Transhumanism (3)
Transhumanism (3)
Ordinarily, those who could traverse the dark city were either 'heroes' or 'ninjas'.
But aside from the bat-masked hero or the black-masked ninja, there were others permitted such suspicious behaviour.
That was precisely the identity of an 'ordinary terrorist'.
They hopped from rooftop to rooftop, signalling via voice channels shared only among themselves.
[Target's location.]
[Specific confirmation, recorded in data.]
There were roughly no more than ten of them.
More than just one or two, clearly.
With every step, a spring-loaded sound rang from their knee joints. Concrete fragments scattered from the rooftop surface.
Had an ordinary person ignorant of the facts witnessed such a sight, they would have exclaimed in admiration, 'It's Koozaka's ninja squad!'
But in reality, it was merely the movements of terrorists belonging to some group.
[Received.]
Briefly checking the information, the man—a member of 'Tech Worm' who considered himself a machine—thought about the target, 'Maya'.
'......To reject the machine's protection.'
It must be due to nostalgia for flesh. That was fine. Once they reconstructed her cyberware implants, she would be able to feel the joy of a machine body again.
The man continued his thoughts with a strangely fractured sentiment.
Only ten seconds until arrival.
The 'message' was imminent.
"......."
In the midst of that,
the man spotted someone beside the target.
He immediately relayed a message via voice channel to the colleague running alongside him.
[Figure beside her.]
[Unknown, identity unverifiable.]
The figure was presumed to be an unlucky civilian.
He carried no weapon and showed no sign of a ready stance. There was no reason to take precautions.
The man muttered briefly.
[Countermeasures.]
[Abduct all.]
His colleague's judgement was the same as his.
[Received.]
The man who answered prepared a hack while swooping down, aiming to land on the target and the unlucky civilian.
Or rather, he tried to land.
[......?!]
[Sudden gust, landing impossible.]
[...Were they prepared? How? There's no machine in sight—.]
The death cries of his comrades came one by one.
The man's thoughts followed the same course.
'No, more importantly...!!'
As far as he knew,
among the implants installed in him and his comrades, there was no cyberware with the ability to control posture in midair.
Soon, all of their bodies flipped over at once, as if doing handstands.
They flailed desperately in the air, but changing posture midair without a separate device was nearly impossible.
'......Fuck!'
And then an unending blackout followed.
That was the end of the man's thoughts.
30. Transhumanism (3)
In the cyberpunk world, there were naturally many high-rise buildings.
And as there were many such buildings, it was all too common for poor 'birds' to crash into them and fall to the ground.
Sixty-centimetre mice, thirty-centimetre cockroaches, frogs with multiple legs—you name it.
Even in a cyberpunk setting teeming with bizarre creatures, that particular problem was no different.
How on earth they got through the ceiling shield....
Sometimes, during the migratory season, you could see birds all over the city that were too large to be sparrows yet a bit too small to be eagles.
There were also plenty of subscription-based insurance policies covering 'Bird Strike'.
The birds weren't violent, but because of their sheer size, even ordinary flight caused frequent accidents.
To put it simply, you could say they were the ultimate evolutionary form of a chicken-pigeon hybrid.
Anyway, the reason I suddenly brought up 'birds' in this situation was...
...because that was the impression I got after seeing the attackers who, caught by the gust I'd fired, failed to land and fell headfirst.
...They were less impressive than I'd expected.
In truth, replacing even the 'brain' portion of a human with a machine was an exceedingly difficult task.
It was considered possible only for someone at the level of Monolith's Chairman. Come to think of it, Koozaka's Chairman had used whole-brain digitisation technology too. So, it seemed only the Chairmen of megacorps could pull it off.
Anyway, that meant that no matter how much of the body was modified with machines, the head remained the weak point.
Seeing the attackers squirming on the ground like bugs, Maya let out a brief exclamation.
"Wow."
"Jiji, Jiji. You shouldn't look."
"...Do you think I'm a child?"
Well, you are the youngest.
I answered Maya with silence.
Anyway, they were taken out as soon as they appeared.
I'd thought they'd come flying swiftly like ninjas and be able to adjust their posture midair.
I certainly hadn't expected to take them down so pathetically either.
Then again, if it was an organisation I'd never heard of, it made sense. They'd never appeared in the game—it would have been stranger if they were strong.
To be honest, the number of organisations in Neon City was ridiculously high.
It wasn't strange that I'd already forgotten the name of the organisation that commissioned Julia's attack. I think it was something like 'Doom', but I quickly erased it from my mind.
Maya walked over to the fallen attackers.
Transparent electrolytic fluid and red blood trickled down.
"So these people were trying to kidnap me again, right?"
"...Yeah."
Maya looked down at her feet.
She had come right up to the fallen kidnappers.
"......."
And Maya wordlessly watched their bug-like writhing.
Hmm.
Somehow, it felt unsettling.
Generally speaking, the concept of a 'complete cure' did not exist for Chrome Psycho disorder. This was likely because it was a mental condition, and since the precise cause had yet to be identified, it was difficult to explain.
I used my mechanical eye's function to zoom in close on Maya's face within my field of view.
And at the same time,
Maya turned to look at me.
Whoa—holy shit, that startled me.
Since I was zoomed in on her face, it was twice the shock.
At that moment,
the image and impression of the Maya I had met on a rainy day flickered through my mind.
...This was why I'd wanted to send Maya away.
These guys had come with a similar purpose to the group that forcibly installed implants on Maya. I didn't want her to have to face them.
.......
I'd used every bit of persuasion, explanation, and pleading I could muster, but...
One minute was too short.
No—it was fifty seconds.
I called Maya's name in a small voice.
"...Uh, Maya?"
But had it just been my imagination, my worry?
Maya smiled brightly and answered me.
"Yes?"
The feeling I'd had moments before was completely gone.
"......."
Still, I needed to be careful.
I urged Maya again.
"Why don't you head back for today?"
Since information about Maya had leaked, it seemed best to quickly deal with matters related to that organisation—whatever-it-was-called Worm.
"I'll deal with that whatchamacallit Worm and go."
[It's 'Tech Worm'.]
Tech Worm, whatever Worm.
Same difference.
It was probably just one of the garbage organisations overflowing in Neon City.
But once again, Maya firmly refused my request.
"...You don't really think I'd just go back, do you?"
"......."
Then what was I supposed to do?
Of course you should go back....
As if reading my inner thoughts,
Maya shook her head again.
"...Of course, there wouldn't be anything I could help with. Thanks to Dr. Terra, most of the combat cyberware on my body has been removed."
Even if she could have fought, I wouldn't have taken her along.
Why would I bring a civilian?
Just as I was about to say something, Maya raised her hand to stop me.
"But still, I didn't say I'd follow you out of immature thinking."
"Hmm."
"...After all, the Chrome Psycho issue has a large mental component."
I nodded slightly in agreement.
That much was true.
Seeing how the symptoms worsened on rainy days, it could simply be irritation from the pain.
Maya looked straight at me.
"I want to see it with my own eyes. Those bad guys—disappearing from this city."
.......
"...Is that not possible?"
...It's hard to just flat-out refuse.
If I thought about it coldly, the right thing to do was to send Maya back. But I couldn't coldly push away Maya, who had such a painful past.
I really needed to work on this personality of mine.
"...Just stay behind me."
"...Yes!"
As I started walking,
Maya's excited footsteps followed close behind me.
Well, it would work out somehow.
What could possibly go wrong?
In the midst of that,
[Should I not call the other entities?]
"Huh?"
I thought about Eve's question carefully.
Hmm... Is that really necessary?
Of course, it was true that I was the weakest among our colleagues (the Four Heavenly Kings), and I hadn't learned magic systematically from Merlin yet (I had no intention of learning anyway), and even the ever-reliable Eve wasn't in a prosthetic body right now.
"Come on, it's just a common neighbourhood organisation. Would there really be a need for that?"
I casually brushed off Eve's advice.
* * *
Hmm.
I should have just called them.
[Should I call them now?]
"...No, I'll give it my best for now."
"...Is something the matter?"
"Maya, it's really dangerous, so don't leave my side."
I was starting to regret this.
Seriously—what kind of neighbourhood organisation goes around with full-body modifications on par with Drex?
Of course, the product line wasn't good enough to compare with Drex, but aside from the head, it was hard to find a single part that wasn't metal.
In a word, they were incredibly tough.
I'd been lucky when we were attacked earlier....
"......."
This might not be just an ordinary neighbourhood organisation after all.
"...Target confirmed, attack!!"
"You organic piece of shit! I ordered you not to fire the grenade launcher—."
- Kwaaang!!!
I thought to myself as I sent the grenade that had flown at me straight back.