“[…] As you begin navigating the work space assigned to you, it is important to keep in mind the proper spaces for socialization (e.g., social rooms). One is always available on every floor and is accessible after a training period is concluded. The hours in which such space is open differ across departments and are to be obeyed.
Outside such spaces, the conversation between yourself and your coworkers must be limited to the topics regarding the current projects, assigned tasks or other company-related matters.
Disregard of this rule will be met with a strike upon an employee's record and any future socialization with have to occur with an observer present. […]”
— Excerpt from a handbook for junior employees at [REDACTED] corporation, the year [REDACTED].
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“Hi.” Rin greeted Cece without her usual attitude. She seemed more subdued, calmer or perhaps regretful. I wasn’t sure why I thought that. Maybe it was due to the way she was holding Gabriel’s hand, how her eyes seemed pointed to the ground or something entirely different gave me that impression.
The same could not be said about the blue-haired woman.
“Rin.” A nod and then a turn. With Cece’s back to us, it looked like she was not interested in conversation with Rin. Or with Gabriel and me. Maybe I’d be able to talk to Cece some more about what happened between them. I was curious what one had to do to make Cece of all people treat someone this coldly.
I looked at the pair that stepped tentatively in my direction and I started to walk towards the backroom.
“Let’s go.” I said and the two followed. Meanwhile, I took a good couple of seconds to assess Gabriel’s state.
He didn’t look worse than the last time I saw him so perhaps Rin did not drag him here by force. The neutronium signature also appeared to be the same as before. Laborious but working. His walking was slow and measured so perhaps some functionality has been limited when it came to movement.
It would come back in time, though, after the fracture got mended.
As I opened and closed the doors to the ‘Employees Only’ space, Rin grabbed me forcefully by the left arm and yanked me towards her. She attempted to would actually be more accurate.
I felt the force of her grip and turned by my own volition. What greeted me was a face twisted in anger. Such a view was getting tiresome.
“What is it, Rin?” I asked as she looked at me in silence. Although, inaudible to human ears, I could hear a grating sound of enamel being crushed under an enormous force; but also see how tight her jaw was clenched and tendons were showing themselves on her neck.
She was furious.
“Explain this! What the fuck is going on?” The words rapidly exploded out of her mouth and I wished I could pry her hand off my arm.
“I found help for Gabriel. Do you know Lyric?” I looked at the blond-man who seemed almost as confused as I was at Rin’s strong reaction.
“Yeah.” Her grip relaxed but the tension was still there.
“What is it, Rin?” Gabriel asked.
The short woman glanced at him and back at me, and after a brief pause in which I think she was deliberating something, her head shook from right to left as a sigh of aggravation left her with a resounding sharpness.
“Never mind that. I see what you did there.” She said to me and turned towards Gabriel. “Lyric’s a cybertech. Pretty good too. They can be somehow trusted.”
Instead of simply letting go of my hand, she attempted to push it away, which wasn’t that successful.
“Really?” Gabriel was surprised. “That was fast. Finding someone I mean.”
We started to move once again in the direction of the stairs. I also sent Lyric a message that they could come up to the designated room soon.
“I’ve recently been acquainted with them. As they needed someone for a specific type of job, I requested their help with your injury in exchange.” I’ve explained.
We turned and started to walk up the stairs.
“Oh.” Came out of Gabriel. “Do I need to pay you then? I don’t have much I’m afraid.” I glanced at the blond man. His hair was frazzled, his clothes dirty and a new look of something darker made itself home behind his eyes.
I thought about what he asked me. It wouldn’t be prudent to take any money from him. Especially considering that he needed it for his cause and if I did demand a monetary payment, I’d be afraid that it would push him even more into the danger’s maw.
But perhaps there was a something different what I could ask of him. Something not only beneficial to me, but for him as well.
“No need to pay me. But I would like it if you’d never fight at that place again.” Silence followed.
I looked at him once more as we came upon the right floor and saw a conflicted expression.
“If you continue, you are going to die.” We stopped in the middle of the corridor and I stared at him pointedly. “Do you understand that?” Perhaps Gabriel’s injuries were not severe enough to make him realize what death actually meant.
As his silence continued, with eyes cast down to the ground, I decided that if his emotional response circuits were really that close to a human then perhaps another approach would work.
“You won’t be able to help your friend if you die. His name was Ember, wasn’t it?” His eyes jumped to mine and I saw him swallow. What a strangely human response.
“Okay then.” Gabriel whispered out. “Fine. I won’t.” I wanted to believe him and perhaps he was honest. Or perhaps he didn't know yet that what he uttered was going to be truthful.
I wondered if this need to help him was selfish. Maybe in part as I wanted him to continue existing in my orbit. There was no guarantee I would meet another SSU anytime soon and Gabriel was nice and kind. Shouldn’t I surround myself with people like that?
Rin surprised me yet again with a complicated look. It was still full of this strange anger that perhaps was a fundamental part of her, but there was something new there as well. Something that I saw directed only at Gabriel before. Gentleness, perhaps, and FERS said gratitude.
Rin knew about what Gabriel was up to and looking at how much she cared about this man, it wasn’t surprising she wasn’t a fan of what led to this situation.
“I know we talked about this, Gabby, but perhaps we can do it my way then? I told you the fighting was unnecessary.” She whispered to him and grabbed his arm with both of hers.
There seemed to be more to this problem and Rin knew that.
I saw Gabriel nod and turn when he heard someone coming up the stairs.
“Oh! Hi, Rin!” Lyric greeted the shorter woman and then turned to Gabriel as they came closer. “Is that my patient? Hi, I’m Lyric.” They rushed at him with an outstretched hand. In another, they held a case with what appeared to be tools of some kind.
“H-hi. Yeah, I’m Gabriel.” He tentatively reached for their hand and I worried that he would change his mind. He did say that he wasn’t enthusiastic about anyone operating on him. I wondered if there ever was a need for a procedure like that in his existence.
“Let’s go in.” I said and came to the entrance of the room. “Gabriel, have you ever had such an invasive procedure?” I asked as we stepped inside.
The room was spacious, with an entrance to the right that seemed to lead to the bedroom. That could be a fitting space to do it.
“Um, no. I don’t think so.” He exclaimed as Lyric rushed towards the room to the right. It would seem they had a similar idea.
“Is it bad? Have you ever had something like this happen to you?” He turned to me and asked with a creeping anxiety based on the minor fluctuations in his core.
“Yes, a few times. It’s easy enough to do and relatively quick. The real bother is waiting afterward for the supermaterial to gain the right structure.”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“What does that mean?” He watched as Rin came closer to the bedroom and started watching intently what Lyric was doing.
“It means you will have to wait a couple of hours for it to harden, I suppose could be a right word. It needs air to do that so Lyric should leave a small passage to the fracture for it to happen. You’ll have to override the self-mending a bit, but it’s easy enough to do on such a small scale. Then, after that, you just let it stitch back together.” I explained as best as I could, but it didn’t seem to relax Gabriel one bit.
“Can you stay for it?” He asked as he glanced at Lyric. They seemed to be preparing the necessary tools.
Instead of answering yes right away, I considered.
“I can stay for the procedure. I’m sure you’ll be able to remain in this room until you’re ready to go. Rin can stay with you, I think.”
“That works.” He turned to Rin and back to me. “Thank you for this. And s–sorry for thinking you told on me to Moose. I don’t think you did.”
I nodded and said, “I understand why you thought that.” And I did. The fact that it made me irritated at him was a small thing in comparison to my desire to help him.
I wondered if the fracture affected his cognitive functions. The stutter was a very significant feature of human speech. It made me really curious about what Gabriel’s model was.
“Ready!” Lyric exclaimed from the bedroom.
“Come on.” I walked Gabriel to the room and he laid down reluctantly on the bed.
“So, you’re still not gonna tell me your model? What’s your name? Gabriel?” They opened the case they brought and I noticed numerous switches, a small screen and a lot of precision tools. It looked like a properly stacked case for a field cybertech.
“Yeah, it’s Gabriel and I’d rather keep the model to myself.” The reluctance to share it was strange as I would be able to find it with a more throughout scan of his body, but the thought of doing that made my core buzz in protest.
“Suit yourself then, but I think I know. Is that it?” I sensed an electrical impulse from Lyric and Gabriel’s eyes widened in what, I thought, was embarrassment and discomfort both.
“Yeah.” He reluctantly responded.
“Great! That means it’s gonna be easy. Just take off your shirt and I can start.” Lyric said and Gabriel looked from them to myself and Rin.
“Umm, I feel a bit uncomfortable. With you two standing over me like that.”
At that, Rin scoffed and went to the right corner of the room from the entrance. It made her not see Gabriel that well since the bed was in the middle and Lyric seated themselves on a chair on the right side of the bed.
“That better?” She asked and Gabriel nodded.
I situated myself on the corner opposite to Rin’s and that seemed to satisfy Gabriel as he took off his shirt.
His deformations looked much better than before and I was glad that Rin helped me with them. If he were to regain his usual physical condition, Rin would need to help him with some of the more severe ones.
“Let’s start then!” With that, the procedure began.
I was a bit skeptical at first about Lyric’s skill when it came to something like this, but was pleasantly surprised at their steady hand, knowledge about the more intricate parts of synthoid’s build and their prompts to Gabriel regarding numbing specific parts of his body.
Gabriel seemed to also handle it well enough, as I didn’t see him flinch a lot at Lyric’s touch which was more clinical than I thought them capable of. Their excitement about ‘digging into a synthoid’, and the proposition they made me when I first met them, made them look to be more unserious and laid-back than it appeared. The fact that they handled Gabriel with caution and care, but also that they did actually ask him his name, made them come off as someone who was respectful of synthoids.
Perhaps it was a good decision to come to them, disregarding the price.
I had no knowledge about civilian cyberware technicians, but if they were anything like the combat ones, I wouldn’t like them to do this procedure. And Lyric was turning out to be the opposite of that.
The first time such a fracture happened to me, the field cybertech cut to the source of the seepage without any additional commands as to numbing a specific area of my body. Therefore, I felt every cut, incision, and movement through my abdomen. It wasn’t painful, as synthoids weren’t designed to feel pain, but it was deeply uncomfortable because, in the end, we were made to at least think a little bit like humans. And what human liked being operated on?
In the end, the procedure was swift. The amount of supermaterial Lyric brought with them turned out to be more than enough and in a time of under an hour, Gabriel’s seepage was stopped.
Now, the last part was to wait. Gabriel’s diagnostics should inform him of when it would be safe enough to close a small opening Lyric left, which was no larger than the tip of my finger. Meaning that Gabriel was able to move well enough around the room.
I left him with Rin and went down with Lyric to the basement as I still needed to talk to Dawid about the GUF job.
As both of us stepped inside the massive open space, I heard Jane talking with Dawid. The conversation didn’t seem to be about anything that I understood out of context and I decided that I might as well go to them now.
“Thank you for your help.” I said to Lyric as they started to walk back to their station. As they turned a small smirk lifted their lips.
“Sure. It’s not like I did it for free.” With a small laugh, they turned and left me.
Upon entrance to Dawid’s office, the voices stopped and Jane turned to me with an energetic smile.
“Sup, Rend. Heard you gonna help us on a job.” She then came next to me and tapped my left shoulder in a gesture that seemed to show some sort of camaraderie.
This Jane was much different than the one I met the first and second time. Perhaps the knowledge of what I was about to do for her organization brought some liveliness to her usual apathetic expression. Or maybe she simply felt excited about the idea of infiltrating and sabotaging massive corporations? Definitely possible as humans had all sorts of different hobbies and things which could bring them pleasure.
Although, this one seemed like an outlier.
“I would say I’m going to do the job rather than help as I summarized I’d be going in there alone.”
“I mean, I suppose.” She then turned to Dawid who was sitting behind his desk.
Then he looked at me and said, “Ready to talk about it?”
Jane then sat down on one of the crates and I did the same to one available near her.
“Ready.” I said and realized that this might take a while.
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After a long and detailed conversation between Dawid, Jane and me, I went up to visit Cece who apparently got off early from today’s shift.
The brainstorming and planning was very agonizing as it was clear to me that both of the people I was conversing with had never done any type of military job of this type. The usual rules of infiltration seemed to fly over their heads and some of the suggestions I heard sounded bizarre and idiotic.
In the end, I had to stress the fact that I have done similar things before and letting me decide on the best approach was the safest way to go about it. But even then, Dawid demanded that I explain everything I was going to do in detail. Jane didn’t protest, but that wasn’t surprising.
Both of them bordered on obsessed when it came to this mission. Meaning, that as I suspected, this plan was in development for a good while and it was very important to whatever the bigger objective of Blackwire was.
I archived all of that for further review some other time, as we agreed that the best day to go through with this mission would be in four days’ time.
Now, I felt like doing something less strenuous on my processes handling module.
I knocked twice on doors to Cece’s room and heard this,
“Who is it?”
“Rend.” With a louder than usual voice I responded and after a couple of seconds, Cece’s smiling face assaulted my vision.
“Come in! Come in!” She repeated as I stepped inside. “I was making some food. Come sit at the table.” She gestured to one set against a wall near a small kitchen corner.
As I followed Cece’s lithe silhouette, smells of many different kinds registered in my senses.
When I sat down, she asked, “How did it go? With your friend?”
And I told her. How Lyric skillfully closed the fracture, how Rin was there through it all and then I vaguely mentioned the conversation I just had.
As I spoke, Cece was moving gracefully through the kitchen space, stirring something in a pot, chopping vegetables with a sure hand and straining pasta in the sink. All of it looked as if she had done it a thousand times before and perhaps she did. Humans needed to eat.
After I watched her for a good while, I realized that I’ve never seen somebody cook. Surprising, since it was such a mundane thing for most.
When the conversation lulled, questions that have been nagging at me for a while bloomed with a new force in the forefront of my mind. I could see that Cece was relaxed and grew comfortable enough with me to ask her some questions. Starting with this one,
“What do you do here? At the nightclub?” At that, she glanced at me through the rising steam that seemed to envelop her whole in a ethereal haze.
“Well, sometimes I’m a bartender and other times I dance.” Perhaps my question were not specific enough.
“Are you perhaps a manager? You’ve asked a bouncer to let Rin and Gabriel through before.”
Cece bit her lip and kept her focus on a pan when she was frying some type of meat.
“I suppose you could say that.” After a small pause she then added, “Technically I own this place.”
Well, that was a bit surprising, but also strangely not.
I did speculate that Cece had some wealth based on the interior of her room, but to hear she owned it? I didn’t expect it to be this level of affluence.
“What do you mean technically?” Maybe there was more to this, and I was terribly curious. Plus the fact that Cece looked flustered made me somehow want to know even more.
“Were you always this inquisitive?” She shot at me with a quick look and went back to her task at the stove. I didn’t sense that she was displeased. “I meant that it’s in my name, but it’s my parents that brought it. They have a couple of things like this. Businesses, I mean.”
“I see.” I wasn’t sure how popular such things as what Cece described were. What I knew, though, was that most people in Nova York did not have that much money. It was very visible in the places I visited. Rin’s neighborhood, the area around the HQ and some other places I got the glimpse of when I first got here.
Then, I decided that I might as well ask one more question that remained without a clear answer.
“And what do you do for Blackwire?”
Cece raised a spoon she was using in one of the pots to her lips. She was tasting something red that had the distinctive aroma of tomatoes. I wondered how common was fresh produce in a city like Nova York. There wasn’t that much farmland around. None in the middle of the city for sure.
“I guess I’m a sponsor?” She put the spoon back into a pot and turned to me, “But I help too, y’know. Not as much as I’d like but Janey is stubborn like that. She doesn’t want me out there.” She gestured widely and I took it meant other areas of Nova York.
I could understand Jane’s sentiment. I wouldn’t like Cece out much either. She was much safer here than in the middle of the GUF HQ for example.
We talked some more and then I left by a taxi. I did promise Tony to take one more shift after all.