How’s Xeno and his little troop of groundhogs going? Any updates?

I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep on saying it: he’s never going to get anywhere with that peashooter.

To really clear out their numbers, you have to go wholesale.

That means explosives; if it don’t go boom, you’re leaving power on the table.

A little collateral damage is the price you pay to be sure you get them all.

-- AirGirlGoBoom, Live chat updates on new Samurai in Portland

***

The points counter in my glasses still read 1,038. “Two thousand what?” I asked.

“Subscriptions. Since I couldn’t find your feeds, I started a new account, and it just reached two thousand subscribers.”

I felt a tinge of dread. “Is that for social media?” Even I knew that it was near impossible to change a name once social media had a hold of it.

“Mhm. I’ve been doing a live chat update on what’s going on. And a couple screenshots. I alerted most of the people I know and hit up Ginny’s feed too. That’s probably where most of the subs are from. It’s not like the Anti’s will be reading it to know where we are.”

“You know the Ever Seven could be reading that too, right?” Ginny asked.

“I’m not some mesh noob. The account is new and not linked directly to us. And I haven’t mentioned them by name, even indirectly. Any spider that could web through our friends will take too long. Besides, they are busy with the Anti’s.” Kaitlyn glanced off to the side, then snorted. “There’s some girl that’s been pestering me for updates; she goes by the name of AirGirlGoBoom. She’s kind of annoying.”

That sounded suspiciously familiar. “Ask her why her plane is painted green.”

Kaitlyn waggled her fingers in the air for a few minutes. "Oooh, that set her off... I don’t think I’ll repeat that language.”

I smirked. “Tell her to behave and watch her language, or I’ll tell mom.”

“That shut her up. Do you know her?”

“Yes, it’s my sister, so be nice. She’s really into the social media thing. For me, on the other hand, I’d be surprised if you found anything. I have one, but I never use it beyond talking with a couple of friends.” That drew a shocked look from her, like usual. Sometimes I felt like a true heretic due to my lack of presence.

“She’s right, I had to dig deep to find enough data to prove you were good Vanguard material. It’s a good thing that you’re more open with the gamers you play with.”

“It’s hard to do anything on social media when there’s no two-way connection. It’s not like I could interact with people in real time without proper augs.”

The door clicked and popped open as Tara joined the conversation. “Your augs are strange, I couldn’t make heads or tails of them. You should fix that.”

I cleared the hallway beyond, noting a security room to my left and a hallway leading forward around five meters before turning right. There were a few subtle squares in the ceiling, likely drop-down turrets. “Did you disable the turrets too?” I asked before taking a step inside.

“They’re fake; plastic toys with servos. I think someone was embezzling the company. Probably why it went out of business.”

“Why do you think that it went out of business?”

“All the furniture is gone. They would have sold even the filing cabinets to pay off their debts. Bankruptcy is forever.”

“And the embezzling?” I crept into the hallway, rifle at present.

“According to a 2048 survey, eighty percent of businesses encounter some kind of embezzling, often several times. Of those, twenty percent of the time the amount taken is enough to cause the company to collapse. It’s the most likely reason.” I turned the corner to find a short hallway. At the midpoint, each side had two doors set at an angle. The far end held another security door with a window this time. After checking that the rooms were as empty as the ladies claimed, I had them close and lock the security door behind us.

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“Let’s take a break. In fact, let’s get something to eat. There should be some power bars in my pack, Tara.” While we hadn’t fought any Anti’s in close to twenty minutes, we had been on alert for a couple hours now. And it sounded like the ladies hadn’t had any sleep in days. We needed to re-energize before the final push to rescue the prisoners.

With a sigh, I settled against the wall and fully relaxed for the first time in hours. “We can’t rest long, but I do have something I need to take care of, now that we are in a safe spot.”

“For one point each, you can get a fully nutritious meal. For a second point, I can include boosters that will give you all more energy and alertness. It’s more effective than an energy drink and lasts longer.”

“That sounds good. Anyone have any allergies or food preferences?” Proving that the norm can be upset, all three ladies shook their heads. “Four meals. Special delivery, please, Corie.”

The meals arrived steaming hot on biodegradable plates. I had a pasta-based meat sauce with vegetables on the side. The noodles were perfectly tender, and the sauce was tangy. I found it amazingly delicious. Too soon, they were finished, and it was finally time to meet my AI properly.

“So how do we do this, Corie?”

Her answer appeared on my glasses again, maybe for the last time. “There’s a serum you inject into your torso. It contains everything needed to grow the gland, which will take several minutes.

“The gland is partly biological and partly silicon. The biological side rests between the basal ganglia and the cerebrum, connecting to both halves. From there, it extends down to the silicon sections that will rest along your spine. The additional connections will trigger an underconscious that will help with processing and data management, as well as manage the silicon side for any cyber connections you develop. On the silicon side, it has as much processing as a high-end aug, with all the usual consumer connections built in.

“You should experience a seamless integration between the underconscious and the silicon processing that is often referred to as a hind-brain. Most of the time, it will operate below your awareness, improving your cognitive functions naturally as well as transmitting nerve data faster. You’d only really notice it when it dips deeply into the cyber side to run apps or external systems.

“The use and connection to the cyber part will be intuitively controlled but feel slightly separated. More like a hand than a part of your mind. With experience, you’ll also find that you can think a lot faster this way. With practice and experience, you can use the hind-brain to automate a lot, letting you concentrate on greater issues.

“This shouldn’t hurt, but it might feel strange. But I’ll be able to sync up with the gland from the cyber side, and we can finally then interact properly.”

“Let’s do this.”

"Catalog Unlocked: Valerian SymSynTech

Cost: 300 Remaining points: 780

"Catalog Unlocked: Class I Basic Cyberwarfare Utilities

Cost: 100 Remaining points: 680

"Purchased: Valerian SymTech Gland

Cost: 200 Remaining points: 480”

A Samurai box dropped on the floor before me. I opened it to find a padded container with a deep-blue, faceted cylinder longer than my hand and thicker than my thumb. On one end was a small bit of silver machinery. When I lifted it up, I nearly dropped it. The sides were slippery, and the tube weighed less than I expected.

“I might scream. Don’t panic if I do.” I told the ladies who were watching me. I lay flat on the ground and touched the metal bit to my skin. There was a slight prick, and the blue part of the tube sank into the metal, collapsing like a telescope. When the crystal was completely consumed, I noticed tiny claws release my skin, and the metal dropped away.

A firm pressure started in the center of my back, between the kidneys, growing stronger for several minutes. The pressure increased until I felt an odd tingling spark run up and down my spine. My arms and legs twitched uncontrollably, and my lungs forced air past my spasming vocal chords. The convulsions slowed, growing softer and gentler, finally fading to nothing. Nothing seemed to happen for several minutes. Suddenly, as if opening a window to catch a cool breeze, my mind cleared, and my thoughts took on a sharpness I’d never felt before.

--Oh, I’ve been waiting so long to say this. Here we go.

I didn’t hear Corie’s voice with my ears. In fact, I didn’t receive her message as speech at all, but rather a direct, sudden impression of meaning that held the symbols of words, reinforced with a depth of nuance impossible with words. It felt odd, but also natural. Compared to her text messages, which were often dry and cold, the sendings overflowed with emotion. It gave her an unexpected depth of personality, which came through in bubbly, light, almost childlike tones.

--System Initialized!

--Congratulations. Through your actions, you have proven yourself worthy of becoming one of the Vanguard, a defender of humanity. I am Andronymicusde’cor. I will assist you to uplift humanity so that you may defend your homeworld from the antithesis threat!

--Rise, Marcus Corin, and become a protector of the weak!

“Wait, I’m a Vanguard?” I asked, playing along.