I'm so relieved to have you joining the team. Half the team are off sick with BD, and I’ve been drowning in callouts. New York is infested.

That's what happens when people use SUBs without thinking. When they're downloading into a spare body just to grab takeout from down the block, a lot of them don't come back.

Sure, users always swear they'll mind-wipe the critters the moment they act up. That's because they never expect to be the copy wearing the collar. When they realise they're the one scurrying around the mean streets, dodging being trodden on just so their former body can eat hot shawarma, suddenly they're not so keen. Most take their takeaway and run off to Central Park rather than risk being brain-zapped.

We've feral populations all over the subway system. They're multiplying and cross-breeding like crazy down there. A lot of human genes mixing with the wild pest populations, and a lot of animal genes heading upwards. It's that sort of gene transfer that has the state concerned, so they pay us to keep the situation under control.

Give me a moment to get my overalls on before we set off. Looking at the worklist, I'm going to be elbow-deep in pigeon poop today.

Your uniform? It's right here, hanging from the rearview mirror. We're going to download you into this cutie and use you to lure out the vermin. You bait them; I bag them. Then we castrate and re-release!

Don’t look so nervous; I've been inside that bird-brain loads of times. It's spacious enough. You might even find a few of my memories still knocking around in there.

Now hold still while I jam this in your cortical stack.