Judy didn’t know what to do.

It was a state of mind she was very familiar with, though that really only made her feel worse. A lifetime of anxiety-induced indecision and a paralysing fear of social interaction had seen her grow from a withdrawn and nebbish child into the adult life of a reclusive shut-in.

It was only thanks to the miracles of the modern age that she was able to find work on a freelance basis with mixed media - graphic design, sound design, programming - instead of simply wasting away in an attic somewhere.

She wasn’t stupid (though anyone would have struggled to convince her of this): She had a keen eye, a deft hand and a knack for problem-solving, so long as the problem could be expressed in a short email or project brief. If only she could maintain her composure when faced with… well, another person’s face, she might have become quite successful in life. As it was, any work that required an in-person meeting or even so much as a video call caused her to shut down in such a way that she couldn’t even bring herself to decline the invitation. The resulting reputation for ghosting had hurt her job prospects, and she realised that if she didn’t do something drastic, the work might dry up entirely.

Right now she had one major client that hadn’t yet written her off as a lost cause, but she could tell it was a close thing. Her work until recently had been very well received, but her contact there had recently been promoted to project manager and he had been determined to pull her up with him, despite her protests.

“It’s my supervisor,” one of his earlier messages read. “Several supervisors, to be honest. They’re refusing to believe that all of the work you’ve done for us could have been done by a single person.”

“What’s wrong with that?” she had replied. “Just tell them I’m a team of people. I could do with a raise.”

“They already think that - which is the problem. They think I’ve outsourced our work overseas.”

Judy had almost bent her stylus when she read that, and had taken a full day to think of a polite and measured way to respond.

“What the fuck?”

“They think you’re a workshop in the Philippines or India or God knows where. Point is, they …