Heidi quits exercising and her brain, predictably, goes to flab. She pinches it every morning in the mirror and sighs. It’s just so hard to find the time for sudoku!

She’s still on the same 5000-kibibit diet as when she was building serious cortex, but it’s all junk food now–Twitter, Reddit, occasional blink fiction. When her spare tire droops to her ears, she finally has the brainband installed to limit her intake.

“Seriously?” ask her friends, eyeing the little scars. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

“No, no,” says Heidi brightly, “but sorry, if I listen any more I’ll have to blog.”