The Unincorporated Man by Dani Kollin

he finally managed to find a space that made him less of an obstruction and gave him more of a view. Had he been more familiar with the environment, he would have realized that nothing could have or would have bumped into him. All nonhuman devices were programmed to either go around objects or stop in place until the object, in this case one Justin Cord, figured out exactly where it wanted to go.
    “Where is the security, sebastian?”
    “For what, Justin?”
    “I presume you have theft?”
    “Yes, but not how you imagine.”
    “Save it,” Justin answered. “Just get me to the suspension unit.”
    “It will require us walking through a wall. Are you ready?”
    “Yes.”
    “Step backward, then.”
    Again Justin did as he was told. He watched in utter amazement how a hole was formed around his body, only to close up as he finished his backward step. It was almost like the experience of putting a hand into a soap bubble without having popped the bubble.
    “Cool.”
    Justin walked one step forward, back the way he had just entered, and watched the wall melt away around him again. He was again “outside” the room, with the wall now behind him. He smiled, turned around, and walked back into the bay, facing forward.
    That is so cool, he thought.
    Now that he was back in the room he began to concentrate on its interior. It was a loading bay of sorts, empty but for his suspension unit and one other individual. The man was a rough-looking fellow with dark wavy hair, an unshaven face, and a lean body. He was wearing an outfit that suggested a manual laborer if, indeed, wondered Justin, that vocation still existed. He watched the man quietly for a few seconds, hoping he’d check what he needed to check and move on. But the laborer kept snooping around. He was prodding and pushing on the exterior of the suspension unit, almost as if he were looking for a way in.
    “Excuse me, sir,” Justin interrupted, in as polite a tone as he could muster. “What do you think you’re doing?”
    “Who wants to know?” the stranger volleyed back, whipping around to stare at the man who’d had the temerity to interfere with his work.
    Ahh, scrappy. How refreshing, actually, Justin thought.
    “The guy whose ass was frozen in it for a few centuries and the rightful owner of that object you happen to be poking around in, that’s who.”
    “In that case,” retorted the worker, “I’m the guy who carved you out of a mountain in the middle of nowhere and, therefore, by default, saved your old, frozen, and obviously ungrateful ass.”
    They stood their ground staring intently at each other. After a few seconds they both burst out laughing.
    “Name’s Omad,” the man said, sporting a wide, infectious grin. He gave a surprisingly Japanese-style bow. “And you would be?”
    “Justin,” Justin answered, returning the smile and mimicking Omad’s bow.
    “Well, Justin, I just have to tell you, this thing’s amazing. Never seen anything like it. Truth be told, I’ve never even heard of a self-contained suspension unit outside of the ones they use in space. How’d you manage to get a terrestrial version?”
    “I didn’t get it. I built it.”
    “C’mon, friend. I see the patch on your shoulder. You may only be an L4, but you’re still a DeGen. You couldn’t build a transfixer, much less a self-sustaining sus unit.”
    “Oh, this,” Justin said, looking at the patch on his shoulder. “It’s sort of a cover to allow me to move around without causing too many gaffes… not being from this time period and all.”
    “Ahh.” Omad didn’t look too convinced.
    Justin continued. “Some of the design is mine, but mostly it was made on the Roman method.”
    “Roman method?”
    “I overengineered the crap out of it. I had backup systems, and made everything three times as durable as the specifications called for… and I spent a lot of money… and, by the way, thank you.”
    That caught Omad a little off guard. “For