Author's note: This is a novelette that will be broken up into several pieces due to its length. It is a humorous glimpse into the societal rules of a futuristic culture where everyone has something to hide.  This section continued from:

The Naked Truth- Part 2

Forcing himself to focus, he opened the tool kit and found a small electronic accessory in the lid that contained a repair database and it walked him through the steps of loosening the lower leg. Coming just halfway to the knee, he realized that if he was too successful at loosening the limb, it could well fall on him, causing injury. He worked with great care driven by fear. Strangely, this was his approach to life.

His face wore a frown while he thought about his reputation at work: very skilled within his field but rather high strung. He had his friends and his detractors but, for the most part, he was liked and respected. He was even able to find romance with one of the most sought after women in the department who could knock on his door at any minute and discover him “going big yowee” in the middle of his bedroom.

The intensity of his work picked up and he anxiously completed the last corrective step as the knee joint slipped finally into the “unlocked” position. He was tempted to give it a good kick in frustration but factored in the possible injury from the kick itself and/or from the limb possibly falling on him and he wisely reconsidered. He sighed heavily and quickly sealed his tools back in the tool kit, jumped on the hoverboard and rose easily back up to the open hatch on the back of the newly repaired EE. It just sat there silently, not even flinching as the hoverboard slid into its slot, allowing him to jump into the hatchway.

The door chime sounded once. Andela had arrived. Quickly, he sealed the hatch and pulled on the head portion of his neural suit. The rest of his other bodily connections could wait until he dealt with his visitor. Once the headgear was in place, he heard the chime again and was able to see her image at the door and respond, “Hello, Andela.”

“Hullo, Biko. You realize it’s not nice to keep a rather attractive female waiting at your door. She could be swept away by someone else.” Biko recognized her favorite ploy of attempting to make him jealous. He even saw the flit of a smile on her face. It was something she had always done and it caused him great consternation. Just when he thought he was close enough to her to offer a life mate contract, she would hit the jealousy ploy a little too hard, driving the thought from his mind. It was almost as if she sensed that he was getting too serious and wanted to keep him at arm’s length. But never out of reach.

Still, she was charming, wore the best attachments, always looked like a million credits and never seemed to stop attracting an endless array of suitors - suitors who always questioned why she was with him. Therefore, Biko felt lucky to be with her but never up to her standard. He had even begun to question her motive for involvement with him as some strange sort of sympathy or some huge joke that would be cruelly played out in a few months. Her stylish smirk always seemed to be hiding something.

“Andela, I haven’t finished dressing yet. It will only take a moment.” He heard her one-note laugh that came out as sort of a “humph” followed by, “Oh, Biko, late again. Let me guess, you found a calculation at work that was not accurate to the tenth decimal.” Again, the whisper of a smile on her face, apparently hoping to assure him that there was no venom in the sting of her words.

“No, I’m having trouble deciding what to wear”, he lied.

“Well, let me in. I’ll help you.” She always felt she could dress him better than he could himself.

“No, I want it to be a surprise.”

“Suit yourself. I’ll be waiting in the plaza nearby. That is, if some big hunk hasn’t swept me off my feet before you get there.” She grinned and he watched her from the door camera. She was still in her work clothes which meant that she was waiting to trigger her outfit for the evening together. It appeared she wanted to surprise him as well.

He had finished “plugging himself in” while talking to Andela and he now called up the image that contained the status of his EE. He was shown a status “board” projected into his field of view that contained green lights save the lower leg attachment which showed a correct red. Reaching down with both hands, he gave it an easy tug and it pulled free with a click and a hiss as the seal broke and he carefully tagged it and laid it on his bed, secure in the knowledge that he would have it discretely sent out to be repaired. The cool flood of relief as the attachment had released coupled with being back in the EE brought a smile to Biko’s face and helped remove some of the apprehension from moments earlier. He began to feel that maybe he had experienced his allotment of bad karma for the night.

He hopped around his bed while mentally activating the doors to his closet and they opened silently. He gazed upon two dozen attachments hanging neatly in rows. This included hands, arms, feet, and legs. He sat on his bed facing the closet, picked up the tainted leg unit and put it in a segregated, rarely used portion of his closet indicating it was noncompliant. He then carefully removed the standard work attachment for his other lower leg, hung it in the closet and pulled out a pair of shiny black “social” lower leg and feet attachments with built-in stabilizers for any drunken binges. He attached them adroitly and then proceeded to test them by moving comically through the room, mimicking a well-soused bar patron. The shoes compensated nicely, allowing him to remain on his feet despite several mock drunken lurches.