“Howdy.” He opened a pack of utensils and began to dig in. “Gotta admit up front that I ain’t one for pleasantries and small talk. I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me.”
She crossed her arms on the table and leaned in. “A nice change of pace. What do you want to know?”
“Look, without going back into the whole ‘what is your future thing,’ I gotta be honest. I don’t really work that way. I’m more of a wing-it-and-we’ll-see sort of guy, myself,” he admitted as he began cutting into his pancakes. If she noticed the slightly defensive edge to his confession—even a little defiant—she didn’t comment. “I was actually recommended to come here only two days ago.”
She raised an eyebrow curiously, then chuckled. “I see. Continue.”
“Well, I still don’t have an answer to your little riddle, but I suppose I could ask what you think of everything. I guess you’ve got a future you’re planning?”
“Of a sort…” she began, her voice lowering slightly. “I must admit that how we came to be here isn’t too different, technically.”
“You beat up some slummers in a bar?”
She looked at him incredulously, blinking a couple times. “I…no, I meant that neither of us originally had the intention of coming here.”
“Ah, so a bit more tangential, then.”
“Moving past that, my point is that if you’re asking what I recommend you do, it all begins with what you want to accomplish.”
“Yeah, yeah, I figured that, but isn’t that the whole point of this place?” He pointed around the area with his fork. “They’re supposed to lead you down some path or something, find out what you’re good at.”
“You don’t seem like the type of person to be led around on a leash,” she remarked.
“Depends on how kinky I’m feelin’ and the amount of alcohol in me, honestly.”
The blank look returned to her eyes. Kaiden shrugged internally and sipped his tea slowly.
“Yes, the Academy can put you on a path depending on the criteria you fit and the skills you have. However, I would see that as a waste. You can decide your fate here and beyond.”
Kaiden finished his tea and flipped the cup over on his tray. “A few people have told me that, but it seems kinda pointless since we’re all gonna be contracted to the highest bidder at the end of it all. Why shouldn’t I just do what I do best?”
“If that’s the case, why bother being here at all? Shouldn’t you already be on the streets making money ‘doing what you do best?’”
Kaiden cocked his head to the side in thought. He noticed Chief bouncing up and down in his lens and scowled. Was he laughing?
“I was offered a chance to come here because I kicked ass. I thought I would have more chances to do that. Why shouldn’t I simply gun for being a badass?”
“Because everyone here is.”
“You’re telling me you’re also going to be a soldier?”
“Not like that.” She huffed, twisted the top off a bottle of water, and took a few sips. “Everyone in the Academy, whether by schooling, trials, or invitation, is here because they have proven viability in a field or discipline. They don’t merely take in any nobody off the street because they can make a fist or solve simple division. No matter what they come in for, they will leave as some of the best in their professions as long as they stick to their training. So, if you continue down your road, you will certainly be a badass, but a faceless one among many.”
Kaiden nodded, the picture becoming a little clearer. “Well, I’m a little out of my depth in the whole planning department…”
“That’s become quite clear,” she responded between sips.
“Good to know you’re following along,” he muttered, pausing to think while he polished off his fruit. “I ain’t exactly the type to ask for handouts, but if you have any advice…well, I’ll hear it.”
She froze for a moment, swishing her water bottle around in her hand. “The only other time you saw me I was getting yelled at by my classmates. That doesn’t strike you as an odd person to get advice from?”
“Who gives a damn about them?” Kaiden scoffed. “I ain’t the greatest when it comes to readin’ people, but they seemed to have a stick up their ass. You seemed to know about my…affiliation when you looked me over last night, and that didn’t bother you, so you seem all right. By the way, how did you do that?”
“It’s one of the reasons I’m here. Secrets of my trade,” she responded unhelpfully. “Although, since we’re on the subject, I wanted to thank you.”
Kaiden finished his meal and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “What, for last night? It’s all good. That’s what I do.”
“It may seem inconsequential, but it does show a good side to your character, and it spared me from having to deal with them for a longer period.”
“My natural charisma is another good show of character, yeah?”
“Perhaps, but it is dulled by your conversational skills.”
Kaiden grimaced as he saw Chief light up again in delight. He made a mental note to look for an EI skin that was invisible.
“You have yet to complete your job evaluation test, correct?” she asked.
“On my way there after this.”
“My only advice, for now, is that you answer the questions truthfully. Most of the people I have talked to always provided skewed responses, answering how they felt they should as opposed to how they wanted to. Don’t make that mistake.”
She stood up from the table and picked up her tray. “Don’t know when I’ll see you again, but good luck. If you have any more questions, next time, feel free to ask me. As long as I am not in the middle of something, I enjoy the distraction.” With that, she left, dumping her trash in a bin and before walking into the crowd.
Kaiden leaned back, contemplating the conversation. She was a bit dry, but she didn’t act like he was an idiot. That made her nice enough.
Chief bounced up and down on his lens, trying to get his attention. He sighed.
“Audio on.”
“Nice job not looking like gutter trash, but seriously, you sounded like a moron. Also, ‘doing what you do best?’ Were you turning tricks in an alley before you came here?”
“Audio off.”
“You can silence me, but you’ll never silence the tru…” Chief’s voice faded out.
“Smartass,” he muttered.
Chapter Eight
“So, what did you get?”
“Mechanic.”
“Just like your mom, huh? I got Medic.”
“Oh, cool. I mean, you have been training for that up till now.”
“It was an obvious choice. What about you, Lisa?”
“Finances.”
“That was an option?”
“Probably going to take a firearms secondary course, make sure I’m just as useful with a trigger as I am a spreadsheet.”
Kaiden listened to the group of initiates discussing their evaluation verdicts as they walked past. He had sat in the waiting room for the last hour, twiddling his thumbs and overhearing the dozens of different designations that the others had received. Some, he had expected. Others seemed rather unfortunate.
It seemed a damn shame to come to a fancy institution like Nexus only to be stuck as a pastry chef.
He had overheard options like bounty hunter, soldier, and bodyguard, all of which seemed more up his alley. He kept thinking back to Chiyo’s last words to him to answer truthfully rather than how he felt he should. Kaiden mulled it over a little while he waited. He had been told that you weren’t necessarily compelled to follow the test designation, but you wouldn’t know it listening to the others.
They made it sound like it was the secret eleventh commandment; don’t steal, don’t kill, don’t back-talk the eval test.
He wondered if he would actually be all right with something like medic or engineer. The chance of that outcome for him seemed like a long shot. It was pointless giving a job to someone
when it wouldn’t benefit them or they didn’t already have the skills to benefit from further training. Besides, they had his profile and history. They wouldn’t give a former gang member something so humdrum, right?
Then again, considering his last twenty-four hours there, maybe they simply like screwing with him.
“Initiate Kaiden Jericho, please enter bay thirty,” a calm, synthesized voice directed over the intercom.
He stood and walked to the testing hall entrance, following a sign that pointed in the direction of bay thirty. He noted that all other directions seemingly held multiple bays but didn’t pay it too much mind. A little twinge of what might be anxiety nagged at him as he followed the signs until he found himself at the end of a long hallway, the only room left being the one marked with a stylized ‘30’ on the door.
Now, he began to feel a little uneasy, recalling that the last time he was shuffled away from the rest, he ended up in Professor Laurie’s overzealous clutches. As long as that wasn’t a recurring pattern, he might give this the benefit of the doubt.
As he entered, he noticed the room was surprisingly sparse. A couple of computers were set up on either side of the room, and in the middle was a large tube. Long wires connected it to both computers, and there was no window to see what was inside.
“Well, hello again, my dear boy.”
Oh, sweet Jesus, no.
Kaiden turned around to see none other than the immaculately dressed Alexander Laurie, a beaming smile on his face and, no doubt, various tests and hypothesis running through his mind. None of those were likely to really consider his wellbeing, or if they did, it was possibly secondary.
As he was about to release a dramatic sigh, he noticed another figure walk up behind Laurie, this one also familiar. It took him a moment, but he recognized the unique oculus device wrapped around his head and the formal way he carried himself.
It was Commander Sasha, the man who had offered him the chance to be there in the first place.
“Howdy, what are the two of you doing here?” Kaiden asked as he stood a little straighter “The Academy must be really low on manpower if they gotta send the higher-ups to run one test.”
“Yes, well, about that…” Laurie began, tapping the side of his chin in a gesture that became more irritating each time Kaiden saw it. “You see, Kaiden, when I spoke with the Board about our little arrangement, I ran into a bit more pointless protest than I expected.”
“Initiate Jericho, what my…colleague here is trying to say is that the operation you agreed to and underwent might have some ramifications that were insufficiently considered by the professor and so might entail some problems with your training here at the academy.”
“What are you talkin’ about?” Kaiden challenged. “That dandy bastard said it was fine, made me sign a form and everything—said this was supposed to be the next step in technological, or human, or techno-human advancement or some shit.”
“I believe my response was more sophisticated,” Laurie commented with his usual urbane tone.
“I should probably clarify,” Sasha acknowledged. “I by no means wish to make it seem like you are in danger of being expelled from Nexus, or that what you agreed to was necessarily wrong. Professor Laurie was within his authority to offer the operation, albeit with the knowledge that he should inform the Board.”
“I did—eventually. In such circumstances, time wasted is a sin.”
“Is that your catchphrase or something?” Kaiden huffed, still a long way from mollified by the assurances.
“As it stands, the problem is not that directly, but the potential…difficulties that might arise,” Sasha explained.
Kaiden leered at Laurie. “I thought this was supposed to help me.”
“And it will. Just in a bit more…uh, roundabout way,” Laurie said defensively. He moved past Kaiden over to one of the stations and began typing something into it. The tube lit up.
“What’s he doing?” Kaiden asked.
Sasha walked up beside him, looking on as Laurie moved over to the other station. “The professor explained the Animus System to you, correct?”
“Sort of…it’s a virtual reality system that we use to train, right?”
“Correct. The pod you see before you is what you and the other students will use to access the system during your time here. It scans your physical body to create an avatar and then integrates with your EI to link you into the system. Metaphorically, it separates you from your body and immerses you into the simulation.”
“Okay,” Kaiden acknowledged with a hesitant tone and slow nod. “So, if this is so normal, what makes this difficult for me?”
“Almost all the normal pods in the Academy grounds are calibrated specifically for the usual EI systems that the other students use—their oculus devices, neural links, and other traditional devices. That is to say”—Sasha turned to look directly at Kaiden—“everything that isn’t your device.”
“Wait, what? I thought mine was basically a neural link. He burrowed it into my skull.”
“Again, you truly bastardize the grandeur of my work,” Laurie shouted from across the room. “Your device is beyond the basic passive abilities of a simple neural link. It does not require activation. It is a part of you and you of it.”
“Yeah, you mentioned that the first time. But I still don’t see how this doesn’t make me a cyborg,” Kaiden shot back.
“Technically speaking, it is an enhancement. It does not replace anything in your body, as cybernetics would,” Sasha explained, and Kaiden shot him a glare.
“All right, I’ll drop it. So what’s the deal if mine is supposed to be superior.”
“Probably nothing. Merely some of the Board being paranoid sycophants,” Laurie chimed in, his fingers pressing keys with a rapidity that was a little disconcerting.
“It could also mean brain damage,” Sasha added.
“Explain. You’re starting to seem like the reasonable one,” Kaiden stated, although he should also dock points for technically putting him in this mess.
“Oh, he’s being melodramatic. The Board asked me to write up a small list of possible complications of using the present software in the pods to integrate you into the Animus using your current system. That possibility has an improbably small chance of happening.”
“The list was not small. There were over two-hundred items listed,” Sasha corrected quietly.
“I noticed he said ‘improbably,’ not ‘impossibly,’ too,” Kaiden added, his tone clipped with displeasure.
“Don’t listen to him, my dear Kaiden. I was beginning to feel that one day, I could grow to see you as my personal ward.” Laurie sighed as he went over to activate a console on the tube.
“Do you think he knows the difference between a ward and a project?” Kaiden asked Sasha in a hushed voice.
“I have seen nothing to suggest it, really. I have heard him call some of his robots pets,” Sasha replied, and Kaiden groaned.
He mulled over his options. Right now, he was honestly beginning to feel like a test subject to be thrown around and prodded as they pleased. Attention was nice, sure, but he hadn’t even been offered dinner before they inserted things into him.
Should he simply have the implant removed and go with the traditional system? His so-called improvement seemed more of a headache, both literal and metaphorical. He might not have the benefits it offered, but learning things slower seemed a small price to pay for being able to keep his brain function normal.
It was quite funny if he took a moment to think about it objectively. He had never really taken too much pride in his basic motor function up until the moment where it could possibly be zapped out of him.
“Never settle.”
Goddammit.
“What are you doing, exactly, Laurie?” Kaiden asked as he walked up to the professor.
“What I was trying to explain to the Board. I can configure the current software to read and integrate with your implant by having it register
as a neural link. It will probably slow down your synapse-connection to basic levels for now until I can make a proper update,” he explained, once again moving back to one of the stations and inputting more commands.
“All right, but everything else will be fine?” Kaiden asked.
“Indeed, your implant will still be fully functioning outside the Animus. Then, when I update the system, it will work as intended, and I will show them and the world that we have merely scratched the surface of what we are capable of,” Laurie declared with gusto. “I won’t let this opportunity for technological advancement be halted because the Board feels squeamish. Oh, your safety is also paramount in all this.”
“Glad to know you care, Prof.” Kaiden sighed with a roll of his eyes.
He looked back to Sasha “You sure there’s no alternatives?”
“Well, obviously you could have the implant removed and go the traditional route. I’m assuming you’ve already contemplated this.”
“Yeah. I’d rather not if we can make this work.”
“There’s that drive that I admired during our initial meeting,” Laurie exclaimed proudly.
“You could possibly work with the professor exclusively until he makes the proper upgrades to the rest of the pods. He has one of the few systems that would have no issues running your implant,” Sasha suggested.
Kaiden recalled the operating table with the robotic surgeons he initially awoke on, deep in the bowels of Laurie’s private domain.
“I’ll chance the pod that might make me incontinent, thanks.”
“And again, you wound me,” Laurie whined, his expression an exaggerated sulk.
Sasha nodded as he walked over to the pod. “I’m here as an ambassador of the Board to oversee the test. I’ll also act as your proctor for the evaluation once you’re linked,” he explained. “Are you almost ready, Professor?”
“Just about, taking one last scan through the changes.”
“Feel free to take a couple more, just to be safe,” Kaiden offered, his arms crossed across his chest to emphasize his displeasure.
“I’ll need your help for the last of it, Kaiden,” Laurie stated, turning to him. “Remember how I said you could cast your EI into any system with an open link and proper power source? Well, why don’t you give it a try?”
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