Year 2102
“Hey. My name’s Michi. Nice to meetcha. So, why do I need to wear this? I thought the job was hacking.”
Michi stared down her nose at the frilly white apron over the regulation navy-blue dress, which bagged a little on her slender frame. Her flamboyantly orange hair, which she usually shoved into messy pigtails, was confined in a lace mobcap. The only personal item she’d been allowed to keep on was the pair of augmented reality goggles she needed for work.
“It’s some hacking to do with Madam’s virtual companion—her virtual carer, yeah?”
The head maid, an older woman in a high-collared black dress, hissed, “Her Ladyship is addressed as the Mistress.”
“Um, the lady you look after is an eighty-seven-year-old spinster—”
“She is the Mistress. The Mistress is the aunt of the family’s present head. No further questions.”
Oh, yeah? Michi held her tongue. It wouldn’t do any good to argue, she could tell.
• • •
