It had been a while since she up-linked to the mainframe. She'd given up fighting the oppressive monotony of the messages and advertisements, preferring the old-fashioned mode of autonomous thought, free of the psychic chatter that often accompanied Softsync. It was dangerous, but that's how she wanted it.

Softsync was viewed in the marketplace as a breakthrough in psychic uplink systems and population organization. It dolled out assignments and soothed aching minds better than last year's Polysync, and without the residual neurosis that ended up getting the latter yanked from shelves by the Government-ordered recall.

She hadn't put the implant back in since she'd downbooted, and was a little scared to use her old one. The scar in the back of her neck was almost healed, so she had to numb it with a local before digging under the skin. It slipped back in as if it had never left, then she sealed the opening with a quick touch of the OptiHealer.

Now, it was time to upboot and get critical. She laid down on her bunk and closed her eyes, summoning the Door.