I got out of Schaeffer‘s office in a haze. A part of my mind was already designing Ms. Uesugi’s new skull tech, other parts were going over available neural cyberware to look into how big the new converter would have to be.

Unfortunately, I was not able to concentrate on one or the other, as my thoughts were jumping from one topic to another.

In the end, the most important part was, why the heck did I miss that little fact? I had developed that part of the anti-CRS project more than six months ago, just before I designed my cranial board.

It was the sole reason why I started looking into it in the first place. And despite all that, I doggedly continued the research of biosheathing.

Yes, I got it in the end, but in hindsight, it was actually not completely necessary. We had alternatives to myosynth, after all. They needed much higher neuronect connections to work, which explained why they were not used much, but we had them.

The reason we used myosynth was that it was powered by the metabolism of the recipient. It needed oxygen and nutrients, which any living mammalian organism should have readily available, but no electricity.

That made it possible to simply replace the muscles in question without changing the rest of the body parts. The augmented person retained their natural nerves, blood vessels, skin, and in most cases the bones. After the great war full replacements had mostly fallen out of favor, as the neural connections needed for them were mindblowing, second only to a full ultra bandwidth data jack, which I used for my cranial board.

Unfortunately for electro-powered actuators, motors, hydraulics, and all the other, higher-powered alternatives to artificial muscles one needed power cells. That made the replacement of the gross structural parts, like bones and joints a necessity.

That, in turn, led to widespread replacement of the neural system, to integrate the artificial mechanoreceptors and proprioceptors. At that point, we could as well just replace the skin with a tougher artificial replacement, as we had already replaced the axons connecting it with the central nervous system.

All that meant that it was necessary to recharge the limbs to get full power. For everyday use with a marginal increase in strength compared to roughly twice the strength that myosynth provided, one could rely on the included metabolic converter, but one would be only marginally stronger than an unaugmented human.

All that dragged a whole rat tail of changes with it, from modification of the skeletal system, maybe an inclusion of hydraulic supports for the spine, replacement of the bone marrow functions, and so on.

That had been done long ago in the great war before the UNAN released the second anti-cyberware bioweapon to counter the European cyber soldiers. Today it was only used for the cyber zombies that the big corps used.

Widespread use had almost entirely stopped when the neuronect that the cyber limbs depended on became a mortal danger to the host.

Yes, the big corps still used them, for their brainwashed throwaway troops. In typical inhuman fashion, they either kidnapped people from the streets, used employees that had become unpopular with the top levels, or more often used clones.

These things, and it was impossible to call them human anymore, had a life expectancy of around a year. The person died long before in the conversion process though. From what I learned, they replaced large parts of the prefrontal cortex with computers and left only enough to make use of the human abilities that elude any AI to this day. Reflexes, intuition, and understanding, but replaced the personality with a program.

The corps did not care if their weapons died an excruciating death after they were used up. Instead, they took the cyberware, replaced the destroyed neuronect, and implanted it into the next batch while they recycled the old bodies.

The important point though was that I could now give similar superhuman abilities to people without killing them. Maybe even more so, because the people I implanted would remain human, and keep learning.

That was a veritable game-changer right here and now. So the question remained, how in all that is holy did I miss that?

I became aware that Ryan was talking to me after some time. I had to blink, as I found myself in the passenger seat of the skimmer, and had no clue how I got there. Add in that I had no idea what he had said before and my sophisticated answer made sense:

“Huh? What was that?”

He frowned, sighed, and repeated himself.

“I said that was not very smart.”

I shook my head to clear the cobwebs.

“Sorry, but I seem to have missed the whole discussion somehow. What are you talking about?”

“Yeah, you looked a bit dazed. The thing with Cox, that you confronted him was not very smart.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head again.

“Yes, I know, but I could not take his contempt any longer. I have leaned over backward to help your group, have done work that would cost in the triple-digit millions under normal circumstances, laid everything I know bare, and that man still belittles me.

I understand that he does not trust me. I don‘t like it but I understand it. But he is not simply distrusting me, he insults me. Again and again and again. At some point, I have to fight back or lay down and let myself be trampled. That point was today.”

I smiled tiredly before I continued.

“You should pray to whatever deity you follow that Doc Schaeffer and I managed to save Mr. Walker. If Mr. Cox takes over you are in deep trouble. I can’t understand that this… this… no, I won’t lower myself to his level. I can’t understand that this man is the heir to Mr. Walker. Did you have nobody better available?”

Ryan chuckled when I said that.

“You got something wrong. Cox is not the heir. He is the right-hand man of the boss. A talented administrator, who keeps the business running smoothly, while the boss is the one with the vision, who knows how to act and react. No, the heir is somebody else.”

That was more reassuring than I thought it would be. Yes, I was sure that in the case of Mr. Walker dying and Dylan getting belligerent I would be able to play some of the other bosses against him, but that would lead to unnecessary suffering.

“That… is good to hear. I hope you are not disappointed when I still do my best to keep Mr. Walker alive.”

And Ryan’s chuckle grew to a deep guffaw.

“Of course not. We like Mr. Walker. And we want to keep him around as much as you. So, please, do your best.”

While he maneuvered the skimmer into the garage he changed the topic.

“What happened with you in the Doc’s office by the way? You were completely out of it.”

“Doctor Schaeffer pointed me to something I missed. The implications are… profound. And have me reevaluating my… no, it had me second-guessing my priorities.”

He grunted in assent, while we stepped out of the vehicle.

“And what exactly did you miss? If I can ask that is.”

“I‘ll tell you when I have called the others together. I don’t want to explain it several times.”

On the way to the cafeteria, I sent a message to all the others in the building to call a meeting there.

While I made Ryan and me some sandwiches for supper the rest of the cast slowly came into the room. It took a few minutes longer for everyone to arrive and sit down.

They looked at each other for a moment before Darren took over.

“Alright, we are here. What is so important, Veronica?” I swallowed my bite, took a sip to clear my mouth, and then began.

“Basically, I made a… no that is not right. I missed something. Not particularly important to you, but for me it is disturbing. To make it short, I missed that I can already make some CRS-free cyberware for most of you, and many others.

The problems I have are completely with myosynth, mostly known as cybermuscles. I have a method to make it CRS-free, but that method is more or less proof of concept. It is extremely expensive and slow.

The important thing though is that I also have a method to make neuronect, the cybernetic neural connector, CRS-free. And that method is fully fleshed out. No upscaling or modification is necessary.

I too fell into the trap of thinking of CRS as one disease, instead of the two it is, and doggedly tried to develop a solution for myosynth. Conveniently forgetting that we have alternatives for myosynth, unlike neuronect.”

I leaned forward, placing my weight on my elbows.

“So in short, I have to build a bigger version of my bioreactor and then can build and adapt neural cyberware for you directly after that. ”

I was a bit surprised when none of them was very excited about my news.

After a few minutes of murmuring and low discussions among them, they shrugged, and Natalie shrugged and addressed me.

“Oh, well, that is nice. And after we experienced the diadems, I think all of us want a jack, but it is not so important. I mean, sorry to say that, but Justin and Ryan have cyber muscles, right?”

Justin nodded to that, and Natalie continued:

“Thought so, and honestly, they are… the reputation of cyborgs is so high, so dangerous, and the reality is simply disappointing. Sure, they are a bit stronger, a bit faster, but not much. Kate could rip them apart at any time if she wanted and Darren could wipe the floor with them.

So yeah, the news is nice to know, but not so exciting.”

I tilted my head and inhaled sharply.

“Oh… right. You have no real knowledge. For one, the jack is only the beginning. I would advise it for anybody, as it enables you to get a HUD and makes every other piece of cyberware easier to connect. But it is by no means the only neural cyberware you could get.

There are things like smart guns, that will simply project an aiming point into your vision, show how many rounds you have, the overall status of your weapon, enables you to switch fire modes with a thought, eject magazines with a thought, and similar things.

You will have to work closely with Mark in that respect, but I think for your work it will be a distinct advantage.

Then there are sensory upgrades. Visuals in IR or UV, echolocation, and such things.

In combination with eye implants, we have augmented reality.

We have information storage, memory enhancements, and recording systems.

We can even easily build you a synaptic acceleration if you want that.

These and some more are easy to connect to the jack and will be no problem at all.

With a bit of time, I will be able to build things like wired skills, wired reflexes, and enhanced learning implants.

They will speed you up, enable you to learn any knowledge skill much faster, or even use a programmed skill without training in it.”

I gestured a bit in the air when I listed the various possibilities.

“And one thing you get wrong is that Justin and Ryan are cyborgs ultra-light. Most of the reputation stems from the great war and the cyber zombies. What normal people use today, if they use cyberware at all is mostly myosynth. It has some advantages, but also many disadvantages.

The main advantage though is that it gets away with only minimal neural connections. If you contract muscular CRS, then you remove the cyberware and live on. The alternatives are significantly stronger, faster, and sturdier, but need enough neuronect that they almost guarantee the development of neural CRS.

The only reason the cyber zombies exist at all is that the big corps don’t care if their disposable troops only live for a year or two.

But if you encounter cyber zombies, expect them to be nearly a match for Kate. They are probably a bit stronger and faster but are less, well not intelligent but less intuitive, acting by rote.

With time I can make you that strong while retaining your intellect and personality, and without making you die from neural CRS.“

The gamut of reactions was now much more in line with what I had expected.

After some lively discussion among small groups, the questions began.

Natalie opened up the session:

“What do you think you can do with smart guns? That sounds interesting.”

I shrugged.

“Honestly, I have no clue what you would want in a smart gun. From the cyberware side, it is a simple software interface.

We would have to decide if we will make it NFC, an OPB-cable, a connection pad in the palm, or all three. After that, you have to decide what information you want to get from the weapon, and what controls you want to use mentally.

You can even fire the gun via the interface if you want and somebody builds the weapon for that. A camera instead of a scope, a targeting laser with an aiming point feedback, or whatever. You need the firmware and you need the interface. The rest has to be integrated into the gun.”

Christine had a calculating expression when she posted the next question.

“What is that synaptic accelerator you mentioned? And what is the difference to the wired reflexes?”

“You all experienced cyberspace compression via the diadem. The synaptic accelerator is exactly that. It obviously needs a jack to work, but essentially we will implant a small rudimentary cyber board, and run your whole perception through virtual reality.

Unlike VR only your mind is faster though. Depending on the compression you will feel like you are moving in slow motion, as will everybody else. What it gives you is the ability to reason out your reaction instead of using reflexes.

That is the difference between the wired reflexes. These simply speed up your reflexes to be faster.

I think with a bit of tinkering I can speed up your whole somatic nervous system, and make your voluntary movements, well not faster, that is in large parts limited by the muscles, but more controlled.

It would mean that you would be able to send new instructions to the muscles much faster.

I would estimate that in combination with the synaptic accelerator it will increase your dexterity by a large amount.”

Jacky now seemed to be downright giddy.

“What are these wired skills? That sounds so… wicked.”

I had to chuckle.

“Keep in mind that I am not yet able to make them, so take everything with a grain of salt here.

And in essence, these are exactly what’s written on the can.

They are physical skills, like driving, martial arts, shooting, surgery, and other things like that that have been recorded and can be used by rote.

Activate the respective skill, and your cyberware acts out the skill, without or with only minimal input from yourself.

If what I read is true, in time you will learn the skill by yourself and need to rely on the cyberware less and less.

The problem here is that I have to first find the skill library, and or the means of recording them, followed by how they were implanted.

And before you ask, for knowledge skills we need the learning implants. I have no clue how those will work, and how we can program skills into them.

The best I can do today is the enhanced memory with the information storage, the basic cranial board, and a software assistant.”

Mark rubbed his chin before he asked his question.

“All that sounds megarad, but what is it with these alternatives to monosynth? What do you need for that?”

“You mean myosynth I assume. Artificial muscles. The advantage of myosynth is that it is powered by your blood directly. All alternatives to it need electricity. And, if you go above the human norm, a significant amount.

In daily normal life, you can get away with metabolic convertors, that take the food and oxygen transported by the blood and convert it into electricity. At a significantly lower efficiency though. You will be marginally stronger and faster than with your natural muscles, and it is honestly, not worth it.

To use them to their full effect you need an energy storage. To make room for that and prevent muscle strength to destroy the limb we will have to replace most or all of the bones. That makes it necessary to replace the joints as well. And suddenly you have to essentially replace most of the nerves in the limb.

At that point, we can as well replace the skin with some stronger material. The additional neural connectors don’t make any difference anymore. Just to make it clear what that means, a single limb replacement needs more neuronect than anything else except a high or ultra bandwidth jack.

And the fun is just starting. If you replace your arms for example, unless you massively reinforce your whole skeleton from the shoulders on down the first time you use your new strength you will destroy your shoulders, or your spine, or your hips, or… you get the gist. To get all there is out of the enhanced limb you will have to replace most of your bones.

That means you have to get an implant that replaces the bone marrow to make your blood or use plated bones, which are quite a bit inferior strength-wise.

And that still does not keep your joints, or your spine to be honest, from breaking, You will have to reinforce them substantially. For the joints, that can be done with carbon nanotube ligaments, but for the spine, it is a bit more involved.

Either you use substantially semi-flexible supports that let your vertebrae move just enough for you to remain flexible, or another option is to integrate a hydraulic shoring system that essentially buffers the strain. Another option is of course to replace the spine, including the spinal cord with cyberware, necessitating even more neuronect. If I remember correctly some designs even increased the flexibility of the spine substantially.

And all that makes it possible if you charge your cyberware regularly to get somewhere between six and twelve hours of superhuman strength and or speed out of your cybernetic limbs.

As you can see, that whole setup demands downright ungodly amounts of neuronect, which, until a few months ago, was deadlier the more you had. As I said, the average cyber zombie has a life expectancy of around a year.”

Darren shook his head, and then looked directly at me.

“If being a cyber zombie is so deadly, why do people do it then?”

I snorted before I answered.

“Oh please, you don’t really believe that they are volunteers, right?

In most cases they are clones. That is bad enough. But a good amount of them are people who were either convenient for the corp to use, as they could simply kidnap them without creating a problem for themselves, or even more sinister, people one or more of the execs wanted to punish for some real or imagined transgression.

The only thing making it even remotely merciful about it is that essentially the first thing they do is destroy the personality vial lobotomy and replace it with a control implant.

The person is basically dead at that point, and just the body is moving for some time longer.

And when the cyber zombie begins to break down they simply rip out the cyberware, replace the neuronect, and implant it into the next recipient, while they literally throw the rest of the body away.

Now, it will take some time before I will be able to give you this type of cyberware, as I have to research it first, but when I do it, it will not impact your life experience, and if you don’t like it we can get you cloned replacements.

What I can give to you as soon as I have built the new bioreactor is the jack and everything that directly connects to it. Well to all of you except Darren and Kate that is. Sorry, but your brain is just a bit too different, and I have to map your neural network in detail before I can design a jack for you.”

Darren nodded at that.

“I suspected something like that when we had these problems with the diadem. From what the others told us, your improvisation works, but not particularly well.”

“I have something new, I call it the bio-observation-unit, or BOU for short, that I can adapt for the mapping. We should be ready to begin in a couple of days, and after that, it will take only…”

A priority alert from the cluster let me stop in the middle of the sentence. I had honestly never expected that specific alert. Somebody had broken through the security of the computer here.

The only saving grace was that I routinely tasked the cluster with monitoring the systems of the fortress, otherwise whoever did this would have had a good chance to surprise us all. As it was I had to waste a few seconds warning the others, before I could dive into the matrix.

“We are under attack. No information on who and how many. Security is offline. Will defend us in the matrix.”

I noticed some curses from the others before I managed to pull one of my hidden aces out of my sleeve. I activated the Q-link between my implants and Precious. The whole time I was lamenting that whoever did this did not wait another couple of days. As it was now, Glory was not ready, and with her, I would be undefeatable for the foreseeable future. As it was, Precious had to be enough.