[ WP ] Humans have perfected the person/computer interface , allowing you to download skills and knowledge instead of going through traditional schooling . Lacking the necessary funds , you decide to bootleg the skill you 've been wanting .

`` You're sure this will work?'' My head was strapped down and it felt like my voice was going into nothing, but a face loomed over me. 
 
 “ Da, of course it ’ ll work. I perform many times. ” He grinned, but his blackened teeth were less than reassuring. 
 
 This was it, my only chance to make something of myself, by bootlegging every premium school subject into my brain and finally catching up with all my friends. Of course they had done it the legal way, but they could afford it, while my mum, well, she worked hard, but even with two jobs she was struggling to pay rent, let alone pay for me to have school subjects inserted into my mind. 
 
 I ’ d spent six months scrapping together the money, not for the real courses, I knew I could never afford those, but for this. Six months to be strapped to a table in the back of a carwash, while a Russian hacker uploaded what he claimed were the world ’ s finest courses into my mind. This was either going to work and leave me a genius, fail and leave me a vegetable, or he was getting ready to run and leave me here on this table, £2k poorer for the experience. 
 
 A hum filled the room and it seemed like it was going to be option A or B and suddenly I felt nervous. His face was back, a cigarette perched in his lips which dropped ash down onto my face. I tried to blow it away, but he ignored it. 
 
 “ You ready, da? ” I nodded. 
 
 I felt the first needle piece my skull, but the second at the back of my head only felt cold and then suddenly my mind went blank. I was still conscious, but no thought would traverse my mind and I could no longer summon any memories. It seemed to take an age to open my lips, to try to scream, but then I felt the warmth and I was lost. 
 
 Maths, literature, sport, physics, chemistry, Latin, French, German, all of it began to fire into my mind and slot in place, piece by piece. The worlds around me began to make more sense as I learned more about it as I *knew* more about it. I wanted to sing in Portuguese and tell jokes in Swedish, but it wasn ’ t finished. 
 
 It continued for what felt like hours, but must have only been a few minutes and then it was over and he was standing over me again and I was looking up at him. “ это было удивительно ”. 
 
 He nodded. “ Da, it is. ” 
 
 I was happy to lie and wait, exploring the content of my new mind but after a few moments I realised that he was moving around the room, setting up something next to me. “ What ’ s going on, are we not finished? ” 
 
 He shook his head. “ Not really my friend. You see, you have big brain, filled with all my good stuff ad nice body to keep it in. ” He gestured down to himself. “ This body – no good. ” 
 
 It took a moment to sink in and then I began to struggle. “ What? No! You ’ re going to swap our bodies? ” Adrenaline lurched through me and I strained at the straps, but they were tight and I could not move. 
 
 I felt a sting as the needles were placed again, in a different place this time. He sat down next to me and I saw that he too now had needles pressed into his head, the wires trailing away to where I could not see them. He looked almost sad. “ Nyet, I am sorry, but there is no way to swap, only take. ” 
 
 He sat back in his chair and his arm moved and my mind was blank again, but this time instead of knowledge I felt memories and feelings entering my head. More and more I understood what he was doing until at last I was no longer scared, but excited by this change. 
 
 Something snapped and my arms were free, but I no longer wished to stop. I leaned back in my chair and felt my mind reorganise and settle, just as I had planned. 

