The eviction notice hovered above the table in Rohan's apartment foyer. Its black nothingness mesmerised Amaranta. "How long do you have?"

Rohan slumped in a chair. "Four more days. Inteck Corp got my latest health report and terminated their sponsorship."

Amaranta tore her gaze from the nothingness. She searched Rohan's eyes, saw the pulsating void reflected in them.

"So, what's the problem? You've been telling me that you have an open-ended loan available that you could combine with a down payment any time you wanted. Haven't you just been waiting for the right moment?"

Rohan closed his eyes and groaned. He raised his hands to cover his face, muffling his words. "I tied up some of my capital in options. I won't be able to exercise the options for another two weeks. And the terms of the option deal prohibit me from selling them. I don't have enough for a down payment."

The last sentence came out in a choked gasp.

"Couldn't you wait downtime until your options are available?"

"That is not ... acceptable."

Amaranta approached Rohan and stroked his tousled black hair. She eased his hands off his face, then placed her palm against his cheek. She kept the hunger out of her voice, keeping it warm and supportive. "Have you thought about taking our relationship to the next level?"

Rohan's eyes widened. "Mergers and acquisitions?" Under Amaranta's reassuring smile, emotions flitted across his face too quickly to be deciphered before settling into a calculating expression.

"Hmm. I would need to see your resources, but I might consider a 75/25 merger followed by immediate acquisition."

Unfazed by his appraising gaze, Amaranta placed both hands on his muscled shoulders and looked him directly in the eye. "Of course, we will both need to disclose resources. But I was thinking more of a 50/50 merger." She cocked her head at the eviction notice. "Don't you agree?"

Rohan's gaze flitted to the void, then back to her face. A slight sensation, transmitted from his shoulders through Amaranta's palms, betrayed his internal trembling. His jaw tightened, and he looked at her through narrowed eyes. "I thought we were discussing mergers, not hostile takeovers."

Amaranta felt a sliver of panic. She didn't have the skill for a hostile takeover. Not yet, anyway.

"Of course it's a merger, don't be silly. My offer is based on my understanding of the situational constraints. You are always free to take it or leave it or to make a counter-offer." The deal is off, she thought. She berated herself for being greedy.

Rohan spoke after a long pause. "65/35. Now, I need to see your assets." Hardly believing what she heard, Amaranta took the handheld that Rohan fished out of his pocket and pressed her thumb into it. "Access all accounts, full disclosure." She went to the other room to retrieve her handheld while Rohan studied her accounts.

Rohan raised his eyebrow after she returned, ignoring the handheld she offered him. He stood, towering over her. "You made quite a deal, didn't you, Amaranta?"

Amaranta felt a touch of alarm. She opened her mouth, not sure what she would say. Rohan was right. She was nowhere close to being able to purchase a residence on her own.

"Save your wide-eyed looks of innocence and protestations, Amaranta." Rohan tapped his handheld. "I know you now. Don't worry; I'm a man of my word. Comp, I need you to witness a legal binding agreement. I, Rohan, agree to merge resources with Amaranta in a 65/35 partnership. Conditional on immediate acquisition of a residence."

Amaranta trembled. She hadn't seen his assets yet. "I, Amaranta, agree to merge resources with Rohan in a 35/65 partnership, and agree to the terms as stated."

"Witnessed and recorded," the computer acknowledged.

Amaranta couldn't believe her luck. She was getting a residence before she was 40. The looks she caught Rohan shooting at her shackled her exultation.

Not that he wasn't professional when she looked directly at him, but in her peripheral vision, she could see him looking. She gave a mental shrug. She'd figure out the look later. They'd have plenty of time to iron out the kinks of the merger.

The real estate agent ushered a beaming woman out of his office, then waved Amaranta and Rohan in. "Pleased to meet both of you. Let's start with you telling me what you are looking for in a residence."

Amaranta opened her mouth, but Rohan was already speaking, and she closed her jaw with a not quite audible snap.

"Hourly backups. Plenty of memory for our current configurations as well as lots of room for upgrades..." Rohan's list went on.

Amaranta interjected her own request. "Elegant residence options. Lush surroundings."

Rohan's glance quelled further input from Amaranta. There was an awkward silence.

The real estate agent chuckled. "Newly-mergereds, aren't you? I think I've got a good idea what you want. Check these out." He brought up holographic images of the residences, one by one. "These are at a 2.7 per cent scale. Let me know when you want to look at any in 100 per cent mode." The agent scrolled through the residences.

Amaranta gasped in delight. "Wait. That one is lovely." They could start residence in style. Then she saw the minimum memory size and premiums. And that residence owner's association fee ... Definitely pricey. She looked at Rohan – he was the one with the money. "What do you think, Rohan?"

Rohan studied the hologram in silence for long moments. "Let's look at the 100 per cent."

The real estate agent toggled the view. "A beauty. You've got a real eye for this sort of thing."

Rohan preened. "Yes. I pride myself on my ability to quickly size up parameters and find the best option."

Amaranta's mouth quivered with a suppressed smile at Rohan's posturing. This was going to be a great merger. Her mother always told her it was the subtle ones you had to worry about.

They strolled through the house.

Amaranta walked in silence. She let Rohan ask the questions and drive the deal. Her mother always told her that if a partner is full of himself, he won't have a lot of room to think of any other manoeuvres.

The agent grinned, already planning how to spend his commission. "That's all settled then. I'll email the contracts to your escrow agent. Go there, sign the papers, and throw a party at your new home."

Rohan nodded. They left the office and waited in line for the non-resident transport booth. Amaranta tried to still the flutters in her stomach. "You still have four days until your sponsorship expires. Maybe we should think about it, run a few more queries. Check the builder out, that sort of thing. We don't have to purchase immediately."

"No. Do it right away. We agreed to immediate acquisition as a term of the merger."

Amaranta stepped back at the harshness in his voice. "Okay?"

Rohan ignored the implied question. "Good. Last one to the new home has to empty the bit bucket." He stepped into the booth and was gone.

Aramanta arrived at her apartment, quickly settled her affairs and transferred her personal belongings to the new home.

When she informed her landlord employer of her change in residence status, she whistled in appreciation at the bump it gave her salary. Nothing else to do, but still she hesitated.

"You've wanted this forever, what's the problem?" she asked herself aloud. She smoothed non-existent wrinkles from her designer skirt. "You can't possibly miss that, that-"

"Your taxi has arrived," said the computer.

Amaranta quickly ran her hands over her impeccably coiffed hair, then, satisfied that every strand was in place, strode to the apartment complex transit booth. "Comp, end session."

Groaning, Aramanta wrinkled her nose at the stench pervading the dank cubical. She pulled the feeding tube out of her mouth, grimacing at the rancid aftertaste. Her body protested as she sat down.

She pushed lank locks out of her face and the hair left greasy streaks on her hand. She looked at it in disgust, then bent to unclip the zappers that kept her muscles from atrophying. She pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, emblazoned with the faded logo of her employer, Inteck.

She snorted, all trace of her earlier hesitancy gone. She'd forgotten what it was like – had gone too long without a downtime. No, she would not miss her organic peripheral. Briefly she considered showering, then just as quickly discarded the idea as pointless.

She wobbled to Inteck's parking garage where her taxi waited.

Amaranta showed the address of the escrow office to the driver and settled back in her seat without saying a word. The car swerved to avoid the junk that littered the road as they drove past crumbling buildings with decaying facades.

She took shallow breaths, trying not to gag at the putrid smell that assaulted her in spite of the taxi's filtration system. When she had her breathing under control, she squinted out the window, blinking in the unaccustomed light.

Looking down at the address in her hand, she leaned forward. Her voice was harsh from disuse. "Why are you going this way? Isn't the Sunset Highway quicker?"

Startled, the driver glanced over his shoulder. "You haven't been out in a while, have you? Can't go that way. Feral kids took over that whole stretch. No one's been able to drive there for six, maybe seven years now. The government says it's easier for people to use other roads than to ferret the kids out and find other homes for them."

"Feral kids?"

"Yeah, people get a chance to become residents, but they don't have enough money to take their kids, so they leave them. No one wants them. Then the kids join gangs, and... " He shrugged.

Amaranta sank back into her chair and grunted. The driver continued to cast furtive glances at her in the rearview mirror. She snatched a glimpse of her face, pallid save for the patchy brown circles under her bloodshot eyes. She shuddered and looked away.

"Here we are."

At last. Taking a deep breath, Amaranta clawed at the door handle and staggered out of the taxi. The sidewalk was lined with a few stunted trees, smothered by the noxious haze. She stepped inside the building, and only when she heard the low hum of the decontaminate air recirculator kick on did she allow herself to breathe.

The receptionist gave her the documents required for closing. "Read and sign these. Your majority partner already signed, and we're doing final processing on him now. Then we'll get you processed."

Amaranta took the pages, momentarily disappointed that she'd missed meeting Rohan in the flesh. Probably better that way, she thought. She looked through the papers and then shuffled back to the receptionist's desk.

"This 'Discounts for Disposition of Organic Properties' section." She pointed to the section. "I thought I could get a discount if I donated my organic peripheral to science. A hospital or university or something."

The receptionist laughed out loud. "They've got more bodies than they know what to do with. I don't think you could pay them to take it. And unless you've got some other disposal method worked out, you need to check this box to request us to dispose of it. It's an additional $45 charge."

Amaranta scowled. Worthless. Totally worthless. Less than worthless, she grumbled to herself as she checked the box to request disposal. She'd just finished signing when they rolled Rohan out. She hunched over the hermetically sealed cylinder and peered inside.

A hairless, wizened face lolled on its side. A feeding tube left the mouth wedged open, exposing the toothless gums. The devices that had kept his blood pumping and lungs breathing dwarfed his shrunken body.

No wonder Rohan hadn't wanted to consider waiting in downtime and was so insistent about closing on the home immediately. She doubted he could have lasted much longer in this peripheral.

Disgusting, really, being trapped like that. But his misfortune, her gain. She lumbered to the processing chamber and plopped onto a chair. A technician settled the transfer equipment around her.

"The excision will be totally painless," a doctor said, and then he pierced her arm with a syringe.

Aramanta's eyelids fluttered. The bright lights in the room faded. She stood in front of her new house. She gasped in delight. They had a transit booth right in their entrance.

She could hear Rohan whooping in a far corner of the home. She roamed through the rooms. Exquisite, she thought. She checked the memory allocations. Her thoughts swirled as she contemplated which upgrades she would opt for first.

She glided through the double French doors that opened onto a wide balcony. Lush hills stretched to the horizon. A flower-scented breeze gently engulfed her. She opened her arms wide as if to embrace the world, every electron tingling in the warmth of the bright Sun. She had never felt more alive.

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