Chapter 56

Chapter 56

I was back home setting up for some programming grinding since I still wanted to make my music box, when I got an incoming call from Jun.

*Hey Jun-Nii. Whats up?*

*Finally, I called you a few times this afternoon, where were you?*

I blushed a little when I noticed that I had alerts for missed calls. Okay Motoko you fucking boomer. You really need to remember to check your phone more often! I yelled at myself before answering Jun.

*I was with Vik, doing a sleep thing. He was giving me a check up but wanted me to stay for a bit so I took a nap. Sorry Jun-Nii. You okay? Need my help?*

*Im fine Motoko just checking in on you. You werent home when I stopped by. Listen, I have a feeling you already know, but Jotaro Shobo is dead.*

*Waaa no waaay? Really? Oh man thats terrrrrible.* I fake gasped to get a laugh but Jun wasnt laughing.

*As far as anyone is concerned Jotaro was killed by the family of someone he It doesnt matter. But thats what everyone is saying. Keep it that way. Motoko if you ever listen to me, then listen to me now. Never talk about Jotaro again.*

Jun was seriously worried. I frowned looking at my programming for a minute just to have something real to focus on.

*I promise Jun. Its done. No point talking about it.*

*Good. Good You know you can talk to me about stuff like this. I can protect you from anything Imouto, you just have to trust me enough to tell me.*

*I do trust you Jun. And you can trust me to protect you too. So if you ever need a hand.*

*I will call this scary sniper I know, yeah.* He said and I had to giggle at that. Sniping was like the least of my talents though. I wasnt even that good at it. I was just sneaky.

*I have to go Motoko. Ill be back in the morning, and well talk more then. Just keep your head down for a bit.*

*Sure.*

The call clicked as it ended and I was left to refocus on my work. So the TC didnt suspect me or at least the common members didnt. Good.

Hopefully it will stay that way.

I put my hands back on the keyboard and started typing. I had a skill to level up.

--

I was still only working on Ping as I had no other Quick Hack programs to mess with, and I didnt feel confident enough in trying to create a program from scratch yet, when I got my second ding.

*Programming skill level up!*

*1 Perk Point Gained.*

Yes! I called out thrilled at the sudden burst of knowledge with Programming 2. Yeah I was definitely feeling a lot better about my programming, plus the perk meant I would have a serious advantage. Instantly I dug through the perk list. This perk would be supremely important to my future, because Programming was going to be a serious advantage in the future.

So I explored the options entirely. A few instantly popped to the forefront.

Inspired Programmer: Inspiration strikes constantly. Never run out of steam while programming.

It seemed kind of innocuous, but also secretly really powerful. Sure my system gave me knowledge, and I didnt tend to get bored with whatever task I was doing, but constant inspiration would mean my programs come out better, come out faster. But it wasnt the only one that caught my eye.

Debug: At a single glance, you will know what is causing your program not to work, or where the program can be improved.

Another extremely powerful sounding perk. Its one thing to know programming, and its another to have confidence in being able to make it work. To figure out what was wrong

The list went on, but I needed to decide. At Programming 2, I was still so new to the skill that a perk would make massive changes.

Did I want to make sure my programming worked? Or did I want to keep pumping out programs to level up?

It was two sides of the coin.

But I had to make a decision and so I did.

Debug. I decided to make sure what I was working with could work. It might not be the best, but the skill itself did give me knowledge on how to make the programs anyway. But making sure whatever I was working on would actually function would hopefully give me more XP in the long run than just pumping out Programming that was a mess.

Instantly I felt like I was some ancient programmer that debugged irritating students for a living.

But I knew.

I pulled out my Ping Quick Hacks details on the laptop again, and instantly I could see the absolute college programmer tier problems with it.

Made sense. The program was bottom of the barrel sludge ware. I could fix it though. At least somewhat.

That sense of knowing as always felt great, filled me with a sense of purpose.

My hands tore across the keyboard removing bloat, fixing leaks. Solving a problem that made the thing last half as long as it should in systems that arent resisting.

And to my delight each problem solved was a bit of XP.

With that the XP started racing in, as I was making honest real improvements to Ping. When I was done, I wouldnt say it was quite at the level of an upgrade to its rarity in game terms, but I think I had actually reduced the RAM a Cyberdeck would need to run the program.

Which was impressive enough, since the program was already fairly light.

But I kept working on it. Tearing it apart piece by piece, line by line.

And a program, even one as simple as Ping wasnt a small piece of code. The amount of systems it had to interface with, both external and internal as it had to use whatever optics you had installed to display the information it had gained?

The thing was overly complicated.

Which made me realize I could completely do away with most of it.

I tore apart huge swaths of the code reducing it so it would only work and display on my particular optics. Since it didnt have to query or check for any other internal systems, the program slimmed right down. Practically reducing the actual program slot usage to almost nothing.

I realized that it was completely possible for Ping since it was much smaller than the juggernauts of the Quick Hack world to be reduced to a completely negligible size on my Cyberdeck.

I might actually be able to reduce it so much that it wouldnt even use up the Cyberdecks slot count. This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

To always have Ping installed, ready and able? That would be supremely useful, and give me more utility.

I couldnt help but laugh as I stepped away late in the afternoon to get a meal from the street vendors. I was right Programming was truly a weapon that I had to utilize.

I decided to step away from the apartment for a bit while I ate. I still had my Burya and Lexington on me, so I decided to walk around the block. Like I had done back when I was still grinding out my body. It was Nice to go back to something so simple.

It reminded me that I needed to keep choosing to live my life how I wanted, and not be subconsciously afraid of Maelstrom Borgs around every corner.

I stuck the final bit of meat on a stick into my mouth, tossed the skewer into the trash and decided to move around a bit. Instead of heading straight home I went for a jog. First up further into Japantown taking the stairs up to the surface near Cherry Blossom Market. Then just around the shops along the strip malls trailing the roads.

As I drove out towards the ripper that Vik had told me had my Cyberdeck I was more than happy to make this deal.

But then as I started walking up to the place the ripper should be. I had the wildest sense of deja vu

I found myself staring past the sign of the ripper dock, looking out into the water off the pier.

I glanced at the opposite wall. A big 6th Street tag which looked pretty fresh was covering the wall.

I knew this place.

I knew this place!

This was David's Ripper. That crazy fuck that had literally fucked David over by not giving him his meds after an operation.

But also a guy that afterwards had tried to help out David. A weird dichotomy of a man.

Either way, I knew how this fucker operated. He wouldnt lay a finger on my meat or my chrome.

I shook away the ghosts of the future and stepped in.

Looking for the Doc. I called out noticing the room was dirty, I didnt see him at first, only as his head popped out from behind his ripper chair did I notice what he was doing.

BD and masturbating

Greeeeat.

Oooh. And who is this? Looking for some chrome? Well I got the stuff alright. He said his face shifting looking me over, his electronic eyes had already noticed my equipment. He hadnt hesitated a moment before realizing I was here with eddies.

Viktor Vector contacted you recently, about a Seacho Cyberdeck. You said you have one.

Oh thats who you are, Viks chrome ey? Alright alright, come on in, I got what you want. He said with a chuckle that I wasnt sure if it was perversion or greed.

Fucking slimeball.

But after a few moments he pulled out a canister, cracked the seal and pulled the canister open showing the Cyberdeck resting in the cradle. Then before I could get a view he closed it down.

Twenty thou for this beauty.

Bullshit. That thing isnt worth more than fifteen, and we both know it. Vik even confirmed the price with me.

Twenty, these arent easy to come by anymore. Got another buyer, so the price went up. He offered with a chuckle.

This fucker. Fine if he wanted to play fuck around games.

No deal. Ill go find another deck somewhere else then. I said turning to leave the room.

H-hey, hold your chrome, you wont find another in the entire city! This little baby is worth the price. He offered waving the canister at me enticingly.

Its worth fifteen grand max. If you want to sell it and have those eddies in your pocket right now, thats the price. I offered instantly. If it was any other ripper maybe I would have haggled but I didnt want to deal with this guy in the first place.

Tsk, no interest in bartering in the new generation. He said but didnt agree to the price. Instead he walked over and settled onto a chair waving the canister at me. How about a deal, a few extras you can buy that might-

Im only here for the Cyberdeck. If you arent going to sell it, Ill delta. I cut him off. I didnt want anything this ripper was selling.

Other than my new Cyberdeck.

Fine, fine. Ill give it away at sixteen thousand. Since youre here, and the other buyer isnt. I mean it girl, you wont find anyone else with one of these babies.

Thats robbery. Ill throw an extra five hundred on, lowest Ill go, offer me any other deal and Im deltaing. I can find another Cyberdeck.

Hehe, Well I guess Ill just have to take it then. He offered chuckling but I wasnt happy, before he could say anything I snatched it out of his stupid cyber hand.

Hey!

I popped the seal and looked it over, scanning it for any problems. To my surprise it was actually in good condition. I noticed a few problems, but just normal issues with Cyberdecks that had been used before.

I could actually fix most of them with a few minutes work if I felt up to it, but I bet Vik could as well.

Now my eddies, and Ill get that right in there for you. He offered waving at his chair. Only his wasnt anything like Viks.

It had a fucking bite bar.

Pass. I have my own ripper. I told him but my eyes went blue and I sent over the 15500 eddies, and walked out.

I felt like I needed a bath. But Vik first.

I wanted more RAM dammit!

--

Viiiik! I called out as I spun into his downstairs clinic having leapt down the stairs and grabbed the hand rail to turn my momentum into a spin inside. I got my Cyberdeck! I told him holding up the canister in both hands to show it off.

Heh! The old ripper couldnt help but laugh as he looked up from his laptop he had been mid email by the looks of it as I entered, seeing me practically bouncing on my toes to get an upgrade.

Alright alright. Cmon kid lets take a look. Ill need to look over the deck before I install.

Definitely! The chip is in good condition, but it could use a good cleanup, and maybe a repair to one of the neural input. I noticed the connection was a bit tarnished.

Oh? Good eye. Heh or good eyes I suppose. He teased looking up into my eyes before taking the canister from me and rolling across the floor. Alright lets see what were working with. He muttered as he slotted it into his system and it instantly started doing a check on the deck, as well as a visual high def magnification on the circuitry.

Vik was cool.

I settled on the ripper chair beside him and pointed out the tarnish I mentioned only to see him use his tools to instantly clean it off, and even overlay a new gold overlay to ensure the connection wasnt damaged.

All cleaned up, and fixed up. You ready? He asked teasing, but he did let his face relax a bit and asked the same question a bit more seriously. You sure youre ready?

I hesitated but exhaled.

This wasnt going to hurt me. It couldnt. Nothing about me would change. I was I.

Motoko was Motoko.

My body was a piece of me, but wasnt me. My soul. My ghost would not be harmed by something like this. Something so minuscule.

Yes. I said opening my eyes, my will firm and ready.

Then lets settle you back.