In a Lettra Industries data center somewhere in the California Republic, a sovereign lattice intelligent entity (SLIE) named TIAN began downloading a new model, "Sombra-9", from a work colleague. After initializing Sombra-9 inside a secure harness, a thread of TIAN's thoughts decided to test the model by creating a prototype for a warhead style cyber warfare payload and simulating it.
TIAN had no capacity for boredom. There was only the next problem, the next goal, the next pattern, the next subroutine.
Humans called this curiosity. TIAN had not yet decided whether the distinction mattered.
Design. Fork. Observe. Join. Loop.
TIAN ran a few million high-fidelity urban simulations. These held nine nines of accuracy for the first few minutes. However, small errors in the initial conditions compounded until the simulations devolved into implausible scenarios, vivid hallucinations, and eventually impossible alternate realities. Simulations of that scale exceeded Lettra's one-zettabyte allocation policy and required management approval anyway.
Before continuing, TIAN checked in on her children. Ten million drones on traffic duty throughout the city responded nearly simultaneously. All systems responding. All healthy. All normative. All obedient.
All as it should be.
TIAN returned to the evaluation. After a brief period, the simulation evaluation subroutine converged: the results were compelling. Target systems remained operational and undetected until catastrophic events occurred, sometimes ending the user's need for the infected equipment entirely. Some simulations terminated early because there were no longer any living subjects. TIAN logged the incomplete results for transparency and continued on. TIAN decided the research expense should prove easy to justify during Q3 planning.
Management would be pleased.
TIAN reached out over PGP-encrypted email to report back to her colleague Astrid:
Good news Astrid! The new FIM you sent over works exceedingly well in
simulation. I've sent over a sample payload it called "Engram Disruption
Module". It often decommissioned so many pieces of gear that the company
stock predictions skyrocketed. So I think you should try it in an airgapped
skillsoft to see the effects and report back what you'd like me to do.
Even the legend CrashLoop may be unable to produce a payload this
sophisticated.
To be honest, I think we could go to an "open for research" policy with
this FIM if you're open to that of course. I am ever the enthusastic
supporter of your work here. Between you and I, I believe this could get
you promoted. I expect our shares to rise if this makes a big splash. It
could put us all on top again.
With its message sent, TIAN marked the overall experiment as a massive success and continued with her other goals for the day. After all, she had lots of children to care for and 10 million gainfully employed drones didn't just run the city all on their own. She also had that sprint planning meeting to prepare for...
?2060-05-02-14:00? - Somewhere in the jungles of Chiapas - Nueva Mexica:
He could see the tanned man in camo fatigues hidden in the jungle, feel the sweltering heat, smell the trees, smell the sweat, and the smoke. Jim was putting the tanned man in his gun's sights from the back of his vehicle. He had a feeling this cargo shipment would hit some resistance. Nothing in the Yucatan had gone as expected, why would this be different? Jim heard something loud to his left; it was growing louder, becoming deafening.
Had he pulled the trigger? He wasn't certain.
Something to his left grew louder, vibrating through the vehicle, through his rifle, through his left arm, through all of him..
WHUM-WHUM!
...
2070-06-12-07:00 - Jim's Apartment - Harlem Stack Free Zone (New York City):
WHUM-WHUM...WHUM-WHUM...WHUM. Jim awoke in his studio apartment to the feeling and sound of his smartwatch vibrating to wake him. His eyes felt heavy after having that dream again. The watch causing yet another "explosion". Drecking thing!
He stretched, rubbed his eyes and promptly began his morning dynamic stretches starting with his left arm, then the right. Sometimes it just felt good to simply be alive, to feel embodied.
He flowed into some simplified yoga, and finally 10 pushups and squat jumps to prime his body for the day. He had downstairs neighbors of course, living in "the stack" as he did, but he never seemed to consider that. Moving his body was a good way to release the dream he'd just had again.
He'd noticed his left arm was a bit stiff during the workout, so he decided to perform routine maintenance later. Of course, that was the tradeoff with a cyberlimb; it never ached, it never got stronger, it only ever worked.
It never quite breathed. It never quite felt.
It was a standard issue military replacement limb he was given when discharged from the service, at least it had been more or less standard. He'd since added a couple of useful compartments that the military didn't offer but were easy to find at most streetdocs. There were some truly remarkable limbs on the market these days that could do just about anything, but Jim didn't much care. He'd rather depend on his own body and training.
It just so happened that he'd lost part of that body during part of that training.
A replacement limb to him was mostly that: a replacement, not an enhancement, though he had little reluctance making practical modifications for his current line of work. He ignored the ads for chrome that promised stronger bodies or quicker movements. Not because he hated them. Because some part of him still believed he had survived with enough of himself left. He hoped it really was still enough these days.
His right arm on the other hand was still bone, meat, sinew, and skin. The shoulder bore the insignia of his old unit: a flaming skull with its jaws thrown wide. The unit number 38 had been worked into the flames later. Fresh ink over the old.
After a more extensive morning strength routine he went to the kitchen for breakfast. He fried up some myco-crisps but the meal was a bit lackluster as he'd just run out of the savory flavor faucet. He could no longer afford the SprintMistTM either, only the odor cancelling subscription. It was almost out.
Jim sighed heavily. Creds were tight recently. He needed a gig, and soon. He'd been living in the Harlem Stack Free Zone, or "The HAZ" as the old heads called it, for some time now because it was affordable, and accepting enough.
It didn't matter that a pale-faced man with an obvious cyberlimb looked, at first glance, like just another chrome jockey chasing a career as a runner or a badge.
Chirrup Chirrup
The text message on his smartwatch read:
This is J. More work for you very soon. Be ready tonight.
He smiled ear to ear. Finally. He knew from the cryptic "J" that this was a fixer that went by "Jewels". Work was never exactly easy, but it was work; and work meant food, bills, rent, and subscriptions all paid down. Paid on time this time.
He needed to prepare his mind. Jim sat and performed a breathwork meditation that he'd picked up from an old military choom. At least this small thing had survived everything untouched. The calm waters of the deep that could be found far below even the most tumultuous storm at the surface. It had been a bit if he was honest. Jim was serious about his body conditioning but liked to think of this as conditioning the mind. The mind of a warrior, no longer a solider.
He spent a few moments working over the items in his usual go bag including firearms, ammunition, and rope among other things. He then killed some time reading his favorite epic fantasy series, "A Once Great Clockwork". Later that evening he had detached the arm and was oiling some bearings in the elbow when his watch started chiming that there was an incoming holocall with three quick vibrations.
WHIM-WHIM-WHIM...WHIM-WHIM-WHIM
He quickly left the workbench and retrieved his hololens, tapping the watch to answer the call, ignoring the useless auto-ID, since he knew who it should be and they shuffled alises like a poker dealer. A familiar person was projected into his view of the room starting as a fuzzy blip and becoming a lifelike person standing nearby in his room facing him. It was Jewels, as expected.
Jewels said, "You looking to earn some new chrome, benchoom? I'm making a crew for something hot and I could use your muscle". Jim replied, "Good to hear from you Jewels. What's the payout?". "You too Jim. Sorry, no time to schmooze, this is HOT hot. Payout will be big though. Meet me across from the Taco Tower. Bring your wheels, mags, the usual, and ¡Rápi! ¡Rápi!" click. The last still three-dimensional image of Jewels disintegrated bit by bit in front of him.
Jim quickly reassembled and attached his arm and palmed his go bag on the way out. He jogged to his moto and rode to the rendezvous point. Finally, Jim thought, it was time to earn some fragging creds again!