‘I’m anxious about this operation’…‘Getting Cybercore operational inside my head isn’t what i planned on doing… how else am i going to compete with the other Netrunners?’
The steel armrest is cold and the lights hovering above me is no short of unearthly, the straps tighten around my wrists and the rest begins to raise vertically, not helping the fact that i feel all the blood leaving my head.
Automated syringes pierces into both sides of my neck, accompanied by a initial burning sting that fades away
Patient sedative administered.... Cortical drilling procedure will activate in T- minus 60 seconds :A synthetic feminie voice announces:
‘I feel myself drifting away, suddenly all attempts to regret or second guess this decision disappears as i accept what this procedure will do for me, a tertiary artificial Intelligence layer will be integrated into my psyche and I can barely imagine how this will turn out, will i still be me? Will there be another voice in my mind? God i can’t bear the thought of having something else occupy my own mind, my own reality with me’
*Procedure commencing in T-munis 10....9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1’
‘Here goes nothing’
Flashes of old forgotten memories flicker in my mind, vividly, fast… Chronologically from my earliest memories, through to my teenage years, faster and faster, i see things now that i couldn’t see before, like retrospective but in real time. ‘Is this what death is like?’ Faces, Names they’re all coming back to me, strangers i have seen before, symbols that i didn’t understand at the time now make sense. i feel my heart racing even though i’m not awake and i feel as though i’m dreaming. Time seems to have stopped, though i feel as though i have consolidated a lifetime of information in this moment, i can feel how the Cybercore is influencing my memories already, manipulating my memories into thought patterns that make sense, that optimise my decisions to suit my priorities. I feel like i’m less of myself and more of everything i could have imagined. What have i done?!
Procedure complete. Welcome to Neuranet.
‘I feel it, my heartrate at 98bpm, blood pressure at 114/82, i have 6 hours of caloric energy to expend at normal circumstances, 16 hours before i require rest all this data about myself at my fingertips, recollected at an instant at will, a sense of self awareness i never thought imaginable.’
‘Now i am aware of the millions of people on this world that are connected to the network, i can recognize them even though i know i could not possibly met all of them before, almost instinctually i know who they are, their names, occupations, interests, qualities everything, a surreal Cyber pan-psychism.’
‘I’m feeling a strange detachment from time, as i am now not limited to my biological minds thinking speed, i know what i need to know, i know how to learn what i do not know, and i know where to fill the gaps of my ignorance, I’ll need friends if i’m going to stop what the Corporations are planning… and i already know who they are.
“Hey Dez, getting my hands on this military grade Cybercore wasn’t easy,… look i’m happy to give you a year to pay me ba-“
“I’ve transferred the credits to your ID” I reply.
“errhm, ok… Where did this come from?”
“Don’t worry, I took a risk getting this Core intergrated, it definately paid off, for you too.”
“Slow down bud, Didn’t you have the creds before the op?”
“No, but within the time i got off the operating station and you walked up to me to ask your question, i had already bypassed the security measures of an offshore Corporate weapons dealership and have the credits erased in an accounting error, cloned a version of the cedit signature and sent it to an Alias i created then forwarded it to you.” I explained to Juan
He fumbles and checks his ID balance,
$159,500 Credited from 674913258-D
“Holy shit, you crazy son of a-“
“Thank me later.” I interrupted
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