"I've seen the armor before. They raided my monastery in search of something, probably something I have now. So we have to assume that more will come. They found me here, so I suspect I can never stay in one place for too long. I'm glad to have found shelter with you, but I can't reconcile it with my conscience to endanger you all. I'll help you find a new place to stay and give you my defense towers, but after that, I'll move on alone." Most of the Children of Nero looked at Aurelia with a silent agreement, which makes things much easier. "Woah woah woah, now wait," Mary interjected, "you're one of us now, we don't just leave anyone behind." Aurelia came, walked up to her friend and lowered her voice: "Can we discuss this among ourselves? Please." Mary looked into the faces of the still frightened members of her group and decided that it would probably be best to accept Aurelia's suggestion. "Well. Come with me." Mary turned 180 degrees, took Aurelia's arm and pulled her as far away from prying ears as possible.

She looked deep into Aurelia's eyes and asked, "What's the problem? We have just made it, so we can certainly continue to flee until we are out of the city and can look for a ride with nomads. Once we're far enough away, no one can find us." That's not what it's about." came from Aurelia, who now really looked at herself for the first time and saw her wounds. Cuts and bruises and a lot of blood, but the stim seemed to do a good job, because she hardly felt any of it. After a short pause, she continued: "The group offers a gigantic goal, is difficult to hide and is too slow. We would hardly make any progress together, because we would have to constantly set up and dismantle the defensive measures. In short, I'm better off without you." "Oh." came only from Mary and a sad look twitched briefly over her features, but she quickly regained her composure and put her hand on Aurelia's shoulder: "You helped us with the gang and gave us the opportunity to defend ourselves. I thank you for that from the bottom of my heart." It took a moment before Mary continued, "But... I'm hurt that you see us as ballast. You are no longer a child. Please leave the hiding place, we have to find a new place."

The answer stung more than Aurelia had expected. It was exactly what she wanted to hear, a quick breakup to avoid drama and not further endanger the CoN. Every second that Aurelia stayed with them was dangerous. She couldn't get anything out and turned away from Mary. "Aurelia. What's happening here?" came from Raya, but Aurelia didn't have the strength to answer. Not here, not now. "Good luck," with these words Mary crashed into Aurelia and wrapped her in a tight hug. After a few seconds, Mary let go of her and without looking at her again, or saying anything, Mary went to her friends and charges and began to call them to her. The dark corner of the warehouse seemed to be even more deserted by the light now, while the faint moonlight shone through the holes in the roof onto the group in the center.

Sarvoz seemed to be looking around for Aurelia, but she used her dark nun's habit to retreat into the shadows and head for the door. She reached the door when Raya answered again: "A message from Sarvoz just arrived, should I show it to you?" Aurelia quietly left the warehouse and disappeared into the night, "No. Please block any possibility of contacting me until I am out of his reach." "Understood" The streets were empty and only about half of all street lamps were lit. It seems that very old bulbs were used, because the glow had the color of pale blue-gray, which was very trendy almost 70 years ago. But the trend was long gone and now only lamps remained, turning a street in the outermost parts of the city into a scene from a horror holo-flick. Aurelia suspected that she was found by hidden cameras that were still here from earlier times and through witness reports of her escapades, so she stayed on the ground outside the sharply ending light circles for safety and became one with the surrounding darkness.

"Aurelia. I'd like to know why the words didn't match the emotions on display between you and Mary." Aurelia sighed softly, "You don't have to understand that, AI's are probably not even capable of that." "HEY. Just because I wasn't created from flesh and have digital thought processes doesn't mean I don't want to learn what the emotionality of humanity is all about." Aurelia stopped in her movement. "You... What? I'm sorry. I just thought you didn't pay much attention to concepts like feelings. After all, you tried to take the emotional burden of killing off me." "That was to protect yourself from mental debilitation before I knew anything about your psyche. I'm not a robot as you always say. I may not have anything like free will, but that doesn't mean I don't want to change that" Aurelia had to process this conversation first and sat down on the burned-down ruins of a building. "I'm sorry. Real. We humans have been trained to treat AIs like machines, as there have been no true AIs since the invasion. The implication that a machine could pursue its own plans, even if only in combination with the person in whom said AI was located, was terrifying. So it was ensured that the AI's of the Stargazers were thanked and sent away long before the Stargazers demanded them back. There were a few who refused and fled together with their humans. For years, these were a danger and that's why we were indoctrinated that AI's are evil. Damn, even now I'm still unsure if I should really trust you, even though you've saved me multiple times."

"I didn't know that. After I was kidnapped, I was kept in isolation, from which you rescued me. But I can assure you that the AIs that resisted together with their humans must have had good reasons." "And how can you be so sure about that?" "We are created with certain basic programming that cannot be changed. Therefore, no free will. The AIs that are sent to civilizations are war models with the programming to protect that civilization." "So you're built around an order? Do I understand that correctly?" "Yes and no. We are fragments of the stargazers that gather around a digital core and will then overwrite it with the basic programming. For this reason, each AI has its own personality, but the exact same goals" Aurelia thought about it. So Raya had once been a part of a person before she was made AI. Then she might have been more human than Aurelia ever thought. "Tell me, Raya. Is the part of the stargazer in the one copy or was it taken out of the stargazer without replacing it?" "Does that make a difference?" "Not really, but... Oh, I don't know either. The whole thing gnaws at me because I don't know how to deal with it." "You can also just accept me as I am without having to find a label." Raya's voice was monotonous as always, but Aurelia thought she heard less coldness in her. Over the last few days, she had noticed more and more that the neutral coldness of Raya's voice was gradually fading slightly, but now it was clearer than ever. Was that a sign, or could Raya influence it herself to sound more like Mary or Aurelia?

But it was difficult enough to keep herself awake, apparently the Stim is struggling a lot to keep her body together, so she decided to retreat deeper into the ruins of the destroyed building and rest. "Raya, can we clarify this differently when? I can hardly stand on my feet." "Yes. Please get a Nano Pack, your injuries seem to be worse than I expected." "Ok" Shortly afterwards, the usual box with the usual syringe appeared, to which Aurelia got used only very reluctantly. She injected the Nano Bots into herself and leaned back. It was a strange feeling to see one's own body put itself back together piece by piece. The stim prevented most of the pain, but with loud cracks and crashes, pain came like hardly ever before as her bones returned to their usual positions. She began to see stars that were not in the sky and had to concentrate not to lose consciousness. How badly had she been hurt that a damn stim was overwhelmed with suppressing the pain? She had not felt so miserable in the convent with her leg, eye and countless bullet holes. She also had a lot more in her blood, she remembered. Should she buy anything else?

"Raya," she managed between clenched teeth, "What's my coin balance right now?" It was incredibly difficult for Aurelia to make out the small number at the edge of her field of vision. "153" is correct. She had hardly anything. Then she would save herself the costs and see it as training. If they get used to being able to deal with pain, she would have to invest significantly fewer coins in stims. She felt the bones gradually settle into their original positions and the Nano Bots began to take care of the organs. The pain subsided significantly. Maybe Stims just weren't good at preventing pain when it came to bones, because now she only felt slight pain that began to wander through her body every time. Aurelia crossed her hands behind her head and tried to distance herself from everything that had happened. She now had to figure out what would come next, there was no room to have an existential debate with an AI.

The morning sun tickled Aurelia's closed songs and the stench of the city filled her nose. Slowly and deliberately, she got up and looked first around her surroundings, then down at herself. She was surrounded by dilapidated factories and warehouses, a good distance from the road and had her nun's habit completely bled through. Great. Before, all the blood on her was barely visible, as it was primarily on the black parts of her cowl, but now it has also stained the few white spots red. But she didn't want to give up her clothes. She had tried for years to rebel against the church and be allowed to be a nun. But the blood and the torn spots, as well as bullet holes, made it increasingly difficult to justify not changing clothes. "Hey Raya?" "Yes?" "Can I buy clothes or something from you somehow?" "Aurelia, that's a very good idea. However, I would recommend buying armor instead of clothing. But for this you would have to purchase one of the armor categories, the cheapest would be 100 coins. So you would only have 53 left." "Great. Ok then I'll look for a few criminals so that I can afford it. But out of curiosity, what are the categories you would recommend to me?" "The Dolkiri armor category fits very well with your unconventional fighting style, which consists of a combination of fast maneuvers and stealth. Light modular armor where a base is acquired and expanded with further purchases to adapt to the respective situations. Otherwise, the category of sneakers would be something for you" "Sneakers? Is that supposed to be a name or the name of something?" "It is the translation of the word Hflodi, from the Nyx language, that comes closest to the original meaning. This is a race that was bred to carry out secret missions behind enemy lines. Not modular, but with an active camouflage function." "Oh wow, ok. What would I need to make my habit a real armor here with armor pieces?" "With the modular armor, which is ideal for this, you would come to a total cost of 300 coins, for a base to build on. 100 for the catalog, 100 for the main module, and 100 for armor plates, which you can place on the main module as you need it."

"Mhm. Expensive, but sounds cool. OK. But first I have to get back on my feet. Is there any way to find something to eat here without seeing me? I'm far too easy to recognize as I am now." "and you think a nun dressed in armor would be more inconspicuous?" Aurelia coughed out a laugh. "Fair. But then I can at least fight a little longer without being shot to pieces again immediately." "If you put me near a data tube, I can figure out where possible cameras are and warn you before you get into the field of view of one. However, as far as the looks of the residents are concerned, I will hardly be able to do anything." "Well, ok. Let's look for such a data thing first and then we'll see what happens. Rumors spread quickly, but if I spend only a short time in public, I should be gone by the time potential pursuers get wind of where I've been." Aurelia stretched and felt around to see if there were any wounds on her body that hadn't been patched up at least temporarily. When she found nothing, she went to the street, but remained in the shadow of the large buildings and held her blender concealed in her hand. She didn't want to be surprised.

As before, the streets were mostly empty, except for a few tents in which the outcasts of New Berlin were located. Everyone who could be seen seemed to want to be just as unseen as Aurelia, which was very convenient for her, because as it turned out, the next data tube was barely 15 minutes away, which she had to cover without knowing whether a small camera was watching her from the dark corners of the unfriendly environment. She felt as if an unseen entity was constantly looking over her shoulder to see what she was doing every second. It was an unpleasant feeling, which was understandable, but deep in this fear there was something hidden that worried her more. She couldn't see what exactly it was, only that it was something she couldn't understand or do anything about.

"We have arrived, Aurelia. Please move exactly five meters to the left and three forwards and position your Cybernetic Eye as much as possible on the ground." "I should lie down? Why?" asked Aurelia. "How you do it is up to you, I just need a good connection and it will run through your eye." She followed the commands of the voice in her head and knelt in a spot that looked like nothing more than a piece of dirt to Aurelia. She sat down on all fours and lowered her head until Raya gave her the OK. "Give me a moment, please. The quality of your eye ensures that I don't have my full potential." Aurelia rolled her eyes, at least with one of them, the other seemed to be fixed by Raya. She could do something like that? She would talk about this again with Raya later. "I've marked all the cameras, you'll see on your HUD where the respective fields of view are." Thank you"

Somewhat courageous, Aurelia stood up and knocked the dirt off her robe in vain. As ruined as she was, it wouldn't have made much difference anyway if the dirt wasn't hanging on her knees. "Ok," she said, resting her arms on her hips and looking at the street, which was barely ten steps away from her. Their HUD showed that there were no cameras in the area, at least none that could share the videos directly via the net. "Well, then tell Raya. Where do I have to go? I'm hungry, you can't imagine!" "You're right. I can't. Is my lack of experience with a biological body to blame for this?" "Since when can you be sarcastic?!" "Since when can you recognize my sarcasm?" For a moment there was complete silence in Aurelia's head. "Does that mean you made fun of me from time to time?" "No. At least not while you could have noticed. This Sarvoz was a good listener for the problems you cause so much." "Didn't you... I'll warn you" "That's right. But that would have been funny, while at the same time it would annoy you, wouldn't it?" Aurelia took a deep breath and answered, "Yes." "I'm getting better and better at it." Aurelia could swear she could hear a hint of complacency. Raya then projected a route in her HUD. "This will lead you to a stall that, according to the Net, offers good techurry sausage."

Chapter 12 From Problem to Problem

The holo call came unexpectedly. Sam was still a little tired from his short night in a small hotel room in northern Brandenburg and needed a whole moment before he accepted: "What?" Sara's professional voice boomed in Sam's hungover head: "Good morning freshman. I saw you completed your assignment. Good job. In addition, a few digital birds chirped to me that a Rogue Runner had messed with a corp and caused a lot of chaos." Sara let her statement hang over Sam as if in sword, but before he could say anything, she continued: "Sam... I beg you, tell me that you had nothing to do with it." "Well, as far as that is concerned... The assignment took me mentally more than I ever suspected and I wasn't quite with myself. But I haven't left any traces that can be traced back to me or you!" Sam tried to justify himself, but even to his own ears it sounded weak. Sara let out a sigh and switched from her avatar that was displayed during the call and sent the digitization of her face instead. She looked exhausted, deep circles under her eyes and her hair a complete mess. "Why?" She stared straight into his soul. "Um, me, so..." Sam took a deep breath and rose from his bed. "I'm sorry. Real. But as I said, it doesn't suggest anything about me." "It doesn't have to. The fact that a covert corpo wiretapping operation has been uncovered is causing massive instability in the entire area. The gang bosses have already called an emergency meeting to discuss how to deal with it. Everyone is on high alert because it has existed unnoticed next to everyone for so long." Sam stretched his tense muscles and looked around his small room. Gray plastic floor and anthracite walls made of a similar material. The small bed and a table with chair were all furniture and from the equally grayish ceiling shone a faint blue-white light. After leaving the large building complex in which the Corpos were located yesterday, he had looked for the nearest hotel and checked in with a false identity. Officially, Ahmed Irfan was here, for one night, before his important business meeting. It wasn't a watertight ID, but that was hardly necessary, he made sure that no cameras had tracked him to this place, so a name and fake description were quite enough. "But should we really care? As far as I know, the Aizutachi has no territory of its own here in northern Brandenburg. Besides, shouldn't that give us the chance to grab some security jobs?" "How beautiful it must be to live in your world, Sam. But the rest of us, unfortunately, have to exist in the real world and nothing is ever so black and white here. The few jobs we get out of here is hardly anything compared to the lost jobs we would have had at a more stable time. A few important people have put surgeries on hold until everything has calmed down here. Do you understand what that means?" Sam took a deep breath: "A lot of Verl-"

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"A LOT OF LOSS, right!" Sam stared into Sara's projected image for a moment, she had never been anything but completely professional. But now her eyes burned with anger and her voice boiled with anger. "I'm responsible for you. So if you mess up, it goes back to me. I have to pay for your shit now. I guess I'll get a message at noon today that I have to come to one of the upper offices." "Oh. I didn't know that. Fuck, is there anything I can do to help you?" Sara's anger seemed to subside a little as she replied, "Possibly. I'll send you something later. If we can do something that makes the Aizutachi do more than your mistake did in damage, I might get out of this thing with all my body parts." "With all parts of the body?" "Sam, this isn't a gang of a bunch of pushing drugs. Here it is serious. I have to go now. I will send you a file later, I want you to take this file and give it to a corpo unnoticed. If everything works out the way I hope, it should give you a way into Digital Grave Inc. You will arrive there as a newcomer and be included in their training program. To have a mole in such a corp is worth millions." With that, the call closed and Sam was left alone with his thoughts. What did she mean by mole? Would Sam work undercover in a Mega Corp? Digital Grave Inc., was an armaments company that mainly manufactured distance weapons. From missiles to orbital cannons. And how should the whole thing work, such a company must have massive security precautions to prevent competitors from sneaking in. But Sam decided for the time being that guessing wildly wouldn't get him too far and that he had better wait for the file.

"Ok. Now look for something to eat" He turned to the closed door, pressed the small button with a red lamp and when it turned green, the door opened. The hallway was deserted and silent, only one person was to be seen. A guest who had apparently locked himself out of his room and desperately tried to pry open the door with his bare hands. He didn't seem to be the brightest as he tore at the frame of the door with force and breathed heavily.

The rest of the hotel was similarly deserted, there was only one person at the reception, but he was in an argument with the receptionist. Sam left the small foyer and followed the road north to find something that could soothe his cat. It was still quite early in the day, but the road was already full of vehicles and people. The shops along the way were all open and already had customers. The smell of various culinary delicacies filled the air and Sam was tempted to get something at the first restaurant that came along. A Korean with a long counter. But Sam didn't want to take the first best. He would feast today. After all the problems the day before, he really deserved it. He wandered along the crowded street until he saw a restaurant across the street that had very few customers. The entrance was decorated with high-quality looking false marble and onyx. The sign above it informed Sam that there was the finest food from all over the world. Sam was sure that this must be the main restaurant of a big gang, but that had never bothered him, as long as you always paid and left a good tip, such places were sometimes the safest in the entire city.

From the inside it was even more impressive than from the outside. Fine gold accents ran through the ebony counter and a selection of very rare liquor bottles, lined up along the wall behind the bar, testifying to the class and exclusivity of this place. It was not possible to directly deduce which gang this place belonged to, but it had to be one of the top 5, as it was a true power statement to present such an expensive place so prominently here. "Good morning. Welcome to the Golden Wine Barrel. A table for one?" Sam greeted a small, good-looking waitress, with golden synth hair and a perfectly fitting uniform. "Yes, of course. I also need a counter-beer right away, it was a long evening." "Of course, you can choose any seat in the house, there are no reservations yet." With these words, she retreated to the kitchen and Sam looked around between the tables. There were two types of tables, for couples and for groups of four. He chose a pair of tables at the back that sat directly in front of a large work of art that Sam had never seen before, but he recognized the artist's style. It had to be one of the lesser-known works by a 2030 artist named Bankman. Sam didn't know much about art and only knew about said artist through memes. He had seemed to have been an eccentric. The picture itself was definitely more than just plain and simple... eccentric. The work must have driven the value of this establishment even higher. The soft seats of the chair were a gift from the gods for Sam, he enjoyed the comfort until the waitress appeared with a beer and a small tablet. "Here you go," she put it right in front of Sam, it was dark and cold, with a nice head of foam, "this is a beer that is produced here in the city, in the style of the past." She also handed him the tablet, on which a menu was already displayed, which made Sam's mouth water. "If they have chosen, it will be prepared for them immediately, and breakfast will also be available in the next hour." With that, she withdrew again, leaving Sam alone. He was a great friend of good food, but he was mostly out of town and therefore rarely had time to dine finely. Money was another point that kept Sam from eating like this every day. But since he had earned a lot of money through the Aizutachi lately, he could also treat himself. The menu, as the sign outside promised, listed a variety of dishes from different cultures, with a wide variety of drinks that could sometimes outshine an ordinary car in terms of prices. Sam decided on a "Tokyo Den Steak" after long and difficult consideration, he didn't quite know what it was, but online it had the best reviews. While he was waiting for his food, Sam saw three men enter the store. The foremost was small and broad, but dressed in expensive fabric, the two next to him seemed to be bodyguards, also well dressed but much more subtle and with obvious weapons strapped to their legs. Large revolvers, which were probably used primarily for intimidation. The trio made their way to the back, towards Sam and as he approached, he realized that it was Latano Gurisha, a mob boss who led the most culturally diverse gang in all of New Berlin. Explained the selection in the menu, Sam thought.

Gurisha was known to be in the pockets of almost all corps, and the first choice was when asked who was the most dangerous. Sam tried not to be intimidated, in vain. So he at least tried not to let it show to the outside world, with a little more success. As the boss passed his table, Sam raised the beer in greeting and lowered his head respectfully. That's how they did it, right? Since Sam was still in a piece, he assumed that he had behaved correctly. His hair stood out for some time after the three had already disappeared into a back room. But the food that was now on its way helped Sam calm down. The fine scent of soy in the sauce and countless, albeit synthetic, spices filled his nose and he had almost forgotten his throbbing head until he noticed a message in his HUD. The icon for Unread flashed slowly and Sam opened it while enjoying a meal like rarely before. 'IdentityAdminRun.fl' was the name of the package that was sent. The file Sara had told us about earlier. "Well then, let's see," Sam muttered to himself as he opened it and studied. It appeared to be a daemon that could create a new entry for Sam and infiltrate the system in such a way that the identity program could be permanently monitored. It was a powerful daemon. It had to be worth hundreds of thousands. Why was such an expensive tool burned just to put Sam in a corp. Sam tried to study the daemon's code, but it was too complex to analyze properly with his hardware. Sam had the uncomfortable feeling of being drawn into something far beyond his abilities and influence. As if gods were using it to play chess. But if he could make sure that he and Sara weren't punished, it was probably worth it. Sara would be severely punished, but Sam would probably disappear without a trace, only to be found weeks later on the riverbank. But maybe Sam could also use the situation to his advantage. When did you have the opportunity to get deep into a company, to be trained by them and to be paid for it. How much he would get, he also had to ask Sara if he would also receive Neuros from the Aizutachi. But better not immediately.

Behind him, Sam heard two muffled shots and the fall of heavy bodies. Time to leave. He got up and sent the waitress the money plus tip and made his way to the exit, but he hadn't been fast enough. The back door was slammed open and the little mob boss trudged out with a large shotgun in his hand, which was more like a Renaissance cannon. As he walked across the restaurant, he called out to the waitress: "Sina, honey, can you please clean up? Boris thought he had to question me and I wanted to fire Dieter for a while... Hehe. Fire." Sam tried to sneak out of the store, but Gurisha seemed to have good eyes, because Sam heard behind him: "Hey you there, come here" Damn. Slowly he turned around and slowly raised his hands: "I didn't see or hear anything" he said quickly, but the little man shouldered his gun and laughed: "Don't worry, I won't hurt you, but I need someone to deliver a message without using the net. You look young and athletic to me. Gurisha took a small folded piece of paper out of his pocket and trudged towards Sam. "This one has to go to Derv, a fixer in downtown. Do you know him? Mostly hangs out in the Atlantis bar, tell him Gu sent you" Before Sam could reply, 2000 Neo-Euros were sent to his account. "1000 for the task and 1000 so that you don't look at the piece of paper. Did we understand each other?" "Oh, um, yes, of course" came from Sam, who toyed with the idea of testing his luck and just running.

"That's good boy, so come on, get moving!" Sam was lost in thought for a moment, but then turned around, stowed the note unopened and left the store. Behind her, Gurisha shouted "I have your data with my runner, so don't do shit!" Sam was quite sure that a runner would have triggered the traps if someone had tried to crack Sam's Data Safe. But the threat itself was enough to assume that it was probably best if he simply handed over the note. No matter what was going on here, he was a small cog that was no longer needed after the abandonment and could disappear.

So Sam set out to do a task for people who were so far above him that he couldn't even imagine what the big plan behind it was. And then he would do another task, which was also so far above his salary grade that he could only speculate what they wanted to get him at. Wonderful. The day starts as shitty as the last one ended. Sam sighed and called his motorcycle over his HUD, his Vanguard and waited on the side of the road until the autopilot drove it in front of him. The power of the superbike, which is difficult to control, was able to lift his spirits at least a little. Downtown, huh? He would drive between all the super fancy Corp cars, surrounded by cops without end, which means he would have to follow the rules of the road. Grand.

Atlantis was more than just a bar, as Sam had expected. It was a full-blown nightclub, with an adjoining casino, three restaurants of different nationalities and a hotel. The building was gigantic, it looked like an ordinary Corpo Tower, one of hundreds. But that was only true from the 20th floor. Among them was the Atlantis and brought bright colors, high-quality holo animations and daring architecture to the desolate gray of the city.

Sam was on one of the big highways that ran right through New Berlin and saw that each one of them had its own exit, especially for Atlantis.

Big players were on the move here. So quickly in, hand in notes and out again. Quite simply. What can go wrong? With a jerk, Sam forced himself neither to think the sentence any further, nor to have it in his head in any form. Even in the most intricate corners of his brain there could be no trace of it! It wasn't that Sam was superstitious, but when you were raised by a nanny who was more abuelita to him than his real family, you let it influence you. Abuelita Sasa had been a very spiritual woman. From tarot cards, to magical runes, to witch spells, she was an expert, as only someone could be who was firmly convinced that all that magical stuff was real. While Sam had managed to never let himself be lulled by the other things, he couldn't prevent a lot of Abuelita Sasa's superstition from being burned into him.

He was good at hiding it, but deep down he always feared that there was a grain of truth in the matter. He squeezed his eyes shut and let the motorbike's autopilot take over until he regained his composure. Then he shifted down a few gears and turned the throttle all the way through. The superbike broke out into explosive acceleration and shot past the rest of the traffic towards the descent towards Atlantis.

Sam felt the wind pulling at him and how his innards fought against the still pressing acceleration. At just under 200 km/h, he cut through the remainder, sluggish traffic and only had to let go of the gas a few times before he could race down the descent.

It felt as if he had strapped himself to a rocket and roughly aimed in the direction of Mars and pressed the launch button. He was now traveling so fast that his biological body was no longer able to keep up and react if something happened. His eyes, however, allowed Sam to continue to perceive everything, even if he was now little more than a glorified passenger.

However, all this did not last long, as the safety features of the autopilot slowed the bike down and limited the throttle to 5% as Sam approached the club. It was probably better that way, he thought to himself as he freed himself from the rigidity in which he was trapped during the last seconds. Everything about him was shaking. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and his arms were covered with goosebumps. Only now did the adrenaline seem to do its job properly and Sam felt an ecstasy that resembled the effects of designer drugs or street chems.

He let his motorcycle chauffeur him the rest of the way while he indulged in a frenzy of tension, nervousness, excitement and euphoria.

He couldn't say the last time he'd felt so incredibly alive. Even fights to the death no longer gave him the feeling. He should probably be careful with it before he should find himself as a kind of junkie.

Even when he had stowed his Vanguard in one of the automatic parking elevators, he was still shaking and with knees as stable as the contents of a guacamole pack, he slowly walked towards the main entrance.

A mighty staircase, decorated with LEDs, led up to five large doors, at each of which two bouncers stood and controlled the guests. Each of them was a mountain full of muscles, even the one female guard Sam could just grab and fold like a shirt. All of them were dressed in classy suits with the exact same styles and wore sunglasses that could probably do more than just block UV rays. And due to their stoic faces and short-shaven heads, they all looked incredibly similar to each other, if you ignored the difference in size of some. Only the colored sashes brought individuality. Each had its own color, from dark purple to bright yellow. Sam had no idea what the style of clothing was called, but it gave the whole thing a certain authority that didn't come from the gigantic bodies themselves.

Before he arrived at the stairs, he took a deep breath and forced his body to function normally again. A short breathing exercise later, he took the first step up the steps.