One Giant Leap

"Now, you're sure this won't hurt?" Anna asked, fidgeting a bit nervously in her seat.

Mushu looked up from the tools he was sterilizing. "Relax, sugar, I been in this business over twenty years," he said. "I have very steady hands. Look at that," he held up his cybernetic hand to show that it was completely still. "You won't feel a thing, I promise."

"Okay, yeah," Anna took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, okay. I guess I shouldn't have anything to worry about. The work you did on Joy was pretty good, and she's adjusting pretty well."

She was sitting in Mushu's clinic, the tech-doc recommended by Mulan. Just last week, Elsa had her implants done, except of course these days she went by Joy. Now had come Anna's turn, and though she was still nervous, making the leap to cyberware was necessary if she wanted to attain the basic standard of living for Arcadia.

Elsa was also at the clinic, but at the moment, she was in the waiting room since only patients were allowed in the operation room. She had gotten the basic package including an operating system which was a computer linked with the brain, a chip slot for storing physical data devices in the head, a neural interface with netlink processors, and a set of optic implants in the eyes which, by default, corrected the user's eyesight to 20/20.

Overall, she was adjusting well. Elsa had less qualms about cybernetic implants, unsurprising given her synthetic origins. After much deliberation, Anna was now making the plunge.

"See?" Mushu approached Anna and held up an injector filled with anesthesia. "Your friend is a glowing endorsement of my work. Besides, M brought you my way, and me and her go way back. You got nothing to worry about."

Anna swallowed a lump in her throat and held out her right arm. "Alright, I'm ready," she closed her eyes. "Let's do this."

The injector was placed against her arm and after only a momentary pinch, Anna faded from consciousness and went under.

… … …

A few hours later, Anna woke up. She looked around and blinked several times, rubbing her eyes to wipe away the anesthesia clouding her mind. When her senses cleared, she saw that her vision had now become sharper than it ever was before.

"Woah," Anna blinked her cybernetic eyes a few more time and examined her hands, marveling out how much detail she could see. "That is so... high definition."

Elsa stirred by Anna's side from a nap she was taking and leaned forward. "You're awake," she smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"Uh, kinda fuzzy, I guess," Anna replied, reaching out towards Elsa. "Like I'm on a cloud."

"You'll be woozy for a bit while the anesthesia wears off. After that, you'll have to start taking painkillers while your body gets used to the implants."

"Right. Right. Can you do me a- can I ask you a favor?"

"Of course, what is it?" Elsa asked.

Anna held Elsa by the shoulders and kept her in place. "Just stay still, stay exactly like that," she said. "I wanna see something."

"See what?"

Anna's eyes widened with awe when she could see that with her new eyes, Elsa had become even more beautiful than ever. "No way," she gasped. "That is so crazy. It's like I can see colors I've never seen before."

True enough, her implants increased the visual acuity through which she could perceive the world. Elsa's eyes were still ocean blue, but the light in them was a little brighter and a little more vibrant. Her snow-white hair was now purely ethereal and almost angelic. Her porcelain skin which was lightly dusted with faint freckles had become clearer.

Simply put, Anna's new eyes didn't jack up the color and saturation of everything to the point it was nauseating, but rather, they simply enhanced all the subtle details that were already there.

"Your face," Anna reached out and started playing with Elsa's face. "Wow. Elsa, look at your face!" she started laughing.

"It's the same face, Anna," Elsa laughed as well. "I didn't have that changed."

"I know, but it's so symmetrical and perfect! You're so hot! What the hell?"

"Again, Anna, you already knew that."

Excited by her literally new perspective on the world, Anna started looking at everything she could lay her eyes on. "Oh, man, if K could see me now, he'd be so pissed," she said. "Look at me!" she pointed to her reflection on a nearby mirror. "That's me! I'm... woah. Hot damn, I'm gorgeous."

Elsa chuckled in amusement. "Well, I'm glad you like your new cyberware," she gave Anna a quick kiss on the forehead. "I'll get Doctor Mushu. Be right back," she stepped out of the recovery room.

While Anna waited, she got acquainted with her other implants. In her left wrist, the one on her cybernetic arm, there was now a neural cord for jacking into different forms of technology. On the back of her head near the base of her neck, covered beneath bandages, was her new operating system and neural interface. She had the same basic package as Elsa now and all told, for as visually striking as some implants could be, hers and Elsa's were still quite subtle. For the most part, they both still appeared to be mostly organic.

A minute later, Elsa returned with Mushu in tow.

"And, here we are," Mushu sat down by Anna and rolled over to a nearby terminal. "How are we feeling? Good? Bad? So-so?"

"Surprisingly good," Anna replied. "Never thought I'd be saying that about getting chromed up."

"Yeah, that's what they all say," Mushu rubbed his hands together. "Now, I need to run a few tests. See how your body is acclimating. First, we'll start with your eyes. Look at the sign on the far wall. Starting from the top, name the colors you see."

Anna did as she was told and focused on the sign, not even having to squint despite the distance. "Red, blue, yellow. Uh, orange, green, um... that isn't black. Not really purple either. Aubergine? I guess you'd call that?"

Mushu nodded and made a few notes. "Color gradation and color correction is in order," he said. "Now, try zooming in and reading the text at the bottom."

"Zoom in?" Anna perked up. "I can zoom in? How do I zoom in?"

"It's not like a button you press, it's more like something you think of," Mushu replied. "Nerve pathways between your eyes and operating system are fully synced. Give it a go."

Anna did just that and immediately, her vision zoomed in like a camera on the bottom text of the sign. She giggled and repeatedly zoomed in and out, then turned her head to where Elsa was standing and zoomed in on the curve of her rear hidden beneath her pants. For a few seconds, Anna shamelessly ogled Elsa's butt.

"Rachael, the sign is over there," Elsa pointed, addressing Anna by her alias since they were in public.

"Yeah, sure, just give me a minute," Anna said.

Elsa rolled her eyes. "The sign, Rachael."

"Right, the sign," Anna shifted her focus back to the task at hand and read the text. "A thing of beauty, I know, will never fade away. Hmm, that's catchy."

"Uh huh, that's working," Mushu said. "Now, last test. That terminal in the corner, access it using the netlink in your neural interface. There's a data packet on there and I want you to tell me what you see inside."

Getting the hang of her new cyberware, Anna focused her attention on the terminal and accessed the data packet remotely. The visual feed of her cybernetic eyes reported a successful connection, and a new heads-up display appeared. On it was an animation of a spaceship orbiting around a sun.

"A spaceship, going around the sun in circles," Anna said. "Oh, and there's a little astronaut inside waving at me," she chuckled and waved back. "So trippy."

"Okay, lookin' good," Mushu made a few check marks on his notes. "Lookin' real good. Your body has accepted the new implants with no glitches or anything hinky like that. Now, as for the recovery process, it'll take no longer than two weeks until the discomfort passes," he pulled out a bottle of pills from his lab coat and set it by Anna's side. "Take those once a day. Other than that, Joy here settled up the tab, and you're both free to go."

"Thanks, doc," Anna got up from her seat and extended her hand to shake "Appreciate it."

"Appreciate the business," Mushu shook her hand, then gestured out of the recovery room. "And if you ever have any issues, or if you're looking to pick up any more chrome, come back my way. I'll get you hooked up."

"We'll keep that in mind," Elsa said as she and Anna walked out. "Thank you, again."

Mushu waved them off, then headed off back into his clinic to deal with other patients.

Anna and Elsa made their way through the waiting room, passing by a few other people who were seated and waiting for their appointment. To the other side was a reception desk as well as a large display case that held numerous cyberware gadgets or implants. Among them were a pair of raptor blades shining in the light, a wrist-mounted projectile launcher, a breast mounted taser system, as well as a set of whip-like monowires designed for close-quarters combat.

Aside from weapons, there were other bodily modifications. The most eye catching was a synthetic penis that stretched over a foot long in length. It was girthy, gratuitous, and gauche all at once. The equipment was fittingly dubbed the studmaster pro XXL series, coming with an inbuilt vibration function and six-speed gyrator.

Just as they were about to exit the clinic, a nearby holo-television started playing a loud commercial.

"Are you tried of cold, sad, pathetic crème brûlée? Are you sick of your morning commute getting interrupted by tweaking fizzheads? Are you fed up with your crappy gas stove refusing to start? Do you ever wish you could just set it all on fire?"

Anna paused, intrigued by what she was seeing and hearing. The commercial showcased various people dealing with such seemingly mundane everyday struggles.

"Well, then look no further than the Prometheus Firejet! Light up your boring life with this wrist-mounted gadget that can shoot a stream of fire up to ten meters away! It's small, it's subtle, but it packs a wallop and can reach temperatures of up to a thousand degrees Celsius! It's a culinary tool, an aggressor deterrent, and an everyday lighter all rolled into one! You can be the proud new owner of the Firejet for the low, low price of nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine credits. Fuel and nozzle accessories sold separately."

"Ooooh," Anna's eyes widened with wonder. "I could use me one of those," she glanced down and examined her cybernetic arm.

"It seems a bit excessive," Elsa said.

"Order now, and we'll toss in the Icarus grapple launcher at half price for a limited time only. Climbing stairs? Forget about that shit! Just aim it, fire the grapple, and zip up and away over those losers. Your gun is across the room? Don't just walk over there like some gonk! Just use the grapple and make your gun come to you! Nothing is out of reach when you have Icarus at your side! For only fifteen thousand credits, you can have the full power of Prometheus and Icarus at your disposal. But don't delay! These gadgets are flying off the shelves!"

"Can I have it?" Anna looked at Elsa, bouncing giddily.

Elsa crossed her arms and shook her head adamantly. "No, what would you even need those for?"

"For whenever we need to torch some crème brûlée, obviously," Anna said.

"Anna," Elsa rubbed her eyes between her fingers.

"And come on! A grappling hook would be so useful! Remember those freaky watcher dudes back in that creepy, old hospital? Or what about when I got chewed up by a huge ass wolf? Bet you a grappling hook and a flamethrower would have come in handy there."

"Anna."

"Elsa. Please?"

"No, Anna."

"But... I want it. And what's the point of living if you can't have nice things?"

Elsa looked at Anna for a few moments longer, and then sighed heavily in defeat. "Fine," she relented and held her hands up in surrender. "I can't say no to you when you look at me like that."

… … …

A few days later, Anna had her new flamethrower and grappling hook installed within her cybernetic arm. Currently, they were in their apartment, and Anna was making a mess of things as she played with her new gadgets.

"Elsa, one more time," Anna squeezed one eye shut and aimed her cybernetic arm. "I've almost got the hang of this thing now."

"No, because this just ends with me cleaning up more spilled juice," Elsa shook her head.

"I'm telling you this is the one."

"You said that about the last few tries as well."

Anna flexed her forearm and the metal parts slid open, allowing the grappling hook launcher to pop out. "I promise this is the last one," she said. "I know I've got it. I'm feeling it this time, baby."

With another heavy sigh, Elsa relented and then placed the can of juice on the kitchen counter. Anna steadied her aim and then after a few seconds of concentrated silence, she shot out the grappling hook, ensnared the can, then retracted the cable into her arm.

Anna easily caught the can of juice and bounced in jubilation. "Ha!" she laughed and took a sip. "I did it. I caught it! Look at that!"

"I'm so glad," Elsa looked around at the floor which was still sticky in some places. "Are you done now? Or did you want to test out the flamethrower again on any more helpless food?"

Anna glanced at the scorch mark she had left on the counter and thought better of it. "Nah, better not," she said. "Don't want to burn the apartment down."

Elsa chuckled in amusement and Anna joined her as they cleaned up the rest of the kitchen. When that was done, they prepared lunch, then sat around the counter as they ate. While Anna was chowing down, Elsa was idly scrolling through the holo-display on her omni-pad, searching for job postings.

Since they had gotten mostly set up with their new lives in Arcadia, they were now beginning to take on a bit of debt. So, being the everyday, normal people that they were now, Anna and Elsa needed to find some steady work to pay the bills.

"Here's one," Elsa expanded a posting and started reading it. "Contract netrunner needed by Teng-Lao."

"Netrunning?" Anna glanced over. "You know how to do all that techy stuff?"

"I do. I learned a few things from..." Elsa paused and her gaze turned distant. "From Theodore," she said quietly.

"Oh," Anna's expression became a bit more solemn.

"Anything he thought I might have needed to know, he included it with my memory backups on that flash drive he gave me," Elsa turned up her left palm and examined the scar there. "Strange. I haven't taken a proper look through the rest of those files since we left New York."

The flash drive in question contained a recount of Elsa's life during her incarceration at VanirCorp. Thirteen long years spent alone, under close observation, rigorous testing, and dreadful torture, passed by for Elsa before she was reunited with Anna. Starting her second life from the time her first one ended, Elsa was reborn at the age of twelve, the same age Nora was when she died. Since then, Elsa had only just begun to experience what life was like as a free woman.

Of all the things she took with her, Elsa only had her memories, the clothing on her back, and that particular flash drive. It was kept secure in a safe within their office.

"Do you still think about him?" Anna asked gently.

Elsa nodded and her expression became pensive. "I do," she said. "I do. He was planning to come here. Did you know that? When we parted ways at VanirCorp, he told me he would move to Mars. Maybe even Arcadia. Imagine that," her voice was soft and somber with a whimsical note to it. "We could have been neighbors."

"I'm sorry. You must miss him."

Elsa was silent for a long time, staring off into the distance as she recalled her experiences with the man who had freed her from VanirCorp. "I haven't forgotten him," she eventually said. "I don't plan to. Theodore and Nora, they both helped me and I know they're in a better place now."

"Yeah," Anna smiled a bit sadly as she reached over and gently squeezed Elsa's hand. "They are."

"I feel sad, but also happy at the same time. Is that normal?"

"Yeah," Anna chuckled softly. "Grief can be pretty confusing sometimes, but it just means that your feelings are real."

"Hmm," Elsa considered that for a moment.

After a few minutes of comfortable yet contemplative silence, Anna shook off her reverie and regarded Elsa. "Well, netrunning seems like the perfect job for you," she said. "Are you gonna apply?"

"Yes, I think I will," Elsa replied, turning her attention back to the job posting. "But I imagine I'll have to learn a few more things."

"That's the easy part. We got all these fancy new implants now, so we can shop for some data shards and help you get up to speed. Guess I can learn some new things to."

Data shards were a type of chip that contained information and other useful content. They were a physical medium that could be inserted into any terminal or console, or more commonly, directly into the human brain through the operating system via chip slot. More than that, given how easy and accessible the technology was to the citizens of Arcadia, uploading data straight into the head was now the fastest and most efficient way of learning new things.

Higher education and greater academic pursuits could be done in a fraction of the time they used to at double the cost of tuition fees. Of course, children were not allowed to receive implants until they reached the age of eighteen, at which time they would receive their mandatory cyberware. Schooling up to that point was still done the conventional way with class sessions in person.

"Good idea," Elsa nodded. "What about you? Found anything yet?"

Anna leaned back and sighed. "Yes and no," she replied, shrugging and tilting her head side to side. "There's an open position with this consulting firm. I thought that might be promising, so I'm looking more into that. ACN is also looking for media interns, and that seems like something I could do as well."

"But?" Elsa prompted, sensing Anna's unease.

Anna shrugged again. "I don't know," she said. "That's the thing. What I did in New York wasn't really honest, and I didn't really enjoy it, but it paid the bills and it kept me off the streets. But I'm not a gumshoe anymore, so what do I do? I got all these sketchy things I know I'm good at, but I don't think they translate well to a... normal life."

"A normal life," Elsa repeated softly. "That's the toughest part for us, isn't it?"

"Yeah. We aren't exactly normal people."

"No, but that's okay. This isn't a normal world we live in."

"True," Anna laughed. "God, it'd be funnier if it wasn't so sad."

Elsa chuckled a bit. "You could always become a police detective," she suggested. "That doesn't seem far from what you used to do."

Anna snorted. "If I had to choose between working for a dirty corp or dirty cops, I'd choose the corp," she said. "At least the corpos are paid better."

"True," Elsa agreed. "So, consulting work or journalism work. I think you'd be good at either one of those."

"Okay," Anna got up and started heading for the office. "Guess I need to go and brush up my resume or whatever. I don't think I've ever even made a resume."

… … …

Some length of time passed after Anna and Elsa landed their new jobs. Elsa's job as a netrunner for Teng-Lao allowed her to work remotely from home on most days. Conversely, Anna's job as a media intern for ACN required her to be in the office only on part-time hours for five days a week. She had signed a contract for employment of one year, after which she would either be hired as a full-time staff member upon review of her performance, or she would be let go.

For the next little while, the pair did all the simple and mundane things that normal people did. All the simple and mundane things that they never got a real chance to do back on Earth. They woke up in the morning, got dressed, had breakfast, and went off to do their jobs. In the evening, they relaxed, made dinner, and retired to bed at reasonable hours. On the weekends, they went out on dates, or they stayed at home doing chores.

When they got tired of relying on public transportation for their daily commutes, and after they had enough savings, they decided to put a down payment on some personal transportation. Elsa brought a used muscle car after its previous owner – a street racer – died in an accident. Anna brought a used motorcycle after its previous owner – a corpo suit – fell behind on their payments and it was seized as collateral.

Anna and Elsa brought furniture. They brought clothing. They brought odds and ends, bits and bobs, trinkets and other paraphernalia that were sometimes out of necessity and sometimes out of leisure. Over time, they made their new home a real home, fit to bursting with their own distinctive flavor of lived-in, fluffy, domestic bliss that they had achieved.

For the next little while, they simply got to be normal people. But the feeling didn't really sit well with either of them. They found a home, and it was everything they hoped it would be.

Only, it wasn't their idea of home that had changed. They had changed. In ways that neither of them ever returned from.

Time and distance could not heal all the wounds they had suffered. The scars were still there. The memories were still there.

And further pains yet remained to be suffered.