FSE

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The shuttle was beyond repair. Rechin could say the same for himself. Both he and the old pile of rust had holes in them, the wounds inflicted by bolt rifles fired by people who weren't exactly friendly. It was too bad. He had liked that shuttle. Had it for nearly twelve years now. Yeah, he was sentimental about stuff like that. Didn't mean he was going to die along with it.

Rechin had landed just close enough to walk the rest of the way. They must've thought him dead after coming in from orbit with the outer hull on fire. Hadn't even bothered to check if he was still alive. Their loss.

He clutched his bleeding side and trod over the grass, grasping at his credit chip in the other hand. His ticket to life. Freedom, too, in a sense.

The building was completely unassuming. It was little more than a broken down old shed hidden underneath decades of wear, the trees and plants alongside it no doubt having set root in the foundations. A temporary residence for a transient man. He could have chosen somewhere more inviting.

Rechin stumbled into the door and left a bloody smear on the dull metal where he knocked. It was all a blur. His head felt light, barely keeping conscious as he lost a little more blood.

Someone opened it. A man of about twenty six, black hair and blue eyes. Twenty six was a complete guess. Someone with his means could be anywhere between twenty and two hundred. Rechin just hoped that this was the right guy. Had to be. Who else would've been living in this hole?

" Yeah, come on then. I don't care if you die, but I take some pride in my work. I can't make the switch if you expire." A hand tucked around Rechin's body, leading him inside. " I'll patch you up and we can make an arrangement. There was a small problem, but it's a minor thing."

" Small problem?"

He was lying down on a dusty couch, having his wound attended to. Nanogel by the feel of it.

" A small problem. We can do the transfer just fine, regardless. We'll see if you feel like it after I show you, but it'd be a shame to see the new body go to waste. I'm sure you'll see where I'm coming from at the end of the day, especially when I doubt you'll make it through the week. Charged rifles are nasty business."

" You fuck up the new body?"

" No. Not exactly, no. It was meant for somebody else but that arrangement fell through."

" So it all works fine? I could care less how it looks, long as it's going better than this one."

The man shrugged. " You say that now."

" Looks like me? I said I didn't wanna be recognised. Had enough of having enemies. Gonna put that all behind me. So what is it? Disability of some sort? Probably fixable if -"

" It's female."

" Huh." He said.

" And Ces'Sharn. Physical age of about twenty."

" Yeah, but it all works, right?" Rechin closed his eyes and immediately found himself dizzy with pain.

" It's in perfect physical condition if that's what you were asking?"

" Okay. Sounds fine."

He held out the credit chip and winced as a spike of pain tore through his side. A female Ces'Sharn. It would take some adjusting to after having spent forty years as a man, with fifteen of those being scarred, bearded and usually somewhat ragged looking. No real choice about the whole thing, though. There was one body, so Switch said. Beggars couldn't be choosers. All of his cash was a pretty small price to pay for a hundred years alive. Could make it back several times over, he thought to himself. Getting flirted with by all the guys would take some adjusting, sure. That, and having a tail. Breasts too. A lot of adjusting, then.

Switch checked out the chip and nodded. " It all looks in order."

" Don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not doing real good. Could be nice if we did it soon as possible?"

" It'll all be sorted out by the end of the day. I have to say that you're very easy going, Mr Smith. I was expecting an argument."

Rechin sat his head back and sank into the cushions. " Yeah, well nothing's perfect. I'll take my new life however I can get it. Thanks."

" Word to the wise, Mister Smith. Make an effort once you have your new body. If word gets back to me that you've been found out, then I'm afraid I will have to put an end to you quite quickly."

" Seems fair. Let me try and think of a name for her. Me, I mean. You know what I mean."

" I can show the body to you if you like?"

" Nah. Might change my mind."

Switch nodded. " The old body will be completely disposed of, along with your crashed shuttle and all of your belongings. Yes, I noticed your 'landing'. I'll have some clothing, food, water and basic items waiting for you when you wake up, along with a complimentary credit chip. I'll be long gone by the time you regain consciousness. I'd suggest spending a couple of days getting used to the body before you go out in public. After that, you may do as you please with it."

There was... he felt faint. Something about doing what he liked. That sounded like him.

" I had better get started."

" Think I might pass out." Rechin commented.

" In that case, farewell, Rechin Smith. I hope you led a good life. Good luck in your new one. You won't be seeing me again."

It all went black.

Rechin woke to the touch of a soft bed and the warmth of a blanket. The very first thing he did was reach right down between his legs.

" Shit..." She muttered.

Well, she _had_been told that she had no balls on more than one occasion. Usually that was an argument put forward by an idiot when they'd failed to catch her. It was never meant to be literal.

The second thing she did was reach up for her chest. Definitely something there, too, although thankfully they weren't excessively large. A nice, short layer of fur on them as well.

Finally, she reached around for her tail. Certainly one of those stuck to the base of her spine, too. It seemed to have a mind of its own, flicking back and forth near the tip.

Switch hadn't been wrong. Rechin was both female and Cessin.

Could've been worse, she supposed.

Rechin was alive and her body seemed to be healthy. Better than healthy, actually. She felt light and flexible in a way that only came with youth.

More than anything, she was relieved. This might have been better than swapping for another human male. There was absolutely no chance of anybody recognising her now, so long as she played her cards right. She had a new life stretched out in front of her, free from all the moronic mistakes Rechin had made in the past. A chance to make all kinds of new mistakes.

Rechin sat up and let the blanket fall off her bare body, looking down at herself. The fur was pure white all over. As she started at her hands and inspected her delicate claws, Rechin started to think about a name. Sherra was good for a first name. Lots of Cesin girls from the colonies were named like that - Sherra, Sh'mer, Sharel. Sherra, then. C'lade might have been too presumptious for a last name, much as she would like to make people curious. C'sar, then.

Sherra C'sar. That would be her new name.

As she took a good long look a her slightly feline feet and padded toes, Sherra began to drill the name into her head over and over again. It would take a couple of days, but she was determined to turn the word 'Rechin' into a vaguely familiar term about a man she once knew.

Reaching up, she rubbed her fingertips over her short muzzle and cute little nose. Sherra. C'sar. Sherra C'sar. Sherra. Each of her pointed eartips recieved a curious pinch. C'sar.

There was a message sitting on the bedside table, displayed on a disposable tablet. The rest of the room was empty, save for a mirror by the wall. Rechin... S-h-e-r-a took the display and held it up.

Rechin Smith,

The payment has been recieved and I am sure you will agree that I filled my part of the arrangement. Apologies again for the nature of the new body, although the moving forward of the timetable made it necessary to make certain sacrifices. Your old body has been well and truly disposed of. Do not bother trying to find it, as it is little more than dirt now. Rechin Smith has officially been recorded as deceased. A shuttle will be arriving in about three hours to drop you off in the nearest city. One of my associates will place you in the Alliance records under a name of your choosing. A modest background about your life will be created. He will also make one final medical check to be sure that the transfer was a complete success. Afterwards, you will be flown to the spaceport and will be provided transport costs to whichever world you may choose to inhabit. From there your fate is entirely in your hands.

The chip in this tablet will burn out in one hour. All other evidence has been disposed of.

It has been a pleasure.

Switch.

" That's that, then." Sherra said in an entirely feminine voice. It was strange hearing herself speak.

Getting her bare self off the bed, Sherra took a good look at herself in the mirror. Switch had certainly given her a premium body. Far as any Cessin went, she was about as pretty as they came, features perfect around her face and body in good shape, with a neat cut of black fur just behind each of her ears. Her eyes were a deep green, much more striking than the ones she had just a little while ago. No chance of her avoiding attention for long.

" Fuck me..."

That sounded bad when Sherra said it. Her new voice didn't exactly lend itself to cursing. Less swearing, then.

She frowned and the cat in the mirror frowned right back at her in a way that could only be described as cute.

Sherra groaned.

Well, whatever. Nothing she could do about it now. Anyway, she needed to get dressed. After that, Sherra would look at the credit chip. Then she would do her teeth. One step after another. Soon enough this bullshit would be completely normal.

The credit chip was a nice surprise, having much more on it than she had expected. Sherra could last for nearly a year just off that, in the outer colonies at least. On Earth and Ces'Shar money wasn't so much of a concern, given that everything other than the most decadent luxuries were handed out for free. Too bad that both of those planets were as dull as mud. She had little intention of going back to either of the homeworlds.

Her teeth were nice and white, if a little sharp around the fangs.

Ke... Sherra, she reminded herself, decided that getting dressed was probably a good idea. Switch had provided her with a fairly plain black outfit, with a pair of almost knee high leather boots and a brown jacket that had some fake fur lining around the collar. She liked the cowboy... cowgirl look. Was the popular thing in the colonies to act like they were on an old fashioned frontier. Sadly she didn't have a hat to go with it.

Her pack contained a few changes of clothes, some toiletries, a few rations of food and a fairly large canister of water. Those were all of her worldly possesions.

She tried to stop fidgeting with her new body as Sherra waited for the shuttle to arrive. Eventually, the vehicle did get there, quietly touching down just outside the front door. It opened up a hatch for her and Sherra climbed in, finding not a single soul inside of it, with the computer likely directing the craft. Sherra swore as she sat on her tail, told herself to use better language, curled the fucking thing around her waist and sat back as the shuttle lifted itself up into the air. The ride was unusually smooth. Switch must have been very rich to be able to afford a dampened craft to ferry around his customers.

This planet, E9-C, was as featureless as its name. It was habitable, but the distance from the two core worlds meant that it took more than a dozen gate jumps to reach it, four of which were only made for light craft, putting it far away from Alliance fleets and out of reach for all but the most intrepid explorers.

The core may have been dull, but this place was so remote as to be ridiculous. Sherra would be glad to get out of here.

It landed on the roof of a nondescript apartment block in the middle of a bland looking settlement.

She hopped out of the hatch to be greeted by a man wearing a robe and a helmet with a faceplate so dark that she couldn't make out any of his features. He looked ridiculous.

" Switch sent me to help out. Sorry about the helmet. Precautions, you know? Just call me doctor. And you are...?"

Precautions. Right. " I'm Sherra." It was odd uttering her own name.

" Good choice. Last name?"

" C'sar." Was he staring at her? It was annoying that she couldn't see his eyes. She had never been so self conscious in her life.

" Excellent. I'll walk with you down to the apartment." He said, turning around. Sherra kept a few steps behind him as they moved towards the stairs. " All your senses are okay? No pains anywhere?"

" It all seems to be working fine."

" We'll run some tests to be sure."

He opened the door and they walked down a stairwell and into the apartment. It, like the planet, was plain enough. There was a kitchen, a couch, a dining room and a bedroom, with some equipment setup near to the front door.

" Stand here for me, please."

Sherra did so, putting herself underneath a medical scanner. The thing came to life, metallic arms rolling up and down as they scanned over her body. The doctor held a small tablet in front of himself.

" Okay, great. We were unsure about some aspects of transferring a human male to a Ces'Sharn female. Nothing life threatening. The body is fertile, is what I meant to say. That and the brain has recognised the tail. Switch will be interested to hear about it."

" So I can give birth?" She frowned.

" If you wanted to."

" I might pass on that."

" It's up to you. We're not allowed to interfere."

Maybe she had taken on more than she bargained for. Well, it was all relative. She had hands and feet and was mostly the same as she had been before. It could've been much worse. So Sherra kept telling herself. She believed it, though. If she were still Rechin, she would be dead - probably. This was fine.

" So anyway." Sherra said.

" Anyway. No problems with your memory? Fits of dizziness?"

" Not that I've noticed."

The scanner came to life again. All of the testing seemed excessive, until she thought about the fact that something like this was completely illegal inside the core. Illegal here, too, technically. Not that legality mattered so far away from Earth. Switch was probably keen on taking any data he could get his hands on. This whole body swapping idea wasn't exactly a well-researched field. Not with regard to intelligent species, anyway.

" Any moments of blurred vision at all?"

" It's all been good."

" Any psychological issues with the change?"

Sherra shrugged. " It'll take some getting used to. A bit strange, sure, I'll give you that."

" So you don't feel regret? No desire to return to the old body?"

" Nah. That shit is behind me."

" You really don't mind?" The doctor must have really had some kind of expression behind that helmet. She wished she could see it.

" It's not a bad look, nah, and I like the colour of my eyes. The rest of it is good. Twenty years younger and much more attractive than the old one. No gunshot wounds and I don't have a gut. New lease on life. Yeah, I don't mind. I asked Switch for a favour and he delivered on it. I'd recommend him if it didn't mean having him come after me." She would need to learn to speak differently. It sounded all wrong with her higher pitched voice.

" I doubt that the people you used to associate with would see it that way, if they were in your shoes."

" On the other hand they're uptight dicks who have to be bent on looking hard. I'm sure they'd find it funny, but I honestly don't mind. Honestly. I'm long past caring about being humiliated."

" You think it's humiliating?"

" Was talking about them."

" But what about you?"

" I'm not that old fashioned. I'm the same between the ears, different between the legs. What difference does it make? A couple of procedures and I'd be as strong as anyone else, physically." She was starting to feel impatient. It'd be nice to see this doctor go, so that Sherra could start getting on with her new life.

" Can I ask about physical attraction?"

" Behind that mask? You could be anyone. I don't feel anything for you one way or the other."

"... I meant in general."

Sherra smiled. " Y'know.." She hadn't given it much thought. " Still like girls of course. On the other hand, now I think about it... Yeah, I could see myself with a guy. I was never big on the interspecies thing so I guess it'd have to be Ces'."

" But you didn't feel that attraction before?"

" Can't say I did."

The doctor excitedly tapped a few things down on his notepad. " Not worried about that either?"

" No. Guess I'm special. You're thinking about doing this for other people?"

" Human to Ces'Sharn? We'll consider it. It adds an extra layer of anonymity, so I'd imagine our customers would be interested in the option." The man said, voice slightly obscured by the impenetrable glass.

" You're being remarkably frank." Sherra commented.

" Because it's nothing you don't already know."

" Spose not."

" Where should I drop you off?"

" Freedom's reach." She thought she might as well explain why. " Can't make any money in the core and it's too dangerous out here when I haven't found my feet yet. Much as I like the frontier I'm not exactly equipped to deal with it. Don't even have a shuttle."

" So I heard. If it's any consolation, you wouldn't have had it regardless."

She shrugged. " The thing was a dump, anyway. I liked it, but yeah, it was a dump."

" Officially you'll be an orphan from K-118, having survived the plague. Other than that feel free to make your own story, but don't link anything back to your old self."

" Yeah, I won't."

" Good. I'd suggest talking about your 'past' as little as possible. Most people are too polite to dig into it after the plague is mentioned, which is why we choose that as a background. Here," he handed her a small disc, " I'll put through the ticket now."

Sherra held up the disc and switched it on. It was a personal console, virtually empty of information save for her credit account and some medical diagnostics. A lot of people stored their entire lives on these things, or in the case of the more advanced models spent most of their time with their minds synced up, inhabiting the network through them for months at a time. Sherra was a little more old-fashioned. The virtual world was no substitute for the real thing. A message blinked through. It was a ticket to Freedom's Reach. First class. Booked for tomorrow morning.

" I always ended up getting the shitty third class seats." She said.

" It's a parting gift from Switch. I hope you'll enjoy the trip." She imagined him smiling behind his helmet. " I'd love to talk to you again one day, but it's better that we make a clean break of it. Good luck, Miss C'sar."

Thank God. Fuck off. " Thanks. Hope the business goes along well."

" It will. Goodbye."

Sherra didn't bother saying anything else. The man was gone and she was left alone. Nobody knew who she was now. All the debts, threats and soured relationships were gone just like that, never to be cared about again. At least not by Sherra. She had no idea what to make of it. Going through all of that and now she was rudderless instead of relieved.

Well, first thing was first. She needed to eat, sleep, book some sort of accommodation in Freedom's Reach and catch that ship in the morning. Everything else could wait until later.

The shower went on and on, mostly because Sherra was fixated on feeling over her very feminine body. As if she could help herself. It had been less than a day, but the more time she spent inside it the more she started to like wearing the soft layer of fur. Soaping up her entire body was a pain. On the other hand she got to really enjoy standing under one of those oversized dryers that the Cessin used. Once it was clean the fuzz was incredibly soft. Luxurious. No wonder so many humans had a thing for them.

Sleep came easily after wolfing down the garbage-like ration that was supposed to pass for a meal. Sherra changed clothes in the morning, brushed down her face and put on the jacket and boots she had worn the day before. She made a point of avoiding contact as much as possible as she took the shuttle and boarded the ship, sitting herself in a private booth near to the AI core at the front of the craft. A service robot walked by. Sherra waved it away and looked outside as the ship broke out of the atmosphere and into orbit. The ride was perfectly smooth, with the dampeners taking away what would have usually been an extremely violent ascent.

First class was nice, she had to admit. It was a whole room to herself, the seat doubling as a large bed, molding itself to her body to make it as comfortable as possible. Options for virtual interfacing were there, as was a console for making any conceivable kind of drink. The machine that was the bed offered a number of other things as well. Sherra padded in an order for a massage and a scent to relax her. Fuck it, she thought as she locked the door and took off her jacket, boots and shirt. If she was taking first class, she might as well enjoy it. Besides, she could pull off a glamorous look that would've been impossible with the old body. If you've got it, she thought to herself. Sherra lay belly down and clipped the small curved cup at the end of a transparent tube to her nose, the material sticking to her skin, immediately offering a sweet scent and a lazy, contented emotion. A couple of robotic hands swung around from underneath the bed and started to work into her muscles, doing a perfect, pre-programmed job of kneading the stress out of her body. It wasn't quite up to having real human contact. Good enough, though. More than good enough. Too bad that she couldn't help it with the purring, though.

Just for a while, she told herself, arching up her back. Moments passed in a kind of meditative bliss. A while... Just for... A little longer. Another minute or two. Sherra blinked, spread out her toes and pulled the thing off her nose, shutting down the machine. It was nice, but she didn't want to end up like those pudgy, decadent blobs on Earth. Conventional comforts would do just fine.

The door made a soft chime. She frowned and decided to let it open, after slipping on her shirt and jacket. The service robot with its featureless face stared at her.

" Is everything to your satisfaction?"

" It's great, thanks."

The robot left her in peace.

It was very hard to resist the urge to go back to the massage.

For most of the rest of the trip she lazed about on the bed, using the console onboard to pay through the first month's rent on one of the mass produced boxes that could loosely be called accomodation. Rent was cheap on Freedom's Reach. Cheap for a reason, that was. The apartment itself was in one of the patrolled sections of the city, in a green zone according to the diagram that the ship's console was showing her. Sherra didn't have any enhancements to her muscles or bones just yet, meaning that the seedier parts of town were completely out of the question.

The ship landed and the passengers disembarked.

Freedom's Reach was just as Sherra remembered it, the streets near the centre of town an endless grid with prefabricated stacks of tube-like apartments all built to exactly the same height. A place without a personality, it seemed, until you got your feet on the ground. Last time it had only been a short visit, mostly to make a deal with a drug runner. This time things were just a little different. Between the buildings it was dirty, loud and poor, with rubbish all over the streets and most of the ground vehicles still using comically ancient technology. It must have been the only place in the galaxy that still had combustion engines as anything more than a museum piece. Security personell strode the streets in their black uniforms, sometimes accompanied by a hovering drone, but more often not. In the worse parts of the city the streets would be controlled by a local gang leader or human-equivalent AI with delusions about its importance. A real hole, this place.

Sherra caught a few smiles and looks as she made her way to her new, preferably very temporary home. She wasn't sure how to react. A smile in return seemed to work just fine. She was glad to be by herself again when she entered her block.

The apartment itself was one big rectangle, the bedroom and bathroom occupying half of it, while the kitchen and lounge took up the other. It had space, but it hadn't been cleaned too well by the former occupants. The old console by the wall was broken and there were three heavy dents in the plastic looking kitchen bench. In a word, it was dingy. The only two windows were small and sat on either end of the place. Sherra had to turn on the lights, even in the middle of the morning. Power was free everywhere, at least. She hoped. They couldn't be _that_backward here, could they? Even her old shuttle had been nicer than this box.

She hooked up her own console and brought up a virtual reflection of herself. Sherra wondered when she would get used to looking like this. Probably never.

Sherra wanted more than this, wanted to be more than she had been a couple of days ago. One thing at a time. Turning on the video recorder, she walked across the room and back, then replayed the footage to herself. Clearly she needed some practice, given that she seemed to aggressively tread more than anything that resembled walking. Taking a few paces back and forth, she kept replaying that footage again and again, until she started to notice a more natural looking stride. It was the most real work she had put into something in years. A literal first step. Sherra was determined, though. She would make the best of this second chance.