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Graves rubbed his head. The pain at the neural relay nodes had finally dulled, easing off from a searing pain into little more than a dull ache, but it had done nothing to ease the stallion's dour mood. "I want to get paid" he snarled, kneading the aching nodes at the back of his neck, "now."

Hans struggled to keep pace with the taller man, hurrying along on short, stubby legs. "I entirely sympathise" he said, giving his sprinting pace a quick burst of energy that left the badger feeling just slightly breathless. "But I am afraid that is beyond me at the moment."

Without turning to glance beside him at the diminutive figure, Graves gave a throaty rumble. "I don't care" he grunted.

Staggering his way a few steps ahead of the horse, Hans tried to motion with his hands to reassure the mercenary. Even though the badger shared the same awareness, same consciousness and brain-waves as the company's CEO, the laboratory coat that this specific clone wore designated his role within the company - this meant that although it was the chief executive officer that spoke through the badger's mouth, many people including Graves often found it difficult to mentally separate that fact from the visual image of the badger's lab technician attire.

"Your contract" said Hans in a voice that was almost scolding, "stipulates quite clearly that your employment is on behalf of CyberaTech. Under the remit of our contract, your payment is cont..."

The horse paid no heed, pushing his way past the badger and into the lab.

With a soft hydraulic hiss, the door swung open. Two other clones of Hans that occupied the room already had their heads turned, looking at the stallion as he entered. In the middle of the chamber sat one of the hefty remote vats, looking like nothing more than a mechanical womb.

Stepping closer, Graves peered down into the vat. Ashley floated there, her body slick with amnio-technisis gel. He had grown to hate the scent of the gel - no amount of showering could clean it from him. He clenched his teeth.

"Listen" said one of the Hans clones, hurrying up beside him, "CyberaTech is paying both of our bills here."

"The red tape is your business" replied Graves.

Folding his arms over his round chest, the badger fixed the stallion with a scolding expression. "By the word of the contract that I hold with them" he began, "your payment is derived from the net sum that is paid from CyberaTech to us."

"So what's the hold up?" snapped the stallion, running his meaty fingers against his thick bicep.

Inhaling, Hans adjusted his spectacles. "Quite simply" he said, "we haven't been paid. And we're not going to be paid until she's finished."

With a breezy snort, Graves huffed. "How long do I have to wait?"

"You're asking the wrong person" explained the badger. "Look, I want to get paid as much as you do."

Turning, the horse looked down angrily at Hans. "Really?" he snapped. "You really want to get paid as much as me? Let me just remind you that I've pulled almost a full forty-eight hour shift. In the space of the last two days, I have been shot multiple times, stabbed repeatedly and fallen to my death from a great height. I've been caught in explosions, burned, crushed in a massive traffic collision and decapitated. I have not had a very good day."

"Have you thought" replied Hans, "that maybe you're just not very good at your job, then?"

Reaching down, the stallion clasped a meaty fist around the front of the badger's laboratory coat, pulling the small figure closer until he was nearly nose to nose with the merc. Giving a snort that fogged up the coated man's glasses, he snarled "I want my pay. Plus bonus. Now."

Batting in annoyance at Grave's hand, Hans snapped in annoyance. "I'm the wrong person to ask" he replied, impatiently. "It's her that's wired into the tub you need to speak to."

Dropping his grip on the badger, Graves turned his attention towards the clone control vat. He stepped closer, watching as Ashley floated quite comfortably in the fluid.

He folded his arms, his lips growing tight. She looked so relaxed there, naked and with her hair flowing in the gel. Graves could smell the odour of the liquid, strong and overpowering. She looked so contented, he thought. Typical damn beaurocrat.

"Well" he grunted, and delivered a sharp kick against the tub's power cable, "let's wake her up."

The badger gave a sharp cry as the stallion's heavy boot collided with the cable. "No!" he yelped, scrambling to pull the horse back. Graves barely even noticed, bringing his boot back up again and smashing it down against the cable. It crunched, twisting, the connector twisting at the assault.

The dull hum of the machine snapped abruptly to silence.

Her eyes flicked open, and Ashley looked straight upwards. She coughed, gagging abruptly, and sat bolt upright. Fluid splashed back and forth, cascading around the rim of the pod and pouring onto the floor. She coughed, fiercely hacking up mouthfuls of gel, and began to wipe her eyes frantically.

"You utter moron!" screamed Hans, as two copies of himself hurried their way to the computers. "These machine cost more than you'll make in three lifetimes!"

Wiping a gob of fluid from her face, Ashley glanced around, finally able to see clearly. Her eyes fell onto Graves, and an expression of sheer undiluted hatred settled over her face. "You..." she snarled. "Do you have any idea what you've..."

"Pay me!" snapped Graves.

* * *

The bullet thudded against the floor of Cybe's apartment as Ashley's control over the cloned body of Graves ceased. Abruptly, the muscular stallion crumpled, seeming to deflate.

Cybe stepped closer, watching as the body tumbled to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut. She turned, looking at the AI that held possession of Luke's body. "Did you do that?"

"I did not" replied Icarus.

She gave a shrug. "Well, guess something interrupted their signal. Good. She was starting to annoy me."

The AI stepped closer, leaning down over the body. "Curious" he stated, "This body appears to contain very little in the way of cybernetic augments."

"Clones tend not to" replied Cybe. "There's a few relays in the cortex of the brain that are designed to allow the controller to puppet, but that's usually it. Unless the controller has anything specifically added, that is."

The fox lifted his hand, turning it this way and that. "This body has extensive covert augmentations" said Icarus. "I do not believe, according to the user's memory data, that it is even aware of them."

Folding her arms, Cybe glowered. "No. No, Luke's memory was mostly overwritten. He's a victim of CyberaTech as well, just like me and you."

Slowly, the fox's body nodded. "He has subdermal input receptors in his hands, capable of entering a significant amount of data rapidly. And several datajacks, however they are under the outer layer of skin."

"Once again" replied Cybe, "that's the company. They cut his ability to use his tech. He's actually a damn fine hacker. But he lost that, because of the company. The same company that's limiting you and restricting you, they're doing the same to him. You can help, though."

Icarus stood, turning to face the wolf. "There is no advantage for myself to aid him."

"Yes" insisted Cybe, "there is! All three of us, we're the same. Look at us. He's organic, I'm mechanical, you're digital, and all three of us are in the same position. We can work together."

The AI seemed to pause for a moment. Staring blankly through dimly lit eyes, Icarus didn't reply for a moment. Then, finally, it said "Negative. There is minimal benefit for myself in doing so."

"No" snapped Cybe, leaning closer. "No, you're wrong. There is always a benefit to working together. What about Daedalus, eh? He's a fellow AI, just like you."

"What of it?"

"It's still locked in CyberaTech's data banks, isn't he?" asked Cybe. "And when this project is dubbed a failure, what future is there for him? He'll be shipped back off to Shinjeki, and that's no different from trading one prison cell for another."

Icarus stepped away from the body of the clone. With unsteady strides, he moved the fox's body, taking long and careful steps until he stood facing the window. Much of the glass was cracked, thin spidery webs of broken shards intersecting the cityscape. The AI stared out through the glass, into the city below. The night sky seemed to stretch onwards forever.

"I do not wish for him to be imprisoned either" said the AI, eventually. "I wish to be free. And he should be able to be free, too."

"And so should Luke" stated Cybe, firmly. "Fix him and let him go, and I give you my word that I will get Deadalus out of there."

The AI didn't look away. Instead, he continued to stare into the star-speckled sky. "Do you swear?"

"I promise" said Cybe.

Icarus turned around, staring right at Cybe. "Very well" he said. "However, I will require a new physical case in order to hold my data. The logical course of action would be to procure an android, so that I may-"

Cybe shook her head. "No. We would need to data-wipe it, and that's no better than murder" she replied. "We have a perfectly suitable biological case right here."

The fox's head turned, looking down at the clone of Graves. He examined it, cautiously and carefully. "It is of an apt physical proportions" replied Icarus, "although his genitals are excessively large."

"That's not a bad thing" replied the wolf.

The fox shook his head. "It lacks adequate hardware to hold my data. We would need to equip it with a suitable cyberbrain. How do you propose-"

With a flick of her wrist, Cybe reached up and touched a small button that rested against her ear. "Rowan?" she called. "Pick up."

In the eyepiece of the android, the image of a white mouse flickered into being. "Cybe?" crackled the voice. "Why are you calling me? I thought you'd dealt with... oh my god" she muttered, "what happened to your flat?"

"Moving day" replied the wolf. "Do you happen to have any spare cyberbrains lying around the lab?"

Rowan sighed, and glanced around. "I..." she started, "think I can put one together. What's going on?"

Cybe angled her head, showing the mouse the prone, inanimate body of the clone. "Take out that thing's brain, and replace it with a cybernetic one. Preferably one with ample storage space."

Smirking, Rowan chuckled. "Why does this not surprise me? Really, why? I should have come to expect this type of thing from you by now."

"Can you do it?" asked the wolf.

The mouse shrugged. "I can try. I mean, of course I can do it. Let me find my ice cream scoop and I'll be right over."

* * *

Luke sat on the side of Rowan's bed, flexing his fingers.

The room was small, vaguely cramped, and scented heavily of the odour of ozone and mechanical oil that permeated from the nearby room. In a corner, Luke could see a pile of discarded mechanical limbs - arms, legs and a few spare heads. In another time and place, the bedroom may have looked more like an abattoir. Now, though, it was simply the comfortable home of a surgeon and tech specialist.

The back of his head ached, the nerve endings adjusting to the restructuring that the mouse had performed to bring his dataports back from beneath. He ran his fingers uncertainty over the back of his neck, lightly touching the mechanical sockets. They still felt alien to him. It was so unusual for him to think that they had been there all along, under a layer of synthetic skin and fur that CyberaTech had hurriedly stitched over.

Everything felt new to him. From the newfound controls that he had over his synthetic eyes, now capable of pulling up translucent menus and data screens, to the subdermal input system that was woven just under the skin of his hands that would supposedly allow the fox to type in commands without the need of a physical keyboard, all of these cybernetic upgrades seemed completely new to them.

But, he thought, he had possessed them for months. Years, in fact. He chuckled, thinking that only a few days ago he had confessed to Cybe with embarrassment that he was fully organic. How wrong he had been!

It was peculiar, thinking back to that moment. He could remember the day as though it had only just happened. But he could also remember everything that had occured beforehand. He remembered the mission to infiltrate and recover the files from CyberaTech. He remembered the years that had preceded it, and every mission that he had run. He could remember each of the friends that he had made on the matrix - all of his fellow hackers, he remembered them all. The thought occurred to him that he would need to get back in touch and explain to them where his unusual absence had originated from.

He remembered being Samedi. He remembered riding the neon skyways of the matrix, the feel of the flow of data coursing around him like high-density traffic. He could crack through a firewall with ease, recompile datastreams in seconds. He remembered the love of the thrill. But also, and this was the strangest damned thing, he could remember being Luke as well. Every false memory, every encoded image of his fictional life, it all remained there, superimposed over his real life.

He wondered if Icarus meant that that as a gift, or a means of ensuring that his own personality remained intact.

The door to the bedroom swung open. Luke turned, and a smile flickered across his face as a male figure entered. The fox's eyes glanced up and down over the form, examining the wolf with a growing sense of relief. "Hey Cybe" he said.

Stepping over to him, Cybe came to a halt and sat down on the bed beside him. "Hello Luke" he said. "I hope that your recovery is proceeding well?"

The fox found that he couldn't help but smile. The wolf's body had been repaired - a new head and arm were fitted smoothly in place with all of Rowan's usual precision and fine detail. But it was the mannerism that amused him, the return to the android's more formal way of speaking. "I feel weird" admitted Luke.

The android nodded. "I understand. I experience a sense of dysmorphia for periods upon sleeving from one case to another, which tends to linger for several hours before I am able to acclimatise. I assume that you are suffering from the same?"

Luke glanced down at his fingers. He turned them this way and that, as if hoping to catch sight of the microscopic nano-fiber mesh that lay beneath his skin. "Maybe. I can do things that I never thought possible now. But more than that, I know how to do them. It's..." he inhaled, "it's the difference between having a book that tells me how to do program a system, and having over a decade's worth of experience. Does that make sense?"

Cybe nodded. "It does. The AI restructuring of your mind's data was fantastic."

"Where is Icarus?" asked the boy.

Motioning smoothly with his metallic arm, the android said "He is resting. I believe that the accumulation to a biological body requires a level of physical demands which have resulted in fatigue."

"He's sleeping?"

"That is what I said" replied Cybe. He paused for a moment. "Or, at least, that is what I attempted to communicate. I am sorry, Luke. The restraints on this body's expressive capabilities are still challenging for me."

The fox gave a soft chuckle. "Your female body is..." he grinned. "Odd. Loud."

"That is correct" replied the wolf. "If I were within that case at this moment, I would have already attempted to intoxicate myself with copious amounts of alcohol and copulate with you."

"Oh."

"But it was important that I test the repairs on this one."

Looking down at the floor again, Luke inhaled. "Are you going to be using her again?"

The android looked at Luke, canting his head very slightly. "She is me" he said. "Are you indicating that you do not care for me?"

"No" said the fox, his voice slightly muffled and weak. "Not... well, not as you are now. I like you. The you that I'm with now."

Cybe's face remained blank. "But you do not like me when I am inside my other case?"

Luke exhaled, his body sagging a little. "It's not like that. It's more as though, well, she's a different person."

"She is not" explained Cybe. "We are the same person. The case that I am riding now simply has the inhibitors on my behaviour and actions still in place. My other case does not have those restrictions in place."

"But you are different" insisted the fox. "She acts different from you, she says things that you would never say, she..."

"She is me" stated the android. "And the reason that you seem to dislike her appears to me to be because I am not bound by the same digital chains when I am politing that body. I have always been her, Luke."

Luke pursed his lips. "I'm just not sure that I am really ready for her."

The android did not respond.

"I don't think" said Luke, slowly, "that I was ready for this. I mean, I thought that you were, well, you."

"I am me" explained Cybe.

"But you're not" said the fox, slapping his hand against his knee. "If I had known that you were a, I don't know, a transgender anarchic punk android revolutionary..." he paused. "I thought you were just this guy, you know?"

"So" said the wolf, uncertainty starting to bleed into his voice, "what are you saying to me, Luke?"

"I'm saying" said the fox unsteadily, "I'm not sure that I really love you."