rom some dull
business problems he's having. Whatever it is, I'm glad I don't have
to think about it anymore tonight.

As I walk into my driveway, I think about how I can spend the rest of
the evening. Maybe a hot shower followed by a stir fry and a nature
documentary. Both the matter and the subject matter were popular
torrents on my favourite Swedish tracker the previous week. It really
puts my job into perspective when I'm reminded how the human race is
the only species that isn't still wrapped up in daily life-or-death
struggles for food, or at least, not for copyright free food.

As I approach my block of flats, for some reason I feel uneasy. I
realise something's wrong, although I can't quite work out what it is
yet. I switch to defence mode yet again as I press the palm of my hand
against the security pad, look into the retina scanner and open the
door as quietly as I can. To my surprise, my eyes' apps seem to have
been upgraded. I have them set not to update automatically, which
means they must have been switched while I was out from the brain scan.
No wonder I lost consciousness: they'd been altering me, not just
passively examining me. I switch modes again, figuring that it's
better to take my chances on my own, rather than risk firing off
unknown software that could do anything from crash to sabotage me. I
creep along the corridor, then open the door to my flat just as quietly.

I switch my eyes to +IR mode so that they overlay the infrared
frequencies of the electromagnetic radiation around me over the top of
the human-visible ones. The eerie glow of the walls and pipes is
familiar enough, but the human sized and shaped blob glowing in the
living room isn't. I switch the vision to only twenty percent infrared
overlay so that I don't have as much information to distract me, and I
brace myself.

I keep two katanas hung up decoratively on the wall in my living room,
and with the element of surprise I might manage to grab one before the
intruder knows I'm there. I have no idea if he or she is even armed,
so I don't want to take any chances.

The blur moves like she or he is about to stand up, so I run into the
room as quickly as I can and grab a katana. Despite bracing myself,
I'm not prepared for what I see next.

* * *

The figure dashes for the other katana, then leaps back to the other
side of the room so we can properly study each other. I can see her
clea