Cammy the Fixer

Cammy listened to Frank's story, but she couldn't really believe much of what he was saying. However, he wasn't entirely sure how he came to use the LifeBack kit, so that part was a blank, or at the very least, a scrambled mess, to him.

"Frank," she said. "You were murdered."

"Oh," he said. "Did they figure out who did it?"

"No," Cammy said. "They're still investigating it. But I got a weird message the other day. It said 'Follow the acquisitions,' and was signed JC. Do you think...?"

Frank's avatar's eyes went wide. "That seems unlikely," he said. "But what does that mean? Follow the acquisitions?"

Cammy shrugged. "Maybe it's a clue to who murdered you."

"But what acquisitions?" Frank said.

Cammy slapped the monitor on the side. "Probably the Geomys acquisition, silly" she said.

Frank paused. "Wait, what?"

Cammy opened a box of pizza on the table next to the screen and started eating a cold slice. "Some company wants to buy your company," she said while chewing on a bite. "One of the megas. I'm not supposed to know." 

"Which mega?" said Frank.

"I dunno," she said. "They're all the same to me."

Frank put his hands against the screen. "Cammy," he said. "You've got to help me."

She nodded while she finished her slice. "What do you need, Frank?" she said.

"I need you to help me get out of here," he said, indicating the screen. "I need you to get me to Conor. I need him to put off doing anything drastic until we can sort this out."

Cammy looked at the monitor. "So, you want me to put you on a thumb drive and deliver you to Conor?"

Frank nodded. "Or something like that."

"I have a better idea," she said. She rummaged through a pile of components and pulled out a little drone.

"Is that a Taskrotta?" said Frank.

"Yeah," she said, examining it. "Darndest thing, the day you died, all the Taskrotta stopped working."

"Any idea why?"

"Syd says it's because you hit the Big Bad Button."

Frank could see the button in his minds' eye, but the details surrounding it were a bit scrambled. "My brain's a bit off, since I died. I don't think I got a full backup."

Cammy shrugged. "Small price to pay," she said. She poked at the Taskrotta with a tool until it chirped to life. "I could run a descrambler on you," she suggested. "It might take a while, though."

"I really need to get to Conor," he said.

"I can run it on a shadow copy," she said. "Then we can patch it to your brain, wherever that might be," she said. She let the Taskrotta hover over her open palm. "What do you know about holograms?" she asked.

Frank looked at the Taskrotta. "I know that a holographic projector would never fit into one of those," he said. "If that's what you're suggesting."

Cammy raised an eyebrow. "That's exactly what I'm suggesting," she said. "And it does." She pushed something on the tool she was using, and the Taskrotta started displaying the hologram of a teapot. "Amazing, right?"

"But how could you stuff all the components and the projector into that little thing?"

"And more," she said. She tapped the side of her head. "Trade secret." The Taskrotta landed back in her hand. "It's equipped with enough storage to put ten of you on it, plus the projector, plus the microcontrollers, plus a processor that can handle your billion wicked thoughts. And since you in your current state weigh less than a hummingbird, that won't add any significant mass to take into consideration. It's your ticket out of cube town, Mr. Square."

Frank was amazed. "So, you can just load me onto that, and I'll be able to walk around, or at least give a reasonable simulation of such?"

Cammy nodded. "You'll be a bona fide goalpost head," she said. She typed a few keys on the keyboard, and Frank felt himself being pulled through the void. When he next realized, he was standing in the room, looking up at Cammy. She was laughing.

"What's so funny?" Frank said.

Cammy lowered her hand toward Frank, and he realized, she was a giant. "I guess I have to work out the bugs with the projection field," she said. She grabbed Frank, or rather, the Taskrotta that was projecting him from its middle. She poked at it with the tool some more, and after a few seconds, Frank was standing in the normal-sized room next to a normal-sized Cammy.

"Thanks, I think," he said. He brushed off his shirt, more out of habit than anything else.

"No problem," said Cammy. "I'm quite proud of what I've done. I think it needs a name."

"Let's call it a Frank-o-copter," he suggested.

She laughed. Then she stopped. "Oh," she said. "You were serious?" Then she laughed again. "No," she said. "We're calling it a Holoratta." 

"I can live with that," he said. Then he chuckled at what he had said.

"Just don't break it too much," she said. "You're the only prototype, and I'd hate to lose it before we get a chance to market them."

"Okay," said Frank. "I'll be careful."

"Good," she said. "Because if you die in the Holoratta, you die in real life."

Frank laughed. Then he stopped. "Oh," he said. "You were serious?" He frowned. "For real?"

She nodded. "There's only one Frank Conchobhar," she said. "I might be able to restore you from a backup, but since it's a break in continuity, it's not going to be the same you. You know?"

Frank nodded. "Thanks, Cammy," he said. He tried to pat her on the shoulder, but his hand just went through her arm. "Oh," he said. "I'd better get used to that."

"No problem," she said. "Now, I believe you wanted to see your brother-in-law before he sold your birthright?"

"Right," he said. He walked toward the door. Cammy sipped from a half-empty can before squelching her face at its contents. "One request," he said.

She looked up at him. "What? Oh! The door." She opened the door for him. "Take care, Frank. It was nice seeing you."

"It was nice seeing you too, Cammy," he said. He nodded farewell before walking into the night.

Cammy started writing the descrambler, opening a fresh can of her favorite stim drink.