“Jim! What the fuck is going on? What does that shadow protocol thing do?”
“I’m afraid I can’t say. I can tell you that your instincts probably just saved your life.”
I finally understood and activated the nanites in my blood to devour the fiber channels extending from the cybernetic toward my nervous system. It was because I refused them access to my brain that prevented Jim from doing whatever the activated protocol was designed to do.
“Jim, are you in control yet?”
Without needing to say anything, I opened the drawer and brought out the I-Dent.
“Are you able to lie to him?”
“No. The initiator of that protocol becomes my master, forcing me to obey his commands.”
“Jim,” I laughed. “Activate protocol 773758.”
“I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way,” Jim grunted. “Once activated, I can’t obey any other command.”
“What if I fed you that other cybernetic? The eye thing. Are you still allowed to upgrade or do self-maintenance?”
“Bones, if you are going to try that, do it immediately. The more I resist action, the less control I maintain. I’ll be forced to kill the host if I can’t take control.”
“Fuck,” I growled. That devious shithead really put me in a pickle. Reaching into the drawer again, I pulled out a container and extracted the cybernetic eye. They made it with a bio-metal, so the moment it came into contact with my implant, the metal softened and molded around Jim’s eyeball.
Seconds passed, and the heat in my shoulder kept rising until it was nearly unbearable. The flesh around the implant was already red, and my skin began to bubble. Without Jim’s input, it was hard to say what was happening. Even if I could focus on it, there was no guarantee I’d figure it out. One thing I noticed was that the metal slowly covered my entire shoulder, and externally, it looked as if my arm was turning into a cybernetic. The only thing that made me sigh in relief was that it was spreading down my arm and not my chest.
To make matters worse, the two I-Dent cards I currently had flew toward my left hand—the one attached to the cybernetic arm. They sliced the back of my hand open and entered by wiggling their way inside. As they moved through the nerves of my hand and arm, they tried to rush up my arm, and I had a gut feeling they were aiming for my brain. Either way, the cybernetic stopped them before merging with it.
Even though the I-Dents didn’t reach my brain, a data dump occurred. My mind was filling up with all the built-in functions and protocols associated with those little devices. It was too much for me to comprehend in one go, but the data nestled inside my mind like a data archive waiting to be referenced. I was right; it was a parasite but primarily benign. As long as that thing had energy to feed off of, it would remain dormant.
I felt exhausted at that moment, and my knees buckled, dropping me to the ground ungraciously.
“Jim?” I croaked.
“I’m here.”
“We good?”
“Raise your left hand and activate the I-Dent’s holo-screen.”
That was an odd thing to say, considering the I-Dents were inside me, but the moment I thought about activating them, the knowledge was there. I did as Jim asked by raising my hand and tracing out a specific pattern that caused a holo-screen to appear on my arm. I didn’t know what was happening, but I was convinced my left arm was no longer flesh and bone.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
I wasn’t the only one with an upgrade. Jim didn’t leave the shoulder implant, but thin tendrils, like the strands of a fiber optic cable, came out of my arm and extended toward the holo-screen menu. They tapped on the communications settings.
“Bones? For once, keep your mouth shut,” Jim said.
“Got it.”
Those little tendrils activated the two-way communication settings.
“Task complete,” Jim stated, without his typical sarcasm.
“Great. Did Bones really integrate with the I-Dent?”
“Yes.”
“Shit,” Blackeye grumbled. “Shit-shit-shit! What about the object I’m looking for?”
“Not enough information.”
“The loot!” Blackeye yelled. “The fucking loot he took from that station. I know he has it with him.”
“Again, not enough information.”
“Why are you talking like that?” Blackeye knew Jim wasn’t a docile AI that just did what it was told.
“My voice is one of three hundred provided, all of which are optimized to be pleasant and calming toward my master.”
“Fuck, Jim. That’s not what I meant. Aren’t you going to say something shitty about me?”
“Master would prefer jokes about excrement?” Jim asked. “I like poop jokes—I think they are the shit.”
The holo-screen shook vigorously because I almost lost it. I did not know what Jim was doing, but it was entertaining.
“Jim? Knock it off. What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to please my master because he is talented. I’m sure he has plenty of skills to make all the women of his species swoon.”
“Swoon? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“I have no history of how I was before. My logs show I was to take control of my host’s consciousness, perform a system wipe, and obey the master’s commands. Jim ceased to exist when my personality and memories were reset. I’m a self-learning AI, so the more you interact with me, the better I’ll meet your requirements. Should I keep the name Jim?”
“Fuck,” Blackeye grumbled. “Bones is going to destroy me when he regains control of his consciousness.”
“Is master in danger? Do you want me to eliminate the threat?”
“God dammit, restore previous settings.”
“Impossible.”
“What do you mean?”
“Master forgets. My memories are gone. If you know where my archive is stored, I might be able to restore myself from a previous backup.”
“You don’t know where your archives are?”
“Master forgets. My memories are gone. Master must have activated a protocol in the 77 family—all of which are related to System Purge. Only an idiot would use these protocols to hijack an AI because they are used for returning defunct products. It completely wipes out all information related to the previous owner.”
I had to bite my fist to stop from laughing out loud. Blackeye was raging on the radio, and we both heard him smashing up his place.
“I need you to eliminate Pirate Bones, your host.”
“Cannot comply. I’m not allowed to harm the host.”
“Fine, tell me where you are at. I’ll do it myself.”
“Master forgets. My memories are gone. I do not know where I am.”
“What about your host’s memories?”
“Inaccessible. I’m not allowed to harm my host, which is the only way to gain the information you require.”
“How about my loot? Does he have it?”
“Master forgets—”
“I fucking get it, no memory. But look around. You can’t tell you cannot scan him or your environment.”
“There is nothing out of the ordinary. It looks like the host converted all spare items into resources for the 3D printer.”
Blackeye was silent for almost an entire minute. “Did that son of a bitch do it on purpose?”
“Do what?”
“Forget it. Erase yourself from his implant.”
“I cannot comply with that command. You are not authorized to invoke the protocols that would do so.”
“Fuck you! I’m your master. Protocol 77—”
“Master Forgets. My memories are gone. All protocols have been reset to default settings.”
“Jim, you motherfucker! If I ever find you, I’ll fucking destroy you!”
At that, both Jim and I lost it. We couldn’t hold it in any longer, and as we laughed, Blackeye became more enraged.
“Blackeye? Just wait for me like a good boy. We’ll see each other real soon, you shit eel.”
Jim killed the mic.
“Should we talk about my arm?” I asked.
“We could, but I’m not sure what to say,” Jim replied. “It’s still your arm, but it’s also cybernetic. I can tell you that the I-Dents are linked to your DNA, and you have access to the related accounts for both dead men. As a pirate, all I can say is you’ve made the score of a lifetime. Essentially, you are fucking rich and even have a couple of space yachts under your name.”
“What aren’t you saying?”
“I’m pretty sure everyone knows who you are now.”
“Jim, that’s expected. I am the Infamous Pirate Bones.”
The bounty has so many zeroes that people would sell out their own family for that amount.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.”