108. brain
When examining the future hopes of the children in Junk Town, the first priority was gangsters, the second priority was mercenaries, and the third priority was fixer brokers. It’s not an official investigation, but it certainly will be.
“I thought the brokerage business would never disappear, but it doesn’t.”
The common feature of the above popular jobs is that they do not require qualifications or capital. If he claimed to be a broker, he was a broker. However, the ‘real’ ones whose skills were verified were always in the minority.
Leonard swept the cans piled up on the table into an empty box. I thought about serving coffee, but since I moved in less than a day ago, there was not even a coffee flavoring agent.
“So you came here yourself?”
Max sets down two glasses of water. It seems that he has learned to serve something to customers. However, the first customer of the reopening, the first client, did not even pay attention to the water he got from the sink. I was not in a position to drink tap water that was not properly purified.
“Jane recommended it. The most competent fixer in the city.”
“Mr. Jane?”
“Jane Kurt.”
I think I heard it somewhere, but I can’t remember right away. exclaimed Max as he searched the memory.
“Shining Star!”
“What?”
“Jane Kurt is Shining Star! No, Mr. Leonard doesn’t know that either?”
“Do I really need to know that?”
It seems that Shining Star has not forgotten the past. Seeing what you introduced to your acquaintances.
“Corporate terrorism, public security terrorism, anything other than contract killings. Of course, the price has to be right, but…”
“Don’t worry about the credits.”
He looked like he had no worries. He cleared his throat when Leonard motioned for him to continue.
“I am Merian Jules. I am the CEO of Green House.”
“If it’s a green house…”
A-044 It was a hotel owned by Highlane, the largest company in the city. I guessed it, but needed confirmation.
“Are you the family of President Volfors?”
“I am second. I have an older brother who is like an idiot.”
It was the head of the company. The difference in surname was because of her husband, and the unfamiliar face was because of the troublemaker brothers.
‘Isn’t the news rare these days?’
Leonard recalled the worst troublemaker in Sodom City. It seemed true that Snowball became a psycho cyborg.
“You are a greater person than I thought.”
“It’s not that great. It’s because I’m in a similar situation to you.”
It was a meaningful answer. Leonard took a sip of tap water and glanced to the side. A cyborg with “I am a bodyguard” written from head to toe was waiting in a straight posture. As a company bodyguard, implants are great, but not to the point of being a threat.
“Then let’s get to the point. What can I ask for?”
It will not be an easy task because it is something that an asset value of tens of billions, maybe hundreds of billions of credits, cannot solve. Indeed, the client was not able to speak easily. After hesitating for a while, he spoke carefully.
“What is it like to be alive?”
“…If you want to feel alive, ask me to help you experience the bottom of Junk Town…”
“Yes? What bullshit are you talking about? There are so many interesting things in the world, but there is nothing to do, so you experience life in a gutter?”
“Poetry, gutter…”
Max, from the gutter, put on a wounded expression.
“Otherwise, you want some philosophical advice…”
“You keep saying weird things, just answer me. What is the definition of ‘alive’?”
We had to consider whether we wanted a biological definition or an abstract one. The highly educated elite cannot possibly not know the definition of life, so it is probably the latter.
“It is a state in which you can judge with willpower.”
It looks like you picked the right one. The client’s expression brightened.
“If you don’t have free will, if you don’t have the ability to judge for yourself, then you’re not alive, right?”
“I can’t say for sure how far this is a general theory. It’s not like the Orange Penitentiary’s inmates or brain-dead patients are dead.”
“Continue in general. Are people whose brains melt and don’t even know what they’re doing alive?”
After hearing it over and over again, it wasn’t a request from an immature lady. Leonard corrected his increasingly uncomfortable posture.
“As I said earlier, we will not accept requests for corporate terrorism and contract killings.”
“No. It’s a family request that has nothing to do with a company, and murder is written on a living person.”
At this point, Max, who was not interested in anything other than Shining Star, sensed an unusual atmosphere.
“It’s no different from Jane Kurt’s request. You can bring me an implant. The request fee is doubled. Eighteen thousand credits.”
Leonard blatantly frowned. I hated the mentality of rich people who thought credit was everything. because it actually works.
“Let’s talk about specifics.”
@
18,000 credits. It was a large amount to refuse, but it was not an amount that would blindly break one’s convictions.
“So what are you going to do? Are you going to bring me any brain and insist on it?”
“That’s not what a pro would do.”
If it had been a request to extract the brain of ‘Donald Volfors’, the eldest son of Chairman Volfors, he would have refused even if given 180 million instead of 18,000. Because it’s not more expensive than life. However, the client’s request narrowly passed the cut-off.
“Let’s think briefly. Retrieving the ‘implant’ brain. Have you done it often?”
The target of the request was an implant brain that restored the brain melted by electronic drugs. Since the main body is in the recovery room, the implant was just an auxiliary device that stored memories. It was not legally or ethically alive.
“I don’t know. If you think you’re alive, aren’t you alive? Aren’t people with electronic brains common?”
Most notably, twins. He was ‘surviving’ with an implanted brain with mixed memories. Except for having human memories, the structure itself was no different from Sigma. However, the twins were cyborgs and Sigma was an android.
“The standards are ambiguous.”
It wasn’t just Max’s problem. The client was also not confident in this part, so he would have raised the topic first.
“This case doesn’t even seem like a normal memory.”
The poor scavengers in Junk Town think that the rich in White Town often backup their memories and prepare extra implants, but in reality, there weren’t many such paranoids. This is because it is unlikely that a sudden crisis will come to the daily routine, and it is unknown whether the implant brain that transferred the memories is itself or a clone of itself.
Donald Volforth also did not back up his memories for that reason. Since the current broken brain was the only brain, the implanted brain copied from it was not normal. Even if eminent scientists analyzed the electronic drug snowball, relieved the aftereffects and restored it as much as possible.
“This floor is narrow and narrow. After turning around, the request comes in like this.”
It felt like giving a bottle, giving medicine, and giving a bottle again, but there was no way. Leonard shook off his thoughts and focused on his surroundings.
If there’s one good thing about getting a new car, it’s that White Town’s public security doesn’t bother you. Although the traces of the original were erased through the renovation, the classic car’s unique antiquity did not completely disappear. There are not many people who memorize car models from 70 or 80 years ago, so for most people, it was a nice car that ‘rich people will drive as a hobby’. Thanks to that, no one looked at me strangely even when I parked in front of the grandiose hospital where businessmen come and go.
“It’s the VVIP ward on the 41st floor.”
“It is very high. There must be an elevator, right?”
“You have to use the dedicated elevator.”
It is a place that cannot be visited by anyone due to its strict security, but it was an easy place for hackers who are more comfortable with electronics than people.
Leonard and Max checked each other’s outfits and got out of the car. It was advantageous at this time because it had a top-notch implant body and a complete living human being. As long as you pay attention to your clothes, you won’t find it unusual even if you snoop around the VIP hospital.
The android that checks the identity is tricked by hacking, and the elevator that asks for a key card is covered with the client ID. Downstairs, an elderly doctor got on, but Max smiled brightly, so he didn’t doubt it. It was only natural that he could not maintain an uncontaminated biological body until that age unless he was fairly wealthy.
“I’d like to get tested while I’m at the hospital.”
“A prosecutor? What test?”
Leonard glanced at the doctor. He was a real doctor, not an implant doctor. These days, it was difficult to see a real doctor because if there is a sore spot, it is cut out and implant parts are attached.
“…Let’s do it next time.”
I came to the hospital after a long time, but it wasn’t the day.
The doctor got off the 35th floor and then went up to the VVIP ward without stopping. In the first place, it was a VIP-only elevator that did not operate below the 30th floor. There are not many users, so I had to prepare from now.
Leonard scanned the overhead camera with his hexagonal eyes. There was a noise, so I went away and then it turned off. When the camera light went out, it calmed down a lot.
Max took off his jacket and lowered the pistol from the holster. I couldn’t bring a sniper rifle and a double barrel shotgun due to their bulkiness, but I had a few flash grenades and smoke grenades in case of emergency.
“Quickly and accurately.”
It was the relief of the day. The elevator opened with a ding. Acted swiftly as a relief. Everything with lenses in the hallway was hacked.
“Mmm, what! You!”
“Kahah-!”
One doctor, one nurse, one surveillance camera, and one medical android. Fortunately, the guard was nowhere to be seen.
I opened the door that looked like a hotel room, and the doctor came out, and when he saw Leonard, he fell backwards in surprise. Leonard gestured to be quiet after the cognitive impairment hack. However, he was a dark-spoken doctor.
“security! security! security…!”
It was a chronic problem for the residents of White Town, not seen in Junk Town. Is it sane to believe in a guard you don’t know where you are rather than a gun in front of you? Leonard taught the lesson by kicking the noisy doctor in the jaw.
After that, there was a small commotion, but no major disturbance. Leonard and Max found Donald Volforth’s hospital room and the lab next to it. It was not difficult as the client’s information was accurate.
“Oh my goodness! Be gentle…”
The inside of the hospital room was just like a hotel. There was an outside terrace with a good view in the front, and an elegant restaurant kitchen on the side. There were screens big enough to make the 70-inch TV that Leonard bought with great determination look small, and there were various entertainment devices that operated with augmented reality. Some of them were 19 gold, but Max, who didn’t have implants, didn’t see them. The ‘manly’ thing Max was referring to was Donald Volforth’s scalped brain.
“To take a person’s head off like this!”
“…That’s not a wrong expression, but wouldn’t there be a better one?”
Instead of finding the right expression, Leonard followed the signs of the surgery. It wasn’t difficult as there were several wires plugged in. Moving along the thick line to the next room, an implanted brain in a huge flask appeared.
It was an artificial brain worth 18,000 credits that the client hated.