It's 20XX. A gender-fluid cyborg party wins a majority in the British parliament after the collapse of the welfare state and two-party system.
A new labour law is passed: to qualify for the most prestigious, highest paid jobs, a basic requirement is to replace hands with robotic equivalents to wipe out the towering number of abuses of employees taking fraudulent sick leaves in the new radicalized welfare system.
However, in the interests of diversity and inclusion, a topic that led the party to a crushing victory at the polls, those social groups deemed to have been underprivileged in the past (ethnic minorities below poverty line and who are not likely to be able to compete for well-paying white collar jobs) are not required to have the procedure to increase their chances of “standing out”.
Adam is an extremely bright, 31-year old Brit of Bangladeshi heritage with a doctorate and an MBA that he did on a scholarship. Thanks to the new labour law, has just qualified for a job at Gxxgle. He feels incredibly fortunate.
The salary is excellent (well, he accepted a figure slightly less than his colleagues to improve his chances of getting chosen). And there’s a chance to develop a career there long-term. He has also landed this job without requiring a single body augmentation.
At first, he is warmly welcomed by his new colleagues, who are very kind and accepting of the fact that he does not have robot hands like the rest of them. After all, “people like him” have always been passed over for nor being quite the “right fit” like so many other at-risk groups. And now with a radical, forward-thinking government, the country has a real chance to put the unfair treatment of marginalized peoples in the past.
But steadily, Adam sees that his colleagues suffer technical difficulties and faults with their augmented hands. Sometimes fingers malfunction. Sometimes the robotic hands take on a life of their own, causing embarrassment. Adam tries to downplay having real hands to fit in, but his colleagues quickly get upset at seeing someone in close quarters who doesn’t have to deal with these issues. Very quickly their dismay becomes indignation, resentment and then outright jealousy.
Adam is ostracised by his colleagues in as many ways as they can invent among themselves. How come the Paki has all the privileges?
Adam tries to focus on the long-term rewards of his brand new job - money, career, skills. "Social acceptance" isn’t in his vocabulary, so he tolerates the misery and besides, some colleagues are less cruel to him than others. He even finds himself starting to befriend his new report, Sonia. During a 121 meeting, Adam puts an empathetic hand on Sonia's human when she admits she and others could have been nicer to him and chose not to. But at Adam’s touch, her face quickly pales. She steps back and leaves the room. Adam feels confused.
Then it dawns on him: none of these employees have been touched by an adult human hand for years, and probably never will again.
In the days that follow, the employees try to “accidentally” get Adam to touch them, craving the human contact. Adam's social fortunes reverse and suddenly he is invited to every working lunch, every coffee break. The subtle hints dropped by his colleagues to touch them start to border on obsession. Adam leverages the situation in his favor by taking out the hottest employee to dinner. But when he sees the woman's cloying desperation to have him touch her, he is turned off and gently suggests they leave the restaurant and go home.
The firm’s leadership team have quickly picked up on Adam’s rising influence within the company and perceive him as a threat. Only two of the company's leaders have augmentations, the others have managed to keep their human hands.
The team invite him to a board meeting and challenge his job performance statistics. Adam works hard, they admit, but it’s clear that his rocky social fortunes at the company have slowed down the projects. Colleagues have a track record of ignoring his emails, direct reports fail to show up at meetings or simply don't deliver on their part of the bargain. The COO (who has augmentations) implies that Adam is underperforming and needs to join a Performance Improvement Program (basically micro management to the point of tedium).
However, the CEO (does not have augmentations) takes a different angle: he sees Adam is talented. The problem? He’s too different. He doesn't fit into the company culture. Solution: if he wants to grow his career at the firm, he should have the hand augmentation to fit in.
Pressure is applied for Adam to have the same hands as everyone else. At first, Adam sees it as an easy solution and is relieved to keep his prized job. Due to his ethnicity and social status, has never been able to qualify for the augmentation operation before and the CEO will use his influence and power to get him to the front of the queue, all expenses paid.
Then Adam wakes up to the fact that his human hands represent agency and his authentic self.
He rejects the proposal by not showing up for the operation. The CEO has connections - not only does Adam know his job at the firm is over but that his days are numbered. He goes on the run. Secret police raid his apartment. Adam changes his identity through a third party service to elude the law.
The final scene is Adam waiting to sign up for welfare state benefits, waiting in a long queue of ethnic minorities with human hands.
