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apartment, Patty sent a mental command to her Sevterrex VTOL, deactivating its proximity alarm and electrified surface setting. Having nanotubes inserted into her brain had made life so much easier. She could do so much that used to require physical action with the power of her mind. Why some people held out and called this innovation evil, she would never know.
                  No one certainly complained about self-guiding VTOLs, or at least no one who had ever owned one. Sitting back in the driver’s polymorph seat, Patty thought the destination, Omniambience’s studio at Ojo Negro Street [12] , to the vehicle. While the VTOL took off, Patty also sent a mental command to her seat, informing it to take on a heat absorbent function. She didn’t want to start sweating a lot before her big shoot.
    Being a “charactor” was hard work. Unlike the actors of old, a charactor worked in the CIE (completely immersive entertainment) sector. In other words, Patty had to capture the full essence of the five senses for the people who experienced her “films.”
                  The image shoot this particular day entailed a great deal of work with beasts, literally. As The City expanded its reach around the globe, wild animal and plant life became more and more scarce. One region, the Savanna, protected what remained of Earth’s organic diversity. Omniambience Entertainment had hired Patty as the narrator for their latest documentary A Day in Life Revisited . She had spent the last six months walking around in the Savanna, pointing at exotic animals for the cameras. Elephants, tigers, cows, all the creatures nearing extinction found their way into the film.
                  Now she needed to lend the documentary good press. While no one could deny that this charactor had the looks, everyone couldn’t wait for the moment when her good girl persona would be debunked. It was in those moments, with the stalker journalists hanging outside of her apartment, that Patty lost her faith in humanity. “That’s the bane of beauty,” Patty had told her concerned mother once.
                  Looking out her window, this charactor scowled at the part of this prefecture she had to pass to reach the studio. Amongst the prosperous, this bloated region of dilapidated housing was referred to as the Abscess. Everyone knew that prostitution, with human girls rather than automatons, illegal gambling, and spaq use were rampant in this region. Patty had once made a film detailing a tramp’s tragic life in the Abscess. She even had to put chemicals on her skin that made her smell like trash, giving the audience the full experience. Of course she never actually went to that part of town for filming. The backgrounds were computer generated, which she honestly would have preferred for her current documentary. Animals were scary and unfamiliar to her.
    Arriving at the studio, Patty stepped out of the vehicle, her contacts automatically tinting in the bright sunlight. She knew that many birds liked to nest in this area, one of which loved to crap on her VTOL’s mirrors. Apparently some male birds fulfilled their territorial instinct this way, and seeing a bird reflected in a mirror set them off. At the suggestion of her mother, Patty put plastic bags over her mirrors now, which had actually worked so far.
    Once she completed this chore, Patty’s agent, Saanvi Madreau, greeted her at the door and ushered her into the studio. The popular imager, Viktor Cutman, sat ready with his camera and imaging lasers, and with a thought, he turned on the speakers throughout the room, playing Glen Miller’s “In the Mood.” His needy assistant clung to him, her “Purr Suit” vibrating like a motor. Patty could see couches and chairs, upon which she would no doubt display her body. Exotic cats lounged in cages nearby. Regrettably, this was going to be a long shoot.
    ***
                  Three hours and a zoo’s