[Displaying available abilities:]
[Adrenal Autotachypsychia]
[Cerebellumic Intervention]
[Instinctual Kinematometry]
[Omnidexterity]
[Perfect Proprioception]
[Zero Transience]
Still no laser eyes there Sanctum, very disappointing. There is more complicated words though, transience is like homelessness right? I’ve heard them called transients by corpo types before. Do I grow a home around me? Do I just consider myself always home?
[The Zero Transience Ability overhauls several sections of the hippocampus to eliminate memory transience allowing for permanent memory. When neuron storage is saturated the neurological patterns are stored as digital data within Sanctum that can be reconstructed into the User’s mind when needed.]
[The other new Ability is Adrenal Autotachypsychia which provides the User with, upon stimulation of the adrenal medulla, a second smaller stimulation is immediately triggered that is siphoned into a sequence of nanoscale synthetic organelles that provide the cerebral cortex, cerebellum and basal ganglia with additional epinephrine. This drastically improves processing speed for a short period, slowing the perception of time for the User.]
Oh, those are actually pretty amazing. A flawless memory or the ability to slow time down when in danger. The second one looks like it should synergize pretty easily with AAB right? Says right there that they both use the adrenal medulla. I’m guessing that instead of just finding my arm blocking a punch I’d find time slowed down suddenly and my arm moving around on it’s own instead, giving me some time to actually consider a response.
[That would be the logical estimated synergistic element with AAB.]
It’d likely do something similar with KD as well, maybe let me be a bit more precise with the dispersion effort. Maybe even allow my small muscles to better block a blow by applying a fit more finesse, obviously still a real hard limit in there but might improve it.
Not sure about perfect memory though, there are some things you just don’t want to remember. Although it’d likely help with learning stuff outside of the skills you’re looking after Sanctum. I know you already stop me forgetting those.
[User is correct that memory management of Skills is already managed carefully but the ZT skill would allow Sanctum management of all memory and allow the User to select memories they wish to be softened, altered, stored outside of memory or forgotten.]
Huh. That’s pretty nova actually, I could just remember something happened a different way. Live in my own little make-believe reality. It’d pass corpo truth serums and interrogation and so on too.
[Extensive alteration of memories can have widespread destructive effects to the User’s perception of self, personality and understanding of reality and is highly discouraged. Many early experiments with memory editing have proven that side effects can spiral into personality collapse quickly and irreparably.]
Okay never mind then, that’s terrifying. Of course the corps are experimenting with editing memories, it’s such a corpo thing to do. Just turn up to work and have your work memories activated, then turn them off before leaving, no intellectual property at risk. Gonk nonsense.
As much as perfect memory would be preem in a lot of ways, and very detective style, I think I’ll go with the more obviously synergistic AA.
[User is selecting AAT? Is User sure?]
Oh, okay it’s called AAT then. Fine. Yes, that one please Sanctum.
[Integrating Adrenal Autotachypsychia Ability…]
My hands froze where I was working on another grid stand, which was my name for my new quadpods or whatever you call a tripod with four legs. I felt my heart race for a moment but then everything faded and I was back to normal.
“You alright there Mal? Your went weird for a moment and you’re crying.” Noe asked from next to me. My prowler was in bits in front of her on the desk as she was going over them with a magnifying tool.
“Huh? Oh it’s fine. Just a bit of dust got in while I was in the zone there.” I said, wiping my eyes with my sleeve. “Just noticed the stinging and stopped is all. I’ve nearly got a set of new quadpods done, or network points.” I said, waving off Noe’s concerns.
“It’s called a quadripod, some guns use them for stabilization. If you say it’s fine then good. As long as you’re not actually crying over something. If you feel bad about something just let me know and we’ll talk about it. You must have killed a lot of people by now, don’t go cracking on me down the line over it all.”
“Killing people isn’t something I’ve done out of hatred or pleasure Noe, I don’t hunt people. It’s just the situation at hand, some people are going to die and some will live. So far I’m on the living side. There’s no ill will from me, I don’t enjoy it either. It’s just how life is here.”
“Not being emotional doesn’t make you strong Mal, it makes you weaker. A gun with a missing part will break and misfire eventually, you need the whole thing together to have an effective iron. Just make sure you’re looking after your head, or I’ll have to look after it and tell your mom and she’ll just lock you up.”
“She wouldn’t lock me up. I’m fine anyway Noe, I’ve made my peace with killing on the job and so on. I’ve got my limits like everyone else, I keep myself safe but don’t go kill crazy. It’s fine.” I said, patting her arm.
“You don’t feel bad for the operators or gangers then?” She asked, looking right at me with an odd expression.
“A little at times, I wonder if they have a family that cares about them or is expecting them. But life is messed up sometimes and sometimes you’re left with no one to rely on. If I’ve killed someone then I could be making a good few people sad or desperate for a while, but it’s not like I’ve wandered the streets shooting civies left and right. I’ve killed when drawn on, or when I’m in a high risk situation or in imminent danger where my options are limited.” I said, a little solemn. “I feel sad for the people I’ve killed, just a little, but I don’t feel regretful or sorry for them. I feel sad that that’s what life gave them, a bad roll of the dice. Not that I had to be one to put them down for good.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“That still sounds messed up Mal, most people feel sick after killing someone. I don’t even like hitting people with a pipe. One of the reasons I like guns is the distance from the hostiles it gives you.” Noe said, looking sad. “Maybe you should get some therapy? There’s psych video calls you can do in most public grids, they’re pretty cheap.”
“I’m fine Noe, if I do end up regretting something like that I’ll really let you know okay? I’ll come right to you and say I messed up and I feel bad, maybe that I want to try and fix it somehow. You can talk me through stuff like we did a few years ago.” I said, starting to stow the quadripods in my storage rig bags. I’d managed to get the little quadripods down to palm sized.
“Fine, be that way gonk. I just think you should be more broken up about killing two operators who were basically doing the same kind of job as you.”
“It was me or them, I can tell you right now if they’d drawn fast enough to put a bullet through my dome I wouldn’t have gone from the world cursing them out. It would’ve just been the way the world works, operator draws on operator and one dies. It’s nothing personal or emotional, no malice, just process.”
“Well I’d curse them out, I’d hate them if they shot you. So just don’t get shot.” Noe said as she punched my good arm in the shoulder. She went back to reassembling my gun.
Hey Sanctum, what’s the digital version of the AA? Some sort of time slow in the net as well?
[Translation is currently underway but early estimates show it being a grid transfer priority related function, this will likely include slowed time for the User in some respect.]
I like that I’m getting used to some of the stuff to do with your different functions Sanctum, it feels like I’m getting used to it. Less unexpected variables springing up and changing plans.
Although speaking of changing plans it might be worth looking into some early chrome if you can alter their size as I grow. Maybe there’s something I can get that’ll bring my normal kit together. Some sort of effectiveness multiplier instead of just more options.
The best person to go to would either be a ripper doc or someone really into chrome, like full on borg. They’d keep up with the latest models and the general scene of cyberware just because they’d want to keep their important parts current when possible.
For me that likely meant Marchand. But I didn’t really want to go to her for everything. I could talk to Dr. Wood or Dr. Nguyen but they were more life saving specialists, no doubt they knew a lot of cyberware installations and some cutting edge research stuff but they’d likely have to look up and collect info for everything else and I didn’t want to add to their workload just for this.
There was one person that came to mind, even if it was a little silly. I’d not know she was chromed not long ago, just suspected, but with some new information it made sense that it was the case now. Allie back on my old street, if she knew Marchand in the past then likely she was a borg just like Marchand. It made sense, a borg could look however they wanted with a little bit of doctor work and a borg could pull iron with a single hand no issue even looking like a spindly old lady.
Plus it’d be nice, I hadn’t spoken to her in a while so I could check in on her. We weren’t friends or anything but she kept tabs on my mom and I got on with her as a neighbor so it’d be nice to at least go say hello and chat about chrome if she was up for it.
“Hey Noe I’m gonna swing back to my old street and talk to an old neighbor about some chrome, let me know over the grid if you want anything while I’m out and about alright?” I said, fixing my clothes from sitting at the desk so long.
“It’ll be late soon Mal so make sure you keep your watch your six yeah? Don’t need me to come rescue you because I will and you won’t like it.” She said, handing me my newly named prowler. Noe had even written prowler one along the side of the barrel in wax pen.
“Yeah, no worries Noe. I’ll be fine, not going far anyway. If mom asks just say I’m going out and I’ll be back before it’s late.” I said as I slipped the smg into its place near my hip and started walking out.
Noe just nodded and got on with other projects all around her workspace, likely looking at stuff on her interface at the same time.
I headed out from Noe’s and into the streets nearby heading towards to old wash street. There were a few junctions on the way, including the one with the gym on it and I felt a little bit of shame that I hadn’t been back since but it wasn’t like I wasn’t exercising, it was just I wasn’t at the gym.
I grabbed a meat bits skewer that seemed to be mostly burnt than cooked but it had a lot of spice stuff on it so it still went down okay even if it was hard to chew and ashy. There were worse things to eat down here.
There was a bit more gang presence around the area than I remembered which was a little concerning but it wasn’t so much that it definitely meant something was going on. It could just be a party at a gangers house or something. I didn’t recognize all the gang colors and ganger alliances weren’t exactly long lasting so there could be a whole bunch here that wouldn’t normally be around.
Swallowing the last solid chunk of meaty gristle that was basically just carbon covered with a yellowy sauce and various spices I arrived at the old street. It’s rosy lighting was very nostalgic even though I hadn’t been gone from the place for very long. The street still felt like home as I walked through it.
All signs of a corpo encampment was gone with the street back to the crowded state it had been before with little stalls selling bits and pieces along with food stalls and carts. The sound of sizzling almost overcoming the noise of talking, arguing and shouting that spilled from everywhere around the place.
I pushed through the crowds and stepped onto the lifting platform just in time as it rose up with a few others on it. Getting to my old home level I got off and walked away a little before leaning over the familiar railing.
Without the corp breathing down people’s necks the street was a lot more lively and much more like I was used to. It felt a lot more like home than it had been when I’d left it and a lot more than my current home still. It would likely be like that for a while still though.
Turning around away from the edge I walked along until I got to my old gate and buzzed through with my old shard key, it still worked after we’d moved out and likely would for a long time yet until some property technician came through here which was likely a long way out. Technicians didn’t visit this district much and when they did it was mostly just to fix gates and repair broken railings, actually updating locks or checking databases of tenants took longer and thus was more of a rare thing.
Walking down the hallway I found Allie in her chair near the hallway vid screen watching the same old KAN news channel. I guess my life so far wasn’t much to her, she’d likely seen kids like me live out their whole existence a dozen time by now. No need for her to change just because others were.
“Hey Allie, long time no see.” I said as I approached where she was sitting.
“It’s the boy again, you’ve been gone a good while. Your mother too. Have you two moved out or something?” She said as she watched the news caster talking about a factory explosion and fire on the outskirts of town. Apparently a big battery manufacturing plant had gone up in flames after some sort of industrial accident.
“Yeah we have Allie, I’ve just come back down here to ask you about some stuff because I figure you’re the best person I know to ask.”
“If this is about where babies come from then you’ll have to ask someone else. Apparently the way I tell kids about it is wrong and I don’t want your sweet mother coming over here and shouting at me.” She said as she sat there smiling.
Come on Allie. Really?