Nano Read Free Page B

brushed my hair inexpertly - I would need to comb it in a few days, I realized.  Better get used to it.
    Now.  I went back out to the lab, opened a closet and pulled out the brown paper bag containing the accoutrements of my new life.  Shoes, panties and a sundress, and a purse.
    I slipped the panties - I'd perversely chosen a bright pink thong, to remind myself what was happening - over my ankles and pulled them up over my hips.  The thong strap slipped between my buttocks and nestled comfortably there, while the elastic rode high on my flared hips, scooping low to expose my belly button.
    I pulled the sundress over my head and let its silk fall down the length of my body.  The white fabric sat smoothly on my breasts, and the hem tickled my thighs.
    Okay, now the shoes.  I'd chosen heels, I think just to piss myself off.  I put these on and took a few steps forward, immediately regretting it as I swayed into a lab table.  They were the only shoes I had here.   Hmmn.  A little practice was in order.
    I looked at the clock.  4:30 PM.  I had a half hour before the night alarm would activate; since my DNA no longer matched the list of approved night visitors, that meant I had a half-hour before the alarm went off.  I did a few runway walks to gain my footing, then gathered up my male clothing and effects and threw them in the small incinerator I kept to remove nano-waste.  I stripped the sheets from the gurney and threw these in too, then turned the incinerator on.
    I activated the air-scrubbers, which would filter out the rest of the stray DNA.
    That done, I picked up my handbag, screwed up my courage, opened the lab door, walked through it, and shut it behind me.
    I turned and tried the door.  Though unlocked, when I touched the handle I heard the lock engage, then disengage when I removed my hand.  I knew that even using a stick or something to open it wouldn't work, since it worked on the presence of DNA in the room and touching combined.
    I turned around and leaned back against the lab door, breathing heavily.
    One long phase of my life was over, at least for the time being.  Now I was someone else.

Chapter 6
    The doorman glanced at me as I walked out of the lobby, but I sensed the look was more for the purpose of ogling me than anything else.  He frightened me a little.  I stepped out onto the street.
    Washington Street, where my lab was housed, was a daytime cocktail of dock workers, homeless and the stray office worker leaving for home early.  I immediately felt vulnerable in my little white dress and heels.  I clutched my bag and headed east on King Street, pretending not to hear the catcalls from the construction crew sitting on the back of a flatbed and smoking.
    Those first few minutes were hard.  It wasn't until I'd reached 6th Avenue that I felt somewhat safe.  I sank into a park bench on the wide median and let myself address the sudden emotions that two block walk had induced in me.  I was shaking.
    I'd never been in a position before where talking back to a man was not only inadvisable, but dangerous.  That scared me, but what scared me even more was the instinctive urge to go to them and submit to their questioning deferentially.  This, I expected, was not what most women felt in these kinds of situations.  Rather, I blamed the nano-conditioning I'd programmed.  I'd experienced nano that made you strong, or confident, or a prick, or a saint, but never nano that made one want to submit oneself to the tender mercies of a bunch of assholes.
    The strange thing about it, of course, was that it felt completely natural.  My brain was telling me those thugs should be shot with a firearm, but my body was telling me that they had every right to ogle me, to address me with the slurs they used.  Or maybe...not that they had the right, but that it excited me.
    The thought of going back and submitting myself to their gaze, their words, their hands - stop it! I told myself.  So, I thought.