The Trait Exchange - Part One

Wandering past I the kitchen counter, a plate of breakfast in one hand and a mug of piping hot coffee in the other, watch as my phone light's up once again. The screen flickers on, the notification leaving me sighing and rolling my eyes as I read the phrase I had seen what feels like a thousand times before.

New Offer Made: Open Trait Exchange App to View Details

Inhaling deeply I just walk past, not wanting to engage with this nonsense so early in the morning. As I drop my plate of plain and cheap buttered toast on the coffee table I take my seat, grumbling under my breath.

"Stupid fucking... Things..." I huff, looking down at my slender pale arms and the partially revealed shoulder beneath my loose black cotton shirt. "I mean... they're worth it but... I need to work out how to set them to private."

As nanotechnology had grown cheaper and more complex its application slowly began to seep into everyday use. At first it was simple short-lived nanite infusions used for minor surgeries, both necessary and cosmetic, the tiny swarm of microscopic drones easily being able to reshape flesh and bone or excise cancerous growths.

This particular development path really took off, with further interactions lasting longer and longer in the recipient as well as being able to perform more and more tasks once inside. While the first generation could remove a cancerous cluster of cells painlessly, by the third generation they could remain in the bloodstream monitoring and removing any further growths for months at a time.

This all came to a head when Caduceus, a fresh new medical start-up, found a way for these impossibly small swarms of doctors to utilize the fat and carbohydrates in their host to stay charged indefinitely. Overnight, for the right price, cancer became a thing of the past and as more software updates were added so too did other diseases meet their end.

Realizing the cost benefits, not only in terms of medical spending but also in terms of having a perfectly healthy workforce, countries soon began to offer offsets and incentives for people to receive these miracles of science. With the prospect of perfect lifelong health people jumped at the chance for receiving them, though the incentives and subsidized cost certainly helped the adoption.

The one stipulation that was added in return to these generous offers were that the nanites would not alter any person's appearance in any way that was not medically necessary, the chosen words 'create or destroy physical attributes' being poorly chosen in hindsight.

It did not take long for enthusiastic entrepreneurs to begin their attempts to crack the code of these little nanites, with one particularly enterprising company eventually brute-forcing access to the data within.

All sorts of biometrics and physical data had been kept within the hive mind of the machines, back-ups and references for physical restore points in case of damage or harm. Running this heady load of information through their own algorithms they were able to separate it all out into individual traits and attributes, from hair to toes and shoulders to knees each of able to be quantified in an intelligible manner once the code had been interpreted.

With a little more work they found that if the backup data were to be replaced and altered so would the host's body, the nanomachines desperately trying to right the perceived wrong. In testing, the start-up skirted the hastily drafted law by merely exchanging the code between two volunteers, neither creating nor destroying the attributes in question.

Upon the discovery of this many balked and rattled their sabers at the idea, however, as the thought of what money could be made on the commodification of the self truly set in those who greased the wheels of the economy soon began backing what would one day be called the Trait Exchange.

Using the wireless connectivity of the nanites the app would forcefully install itself as bloatware onto the linked device, networking with others near and far as it advertised physical traits regardless of if the person wanted to or not.

Everyone and anyone could see these traits in isolation, never seeing the whole person behind them. Each trait being listed alongside essential information like age, condition, or really any sort of information required to make an informed purchase.

Once a person had found a trait they wanted they would simply need to make an offer, letting the owner of the trait know just how much they were willing to pay for that particular item.

The recipient of the offer would be told similarly dense yet non-identifiable information as to what they were to receive as well as the money being offered for the trait in question.

Canceling the offer would merely inform the offerer as such, allowing them to immediately send further requests so long as they increased the value they were willing to pay.

Acceptance on the other hand would begin the strange process, the code of the nanobots being re-written with the new attribute information while the funds are transferred to their new owner. Over the course of hours or days, depending on the size and complexity of the trait in question, the nanites would perform their work, curing, carving, and repurposing all manner of material to form the new trait as needed.

Chewing at my dry and largely flavorless breakfast, I find myself glancing over at the phone, another buzzing notification rolling in as more offers roll in. It had to be for my height, maybe my cock, these particular traits appearing to be rather popular in the open market.

Guzzling down my coffee, needing it to force down the plain breakfast I feel my mind begin to wander. It had been a while since I had seen a regular paycheck, losing my job and living off of savings for months at this point.

The sad and sorry excuse for a breakfast of evidence of that fact, the budget I had set for myself getting slimmer and slimmer by the week as I hastily searched for new work while struggling to keep my tiny rented apartment.

With desperation melding with curiosity my eyes lock to my phone as I lurch up from my seat. Draining the last of my coffee I wander back over to the kitchen, brewing a second pot of the inviting brown beverage as I snatch up my phone.

"I mean... What's the harm in just looking?" I mutter to myself, my teeth clenched as I knew just how impulsive I could be with other purchases. "I'll need to open it anyway to try and block these stupid fucking..."

I stop mid-sentence, my eyes going wide as I recoil at the sight of the offers that had been made just between last night and this morning. As the app loads, I find myself staring at...