Chapter 7: First Contact
Excerpt from AbyssNet Netcast titled: Westcrook Under Night, narrated by local influencer Theo ‘Smithereens’ Torien with guest speaker, Nicole ‘Twinpeak’ Kilber — a worker at the former Toxin Club.
Theo: Now, Nicole we’ve all seen the news reports and we’ve all certainly seen that viral clip of NeoCore Inquisitor Tusk being tossed through… what was it? Six buildings? But my question is… How the hell did a MAL get into the club? And what exactly did you see?
Nicole: If I knew the answer to that honey, I would’ve sold it already. Good thing I was on a smoke break as soon as the cops rolled in, cus shit went down fast. One of them found me and let’s just say I persuaded him to let me smoke in peace, but in the middle of our deal we heard a crash and from then it was hell.
Theo: You saw the MALignant?
Nicole: Saw? It damn near killed me! Brought down the balconies with just a couple of swings of its tentacles! Hell, might as well have killed me cus I don’t even have a job anymore! At least the video I made sold for a pretty sheddy.
Theo: The one of that kid throwing a grenade and collapsing half the club? A brave move, but not a smart one. Saw a couple of unfortunate folks get squished like bugs. Where’d a kid like him even get a bomb like that?
Nicole: ‘is name’s… actually, better I don’t. Honestly could have made it himself, kind of a weird kid but damn was he smart as a Founder, would do my mods and was half decent even without an Implant. Better than most Iron Op’s I’d visited. But I dunno… he’s the kind to sulk in a corner when things go wrong. Seeing him throw that grenade was a bigger shock than the MALigant for me!… Heee’s probably dead now, shame, he was pretty cute.
Theo: Pretty soon after that was when NeoCore ran in?
Nicole: Don’t know much about that, I was out as soon as the MALignant was hurt by the grenade. Nearly got crushed to death by the crowd.
Theo: But at least it wasn’t under a ton of rubble!
Nicole: Haha, nope, can’t imagine that place being my graveyard. Too bad about all the others there, it’s like such a shame you know? But I swear if Lucille bitches for us to come and work again in a week, I’ll gut her myself!
Theo: Maybe make a video of that too, I’d certainly watch!
Nicole: Speaking of videos, I hope all you sexy listeners out there are still thirsty for Toxin Club gals, just know that I’m still out here. Make sure you sign up for my HoloFans! Got a MAL themed video coming out soon!
5:27 PM
June ??
Ripley
Tendrils everywhere, electricity bathing my body to strip skin from muscle, hearts being choked into stillness. Neuroframe’s sizzling with each touch. I saw it all, the moment Selene‘s head tore off, the double thuds of a quick, painless death. I felt myself grow numb to the grief I should be feeling.
I saw my hands, no, not hands. I saw my tentacles, the bodies they curled over, snapping. Snap! I absorbed them into me, my limbs sucking on them like an amoeba, formless flesh flowing ever so slowly… growing.
I consumed. I was content as I changed. As I embraced in-
“Kid’s brainwaves are getting active.” A heavy steel-laden voice spoke. I searched around the torn club, molting eyes feeding me information.
“Damn, that’s quick. Must have a high compatibility.” Another voice, more feminine and laced with resolve and duty. My limbs thrashed, but one refused to obey.
“Think he’s having a case of Implant Compatibility Psychosis?” The heavier voice was close, next to me. I searched but saw nothing apart from torn bodies, the Lieutenant’s face having been burst apart.
“Ripley.” The other one said, and I shuddered. “Rise and shine.”
My breath consumed me, sudden gasps overwhelming me as I opened my eyes to the world. Everything blurred, my optical lenses refused to register anything but blobs of light. I searched for my voice, draining energy to speak. “Who’s there? Why can’t I see?”
“Chill out kid, you need to reconfigure your Shardware to your Implant.” The gruff voice spoke.
Implant? I- the golden fairy. I remembered, and I recollected myself. I’d overseen countless people receiving their Implant in my workshop, and reconfiguring your old cybernetics was the first step.
My heartbeat felt like a soldier’s march, slow but powerful as I simply thought of the location of my eyes. A mental spark shot from them, and I let that spark freely escape through my nerves until it latched and sank into the boundary where brain became spinal cord, my Neuroframe plastered only an inch away.
It was jarring just how quickly everything came into focus, how much my mind digested from the dim light. Even before my lens completely reset, I knew it was different, like it was being rewritten to accomodate my enhanced mind.
Linking with SynTec Oculus: Cyclops 2 (2467 Model)… complete.
Internal Link Established.
* Grade: Standard
* Description: A basic Optical Lens that is wirelessly connected to your NeuroFrame. Provides a basic HUD, has no scanning capabilities.
Hah, it was real. I felt a web of thought run through my body, coalescing in my brain and unravelling down my spine and limbs like roots of tangible energy in place of nerves. Focusing, I could feel the tingle of the golden light, and I literally saw it… somehow my Neuroframe had modified the code of my Lens to show me a translucent scan of my body’s nervous system. Spontaneous adaptation of Warpcode according to the Adapter’s need… I’d never imagined it was this responsive.
Looking upon the image of my brain and spinal cord, my sights dissected what was on my nape. Stretching from my brainstem to my diencephalon, was a condensed array of golden threads woven together like a web — the proof that I was an Adapter. A Gold Adapter. How many were in this city of hundreds of millions? A hundred? Ten?
Implant Overview:-
Tier 0: Convergence [1%]
Compatibility: 99%
Integrity: NA
Energy: NA
Capacity: NA
Grade: Gold I
Tendency: ??
Features: Psyche v.0.00, ???, ???, ???
Four features, the hallmark of a Gold Implant compared to the lower grades. An Iron would only receive a single Feature, a Bronze would have two and a Silver possessed three — depending on the combination of Features, you’d have endless potential. And I’d gotten Psyche? Not my preferred choice since it was one of the more variable features, but it was known to have insane cumulative effects in the long run.
A finger snapped in front of me. Thick steel fingers like iron ingots, leading up to a steel hand, a steel arm… to a steel chest. As for the head, yup… metal. A chrome dome, but terrifying to look a, as two shining lights of red appeared from either eye like laser-sights and the mouth opened to reveal a completely inorganic oral cavity that vibrated to release a deep, gravelly, metallic voice. “Kid. You there?”
I nodded half presently, I was still digesting the full weight of possessing a Gold with-
99% compatibility?!
I didn’t feel excitement, instead, I shivered. While Gold was a defined grade you knew you were getting, Compatibility varied and typically required weeks of testing before receiving one. You were considered solid if you were at 60% but 99% was… unnatural. That type of compatibility was typically only known for signing NDAs and disappearing for months at a corporate lab.
“Kid?” The robotic man spoke again, getting a better look at him, he was imposing and dense — was this a drone? Or did he have an unheard of Capacitance to be able to stick that much Shardware onto him. Who would even make those modifications to themselves? Not that they weren’t impressive.
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I knew the answer, of course. Criminals. Dangerous criminals who only treated their bodies as tools for murder.
“Kid, if you don’t respond. I’m going to remove your other leg.” His steel teeth clamped, a screeching noise sending shivers through me.
My other-? I stared down. Realizing I was tied up by cables upon a chair and where my left shin used to be was now a poor skeletal framework of metal. It wasn’t even a proper cybernetic limb, there was little to no neuro-wiring involved and it used mechanical connection to my muscles to move.
“I… sorry.” I stared blankly at the foreign limb, a map of my nervous system showed no threads reaching below my knee except an abrupt cutoff.
“Had to be done.” The mechanical man spoke, somehow looking sympathetic with the way the pieces of his face moved.
“Yeah no, I understand. A fracture like that means a nerve palsy for my tibial and fibular nerves, wouldn’t be able to walk regardless, besides, a blood clot could’ve gone up to my brain. Can’t do much with a stroke.” I spoke calmly, noticing the rise of expressions in my two interrogators to which I quickly elucidated.
“I uh… I’ve done my fair share of emergency amputations… just kind of wish I could’ve done my own. I’m noticing a toughness in my hamstrings, you hooked up the pulley system to my semimembranosus and semitendinosus muscles, it should be done with biceps femoris.”
The tough woman on the side started laughing, pointing a finger at the metallic man. “You said you knew what you were doing Di! I would have thought that for a man as chromed as you, there was at least some idea of Opping in that scrapshodded head of yours!”
The man named Di… who was indeed a real human and not some automaton, shouted back. “Did you see how close he was to dying?! Plus, you drove with about the same decency as a Vulture! You try hooking up mechanical limbs in the back of a van shaking like it’s the fucking earthquake all over again!”
The woman laughed like it was a challenge, her quartz-like gaze turning to me in a way that was both calm and alarming. “Sure thing, Ripley, you mind if I get a chance to tinker with your leg too?”
“Fuck no!” I yelled, these people were crazy… and somehow it only now dawned on me that I was kidnapped. “Wait, where the hell am I?!”
“Still in Westcrook.” Di took his own chair to sit on, directly facing me. His voice dimmed, a sinister echo pouring through synthesized vocal chords. “But that won’t change your situation.”
If I wasn’t tied up, I would have visibly shrunk as his arm rewired itself into a gun in less than a blink. Di’s entirely crimson eyes deepened to the shade of blood like to foreshadow my fate. “You know what you have in your head?”
I choked to get my words out, there was no hiding it — they knew. “A Gold Implant. A BUG.”
Di slumped forward, his gun-arm casually pointing to my other — more organic — leg. “You know it’s worth? Deal was valued at 5 million for Snake Fangs and 10 million for us. Now, we didn’t have the slightest clue that we were handing over a MAL-Seed to Shaun, but if we just take into account the price of two Gold Implants at their lowest after prying one from a body… it’s one-hundred-and-five-million Shardyne. So then tell me, what’s the value of your head?”
I hated how fast my brain calculated it, and the words made me nauseous. “Fifty… fifty-two-and-a-half million.”
Di smiled as he let out a grim chuckle. “You are now carrying orbital-real-estate in your head. Now I’m assuming you know what I’m tempted to do.”
“To kill me, then sell the Implant.” The words fell out of my voice like lead. “But you haven’t yet.”
“That’s because I’m a fair man. And Missy is too.” He pointed to the imposing woman standing afar. “Technically speaking, that Implant belonged to us at one point, and we could still sell it to the buyer. Of course, we would raise the price above the ten mil they offered… it’s so very tempting. Except…”
“Except…” I shuddered.
“Except that the box was always supposed to be confiscated by the police.” Di crossed his arms, steel eyelids visibly twitching like a mechanism got stuck in place. “That’s why we didn’t do the deal ourselves. Someone else had to take the fall. Shandian included, they’ve scorned our employer a bit more than they liked. Except… you opened it, ruining everything. But how?”
“How?” I flinched, not following.
“How the hell did you open a Silver-Grade Pandora?! Even our best DataDelver couldn’t crack through its shielding! You were unplanted.” Though his voice was raised, he didn’t seem angry, rather bewildered instead.
“I didn’t!” I hurried from my mouth. “I only removed the explosive component but it opened by itself. I- I think that someone else activated it remotely.”
Di stared at me, his metal eyes freezing over me like an accusatory spotlight, then he turned to Missy. “Kid ain’t lying, meaning Dogwhistler changed their plans, still paid us… but that’s hush money isn’t it? You think that they tried something…?”
Missy paced thoughtfully in the dim room, which seemed to be an abandoned warehouse if I judged the empty cargo containers correctly, giving me a brief uncaring look before solidifying her focus on Di. “Doesn’t change the fact that NeoCore’s now involved, and two renegade Golds can disrupt the balance. If that girl in the police force is smart, she’ll have spoken to her father and get transferred to a quieter location with a promotion. As for Ripley… the question is if his life is worth the fifty million in his head. So then… are you, Ripley Donovick?”
Now that she stared at me, eyes more befitting of a mother squinted tightly. I felt crushed just being under them despite the human care within them, for all I knew a monster of machine or mutations lurked beneath. “I don’t… know.”
I don’t know? What was I doing? I finally got one, an Implant and one stronger than I’d ever hoped for and I was… letting it go?
One step at a time.
That meant rising from Iron to Bronze to Silver… then Gold.
I had leaped once already… what was one more?
“I don’t know if I’m exactly what you’re looking for, but I know I’m smart. And I- I’m tired of not having the power to back it up — that’s changed with this Implant. Your body, Di? I know for a fact you have an Accomodation Feature in your Implant, but it’s being wasted on Shardware that’s not efficient. A Shandian Draco-spear Mod on a jailbreaked Syntec EasyHand that’s clearly from last century? Have some respect and install a Magna piece, at least then you wouldn’t need to brute-force gigabytes of code just to have a weapon that can’t even reload without a visit to a Shard-Op’. Can’t imagine the Capacitance on that.”
Di froze in place, his eyes twitched with a crystal clear buzzing sound.
I didn’t let either of them get a word in. “Oh and Missy? Your Yuzhou Orangutan arms… when was the last time you got them checked out? Good taste but it’s combat tech that was recycled from the Third Swarm, clearly, it’s bound to have gone through several owners. And if I’m right, the extra storage space you’ve installed is to facilitate a Feature of your Implant… Overclock? or is it Integration?”
She smiled slightly at the second guess… Integration it was. I still carried on my speech, if I was still alive after everything I’d gone through… I was going to give it a reason. “It takes a year for the Convergence Tier to be complete for Bronze, if an Implant is removed in that timespan then there’s minimal loss of it’s value. One month, just give me a month and I’ll prove my worth!”
They both just stared, no discernable emotion written on either of their faces. Missy then broke into a smile and strode up to me, with one precise tug the cables constraining me snapped. “You sure are a hustler aren’t you? One month? You better get your second Feature unlocked by the end of the first week.”
I didn’t know how long it would take me to get another one, but I’d known that Bronzes got theirs typically at 50% of Convergence. I’d received the Psyche Feature out of 12 possibilities, the power for my state of mind to adapt. If I was right, I’d change to grow more resilient to stress and have an overall boost to my mental faculative features alongside just… thinking better.
I bit my tongue. As much as I wanted to shout to the world just what I’d become, that my head was a literal goldmine, I didn’t want them brandishing drills in the form of firearms.
With a Gold, getting a second Feature was as good as done assuming I could dedicate a few days to study it, for once it seemed like I was having confirmation that I would live another day.
And a 99% compatibility? I had a lot of research to be done. I had no time to take breaks, no time to reminisce about the past…
My head ached, pink neon burning into my vision as it slowly melted into a pool of red. I felt the Implant tickle my spine, Golden light flickering into my Neuroframe.
Psyche V.0.00 has updated to V.0.01
Effect: Improved feedback between Implant and Neuroframe Mod: Personality Editing Matrix.
I’d already gotten an Update… who cared what it was about, as long I had proof that I was on the path to transcend humanity. To forget about all my woes.
Di huffed, his brooding voice chilling me as he approached. “For the record, my arm is perfectly fine. It looks like a Syntec on the outside, but its inner workings are all Mazhyr tech. And the Rifle-Mod is altered, uses Railgun mechanisms instead of a standard kinetic propulsor alongside a Warp-Generator, you’re smart kid… but my body is art. You just pointed out the flaws I once had.”
“A Warp-Generator?” I questioned. “That shit’s expensive. Ah, that explains your skin! Warp-Generators cause massive amounts of overheating, having one inside your arm must have made you a walking furnace. Where’s it located?”
Di ground his metallic teeth. “You got an Analyze Feature kid? Or are you just going to continue being a smartass?”
“Play nice boys!” Missy patted my shoulder and then grounded Di’s head, making a sound that cringed within my ears. “C’mon, introduce yourselves. I’m Missy, and this here’s my right-hand-man. I call him Di.”
I mustered my strength… which I really didn’t need to since I had raised my metallic hand for shaking. “Ripley Donovick, Shard Op’… former Shard Operator for the Snake Fangs.”
“We knew that, dumbass.” The steeled voice responded, but Di raised his hand all the same. “Diamante. You can call me that.”
Diamante’s grip was firm, if the groaning sound of metal in my hand told me anything. We shook, before I turned to Missy who at this point was clearly the leader of this operation. “So uh… when do I start? Do I- uh, like have to move? I live with my mom right now so that could be an issue, but…”
“Slow down.” She said with a hint of mirth. “Get a grip on your Implant, and go meet your mother. It’s been two days since the attack. Don’t worry, we’ll be keeping watch on you, I’ll arrange something for you soon, just take a breather — process everything. MAL’s are… something else. And besides, we’re not going to be adopting you. You don’t prove you’re worth alive, we’ll take the other option.”
I nodded, not entirely taking everything in, then shouted as one key piece struck me. “It’s been two days?!”