and girls split up. Dara and I and several others entered a small building of some sort, for what I wasn't sure.
"You take that one!" Dara suggested, pushing me towards a small glass enclosed booth. "Hurry!"
Not knowing what else to do, I stepped inside and closed the door. Almost instantly, I was bathed in a ray of some sort, and the clothes I was wearing were instantaneously replaced by a somewhat bulkier, faceted full body garment; boots and all!
"Whoa!" I gasped.
"Come on! Hurry!" Dara cut in, whipping the door open and dragging me out.
"But…"
"Dara, Zuna, this way!" a boy called out, he and another teen heading for an empty one of those ever present and surprisingly abundant turbolifts.
That's when I noticed the five of us were all wearing the same sort of faceted full body garment, though each one was a different color. The two boys were kind of drab military in color, we girls in more pastel shades.
The glass enclosed capsule whisked the five of us up to the tenth level where we emerged onto a platform overlooking the plaza below. The others rushed to the edge while I approached a bit more cautiously.
"Whoa!" I whispered, glancing first downward then back up to the still soaring jetpacker.
"Ready?" Naru asked, the others gathering closer.
I glanced back down. We were pretty high up. "Ready? For what?"
In the next terrifying moment, I was falling, shoved off that frighteningly high ledge by my teenage companions!
I screamed as I fell, screamed as darkness enveloped me. It wasn't fair; having come this far and been given a new body only to die in it after just a few hours.
I tumbled and bounced, screaming my despair at the top of my lungs. Even as the blackness parted, I was still screaming, the plaza dimly recognizable around me. A crowd gathered around me, but the screaming never let up. I should've recognized the faces but was too in shock over what had just happened.
"What's wrong with her?" Zuna gasped, staring in fright at the constantly screaming friend they had just met.
"I don't know," Marcu complained, covering his ears against my continuing scream.
Dara scooped my still screaming body into her lap. Then, shaking me, she screamed back, "Jayden! Jayden, what is it?" She fetched a stinging slap across my face. "Jayden!"
I fell silent, breathing heavily. Blinking my eyes, I looked up at the ring of worried faces around me.
"Dara?" I barely managed to whisper.
"Yes!" she replied, tears cascading down her cheeks. "Oh, thank goodness!"
Zuna knelt beside me. "Jayden, what's wrong? Why were you screaming?"
"I thought I was going to die!" I sobbed, clutching Dara's hands. "Why did you do that to me?"
"Die? What are you talking about?" Marcu wondered.
"Yeah," Naru picked up the conversation. "That's what the Mark IV safety suit is for!"
"Mark IV?" I stammered, still shaking as I glanced about. "Safety suit?"
"What you're wearing, Jayden," Dara explained. "No one can operate a jetpack without one. It's the law!"
"Yeah," Marcu chimed in. "It's designed to prevent injury and cushion your impact in the event you lose control of your jetpack."
"It senses when you're about to collide with something," Zuna added, touching the sensors on my chest plate, "and automatically deploys."
"Jayden, haven't you ever seen one before?" Dara wondered, giving my hands a squeeze.
Feebly, I shook my head. "I've never even seen a jetpack before."
"What?!" they all exclaimed.
"How is that possible?" Naru wondered, glancing around at the others.
"Jetpacks have been around for centuries!" Marcu stammered.
Several seconds passed in silence before…
"Not the one I came from," I whispered, collapsing into Dara's comforting arms.
"Not the one…" Dara mumbled.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and Dara gasped, pulling back to stare, dumbfounded, at me. "By the stars! You're Jayden Découverte?!"
Gulping back a sob, I nodded.
"Who?" Marcu wondered as Zuna and Naru helped me to my feet.
Dara punched him in the shoulder, hard enough in fact to make him stagger! "Didn't you see it on the vid news?!"
"See what?" Zuna wondered, clearly confused.
"Jayden Découverte!" Dara said, glaring around at the others. "The cold sleep survivor they thawed out just the other day! Oh, dear God, Jayden, we are so sorry!"
"I'm still confused," Zuna complained.
"I… an accident put me into cold sleep," I tried to explain. "When I finally woke up, I was here in the 43rd century."
"How long had you been in suspension?" Naru inquired.
"When was the accident?" Marcu added.
Drawing a long, deep breath, I replied, "2015."
"WHAT?!" everyone but Dara exclaimed.
"Ohmygod… ohmygod… ohmygod… OHMYGOD!" Zuna exploded.
"Holy granola!" Marcu hissed.
"Jayden, we are soooo… sorry for what we just did to you," Dara apologized, adding a hug for emphasis. "When we first met, we all thought you were just another teenager like us!"
"And I am… now," I responded, glancing around at the other kids.
"I'm not sure I follow," Naru remarked, shaking his head. "What did you mean?"
"Your ruling Counsel decided to treat my emergence from cold sleep as a catastrophic injury / death incident," I explained. "As a result, I was permitted to transfer my memories into a new body."
"She's an implantee!" Zuna exclaimed.
"Wait!" Dara interrupted, placing a hand over my heart. "The vid report identified that Jayden Découverte as a guy!"
"A guy?!" Marcu spluttered.
"Genetically speaking, the report was correct," I quietly spoke, worrying my hands as I tried to explain. "I was born with a male body. But, for most of my life, I felt as if I should've been born a girl."
"What did the gender rep at the implant center say?" Zuna wondered.
"Psych scans nailed it," I whispered, turning away. "Inside, I was a girl."
Somehow, I found the courage to explain about what I'd learned about the laws of this time… and about the cortical stimulation sessions. With a heavy sigh, I finished by retelling the incident with the baby and how it had made me feel.
"So, now you know the truth about me," I whispered, tears slowly trickling down my cheeks, my eyes averted.
Dara surprised me by giving me a warm, very lengthy, and oh so comforting hug… one that I gladly returned.
"Body and soul, finally united!" she spoke, smiling as she pulled back a bit. "Honestly, Jayden, looking at you, if you hadn't told us your story, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference!"
"She's right, girlfriend," Zuna chimed in, giving us both a hug. "You really are a girl in there!"
"Could I ask you two a favor?" I quietly spoke.
"What is it?" Dara wondered, Zuna coming up beside her.
"I'm new around here," I said, nibbling on my lower lip. "I don't know where everything is, and I'm… I'm going to need some new clothes… you know… to go with the new me."
"I know just the place!" Marcu chimed in, a lecherous grin on his face.
"I've seen what you consider women's clothes, Marcu," Dara chuckled. "Why don't you try some on? You'd look great in 'em!"
Marcu turned as red as a beet, but from anger or embarrassment, I couldn't be sure.
"You just stick with us, Jayden," Zuna declared, linking arms with me. "Dara and I will get you dolled up in no time!"
"But what about…" Naru stammered, gesturing at the soaring jetpacker.
"After what just happened," Zuna cut him off, nodding and thumbing back in the direction of the 10th floor platform, "Jayden's in no condition to go jetting around right now."
"You guys go on," Dara urged, linking arms with me. "We'll catch up later."
"Okay, your loss!" Marcu complained as we three girls hurried off.