What doesn't kill you...kills someone else, and leads you down an ethical rabbit hole. In the near future, paying users can rent the "virtual experiences" of other people. These "feeders" sublet their own bodies, at the risk of their own lives, so that customers can safely enjoy extreme, potentially self-destructive vices, like binge eating, cliff diving, or worse.

Chapter 1 1

She takes a folder out of her briefcase and passes it to you. There are pictures of a burnt car at the bottom of a cliff. The first ones were taken by drone, but the rest were clearly snapped by hand, closing up on every gory detail. The metal frame of the car has almost melted. Inside, a body so charred it's hard to believe it had ever been a person.

There's also an autopsy report, mostly useless. And a photo of Selena's partner, a young woman looking straight at the camera. She is not smiling.

You vaguely remember the holo news report on that incident, mentioned briefly between a cereal commercial and a VE plug.

Why did it stick with you?

Selena stares at the photos of the burnt car. "She had been missing for a week before they found the car." She fishes a cigarette from her pocket. Her hand is trembling. She looks up at you. "Oh, I'm sorry," she says. "Can I smoke in here?"

"I mean," you rephrase, "how were things between the two of you before the incident?"

Selena clears her throat. "Not great," she says. "We had been drifting apart for some time. I didn't always agree with her choices, or the way she chose to spend her time." She pauses. "Then it happened." She lowers her eyes, as if embarrassed.

"You blamed yourself."

She stares at you, her eyes shiny. "Yes. I felt guilty for a long time. I thought I drove her away. Perhaps if I'd been there, if I'd known more about what she was going through, none of this would have happened."

You nod. "I know how this feels," you say.

Selena keeps staring at you, her lips pressed together.

You glance at your notes, then at her.