Chapter 8: First Cybernetic Implants

The implants lab was an active business, available to all the employees of – what was the name of this company, anyway? Megan looked down at her ID badge to see the name of it: Codex Biomedical. Okay. Anyway, the lab was available to all employees. Which meant it was a store, which meant she could get rid of all the extra loot in her storage.

She almost kept some of it, just in case. What if she could dismantle it? What if she could use her Jury-rig skill on some of it? But in the end, she decided it didn’t matter all that much. There would be more loot if she wanted to go looking for it.

So she sold one stun gun, five of the Gorka-9s, and all but one of the Gorka-2 sidearms. She also sold all of the violent radical armor sets. None of it got her all that much money, but it added up to another 1200, bringing her total digital coins to 6200. Which may or may not be a fortune.

She looked at a catalogue that went through the possible implants. It was an impressive list. There were three main types of cybernetics: additions, replacements, and mergers. Additions were things like the skill shard slots or a matrix runner connection port, but it was also additional limbs. Replacements were things like cybernetic eyes or even replacement legs. And mergers were when the cybernetic part merged with the organic, making it just better and stronger.

The coupon she had was only good for a replacement type cybernetic, but she had enough money to get something else. First, though, the replacement.

She opted to replace her eyes, as the eye replacements all had multiple slots for bonuses. When she selected the eye replacement, the catalogue informed her that she was qualified for the Codex-Alpha grade eyes, which came with four upgrade slots. The ones that she had been looking at only had two. That must be the added reward from the quest.

Once that was chosen, she decided to add additional data slots to her shard access, essentially surrendering the one that was taken up by the extra class shard and buying two more she could use instead. Those slots were two thousand digital coins each. She saw that she could in theory have as many as five slots. But the fourth slot would cost five thousand and the fifth slot would cost fifteen.

Then she went and sat down in a small exam room, on the comfortable chair. A doctor soon came in and joined her. “I see you’ve opted for the eyes,” he said. “Excellent choice. The initial replacement is all that your coupon covers, I’m afraid.”

“What do the eyes do on their own?”

“They allow you to see,” he said, smiling at his joke.

She was not amused. “I happen to have two sets of lenses. Could I still use them?”

“No, but I can transfer them into the eyes, giving you the effects of both, if you like. For, say, twenty-five hundred I could even combine them so they only take up one of your slots.”

Megan looked at him. She didn’t have that much left. She’d have to forgo one of the slots. “I can’t afford that,” she said. Then she took a breath and tried something. “But I could give you two thousand.”

“I can’t do two thousand,” he said, shaking his head. “But I could probably come down to twenty-four hundred, so long as you don’t tell my boss. I heard what you did; I’m willing to give you my discount.”

Still more than she had. “I could give you two thousand and, um, a dose of medical nano?”

“Ten doses?”

“Five?”

He nodded. “Done.”

It depleted her supply, but not completely. She still had another 10 doses, after all she’d taken from the other people during the quest. She was also left with 200 digital coins. But it gave her a lot.

-Codex-Alpha cybereyes. Scanning 3/10. Visual recording up to 1 hour. 3 upgrade slots.

-Chip slot expansion. 1/3 slots filled.

-Skill gained: Barter 1/25.

She slotted in the two skill shards she had, providing her with the skills for free. A notification in her vision informed her that they were available.

It felt strange having the cybernetic eyes, in that it didn’t feel odd. They felt like her eyes. She expected them to be somehow cold, to feel foreign. But there was none of that. They were just her eyes, but better.

She took the elevator to the ground floor and started heading outside, wanting to take some time to enjoy her afternoon off. It wasn’t often she was given extra time off, and she intended to take advantage of it.

She didn’t have enough money to do anything too wild, but she could at least get something to eat. Maybe a drink. Shouldn’t be hard to find a peaceful spot nearby. Everything around the main building was also owned by Codex Biomedical, and she knew she would see plenty of people from work if she went to one of them. Maybe someone would ask her about her day, or have a similar story.

Maybe she’d even find Aijin and see how her debriefing went. Maybe she got something cool too. Maybe she respecialized and wouldn’t even be a security guard anymore.

Megan debated calling her, or sending her a chat message, but decided that she wanted to just take the time to relax. She’d contact Aijin another time. Right now, she just wanted to take it easy. The last few hours had been pretty hectic, adrenaline-fueled, and dangerous. All she wanted at that point was some nice relaxing coffee.

She stepped outside and felt the warmth of the sun shining down on her, the breeze blowing through her hair. She took a deep breath, enjoying the moment.

She was intending to find a coffee shop or something, but first, she had to deal with that strange beeping she was hearing. She couldn’t quite pinpoint where it was coming from, but it seemed to get louder as she searched for it.

It was an alarm of some sort, she knew that. But where was it coming from? No one else seemed to be reacting to it; it was like no one else could hear it.

But it just kept getting louder and louder, an insistent buzzing that could not be ignored. That demanded her attention. Something that forced her to –

The world went dark.