How did you respond to ser Stephanov being disposed?

Not very much. I didn’t really notice what was going on at first, I felt too tired and too wasted to move, the drugs making my legs tingly. The twinkling curtains parted and Number Four and Seven sat down beside me. They prodded me and reported the fact, and then they too forgot promptly and pretended nothing happened.

I figured nothing was to be done for the dead, the Providers would take care of it, like they would take care of everything, and I sunk back into my drug-induced stupor until I felt the prick of a syringe and the nons told me it was high time to return to the hotel and get some rest.

What happened the next day?

Around midday, I woke better than I had in a long time. My non lay beside me, the bed a mess. I took a quick moment in the sanitizer, while my non readied my clothes. After dressing, he did my hair and makeup, and I was good as new. Nothing to see of the events of the night past, no.

Isodor was waiting for us down at the beach-lobby, accompanied now by two new nons to replace the ones he had lost. Guowei was there, and I saw he had found a shirt for his non to wear.

Casimir was absent, and yet, Isodor was leaving already. “Oh we all anxious for da big boy, well he waitin’ for us with a s’prise!”, he shouted toward his camdrones. Must be meaning we will meet him there, I thought.

Guowei asked how my night had been, his uneventful. I said he missed out, and there was lots of fun to be had out there. He looked at the ground, his mood bad. Not good for a place like Piscium. He said that the others had checked in and reported they were safe, but that they could not reveal where they were, suspecting Isodor having surveillance on the infosphere. That was a relief at least, I was glad they were OK.

We were off, Isodor’s aero racing out of the dome, going too fast. We went to the combot arena, to spectate on a fight. My match was in two days. I felt excited; this was the reason I wanted to go to Piscium.

The complex was quite far from the dome, but it had a podrail system so the lower scale people from the surrounding cities could get there quickly. We were more upscale than that. I asked why it was in the middle of nowhere, but Isodor gave me this look of why are you so stupid.

I repeated the question to my non, as they tend to know all kinds of things. Number seven explained it was just for safety reasons. These things require quite a bit of energy, so they are powered by nuclear fuel cells. Since they get smashed up a lot, contamination happens. Guess they don’t want the water of their lagoon to go all glowy. Shame, might have been nice.

Was Casimir waiting for you at the arena?

Yes, but we met with the Paladai lady first, as she was my sponsor. Lady Seo Hye-Jin, but everyone called her Lady Paladai. She had seven nons with her, all with glowing biolumes, so I figured she must be someone very upscale and important.

She and Isodor had a bit of a ruff together. I didn’t spot it at first, but then I noticed she called Isodor ‘Kwang-Hoon’. I think they must have some history together, from before... Before the Providers took their world and nons became a thing, I mean.

Then she looked at me. “So you are going to fight for us, my dear?”, she asked. She either had a pretty bad upscale Shincho accent, or she was just acting. I smiled, nodded, and bowed politely and she was like “Oh, you are not the talkative kind.” I wondered if that was merely a statement or she just wanted me to keep shut.

She turned to Isodor and asked if I had made much progress with my training. Isodor pretended not to hear at first, and then acted all surprised. “My oppa, didn’t ya say you were gonna train her?”

Lady Paladai scoffed, about that not being the agreement. She had already arranged the combot, and Isodor had apparently agreed to arrange the training. Isodor pretended to know nothing.

Then he turned to his sats, with a “Hey ya sats know some good trainer? Would look bad if poor Valeriya’s all KO in one punch, eh? I mean just look at her, gorgeous!”. He and his nons surrounded me and posed with me. I went along and tried to smile and put up a bit of a seductive pleading face, which pleased Isodor.

It worked, and within moments Isodor had found someone to sponsor my training. “Haaaaalicon, the amaaaazing one!”, he cheered. Then he began yelling a bunch of stupid reasons why Halicon was supposed to be amazing.

Lady Paladai snorted at the scene. She was probably upset that Isodor just got a random trainer for free without putting in any effort. Or maybe she wasn’t convinced that this Halicon guy was any good.

Were you?

No, not really.

It was an attention-seeking amateur. But I will tell you about him and my training later, alright?

Yes, of course.

Lady Paladai wanted to go to the private suite she had here, but Casimir showed up. He had number Four with him... Her... She had this new female skin.

After his disposal, he had switched to a different skin type?

Yes! She was in this Afro-Asian skin. It had slender, very long legs. Hair raised up high. Bad make-up. And wearing a short skirt, stockings and a corset!

How do you react?

At that time? I didn’t know what to say. I mean, yes, I know we can pick all kinds of skins. But… I don’t know.

It was only through my aura that I could identify her as Casimir. Isodor was lyrical about it though, whirling around her. Casimir performed a ground dance in which she showed off her brand new butt. And touched herself. And... hmm... moved some clothes around. Much to Isodor’s delight. “That’s my girl,” he shouted. He was clapping and his nons cheering, and finally got into a dance with her. The camdrones belched colored smoke and strobe light.

Isodor pulled her close and kissed her deeply. He also rubbed himself all over her.

Maybe she just did this for attention. She got plenty and enjoyed it. I just don’t know... I don’t know what was really going on in her head. It got worse...

In what way?

Hmm, I don’t know how to say it. It is kind of private…

Please tell me.

Uhmm. Well. I admit, immediately after the performance was finally over, she came close to me.

Casimir started talking. It was like she was trying to apologize for something. "It was all for you, Valeriya," she said. "All that stuff with Isodor is because I want you to be happy."

How did you respond?

I didn’t know what to say. She confused me. So I said nothing. Isodor and Lady Paladai began heading to our suite. The nons urged us to follow. A camdrone closed in, and we both gave it our best smile.

We took a large elevator up along the exterior of the building, giving us a relatively good view over the desolate landscape of Piscium f3. It was rocky and cold, but there wasn’t any snow. Not much water in the atmosphere, I guess. Subtle aurorae were going on that I had not seen while inside the dome. Must have something to do with Piscium f1’s magnetic field.

We were welcomed into a VIP lounge by a large group of service disposables bowing to us. They offered us drinks and flocked all over us, but Isodor and Lady Paladai brushed them aside. Only Guowei bowed back and he even talked with some of them, until Draki-3 pulled him away and made him come sit with us.

We took seats in a round couch area. Isodor was conducting an interview with Lady Paladai about the upcoming combot fight, analyzing each of the contestants and speculating on the outcome. They involved Casimir too. He’d give this outrageous commentary full of innuendo, which Isodor appreciated.

Once the interview was over, we went to our private suite in a skybox that looked down into the arena. It was large. It felt strange and I counted. We were only five real people, but there were about forty disposables in there with us too: the nons and all those disposable servers that belonged to whatever organization that operated the arena, nearly ten to one.

Do you find the disposables unsettling?

No… Well… Maybe.

I mean, they are like real people. But then they are not. I don’t really know what to think of them. The ones that look creepy are unsettling I guess. The ones like Draki-3, Rapture and the ones from Plouton. We had also seen some on the streets that looked like lizards or dragons and monsters of all kinds. Or maybe those were actual aliens. How would I know…

It is all so confusing now. Casimir had changed to a completely different skin. What if everyone in the colony would start doing that? And not just change appearance or gender, but fly around in a dragon skin. Or take a three-headed alien…

Or what if she makes herself look like Rapture, and she does grown-up things? Do nons like Rapture even do grown-up things with their liegemen? It’s all so perverse!

I have barely had time to consider anything like this. And the more I think about it, the more unsettling it becomes. All things we thought were normal... Gone!

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The Providers just give us disposables to take care of our needs. Are there no limits at all?

There are some constraints.

Like what?

It mostly has to do with energy expenditures and the expected return in the form of data.

Very pragmatic. And where does morality come in?

There are the Policies. Any other moral concerns are highly subjective, and thus best handled in local laws.

You mean that the Empire doesn’t ban anything outright, but leaves it up to the planetary rulers? People like Elisa must create laws that result in a society that people like me prefer to live in? And in case I don’t like the local laws because they are too loose or too strict, I should move?

Precisely.

Hmm. I will need to think about this. Let me continue the recounting.

Very good.

The arena was huge. I think it was at least half a kilometer across, with seats for millions of spectators. Large vidscreens displayed ads and commentary from celebrities. Both Lady Paladai and Isodor were addressing their sats through most of the event, as there wasn’t a single announcer conducting it.

The vid-screens all glowed bright gold with the name of this tenday’s challenger: Khatakiel. Seems Isodor wasn’t the only one with an angel skin: Khatakiel was carried into the command deck by his four nons in a golden litter that might just make a Provider jealous. All of them had gold and silver robes and shiny wings. They brought drones with sparkling golden pyros and put up quite a show.

Then the arena turned green as the vid-screens announced the reigning champion, IV-MEDUSAERON. Only a green female non appeared through the curtains at first. She put down a rolled up green carpet and kicked it until it was unfurled. Then more nons appeared with large silver vases on their shoulders, and they poured green emeralds from it until the deck was sparkling with them.

Finally, Medusaeron emerged from the curtains. It was a heavily augmented lady... at least her emerald-covered cyborg skin looked feminine. She wore a silver crown and had a lot of articulated cables dangling from her head. Must be the medusa reference. I immediately liked her.

Two combots entered from opposite ends of the arena, and after a brief bow from the contestants, the fight began without further introduction.

Finally, some action!

This is what we had come here to see. Shame the others were not here, but I was sure they were watching this from someplace. I was impressed by the size of these machines. But also by their speed. They moved way too fast and nimbly for something that big.

Both combots were ornate. Medusaeron’s combot was green and she had a lance and vicious claws on the forearms. Khatakiel’s looked a lot like the operator: Gold and silver and vanes on the back. He had a flail like a giant wrecking ball, and a large shield, too.

Medusaeron charged forward at full speed, but upon impact, the lance slid off the shield rather than penetrating it as Medusaeron had probably hoped. She ducked just in time to avoid being smacked in the face by a backward overhead swing from Khatakiel.

Then she leaped up, spun around and with a large swipe from the lance, she managed to hit Khatakiel in the back of the leg. It didn’t seem to do much damage, but the crowd cheered anyway.

Medusaeron attacked again, and again she tried to impale her opponent. But he simply swatted the lance away. After three strikes, she finally hit him in the arm. This didn't seem to hurt, either. In fact, his golden armor seemed unaffected.

I couldn't tell if the crowd liked Medusaeron's strategy or hated it. As long as she kept attacking Khatakiel all was good, I suppose. But still, she hadn't been able to do anything against his defenses.

Now, Khatakiel tried to disarm Medusaeron by grabbing the lance with the chain of his flail, or smashing it towards the ground with his shield. He couldn't seem to pull off either tactic, however. Medusaeron eventually took one of her hands off the lance and clawed at the top of the shield, sending it pounding into the ground. With a single overarm thrust, she hit Khatakiel in the neck.

She had to pull back as he swung wildly at her, skimming her in the side with his flail but scoring little damage. Khatakiel was damaged pretty badly, but he wasn't done for yet. The other hand came up from behind the shield, grabbing the lance near the tip.

He pulled himself up and thrashed at Medusaeron's side again. She had to choose between letting go of her weapon or taking a direct hit, and chose the former. But rather than pulling away to avoid the hit, she lunged forward.

The chain hit her in the side, and the head of the flail looped around and caught her in the back, but she kept moving. She hit Khatakiel in the lower body with a knee and then thrust him below the armpit with one of her wrist blades. A second attack slammed the combot in the face.

Khatakiel caught fire and Medusaeron backed away. Khatakiel flailed his last, but Medusaeron cut the chain, and the ball flew off in an arc and crashed through the double security fencing, where it splattered some people in the lower spectator area.

I know it's bad, but I couldn't help but laugh.

Khatakiel yielded at this point, trying to save what was left of the combot. Medusaeron accepted and the lights turned green. The crowd was screaming. Even Guowei was excited.

We lingered in the skybox for a while longer, consuming some drinks and snacks while Lady Paladai and Isodor wrapped it up with their sats.

Then I noticed Casimir had gradually snuggled up to me; she suddenly had her arm around me. “Did you like the fight?”, she asked.

I smiled and nodded, but I just couldn’t get used to the voice. Couldn’t get used to her being like that.

“Every day could be as good as these last two days we had together,” she whispered. “Stay with me.”

Guowei saw it, and his eyes went furious again.

Then Isodor’s large form loomed over us from behind. “Ey, my little princess! Ya ready to be a fighta? We gonna see Halicon now!”

I immediately pulled away from Casimir. I’d rather be lobotomized by a trainer than sit there and have her smooch all over me any longer.

We said our goodbyes to Lady Paladai and the arena staff. One hour later, we were back in Hamatani-Si, the Park Hills District this time. I didn’t see any park where we went. Just highrises everywhere.

Isodor’s aero parked in the middle of the street as there was no other place to set down between those buildings. He told Blancandrin and Draki-3 to stay behind and watch it. So I assume the area was a bit dodgy.

Halicon’s place was in one of the alleys. He had three nons waiting for us. They looked a bit like cats, with cat ears and tails and making creepy meow-meow noises and they were dressed in scant skirts and stockings.

We were led inside. Isodor met with Halicon and did his usual sponsorship talk. Halicon was this geeky fellow, dressed in a flamboyant overcoat but otherwise not having the best appearance. His brown hair was a bit greasy and his pale skin oily.

He reacted to me awkwardly, as if not expecting a woman or something, but his cat-nons pushed me inside into this room with a chair and all kinds of electrical equipment. It wasn’t very clean, and the air was thick with some stale smell. I think Halicon or one of his customers might have been smoking something there.

I hesitated when the nons tried to strap me into the chair. Isodor was trying to give me these assurances that Halicon was good at the job, that he had a license, that he had trained some previous finalists. But I didn’t care, I just didn’t want to be restrained like that!

Halicon himself kept out of it and let Isodor and the nons handle it. Guowei asked if I wanted to leave, but Isodor interrupted him and said that it was part of the deal that I was going to fight in the arena. And for that, I had to be trained.

Then Casimir called out that if I didn’t want to do it, she’d fight instead.

I don’t know why, but that kind of motivated me to go through with it. I just couldn’t live with it if I was going to chicken out and have that annoying Casimir get all the fun and glory.

Halicon put some mindprobes to my head, similar to the ones used by Elicitation, you know. Those things. Then he sat down behind one of his computers and got to work.

It wasn’t very fun. I felt he was just infodumping a lot of stuff into my brain. There was barely any interaction. It all went very fast and I couldn’t understand what was going on.

I just noticed Isodor leaving and taking Casimir and the nons with him. Guowei stayed behind to watch me, as did our two nons. I am so grateful that he did. I wouldn’t know what had happened otherwise. The rest just left me there with this Halicon creep...

It was late in the evening when he was done. I felt dizzy, like I had the night before when I had been on drugs, and Guowei and Number 7 supported me. I had difficulty walking on my own.

Guowei arranged an aero to pick us up in a nearby plaza and fly us back to the hotel. I was lucky and didn’t have to walk the last bit, as Number 7 had made the hotel dispatch a litter to collect me from the drop-off point.

They brought me to my room and I rested a bit. The night was not yet over though.

I suspect ser Stephanov was complicit?

Indeed. Half an hour later, I heard banging on the door. Number 7 opened, and Casimir stormed inside, accompanied by Number 4.

“Ha, you’re back!” she shouted. I think she was under influence. “We should totally have some fun together!”

She dove beside me onto the bed and undid her bra. “Come, come,” she beckoned to Number 4. The non crept beside her and kissed her passionately.

She fondled her own breast. She said, “Pretty neat, huh?”, but then she probably saw the disgust in my eyes. “It’s alright,” she shouted. “We’re all ladies amongst each other now, right?”

Then she crept closer, leered into my eyes, and smiled.

“I got to tell you something,” she mumbled. I totally expected that she would divulge some unasked-for information about her sex life or fetishes, but to my surprise, it was about something else entirely. “Isodor is gonna give me the cred that the others voided and then some, after all of this is over!”

“You know what that means? I’m gonna be a topscaler here! You should totally stay here, with me!”

What did you think of that proposition?

I was really not in the mood to make such a radical decision right there. And there was still the matter that she creeped me out. But she was very pushy. She probably saw I was vulnerable, and was exploiting the situation.

“We can have anything we want. Just you and me.”

She touched my shoulder, then my back, and then ran her hand down to my butt.

I considered telling Number 7 to kick them out, but I was scared.

Scared that I might miss some opportunity.

Opportunity?

She was going to be a topscaler. It probably has something to do with the environment I came from, but back in my days, you did not turn a topscaler down. Especially not one that was showing any affection.

Turning them down would get you hurt. And staying on their good side came with countless benefits. Getting the attention of a topscaler was often the only chance that bottomscalers like me had to make anything of their lives.

In the eyes of the Empire, you’re both equal, as citizens.

I know, but I couldn’t think straight and I felt scared. This was thousands of years of evolution doing its thing, keep that in mind. If you’re at the bottom of the heap, you fuck your way up if you have to. I was vulnerable, and I felt as if I was at the bottom of the heap like I had been for most of my life.

I didn’t object as she started pulling at my clothes.

Number 7 saw something was wrong. That Casimir didn’t have my best interests in mind.

Did he take action?

Not directly. Instead, he informed Guowei. Soon, another series of loud banging could be heard at the door. I heard Guowei calling.

“Fuck him, don’t open it,” Casimir groaned. Number 7 ignored Casimir and opened it anyway.

Guowei stormed in and understood immediately what was going on. He pulled the half-naked Casimir off the bed. “Out! Back to your room!”, he shouted. Casimir shrieked and struggled like the bitch she was.

“Tell him you want me,” Casimir wailed at me.

Guowei became furious and struck her across the face. Number 4 had to pull him off her. Number 7 shoved Casimir outside, who found that her new female body was no match for the muscular non’s raw strength. Guowei followed, as did Number 4.

Number 7 shut the door and I could finally rest. The noise outside continued for quite some time.