“So these arms are basically what you’re looking for but the actual materials aren’t what I’d consider up to spec. They’ll work well enough for a soldier but I can see an operator going up against another operator with higher grade cyberware failing hard simply because the ware wont keep up against impacts and slices.” Allie said as she pointed out one of the simpler but still very fancy looking arms on display.
We were in front of a wide stall that was literally filled with showcase of advanced cyberware of seemingly all sorts with a lot of them needing little refrigerated containers. The racks at the back had hanging limbs and the tables at the front had smaller items like hands, eyes and optional internals. There were also screens that showed a range of cosmetic options for a lot of the pieces on display. There were even some canvas styled arrangements of synthskin of various types so customers could see and feel the skin before buying. It’d be quite a horror scene if it wasn’t more like a car showroom. There were several attendant sellers wandering among the little crowd to answer questions and make sales.
“The whole line is a compromise in my opinion, they wanted to maximize reactivity and strength but they had to keep the cost down so they cut down on the bone and joint material quality. It’s practically a generation behind. If you were more of a craftsman or maybe a sniper type I’d recommend it but it’s not quite what you need.” She finished as we moved onto a nearby model that had synth muscles that had different tints of gray to them which was odd. The only ones I’d seen were pale gray.
“What’s up with the muscles there? Not seen cyberware with different shades of muscle. Is that a cosmetic thing?” I asked.
“There are dyes that do that, kind of like tattoos. Not much market for them though. No, these are a somewhat uncommon design. Specialized fibers. You see them more in higher end stuff but even then it’s maybe just fast and strong types. This model and it’s line were an attempt to meet some demands for more performance without breaking into biosyth price ranges or blowing the bulk out to super sized levels. It has three separate designs for it’s fibers. Fast, strong and flexible. The different fiber designs are applied where the muscle in question will benefit most from that property in the most scenarios of use. The bone design is ceramic coated but the actual core is a tungsten alumide alloy that’s split into three layers with polyethylene micro-balls between them for shock dispersion.” Allie said as she presented the multi colored arm to me.
“I think we’ve found your topic of passion here Allie. You sound like Noe.” I said with a smile.
“Hmph. There’s nothing wrong with knowing more about what’s going to part of your body. You should be taking a close look at the specs of each piece and considering the tasks you might find yourself in. Most cyberware is generalist because life is complicated but even among the most generalist designs there different design approaches to that focus.” Allie answered curtly.
“That arm is within the budget?” I asked.
“It’s well within the budget and performs what I’d consider are within the parameters you can expect to be up against but you know your own work the most. What do you think of the design ethos? Specialized synth muscle fibers means more performance at the cost of increased repair costs. It also means that not all ripperdocs will have the processor needed to create the repair materials.” Allie asked.
Sanctum. Could you handle repairs for this kind of stuff now you’re branching out of nanoscale changes into larger scales?
[Very likely but it wouldn’t be fast. A heavily damaged arm of that design would likely take days to repair without outside aid. That includes prospective designs on repair focused nanomachine cadres designed for that arm alone.]
“I think that arm is the one to go with. I can work out a way to deal with repairs in the future, Marchand has been nudging me to gather a support team anyway. A cyberware specialist would be a good role to fill early on.” I answered once I’d confirmed Sanctum repairing cyberware was an option. I’d still find a specialist though in the future. Or at least a personal ripper doc.
“Good choice, there were a few other options from the ones nearby but this one was honestly the best for your current needs as far as I was concerned, at least from what I’ve found listed and on display here. There’s a few oddball items that could be perfect for now and better for future proofing but they are too rare to be here.” Allie said as she gestured over to one of the attendants.
“Can I help you ma'am?” Asked the blonde woman attendant as she walked over from where she had been adjusting stock. Allie glanced at me as the lady spoke and I took that as my queue to speak.
“I’ll take this arm as a pair, the listed price is… two ten? With the specialization there, it’s already going to have running cost beyond a more standard piece for it’s specific installation and repair. I’d be willing to buy it for one sixty if you’d accept that?” I offered as I kept an eye on both the attendant’s and Allie’s facial expressions.
“Sir. This is a current generation model of a proven line. I’m afraid I can’t accept such an offer but I could allow it to leave with you for a flat two hundred thousand.” She countered with a bright smile. I’d never been a sir before, it was odd.
“A proven line, yes. Proven to be difficult to find replacement parts for and to maintain through the very combat situations it is ultimately designed for. It is a quality piece with distinct strengths though so I could raise my offer to one eighty. Would that be acceptable?” I returned, my last allowed offer.
“I have been given permission to accept your offer, sir. I will send the charge to you now and we will provide the paperwork and container for your purchase free of charge. The arms inside should be identical to the arm on display but if you find any defect with it please reach out to our support team at Khoven Distributions cybernetics division for that matter or one of our representatives at live events similar to this one.” She said with practiced precision. As soon as she’d finished, a pop up appeared on my interface for the agreed one hundred and eighty thousand aura. I accepted quickly and watched a lot of my current wealth disappear but that was part of the plan and I needed arms.
“All done, can you deliver the container to my grandmother’s car outside. It’ll be the white sedan, the driver, Kaiser, is there if you need to verify details.” I offered with a grin at Allie. She met my grin with a smiling pout and mock scowl at me.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Of course, sir. Thank you for your business.” The lady said before turning and going back to her other work.
Allie took the moment to bang my head with her knuckles, even just two of her knuckles going for a light tap was enough to destabilize my posture. She was a very heavy woman, despite being among the thinnest woman I knew.
“You’re a cute gonk. You could get yourself into trouble associating so closely with me in public, didn’t we just go through a lot of this in the car?” She said as we walked away from the big cybernetics stall.
“I’m not scared of big spooky corpo kidnappers or operators or whatever. I’m not going to let that stuff keep me from being nice to people I like being around. What’s the point in living if you just walk around scared of people all day. Not like I haven’t dug up my own grudges in the past, they just haven’t found my traces so far but I’m only just starting my career. I’m not going to pretend that’ll stay the same forever and I’m not going to shy away from other people’s karma either.” I said as we walked along. I knew I was being a bit childish by just saying I was going to ignore dangers but I hated the idea of leaving people I liked along because it was risky, it sucked and I’d rather dig out of whatever bad situation it caused. I’d rather live like that, or be killed by it, than not.
“That’s very noble of you to say, I can see why you’d think like that at your age. I hope you can hold onto that thought for a very long time. It’s very cute.” She said with a bright smile.
“I’m not cute. I’m a dangerous operator and netrunner. I’ve killed people.” I said with a frown.
“Aw. Precious. You don’t have any arms Mal and you’re four feet tall. You’ve killed other children and little more.” She answered. A critical blow to my pride.
“I haven’t killed that many kids my own age.” I said defensively.
“And I meant people at the barest combat risk factor for a genuine quality soldier or operator. Age means little when your still playing in the soil with the other children. I’ll consider you less cute when you’re at the cyberware, training, experience and means to pose an actual direct threat to me.” Allie said with an odd smile.
“It’s only for now. I’m young, I’ll grow. I just bought arms as well. Before you know it, I’ll be a force to be reckoned with as I tear through the battlefield when I’m an adult.” I said defensively.
“Oh, I have no doubt. If you live that long. Marchand will do her best to get you to that point and I’ll pitch in when I think it warrants attention and you’ll have your family and friends. Just remember it all comes down to your actions and choices, same as ever Mal, if you want to live long enough to be that kind of adult.” She said solemnly.
“I know. I’ve always been careful with stuff when I’ve had the option. Unless I was being a gonk.” I offered in response.
“Just keep yourself in check, a lot of youngsters either run into a big problem and lose their drive or push through and think themselves invincible. Don’t trust either, both will kill you eventually.” Allie said.
“Hm. Yeah.” I said with a frown. Seemed like people around me were scared I’d take dumb risks, I mean sure I didn’t have arms right now because of a dumb risk but it was an important risk. Whatever.
-
“I will have the items delivered to you vehicle, sir. Do you need anything else? We have a range of smaller but effective cyberware for combat oriented operators. There area number of subdermal micro jets for aerial micro-adjustments that could pair well with those gyrostabilizers.” The asymmetric borg merchant offered as we finished up my purchase of the set of three gyrostabilizers.
“No, thank you. I’d like to get used to the gyrostabilizers alone first before additional installations. Could I get your contact details to reach out if I change my mind after I’ve had the chance?” I asked the merchant. I was getting used to the business flow of the conversations, more like running in tandem than actually talking.
“Of course, here is my IRC. I’m a private merchant so there’s no hoops to jump through. I attend most night markets if your looking for me but if there’s something in between markets then feel free to reach out and I’ll see what I can do for you.” He offered with a small bow of his head and a sweeping gesture with his giant right arm which looked like it could tear open a tank, the power demands alone must be huge. How was he even running something like that? What did he eat? Questions for another time.
“I’ll reach out if I find myself enjoying the gyros, the spec sheet was impressive but I’ll need to fit it into my forms. Thank you.” I said with a smile for the seller.
Me and Allie walked away after the last purchase was made, we’d hit up a few different stalls since buying my arms. I’d bought a combat grade cybergut to start with and then Allie had found a lifeline system set at a bargain price, a cyberware that pumped blood and absorbed oxygen from breath all while inside an armored shell. It even had a three pint blood reservoir with a small marrow well that I had to give my B type blood to get the right cloned marrow cartridge installed before sale. That meant I could keep three pints more blood in circulation and thus lose three pints more before losing function in combat.
The last thing bought was the gyrostabilizers that Allie had recommended for torque control. Still didn’t know how useful this was but suddenly being able to right myself from a fall or tumble, or resist a throw without movement was interesting at least.
“I think that’ll do Allie. I’m down to fumes aura wise. No sense scraping around for something worth what little I have left. Are you done shopping on your end? You haven’t been looking around for yourself for a little while now.” I asked as we walked through the less crowded lanes between stalls in the industrial yard slash alleyway area.
“I’ve made a few purchases from some brokers here, mostly done over interface and mostly ordered from abroad. I’d have to be very lucky to find something worth slotting into me at a typical night market and so far tonight that luck hasn’t shown itself. No worries. Do you want to head back?” She asked.
“We can hang out more if you want to but I think I’ve crossed off everything I needed to do here and then some.” I said.
“Let’s head back then. This has been fun though, maybe next time I can take you somewhere a bit more flashy. Or dangerous. Or a mixture of the two. As much as I love shopping, there isn’t quite the sparkle or shatter that I’d prefer at these night markets. Not unless something particularly crazy happens.” Allie said with a bit of a pout.
We headed out along the lanes to the door we’d entered in from. I paid the leaving fee and was given a bunch of contact details about the next night market the controller was holding. Apparently in eight months time. There would be other night markets though in that time, just not run by this particular controller. We walked out across the yard that was treated as a car park to Allie’s white sedan. Kaiser stepped out as we approached.
“Mistress Allison. The car is ready to go at your leisure. This is the list of items that were delivered and their contents. I have scanned them for malicious devices and performed basic security checks on their packaging, they are all clean as far as I can discover. Do you want to look them over yourself?” Kaiser said once he was standing by the driver side door. Assumedly he had sent a list of items to Allie’s interface.
“No Kaiser. That’s fine enough, I trust your skills and tools well enough. Let’s get home.” She said as she stepped around the back of the car and Kaiser opened her door for her. She stepped in, followed by Kaiser into the driver seat. Then my door opened and I slipped into the passenger seat besides Allie.
“Enjoy the little excursion?” Allie asked as the car started up and began to maneuver around to the alley way.
“Yeah, it was fun. New stuff to see, spending time with you was fun as well Allie. I kind of wish I’d made more time for you when I was even younger.” I said with a smile.
“I was boring a few years ago, still dwelling on the past and well shut down. Only been recently, the last year or so, that I’ve opened up a little more. Part of rebooting of course.” She answered.
“Might be a little rude to ask, Allie, but you’ve mentioned the past a few times. So has Marchand. Both of you know each other but don’t get on. Both are in the same district despite having the whole system to be in. What’s going on with you two?” I asked tentatively.