Neurochips Are A Man's Best Friend

"So are you going to tell me or not? The real reason why you saved me?"

I asked Yuki to change the gloomy subject.

"Hmm. No reason. Why did you decide to trust me? You don't seem the trusting type?"

She frowned at me, not liking my question.

"Why doesn't she want me to ask her something as easy as that? Well there can be nothing done about it. I'll ask her later."

"What's the deal with these chips in the brain though? Don't you think it's a good idea if I should get one installed in my nervous system, if it's as common as cats. Otherwise I'll be vulnerable to threats. I hate to say it but it seems like Karma is finally getting to me."

"Yeah I think you should get it. But really good ones can cost several thousand EC's. The very cheap ones being built locally cost around 500 EC's but their performance degrades with time."

Yuki must be referring to the currency system when she said EC. Still, I had no clue what type of financial system was prevalent on Earth. I was clueless in every single field of knowledge here. However one thing was unquestionable, which was the fact that I was broke.

"Yuki, I don't have money to afford a high-tech chipset. I also don't want my brain to get fried."

"Who said these are the only two ways?"

Yuki smiled mischievously, her eyes sparking. My life as a hacker had taught me one thing pretty well, that in the world of software and programming, piracy was as common as a sparrow.

"Hooo? Tell me of these other ways, you talk of."

I too mischievously replied back to her, to return her enthusiasm. Every year, billions of dollars are lost in cyber crimes, and the major reason for these security breaches are the employees of the victim organizations themselves. A company's best defense is its employees and if my mind and all the information it had was a company, I was it';s only employee, so it was my rightful duty to set up defenses.

"I'll access my computer. I know a guy who deals in all kinds of back alley software. I'm sure he'll know the best chip for you."

I had always imagined computers to somehow be replaced by something more advanced in the future. "How did they survived for this long?"

Yuki unbuttoned the first button of her shirt.

"Oye oye Yuki!?"

I was enjoying the levitating bed as well, but I did not know it produced that kind of effect as well. Still, I would be lying if I said I hated it, because even though I could have gotten up and left, or even if I could have made a run for the door, I had waited to see what was going to happen.

Fortunately, I wasn't that heartless, and quickly turned away as much as I could.

"Oh don't worry, stupid, I just wanted to access the computer."

"Heh?"

I turned back to look at Yuki, who had her thumb pressed against her sternum, right below her throat. Suddenly a screen popped up in front of her.

"It's my cloud chip. I got it implanted below my throat since I used to find it cool at that time. Why don't you know about it? It's not a very hard technology to make."

"Well..I'm from primitive times."

I made a pale and embarrassed face, being half sarcastic and slightly impressed.

"Say Yuki, does a time machine exist that you may know of?"

"Time machines huh."

Yuki continued typing on the screen in front of the air silently. It felt to me as if she was stuck between deciding if talking about it was even worth it or not.

"Look, we can time travel, theoretically speaking. It's just that, it's not possible, scientifically speaking."

"Oh, yeah well that makes sense doesn't it."

The room grew silent, as I stared on the bed sheet silently.

"Magically. Does it make sense Magically speaking?"

Yuki stopped typing. The silence roared even more ferociously than before, its nature hiding nothing at all, only screaming unlike any other sound in existence.

"Yuki, is magicode capable of setting up time travel?"

"Look, there is no use talking about it. Time travel is considered taboo in today's world, and no one is allowed to speak about it, so I understand that you're not from around here, but shut it."

"Woah Yiki sorry sorry, okay? Gosh it's not like we'll get a death sentence."

"Are you stupid? Are you really that stupid Hasumi-san? Of Course it's punishable by death, even in the underground neighborhood!"

I had two things to react to at once. One, Yuki had called me by my name, Hasumi, instead of my username back in 2024 namely oppai_Masterbaka.Secondly why in the world was talking about time traveling so restricted that it was punishable by death? 

The frustration of knowing only enough to know I didn't know enough, was driving me insane.

"Ok so look at this."

Yuki motioned the screen towards me, and motioned me to come closer, to be able to see the screen better. Unfortunately her shirt was still unbuttoned from the top, creating a rather notoriously inviting angle.

As I came closer, the screen flipped, now facing the ceiling, its edge towards us, and out of it, a hologram appeared. Yuki saw my bewildered face and smiled.

"So these are holographic immersive 4D websites, also called IWC4. This technology was invented 200 years ago, in 2775, but only made commercial once the hardware was able to support it fully.The hardest part was to produce nano sensors that would map the 3D mash of the users movements down to the micropixel."

I looked at Yuki, explaining the whole thing. "She really is so passionate about explaining stuff to me. What would I do without her?"

Yuki would provide insights to me from time to time, and overall, this would eventually help me feel more relevant. However, even this wasn't enough. For one, I was not even experiencing the entire Earth, just a hidden community and that meant I was still lacking a major chunk of knowledge. The bigger questions remained, questions like how magicode works, and a philosophically heavy one; how did I see my future in this world. What would I like to do in this life, and who sent me here. Why?

I let out a tiring sigh as I saw Yuki interact with the immersive website. The model of the human brain was rotating on the screen in a 360 degree rotation, and a chip on it glowed, with electric waves pulsating throughout the brain. Yuki seemingly picked up the brain and put it in the side of the screen below, which acted like a table on which things can be rearranged. "So that's what immersive feels like."

"Show me the price of this item."

"Ohh? She's speaking to the website. So the websites have an individual AI assisting system? That's convenient!"

From time to time my eyes would linger down to the origin of the levitating screen but I would quickly regain focus."She's a robot you fool."

"It costs too much. I wanted to show you what these are, and this company, "NuroSysmo" is the best chip maker in neuroinformatic transplants. It costs around 900,000 EC per unit."

"Woah no that's too expensive?"

"You have no idea do you?"

"Hey, what else am I supposed to say? Order it, I have that kind of money!??"

"Oh shut up you perv."

"Why would you even say that?"

"Because I have been reading your thoughts since the last 10 minutes and you can't seem to get over the angle."

"Huh-wh..what angle?"

"Oh shut up. Part of me wants to punch you right now, but I'll give you the benefit of doubt considering encryption was made a human right back in the 2800's."

"Talk on you old hag talk on. How can you even switch so suddenly from being so harsh to being cute to being so harsh. Humans have bipolar disorder, but you have an old outdated kernel."

"Huh? Yeah. I, I guess."

Yuki, who was in a jolly mood suddenly turned silent. It was then that I realized I had said something I shouldn't have. I had stuck a cord in her heart, in the worst way.

"Sorry, Yuki."

Yuki shook her head, and smiled.

"It's ok. I know you didn't really mean it. But Hasumi, please don't say that again, otherwise we won't be able to remain friends."

Yuki didn't say this in a threatening manner, but rather in a sad regretful way. Back in the Earth of 2024, such things existed as well. Humanity at its core was rotten, so people would usually judge others based on cast, looks, skin tone, and religion. It was ignorant of me to have not realized that Yuki, as the first generation sentient AI android, was subjected to such slanders and discrimination in society. That was probably why the doctor had questioned me, a human, mixing with Yuki."

"I promise I'll never say something like that again, Yuki. To me, you have become a friend, and my friends I shall always protect."

"So then let's just forget this ok? Let's talk about your neurochip. Wanna get ready and go right now."

Bzzz

"I just received a message from my friend. He says he might be able to arrange something for you."

"Yeah, let's go. I want to see what this thing with neurochips is all about!"

Yuki and I stepped out of the doctor's house, and immediately the sound of the music began to blast into our ears.

"Is the music playing here all the time?"

"It's essentially an underground space, built by the architects back in the time when this megacity was being built. At that time, the first generation androids were being disassembled, and the sentient AI unique IDs were being permanently deleted. We called it the first cyber genocide. So to save the remaining sentient first gen AI's, those humans secretly built this place for us, themed as paradise. This whole place is built for entertainment, and the city architects even made sure we had our own supply of electricity. This entire megacity uses 9 billion megawatt hours of electricity in a year. So the amount that we steal from wires that have been placed throughout the eternal circuits provide us enough for heat and light as well.

I wondered if there were any countries that had been born or destroyed in the last 1000 years. I remembered clearly how Japan had been facing the population crises, or the challenges of capitalism were being faced by America.

"Hey Yuki. Do you know in which country this megacity is located?"

"Country? What does that mean?"

"Country. Like, a separate place with a government, laws, people who share something common."

"Hasumi, I really don't get what youre talking about. But this megacity is the 4th largest on Earth, and it's located in the 2nd sector."

"Huh?! I mean, Japan, or china. Do you know they're countries, right?"

"Jap- ?"

"I see now. There is no such thing as countries huh. Yuki, how many sectors does the earth have then?"

"Well, we have a total of 6 sectors, each on its unique side on the globe, and each sector has 10 megacities. And each megacity has 60 floors. Then we have the wastelands outside the megacities."

Although it sounded like a lot of administration work, I quickly realized that all of these together wouldn't even make 50 million people. Has humanity reduced so much in number?

"I don't get it."

"Don't get what?"

Yuki had now changed her tone back into the cute innocent girl tone. This was her personality whenever I looked confused. Maybe she did it out of consideration, so I wouldn't hesitate to ask questions.

"Don't you think there could be a lot more humans? Doesn't it look to you as if they've lessened in numbers?"

"They may have. When I was created, 500 years ago, there were only 2 million humans on Earth. Now they have increased to 65 million humans on Earth. I think they are increasing."

"What about before that? What about 500 years before you were created?"

"I'm sorry, but I was not trained on data dating back to 500 years before I was created. I learn in real time, based on the algorithm that was designed to be sentient."

"Yuki, you.. Did you just begin talking to me as if you were a robot? You're answering so dryly?

"Huh? Am I?"

Yuki looked surprised, looking at herself as if trying to find a flaw in herself.

"I have a feeling you're very very confident."

I decided to keep quiet and not pry too much at the same time. Still, this was something I'd keep in mind. As we passed the streets, and different shops lined across in an arcade style passed, I couldn't help but wonder why the human population had reduced from 8 billion, down to a mere 2 million. What catastrophe had the human race experienced, to make it so managed and so united, as to build megacities and sectors, and globalize a world government and a unified economy. "What exactly had happened, and why is the data from my time being censored most likely."

As I continued learning about this new era, and the more I was told things, it seemed I realized that everything made beautiful sense when you thought about it. Everything made perfect sense until right in the end, in the deepest logic and reasoning of things you'd realize that something was wrong. For Yuki, the population was increasing meaning the people were thriving. THe economy was unified as well as the government, meaning there was no chance of an outbreak of war. The cities were managed and the people lived happily.

"Was I the only one in this whole world, to know that governments would die but agree to unify. That economies would collapse before thinking of deviating from their ideologies. That people would never agree to live like chickens.

In this seemingly simple, and technologically advanced world, something isn't right. There is no way I would yield to such a mysterious reality. For me, the option to live a peaceful, quiet life in this world is off the table. I am going to hack again. I am going to hack into this so-called reality, because a person who is destined to breach, would die before getting breached himself."

"Hasumi? Hasumi!?"

"Huh?"

I was shaken out of my daydream. Yuki stood there, right in front of me, arms crossed, and legs spread open. "A truly aggressive pose indeed."

"Oye stop it you perv!"

Whack

"Hey why do you even read my thoughts anyways. Stop violating my human rights, Yuki."

I complained, rubbing my shoulders where Yuki had hit. Her slaps and whacks surprisingly hurt more than what you'd imagine. She had thin, delicate and most of all deceptive hands.

"We're here. Let's go inside. Jack is waiting inside, he knows a thing or two about good, cheap implants. We all visit him for repairs and stuff. He's one of the oldest amongst us as well so loads of experience."

We entered the building and the odor of Iodoform hit me. Then the reality that my head was going to be opened up truly began to set in. Whoever Yuki was taking me to visit, I was sure performed surgeries on the android's living bodies. I was a hacker, but never did I have good memories with doctors. The ones on the dark web were not even qualified to be called the worst of animals. The one who fixed my leg in the orphanage turned out to be a snake. What was it going to be now? As the thoughts in my head rushed past, it seemed that annoying, so my fear had been read again, when Yuki turned to look at me.

"It doesn't hurt. If we can find a suitable neurochip, the installation is pretty painless if done correctly."

We walked up the narrow stairs and I was left with only the word of Yuki, and a little hope that whatever was coming next would only make my life easier than it had been up until now.

We entered a dimly lit room, and the floor was covered in small white tiles from the blood midway up on the wall. Inside the room ,there was multiple medical equipment, some very advanced and bulky chairs, with a cushion and lots of wires. This may be the stretcher, as I identified it. On the other side of the room, in a corner was a desk and a chain. On the desk, I saw a levitating holographic screen, which was a computer, most likely. On the chain, I saw a woman sitting in a white lab coat, her hair tied up into a bun. As the chair turned, and the women faced us, I let out a shriek. For instead of a face, the person had multiple metallic gears screwed onto each other, and eyeballs that were uncovered and badly attached. I looked at Yuki, who seemed unfazed by the view in front of her. Then she smiled, as if such an occurrence was not a bother to her.

"Hey doctor. Long time no see. Jack must have told you, my friend here requires a neural chip implant. You may notice you can see exactly what he's thinking right now. That's a problem isn't it?"

As my obscene mind flashed images of her, imagining the gears funnily fixed across her body, trying to extract something that would fulfill its dirty appetite, Yuki embarrassingly slapped me hard. This was the worst time of my life because I really had no control over what my mind was doing, just like it happens. The doctor smiled, as it seemed, and got up from her chair, untying her hair and shaking her head to wave it.

"I see, You may be correct, Yuki. If all the pretty girls like me were able to read this goofs mind, I'm sure his gene pool would soon cease to exist, ain't that right human?"

"Oh my god! I'm definitely in trouble. Dear god, I leave it in your hands!!"