-- Vivian POV, Mind Bank --

  Twenty four hours were a terribly long time if all one had to entertain oneself was a legal document, a CV of dubious validity and the picture of a ridiculously attractive anthro feline that was supposed to become her future self.

  Her vision changed and she saw the room with the bare walls again. The man, Thomas, took seat. Today he was wearing a suit in a lighter, almost silver shade of gray, looking as handsome as last time. She still wondered why he had chosen her, except that she had really few options to decline his offer.

  "Vivian, can you hear me?" He asked in the direction of the camera. Did she have a sort of avatar out there? Or did he just see the camera lens and the microphone?

  "I can hear you, Thomas", she confirmed.

  "So, what do you think now?" He kept looking in the direction which she defined as towards her.

  "It is terrible to have twenty four hours time to think with only the legal document, your CV and the image of my future body to entertain myself with", she let him know.

  "I think I can understand that. Maybe I should have offered you some hours of sleep between. My bad, apologies. But first question, because it's important. Is there any part of the contract that you don't understand? Your answer will be recorded."

  "I'm not a lawyer, but I think I understand the contract", another attempt of her to nod ran into the void of not having a body. Accepting the contract meant she would lose most of her freedom for twenty five years, in exchange for some very basic protection rights, to be fed, given shelter and surprisingly, basic healthcare. Healthcare was nothing to neglect, and healthcare, even if only basic, was something she too often had not been able to afford in her former life.

  "Very good. Now, do you agree on the offer? Twenty five years as my companion, and from then you will be owner of the new body and free to do what you want to do with it. It's a good body and you should have a proper chance to find jobs you can work with it", he outlined her future.

  Her last chance to die in dignity.

  "I accept the offer."

  The legal document that she had been presented got shown again and now carried a digital signature which she recognized as hers.

  "Last chance to say it was a mistake. If you confirm again, this will be legally binding to both of us", he sounded very serious now, like she had an actual chance to say no. Well she had and in some more centuries face deletion because she was a mind that no one was interested in.

  "I confirm. I accept this offer."

  He nodded, "Very good. Prepare yourself to wake up in a real body. I've bought you another ten minutes of thinking time once I leave to do whatever you want or need to do in your mind to get ready."

  "I guess I should say thank you for that. Very considerate", she would actually have smiled if she had a body.

  "You're welcome. I'll be there when you wake up next time." Her vision faded and then her hearing too.

  Ten minutes to dread the fate she had just signed herself into. Twenty five years. That was probably the majority of the lifetime that he had left in his current body. Would she just want to get away from him after that, or would she have learned to like him?

  -- Vivian POV, Medtech Facility --

  She felt the disorientation again. Right, her thinking had been cut off for ... how long this time? She had forgotten to ask.

  Before she could finish the thought her senses were thrown into a raging tumbler. Up and down, screaming noise and silence, weight and falling all weightless, flashing light and darkness all came at once and mixed in a storm of smell and random touch that she could not weather.

  She felt insanity grip her mind with cutting blades, shredding her thoughts to disconnected pieces. She tried to scream. For the first time in ages it actually felt like she had a body responding to her will. If she had screamed, she had not heard it, but she had felt something, a response.

  It took way too long for her senses to sort themselves. The storm faded, and for a while there was just nothing. A deep, peaceful, dark and soothing void. Piece by piece her shattered mind came together and thoughts returned to her.

  Then from far out in the void, sensations arrived at her, almost reluctantly. She felt weight. She was laying on her back and there was something soft under her which carried her weight. The feeling of an endless fall vanished. She heard distinct noises. Nothing she could make sense of, but she definitely heard noises in the quiet.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  She even smelled, nothing she could name, but there were smells in the air. And she was breathing! She took a breath to feel it. And another one. She was alive. Finally!

  But something was wrong with her eyes. The flashing had stopped after the sensory storm had faded, but she couldn't see. It was all dark around her. And now she felt that she was held down and in place. She could move but only very little.

  Panic rose in her. Something was wrong, she couldn't move, she couldn't see. She screamed again, and now she heard someone screaming. That had to be her.

  Without warning, thousands of icy needles stung her from all directions and through and through. She screamed again and fought against whatever was holding her down once more.

  She was panting heavily when the pain eventually faded. She still couldn't move, but now felt straps or similar restraints holding her. She felt her body better now, all her limbs down to toes and fingers and something new, extending from her lower back that had to be a tail, but she still couldn't see anything.

  "My eyes", she tried to say. Something croaked weirdly.

  "Eyes?" She heard a voice. It wasn't Thomas' voice as she knew it.

  She felt something being done to her face, "Keep your eyes closed. We'll dim the light."

  "Yes", she tried to nod and this time her body actually nodded.

  Something was removed from her face and she almost immediately opened her eyes. Didn't they say they dimmed the light? A flash of brightness stung in her eyes, made her scream and she tried to cover her eyes with her hands, just to be reminded her arms were still restrained. With a frustrated hiss she closed her eyes and hoped the pain would fade soon. Why did she just hiss? She didn't use to hiss. The thought came and went. Unimportant. Now she wanted to see!

  Time passed. She heard foot steps, then the voice once more, "Alright Vivian, it's quite dark now in here. Try again."

  She opened her eyes. There was no sting this time, but she only saw very blurry for a while, till her eyes managed to focus on objects. It was scary in a weird sense to have a mostly blurry sight with objects standing out in brilliant detail near the center of her view.

  "Your eyes are different from human eyes. It will take a while to get used to. How do you feel?" It was the same voice again.

  "Battered. But actually alive for once." Was this her new voice? It had to be. Her pronunciation was bad, her tongue was different from what she had been used to, but her voice actually sounded quite pleasant. It bore a promise to become a wonderful voice once she had better control of it.

  "Alright Vivian. Remember you have claws now. I'll release your restraints. Try not to hurt yourself or anyone around. Someone with a stun gun is nearby to take you down in case." She managed to focus her sight on the person speaking, her hearing giving her a good idea where to look at. A seemingly older man with short gray hair, wearing a white coat. A medic or a scientist. Not Thomas.

  "Don't worry. I may be a criminal, but I'm not stupid." Was her criminal record still something? After three hundred and how many years?

  "That's not what I meant. You have a very dangerous body now", the man in the white coat reminded her.

  "I'll be careful", she tried to reassure the man.

  She watched how he released her restraints. Synthetic tissue it seemed, wide bands, strong enough to hold her without cutting into her flesh. Her new sight felt unreal. The center of her view was incredibly detailed, almost on a microscopic level, but towards the edges everything went blurry. She could see the individual fibers that made the synthetic tissue of her restraints if she focused on it. She saw every little detail of the man's skin on his hands. Every single hair, scratch and wrinkle. She had never seen nail beds in such detail, not even her own while she still had had a body.

  She managed to sit up with support of her arms, but her legs didn't fully follow her command. From the knees downward, everything felt weird, and the knees were also strangely high up in her legs. She looked over her legs for a while. Covered by golden fur, divided in three almost equal parts, upper thighs, knees, lower thighs and then what should be ankles but were not, and then something that used to be feet but now rather was another segment of leg. She wiggled her clawed new toes and saw them moving. Good, the nerves were intact, just the structures matched nothing her motor memory could work with from the knees down.

  With some effort she managed to swing her legs over the edge of the med bed and sit more properly. She tried to swing her legs back and forth, but only her knees, the actual, upper ones responded.

  "We'll help you up Vivian and bring you to a room where you can rest for a while. Don't try to walk on your own yet", the man in the white coat told her.

  Two men in nurses attire had supported her on the way, and more dragged her than she could actually walk. Luckily it hadn't been far. Now a door was opened in front her her, while she tried to stand on legs that didn't work and failed her will again and again.

  A padded cell, the only extra items were a mattress, a blanket and a cushion. The room was illuminated by soft light and smelled of disinfectant, cleaning agents and a mix of other scents she could not readily identify, maybe traces of people. The one nurse explained, "It's for your safety. You'll fall often during the next days. Anything hard will be dangerous for you. So until you can safely stand and walk, this will be your home."

  She nodded, "Can't say I like it, but I understand why."

  They helped her in and to sit down on the mattress.

  "We'll leave you alone now, so you have time to get used to your new body. Start with simple things. Move your fingers, move you toes. Hands, arms, head, all should work as you are used to. Try if you can already move your ears and tail. Don't worry if nothing happens yet. It can take a few days till you gain control of these. Don't try to stand or walk yet."

  She nodded to confirm, "Everything down from my knees just feels weird, nothing moves as I want it to. Well, the toes do." She wiggled her toes again.

  He nodded in response, "It will get better soon. Tomorrow your leg training will start. Until then, if you need help at any time, just shout. The room is monitored and someone will come to help. The door isn't locked, but unless you can walk safely, stay in here please."

  "Thank you. I'll shout if there is something that I need", she tried to smile at him and felt how her lips revealed her fangs.

  Then the bastard patted her head like she was some pet! "That's fine. I'll pick you up tomorrow for your leg training. See you then!" She didn't hiss at him and just nodded.

  "See you", she waved briefly as they left the room. Her arms worked just fine, quite unlike her legs.

  What had he said? Time to get used to her new body. At least the parts that worked. She looked at her hand. Or was that a paw? A hand! A hand with claws on her fingers, and a coat of golden fur over dark brown skin. She moved her fingers to confirm it was indeed her hand and not some mirage.

  Also, where was Tom?