Re-entry (First Draft)

Mel grumbled as she stared at her PDA, the moon shuttle was packed. Between the chatty pilot, grumbling scientists and screaming tourists she was struggling to focus on her work.
"...and if you look out the port side windows you'll be able to see Earth!" the overly chatty pilot continued, triggering a rush over to the windows on the left of the cabin as the blue marble came gliding into view. Mel remained seated, quietly scrolling through files and news. It was just Earth, she'd seen it plenty of times.

"OK folks, we're preparing for re-entry, please make sure all harnesses are fastened, all luggage is stowed, and that window blinds are closed. Thank you!" there was a soft click and the pilot stopped talking, finally.
Mel locked her harness in place and glanced over at the passenger in the seat next to her, they seemed to be having some trouble, but it was quickly solved by a passing attendant.
"You sure did fasten that up quickly! Not your first flight?" the passenger chuckled, looking over at Mel. A large man, wolf of some kind, the harness stretched out over his belly, but he had a soft face and a soft smile.
"I have a fair bit of experience." she responded, not letting much on.
"Glad to hear it! What's re-entry like?" he asked, craning his neck to look around the cabin.
"Ever been in an aeroplane landing in a cross wind during a thunderstorm?" she queried, glancing over at him as he settled in his seat.
"Once or twice, it's not nice..." he blinked a few times, like he was trying to process just how bad this could be.
"Re-entry is worse, it's always worse," she seemed to chuckle as she said it, "Don't worry though, it's over as quickly as it begins."
Mel didn't actually mind re-entry, sure it was rough, and could get a bit hot, and the world around you felt like it could fall apart at any second. But it meant she was going home. Real gravity, real sunlight, real food. The bumpy ride was just the sign that she would soon be stepping out onto good old Terra firma.

It was actually a surprisingly smooth re-entry, at least by her standards. The orbital tether caught them and decelerated them to entry speeds and there wasn't much turbulence on the way down. Not missing the tether, or getting sick from g-shift because the grav-mesh malfunctioned... or having another passenger vomit on her put it in her top 10.
"I see what you meant..." the wolf next to her slowly withdrew his claws from the armrests.
Mel was already unbuckling her harness, her eyes darted across to the wolf and back, "Believe it or not, that was the smoothest re-entry I've ever experienced." 
"I don't think space travel is for me then!" a bit of humour returned to the wolf's tone. 
"Be proud of yourself, you didn't throw up on me!" Mel returned the humorous tone.
The wolf smiled and unbuckled his own harness, carefully rising from his seat he seemed to fully relax the instant he realized he was under the effect of full earth gravity.

Disembarking from a space flight was not unlike disembarking from a terrestrial flight, security, border control, customs. Mel rolled her eyes as the queue slowly advanced forward, slipping her PDA out her pocket she lined up a taxi booking for when she got through security.
"Next at window... 4... please..." a synthetic voice chimed, Mel glanced up from her PDA. The queue had been moving quicker than she thought. The wolf from her flight was standing at window 3 and seemed to be having a great time with the border agent.
The agent on window 4 looked like she didn't want to be there. A lop-eared rabbit, long and dark hair, and wearing one of the more surly expressions a person could.
Mel walked over and pulled her paperwork out of her bag.
"Passport and travel papers." the agent grunted.
Mel handed them over in silence, if the agent wasn't chatty, she wouldn't be either. The gold lettering on her otherwise white passport caught the light as she slid it under the plexiglass window towards the agent.
The agent raised an eyebrow as they scanned it, Mel's information appeared on the display, an older photo, certainly. The agent then opened the passport itself and looked it over. It was like they were being intentionally slow. Mel rolled her eyes and grumbled.
"Is there a problem?" she finally grunted, the agent's eyes had been flitting between the passport, the screen and Mel for close to a minute.
"When was this picture last updated?" the agent seemed to snarl, a smirk curling across their face.
"It was updated the last time I was planet side, so... three years ago?" had it really been three years, her face scrunched a little trying to remember specific dates.
"You ISA types, not getting your documents updated when things change." a bone to pick with ISA employees perhaps?
"We don't have passport printing equipment on the Lunar bases." Mel was starting to get a bit snippy.
A few more flicks, eyes up, eyes down, eyes up, eyes down. The agent then seemed to decide that continuing to be awkward wasn't worth their time, tapping a few commands into the keyboard in front of them and sliding Mel's documents back towards her. "Get your papers updated whilst you're down here visiting us mere mortals, huh?"
Mel wordlessly stuffed her papers back into her back and strode away from the window without another word. She hoped that the gate staff at the airport would be less of an issue. 

It turned out they were, same procedure crossing the vast nation of the EU as returning from space. Amazing how many shortcuts places will take when there's already similar systems in place, even if they aren't fully compatible. Fortunately, domestic travel by a citizen of the International Space Agency doesn't raise too many eyebrows, either that or the gate staff were bored stiff and didn't care. Either way, she was now standing, bag in hand, at the taxi stance in New Bright City Airport.
Opening up the BrightRide app she glared at the estimated time for a taxi. Automated or not, they were still unreliable. She pondered a moment as to why she was even here. Last she knew of her sister she was in the Western Republic fighting in that stupid civil war. Any communications she sent either weren't delivered or bounced. At least her flat was still shown as occupied, it was worth a shot. Perhaps whoever lived there now could point her in the right direction at the very least.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the cab pulling up and opening its door and luggage compartment.
"Welcome to BrightRide! We apologize for the delay, we are experiencing unexpectedly high passenger numbers at this time." the driver bot chimed from the front seat. For some reason fully automated pods had shown to be off-putting for passengers, people wanted to see a driver up front. Mel found the "drivers" more off-putting. Very obviously artificial, very basic artificial intelligence, and sickly sweet. It had a basic understanding of the world around it thanks to a data-link and could make small talk, but beyond that they were all very similar. This one was emulating a cat of some kind, one of the ears on its head was just barely hanging on with a few strings of glue and the faux fur coating on its body was looking very ratty. That didn't dampen it's overly cheerful mood. She was fine with AI, she just disliked the uncanny valley. The robots on lunar base were very clearly, robotic. She liked them.
"Would you like to stop anywhere on the way to your destination?" it queried, worn out servos and motors whining as it twisted round to look at Mel in the back seat. Its face was a picture, and not a pretty one. The fur was worn through in several spots, and it looked like it had taken a drunken punch or two in its service life. Mel stopped just short of feeling sorry for it, its lifeless eyes feeling like they were boring a hole through her.
"No. Thank you. Just my destination please." Mel responded shortly, usually that was enough to make sure these autocabs didn't try and converse too much...
"Okie dokie!" the driver chimed, turning back round in its seat. A click and the car's power plant energized, the motors whining to life as they pulled away and off onto the road.

As the sights and sounds of New Bright City rushed past them Mel ignored it all, tapping away at her PDA trying to plan her next course of action, where to go if her sister wasn't at her old flat. She fired off a message to the asset procurement department on lunar base, perhaps they could book her into a hotel in the city. A few minutes later she got a response from the AI controlling that department.
"The International Space Agency has access to several properties in your destination city. You have been assigned a penthouse suite in building 1182, Buchanan Road. I believe it is within 15 minutes walk of your target. I hope your return journey to the planet was a pleasant one and that you enjoy your stay. ~APD Management System-13."
She opened her mapping app and punched in the address, a good central location and yes, within a few minutes of her sister's flat. Tapping a few more times she got a look inside the place and her jaw dropped. It was colossal, the whole top floor, private elevator access and 24-hour service. Easily more expensive than an executive suite at a five-star hotel, but the ISA had money to burn these days, and they liked looking after their staff. She also had a good rapport with the AI on lunar base, that probably helped too.
"Driver, could you please change the destination address to 1182 Buchanan Road?" Mel queried, glancing up from her PDA, the city rushed past them at highway speeds, she couldn't make anything specific out.
"Not a problem at all! Your fare will be updated on the BrightRide app! Please confirm the update now." the driver responded, unmoving. Mel confirmed the change on her PDA, the fare was effectively unchanged. "Confirmation received! Would you like to stop anywhere on the way to your new destination?"
"No. Thank you."
"Okie dokie!"

The remainder of the journey passed in near silence. Not a single word from the autocab driver, just the hum of the electric motors and the rumble of the tires on the road. The autocab pulled in to the side of the road and stopped, the hum of the power plant died down and the drivers servos whined as it turned in its seat.
"We've arrived at your destination, thank you for choosing BrightRide!" a forced smile painted across its face.
Mel slid out of the taxi and hoisted her bag over her shoulder and walked into the grand entrance hall of the apartment block. She quickly realized why the penthouse had been offered to her so readily. The whole building was owned by the ISA.
The expansive and grand front desk was anachronistic to the organization, as were the wood-panelled walls and gold trimmed fixtures. The ISA preferred function to form, in all cases, the building was probably a recent acquisition, or perhaps it was listed and they couldn't change the décor.
"Greetings Employee 183-T2218," Mel's eyes were drawn quickly to the robot behind the front desk, now it was definitely of ISA design, "Your booking for the penthouse has been confirmed, your staff ID will allow you to use the lift at the end of the hall to gain access." The red tinted glass covering the robots optic sensors appeared to flicker as its myriad of arms handled paperwork and interfaced with terminals. Gunmetal grey with light grey armour plating along its core and extremities, a small status display on its chest was blank, a thick bundle of cables trailed out the back of what would have been its neck and connected to terminals around it.
"Thank you, it's been a long trip." Mel responded, she was quite relaxed around this kind of robot, their AI was complex and engaging, whilst they were clearly inorganic. No uncanny valley here.
"I hope that it was a pleasant trip," OK maybe a little uncanny valley, a platitude being spoken from a harsh speech synthesizer was a little off-putting, "I am Concierge 312A, if you have any issues with your accommodations or require any resources please inform me."

The lift was similarly ostentatious to the lobby. Wooden panelling, gold trim on the control panel, the back wall entirely glass. The New Bright City skyline rapidly shrank away as the lift rocketed upwards at an unnerving pace, numbers on the dated looking red LCD panel climbed higher and higher. Then she felt it slowing, the numbers climbed slower and slower, finally there was a gentle thump as the parking brakes engaged. The LCD panel showing "PH", presumably the best it could do for "Penthouse" with the ancient display technology. Mel briefly wondered how old the building was as the lift chime sounded and snapped her back to reality. The doors slid open and she stepped into the penthouse suite. 
A completely different beast to the lobby and the lift that preceded it, a very minimalist affair with white painted walls and a hardwood floor. Her footsteps echoed off the bare walls as she strode into the living area where she was met with a soft carpet and a group of very comfortable looking sofas surrounding a large fire pit. The brushed steel extractor disappeared into the ceiling.
Clearly some fixtures had been too complicated to remove or replace, so the ISA had made do. Whatever it looked cosy.
Her visual assessment was quickly proven to be accurate as she threw herself onto one of the sofas and practically sank into it.
It smelled brand new, like it had only been removed from the wrapper a few hours ago.
Rolling over she pulled her PDA out of her pocket and stared at the slowly animating lock screen. Briefly mesmerized by it, she was brought back to reality with a thump as it slipped out her hand, bounced off her muzzle and landed on the floor with a soft thump. Cursing quietly she picked it up off the floor and unlocked it, no new messages. A moment or so passed again as flicked through various apps achieving pretty much nothing before landing on her to-do app.
Scrolling through it she ticked off the obvious; Get back to earth, transport to New Bright, find a place to stay.
She paused, her thumb hovering over two of the items on the list; Find my sister, take meds.
Shit, meds. Hauling herself out of the sofa she picked her bag up and unzipped it. Digging around in the mess of cables and assorted crap for a moment she found what she was looking for. The small pink disc had survived the trip intact and hadn't spilled its contents all over her bag.
Taking the disc in hand she hauled herself out the sofa and wandered through to the kitchen.
It was very large, and very modern. Dark granite surfaces, black matte facings, steel trimmed fittings, and a huge breakfast bar right in the middle. Someone could host a small party in this space alone and it wouldn't be that cramped.
Picking through the cupboards she found a tall glass and turned to the fridge, although it looked more like the monolith. A small recess in one of the doors clearly marked as an ice and water dispenser.
She pressed the glass into the recess and a moment later a stream of chilled, crystal clear water streamed into the glass. Examining it for a moment she took a sip. Filtered, only a tiny hint of water treatment chemicals and not a whiff of limescale, very good.
Sitting the glass on one of the granite worktops for a moment she clicked the wheel on the disc round and popped out one of the pills, tiny little thing, deceptively hard to swallow.
Into her mouth it went followed by a quick swig of the water. She spluttered a bit but it had gone over.
Padding back through to the living area she sank back into the sofa, her glass of water finding a home on the wide edge of the fire pit. Pulling her bag up onto her lap she started fishing through it again, extracting things of use. Her portable terminal, power cables... she paused, then dug deeper. "Damn, forgot my toothbrush."
She reached for her PDA to ping the concierge, but decided against it. Probably better to get the lay of the land, and perhaps pick up some snacks as well. The selection on Lunar Base was limited.

The lift chimed once more and Mel stepped out into the lobby, a few people in ISA outfits were milling about, chatting or relaxing on chairs. Presumably they'd been assigned this building as their residence as well.
"Good evening Miss, getting settled in OK?" the concierge bot seemed to sense her approach to the desk.
"Yes, fine, thank you. Where's the nearest convenience store to here? I appear to have forgotten my toothbrush back on Lunar Base." Mel queried as she walked around to the front of the desk, the many arms of the concierge robot performing a hypnotic dance as it continued to process its workload.
"There was no need to come down, I can get whatever you need delivered to the suite." despite its artificial tone, it was still friendly.
"I need to stretch my legs anyway, that and I like to browse. It's been a few years since I was in a planet side store." Mel smiled as her eyes scanned the lobby some more.
"Understood. The nearest convenience store to this location is the local 24Mart. Turn left after leaving this building and walk up the street. It will be on your left and you can not miss it." the concierge seemed to be softening its tone. Possibly a live patch. The whole place still screamed 'incomplete'.
Mel turned to leave then paused, "Out of curiosity, how long has this facility been active?"
"We formally opened this morning under order from Asset Procurement System 13, it appeared to be urgent. We have held this facility for a month." the concierge replied, almost cheery this time.
"Opened just for me, huh? I had no idea I had that much pull." Mel quietly mused.
"You don't treat us like robots Miss, we like to reward that. Have a pleasant evening." Mel felt that if the robot could smile it would have, she wasn't sure how to process this new information but decided to take it in stride.
"Thank you, hopefully I won't be long." Mel smiled 'back' and was met with an acknowledging but silent nod from the robot.

It was a warm evening, not that you could tell what time it was at street level a lot of the time, bright lights from stores, offices and residences practically blotted out the sky. Mel dialled down the sensitivity of her optics, way too bright. 
People milled about the street dipping in and out of stores, groups of people in suits hanging around sandwich shops, her eyes darted about taking it all in. She did notice a disparity in the clothing, given how warm it was there were still some people wrapped up in hoodies, she chalked it up to personal preference and filed it away. The street clearly wasn't as busy as it could be, but it was busier than she was used to. She picked up the pace, she didn't like busy.
Fortunately the 24Mart was not busy, the doors trundling open as she approached them. She grabbed a small basket on the way in and started wandering.  She knew what she was looking for, but decided to have a look at the selection anyway.
Some bread, a pack of Chocolate Crispy Rolls, tube of PopIts, that new Toasty Tart flavour she'd not tried yet, small milk, six-pack of Cola, a couple of Pot-o-Noods. She paused, she sensed a pair of eyes on her, like they were scrutinizing her, someone's name was called, not hers she ignored it.
Then it was called again, a little louder, a little closer, the eyes were nearer.
"Melissa? I thought you were at the club tonight?" a voice appeared behind her, she turned her attention pulled away from the confectionary she'd been studying intently, "Oh! Sorry you... you look a hell of a lot like my friend!"
The voice now had a face, and a body, a rather tall one too. The scantily clad grey rabbit easily stood a head and a bit above her, glowing purple eyes locked on. A black tube top, pink bra visible beneath it holding back a rather large chest, both covered by a rather fluffy looking overcoat that stopped just below her bustline, very short and very freyed denim shorts, some kind of backpack too, black with pink trim. A quick scan showed this individual was also absolutely packed with augmentations in various states of functionality. "Uh, hi, sorry I'm not your friend, uh..." Mel stammered a bit, she didn't like being unexpectedly approached.
Seeming to sense this the rabbit took a few steps back and smiled softly, "It's OK, don't worry you just... wow you're the spitting image of her." an awkward pause, "Name's Zee."
"I'm Mel... I guess that's pretty close to 'Melissa'..." Mel paused for a moment, "Melissa... Kjeller? Looks just like me just without..." she gestured at her prosthetic eyes with her free hand, "...these."
"Bingo! You know her?" The rabbit queried, her own basket hanging loosely to one side, a couple of bottles of alcohol, can of WD-90, pack of custard creams.
"That's my sister! You say you're friends?" Mel's eyes lit up, no need to hunt, the answer had landed in her lap.
"Huh, she never mentioned having a sister before." Zee's face scrunched up a bit, she shifted the basket from one hand to the other, as if the arm that had been holding it was sore.
"Did she, uh, did she mention having a brother perhaps?" Mel glanced away from the towering rabbit and scanned the shelves behind her, boxes of cereal mostly, she made a mental note to grab some corn flakes.
"As a matter of fact she did... oh..." Zee paused, those glowing purple eyes seeming to bore into Mel's very soul, "I guess that makes you... well... made you 'Miles' then?"
Mel sighed a little and shrugged, "In the flesh, circuit and bone."
"Does she know about..." Zee stopped herself mid-sentence.
"I'm going to assume you mean my arrival. I doubt it, we've not spoken in a very long time. Communications between Lunar Base and the EU Military aren't great at the best of times. They don't appreciate us tapping their comm lines." Mel chuckled a little to herself.
"You're ISA?" Zee seemed surprised at this revelation.
"Yeah. You look shocked." Mel put checked up and down the empty aisle and then placed her basket on the ground.
Zee followed suit, stretching both arms after doing so, a low servo whine came from one of them. Mel wasn't sure which, but it appeared to be causing Zee some discomfort. "Your PR team project a very different image down here."
Mel laughed out loud, "Yeah, they tend to gloss over their science and engineering teams in the propaganda. Not all of us are from explorations."
A pause in the dialogue came again, it felt like an abrupt end to a conversation tree in a badly programmed RPG, until Zee spoke once more. "Do you want me to tell Melissa that you're here?"
Mel was snapped out of her drifting thoughts, "Oh, yes, please. I'd appreciate that. I'll wavecast you my net address."
"Hit me." Zee bent over and slowly lifted her basket as a short blast of static came from Mel's mouth. Zee responded in kind, confirming the handshake and passing on her own address in the process. "You get that OK?"
"Yeah, loud and clear." Mel picked up her own basket and reached past Zee, plucking a pack of corn flakes off the shelf behind her.
"I'll let you know as soon as I talk to Melissa about it. Hopefully she'll be really excited about this." Zee's smile returned, stepping to one side and revealing the CinnaMunch Toast she'd been blocking. She took note of Mel putting the corn flakes back and picking up a pack of CinnaMunch instead.
"I know I am, I've missed her a lot. I'm sure we have a lot to catch up on." Mel sighed, "It was nice to meet you Zee, hopefully we'll see more of each other."
Zee paused before responding, "It was nice to meet you too. I should be in touch tomorrow."
Mel nodded and they parted ways.

The checkout queue was short despite their being only one cashier, Mel jokingly congratulated herself on visiting the store at a quiet time by complete accident. She was in high spirits. The scantily clad rabbit had just completed her search in one move and she didn't even need to go knocking on doors.
She unloaded her basket onto the belt as the person in front of her inched forward. Mostly junk food. She missed it, so she was going to have it.
The cashier wore a disarming smile on her tired face, a long shift. Her name tag identified her as the store manager "Rayne". A light furred guinea pig, her hands were practically a blur across the scanner. A quick scan showed that not an inch of her had been augmented, not even a neural interface.
"Hi, Do you have a 24Mart card?" she queried.
"Ah, no I don't, I'm not from the area." Mel responded, ducking down to grab a bag from the display below the register.
"We have stores across the EU, you can always register on our app if you'd like." she maintained fantastic eye contact as her hands continued to sweep Mel's shopping across the scanner.
"Ah, I'm an ISA citizen, I'm not planet side very often." Mel chuckled.
"Wow, what's it like living in space?" she seemed genuinely interested.
"To be honest, once you get used to it, a lot like Earth, just with a different view. It gets interesting when the gravity mesh fails though and you start floating about." Mel returned the smile, she'd done more smiling today alone than in her last month at Lunar Base.
"That'll be 2,490 credits please. That can't be pleasant when that happens." Rayne tapped on the register screen and the payment terminal woke up. 
Mel tapped her PDA to the payment terminal and a chime indicated the payment had gone through. "If you're not used to it you'll get some bruises."
"Ouch.", a pause, "Do you need a receipt?" Rayne asked, her finger hovering over the screen in anticipation.
"Yes please," Mel replied, "I'll see if I can claim any of this back on expenses. Doubt it though!"
The receipt printer whirred then stopped, Rayne tore the receipt off and handed it to Mel, "Thank you for shopping at 24Mart, hope to see you again soon!"
Mel smiled and turned to walk out but misjudged it. Earth gravity and artificial gravity were still slightly different and she wasn't 100% used to it yet. She hit the ground with a clatter, the contents of her bag making their escape.
"That looked like a nasty fall there mate, here let me help you up." a voice came from above, presumably the person that had been in the queue behind her. She reached up and grabbed the persons arm and they started to help haul her up.
"Thanks, it was going to happen eventually, but I hoped it would be a bit less public." Mel laughed a little, she was sore, but a self diagnostic reported no damage. Her eyes locked to the person helping her up, a kangaroo in a sharp business suit, thick sunrise empire accent.
Suddenly she was on the ground again and her muzzle was stinging, the sounds of the store stopped and were replaced by low murmurs, and one very loud voice. "Clumsy cybernetic cunt, thought I was helping up a natural person. Go get a service or something."
Mel regained her focus, the man had hit her... he was rubbing his slightly stained fist... she could feel something dribbling out her nose... self diagnostic, burst blood vessels, minor crack in a bone. "W... what... what the fuck!?" was all she could stammer as she dragged herself to her feet.
"YOU! OUT MY SHOP! NOW!" Rayne had stepped out from behind the register, she barely came up to his chest, but her manner was terrifying.
"You can't tell me that you support these unnatural freaks? You're pure, like me!" he straightened his tie and grinned, "Let's sue her for injuring me in a fight, we'll split the proceeds. She's ISA, they're made of money."
"You're diggin' yoursel' a big hole buddy." Rayne snarled, "Final warning, out my shop, or I'm going to get you thrown out."
Mel barely caught what happened next, he seemed to turn to walk away then spun round a punch aimed squarely at Rayne's head. A flash of grey and purple, the loud whine of over exerted servos, the sound of cracking bones, a scream.
"She. Said. Out." a familiar voice growled, "Or I'll break more than your fingers."
"I'm going to end you all!" the man yelled as he scrambled out of the store.
Rayne collapsed into the chair behind her register and gazed at the display, Zee walked over and said a few words Mel didn't quite catch. A brief back and forth, a chuckle, a nod. Zee then approached Mel.
"You alright there Mel? How much damage did he do?" she queried, looking over Mel's bloody nose.
"Uh... I... diagnostics don't show too much damage. There will be a medkit where I'm staying..." Mel was in a daze.
"Wherever that is, I'm walking you back to it. Bastards like that are all over the place these days." Zee's voice dropped to a low growl, "Rayne's going to let the guys at the club come over and tinker with the security footage. She hates people like that and likes it when they get what's coming to them. But he's totally going to call the cops."
Mel blinked a few times, before glancing at Zee's left arm, twitching uncontrollably by her side, "Your arm? Did he get a hit in?"
Zee looked over at it and sighed, the twitching coming to a halt after a moment, "I get tremors from time to time, breaking that jerk-off's hand probably set them off. I'll be fine, Leon at the club'll have me patched up in no-time. I'll just need to be careful with it until then."
Mel nodded slowly before carefully leaning over to pick up her shopping, bundling it back into the bag before slowly walking out the store Zee following behind.

The walk back to the apartments felt less like a walk and more like a warp, two steps and they were there. Mel's mind really was elsewhere.
"Welcome back Miss... My goodness, you're injured." the concierge robot behind the counter appeared to have had all its upgrades, a smooth and evenly synthesized voice, a tone of genuine concern. It's appearance still caught Zee off guard.
"Some asshole punched her in the face at the store." Zee regained her composure, a robot was just a robot. Multi-limbed or not.
"You appear to have also taken damage, communications to your primary control linkage in your left arm seems to be misfiring." the robot stated plainly, "Do you require urgent repair?"
Zee was quickly taken aback, "How do you... no... I have a maintenance guy I trust to help me with these things. I've got the feedback turned down for now."
"Understood, Miss Kjeller resides on the penthouse floor," one of its arms moved under the desk and pulled out a medical kit, "take this with you in case it is required. If you have any urgent issues please page me immediately and I will send assistance."
"Thank you, uh... Sorry I don't know your name." Zee slowly walked Mel across the lobby as she spoke to the multi-limbed robot, Mel was just away in a haze.
"I am ISA Automated Concierge 312A." it responded plainly, seeming to nod its head assembly as it did so.
"I'm Zee. I work at one of the clubs a couple of kilometres down the road." Zee picked the medical kit off the desk, the servos in the robot were eerily quiet despite the constant movement, a faint whine from transformers and powerful sensing arrays were about all the noise it made when it wasn't talking.
"This incident took place at the 24Mart, correct?" the robot enquired as Zee and Mel made their way slowly to the lift.
"Yeah, why?" Zee asked, the robot seemed well-intentioned, at least as well-intentioned as a robot can appear to be.
"I have interfaced with the security system there and have reviewed the footage..." the robot stated, its friendly demeanour swapped out for a more serious one, "The aggressor has been identified and will be handled accordingly...", it suddenly lightened up again, "The team from your club has arrived and are now removing the footage of you breaking his hand, a wise precaution."
"You ISA bots are scary." Zee blurted out before she could stop herself.
The robot took it in stride, "The ISA is scary my dear. It is wise to not cross us."
Zee took note as she eased Mel into the lift.

The ride up to the penthouse was done in near silence, the low hum of the linear motors lifting the cab the only sound.
Mel had slid down the outside wall and was slumped on the floor, the blood that had been dribbling out her nose moments earlier now congealed. Her mouth hung open slightly to aid her breathing and she just stared into space. Zee tried to talk to her but got, at most, a non-committal grunt in response.
The lift slowed, and the doors opened. Zee hauled Mel off the floor and walked her down the hall to the living area before depositing her on one of the sofas.
"I'll go get you some water." Zee stated, glancing about to see if she could quickly spot the kitchen.
Mel responded silently, gesturing in the vague direction for Zee to go.
"OK. I'll be right back." As Zee walked off Mel pulled out her PDA and silently tapped about on it. Apps, Gallery, Over 5 Years ago, there it is. The last photo she had with her sister. The two of them goofing off on a beach somewhere. She wondered if Melissa still had a copy.
"Melissa has that as the wallpaper on her PDA you know." Zee had reappeared, she could move so quietly it was almost scary. Leaning over she handed Mel a glass of ice water.
Mel took the glass and sipped from it, the taste and smell of blood lingered in her nose and throat, "Thanks..." she gazed at the picture on her PDA again for a few seconds before the display timed out, the image being replaced with a darkened reflection of her own, sad face. "Why did he hit me Zee?"
Zee lowered herself to the sofa beside Mel, gently placing a plate of store brand custard creams and her own glass of water on the edge of the fire pit. "It's been a while since I've seen it come to blows quite so fast, but it appears that cyborgs are society's current punching bag."
Still gazing into her PDA Mel blinked a few times, the glow from her eyes standing out in her dark reflection. Her HUD absent-mindedly picking out small details to focus on and analyse, as if to pass the time. "So many of us didn't choose this though. I'd probably have stopped at a neural interface had it not been for an accident blinding me."
Zee picked up her glass with her right hand and a biscuit with her left before leaning back into the sofa, "Some of us did choose, some of us chose to keep going after the minimum needed was completed, and yes, some of us did not choose." Zee paused and took a swig of her water, the biscuit in her left hand shaking slightly as if she couldn't decide quite how hard to hold it, "But it doesn't matter to these people. Backward savages that fear progress." 
Mel sat up a little, taking another sip from her own glass before putting it down and picking up the medkit. "Is that it, fear?" Locating a disinfectant wipe she carefully opened its packet and started to dab it across her nose, wincing a little as she did.
Taking a bite of her biscuit Zee pondered for a moment, she decided that the best thing to do was finish it instead of waving it around whilst talking, "Fear of the unknown, fear of progress," she paused as she licked her lips considering another biscuit, "fear is powerful. I know it well..." she took another biscuit, appearing to be unsure how to continue, "...why do bigots hate anything really?"
Another long silence broken only by the occasional crunching of custard creams and the gentle sipping of water from glasses, the two of them apparently lost in thought.
"Did you choose?" Mel suddenly spoke up causing Zee to jump a little.
"To be augmented?" Zee quickly fired back, placing her glass back on the edge of the firepit.
"Yeah. I didn't. I was blinded in an accident... oh... 6... 7 years ago now. I can't remember clearly." Mel gestured at her eyes, "It's why I have these, and why my sister has her arm."
"Yeah, I was originally augmented for medical reasons too. I was very sick growing up, it was either get augmented or die. At first it was nice, I could walk around and breathe without pain..." Zee sighed and turned her head to look out the massive panoramic window, the sun slowly setting over the city casting a harsh orange light over everything, "I was barely 23 when my best friend and I... among others... were in the wrong place at the wrong time. We were all set upon by a group of anti-cyberization 'activists'. I'll spare you the gory details, but my motor cortex was... damaged... I can now only safely use cybernetic parts with a passive neural linkage in combination with some pretty strong medication... When I was first augmented I was so determined to replace all my weak flesh with cybernetics..." she hauled herself up again, the sound of straining servos and whining electronics came from her joints as she grabbed her water before lowering herself back into the sofa, "As you can probably tell, that's not exactly worked out for me." she took a swig of her water and paused, Mel's inquisitive gaze locked onto her, "The whole thing is a very long story, and I'll be frank, I don't have the energy to tell it all right now."
"Passive... You mean neural attenuation syndrome, right? That's exceptionally rare..." Mel stated, she'd seen it only once before, some people were just unlucky like that.
Zee nodded slowly, "As you can imagine, finding components that... outdated in decent condition is becoming increasingly difficult. Especially as only people like me have much use for them, like you said it's an 'exceptionally rare' condition. Combine that with the increasing dosage of my meds year-on-year... This is my life, until a better solution can be found." Zee finished her water and placed the glass on the floor next to her bag. She hoisted it onto her lap and rummaged in it for a moment before pulling out a smooth metal cylinder plastered in warnings and holding up. "This bag isn't just for shopping. My injector is in here too."
"I take it that's why your arm started malfunctioning earlier." Mel queried, placing her still half full glass back on the firepit.
"A bit of that, a bit of crap components. I managed to calm it down with a settings tweak, but I'll need to get Leon at the club to have a look at it for me tomorrow." Zee shrugged a little as she slid the cylinder back into her bag.
"Tell me about this club you keep talking about. What is it, nightclub, maker-space, dive?" Mel queried, it had been mentioned several times but never explained.
"Strip club." Zee responded flatly, pulling her own PDA from her bag and powering it up, her eyes danced across the screen as her thumbs rattled across the keyboard.
"Str..." Mel paused, not somewhere she could picture her sister working. The scantily clad rabbit next to her, perhaps. "A strip club?"
"Yup, staffed entirely by cyborgs. Front of house and back of house." Zee chuckled a little, still tapping away on the screen of her PDA, "All these bastards go on, shouting about how it's important to 'maintain the purity of the flesh'. But they're round at The Technosexual on a Friday night and hooting at the dancers like a pack of wild animals. I keep wanting to kick out the ones I recognize, but Vera says we need the foot traffic." Her PDA chimed and she smirked, "Free high-speed wireless net access is also a perk of the club. Looks like Mr. Punchy was one of our patrons. I guess Vera's right about keeping enemies closer."
"So... are you a... performer or..." Mel blushed slightly, her eyes flicking between the cityscape out the window and Zee. It was suddenly very hard to not imagine her on a pole.
Zee chuckled a little, "Sorry hon, I do back-office work. Managing our net presence, social media, that kind of stuff." a grin spread across her face and she slowly lowered her PDA to the sofa, "I do private shows though from time to time..." her voice dropped to a low growl as she leaned closer to Mel.
"I, no, I didn't... not that I... eh..." Mel turned bright red under her fur and snapped her eyes straight out the window.
"Good grief you're easy to fluster." Zee laughed, "I'm not being serious. I do holographic net shows and design some very pornographic 3D models and avatars, I'm not going to strip off in your living room."
Mel looked back over at Zee, she was smiling, a soft and comforting smile. "I'm not one for strip clubs, but why do I feel like I'm going to be spending a not-insubstantial amount of time there whilst I'm planetside?"
Zee laughed a little and adjusted her gaze out the window. "Probably the safest place for our kind in the city at the moment." Zee's eyes flicked back over to Mel who was looking over at her with a mix of confusion and disgust in her eyes, "New Bright is more progressive than a lot of places in the EU now. Especially with that impotent shitlord de Piffle in charge." She sighed and stood up, hauling herself off the sofa with another strained whine of servos and linkages. Stretching backward several joints in her back and shoulders popped this seemed to relieve her somewhat. "Enough about that senile meatbag right now anyway, you can get caught up on the depressing stuff later." She turned and faced Mel, that smile painted across her face once more. "We'll get you over to the club tomorrow and get you introduced to everyone. Get you re-introduced to Melissa, you have a lot to catch up on!"

"A lot to catch up on... that's an understatement..." Mel chuckled a little, returning the smile.