Back in the office, Sarah and Felix had just finished reading through the five profiles Aron had shortlisted from Nova's master list. The rest of the names on the list would also receive job offers, but the five names on the short list were slated to be the presidents of the new subsidiary companies.

Robert Watson, a low-level Boeing executive, would be joining Icarus Airlines as the president.

Ryan Walker would be heading up Asclepius Biotechnology, where his experience and connections in the world of Big Pharma would come in handy. And, having been a researcher himself, he wouldn't just be an "empty suit" executive, either.

Hermes Inc., Aron's new import/export company, was just waiting for the arrival of Rachael Richardson. She should be able to simply slot into the job, having run the logistics department of a giant like Amazon.

Elizabeth Oppliger would soon be heading up Helios Energy & Utilities. She didn't know it yet, but she would soon.

And Jai Chakrabarti would soon be taking over the charitable branch of Connect, the Coeus Foundation.

Nova herself would continue running Plutus Ventures; no mere human, no matter how "enhanced", would be able to replace her in that position.

"Since you've read through them, do you two have any objections?" Aron asked. Sarah and Felix might have found better candidates in the comprehensive list.

Neither of them said anything, so Aron nodded. "Good, it's settled, then. Nova, let's get them in for a meeting."

He swiveled his chair around so he could see the large screen on the wall behind him, and Felix and Sarah turned theirs to watch as well. There were five live feeds being displayed on the big screen, one from each of the Nyx agents Nova had ordered into the field earlier that day. She brought up the first feed and it filled the entire screen, where a hand was knocking on a door in a hallway.

...

"Come in," said the voice in the room.

The Nyx agent entered Rachael's office, then closed and locked the door behind her. She took out a small black cube and set it on the desk, to ensure nobody could listen in on the conversation that was about to take place, then sat in the chair facing the desk and said, "We need to talk."

"About what?" Rachael asked.

The Nyx agent began listing the details of Rachael's life, and she grew nervous. She picked up the phone on her desk to call security, but there was no dial tone. "Don't worry, Mrs. Richardson. I'm not here to hurt youin fact, it's just the opposite. I'm here to offer you an opportunity... a way to get away from your husband and improve your situation. And all you have to do is agree to a meeting," the beautiful agent explained.

"A meeting? With who? And what's that?" Rachael gestured at the cube the agent had placed on her desk.

"That? That's just a toy to make sure our conversation is, and remains, private. The meeting is with my boss, and you won't even have to go anywhere to have it." She pulled a pair of chic sunglasses from her pocket and set them on the desk. "Put these on and you'll have all the answers you need."

Rachael thought for a moment, then, remembering what she would be in for when Tom got home from work, picked up the sunglasses and put them on.

...

Robert Watson had just left his contentious divorce settlement meeting and was sitting on a bus bench, leaning back and tiredly rubbing his eyes as he waited for the bus to take him home. Nothing had come of the meeting except more hard feelings and a guarantee of the next meeting taking place in a public court room.

A beautiful woman in a professional suit sat on the bench next to him and said, "Rough day? You look bushed."

Robert just glared at her out of the corner of his eye. He wasn't in the best of moods to begin with, and was definitely in no mood to speak to a stranger, especially another fucking woman.

The woman, however, had other plans. She looked at the exhausted man next to her and asked, "Wanna change your life? I can give you information that would guarantee your wife will sign a no-contest divorce decree... if you're interested in that. Or I suppose you could be like everyone else and just air your dirty laundry in divorce court."

Robert shot her a dirty look and said, "You've got some balls. How do you know who I am? How did you know about... her?"

The Nyx agent gave him a silent smile, then leaned back against the backrest of the bus bench, which ironically had a picture of Robert's wife's divorce attorney on it.

"Fine. I'll play. What do you need me to do in exchange?" he sighed.

The agent pulled a set of black sports sunglasses out of a pocket and handed them to him. "All you have to do is put these on, and all your questions will be answered."

...

Ryan was sitting in his wheelchair, working. A word processing program was open on the display screen of his computer, but it grayed out, and a pop-up window appeared on his display.

"Do you want to change your life? Y/n..." it read.

His AI assistant popped up on the screen and playfully flew around the weird pop-up, then turned to "look" at Ryan. [You should say yes, you know,] the little fairy said.

"Oh, why should I? This seems sketchy."

[Because the person who sent you that popup can let you walk again. All you have to do is open your front door.]

At that exact moment, someone knocked on the front door of Ryan's apartment. His wife was asleep, and he didn't want to wake her. Plus, he was a bit weirded out by this sudden situation; just because there had never been a hacked GAIA OS install didn't mean it wasn't a possibility that his had been hacked.

[Trust me, you're not getting hacked. The woman outside will tell you everything you need to know.]

Ryan decided that there was really nothing to worry about. He had nothing to steal, so the person at the door probably wasn't there to steal anything from him. He controlled his electric wheelchair to the bedroom and said, "Amanda? Wake up, sweetheart. Someone's at the door."

Amanda groggily woke up, brushed her hair out of her face, and sat on the edge of the bed. "Someone's... here?" she yawned.

"Yeah. Some weird shit's going down, but... well... I think we should listen to what they have to say. They're here to make an offer or something, I guess."

She nodded, then pulled her hair into a loose bun and secured it with a letter opener from the nightstand next to the bed. She pulled on some sweatpants and a t-shirt and followed her husband back to their cramped living room, then opened the door.

A stunning woman stepped across their threshold, then closed the door behind her and locked it. She gave Ryan and Amanda a beautiful smile.

"Mind if I sit?" she asked. ...

In Oxford, Elizabeth Opplinger was sitting on the couch in her living room, fuming mad. She had just gotten off the phone with her thesis advisor, who had told her to her face that he had never received her thesis draft. To her face!

The man had apparently traded his sense of shame for a pair of gigantic brass balls.

She was completely at a loss as to what to do. Ten years.... Ten fucking years! Ten years of her life was just gone, and she had nothing to show for it. All of her plans and her future came crashing down around her ears and bent her back like a mountain had landed on her shoulders.

'Should I go to the dean?' she thought, then immediately discarded that thought. Professor Kingsley was a famous draw to the university, and people from all over the worldincluding herhad applied to be admitted to Oxford for him, and him alone. So the dean would never take her word over his!

'Maybe the media?' she considered, but again, immediately discarded the idea. She had no evidence, and Professor Kingsley, the thieving asshole, had made sure to not say anything that incriminated him on the phone call she'd just had with him.

As she was frantically trying to come up with ideas, someone knocked on the door of her apartment. She ignored it, but the knock came again. Then again. And again, until finally....

"What!?" she screamed as she opened the door.

"Hello yourself, miss Opplinger. Mind if I come in?" the beautiful Nyx agent asked as she slipped past Elizabeth and strode into her living room.

She sat down on the couch and said, "That Kingsley douchebag sure is an ass, isn't he?"

"Wha- how- why- what the fuck!? How did you know about that?" Elizabeth spluttered. She was absolutely confused by this seemingly random turn of events.

"Wanna get back at him?" the agent questioned in return.

"How? I have no evidence, it's my word against his... and he's THE Professor Kingsley, while I'm just grad student number however many.... There's no chance," Elizabeth sighed, then slumped to the recliner across from the couch the agent had settled into.

"Oh, evidence? Evidence is easy. We've already got plenty of that, and we can give it to you, if...."

"If what? I don't have anything anyone would want. So what do you want from me?"

"All you have to do is put these on," the agent pulled a pair of rimless glasses out of her pocket, "and all your questions will be answered."

...

Jai Chakrabarti was having a very good day. He had gone dumpster diving and found most of a takeout container of chicken curry that someone had thrown out with their garbage. As he sat down and looked up at the sky in thanks, his very good day suddenly became very bad.

Three people had seen him sitting with the takeout container in his lap and were now surrounding him.

'Why me?' he thought, gazing up to the uncaring sky.

"I see you got some food, Dalit. But that's too good for a Dalit like you, so hand it over," the tallest of the three said.

(Ed note: "Dalit" is the name of the caste formerly called "untouchable" in India. It's the lowest of their social hierarchy, and the Indian officials have been trying for decades to combat the prejudice levied against Dalits in society there.)

"Please, I haven't had anything to eat all week! I'll die if I don't eat something soon!" Jai begged. He had learned that hunger pangs weren't dangerous. It was when the hunger pangs went away that he was in danger of dying of starvation.

"You really want to steal our food?" The thug slapped one of his fists into the palm of his other hand, and his lackeys sniggered.

A feminine voice came from the entrance to the alley. "Oh come on, boys. Let the man eat in peace. He's got places to see, people to go... wait. Scratch that, reverse it. He's got places to go and people to see."

The thugs turned their heads and glanced at the entrance of the alley, where they saw a stunning white woman wearing a black sleeveless top and tight black pants that were neatly tucked into the top of a pair of matte black combat boots. Her flaming red hair was pulled into a tight bun at the back of her head, and she was wearing a pair of glasses with cherry red frames.

The lead thug laughed and leered at her. "Well hello there, beauty. How about you come spend some time with us real men and leave this pathetic Dalit to lie in a pile of shit like he deserves?" he sneered.

"Oh, I'm sure I can think of something to do with you boys... but I'm not sure it'll be as fun for you as it will be for me. So last chance, boys," she cracked her knuckles and loosened her neck by leaning her head from side to side, "you can leave right now and I won't stop you." She smirked.

The three thugs were infuriated and charged the tiny woman.

She laughed and danced her way through them, expertly applying joint locks and dislocating each of their major joints at an impossible speed.

Before the first thug had even fallen, she had already disabled all three of them. Soon, there were three thugs wailing and rolling around on the ground.

The agent turned to Jai, who was frantically eating the discarded curry, and said, "Hey, you hungry? Let's go grab something to eat."