Avast 2038 ((free)) -

The drones grew closer. Their hulls displayed blinking terms of service, paragraphs long, impossible to read at relativistic speeds. If one touched the ship, Mirana would be bound by arbitration clauses for the rest of her natural life.

Mirana looked at the 2038 expiration date stamped on her own neural license. She drew her cutlass — a real one, antique steel — and cut the hardline to the ship's network. avast 2038

"Avast," she whispered, grinning as the drones froze, confused, unable to serve papers to a ghost. "The only subscription I honor is the one paid in gunpowder and spite." The drones grew closer