Ghost in the City: Cyberpunk Gamer SI

Judy Alvarez

Judy was glad that was over. Such an awkward conversation, and even worse she had been totally treating the kid like some TC hit squad.

Stupid Jude. Real stupid.

She was a good kid, even helped out Nox. Nox who was very annoying, but still had that bratty charm that made everyone like him…

Mostly. If they didn’t want to punch him.

But he was annoying, and that meant most people outside the Mox did fall more on the punching side of the spectrum. He tended to get beat up a little too often.

Still it was over, and she had four virtues to edit through and turn them into nice shiny Mox approved XBD’s. It was a bit… Well Judy didn’t think it was likely to work. What kind of gigs could a kid get up to that anyone would want to watch?

Judy was well aware of what normal XBD viewers were like. What they wanted.

Sick fucks.

But maybe this softcore XBD would be a hit among kids. Give them a look into the experience of working as a Merc, from a kids perspective.

She picked up the most recent one first. Motoko had said this was from last night. Tyger Claws assaulting Maelstrom.

“I’m not afraid of the Tyger Claws.” She said, strengthening herself as she slipped on her wreath, hands on the edit controls.

Time to work.

First she started the BD, and instantly she was there. She could hear and feel and taste. Nothing too strong yet thankfully. Some BD’s liked to start already mid… Act. Judy hated feeling it. Sex wasn’t exactly something she wanted to feel from certain perspectives.

Which was why she always started a BD with the senses layer turned down. Get a feel for the BD first before she edits it all down to make it smooth to experience.

“Alright, the Maelstrom trucks are a minute out. Get ready.”

Judy shivered as the irritation she was feeling instantly vanished in a rush of excitement. The BDs emotion layer hyping up her own.

The conversation continued but Judy only kept half an ear on it. Then Motoko started moving. Judy focused the feel of the girl moving an important element to the BD. Especially with all the edits she would make to replace the visual layer with the watcher.

Most users of the BD would focus on visual, humans were like that, but one of the big things that would throw someone out of a BD was odd feelings. So balancing it right was super important. Usually you had to throttle it way down. If you were scrolling someone fat, and you weren’t?

That sense of disconnect would be pretty intense.

Although some people scrolled BD’s like that on purpose. Everything was someone's fetish.

But this? Just through the motion, Judy could feel live muscle, shifting balance. Motoko wasn’t just some kid with a gun, she definitely worked out. It was pretty intense. Judy wasn’t exactly the type to hit the gym.

She left it playing without delving heavily into editing, just to see, when suddenly Motoko went from a walk to motion in an instant, a blitz up the side of a building that by the time Judy realized what was happening she had to pause the recording, take off the wreath and actually step away.

Judy didn’t really like heights, and the feeling of free climbing up a building made her stomach flip.

But it was so sure. No hesitation, no slipping, or stumbling just up the building like climbing a ladder.

No faster than a ladder.

Grabbing her secret stash of Mega Joult. Thank you Nox for slipping that in. She recaffeinated and felt ready to continue.

Slipping back into the BD she let it play. She was on the top of the building. The cold air was crisp, but Motoko’s breath was completely even, like she hadn’t just climbed a building. Hell her heart rate had barely gone up.

Judy made a note, she would need to adjust that feeling, actually maybe increase it, let people feel their heart beating without any disruption, let them feel how calm Motoko was?

Judy would have to test it both ways, but for now she let it continue.

A rifle pulled off her shoulder Judy felt her hands roam over it quickly. A single practiced action, and it was practiced, Judy knew the difference. It felt good. That would be nice. Motoko certainly had some gun experience.

Then… Then Motoko stalked. Judy suddenly realized the audio file was practically dead. Not a sound as Motoko stalked up to the edge.

She played through it a few times there. Just to see what she could catch, and she realized despite walking in boots, there was barely a sound coming from her steps.

Damn. She must have a really good Lynx Paw. Judy went ahead and brought some focus in the BD towards the lack of sound with each step. Letting people feel that surety of stepping without a sound.

Motoko kneeled, settled into the shadows and then brought up her… Nekomata? Yeah Judy was pretty sure that was the right name. Eyes slipped over the scope, and Judy nodded to herself, everything was so clear. Kiroshi made this so much easier. The visual file was actually higher density than a normal BD. Kiroshi were expensive after all.

Then Judy could hear it. A rumble of a truck that Motoko instantly picked up, her attention focused on the sound making it come in so clear. Judy wouldn’t need to play with it much.

Motoko took it all in without shifting an inch, she remained perfectly still. The cavalcade of Maelstrom. She was already picking out faces thanks to her scope and Kiroshi. And Judy made sure to focus on some of them, bring them into focus on the BD.

XBDs were all about murder after all. Even if Judy found it disgusting it was what people wanted.

She watched as the Maelstrom parked around, and noticed the information Motoko gathered about their NCPD record! Nice. Judy made sure to bring each one into sight, it would let the user get a look at the people that were about to die.

Then Judy felt it.

Motoko was smiling. BD’s recorded emotions. And since Judy hadn’t finished cleaning up the BD, she could feel exactly what Motoko was feeling. Exhilaration. A macabre happiness about the targets she was going to kill.

Motoko had been happy that she was going to kill these Maelstrom especially.

She continued letting that excitement flow through her. She would maybe have to heighten the excitement emotional layer a bit, it was pretty low. Building the tension a bit more could be good.

The Maelstrom stepped out, firing around, opening the shop only to be blown apart with a riot of noise.

Judy flinched, but Motoko didn’t. Perfectly calm at the sight and sudden assault. Not a twitch, not a bump in her heart rate.

Just control, and a focused excitement.

It was enough to make the differences all the more apparent. In a normal BD she would have smoothed it, maybe lowered the users surprise, or increase Motoko’s. Just to make sure it felt like a smooth transition.

But there was something about the complete calm that was… Noticeable. And Judy decided she was going to have to play with that. Maybe leave it as is.

Motoko’s attention shifted. Tyger Claws. Racing out towards the Maelstrom from behind.

Yet even as she registered that her scope was focused on the Maelstrom ready to shift.

Then it happened, a Maelstrom started to turn around, they had noticed the Tyger Claws.

Judy felt herself freeze. Outside the BD. Her throat opened in a silent gasp as everything changed.

The emotion file practically spazzed out.

Judy’s heart was racing outside of the BD.

Because in an instant she felt it. The supreme control over herself.

No, the control Motoko had over herself. Emotions distractions, all of it disappeared. There was only…

Purpose.

The rest of the BD went by in a blur of controlled focus. Every part of her body moved in tandem, every breath, every thought, all working towards the purpose of killing whoever Motoko needed dead.

By the time the BD ended Judy had stopped paying any attention to editing. Had stopped even remembering who she was.

Because for a while she wasn’t Judy experiencing a BD, she was Motoko. Every instinct, every movement felt so sure. So right. Perfect.

Judy pulled off the wreath and nearly chucked it away before controlling herself.

She couldn’t control herself like Motoko. Already the feeling of her own heartbeat speeding was so… Strange. Especially after feeling so in control. But Judy couldn’t. Her heart raced, her body twitched. It was wrong. All of these things could be controlled. She just… Had to learn how.

Judy had no idea.

“I need a break.” She said instantly standing up on wonky legs her stride was wrong. She could feel it, even if she wasn’t sure what she was doing wrong, but there was an awareness there, that she was moving wrong. Too slow, too heavy, too loud.

“Fuck me.” She whispered as she hit the bathroom and washed her face. That had been… Intense.

Judy felt her eyes go gold as she decided to make a call. “Rita. I need you down here if you got a minute… I want you to see this.”

—--

Finally!

No more distractions!

I settled down into the apartment with an armful of components I had needed, and set to work.

I had CAD. I had some knowledge, a full toolkit, and some peace and quiet.

Time to get to work!

The idea I had come up with while I was killing Maelstrom had been percolating in my head.

I needed a way to listen into conversations. If I was sneaking around, then being able to gather intel was a must. Luckily this was the future. Parabolic Microphones were outdated tech.

Long range microphones were easy enough to tech together.

Even I could do it!

I had the basic know-how in my head thanks to Engineering. The skill had flooded me with solutions and knowledge on not just how to tinker with something, but to have a needed idea and then what it would take to create it.

It was dense stuff. Technical Ability was knowledge about what exists… Sorta. Crafting, was being able to physically put something together. Engineering was knowing how to design something from the ground up. And a bit of fixing problems while crafting… But then again Crafting had solutions to engineering as well.

Or maybe I was wrong about all three! It was all so dense, and mixed together, it was difficult for my own head to split them into their own categories.

It all fit together. All three parts were sort of needed to create a whole. But the knowledge dumps were insane. Comprehensive education was rare in Night City, Especially outside of Corpo kids. Rarer still was an education that someone could take and then immediately be able to use.

Even with my low stat and skill points. I was probably more flexible than most Techies, a wider base, if not as deep. Yet.

So I started designing. I needed it to be small but functional. High range, good fidelity. With the ability to narrow down sounds.

Can’t have loud music stopping me from being able to listen in. Although that would be a later problem. Programming the damn thing came later. First was the engineering half. Design and create.

The microphone was fiddly, but other than a bit of sloppiness thanks to my manual dexterity still not being 100% perfect at times with the chrome. My transferred skills helped me get it working.

Then I set up a small transceiver, and went to work on the ear piece. Which I actually scratch built. Since anything I made would be cheaper than one from a store.

With that done I set the two pieces of tech to the same channel, and activated it.

Nothing.

“Fuck.”

—--

It took me four hours to figure out what went wrong.

The answer? Nothing. I was just a moron.

I was under a jammer! Of course my wireless connection didn’t work!

Realizing that wireless access like that was just asking to become useless under a jamming system, I tore it apart, and decided to go a little analog. With my 3D printer I created some wires that would connect the two parts, even created a small wire storage that would wind up the wire when I was done.

All done the entire piece of tech was small enough to hold in my hand, and be stored in one of my pouches. But with that, I was able to pull it out, stick the ear piece in my ear, and stretch out the wire along my arm. The mic easily attached to my fingers, and was small enough it wouldn’t get in the way if I needed to fight with it on.

I turned on the TV to a very low level and walked across the room, to the point I could barely hear it then I pointed the mic.

The voice of the news reporter came in clearly in my ear, only a static pop from time to time showing it wasn’t a direct audio, but a long range mic picking up a TV audio.

Done.

“I did it.” I couldn’t help but breathe out as I looked at my long distance microphone. I could listen into conversations now! But the alerts that I had ignored were my first stop.

*Engineering skill level up!*

Engineering 3, it had leveled up while I was working in CAD designing my new toy. Apparently my system liked it when I designed the ear piece from scratch as well. But there was more. So much more!

*Technical Attribute Leveled up!*

Technical Attribute was now level 4! And it had even leveled up mid build because I had a bunch of alerts for Crafting, ending with a level up!

*Crafting skill level up!*

Crafting 4.

My entire Tech tree had leveled up in one afternoon! Which just goes to show how little I had actually built… I would really need to fix that. Tech was too useful a thing, plus it was fun…

But Leveling up Engineering had reminded me!I still had an Engineering perk! Hell I had two perks! The Assault perk was still sitting there too!

I stretched and fell back onto the couch, instantly wincing and sitting up to move a piece of the wireless system that I had apparently dropped on the couch back to a table and then laid back down.

This was the life.

I had two perks to choose, Engineering and an Assault Perk. I opened up the Perk list to take a look.

Engineering first, since I had forgotten about it for so long. Since I didn’t really intend on going mad bomber, I ignored most of the grenade focused perks. I was looking for tech stuff.

And I found it. Like Crafting there were tons of perks here, but I ended up choosing the one I wanted the most.

Design Wizard: Your designs will always be beyond the average, you work faster, and more efficiently while designing.

I nodded as I selected it. Feeling the rush of the perk coming into play.

And instantly wished I had picked this before spending all afternoon working on my Directional Microphone. That would have made things a lot easier…

I shook it off. No point pouting at what I could do better. I would constantly be improving just take it as it is. I shook it all away and focused back on the menu.

It had been a while since I saw the assault perks. I ran through them again, my eye catching on Bullet Counting, but I didn’t really need that. My Kiroshi, and a Smart link would take care of that… When I got a Smart Link anyways.

But it was pointless. I didn't need it. Not for a Perk point.

Instead I looked for other Synergy Perks. Perks that would upgrade not just assault weapons, but potentially all of them. I had already taken Gun Nut, which was incredibly useful in order to keep myself from looking like an idiot by trying to shoot a gun that was still on safe.

Most of the perks were Assault skill focused. Accuracy with Rifles, SMG’s or Sniper Rifles.

Things that were useful, but that would come with just increased stats anyways…

But I was tempted to do the Sniper Rifle one.

‘Crack Shot: While wielding a Sniper Rifle, If you are in range you can work out a path for your bullet to reach its target.’

That sounded mildly terrifying.

But it wasn’t exactly what I was going for…

Yet.

No, instead I continued digging, Until I found it. The exact perk I wanted. Because it didn’t just deal with a specific series of guns. The name of it had made me pass over it at first.

‘Rifle Ace. Long rifles of all types are deadly in your experienced hands. Ready your long gun to fire in a blink.’

It was literally Quickdraw for long guns! I was kicking my feet into the air and laughing as I selected it. Instantly I felt the information flow. That surety of motion and knowledge that I KNEW the best way to do something.

It was amazing. I loved new perks and skill upgrades, that confusion, or amateur attempts at something simply washing away under absolute surety.

The natural anxiety that everyone feels. That ‘am I doing it right?’ feeling was gone.

I sighed in happiness, deciding to take a break from any grinding for the night. I put on some wacky future cartoons, and curled up on the couch.