₦airaland Forum

Chapter One (Part 2) update tomorrow.

CHAPTER ONE

Do cyborgs dream of electric sheep?
Sam Gibson's safe house
NightCity, 2000 hrs

Darkness...it always begins in darkness ,then come the sounds ,muted and faraway at first then clearer, louder but it's the images that haunt him the most. Surroundings that are familiar and yet oddly unknown, sounds and voices from the past seeking recognition but none is found. The faces...oh god the faces,dancing in and out of his view , men and women ,young and old ...some smiling while others are twisted in anger or pain.

''Oh god, who are you people? How do i know you? Where are you now? I don't know , i don't remember''.

The faces shimmer out of sight to be replaced by a single solitary figure...a man standing in the distance looking at Sam.
The experience begins with darkness and it always ends with this man standing before him, looking at him with those eyes, those pale blue eyes.

Frustration wells up in Sams chest ,eager for release.

''Who the hell are you?''

The man does not answer, in all the times he had tormented Sam he never answered, he just looked at Sam with those damn eyes.

''Do you Know about my past?''

GIBSON!...

''If you know about my past then stop screwing around and just tell me!''

GIBSON!...

''Just tell me Goddamn you! ''

GIBSON!...

Sam sat up with a jolt, his hands reaching for his twin Arasaka handguns, synthetic adrenaline pulsing through him.

His eyes quickly took in his environment in the space of a few seconds.

''The safehouse...I'm at the safehouse''

Sam holstered the pistols and set his feet down from the bed, disconnected the wires from his cranial nodes and placed them beside the bioscan monitor on the deckstand.

''A dream , another damn dream''

In the old days Sam would never have thought full body cyborgs to be capable of dreaming and yet he couldn't think of a betterword to describe what he had just experienced. Tonight would be the third time in as many weeks and there wasn't anything to say it would change anytime soon.
Sam's eyes made a cursory sweep of his safehouse lingering for a few seconds on familiar areas ; the crimson twilight filtering in through the window ,a munitions cachebox in a corner holding various weapons, attachments and ammo clips.
The closet which held several change of clothes occupied the wall facing him and not too far from that was the door leading to the other rooms of the safehouse.
His eyes finally came to rest on the deckstand and his com' unit which was flashing brightly in the near darkness of the room.

Sam reached over to pick it up and place it to his ear.
The com' units display screen showed the digital I.D ofthe person trying to reach him but Sam didn't bother to look because only one person in the world knew the digital I.D of his personal line.

''Kaena, i'm here...what's up?''

A husky but decidedly feminine voice responded on the other end of the line.

''Well it's about time you answered was actually starting to think i had called a wrong number! What took you so long?''

''Uhn...sorry about that. I just came out of sleep mode a few minutes ago, guess i just needed a little time to clear the cobwebs from the ol' clock...heh heh''

Kaena was silent on the other end of the line,Sam had not told her about the dreams (How could he?He had only just admitted to himself that they were dreams tonight!) but in his usual manner Sam had tried to deflect Kaena with an attempt at dry humor.If Kaena could see through his facade she did not give it away.

''Yeah...whatever! I called to remind you to drop by my place for the new fix i've been telling you about and the sparring session you promised me.''

Sams lips formed a smile, Kaena was giving Sam lessons on console hacking and data extraction but in return she asked (demanded more like) that Sam drill her in hand to hand combat. Sam had finally agreed to this bargain when Kaena argued that a chain was only as strong as its weakest link and that their partnership would be strengthened by an exchange of their skills. Sam would attain basic netrunner skills and Kaena would learn how to take on opponents twice her size.

''Right...Don't worry i'll be there like I promised.''

Another few seconds of silence from Kaenas'end of the line
''Gibson ...is everything ok?''
Translation; is there something wrong you're not telling me about?

''I'm perfectly fine. I'll see you in a little while ok?''

The lie came out smoothly enough. Sam wasalmost surprised at himself.

"Ok Gibson...Don't be late.''

The line went dead from Kaenas' end as she terminated the call. Sam removed the com' unit from his ear, placing it back on the deckstand and got up off the bed.

Moping around in the safehouse wasn't going to do him any good ,just need to get out and about. He walked over to the closet and picked out his biker jacket from a hanger, slipping it on quickly.

Reaching into the jacket pockets he fished out his black gloves which he put on one after the other,his tactile sensors told him that the gloves fit snugly which was further confirmed by the straining sounds produced when he made his hands into a fist.

Sam moved over to the munitions cachebox and entered the unlock code. The cachebox clicked open to allow Sam access to the rows of ammunition clips store, He selected several clips for his twin Arasaka handguns, slipping them into the pockets of his combat trousers.
Satisfied that he was now adequately armed,Sam moved through the door into the next room which was almost empty except for a large full length mirror and another deckstand . Sam retrieved a roll of credit notes and his shadow account card. Unlike credit cards used by most residents of nightcity ,Sams credit card would not be flagged by conventional E-security programs installed on a majority of Nightcitys credit card consoles, allowing him to access his shadowaccount funds without detection or trace but even with this advantage Sam refused to leave home without raw cash in his pocket. The average citizen of nightcity might well be satisfied with paying for goods and services with a standard credit card but nothing motivates a streetkid to act first on your behalf and never ask questions or an underpaid corporate security gaurd to look the other way while you slip in through the back door of a guarded building to carry out a termination contract on an unsuspecting corporate boss like waving a hand full of credit notes in their faces.

Sam started walking towards the door but just before reaching the exit he passed the mirror and stopped dead in his tracks.
The reflection that stared back at him was not hisown but of that man, the one from his dreams.

To be Continued...

joanee20:
Finally

@joanee20

Sorry to keep you waiting Chapter 1 update tomorrow.

PROLOGUE

The year is 2022.It is the time of the 4th corporate war. Arasaka and Millitech , two giant worldwide Mega corps are engaged in a secret conflict that threatens to explode into all out warfare.In this uncertain time, spies, mercenaries & dealers of all types make their fortunes working for the highest bidder.

My name is Gibson...Sam Gibson. I'm a full body cyborg soldier commonly known as a SOLO under covert contract to the Arasaka Corporation. I've been doing this so long I barely remember any other life before this one, hardly surprising since i also happen to have a bad case of what can best be described as ''selective amnesia'' .

You see as best as i can remember at one point in time i was a regular flesh & blood soldier fighting in the South America Cyberwars but then i got hurt bad on the field...like at the point of death Bad. Then Arasaka agents pull me out of the battlefield straight to their hi-tech cybernetics lab where their doctors save my life by plugging me full of cybernetic implants, synthetic organs, tissue and cutting edge nanotechnology.

By the time they were done well over 95% of my original body had been either been replaced or altered and augmented and my memory was shot to hell but whether it was as a result of my wounds from the war or from the transformation procedure I'll probably never know. Anyways after that Arasaka set me up as one of their covert assets, with my military background it wasn't too hard for them to designate me as a SOLO.
I carry out covert missions and activities that they can't afford to have traced back to them and in exchange they give me everything i need to maintain my new cybernetic body and a nice stack of credits in my account to boot.

Now for most people this would seem like a pretty sweet deal and in my case for a long time it was just that but sooner or later no matter how good the gravy train is, the shits gotta hit the fan someday.

It all started just over a week ago when i took that last contract fom Arasaka Corp.

@joanee20

I currently do not have access to a laptop & upload from my phone is not ideal. Still working on an alternative.

Thank you for following up on my posts.

Snippet 4: NightCity

The city of the future, a sprawling Megalopolis of cutting edge technology ruled by the Corporate elite who live life to the best while the populace fight for scraps.

#TheArasakaContract

P.S Next update will be the Story Prolouge

Snippet 3: The Netrunner

Netrunners are the computer hackers of the new world,thier hacking skills augmented by cybernetic brain implants. They surf the digital pathways of the Net living on the cutting edge of the electronic world.

#TheArasakaContract

Snippet 2: The Solo

A Solo is a modern day Mercenary for the MegaCorps of the world. They are Enforcers, Bodyguards, Assassins and anything else that their employers, the MegaCorps need them to be... for a price.

#TheArasakaContract

Hello peeps, i've been a long time lurker in this section and have finally decided to take the plunge and put something up that i've been working on for a long while.

In perusing this section I find that there are very few (if any) science fiction works which is one of my personal favorites and I hope to fill that gap.

I willl upload bits and pieces of my Fan Novel on here while I put finishing touches before it goes live online.

The title for the work is The Arasaka Contract and it is set in a city and America of the near future where the protagonist, a high tech cyborg mercenary must complete a mission for his employer and unravel the mastermind behind shocking theft which leads him on a trail of greed, deception and death.


Snippet 1: Arasaka Corporation


Arasaka Corp, a huge Japanese Zaibatsu headed by a megalomaniac CEO obsessed with turning Japan into a worldwide superpower.
#TheArasakaContract