...

Experience It!

The rig buzzed against Cantrip's jaw. Another Experience request. Joy. Xey hit accept, and the HUD went momentarily opaque, showing xem the screen the Experiencer was seeing.

Connecting you with...
Willem!

The white letters on calming blue dinged and chimed, and Cantrip sighed, trying to ignore the giant twist in xeir stomach. For corporate reasons, the system required Experience delivery partners to register, and therefore broadcast, the name inherent on their legal profile. Xey'd already filed the Preferential Gender Reassignment application a while ago, but even though the settlement of Selene was under Earth's jurisdiction, anything like that seemed to move a lot slower from the Moon. Cantrip tried not to gripe about it though; the Mars colonies were technically their own entity, only under the purview and oversight of Earth, and even though they were supposed to have exactly the same rights and recourse as terrestrial citizens, xey'd heard many disheartening stories. And it was so far away, things probably moved even more slowly from there. So, having to endure multiple misgenderings throughout each day in exchange for necessary scratch and being able to set your own hours? It was...fine. It was fine. Really it was fine.

"Hi Willem!" The Experiencer's audio came through the headset, buzzing xeir jaw again. Cantrip cringed at the level of excitement and effusiveness. Those types of customers always thought a level of familiarity, however contrived, allowed them more access to the freelancer's person. "What are your pronouns?"

This was fine.

"Hello, xey/xem/xeir," Cantrip replied, making sure to sound cheerful. But not too cheerful. Setting too high a level of engagement only emboldened customers to feel entitled, and never was the thing that increased tips. Best to keep it at polite.

"Ooo, exotic! It sounds so fun on the Moon!"

Cantrip rolled xeir eyes. Even though the rig recorded expressions, Experiencers couldn't see faces, and xey needed at least some emotional autonomy.

"Where are we going today?" Xey spoke the compulsory tagline that also started the rig's time and acute location tracking processes.

"I thought," the Experiencer replied, "it'd be so fun to start with a market tour!"

Market tours were probably the easiest part of any experience request, and also probably one of the most popular. Experiencers loved seeing what they could buy in different places. Even if the selection really wasn't all that different from what they could buy online, or even at their own market. As the title said, it was the Experience they were paying for.

Cantrip and the Experiencer wandered around the market, looking at this, picking that up, chatting with this shopkeeper or that one. Anyone xey interacted with was visibly interacting with the customer; the rig's headset featured an outward-facing vidscreen that projected the Experiencer-chosen animated avatar, complete with emoji and reaction sets they could purchase for additional costs. One didn't have to remain anonymous, but lots did. Part of the Experience appeal. Freelancers only enjoyed the illusion of anonymity...they still had to exist in physical space and go places and do things they might not otherwise do. The rig had external speakers too, not just the bone conducers the Experiencer used to talk with Cantrip. The entire rig was supposed to be designed to minimize discomfort for the freelancer, the exoskeleton made of lightweight, woven carbon fibers, but the directions and mandates chosen by the customer came with low-level electrical prods to Cantrip's joints and muscles, as if xey'd forgot how to move or which extremity was necessary for which action. The rig also recorded biofeedback data; if the prods registered above a certain level of pain the company shelled out a bonus to compensate. But Cantrip was pretty sure pain was a nigh-unquantifiable personal experience, and that the company set the threshold just a bit too high.

The Experiencer was talking with a vendor about some programmable-printed figurines meant to heroically represent Selene's early settlers—drillers, terraformers, anomalists—and Cantrip zoned out of the conversation. Just past the stall, xey noticed another freelancer sitting at a rounded street cafe table across from a peaceguard. Cantrip knew the freelancer, Arden, from the neighborhood. They'd made small talk at the company-sponsored corpro-freelancer solidarity union meetings, hung out a few times at different pubs for different shows. Cantrip couldn't say they were friends, exactly, but maybe they were on their way. Maybe xey'd head back here after this Experience, see if Arden would want to get a drink or something.

On Arden's vidscreen projector, the Experiencer there wasn't using an avatar. It was their real face, staring out at and talking with the peacegaurd. The look on the customer's face was full of adoration, and the peaceguard returned the expression. She held Arden's hands, stroking his fingers as she conversed with the Experiencer. The company was piloting a new program, a new set of experiences, and a new, enhanced, rig set-up that allowed haptic sensations to be transferred along with audio and video. They were offering it for free to peaceguards for testing, and from what Cantrip heard, it was pretty popular, as a lot of peaceguards still had family and partners back on Earth. The customer and the peaceguard shared sublime smiles, staring into each other's eyes across the wide expanse of orbit and atmosphere. But Cantrip focused on Arden's face behind the rig, only half visible from xeir perspective. His jaw was set. His eyes wide. He seemed to be staring off into an abyss. Was he shivering?

Cantrip remembered one of the union meetings, xey and Arden sitting next to each other in the hall. The chairs were all cheap recyclo build, linked together to form rows like in older movie theaters back on Earth, the thin armrests rammed up against each other. Cantrip had leaned one way to get a little comfortable, accidentally bumping into Arden ever so slightly. Arden straightened and recoiled from Cantrip, trying to cover an automatic shout with a cough. No one else really seemed to notice, but Cantrip was horrified xey'd done something wrong. Arden, downcast, whispered, "S-sorry...sometimes it's...hard...for me to be touched." After that, Cantrip always tried to show up to the meetings a bit early and save an open aisle seat for him.

Over at the cafe table, the peaceguard squeezed Arden's hands and leaned in to plant a kiss on the vidscreen projection. Arden didn't move, but Cantrip swore his temples looked like they were about to pop from the pressure of his jaw. The company was paying freelancers double for beta testing the new Experiences.

Cantrip's rig delivered a punitive shock to xeir cheek. A pop-up on the HUD warned xey'd turned xeir head outside the preferred angle for a customer engaged in a transactional micro-experience. Xey snapped back into the green. The customer didn't seem to notice. They'd come to an agreement with the vendor about price and amount. Cantrip packed the three figurines in xeir pack and initiated the funds transfer from xeir scratch account. The customer would be charged the full amount later. Cantrip would see recompense on deposit day next week.

They moved through the rest of the market, the customer making awed comments and asking questions, Cantrip making recommendations or answering as xey were able. The timer on the HUD was in the final stages, so Cantrip asked the customer, "How would you like to end your Experience today?" dreading the answer xey knew would come.

"Y'know," came the reply, "I've been hearing about The Fields, can we go there??"

Cantrip sighed. Internally.

"Yes indeed!" Xey really, really tried to sound appropriately excited.

The Fields were an as-yet-undeveloped section of Selene still covered in the atmosphere dome. Just outside the perimeter fence, it was almost like walking unprotected on the Moon's actual, native surface without needing any EVA gear. If one went far enough, Selene would disappear behind the horizon and they'd be met with the full range of stars and Earth hanging in the sky among them. It was an amazing sight, no matter how many times Cantrip had seen it. However. What had once been a peaceful and contemplative excursion was now one of the most popularly requested micro-experiences on the platform. And Cantrip hated the trend.

"I know this might sound weird but-" the Experiencer said, and Cantrip braced xemself. "Will you dance for me?"

Cantrip wanted to do anything but.

"Of course," xey said.

The Experiencer started a song stream of a strikehype hit Cantrip swore xey'd heard a thousand times already today, and the video drone popped off of the rig and began circling xem as the Experiencer sang along, their avatar hitting all the choreography from the music video. Cantrip did xeir very best to look like this was very fun and not at all embarrassing or tortuous. Three minutes later, the new single from Odor Natural's new album ended, and both Cantrip and the Experiencer's avatar hit the final pose in sync. Xey were sweaty, out of breath, and uncomfortable, but hey, this is where the big tips would roll in. Xey just hoped xey'd never stumble across this particular vid in some viral supercut on social. There was no doubt the Experiencer would post it for clout. They always did.

"Oh my god thank you so much this was sooo fun!" The Experiencer laughed, and ended the session. The rig screen went opaque and blue again, showing a brief recap of time spent and places visited, asking the Experiencer to rate their Experience. Cantrip wouldn't see those results until later, to preserve Experiencer anonymity. Xey checked the time. Close enough to when xey normally quit, and xey didn't think xey could handle another Experience tonight. Xey logged off, and the HUD disappeared.

Cantrip trekked back through Selene, making sure to pass the street cafe. Neither the peaceguard nor Arden were there. Xey'd make sure to catch up with him later. Winding back through the market, Cantrip eventually made it back to the dorm units. Xey saw the light on in the sleep pod. Oh good. Georgie was done working too.

Inside, Cantrip took off the rig and loaded it into the charging dock, and went through the multi-point inspection, recording no damage or malfunction. The company owned the rigs and leased them to freelancers. A freelancer had to be careful with not only the care of the rigs, but with noticing and reporting anything. The agreement allowed the company to take from a freelancer's scratch account anything they deemed as necessary repair from the fault of the freelancer. They added a small bonus for clean reports.

Georgie was on her belly in the sleep pod, scrolling on her tablet, half covered in the blanket. She turned when she heard Cantrip come in.

"Hey," she smiled at xem. "How'd it go?"

"Pretty good," Cantrip said, shrugging out of xeir clothes. "Made 80, base. We'll see what the tips are when they roll in."

Georgie pulled aside the blanket for Cantrip, and snuggled up next to xem.

"I know I've said this before, but..." she laid her head on Cantrip's shoulder, looking up into xeir eyes. "I know this isn't what you thought you'd be doing, isn't what you want to be doing, and I'm really grateful for all your hard work."

Georgie squeezed Cantrip around the middle. Cantrip placed a kiss on her forehead.

"How's training going," xey asked.

"Good!" Georgie went back to her tablet. "I feel like I'm really getting it, and it's really great to feel like I finally have a job I don't have to take home with me at the end of the day, y'know?" She scrolled past a video of a freelancer dancing out in The Fields.

"Yeah, that's awesome." Cantrip reached over and touched her shoulder. "I'm grateful for all your hard work, too."

Georgie sent xem a cute, squinty smile and continued scrolling. Cantrip looked up at the sleep pod ceiling, trying to get Odor Natural to stop playing ad nauseum in xeir head.