The next three days were mostly filled with me recovering from my wounds quickly but not quickly enough to warrant suspicion from Lla. Sanctum appeared to prioritize internal stuff and left me with raw but sealed wounds until near the end of the three days rest.
The skill training plan didn’t go well overall, I only managed to get some blind sensing training done on the balcony and a bit of exercise with Lla in the living room where she said sitting around was making her tired so she wanted to do some push ups and stuff.
Programming and work stuff fell by the wayside as I just sat around napping, chatting about operator work with Lla, talking with mom about her incarna stuff and watching dumb action movies and soppy romance films whenever Lla got a turn of the vid screen.
I looked in the mirror to check my wounds and was a bit unsure what to do. There was a ragged and very tangled scar across the side of my head, across my ear messily cutting it in two essentially and then cutting down to near my mouth which I hadn’t even noticed.
Nudging the scar tissue around to see how it looked smaller or let to stretch loose, parts of it bulging and parts of it a tangled wrinkled mess. It really wasn’t as cool as I was hoping it would turn out, it just looked like someone had cut the side of my head off and I’d pressed it back together which wasn’t far off what it was.
What do you think Dr. Sanctum? Could you make it look like new?
[A total restoration would likely be impossible without a more advanced medical suite or a more specific cyberware such as a dermal regenerator which has a well of specialized nanites and skin ingredients and healing agents that can restore such scars in minutes.]
So I’m stuck with this scar?
[Sanctum is able to remove some of the largest scar structures to shrink it’s affected area but restoration of pliancy, resilience and ear shape would leave more damage than restoration at the scale it would need to operate at without more specialized cyberware.]
I guess it’s faceplate time then. With an added ear as part of it. Should I go for the whole face or just the damaged parts?
[That is largely a cosmetic decision as long as the damaged areas are replaced.]
True. I thought I’d get a faceplate eventually just because of my line of work but I thought I’d have a bit longer with my own face.
[User has expressed in the past that they would avoid such cyberware before reaching maturity. If the User wore a combat mask of some description it would provide protection to the weakened skin at the side of User’s head, leaving the User with their own face for a while longer.]
I’m not that sentimental about some head meat Sanctum. I think a half plate would do fine, just plate up the left side and synthskin the jaw. If I’ve got enough I’ll just get some cyberears put on instead of trying to synthskin the one ear and leave the other there.
Ears managed to get by fine with his and he can’t have spent much on them. With Marchand’s pay from the last job I should have enough for a good faceplate and some decent cyberears although they can get very pricey.
[User’s cyberload will likely be aversely affected by replacing portions of the User’s face. Many humans find their natural visage a powerful emotional marker. Caution should be considered when applying cyberware in regions that bear human emotional focus such as the face, hands, ears, genitalia, feet and large muscle groups.]
What the hell Sanctum, I don’t need to hear about the emotional value of genitalia. Wait. Feet? Who is going to form an emotional connection to feet?
[It is a recognizably human form. The loss of these can cause symptoms of cyberpsychosis in some sufferers in a variety of vectors.]
Really? Wow. Some guy out there lost his toes and lost it at some point? Damn, that’s rough. I don’t think it’ll really hit me that hard Sanctum.
[User does have a potentially malformed psychology that should prove resistant some some of the initial elements of cyberpsychosis, though the higher risk of later elements is prevalent.]
Malformed? You saying I’m crazy? I’m fine. I get along with people, I make good decisions, I look after people when I can. I’m fine.
[User fits several psychological profiles for maladapted psychopathy. The current emotional risk of the User is low but could become an issue if User’s security anchors are lost.]
Emotional security anchors? Like a kid’s baby blanket? I lost mine when I was like two. No. Wait, you mean mom and so on don’t you? Like Noe and other people around me. If I lost them I’d go all weird. Literally every human would do that Sanctum, it’s very normal to go a bit crazy if you lose your family and friends.
[It could amplify cyberpsychosis symptoms in the User.]
Again, a very normal effect of being a human Sanctum. Maybe read some more psychology books about loss and stuff. Humans don’t cope well with it normally, it can make them insane. Not exactly a reason to consider me malformed like I grew a third arm or something.
I walked away from the mirror with a bit of an angry huff. Sanctum was wrong, I was normal as anyone else mentally. Maybe I’d shoot people and sleep a bit better than average but I’m not alone in that around here, it’s fine.
Walking into my bedroom I pulled on some clothes for the day and let the anger drain away from me. As I walked back into living room I found Lla sitting with her hands over her face, she might have been blushing but I couldn’t tell with her dark skin. It hadn’t been long enough for me to catch details like that yet.
“Why are you covering your face? You alright?” I asked as I straightened out my shirt.
“You just walked out of the bathroom and through the living room in your underwear! You should wear clothes in the living room. Well, it is your home. So I can’t really demand anything but it’s still super embarrassing!” Lla said with a squeak in her voice.
“Ah. Sorry. It’s not a big deal anyway, you see people wearing underwear at clubs and stuff. I wasn’t exactly nude.” I said but I was a little embarrassed and shifted in my stance a little.
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“It’s still a bit much for a young girl to see Mal. I’m a delicate flower.” Lla said but she’d shifted from embarrassed to mischief when she saw she’d got a reaction out of me.
“Pfft. Delicate flower huh? More like a pneumatic hammer than a delicate anything. I’ve seen you eat starries like a compactor unit.” I said with a smile of my own. I walked over to the kitchen counter and grabbed a fruit stick.
“Your so mean to me. I may be forced to tears.” Lla said, holding the back of her hand to her cheek. She opened her eye and looked over it but saw I was just smiling at her and smiled back and we let the whole thing drop. “So what have you got planned today? Another day of laying around? You wouldn’t even join me for star jumps yesterday.”
“Actually I want to make a doctors appointment for a faceplate installation, get this scar and my ear fixed up. Then I want to check in with Marchand, touch base kind of thing after our last exchange. Finally I want to make a trip to the edge of the city for a courier job, shouldn’t be more than a few hours.” I said, unwrapping and taking a bite from the fruit stick.
“Oh that’s nice then. I hope you don’t go too crazy with the faceplate. I saw a kid with yellow and black stripes on his. It was kind of an eyesore.” She said as she curled herself up on the sofa. Obviously settling in for the day.
“I’m just planning on a half plate, just the left side of my face to replace the scar and then a set of cyberears if I’ve got the cash. If not it’ll just be a synthskin replacement.” I said, leaning back. I looked over at mom’s door but she was obviously sleeping in this morning, she’d mentioned some new stuff on her incarna which were interesting sounding.
“Sounds nova, it’ll be interesting to see what finish you go with. It’s such a shame what that line of candle wax has done to your head there, even if you had it surgically reduced you’d still have to get a new ear and likely a new cheek. Does it pull when you blink?”
“No, it’s far enough away that I can’t feel it unless I smile or really open my mouth. Then it feels like I’ve got something in my head and my sinuses were ruined as well according to the medical suite I’ve got. The doctors had to put in new ducts and they feel stiff.”
“I didn’t even think of that. Well, try and get it all sort out at once. That way it’s just one set of healing to do.”
“Yeah, that’s the idea. I’ll shoot off now anyway. Say hey to my mom for me when she wakes up. If she asks, I’m just making a delivery for Allie and I’ll be gone a few hours.” I said, as I pulled on my boots which were by the door.
“No problem. I’m going to finish watching that detective drama romance show. You know the one I showed you with the detective woman who fell in love with the borg and he turned himself into a orbital fighter craft but stayed a street cop?”
“The one where that plane used it’s vertical engines to break up a big drug deal and then landed and fired it’s drag chutes into the crime boss? Yeah, it was gonk. And the lady kissing the nose cone at the end of the episode was also gonk.”
“I loved that though. It was so nova and lovey dovey. Like the power of love kind of thing!” Lla said with stars in her eyes as she leaned over the back of the sofa.
“Enjoy your show Lla. I’ll be back tonight.” I said, heading out the door and across the hall to talk to Marchand for the first time in a few days. Her last message annoyed me a bit and I wanted to say my piece even if she scared me a little. Or a lot really, but I was only will ing to show a little out of principal.
Buzzing her door got me a quick response.
“Hello Mal, I’m in a meeting at the moment. I’ll speak to you a little later, I’ll send you a message when I’m free.” Said Marchand through her intercom.
Well. That’s making a mess of my plans but I’d just check in later. Time to go see the doctors to get a new face, or at least book it in.
The trip downstairs didn’t take long and I buzzed into the corridor and then buzzed the clinic. Dr. Nguyen opened the door with a yawn and welcomed me in with his free hand.
“Morning Mal, what’s up? Something gone wrong with the sinuses?” He asked after his yawn as he led me to the office past the waiting room. I saw that there was a big bald guy sitting in the surgery chair and having something done to his left cyberarm shoulder by Dr. Wood who waved her tool at him and went back to doing whatever it was.
“Nah they’re a little stiff when I move my mouth a lot but it’s alright. No, I’ve obviously seen the recovered scarring for the most part and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. So, I was wanting to get a faceplate put on the left side of my head and then a set of cyberears depending on the part price.” I said, sitting on the visitor chair opposite Dr. Nguyen who sat down on an office chair.
“Hm. A faceplate would be a simple install, maybe two hours to get it done. We’d get some better sinus ducts put in there if you’re finding them stiff, they’re just bioprints for the most part. Cyberears are less simple but if we do both at the same time we can cut down the installation time down a little. You’d be looking at a four hour surgery and the ears… I’ll have a look at what we have access to.” Nguyen said as he turned to a vid screen on the desk and flicked through a bunch of cyberware using a keyboard and track pad. A bit old school but alright.
“I’m mostly looking for something combat grade, wide range from pin up to blast but with automatic filters for loud sounds. If it had good compatibility scores that would be best. I don’t need infrasonic or ultrasonic but I wouldn’t say no to them. I don’t need any built in memory.” I said, just listing off some needs I could think of.
“Yeah, I can imagine the type you’d need in your work Mal. You need something that’ll be good for investigation and recon while still good for combat, something that can filter well and plug into your other cyberware. There’s a lot of ears out there but finding something that does soldier work well enough while still able to handle detective isn’t easy to find while still hitting certain qualities. Let me have a look here.” Nguyen said, leaning towards the screen and quickly flicking through catalogs and tables of specifications.
He spent about a minute frowning at the screen until the doctor turned about in the chair and spoke again.
“So you’ve got two options here depending on your budget. We can put in these ones here. Llaman Audio model sixes. They’re a foreign make and a little old so you’ll likely struggle to find firmware updates locally. But they hit all the minimums for the type of stuff you want comfortably while still being lightweight and small profile. The others that hit the same targets are generally bulkier. That’s the cheap, awkward but alright option.” Doctor Nguyen said, tapping the screen as he spoke. The cyberear looked a bit like a black polygonal ear.
“So what’s the expensive, sleek and amazing option?” I asked, leaning forward a little.
“Well. That’s the thing. If you’d be willing to shell out twice the price you could fit this.” He said, pulling up a completely different looking device that didn’t look like an ear at all.
“What… Is that? That’s not a cyberear.” I said, trying to pick apart the image.
“It’s a sensory suite with a full audio set up as part of it. It’s installed at the base of your skull and replaces the first and second vertebrae as part of it’s design so it doesn’t fit some cyberspines and we’ll have to make some changes to the mounting so it’ll play nice with you’re braincase. It knocks all your needs out of the park, totally covering them all. It also handles touch, taste, sight and so on to make them all customizable and integrates into other cyberware to support them, like your cybereyes. The only sense it doesn’t touch is pain as that’s a bit tougher to handle in real time safely and requires a specific cyberware generally.”
Not with Sanctum covering me there, but whatever.
“What about weight, heat and durability? Does it have intakes? Exhaust? Is it rated for underwater?”
“Weight wise it’s barely noticeable in difference to what it would replace. It’s a respiring surface mesh for cooling that sits under the synthskin. It’s combat grade by design and is rated for underwater for about as far as you are. No vents.”
What do you think Sanctum? Could you make good use of this?
[While it’s overall performance outstrips your human parameters by magnitudes, it’s rating among cyberware is only middle of the pack as far as sensory suites go.]
I don’t have the kind of money we’d need for high grade cyberware. This is the sort of stuff we can do right now.
[Given the parameters the sensory suite would be the future proofed choice and might save more money overall.]
“Let’s go with the sensory suite then, how much is it?” I asked.