Chapter 39: The Dead Tell No Lies

Founder [REDACTED]’s query on utilizing the [REDACTED]’s internal [REDACTED] to view Implant-Coded-

Error: You do not have permission to view this file. Security is arriving at your location.

12:09 AM

July 5th

Ripley

Being able to view the memories posthumously through extracted BUGs… it answered some questions. I knew my aggression when I’d attacked Emily was unnatural, but was I… acting upon the Implant’s previous owner’s personality? A subconscious effect? That warned caution.

“So you can relive their memories through the BUG?” Diamante couldn’t keep himself still, he paced the floor with the metallic thumps of his feet over and over. “You can… shit. You can do a lot with that. Can you do it off BUGs you just read, or do they have to be absorbed?”

“Won’t know until I try.” I picked up the old Database BUG keeping myself reading its Warpcode past the 100% mark.

…

…

…

Brief images flashed through me; a knife in my back, staring down a gun, my neck breaking, the invading replacement of blood with a hollow coldness…. I reeled out of it, heavy breaths tearing out of my lungs. “I’m just seeing the way they die. All of the Adapter’s who used this thing.”

“Maybe you’re playing it back from their latest memory… think you could go further?”

I tried again, this time focusing only on the memory of the gun. This wasn’t the exact same experience, I wasn’t living through the memory but instead I had an uncanny playback running through the back of my head as though I was watching a recording from a lens. I saw the gun move in reverse, mouths moving but the sounds coming out were foreign to me before a sack covered the Adapter’s head, then it faded away like the video file had been burnt or corrupted.

“A little, but it’s not as clear as when I absorb the BUG directly.” A tight whisper ejected from my throat, my head was throbbing.

“Absorb it, see what happens.”

“You sure? It’s a Database one… I don’t have that Feature.” My words slowly became more coherent, but a part of me still felt trapped. Like this wasn’t reality.

“It’ll be fine. I’ve done it myself on all the flavors of Warpcode, your Implant doesn’t take in what it can’t use.” He seemed to replace all the anger he had away with a new vigor for discovery. At my expense.

Sighing, I suffused the dull orb in my vibrant Gold, its visage cracking away until I felt the Data Mimicry Feature within me speak.

Analyzing absorbed Warpcode…

Seven different views flashed through me, each grabbing and tearing me away as though they were fighting for my attention. I yanked myself away from each of them, only falling into the comfort of that one memory I’d played closer attention to.

Cloth drenched my vision under a frightful curtain of shadows, and when it was torn away… the light was blinding. Three figures stood atop me, their forms shadowed by the bright light only hitting their backsides, the only piece of their body I could focus on was their foreheads. All three of them had a thick branded coil wrapped around their heads like a barbed wire, digging so deeply you could see the raw flesh hidden beneath.

The central figure spoke, his voice kind and old. “Kalus, you’re going to tell us what you know of the Hammersmith.”

My body jerked, but a firm grip held me back from headbutting the priest. “Let me go, you bastards! What did you do to them!”

My children… where were they?

That aged voice turned sinister, like a snake had molted out of it. “You were there when he entered our holy domain, when he attacked us. Plundered us. We know he talked to you… what did he say?”

“That he needed the access codes, I was terrified so I gave them to him. He took the girl! That’s it, that’s all that happened!” I screamed, I needed Laura and Kenneth safe, they meant everything to me.

“I see…” My bishop clenched his fist, drawing it back towards something. He unhooked a gun from its holster, the metallic barrel swinging up until it was inches from my face.

I begged to be let go, for repentance, struggled with all my might but the grip on me was as solid as steel. My bishop’s voice was creaking, the beginnings of a sob. “I hope the next wielder of your divine knowledge keeps better secrets, now take your pilgrimage to the Eternal Titan — to the Allseeing. May it’s holy light teach you, and may we all join as one at the end of a Great Transcendence.”

The bullet drilled into my skull, then I was gone.

Then I was back.

Warpcode analyzed… forcing compatibility… suitable update found.

Technician V.1.06 has updated to V.1.07

Effect: Increased memory of topics related to Shardware.

“Huh?” I wasn’t sure what to be in shock off, that a Database update had gone to Technician of all things… or that I’d just been executed by someone who I trusted. Who Kalus trusted, I forced the thought into myself. I felt like I was in between worlds, losing sight of what was real and what wasn’t.

Data Mimicry V.0.07 has updated to V.0.08

Effect: Increases separation of egos while reading Implant Warpcode.

Slowly, the pain lessened, enough for me to talk. “I saw the memories of a man named Kalus. His execution.”

Diamante shifted to the name. “How is this possible? He died almost thirty years ago…”

“You knew him?”

“Of a sorts…” Diamante spoke softly, it was odd hearing that steely tone sounding something other than smug or angry. “He worked for The Warden, responsible for keeping track of all the codes needed to unlock the prison cells.”

“He gave one of the codes to someone named Hammersmith… they took, it was a girl… no.” It wasn’t just any child. “The girl.”

Diamante’s body stood still, and it was unlike the way any human body stilled, where there was bound to be slight changes in your chest as you breathe or the reflexive twitch in an eye. Diamante might as well have died standing for a few moments before his voice came out like he’d spoken into a tin can. “I see.”

“I… really don’t, okay if I can ask?” This had to be a better way of doing it without him getting angry.

Though it was pretty apparent his sigh came out from annoyance. “Fine, you bastard, I have ties to Metal Heavens. Won’t say in what way exactly but I was here when this place was run by them. Then one day a man came in, a legendary Shard Op’ who goes by Hammersmith, no one knew his face… not even his general physique since he was constantly covered in this bulky armor that layered him from head to toe. I was younger back then, but I remember there being a commotion when he entered… they praised him like a saint. Metal Heavens being shard freaks and all…

“Except, as you can probably guess, he wasn’t too excited by the way things were run here. Opened up all the prisoner doors in a flash, then wiped out everyone’s mobility with an EMP at the Gold Grade. No deaths, he just evacuated them while taking one girl specifically.”

I wasn’t sure if I was pushing things but there had to be more to the story. “Who was the girl? And where’s Hammersmith now?”

“The girl… she’s someone special. Someone dangerous. Someone you shouldn’t piss off or she’ll bite your head off. As for Hammersmith himself… a bit of a Nomad, he is. Spent a couple years here before disappearing into the wind. Don’t know where he is now, his form’s always changing, we just identify him by his Shard Op’ Claw… because it’s not a claw.”

“A hammer?” I guessed.

“People say that it can create miracles.” Diamante had something new in his voice, a belief. “It can.”

Now was the time to catch him in the act. “You were a prisoner, weren’t you?”

His emotionless face looked down upon me. “You’re being quite… nosy for someone with a bucket of blood pouring out their nose.”

“Blood?” I pressed my fingers on the philtrum of my lips, they were a stark crimson when I raised them up to my eyes. Then looking down, I could see a splatter of my blood growing on the floor with each second of dripping blood. “Wha-?”

I tried to take a step, but the ground had disappeared from beneath me. Diamante was quick, catching me in moments with an apologetic tone peering out. “Shit… you weren’t exactly wrong with the whole absorbing BUGs directly thing could be dangerous. Normally we start on unused BUGs since they have simpler Warpcode. Not as effective as a used one, but it’s easier to digest. You’re having a mild case of a Warp Burn.”

“This isn’t going to take me out of the gig today, right?” I asked with a slight worry in my tone.

He helped me take support against a wall. “Nah. Just need some rest, your brain’s a bit fried. But in good news, expect yourself to get a couple more updates from now on. Your Implant can use the unused Warpcode to update your Features.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Oh, I already got some.”

“Yeah that can happen if it’s been awhile and you’ve got a backlog of learned data in your Implant.”

“Actually…” I scanned through the updates I’d just recieved, in particular the ones I’d specifically been gifted from the Implants. “I think I’m… copying their updates into mine.”

I sent over a screenshot of my update log, Diamante’s metal body once again becoming a dead sculpture of steel in thought. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me… you turned a Protocol into an update??!”

“I guess…” I raised my hand up, trying to imitate what I’d felt happen in the dream. Or flashback. It was surprising how smooth my body redirected my Warp Energy from my liver and back, guessing that the second Energized update must have had some role to play in that. Then as I focused my Energy on the tips of my claws, using Warp Sink as a fountainhead to spread my energy down the fingertips… I realized that a thin golden layer was simmering across the fingers of my claw down to my knuckles.

Diamante just stared, looking at it from all angles until something clicked in him. “It is the Warp Sheath Protocol, albeit weaker. Maybe at 20% of it’s expected output. This isn’t normal Ripley, you shouldn’t be able to mimic this just off one fucking Implant, it takes months to stabilize your Warp Energy projection to even be applicable for that protocol.”

“But Data Mimicry can steal all of the prerequisite Warpcode and just… give it to me.” I grinded my teeth, I wanted to do some further testing. “How much longer until I can try again?”

“For your Developement. Tier I Implants… normally twelve hours per Iron BUG, or a couple days in between Bronzes. And just so you know — this place isn’t going to be a free buffet for you, Ripley. I just need you to be useful, that’s why Missy suggested I bring you here.” He sounded quite serious about it. “This place has a hundred-and-twelve Iron BUGs, fourteen Bronze BUGs and one Silver. It’s all mine rightfully, so after today, you’ll need to pay considering that selling this shit is where I get most of my funds… and… will you stop drooling!”

Huh, I wiped my mouth… I guess I got a little excited when he mentioned just how many Implants were here. “Sorry, just… considering if I want to lighten my wallet right about now. What about Shardware… any here?”

“Lots.” He flashed a silver-toothed smile at me. “Experimental ones.”

I gulped, resting my head against the wall… today was already worth it.

———

A quick nap left my head relatively stable, and Diamante had been nice enough to give me suitable BUGs with the Accommodation and Database Features — and as replacement for Energized, he suggested Jailbreak. He seemed pretty intent on it too.

Jailbreak had similar qualities to Dataweaving, in that it was the easier to use and more generalized cousin — less effort was needed other than pushing your Warpcode into more and more dangerous situations to train it. Dataweaving allowed a raw, unrefined, ability to manipulate Warpcode directly through practice — being primarily the Feature used for deep dives and cyberhacking Neuroframes. Jailbreak on the other hand, could be thought of as simple executions of predetermined algorithms, allowing quicker but less complicated employment of Warpcode manipulation.

In the case of this specific Jailbreak BUG, the updates all aligned with the general premise of slipping past a DataShield and interfacing with Shardware directly. The newer Accommodation BUG was pretty simple too, belonging to what he said was an old Shard Op’ and could temporarily increase my affinity with my Claws. He also let me keep the old BUG with the Feature since he wanted to know how I would interact with the unrefined Warpcode.

Turns out a Tier 0 Implant and a fresh Tier One Implant all had the same amount of Warpcode within them, it’s just that the Tier One Implant refined it all into updates while the Tier 0 had a crude storage of it.

Other than those two, my Database BUG was used by a former Metal Heavens goon who occasionally scrapped for them. It wasn’t specialized in any particular direction, allowing me to better memorize Shardware schematics as well as train muscle memory a tad bit better.

Shortly after recovering, he led me to another part of the armory where he had a duffel bag laying around and tossed me what looked like a large ring made of steel. It had five spherical slots running through it, something he quickly explained. “Don’t want to be carrying all of the Implants in your pockets now, do I?”

He was right, my pockets were quite full. So a few minutes tinkering with my left arm and the ring was suitably fitted with all five BUGs at my disposal slotted in. It worked. I could freely switch between them, taking about a twenty second lag in the process of doing so.

Then he gave me a simple bodysuit, told me to wear it under my clothes next time I was called on. It’s material was smooth but had a toughness if you squeezed it, some semi-liquid layer within the body armor if I was right. A bit loose when I wore it on, he told me to tap right over my sternum.

It squeezed like a snug blanket, I could barely even feel it when I was moving. After that he pulled out a mask and some sleeves, saying this was for concealing my identity. The mask itself was similar to the body armor, and despite it being entirely black wearing it didn’t hamper my vision at all.

The sleeves comfortably concealed over my arms and legs and would retract back when using Shardware, leaving only my hands and feet free. I was shocked to see that he led me somewhere else, another wall full of cabinets and drawers but this time were wider than they were tall rather than the square ones we saw before.

“What gun do you want?” A simple question.

“Don’t really want one.” I felt stupid saying it. “Not really a good shot.”

“Trust me. You’ll want it…” Diamante started typing in something on the terminal. “This job is a lot easier when you don’t have blood on your hands.”

A smaller cabinet was dragged down, within it lay a hybrid between a submachine-gun and a pistol with a red streak running along its silver angles. He picked it up gingerly, passing me a few rounds of ammo and strangely a Datacube. “Link up to it. Download the Warpcode signature off the Cube, it’ll bind to your frame.”

“A Smart Gun?” I raised my eyebrow at the weapon, it was sleek and fairly small. “A Mazhyr Interloper, 2465. Damn.”

“So you know a few things about firearms after all.” Diamante chuckled. “Production went down a few years back, the internal lock-on system takes too much space so it lacks a punch. Not capable of fighting the MAL, but a human would die, definitely.”

I knew enough about guns. I just read the etched label on the side of the gun to figure out it’s name, guess Anderson really did teach me something after all. A quick download from the Datacube and a start-up of the gun sent up a back and forth of various requests until it was firmly linked.

External Link established: Iron-Grade Mazhyr Interloper 2465

* This weapon has an internal lock-on system using the Aim Override Feature Link, focus on the target with your vision and mentally affirm to activate the system.

* This weapon has a Shardware-motion synchronizer, allowing it to manipulate the micro-movements of your Shardware to improve accuracy.

Yeah, I’m not telling Diamante this. But the gun was not going to live long with a Feature-Link like that. I stared at my left Claws tips, an excitement shivering through me.

Diamante seemed to really like talking about the gun though, explaining it without me needing to press it. “Specializes in smaller, more-focused, targeting on objects with mobility. Minimal recoil too, a fucking shame the Swarm’s so soon, was really hoping they’d ship out a 2495 model.”

“Would take a few decades till it lands here, though.” I was already testing the weapon out, a small reticle in my vision showed me where the bullets would end up and if I focused on an area for long enough I had an internal sense that my aim was being drawn to it.

“Not if you have sources like mine.” He tapped me on the shoulder, motioning that we were on the move. “Also, time you know about the job.”

I focused immediately, this was important. I had to do well.

“Job’s not all that complicated. Around a week ago, Crimson Souls had a bust on one of their firearm deals, a pretty big one with the Juniperos. Lost quite a bit of trust, so we’re going to meet Crimson Souls on our hire’ behalf in case something goes wrong. Our hire is the Black Sand Union, an anti-Imperium group, they’re always a secretive bunch, and have a policy where they hide their faces with a holographic mask. Sometimes they even tear their real face off.”

“Black Sand Union… never heard of them. What happens if one of them is identified?”

“The fact that you haven’t heard of them is exactly what they want. They have stakes in corporate espionage, and the more you look the deeper it gets. And as for their identity? Someone get’s sight of you, then the Black Sand drowns you.”

“Shit.” Yeah, don’t want to piss them off. “Wait, I’m covering my face, am I supposed to act like I’m one of their members?”

“Nope. They use a different type of mask. Yours still has the outline of your facial structure, someone high up enough could reconstruct your appearance on that alone. Their faces look like melted puddles of black sand, it’s how they got their name.”

“Speaking of names… we got any codenames? Don’t think you’ll be calling me Ripley out in the open. And what should I call you?”

Diamante mulled on it for a moment. “Diamante. And you’re going to be Ripper.”

“Ripper?” That was a bit… on the nose. “Ripley, Ripper… you couldn’t be a bit more creative? Besides, shouldn’t I get to choose?”

“Actually no, you’d be surprised but a whole lot of codenames are coined because someone else called you that.” He seemed to be talking from experience.

“What’s yours? Other than Diamante.”

“Don’t want to talk about it.” It was the first time he actually said not to bring up a topic.

I respected that.

———

5:22 PM

“We’re here.” Diamante stopped at an old gas station heading up the A75 highway up to the Yellowstone District. We’d been driving for nearly three hours, and actually had some nice small talk about my upcoming Shardware changes… he knew his shit.

He pulled into a small parking lot that crept up behind the gas station itself. There were quite a few abandoned vehicles — torn up scrap littering the floor from whoever broke them apart. We got out, Diamante moving confidently ahead of me until we approached another car where two people, a woman and a man got out. Their eyes were crimson.

“Where the hell’s Black Sand?” The woman said with bitterness, her face covered by a gas mask. Just from the way the gravel crunched under her feet, I knew that she was packed with Shardware, both arms were thin and slender but each joint was jagged and sharp.

“Sent us. Pretty sure you know why.” Diamante flashed up a token he’d shown me before, it was some old ancient coin from the pre-collapse days. This one was marked with a black spot of ink that squirmed around.

She studied the coin, tossing it back to Diamante. “Black Sand Union never told us they were sending someone new, what’s to say you didn’t nab this off one of their bodies. Along with info on the deal?”

The man behind her, tall and heavy, clutched a large blade in his hands ever so closer. “Do you even know what they’re buying?”

“I don’t really care…” Diamante tucked the coin back in his pockets. “Just that I’m getting paid a healthy sum to bring whatever it is over. They said I didn’t need to have a whole lot of space for it, so if that’s information you think is necessary, then there.”

“We’re taking the higher risk here, you know.” The woman said. “Besides, good’s a Datacube. They already have the encryption key, and we’re being paid in service, but…”

“But…” Diamante’s knuckles tightened.

“I know who you are.” The woman’s arms lengthened as her smile turned sinister, her limb’s bladed joints loosening so that crimson chords released the mass of her arm until it clumped up on the floor like a rope of knives. “The Iron Devil. Bounty of… what was it? Fourty Million placed by Metal Heaven’s Silver Saint? Your friend there can take the cube, but you’re coming with us. Oh and by the way, is he fine with getting a mil?”

They both stared at me… and I… I was considering it. It could change alot, but then it all had to come down to one thing. Diamante was bullshitting me about a lot. Bullshitting about who he was and where he came from, but I think I realized something mid-way through the day.

Diamante took a glance away from them, at me. “What are you thinking Ripper? Am I worth it?”

Missy never asked Diamante to get me geared up, she probably never even authorized this gig in the first place, and whether he was doing it to protect me… or more likely himself. It meant something. It meant that even if the two of us couldn’t see eye to eye on a lot, he trusted me to some degree.

And I sure as hell didn’t trust those two. Their offer was a scam.

My claw burned with Bronze candle-tips along each fingertip. “No.”