Faren, an otter appearing to be in his mid-twenties, was a self-proclaimed fanatic when it came to modularity. He didn't always keep up with the newest trends, or buy new parts the instant they come out, but his collection would impress just about anyone in terms of both its sheer size and its contents. So naturally, when he heard about the new line of heads being released, he immediately went to upgrade his brain to a model that supported them.

He walked into the store, a bell above the door jingling at his arrival. The employee at the register looked up to see who it was. "Oh, hello Faren. Let me know if you need any help, and feel free to look around as much as you like."

The otter gave an acknowledging nod as he walked right past the prebuilt brains on display without even giving them a glance. He'd always preferred to build his own, since it's usually cheaper and he can control exactly what goes in it. He went to look up reviews online...

"Hey Jare, what happened to the internet here?"

"You'll have to plug in. The wireless is having problems lately, but you can just leave your brain plugged in while you browse. Just bring it over here."

With a shrug, Faren did as was suggested, taking his brain out and leaving it with Jare at the counter, where it could be plugged in to the public network. He returned to browsing, all the while checking for reviews and rankings--he had neglected to upgrade his brain for quite a while, and wanted to make sure he got the best replacement possible. From the look of it, he'd have to get a type-N baseplane if he wanted to use the new model heads. Which meant the expensive ones. This might be less affordable than he'd expected.

There wasn't much of a selection, either, when it came to type-N baseplanes. It was a brand new standard; there were only a few dozen models on the market, and this store only had one of them. Which, as luck would have it, was a pretty good one anyway. Eight slots for memory modules, twelve general-purpose expansion slots, support for all the newest main cortices... and even four built-in universal connectivity ports. It wasn't really cheap, though. He'd probably have to use some of his old parts instead of the complete upgrade he'd been planning on, but he'd be able to upgrade those too in a few weeks... or maybe months, if they're all this expensive.

Since there weren't any cheaper ones online that met his requirements, though... "I think I'll buy this one. Can you come open the case?"

"Sure," the snake replied. "Just give me a moment. I'll hold it back here for you until you're done shopping. The new type-N beep from Bitec?"

"Yeah, thanks." Faren continued on to the next aisle, where he began looking at the frontal cortices on display. It was a little frustrating how the new baseplanes are never compatible with old effcees; he liked the one he had. Not that he wouldn't like an upgrade. More processing power is never a bad thing, after all. Plus, the newer ones even could have multiple thought processes going at once. MultiMind technology, they called it.

Faren didn't have a clue how it all worked. He just knew that this effcee seemed powerful and affordable; seven minds, support for up to twelve coprocessors, and if its claims were to be believed, it was about ten times better than his old one at analytical problems, and over thrice as good at creativity. Plus, with an integrated twenty-four megaThau magical cortex he'd be able to use much more complex magic than he could before, without even having to buy a thaumic processor expansion. He didn't need any high-power sorcery stuff.

The integrated visual and motor controllers, though... Those would have to be replaced. Who wants to be limited to six limbs, or four eyes? He'd actually been eyeing one particular motor controller for a while now, one that could handle up to thirty-five limbs, twenty-one of which could be prehensile. The new version of it also supports the new head system, though using it with that reduces the number of allowable limbs a bit. The visual one, though... He'd probably just keep his old one. It was pretty nice, but definitely due for an upgrade soon. Besides, he didn't know enough about them to make a good decision. He'd have to ask someone.

It didn't have other integrated sensory cortices, but he had some decent ones on his old brain, and no real reason to upgrade those until he was able to actually afford more parts. He was going to be almost broke after this purchase as it is.

He looked over the motor controller's box. It wasn't exactly the version he had been looking at, but a newer one from the same series. This particular one had five ports for accessory heads, if he decided to use a chest-mounted brain. Maybe he ought to get a mounting kit. Not now, though--this was getting expensive enough. The last part he planned to get today was a new memory module, one of the high-speed ones needed for a lot of the recent games. A few quick flips through some online catalogs and he'd chosen the EleMental PX30-500S, a fairly old model as these things go, but one with excellent reviews and a fairly low price.

Faren brought the boxes up to the counter and gave them to Jare, who scanned them and set them aside. "You'll be wanting to use our free upgrade service, right?" she asked. With Faren's approval, she assembled the parts he'd chosen, putting the documentation in a folder, and then brought the otter's brain out from the linkport. "And, what should we keep of this one?"

"Everything but the effcee and the baseplane. I'll use dual motor controllers, and the visual cortex built in to this thing is so awful that my five-year-old one is still an upgrade. Do you reorganize memory, too, or should I do that myself?"

"We used to, but people kept complaining about losing things and getting paranoid that we were inserting false memories--not that we were, of course--so we just let the customer do it themself now. It's not that hard, you can find guides... Or, since you're keeping all of your memory modules, you can just leave them where they are, and just move things as you come across things you'd like to move."

Faren nodded. "Sure, I suppose that's fair enough. Just give me the upgrade, and I'll worry about memory myself."

The snake nodded acknowledgement and continued. Faren just ignored the warnings she gave him that he'd lose control of his body for a moment, and adjusting to a new brain can be difficult... he'd heard it all before. He was tempted to just interrupt and say get on with it, but then he reminded himself that Jare was required to say this. She probably wanted to skip through it all too.

"Alright then, are you ready?" Jare asked. Then she prodded Faren. "Are you ready?" she repeated.

He started. "Oh! Uh, sure. Go ahead."

The snake disconnected Faren's motor controller, and his otter body went limp on its chair. It was always disorienting, he thought, being able to feel and see out of a body you can't actually control. An interesting sensation, though.

He lost that too, though, pretty quickly, as the visual and other sensory expansions were taken out and slotted into the new brain. Last to go were the memory modules, at which point Faren's old brain stopped functioning entirely. Once these were slotted into the new brain, Jare activated it and gently set it into the otter's head to allow it to autoconfigure for Faren's preferred body.

"Whooh," he said. "I'd forgotten how strange that feels."

"Take a little time to adjust to your new brain, and then we'll get the payment taken care of. Do you want to sell your old one? Your new one supports coprocessors, so it might be a good idea to keep it, and use it as one. Honestly, you wouldn't get more than a few thousand for this anyway."

"That might be a good idea. I think I will, thanks. Could I put it in the box my new baseplane came in?"

"Sure," Jare replied, "just a moment." She scanned the barcode on the box and handed it to Faren. "Here you go, then."

The otter stuffed what remained of his old brain into the box, while Jare finished scanning the boxes for his new parts. "That's a total of two hundred forty-two thousand and eighty-one lutte. Paying with credit, I take it?"

A swipe of a card and a signature later, and Faren had now officially upgraded his brain... and officially spent nearly two thirds of his budget for this month in one go. He'd have to dip into his savings later, but it was well worth it, he thought.