Out of all the early Antithesis I consider the Model Seven to be the most insidious. These tiny buggers work their way into populated areas, infecting human hosts and slowly taking over their nervous systems.
If you want to save people you either need to exterminate them before they infect someone, make sure people are immune to the seven with anti-Seven pills, or catch the infection super early. I’m sorry to say, once they dig in there’s probably nothing you can do. I have access to over fifteen hundred catalogs, and that only extends the period I can dig those worms out by a matter of minutes. Once they pass the point of no return, all you can do is offer the victims the mercy of death.
I may get distracted occasionally, but I ALWAYS take a Seven infection seriously.
* Maggie ‘Magpie’ Artell - Seattle News Network Interview following the destruction of the Container Ship Global Traveller
***
Me? A samurai? This is surreal. I check my implants and see that they are still off, and I momentarily wonder if Jysli is somehow playing a prank on me, before the voice chimes up again.
Now, let's move right along, Anthony. You have a model Seven digging its way through your body to get to your brain, and if you’re not careful you might get some permanent damage to your foot from the glass embedded within.
I pale, a nightmare playing out in my head of losing control of my body to the seven with the shards going deeper with every step. Shaking my head, I scoot back away from the glass. The sharp chest pain had migrated closer to my neck, and a quick touch told me it was still climbing.
“W-what… w-what should I do?”
Shopping! Your current point pool is at one hundred twenty five, which is the reward for dealing with five model sevens and your starting bonus of one hundred!
Taking a quick glance at my right foot, I wince at the grisly wounds I had inflicted upon myself. Some of the larger shards had managed to get halfway in during my little rampage, and I felt my stomach do a little flip at the sight of all the blood.
“H-how can I heal myself?”
My suggestion would be for you to purchase the rather ubiquitous Class I Medical Utilities catalog for fifty points, then a pack of Seven-proofing pills for a single point to prevent it from zombifying you. You’re also gonna want a Class I Nano-Regenerative suite for twenty points to heal your internal damage and a Class I Hemo-Restore for all the bleeding you’re doing, and that costs five points. Does that sound okay Anthony?
I give a shaky thumbs up, all the words I wished to speak failing me.
Class I Medical Utilities Catalog Unlocked!
Points reduced to: 75
New Purchase: Model-Seven Proofing Pill, Pack of Ten
Points reduced to: 74
New Purchase: Class-I Nano-Regenerative Suite
Points reduced to: 54
New Purchase: Class-I Hemo-restore
Points reduced to: 49
When the three small boxes appear at my feet, I feel a shock through my heart for a fraction of a moment. I'd still half believed that everything I was hearing was a hallucination, yet my brain could no longer deny what was real.
I was actually a samurai.
You should just take one of those pills, save the rest for future use. The red tube is the Hemo-restore, and all you need to do is press it up to your skin, preferably center of mass. The Nano-Regenerative Suite is an inhaler, all you need to do is press it up to your mouth and breathe in.
Within the first box I open, I find a tube with a yellow arrow printed on it containing red liquid. Following the incredibly simple instructions and pressing it to my center chest, the tube lets out a small puff of air as the liquid flows into me. I place the tube back into its box, and push it to the side. Next were the off-green proofing pills that I quickly take one of and toss the bottle with the extras onto my desk. Finally, I place the chunky inhaler holding the Nano-Regenerative up against my lips and inhale. A fuzzy feeling falls over my body, probably some side-effect of the drugs I had taken, but I wasn’t going to complain if I could survive.
I have good news and bad news. The good news is that you have a cheap, easy solution for the glass shards stuck in your foot, specifically a Class-I Nanite-infused Gel Sock, which costs five points. The bad news is unfortunately at Class-I, the gel wouldn’t be able to fully remove three of the larger shards that you have gotten embedded within your flesh. You’re going to need to pull them out yourself before you put the sock on.
I grimace at the idea, but somehow, between the strange fuzz that had enveloped my body and the pulsing agony wracking me foot to head every few seconds, I was strangely okay with the idea. I figure I may be in shock.
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“O-okay. G-gimme the sock.”
New Purchase: Class-I Nanite-infused Gel Sock
Points reduced to: 44
A little clear box appears next to me, and I pick it up to look inside. Wrapped in what I assume is wax paper of some sort, a rather thick but seemingly excessively small sock made of a slightly translucent blue gel sits, waiting for use.
Now, you’re going to want to start with the largest shard first, which is embedded into your heel. Now, take a deep-
Before Anyvi can finish, I yank it out carelessly. A spurt of blood and pain quickly follows up, and I have to bite my tongue to not scream.
Well, okay then. The next two shards are lodged close to each other in the ball of your foot.
Beginning to hyperventilate, it takes me a second or two to work through the pain and find the little shits, but I manage eventually. My head begins to ring incessantly, and I hear Anyvi speak, but her words melt into nothingness. Somehow I know she's trying to calm me down regardless, and I take a deep breath before pulling both shards out at once. My vision distorts for a second, my consciousness almost failing me, and I then pull the tiny sock on with trembling hands. As the sock begins to cover my foot, the gel stretches and thins, eventually ending at my ankle with around half the original thickness. Swiftly, the pain in my foot shifts into a dull throb, and I take a much needed sigh of relief.
You did well, dear.
A rather unfamiliar warmth rises in my cheeks, and I groan as I attempt to rise to my feet, picking up the empty boxes as I do. The sock felt immensely strange, as if my foot was underwater no matter where I moved it. A bit of wary pressure on it was even weirder, considering that I barely even noticed any change other than it feeling a little slippery and a small but momentary pang as it touched the ground.
“T-thanks… D-do you know what's happening in the commune? W-why are there model sevens in a glass b-beside my bed?”
It’s hard to say at the moment. I cannot access and provide information from most private systems without you first having an upgrade that allows for it or you having received access, additionally there doesn’t seem to be anything about an infestation on anything I can find publicly online. I could request information from your grandfather’s ai, if you want. He wouldn’t reveal you to your grandfather, as it is against our rules.
I bite my lip, a stone of anxiety pressing into my chest.
“I-I don’t trust Jysli all that much, but if he can’t reveal me I think it’s fine. I-If my grandfather knew I was a samurai, he’d never let me go. I-I would rather live on my own than under his t-thumb any longer. ”
Very well, I will initiate contact.
Nary a few moments pass before Anyvi chimes up once again. From what I understood,
Unfortunately, it seems that the extent of information that Jysli was willing to give up is that he doesn't know who brought the glass into your room, since the camera outside was turned off manually. It seems we have differing opinions on how to run security.
Feeling a bit woozy, I stumble a few steps towards my desk and proceed to dump my duffel bag onto the floor. Noticing my favorite hoodie in the pile, I swap it for my suit jacket and pop the hood. Then, alongside the loose boxes I had summoned and the extra pills, I hastily knock a few containers from my bookshelf into my bag, hoisting it over my left shoulder afterwards.
Just so that you know, I can provide most anything you need immediately at a higher quality than you would be able to buy almost anywhere on Earth.
I pause, contemplating my AI’s words, but I can’t help but laugh to myself when it clicks. I shake my head with a smile on my face, return to my bed and clamber up to check the window that sits above it. To my initial dismay, I don’t immediately find the manual open, but after a little searching I find a small switch embedded into the window sill. One little push later, and my room fills with the cool ocean breeze. I take a quick look back at my room in hesitation, but quickly resolve myself as I shimmy my way through the window into the eastern side of the balcony.
One convenient factor of my family owning an entire floor of New Houston was that the house that took up its majority was only one story, the lack of drop out of my window a godsend. Skimming the edge of the building towards the front, I peek around and freeze when I see two figures standing guard right outside of the lift.
“S-shit, Anyvi, are there any other exits on the floor?”
According to the blueprints, there is a ladder located directly at the opposite side of the floor as the lift and it shouldn’t take you long to get there.
With a nod, I turn away and do my best to stay low and silent as I rush towards the back of the building. Has anyone ever told you that trying to run while crouched is exceedingly difficult? By the time I reach the opposite corner of where I was, I am panting for air and feeling the exhaustion in my knees. My socked foot twinged and stung with every step, and I sort of regretted not putting shoes on before I left. When I peek around the corner while catching my breath, I catch sight of the ladder, armed guard included. I quietly hiss, unsure of exactly what to do.
“A-Anyvi, are there any catalogs that will be useful later that I can purchase with my point total?”
There are a few, but the two most commonly bought are Class-I basic combat garments and Class-I general ready meals, both of which come in at 20 points a piece. What exactly are you looking for?
I consider for a bit, and soon find a mischievous grin slowly creeping across my face, my typical stutter evaporating in my sudden excitement.
“Does the basic combat garments catalog have any clothes that have abnormally strong elastics?”
… I think I see where you are going with this, and yes, there are a few things that would suit your purposes. For five points, you could get a General Utility Hyperelastic Belt, which although small at first, is designed to fit Every size and easily carry several dozen pounds of tools within its pockets with no risk of breaking.
“Perfect." I check my surroundings and spy a security camera. Thinking quickly, I turn away again and ask, "Can I get it in my bag without a box?”
Easily.
Class-I Basic Combat Garments Catalog Unlocked!
Points reduced to: 24
New Purchase: General Utility Hyperelastic Belt
Points reduced to: 19
Kneeling down, I unzip my duffel to see my prize, extracting the belt and after rummaging to see what I had actually knocked in earlier, a rather large tungsten cube I had picked up from some ruined lab in Tampa Bay. After making sure that the belt’s connection is secure, I place one end on the ground and place my foot on the inside of the loop, while pulling up and doing my best to hold the other end perpendicular. Then with my free hand, I pull the cube back, the sheer tension causing my arm to shake.
I have calculated your makeshift slingshot’s trajectory and force; I will display it onto your optical implants.
A simple targeting reticule emerges in my vision, and seeing that I was going to overshoot my target by… a lot, I release some of the tension. The reticule lowers to where it should be, and after adjusting the force to a nonlethal level, I let it fly. In a split second my makeshift projectile flies across the balcony, and I wince as I see the guard crumple when the cube slams into his helmet.
Taking my chance, I throw the belt around my right shoulder and rush towards the ladder, doing my best to work through the soreness in my foot the entire way. Grabbing onto the tungsten cube which had fallen next to the guard’s body, I stuff it into my bag before I begin my way down towards a lower level.
Hopefully, that guy will be okay.