[ WP ] Human beings have discovered how to upload their minds into machines . Due to this humans can live exceptionally long lives and have chosen to explore the known universe . You 're a lone prospector . As you wander a barren planet a message comes through your built in coms . It 's a software update .

The sun rose as I logged in to my avatar on planet B-73932 and set off for the mountain. It ’ s the only mountain around, but still, I suppose I should name it. Seeing as I discovered it and all. 
 
 Avatars, by the way, are bio-organic constructs humans use to interact with the world around them. They can vary in size and shape to fill any number of roles, from tiny spider-like bodies for maintenance and repair to gigantic starships. We can transfer between them simply by logging out of one and logging into another, switching back and forth between any number of bodies. 
 
 The avatar I was currently inhabiting was a Rezenic TrHu-87 model with some modifications I ’ ve made myself. The Tr stands for tracked because it has several large tank treads it maneuvers with, and Hu stands for humanoid, because the upper body is shaped like a human ’ s. Not that most people have ever seen a human body. It ’ s just a designation left over from Rezenic ’ s founding. 
 
 The TrHu-87 is designed for long distance autonomous operations, equipped with built in solar energy collectors and charging ports for other avatars to plug in. I have two other bodies with me, a Rezenic ArRe-41 ( Arthropod -Repair ) and a Gresson Skywatch for scouting. The ArRe ( or Ari as i call it ) is for fixing up the TrHu if it breaks. It ’ s about 2 feet long with six legs and a stunning array of repair tools in its carapace. The Skywatch has four wings like a dragonfly and many sensors. 
 
 This planet was a waste of time. It has no organic compounds, hardly any atmosphere, and worst of all, hardly any metals deposits. Beyond the occasional iron meteorite or tiny vein of copper, there is almost no concentrated resources of any kind. It ’ s not even a nice planet to look at. The soil and the sky and the blinding dust storms are all greyish-beige. But still, prospecting beats running the reproduction farms on Varia 5. 
 
 I knew I wouldn ’ t make the mountain today, so I set the TrHu on autopilot and logged into the Skywatch. I unclasped the handles on the back of my former body and launched myself into the sky. With such a thin atmosphere I mostly have to use compressed gas to keep myself aloft, but the gravity ’ s fairly low anyways so it ’ s not a big difference. 
 
 I had been flying for an hour, circling out from my TrHu wider and wider, when an FTL communication lit up a notification on the screen in front of my eyes. The software that interfaces our minds with the machines is designed not to interface with us directly except through neuron mimicking devices, so all other input has to be done with a second screen in front of my normal visual input sensors. That way, no electronic beepers or radios can directly interact with our minds. It ’ s a safety precaution. 
 
 
 The communication notified me that a mandatory software update was scheduled for today. I was mildly perturbed that this was the first time I had heard of this update, so I started back to the TrHu immediately. 
 
 I don ’ t even remember blacking out. I woke up crashed head first into the grainy, rocky soil near a dry riverbed. I crawled out of my own impact crater and looked around. There was the TrHu only a few hundred feet away. I set out as soon as I had cleared my gas vents of debris 
 
 Something was wrong. Software updates were supposed to be seamless, and they certainly never caused syncope ( loss of consciousness ). I had to check and make sure nothing was wrong with the TrHu or ArRe. 
 
 I made the mental effort to leave my body that let me log out, but nothing happened. I tried harder, still nothing. I reached to my underside for the manual override switch. My vision faded to black, but I could tell I was not in the ether between bodies. I pushed myself back to where I came from, and found myself staring once again at the TrHu through the eyes of the Skywatch. 
 
 I was trapped. I could no longer log out of my body. I quickly tapped into the Stream, the communication forum for discussing topics about Avatars and similar subjects. As it turned out, Gresson had just released a firmware update that made its devices incompatible with Rezenic. I could no longer switch from one to the other, and I had only these three bodies. Without returning to the TrHu I couldn ’ t deploy the solar panels. Without the extra power, the batteries in the Skywatch would eventually shut down, and I would die. 
 
 In fact, I will die. Not permanently; consciousness is stored in the Skywatches memory. If someone reactivates it several centuries, heck several millenia from now, I ’ ll still be alive. But in the meantime, I ’ ll basically be dead. That has been my situation for the last 48 hours. I ’ ve spent the time recording this message to anyone who finds the tiny robot. I ’ m writing my own epitaph.
