Free Extracts

DISSOCIATION DELIRIUM

  February 13, 2085, 10:19pm

I won’t be going home tonight. Again. Too much work. No overtime for me to clock, though. Today, my time belongs to the corpo. Decision from my Supervisor after I was late the other day. I guess I deserve it. Was it a week ago? Yesterday? Memory’s been fading a little. Must be because I haven’t slept in more than forty-eight hours. It’s the project, you see? We’re making so much progress! Marketing told us we’re now toe-to-toe with Empyrean. No time to waste! Management agrees. Yesterday – or was it last week? – EuroCore’s Chief of Staff herself came down to our floor. Her business suit alone was worth more than two years of my salary. She gave us an amazing pep talk. She explained the difference between the hen and the pig. You see, the hen just lays eggs. It participates. But the pig gives us bacon. The pig commits. She wants us all to be her pigs.

Her words. The pig commits.

Some of us had to look up “hen” and “pig” with a Neural Link search, but I remember my history lessons. I know what these animals used to look like. So I know what she meant. I know.

In my optics, the endless rows of data scroll down at the speed of thought as I sort and correct the outliers and corrupted elements. There might be a world around me, on the eighty-seventh floor, but I can’t see anything apart from the data. My organic eyes are dry from constant contact with my optics – the lenses should be removed at the very least once every two days. The burning sensation in my eyes adds to the searing pain in my brain. Working so much with the now non-stop headaches is making me jumpy. Not just because of the constant spasms and shakes. I feel… irritable. Maybe that’s why some of the staff is avoiding me? I don’t know. Emeline’s still there, making fun of me. I love her still. One day, I’ll tell her. One day, I’ll-

I blink for just a second and now it’s daylight outside. What the hell? I check my Neural Link’s time display. February 14, 9:48am. What happened? Where did I go? Oh shit! More importantly! What about my workload? In panic, I check my logs and realize that the work’s been done during this time. Data input entries all look good. A wave of relief washes over me, almost eclipsing the pain in my head. I did my job. I just can’t remember doing so. Do I need to worry about this?

Emeline pops into existence to my right, startling me. How long has she been standing there? Doesn’t matter. She’s so pretty! And her eyes… They look like- ‘You ok?’ I hear her ask, as if from far away.

‘Yeah. Of course, I’m ok! Why?’ I ask, pulling a cognitive booster inhaler from my suit’s pocket. The moment the high-pressured gas hits the inside of my nostrils, I feel my mind clear up, the colors around me more vibrant. The pain in my brain ignites like a bastard, though. For just a second, I have no idea where I am.

‘You haven’t moved for hours.’ Her mouth smiles, but her eyes seem to lie. Something’s bothering her. Maybe it’s the face I’m making because of the pain?

‘Been busy. Like, with the project and all? Remember the project?’ Of course, she remembers the project. She’s working with me. I’m a funny guy. For some reason, she doesn’t laugh. I love her. Wish I had the balls to tell her that. She moves away from me before I find something else to say. As always.

We’re now four iterations further down the road than the model implanted in my brain for the X-OR-058739 prototype. Apparently, the engineers found several severe defects retroactively. Bio-compatibility issues, inflammation and tissue swelling, incomplete neural calibration protocols, risk of cognitive stimuli overload, possible adverse behavioral modifications… The list goes on and on. They could have found those earlier if the proper tests had been performed, of course. I’ve been told that these defects have nothing to do with my headaches and my shakes. Also, my Supervisor has just reminded me of all the legal waivers and NDAs I signed before telling me to go back to work. Why does he keep repeating this to me?

It’s all about that sweet, sweet haptic Metaverse experience. The concept is simple, really. A neural network such as the brain is just that: a network. So is the Ether. Now, all we have to do is optimize the endpoints between the brain’s interface – the Neural Link implant – and the Ether network itself.

Like I said, simple. So simple. So simple. So simple. It’s so simple. Simple.

  February 06, 2085, 01:42am

Kaia’s cry of pleasure echoed against the silent, 200-meter-tall Sea Wall and its graveyard of rotting metallic carcasses some lost souls called home. Only the sound of the rageful ocean beyond the Wall’s coastline lights and the whispers of drug addicts answered.

Towering over her naked body as his thrusts gained in speed and intensity, Jax let escape an adolescent male grunt, and another, until his ragged breathing matched hers. Careful to wait for her to climax, the young punk did his best to delay his own pleasure and tried very hard to think of something else – the upcoming gang op he was supposed to be a part of, his last brawl with that fucking asshole Butcher the day before, Angie NightFire’s “Street Kid”, the song he liked so much – anything to stop himself from exploding right inside the girl under him.

Her eyes half-closed, Kaia bit her lower lip and moaned some more. 

Their eyes locked. She shivered beneath him. Confident he could last a bit longer, Jax decided to up his game. Annoyed, he realized his MeatWare pinky had stopped responding to his brain’s signals. Again. He would need to go see what passed for the gang’s Cyberdoc. 

With his left hand – the organic one – he grabbed her right foot and put her toes in his mouth while his right, crappy cybernetic fingers found her throat. Gently, unsure of his MeatWare arm and hand’s haptic feedback, he pressed and choked her just the way she liked it. They had been fucking long enough by now, he knew what turned her on. With delight, he watched her jerk and gasp, her body spasming as his rusty, second-hand fingers clamped down on her windpipe. 

Oh yes! Yes!’ she gasped in his grip. The spasm grew even wilder, her thighs clenching around his hips as the orgasmic shockwave ripped through her. 

‘Fuuuuuuuuuck,’ he groaned in sync. He could not get enough of the sight of her, her skin and firm tits, the slight trim of her pubic hairs. Even the scars on her belly and arms aroused him.

She came with a high-pitched yell, her whole body shuddering uncontrollably against his. Unable to hold it any longer, he allowed himself to join her and ejaculated all over her belly. In that shared moment, as both struggled to catch their breath, he lost himself in her bottomless green eyes and saw love. At least, that’s what it was, right? Love. How could he know?

Love was not something you learned when jacked into the Ether, after all.