The Best of Galaxy’s Edge 2013-2014 by Larry Niven, Nancy Kress, Mercedes Lackey, Ken Liu, Brad R. Torgersen, C. L. Moore, Tina Gower Page A

The apartment was even smaller than his, and there she was (her body, that is), lying on her bed with the VR helmet on. She was a little chubby (she hadn’t mentioned that), short, with not much of a figure, and as geeky as she said. But Marcus knew he loved her anyway.
    Heart pounding, he found her server. Not bad. Old PowerEdge—20th generation—but those had plenty of reliability and capacity. He dived into the USB socket and was immediately challenged by three huge female virus-protection trolls, sharp swords poised.
    “Halt! Password!”
    “Er …” Marcus said, not wanting to hurt any of Gwen’s software, but knowing he had to get through.
    “Wait,” one troll said, “that’s Marcus !”
    “She likes him,” said the second.
    “A lot ,” the remaining troll added.
    His ears doing a virtual burn, Marcus quickly explained to them what he needed and how it would save Gwen.
    The trolls nodded and lowered their swords.
    “VR software starts at memory address 3ddff000,” one said.
    “We’re alerting the CPUs to have a packet ready for you,” said another.
    “That way,” said the third, pointing.
    Marcus pounded down a long memory bus and came to the address. The CPUs were holding a refresh packet for him, and he jumped on it. But they made no objection to him first updating the VR software, throwing some Shaolin temple Kung Fu routines and other stuff into Gwen’s config file, then recompiling it.
    “ Gwen’s got a boyfriend! Gwen’s got a boyfriend ! ” some of the memory monkeys were chanting.
    Then it was onto the data packet and, clinging precariously to a couple of protruding bits, he whizzed along.
    * * *
    Marcus flowed through the VR refresh port in Al’s main server, the heavily-armored trolls ignoring this authorized traffic. He rolled off the packet, landing on his feet with poise as he entered a cordoned-off section of RAM serving as a cell for Gwen, Oscar, and Bill. He was so glad to see them! And he recognized the server he was in—it was the one from the shop.
    “Miss me?” he said, grinning.
    Gwen rushed over and threw her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder. Oscar and Bill patted him on the back. Reluctantly he disengaged from Gwen.
    “We’ve got to hurry,” he said. “What’s been happening here?”
    “Not much,” Gwen said. “Al’s ignoring us. Ever since they got their new bodies, these two have been going over in the corner, looking at themselves, and chuckling a lot.” She looked at Oscar and Bill. “It’s just virtual size, guys.”
    “Er … no,” Marcus said. “This is now my real body. We need to convert you guys so that you can help me demolish Al.”
    All three nodded at him. They liked that idea.
    Marcus took out the red buttons he’d grabbed from his tool box. He handed one to each. “All set up. Flip up the cover, press ABORT .” He held up his hand. “Not ye t !”
    Bill gently eased the cover closed again.
    Marcus waved up a terminal and the screen showed the view outside the computer. Al and his two goons were there, eating pizza from a delivery box. Hey, even disorganized criminals have to eat, he acknowledged silently.
    “Here’s the plan,” he said. “When Oscar and Bill press their buttons, they’ll be up there with Al and his gorillas. Kung Fu the hell out of them, guys, before they can get their guns out. You know how now.”
    “What about me?” Gwen asked.
    Marcus smiled at her. “Your button deposits you outside the server in your apartment. Your old body will be gone and you will be you .”
    Oscar, feeling his oats after years of being old and feeble, gave a wolf whistle.
    Gwen stuck her tongue out at him but smiled.
    “Then come back here and help us mop up. But … where is here?”
    Marcus typed in the air and data streamed on his virtual terminal. “No encrypting of personal or business data for Al, hey?” He stopped the scrolling. “There! 6701 Greenview Avenue. Not too far from your apartment, Gwen.