Neon District: ALPHA (The Neon District Trilogy, Book 1)

by Chad Campbell

  “These last few weeks have been some of the most exhilarating that I can remember. But wouldn’t you agree that it’s been pretty insane, too?” he asked.

  Nami and Hitomi looked down at the floor with the sobering realization of what Caiden was saying. “It’s just that, well, it’s like you’re doing all this. Risking your life, all for us, and—”

  “I’m thankful I found you guys. You taught me to face my own fears, and helped me to decide that I want to do what I can to change this city for the better. If it wasn’t for you two, I would have never got the nano codec. I would have never discovered all the things I’ve always wanted to understand about myself. There’s still a lot I don’t know, so I can’t stop now. And now I know that the more I meddle, the more trouble may be in store for me. So, I need to be prepared as best I can,” he said. “Besides, I still gotta make good on the promise I made to you guys. We gotta get you home to Rune Village, right?”

  The twins both looked up and smiled affectionately, as if the weight of their guilt had been lifted right off their shoulders. You’re our angel Caiden, a thankful Hitomi thought. Caiden went to get his gunblade and held it in his right hand. He was back in the Burmese pose once more.

  “I’m so nervous!” Nami said, fanning her face with both hands.

  Caiden had a confident smile. It was like he knew subconsciously that it would work.

  “Get the scanner ready again” he said.

  “Got it,” Nami replied.

  He closed his eyes. Beads of sweat trickled down Caiden’s temples as he sat perfectly still with measured breaths. Three and a half minutes went by and very little transpired. The four-minute mark came and went. After five minutes had passed, the twins observed a shift in the air around Caiden. It went from tranquil, to wild and turbulent in an instant. Just as they sensed this change, Caiden’s entire fist and forearm began to shake violently as it was encompassed by the turquois glow. Caiden opened his eyes. Both he and the twins watched as the powerful light physically broke down the gunblade. The gunblade’s surface area decreased until the tip of the gun’s barrel sunk beneath the dermal layer of his skin. The consistent glowing light subsided into softly-lit, pulsating intervals, until it stopped.

  Caiden began huffing and puffing as if he’d been holding his breath.

  “Oh my god, Caiden!” the twins said simultaneously as they rushed over to him. Hitomi went check him over to make sure he wasn’t hurt, while Nami held his right arm, rubbing it down gently.

  “I’m fine,” Caiden said. The twins were in shock. They were worried for his safety. So, it came as a surprise when they saw his victorious grin. He laughed, almost hysterically.

  “Um, Caide? You okay?” Hitomi asked.

  “This is incredible!” he replied. He stood upright, and so did the twins, sticking close to him just in case he fell.

  “Holy shit!” Nami exclaimed while pointing at Caiden’s right hand and forearm. Although faint, just beneath the surface of his skin, they could see a series of complex glowing lines starting at his fingertips and ending at his elbow. He moved his arm around, clenching and opening his fist while shaking his arm.

  “Feel any different?” Nami asked.

  “It’s hard to explain. It feels like my left wrist does, but it doesn’t feel any heavier,” he said as he shadowboxed for a few seconds.

  “It took a little longer to assimilate the gunblade, but not much longer than it took to assimilate the holo-watch initially. Why is that?” Hitomi pointed out.

  “It was easier this time around. Now I know how to access that particular function. It’s like the nanocells in my body communicated that to each other. That’s why it didn’t take as long to absorb the gunblade as it should have, theoretically. Plus, this gunblade just so happened to be made from titanium. For whatever reason, absorbing titanium is easier for the nanocells,” he said.

  “Is it safe to assume that the gunblade will be made from a different substance when you materialize it from your arm?” Nami asked.

  “Let’s find out,” Caiden said excitedly.

  While still standing, Caiden closed his eyes while gripping his bicep with his left hand. After thirty seconds, his forearm and fist began to radiate light. The thin lines of turquoise light shot through his skin and rapidly began to shape the outline of his gunblade. The gunblade fully materialized shortly after.

  “Oh my god! This is too much!” Nami said.

  “Xandra, confirm material of the gunblade,” Caiden commanded.

  “Titanium and nanocells present in the object, as well as an unidentified material. Closest match is a specialized polymer,” it reported.

  “Xandra, record this in your systems for future reference. Label this material as a ‘nanopolymer’,” Caiden replied.

  “Affirmative. Additional scans reveal the hardness of the nanopolymer rivals that of diamonds. Malleability and ductility surpass that of copper,” Xandra added.

  Caiden hit the switch on the gunblade and it transformed into a blade. He skillfully swung it around. He then switched it back to gun mode and stood still. He rematerialized the gunblade back into his right forearm in less than fifteen seconds.

  “You’re getting good at this,” Hitomi pointed out.

  “You think so?” Caiden responded while still examining his arm.

  “Yeah, it’s like you’ve been doing this for years,” she said.

  “I still need a lot of practice to perfect the whole materializing and dematerializing thing,” he replied.

  “Caide, you look like you have something else up your sleeve,” Nami observed.

  “Why yes, I do. And I’m gonna need your help with this one too,” he said.

  “Lead the way, mad scientist,” she joked.

  CHAPTER 27

  ---usr/systems/server-x/NOVO OS---

  “So, what is it?” Hitomi asked.

  “All this insanity has got me thinkin’. There’s a project I’ve been working on for a while now. Something that would be helpful during the crazy stuff; whatever that may be. I’ve been trying to develop computerized contact lenses for a while now,” Caiden said.

  “Oh, you mean like datashades, but something less conspicuous?” Nami asked.

  “That’s exactly what I’m trying to do. I even bought a couple pairs of datashades and studied their OS. I’ve been able to create some semblance of an OS for my contact lenses, but I’ve been having difficulties with programming it so that they work properly. Any time I try them on, they power up, but the display only shows unrecognizable symbols and nonsensical code.

  “We’ve collected some significant data from the experiments today; especially on how quickly and efficiently the nanocells in my body are able to interpret information. Using my brain as the control for this operation, I want to develop an OS that uses the nanocell enhanced functions involved in interpreting visual data and unreadable brain signal data into a readable, operable function,” he said.

  “Hmm, I think I follow, but how would we do this?” Hitomi asked.

  “Check this out. Xandra, bring in the large holo-display. Generate biometric findings for my brain. Zoom to nanocell level, please,” Caiden commanded his artificial intelligence unit.

  “Generating holographic image for rendering. Scanning all documents from nano code for cross referencing as well,” Xandra responded. A three-dimensional holographic image of Caiden’s brain generated in the center of the hub. Caiden and the twins slowly walked around it, examining it in full.

  “So, what are these?” Hitomi asked while pointing to the display.

  “I wondered the same thing myself at first, but this is an extra membrane made purely from nanocells; decagon nanocells, to be exact,” he replied.

  “Okay, so what’s different about these other than their shape?” Nami asked.

  “Look closely, you’ll see that in addition to the standard features found in regular nanocells, they have an increased number of nuclei. Instead of four nuclei, there are eight!
And out of those eight, half of them are techno-organic. Look at where they’re located. They’re all over my cerebral cortex, connected at each side and end, making something of a nanomembrane network,” Caiden said.

  “Wow,” the twins said in unison.

  “Now, look over here. From the eyes, to the ganglion cells in the optic nerves connected to the brain, everything is covered in this nanodecagon network,” he said.

  “This is totally insane!” Nami said excitedly.

  “Yeah, the assimilation of physical objects, a custom OS for contacts; only in Caiden’s world! Where do we start?” an astonished Hitomi added.

  “The key is to get started on the programming of the application. What I want to do is find a way to allow whatever I see to be converted into readable data, based on how the nanocells behave. I also want to be able to be constantly connected to my servers and the web. I got started with these two things a while ago, and I’m already close to completing them. I’ll definitely need help on developing and programming the kernel so that it can allow the app software to connect and cooperate with the hardware circuitry in the contacts,” he said.

  “You installed circuitry that tiny into the lenses? How?” Nami asked.

  Caiden pointed to the large controller arm connected to his lab table. “I fine-tuned that machine to weld, shape, and install circuitry from large to miniscule,” he said.

  “Wow, that’s pretty awesome,” she replied.

  “Well, I gotta say that programming is our specialty. And with all three of us working together, we’ll be done in no time,” Hitomi confidently declared.

  “Let’s make magic,” Caiden replied.

  Using the nano codec, the newly recorded data from the assimilation of the holo-watch and the gunblade, and the vast resources of the lab, the three of them spent the entire day working together to build a new tool that Caiden had started developing some time ago. They worked great as a team, bouncing ideas off each other and putting together the new system.

  “Wait, what’re you gonna call this system?” Nami asked.

  “Hmm, I’ve always had an idea to call it the ‘Neuro Ocular Virtual Optimization Lenses’,” Caiden replied.

  “So, the NOVO Lenses?” Nami asked.

  “Yup!” he replied.

  “That sounds really cool!” Hitomi said.

  “I know, right?” Caiden said smiling. “Well, let’s give it a go, shall we?”

  “I wonder how this is gonna turn out,” Nami wondered.

  “Only one way to find out,” Caiden said. He wasn't used to wearing contacts, so the irritation was evident in how often he blinked after putting them in. As his eyes adjusted, swarms of glowing data filled the lenses’ visual feed.

  “Wow, this is intense,” Caiden said breathily.

  He was looking around the room as if he’d never seen it before. His eyes were wide and glowing turquoise, much like how his arm and wrist did when materializing his watch and gun. It was a positive sign that the lenses were operating at full capacity, drawing on a very small fraction of his natural bioelectricity for power. There were readings for everything he could lay his eyes on; measurements, heights, weights, densities, proximities, distances. Anything that had a quantifiable value could be measured with the NOVO Lenses. There were masses of data flowing all at once, and Caiden tried to concentrate. He closed his eyes. Focus. Control the output. Visualize only the data that you want to see, he thought to himself before opening his eyes. Organizing his thoughts and thinking of what he wanted to see, the nanocells responded by working with the programming to minimize the confusion in the menu prompt. The NOVO Lenses were reading the unreadable data from his brain at an astronomically high level.

  Soon after that, the readings began to drop out of the visual display until there was only the body diagnostic prompt. Caiden turned to Nami; he could see a thin blue outline around her body. A small watch icon popped onto the screen. The system loaded; it was gathering information on what he was looking at. After a half second, the data appeared on the upper right-hand corner of Caiden’s viewpoint. Her heart rate was steadily rising. He slowly examined her. As he watched her chest rise and fall, her respiratory rate elevated slightly. She put her finger to her lip; she seemed nervous. Her eyes were shifting from left to right, then measurements came in on the home screen of the OS. Height; five feet, seven inches, and one quarter. Weight; one hundred and twenty-five pounds. Arm span; sixty-six inches. Shoulder width; fifteen point three inches. He shifted his focus back to her chest; 36C.

  “Caiden!” Nami yelled.

  He blushed. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay, I already forgive you,” she said.

  His attentive stare through the NOVO Lenses turned her on. The same carnal desire that oozed from her entire being during their very first meeting resurfaced for all but a brief few seconds. His stare down nearly flipped a coital switch within her. He noticed her body temperature had risen because of the emotional and sexual arousal. Hitomi, by sheer proximity could feel the energy, and she too, felt the effects before they both snapped back to reality.

  “So, what did you see?” Hitomi asked.

  “A lot. Maybe too much. I see how tall you both are. I can see the density of the walls down to the millimeter. The air quality in this very room is currently reading fifteen AQI. Your shoe size is six and a half,” he said.

  “Wow, and you mean to tell me there’s even more data that you can see?” Nami asked.

  “It’s kinda hard to put into words. These lenses give me data on everything I look at. I’ll need to make some adjustments in the kernel for the menu to move passive data that has been recorded to a separate function from the main menu prompt, unless I need it specifically for something. Then, if I ever do need it, I’ll be able to pull it up,” He said. “These adjustments shouldn’t take too long. And by the way, I have some things for you guys to try.”

  “Really?” Hitomi asked.

  “Well, I want to give those spare datashades to you guys. I think they would be of great use to you. Plus, it would make communicating with each other a lot easier. What’s even better, is that I’m gonna upgrade them with a modified version of the NOVO OS. They’re gonna be a bit different structurally, though. I redesigned them to fit over your ear like an earpiece. Upon system start up, a holographic display will go across your eyes and you’ll be able to use them just like the NOVO Lenses,” he said.

  “Thank you!” Nami said.

  “Yeah, we can’t wait to use them!” Hitomi added.

  “Speaking of that, I need to conduct a proper test for the NOVO Lenses. Doing that in here is not enough. I’ll need some real-time readings on a larger scale. Maybe I could test them out at the Darkside Bazaar tonight. And I know two beautiful girls that have been meaning to get out and have some fun.”

  “No way!” Nami shrieked.

  “Yup! What better way to perfect the functionality of the NOVO OS than to put it to good use, right?” he said.

  “Finally!” Hitomi exclaimed. “We’ve been cooped up in here; hacking systems, eating, sleeping, and training for the past few weeks! 'Bout time we had some fun!”

  “Yeah, things should’ve died down. We just have to lay low. But to be sure, we really gotta keep our eyes peeled since no one is ever barred from the Bazaar apart from the cops,” he said.

  “Of course,” Nami replied.

  “So, what are you planning to do once we get there?” she asked.

  “Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about what you guys told me; about wanting to be stronger and no longer live in fear. And judging by how dangerous things have been lately, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for all of us to be properly armed in case we need to protect ourselves. It’s also why I put together the training regimen, which, clearly, you guys have been doing. So, I want to hit the marketplace at the Bazaar to gather some high-end materials to develop some custom-made weapons for you guys. Keep in mind, I’m only doing this because I trust you enough to use them only i
n self-defense,” he said.

  “For real?” Nami asked as she brightened up.

  “Yeah. It’s the least I can do after all the trouble you guys had to go through,” he said. The twins’ eyes welled up with tears and they hugged him tight, nearly suffocating him. “Okay, can’t breathe,” he wheezed.

  “Sorry,” they said.

  He got up, headed to the utility closet, and pulled out a small case. He opened it up on the lab table. Inside the case were three shiny pairs of paper-thin metallic strips that were five inches in length.

  “What are those things?” Hitomi asked.

  “These are state of the art holographic straps. I got them as an additional bonus for a job I did some time back for a client on CWR,” he stated.

  “Well what do they do?’ Nami asked.

  “These holo-straps will hide your face by projecting an entirely different face over yours. But they need to be programmed first. How good the programming of the holographic face is, will determine how well it will stay together and protect the identity of a person from bio-scans and facial recognition machines,” he said.

  “Well that shouldn’t be much of a problem, should it?” Hitomi asked.

  “No, not really. Give me a few seconds,” he said as he set them up to be programmed. He also grabbed their holo-watches and updated those too. “I rigged them to display fake IDs in case you needed to show them. Nami’s codename is Zenna J and Hitomi’s is Jilla Reds.”

  “My codename is Zenna, Caiden? Really?” Nami joked as she elbowed him.

  Caiden laughed as he picked up the holo-straps and initiated the programming sequence from his computer. Using the scanner on his table, he programmed the straps. After a few minutes they were complete.

  “Okay, let’s try these out,” he said.

  The holostraps needed to be vertically placed at the top of each cheek bone. On one side of the metal was a thin layer of adhesive. The straps were made to mold to a person’s face for comfort. Caiden went to Nami first. Using any opportunity to seduce him, Nami took advantage of the fact that Caiden had to be face to face with her. Her gaze was captivating. She licked her plush full lips as she moved closer to him. When she was almost close enough, a strange zapping sound went off.