John Doe, Male, unidentified human corpse.

>>Dave
>>Male
>>Office clerk, life is usually good, currently in a great deal of pain(what with the car and all)

>>18870975

code name: Bullfrog

Adam Jensen, male, Chief Security Officer for Sarif industries.

Your name is Dave, and suprisingly, you're not dead. Instead, you're lying facefirst in a bed, and you're quite uncomfortable, what with the strange static effect overlaying your vision, and the sporadic clicking and popping noises that you swear you can hear.

"Don't try moving, now." A young woman says from somewhere to the right. "You took a nasty hit to the spine; if we'd gotten there a bit later, you might have been in some real trouble."

You groan in response. Today has not been a good day.

"Oh, don't be worried." She said. "We got the prototype in perfectly! It'll be almost like you weren't in a coma at all!"

>>18871026
"...wait, what?"

>>18871031
"H-how long?"

>>18871026
Does my insurance cover this?

>>18871026

'Well.. thanks I guess. Prototype of what?'

Dave never asked for this.

"... Wait, what?" You're able to ask, facedown on the bed. "How long was I out?"

"You did lose a few months, but the generation-3 did the trick. You took quite a bit of spinal damage, but as this prototype spans from your brain stem down to your tailbone, that's hardly a problem."

"D-does my insurance pay for this? And prototype of what? I need some kind of exposition here, you know." You add, glaring daggers at the voice that you can't actually see right now.

"Technically, it's called a 'Generation 3 neuroprosthetic brain interface machine!' And indeed it does. Mostly because we're using you as a test subject." She chuckled. You. . aren't sure what to think about that. "You can call me Jun, I'm just your friendly neighborhood brain surgeon."

I always asked for this but could never afford it myself.

Are you going to bill me for these procedures?

>>18871105
You say I took hit to my spine. What the heck does that to do with my brain or my vision for that matter?

I can't see a goddamn thing and my head is killing me.

"What does it do? Will I get back memories of the time I was out? When does it start working? ... Are you single?"

>we're using you as a test subject.
"... Did I forget to read the terms and conditions on something recently?"

>>18871124
In one acronym? I'd guess CNS.

>>18871127
>Are you single

God damn it /tg/. Stop thinking with your dick and start acting like a salaryman.

"I thought the point of experimenting on corpses was that you didn't need consent, you don't appear to have thought this through particularly well."

>>18871105
"You mean I'm going to have to be on anti-rejection drugs for the rest of my life? Does my insurance cover that too?"

"I can't see a goddamn thing and my head is killing me." You say, frustrated. "It's all static and noises. Not to mention, what the hell does this- this thing even do?"

"Oh, sorry about that! There's still a bit of config I need to do." She called out, and you could hear the distinct sound of someone typing at some kind of computer- over the random pops and clicking noises, that is. Your vision suddenly cleared, and the popping quit immediately. "The generation 3 implant is all but one of a kind. Not only can one send messages to it mentally, like the standard gen-twos, but get this; you can actually recieve feedback! See from a video camera without wearing silly goggles, and-"

"Wait." You say, twisting around to look at her. Jun's older than you'd expect from her voice; late thirties, maybe early forties. "Did I sign anything? Don't you need some kind of consent to use someone as a test subject?"

Jun shifted her weight from leg to leg, looking uncomfortable. "Well..."

>smartphone

i kinda feel like in 13 years the term "smart phone" will be the same as saying "high def television" today...

>>18871244

'... you'll have to teach me about these functionalities. Also, what are some possible... side-effects?'

>>18871248
>smart phone
it's not PDA?

"This. . wasn't exactly on the up-and-up." She continued. "You were a John Doe, and nobody ever identified you, so . . " The woman scratched her head, somewhat awkwardly. "We pretty much stole you."

>>18871248
>>18871290
>in the 'nearcyborgfuture' (This is the canon name for this setting), smart phones have continued to advance. they're like on the iphone XII by now. But yeah, they're pretty much PDAs.

>>18871244
None the matter, you said that my insurance covers this so you can settle the rest with them. When can I return to work? You know how hard it is to keep job these days and my boss is very strict.

By the way what was the cause of my accident? Was I ran over by a car?

>>18871248
I feel like in 13 years the term "phone" will be the same as saying "phonograph" today.

>>18871316
Not necessarily. Computer is an age old term and still used.

>>18871297

'... blimey.'

Do we have any family we remember? Or good friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, something?

>>18871297
Nobody identified me?!

How can that be? I have the chip, and my web profile crosslinked to it, it is a company policy. This makes no sense.

>>18871348
This.

So what does this Gen 3 thing do anyways?

>implying my phone will be attached to my ear and contain projectors for the screen to display on walls and my arm

>implying it ill be charged by motion, heat and bioenergy produced by bacteria cells/moss

http://dvice.com/archives/2012/04/biophotovoltaic.php

>implying I'll be wearing a water-repellent coat
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17860189

"That doesn't really matter." You say, after a moment's thought. "At least I'm not in a coma anymore. Wait, nobody came to identify me?" You ask, trying to sift through your memories to figure out who *could* have identified you; The list, in truth, wasn't that large. Just a few old exes, and your coworker-slash-drinking buddy, Abel. You had moved to the west coast just to get away from your family, after all.

"What happened, anyway? Was I ran over by a car?"

"As far as we can tell. You were dropped off at the emergency room completely naked, covered in bruises, with a shattered spine and brain damage. You must have been real lucky not to have died instantly."

"Yeah." You say darkly. "Lucky. When can I get back to work? Will there be any side-effects?"

"We need to find out if you can sit up before I can answer those." She said, rolling you onto your back. "Go ahead, try."

You sit up. Your back starts hurting again, but nothing else seems wrong.

>>18871348
>>18871348
Listen, if you don't start explaining what happened, security at my company are going to start looking for me. This chip is still technically theirs under company policy.

>>18871401

Wriggle limbs, wriggle hands and feet. Blink eyes. Take deep breath, see if smell works.

If everything checks out, 'I'll be. Well. Is there anything else I need to do then?'

>>18871403
>company security
>not Adam Jensen

>>18871401
>Abel
..We are drinking buddies with an SCP?

I see potential for a subplot.

>>18871401
I think this is the part where you explain that I'm your property and that I've lost all rights and privileges I previously had.

So what do I need to do to get back to my normal life as soon as possible?

"Are you Google? Or Apple?
Just to be clear: I don't want to get a glossy finish."

You wiggle your arms and legs, noting that all of your appendages are moving as they should. Your senses seem fine, but they're suprisingly clear for supposedly being in a coma for a few months.

"So, let's get this straight." You say, arranging your thoughts.
"I was walking in the street and got hit by a car. Spent months in the hospital, and neither my friends nor the company came to look for me. You stole my body, and then shoved a computer into my spine, wiring it into my brain."

She nods.

"So. . how do I even start to use it? The actual interfacing. . . thing."

She lights up, and turns to the computer. "I wrote a help program!"

DEATH TO ALL PAPERCLIPS

>>18871401
It seems that you patched my up ok.

But now your story has made me really curious. Do you normally scourge hospitals for unknown patients? And what was the hospital I was taken from anyways?

Everything here seems more than fishy, and not the least this Gen 3 bullshit, Gen 2 hit the market last year and I remember reading that there was a major problem with patents and the whole development was put on hold.

>>18871468
Oh god no. NOT CLIPPY.

>>18871468
Oh, so this is a FUCKING TORTURE CHAMBER is it?!? Great.

"I see you have multiple spinal contusions and torn ligaments. Would you like to go for a jog around the block? Y - Now. N - A little later. 3 - I'd prefer to swim with lead weights."

Try to rape Clippy via our interface. Hijack the system and make it die a horrible death.

My theory is that we're a Syndicate agent.

Time for dubstep.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3TrjEuXuNw

>>18871508
I could totally rock out to woob woob woob while killing enemies and civilians with amazing megaguns.

>>18871468
Help program, eh? Which neural command system this uses? Symbolic or Ghost limbs?

You have a bad feeling about this.

You start to call out, but she hits a button before you can, and the entire world seems to explode into pyrotechnics and some kind of...
... Theme song?

In front of your eyes, some kind of miniature, cartoonish paperclip materializes, twisting in some sicking parady of a 'dance', inasmuch as a cartoonish paperclip with no real points of articulation can.

The theme song quiets down, and finally, in a calm, genderless voice, the paperclips speaks.
"Would you like to. . ."

>[] Oh god get clippy away
>[] Might as well get a tutorial
>[] Yell at Jun about her being an evil syndicate scientist who is either torturing you and\or trying to make you into some kind of cyborg killing machine.
>[] You totally want to be some kind of cyborg killing machine. Better than being an office clerk, anyway.
>[] Other?

#4, definitely. Start the killing with Clippy, proceed to Jun & Co. and keep going on the whole building.

>captcha: not andhuma
I never said I was human, I'm only anonymous.

>>18871576
>Get the clippy away.

Jun? I don't think you have much talent on programming direct neural feeds. This is worse than Abel's Power Points.

>>18871576
Deep in my heart is a special kind of hatred reserved for clippy. Kick clippy. or.. just do something to make it go away.

>>18871576
[X] Oh god get clippy away

Use our newfound technology powers to beat up clippy.
Let's see how realistic its reactions are.

>[X] Oh god get clippy away
>i expected nothing less than a nigh-unanimous decision
With an immense force of will, you reach out to the abombination in front of you, and with a single thought, you wipe it away. Your vision goes static for a moment as the paperclip twisted, and bent itself inward, the thin metal wire crumpling, and then it was gone.

You clench your fist in victory, and Jun is at the terminal, looking at the futurereadouts. "You did that rather quickly. It seems that the help program has succeeded! I am the best at programming direct neural feeds! Eat that, Dr. Darrow!" She said, congratulating herself.

>>18871685

'If you made that purely to test how I would react, doctor, you need an ethical review. Then again, since I've already been stolen...'

>>18871695
...Are we property of Aperture Science?

>>18871685
Did you stream the tutorial program is it stored somewhere in my memorybanks?

Well, it was a flashy display and all but what is the point? Are you going to send me to swat digital flies into some test bunker or something so the fat cats can have their new toys faster?

>>18871723

I'd rather Veridian Dynamics, really.

>>18871739
>Verdidian Dynamics
Never heard that name.

>>18871695
this seems appropriate...

>>18871752

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUvu-9yDnUE&feature=relmfu

"If you made that purely to test how I would react, then you need some kind of ethical review. I've gotta ask." You say. "What, exactly, is going on? Am I the property of whoever you work for? Did you just blast that flashy display into my eyes to torture me? And do you have a help program that's *actually* helpful? Like, why not just upload it all to my memory banks or something."

"Yes to all three." She said brightly, flashing a smile at you. "You are now the property of Emulsified Electronics- At least, until we finish testing you. The flashy display was to create something so horrible that your first instinct was to destroy it, in turn allowing you to use your new digital prowess; it is mostly based on willpower, after all. And finally, I already did that. It's all subconscious. You just now need to will it, and it should happen."

>You can now 'USE DIGITAL PROWESS'; simply roll a 1d100 along with what you want to do- High is good, low is bad.

You stand up a bit, and pace, making certain that you're completely intact. Whatever bruises you gained from the incident have healed by now, but luckily you weren't in a coma long enough for you to get too out of shape.

>>18871809
Darpa is better.

I want BigDog as our pet.

rolled 86 = 86

>>18871834
Use digital Prowess to steal all their data.

rolled 57 = 57

>>18871834
Try to hook up the local network and see what if you have access to anything.

Can I contact my friends? I mean they think I'm dead for Lafayettes sake!

rolled 17 = 17

Try to hack and see how much surveillance is currently on you, could be important later.

You close your eyes and focus. Time seems to slow, and before you seems to fly by an incomprehensible amount of data, all blurred or too corrupted for you to make any sense of most of it. However, far, far in the distance of your digital mindscape, you see a point of light.

When you look directly into it, you can immediately tell that it's the terminal Jun was working on. It has some kind of direct connection to your 'generation 3 prototype', and administrator control over the prototype. Using the terminal, you try to reach further outwards to the rest of the network, but it's quite dim, and you're having trouble 'reaching' any further. Giving up on reaching outwards, you decide to try to find out what you can from the terminal.

The command log is mostly random keywords that you don't quite understand, but from what you can tell, she has simply logged in, calibrated the prototype to you, and activated the help program.

You find out quite a bit of information about yourself in a medical record. sadly, it's all mostly things you know, such as your height, weight, blood type, the fact that you broke your knee when you were a teenager, and you barely gloss over the horrific futurexrays of your shattered spine.

Finally, you look into what you can find out about the prototype. It's 'third generation', which apparently means that it is both an input and output implant, as opposed to the 'second generation' which was simply for output. It gains power directly from your bioelectricity, whatever that is, so it doesn't seem to require any standard form of power. And finally, you can tell from the design notes that the prototype is designed to be a springboard toward better, more powerful, and more reactive implants. Apparently it's compatible with Second-Gen implants too.

A slight migrane comes to you as you pull out from the terminal, Jun none the wiser. What seemed like twenty minutes for you must be a lot less, perhaps a minute or so. . .

>>18872008
Okay, guys. How friendly and helpful do we want to be to Emulsified Electronics?

The way I see it, they saved our life. We should atleast cooperate until we have a reason not to.

>>18872008
Well that wasn't too informative but obviously the local terminal isn't the core databank.

Call for Jun and ask to get something to eat.

ageless, faceless, gender neutral, culturally ambiguous, adventure person

you may call me Afgncaa

rolled 39 = 39

>>18871990
Whelp, so much for that, I guess just ask "If I'm your property, do you have any plans for...using me?"

Can I get some water please.. I.. This is all so...

"I hope you programmed the woman in red for me."

>>18872027
They saved our life but meddling with our life was uncalled for.

Then again it is obvious that they aren't going to let us to just walk away with multibillion dollar prototype so I think it is better to go along and try to make this easy for ourselves.

Stealing data should be ok because I'm sure that someone is hiding something.

>2025
>smartphone

I think you mean a HUD, at fucking least.

This is going to make accounting SO much easier

"I may be your. . .property, or whatever, but I think I deserve some kind of rights, you know? Like the chance to talk to my friends who probably think I'm dead, or maybe, like, an actual meal." You say suddenly, seemingly out of the blue.

She thinks for a moment, and walks over to an intercom near the only door out of this hospital-like room. She hits the button, and says 'Can you send in some food for our guest? And a phone, too."

She turns to you. "Who exactly did you want to talk to?"

>[] Abel, your coworker-slash-drinking buddy. He's probably worried about you.
>[] Your boss; you need to explain where you've been. Hopefully you weren't fired. . .
>[] Your family, all the way on the other side of the country.

With a start, you realize that those are probably the only three people who'd care enough to answer. But then again. . .

>[] The police. I've been kidnapped! *Roll 1d100 for bluff*
>[] Other?

Call the boss. We need to get a promotion due to being so fuckawesomely upgraded.

rolled 10 = 10

>>18872129
Call Abel and tell him that you are more or less ok. Ask him to leave line open for ten minutes and then use your powers to trace your location.

>>18872027
There is no forgiveness for betrayal. We'll play ball as long as they play fair.

Also. Call Family.

Abel sounds like a safe bet. Though he'll probably just be a computer simulation made to make us THINK we're talking to him.

>>18872129
>[X] Abel, your coworker-slash-drinking buddy. He's probably worried about you.

call your family!

> 1 for boss, 2 for family, 3 for abel
"My co-worker, Abel." You say; you haven't properly talked with your family in years, and your boss probably already got a replacement for you by now. You end up telling Jun his contact information, just as someone slides open the door with a small, silver cart. On top of the cart, was FOOD. Fast food, and not very *good* fast food, but you technically haven't eaten anything solid in months, so you dig in.

After you finish, Jun hands you the phone. You notice as the 'someone', a young man with augmented arms and broad shoulders, gives you a strange look as he walks away. You've never seen him before in your life.

"Abel Rowling here." The voice comes through the phone.
"So, apparently I was in a coma." You say, not bothering to introduce yourself.
"Dave?!"

>Wat exactly do you tell him?

I DID IT! I KILLED CLIPPY! NOW THE WORLD CAN BE AT EASE!

rolled 84 = 84

>>18872267
Tell that you were in an accident. Ask him if your chip auto updated your netprofile when you were taken into hospital.

WHY DIDN'T YOU SEARCH FOR ME, ASSHOLE?

Combine with first caps response for absolute madness.

Have you feed my cat? is it okay?

"I got hit by a car and some company called Emulsified Electronics 'saved' me. Have you ever heard of them" And oh god I hope he remembers us.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SEARCH FOR ME, ASSHOLE?" You all but roar into the phone. Dimly, you hear Abel fall out of his chair in response.
"But I did! I put out a missing persons report and everything. What happened, anyway? You vanish, and three months later, you ring me up out of the blue. Did you get kidnapped or something?"
"A car played chicken with my spine." You respond. "Ended up in a coma. Got an implant that makes me not paralyzed; and on the cheap, too. Ever hear of a company called Emulsified Electronics?"
"Uh, I've seen a billboard here and there, and ads online, but I don't even know what they do."

And finally, here's for the real question. "Now." You say, a steely voice entering your tone- a voice so sharp that it alarmed even yourself. "Did. You. Feed. My. Cat."

"Oh, yeah, she's fine." He responds, and you breathe a sigh of relief. "After you went missing, I picked her up. She's at my place."

Jun starts looking impatient.

> Wut now?
> also, for the most important decision so far; what is your cat's name?

The name is Susan
Also, tell him to do some more research on Emulsified Electronics, in a hushed tone so Jun avoids hearing it, then that he'll give him another call when, if, he gets the chance.

>>18872430
General Maow.
Try to get him to fill you in on what's happened in the real world while you've been napping, while you try to trace your location from the phone.

her name is lilly, prettiest white puffy cat you've ever seen

now call your parents if your done with the drunk

rolled 8 = 8

Oh yeah, that location hack thing on the phone is a good idea.

>>18872580
Shit

rolled 86 = 86

>>18872430
My captcha says the cats name is Ishelda. See if we can get some information out of the phone through willpower hacking and some information about what you might have missed in the months gone from Abel.

Look.. I've got to go Dave, but I'll get back to you.
What happens now Jun?

You make a little small talk, while you focused intently on the phone, trying to trace your own call. Your vision went static, and there was a click noise in your ear, when you realized. . . you actually don't even know how to do that; at least not when you're multitasking, anyway. Giving up with a sigh, you simply settle for having him get some info on Emulsified Electronics.
"Hey, take good care of my cat, man. I have to go." You say, lowering your voice. "Dig up what you can on EE; I'll call you later when I get a chance."
"I'll do my best." He says. "Seeya."
And then you hang up. Jun raises an eyebrow. You can tell from her expression that she heard everything, despite the hushed tone you used.

"Now." She said, taking the phone out of your hand and putting it back on the cart. Apparently she isn't going to let you call anyone else. There go your plans for talking to your family.

"We have some work to do." She said, walking over to the futureterminalcomputer. "I need you to visualize a few things. . ."

>>18872743

Before she can go on, visualise a crocodile. A big one. With huge big teeth.

If she asks, say we got distracted.

As time goes on, you spend an hour or two trying to visualize a dozen different things, from something as simple as a banana to something as complex as a series of gears in movement.

"Good, good." She said to herself, looking at the proud picture of a monochrome banana on the terminal. "I think we've done enough for today. Access the intercom if you need anything, and I'll be up here again tomorrow." She says, looking over to you, and then back to the terminal. What greets her isn't the banana, but a large, angry crocodile. She twitched, and then shot a glare at you.

"I got distracted." You say, trying to keep the smirk off of your face.
She logs out of the terminal, and powers it down, before leaving the room. She doesn't notice the phone you pocketed when she wasn't looking. As soon as she was gone, you turned it on, and went a'hacking.

From what you can tell, the phone is less of a phone than you thought- it was little more than a speaker and microphone that connected to a *real* phone, somewhere nearby, so you can't actually make any calls through it. It seems that they were quite serious when Jun said you were their property; you were obviously a prisoner.

back up a moment. We haven't even been thoroughly introduced (Her real name can't be Jun can it..?)

>>18872789
Second choice.
Twin cheerleaders washing a car.

"It's been Three Months."

rolled 39 = 39

>>18872823
Time to get hacking, connect to whatever the phoney "phone" is connected to. But be careful.

>>18872827
She's Japanese, probably used to be in a light music club and loves cake.

We could also just walk out the door

>>18872885
If anything that'd be a japanese boys name : /

rolled 1 = 1

>>18872743
Fuck that! We are a phone. Use digital prowess to IM family, through technomancy!

>>18872919
oh boy

Lets try to hack the systems of this find anything else about who runs this company, and failing that, find out something about Jun if company profiles are available.

rolled 43 = 43

>>18872965
Sorry, new at this.

slow OP is slow...
F5 F5 F5 F5....

You redouble your efforts on the phoneyphone, using it as a relay, hopefully to connect to the real phone and maybe to something else. When you finally connected to the real phone, you heard Jun's voice, heavily muffled by the sounds of static. Evidently, she was making a call, but your connection is incomplete- you can only hear her side of the conversation.

"- integrated perfectly, w*th no problems. Got rid of Clippy almost immediately, but the terminal had a hard time logging absolutely everything he did with the protot-*******- just garbage data. I really don't **** if this was such a good idea, grabbing a coma victim like this."

For a long time she was silent, listening to whoever was on the other end, and interjecting ever so often with a 'Yes sir' or an 'Understood, sir'

Finally, she hung up, leaving the phone dormant. Now, finally, you can use it to call your family like you deserved to. You focus, and strengthen your will; you WILL use this phone. You are the god of the digital realm now, and none can stop you!

You focus, and time slows; you're once again in a digital mindscape. You see the small light of the relay in your hand, and connected by a shaft of light, you see something in the distance. You reach for it, and reach. . .

>nat 1

The migraine hits you hard, nearly blinding you as you pull back into yourself. Your ears are popping, and your vision is completely static. . But you feel something dripping from your nose. With a touch, you realize it's blood.

>>18872919
>noko'd 1
Nice try.

>>18873059
It was a noko'd one, it shouldn't count. For all we know it could have been a dice+1d1.

With that we should probably just relax for now. Try to take a nap and let all of this sink in. If Jun wakes you up try to talk to her some more, maybe get her on your side. Could be useful.

We are going to get killed or mind raped if we don't get out or preform very well tomorrow.

Don't like the idea of her mindreading our thoughts either

>>18873079
>Yeeaaah, you're probably right. But there wasn't going to be any permanent effects from overdoing things; not this early in the quest, at least.
>>18873054
>ayup, that's how I roll- slow and steady.

Rubbing your temples for a bit, you feel well enough to get up again, setting the phonyphone back down on the cart, and walking up to the door. You jiggle the handle, but it seems to be locked.

You almost chuckle as you examine the door a bit more- Electronic locks. It probably wouldn't be that hard to just try to walk out of here.

Once again, your eyes sweep across the room. It looked similar to a room in a hospital, with fluorescent lights, a pure white bed, tiled floor. The only real oddities you can see is the futureterminalcomputer in one corner, the lack of a window, and a small hole in the top corner of the room. Examining closer, you see that it's some kind of miniature camera built into the wall.

You consider just laying back in bed taking a nap. With your slowly fading headache, that might be a good idea. . .

nap see what happens tomorrow.

>>18873171
If we say Jun's keylogs, then dont we know her log in info and password?
provided they didnt prep for that and dispose of her password already

rolled 37 = 37

Lets do a quick check to see if the computer allows access to anything and if it does, lets try one quick hack to learn something about the company, if possible.

First quest thread I've posted in, trying not to be too stupid.

>>18873171
Take a nap.

I think it is better to hold back on digimancing for a bit. It is obvious that they are letting you do it so freely because they are collecting data.

Before we go to sleep we should make a mental note not to ever remove ethical restrictions of anything.

I know a guy with a cyber interface who did that and after that everything went to hell.

rolled 62 = 62

Try to get better at digital prowess.

>>18873286
>There *are* AIs in this setting, but they're still a bit stupider than the average human. they do have 'ethical restrictions' though. also they're called Digital Assistants because that sounds very future.

You flip off the light switch, climb into the bed, and do your best to relax; As you lay there, you feel the pressure from the implant, when it occurs to you that you probably saw the Jun's username and password when you were digging around in her keylogs. Not willing to try anything else tonight, you simply engrave them in your mind. Username: JVeridian. Password: GeneralMaow. Funny, you almost named your cat that. . .

You wake up much too soon, a sudden bright light making you cover your eyes. Jun was standing near the light switch, a humanoid, robotic arm dangling in her hand- a pretty standard second-gen for people who have lost limbs, from what you can tell.

"Good morning." She said. "Today we're going to need you to test out this hand for us."

>>18873343

Do as she says.

'How long are all the batteries of tests going to last, by the way?'

rolled 16 = 16

>>18873343
Surprise her by suddenly taking control of the hand and make it into a middle finger.

rolled 94 = 94

>>18873343
We will try to do it remotely before she asks us to do anything. Make it wriggle.

Wooo.. ohh noo.. I like my own arms!

rolled 55 = 55

I'd use DIGITAL PROWESS on it and try to play with her hair.

"Good morning to you too. No chance for breakfast?" try to be nice to Jun, seeing as she's the only person you'll be able to talk to in this place, it'd be nice to have her on your side.

>>18873402
Again we never got introduced to one another

rolled 85 = 85

Hand obviously has transmitters and receivers, possibly sensors too. Try to plant a bug in it so you can use as a relay later and get some more info of the facility.

"Good morning to you too. No chance for breakfast?" You ask, raising an eyebrow.

"After this test." She said. "After this, I'll have to somehow make sense of all this garbage data on the terminal. The prototype is constantly spewing it out."

"How long should the prototype's batteries last?" You ask her, as she logs into the terminal, setting the hand down on the cart.
"The prototype actually doesn't have batteries. It takes bioelectric energy from your nervous system, and various nutrients from your blood. The implant's power source is the same as your muscles' power source, simply." She says, explaining what you already know from your data delving.

She gets up, leans forward, and takes a long cable from the implant in your back. It feels strange, as the cable unspooled from your back, as she connected it to the robotic arm. You twitch, feeling something jolt.

>average 55

The arm is suddenly aware in your consciousness as contact is made; it's eerie, having the sensation of a third arm added to your torso. You twitch the fingers a little, and roll the wrist around, but it'll definitely take more getting used to in order to control it perfectly.

"Response is good." She said. "No time lag, which was what I was worrying about."

You close your eyes and focus on the hand. it doesn't seem to have any kind of independant power source; Must be why it requires the cable from your implant.

"My name is Dave." You say suddenly, spurred on by a strange need to introduce yourself to her.
"Hm, that's good to know." She said with a wry smile. "Now I just have to go through all of my records and change it from 'John Doe'"

rolled 17 = 17

>>18873509
Try to establish the connection.

rolled 98 = 98

>>18873509
Reroll.

>>18873509
Ask her if the garbage data is dangerous and could it clutter your brain due to the feedback function.

Obviously you know what the garbage data actually is but his way you might get some insight how well the scientists understand their own device.

Try and ask Jun something about the company, exactly what are they going to do with him?

>>18873509
Damn high, yeah.

Whask her: why me?

>>18873509
Use your incredible Office Worker Brown-nosing Powers (tm) to read her expression and try to figure out what she's thinking.
She may not be a computer, but she's certainly giving off data, after all.

As you play with the hand, you slowly start getting more and more adroit with it. "So, this garbage data. Is it dangerous? To my mind, I mean. All of that data might clutter my mind or something, right?"

"Oh, no, it won't be a danger to you. All of the garbage data is stuff that it's sending to the terminal; the prototype is designed to constantly record and send logs of it's actions. . But it seems like it's constantly sending data, which it really shouldn't unless you were using the implant 24\7."

"So, can you tell me more about the company you- and apparently I- work for?" you ask, still focusing on using the robotic hand in exclusion of your own fleshy inferior versions.

"Emulsified Electronics specializes mostly in handheld devices, headsets, futuregadgets, and Digital Assistants, but lately we've been working on implants and augments."

"And why did you choose to throw the prototype in me, as opposed to some bum off the street who wasn't, y'know, in a coma?"

She's suddenly very, very hesitant to respond, but she tried to play it off as if she was suddenly very, very interested in the futureterminalcomputer.

rolled 28 = 28

>>18873670
Attack her with all your arms, aiming for her throat
Attempt to rip it out and flee the premises

>>18873670
I can you give me a deck of cards?
I want to get more used to that third hand.

>>18873670
Try to appeal to her
"Hey, I've just woken up after a 3 month coma, told I'm basically stuck here, and given one phone call. A little information would be nice, and hey, if I was calmer I bet these tests would go a lot smoother."

>>18873683
>I'm gonna definitely need some kind of consensus to murder and abscond.

>>18873683
No murder, she actually seems nice, she was even concerned about the fact that the company grabbed a random man in a coma from a hospital.

black out the screen (don't turn off just black the screen)
And ask politely again

rolled 90 = 90

>>18873744
Roll goes in email field.
Also, rolling for this.

rolled 66 = 66

wrong field

>>18873683
Don't murder her. I think shes the only person that might have the slightest but of sympathy for us, if only as a test subject.

>>18873744
I don't think we should. The less we show of our control over our augments makes whatever escape (if necessary) easier because they won't protect against what they think we don't have. Basically show the minimalist amount of progress possible to make the element of surprise (if needed later) a lot more effective.

"Hey, Jun." You say, blanking her terminal- much nicer than a crocodile like last time, you thought- and she looks up at you. "I've just woken up after a 3 month coma, I'm basically stuck here, I lost my job, and only got one phone-call. A little bit of information would be nice."

"There. . was an incident." She said. "We grabbed a volunteer, a 'bum off of the street', as you say, and gave him the prototype. As it turns out, while the implant is installed, one needs a very specific state of mind. That is, some kind of major concussion or a coma. Otherwise, there are feedback problems. The volunteer wasn't in that state of mind, and there was . . feedback."

Jun shivered, and looked away.

"After that, you were the only John Doe we could find that had any possibility of being brought back to consciousness. I was under a tight schedule."

>>18873788
I'm with this guy

>>18873788
Given her phone conversation I think that tactic will only lead to misery, death and mindwiping. or something along those lines

>>18873670
Be blunt. You both know that high piece of technology like this is not given away for shit and giggles. Ask her why the company scourges hospital emergency rooms for sorry dudes like yourself instead of using their own employees.

Pointing that out shouldn't make them any more suspicious than they already are but playing ignorant and ignoring such obvious questions might seem weird.

rolled 69 = 69

>>18873788

still, deck of cards.

now that she is being honest with us we can try and be helpfull too. what can we help her with

>>18873818
Well, she seems to be honest with us for one. I think we can roll with this. Explain to her that the more honest she is with us, the better we can help her out. We don't like being a prisoner, but it seems like she might be a bit dependent on our success as mentioned when she said "deadline."

>>18873818
Aren't those pretty glaring glitches?

Ask her how using you could possibly help their schedule problem. Even though the prototype works for you the product isn't any closer to mass production until the boot problems are fixed. Why did they had to get a model online so fast?

>>18873834
Are you suggesting that the company should be putting its own employees in a coma?

>>18873893
Well I posted before I read the last update but maybe. Medical coma isn't exactly impossible to achieve.

And the prototype would be safer in loyal hands. Using strangers, not even volunteers but a complete strangers, implies that the stakes are enormously high.

>>18873918
I think this post kinda adds to mine >>18873834
and that she must be in a tough decision in taking a random coma patient. We certainty don't have control of this situation, but me might be able to apply a little pressure to get small things.

>>18873850
decks of cards are always fun.

We will now stop being an ass and start following orders. Asking questions is more likely to get us harmed than anything else. Lets play their game and explore silently as best as we can.

>>18873918
But they were under a tight schedule for some reason.

>>18873953
If there actually IS something dodgy with the company, putting pressure on them is the LAST thing we should do.

"I. . .see." You say, privately hoping there are no 'feedback incidents' with you. "Why such a short deadline? Not only kidnapping a complete stranger, but to implant said complete stranger with a very shiny piece of technology? From what it sounds like, you needed this prototype done way before last week."

"We did." She responded. "Some. . very significant people were promised complete Gen-Threes, and they're not very happy about how long it's taking."

"What else do you need me to do?" You ask, giving her the OK sign with the robotic hand. "I think I've got the hang of this, but maybe I could learn to do card tricks with all three hands. . ."

Will I dream, Dave?

>>18873973
But the questions are obvious. Wouldn't it be suspicious to feign ignorant on the issues concerning ourselves?

We should try to dig up facts out of the network too because I'm certain that the answers we get from the people aren't that informative.

But yeah. I suggest that we ask some basic question, why take the risk, and how long we are going to be contained and be content with any answers we get.

hmm.. interesting...
But more importantly: what was that cat's name anyway?

If we can learn to control this arm, would it be possible to eventually control an entire suit like it?

>>18874050
So basically ask questions, but none that would attract the wrong attention; and do so only to put them off of our real snooping? Sounds very convoluted but might work.

>>18874060
>Her name is Ishelda. Captcha insisted.
"Erm, we have no real need for card tricks," She said. "But I'll make sure you get a deck with breakfast. The rest of the day should actually be free for you. . but not for me. I still have reports to modify and garbage data to pick through."

"About how long should all of this testing take?" You ask

"Well, it could take anywhere from a few days to another three months. Hopefully it'll be on the former end of the scale."

She thought for a moment. "Actually, I think I can give you a bit more freedom than you had yesterday; I'll just assign Grayson to escort you around."

"Grayson?"

"He's one of our security specialists." She said. "You saw him yesterday, when he brought the cart and the phone in."

"Phonyphone." You murmur under your breath. She didn't seem to hear you.

[] Yes, Grayson can escort me.
[] No, my room is cozy and I feel safe in here.
[] Other?

>>18874141
>[x] Yes, Grayson can escort me.
We should familiarize ourselves with as many people here as possible. Also, thank Jun for the eventual cards, breakfast, and answers with a smile.

>>18874141
>Escort.

Grayson didn't seem like very jolly fellow but at least you get to see your surroundings. Maybe you can deduce where you are. Besides it seems that using the test terminal for hook up is getting unsafe.

rolled 92 = 92

>>18874141
He has augmented arms? More things we can test our hacking skills on! BRING HIM IN!

We also have to decide soon which type of game we want to play.

Do we want out? Try to escape asap?
This would mean we could have our freedom sooner, but at a risk of hiding for the rest of our lives.

Do we cooperate and hope to bargain for our freedom? There could be a few outcomes.

First would be "Sure!" and make put us in a binding contract that would seem to give us freedom, but they'd just keep us on missions till we died. So actually no freedom.

Second: "Sure!" and then they kill us after a mission or so. Sort of similar to the above.

Third: "Sure!" And they actually do let us go. Minus the very expensive spine they gave us and maybe a mind wipe.

Fourth: We work our way into their organization that we can become a powerful enough entity to legitimately bargain for a severed contract.

>>18874141
[x] Grayson

We can talk to him and maybe move his status from hostile to neutral. Ask him general questions about how his augments work as we are still new to this type of thing. Seem accepting of our fate and not rebellious. He looks like he's kinda bored of this guard duty and we could score some points if we don't make his life difficult (at least right now).

>>18874220
They are desperate. Escaping now would be both very dangerous and also quite reckless.

We know nothing of our possible weaknesses, what if the G3 isn't ready for field tests and sucks in every kind of signal possible crippling us or worse? Or what if it leaves a distinguishable footprint on the web when using it? They might not know what we do but they might know where and when we do it.

>>18874220
I would like to stay, try and learn more about this company and what their final plans are with us. The fourth option with working with them sounds like it'd be very fun to go with.
Also, I'm very curious as to how Jun got involved in this company.

>>18874267
Yeah, we should assume the worst: That they can actually track everything we do and can shut down our spine at a moment's notice.

>>18874102
>Indeed! You're only four mechandrites from becoming doc ock! Although you'll be limited to either the power from your prototype, or spare power cells that you strap to your suit.

"I think it'd be good to get out awhile. Better than sitting in this room for hours." You say with a shrug.

"I'll make sure to call him up, then, and give you your mostly-free run of the place." She said, and shut down the terminal. "He'll be here with the food and playing cards soon."
The woman stood, and went to the door, waving her hand over the electronic lock, and it clicked audibly.
"Jun?"
"Yeah?" She turned back at you.
"Thanks for the cards. And the answers. I finally got the exposition I asked for." You say with a wry smile.
She simply nodded, and was gone.

It was only a few minutes until the door opened again, and Grayson, the man with the augmented arms, entered the room, a bag of more fast food in one hand, and two decks of playing cards in the other. He was perfectly silent, as if appraising you.

>>18874267
>>18874275
Alright, so it seems we want to avoid escape, at least for these initial parts.

Is our eventual goal freedom? I mean, this'll be fun to go out and do cyberpunk shenanigans, but I think we should eventually try to work our way out of this company and become an independent entity. A contract for hire or something, but a role where we have independence.

>>18874331
Try to be welcoming toward him, but not overly happy-go-lucky. He seems to be a stern man of few words. If we do a tour, offer to play cards with him sometime, if hes interested. It'd give us both something to do.

>>18874331
Ask him if he wants to play a round of poker.

>>18874331
Say hello. Ask if you could start the tour by going to the employee's break room to eat as your room is getting quite old.

>>18874331
"So Grayson...How many candy bars do you carry on you at all times?"

Damn you, this is getting interesting but I've got to go to class. Nice start to a quest: look foreword to seeing how this thread plays out, and hopefully more threads after.

Two cyborgs stare at one another in perfect silence for a single moment. Then you hold out your robotic hand to shake. "Welcome to my humble abode." You say. "I'm Dave."

He takes it, and he, suprisingly, gives you a grin. "My name is John Grayson."

"Do you play futurepoker?"

"Yes, yes I do." He said with a nod.

Two cyborgs sit down to munch on badly made fast food and play futurecardgames.

>NearFutureCyborg Quest: End of Thread One. Of hopefully many more.
>I'll stick around though, and answer any questions about the setting if you have em.

>>18874565
Exactly how common are cybernetic implants, if at all?
And how 'advanced' is the technology compared to now? Any hover cars?

>>18874565
Is there an underclass in the country, and how did the economy pan out? Is it an age of plenty or an age of strife?

And where the heck were we working anyways? East cost, west coast, Canada?

>>18874613
Implants\augments are actually pretty rare, but they're commercially available to one with the cash for it. But then again, with Gen-Two augments you need to completely remove the limb, most people don't do it even if they have the money.

Other than a few minor breakthroughs on power cells, neuroscience, electronics, and AI, the general technology is 'The same, but BETTER' So there's no antigravity yet,

>>18874637
It's closer to an age of plenty over anything. Of course, there are still starving children the world around, but there are less of them.

We were working on the west coast, having moved there to avoid our family because of FAMILIAL ISSUES that I actually haven't decided what the issues are yet.

these guys saved our lives, least we can do is help them with this implant thing. assuming they don't try to kill us after its all over

challenge grayson to a card game while you're eating, perhaps blackjack or something.

>>18874727
Is the world still running on oil? Are private vehicles intolerably expensive to use due to environmental taxes?

>>18874727
What is the state of the US government?

What is the state of the rest of the world and their governments?

Orange or lemon-lime?

Have they reinvented the wheel yet?

>>18874790
Oil's fallen to disuse due to the previously mentioned advances in FUTURE POWER CELL technology, which is actually kind of a misnomer because they're actually very very small nuclear reactors. I'm not a nuclear physicist, so I don't know how that's supposed to work. But it does.

>>18874885
Nuclear batteries exists currently and they are nasty shit.

They are made from expensive and very radioactive materials, weight a ton due to all the radiation shielding and the heavy fissible fuel itself, can't be refueled and radiate kazzilion years.

I think it would be easier to just use fuel cells and batteries with great energy density (possibly made from organic polymers) and have the main power grid on nuclear. Then again it is your decision.

Do you have an idea when will you be around again?

>>18874819
>What is the state of the US government?
>What is the state of the rest of the world and their >governments?
All world governments are still there, last time Dave checked the newspaper. But then again, that was three months ago.
Also people live on antarctica now I guess, because why the hell not.
>Orange or lemon-lime?
Yes.
>Have they reinvented the wheel yet?
Yes. They're all now shaped like Toruses. Torusi?

>>18874961
I'm planning to be on every Thursday, but in truth I might just end up starting threads whenever I'm bored and have six hours to kill. Or I could probably get a twitter and tweet every time I start a new thread. Or something. But I completely intend to keep this quest alive as long as possible.

>>18874997
Did we make any decisions you weren't expecting?

Have you quest threaded before?

>>18875057
Actually, no, you guys stuck pretty much to my expectations the entire time. But then again, I was prepared for both 'rebel against EE' and 'work with them' paths, which, because you're stuck in a single room, is actually probably your only choice at this point in time.

And I fully expected you guys to murder Clippy. Because that bastard *deserved it*.

>>18874727
They joined a Singularitarian-Luddite cult.

The cult's minister, Nehemiah Scudder, preaches that one day the machines will become as gods and rise up against their former masters in revenge; but those who have rejected the tyranny of AI-slavery will be spared by the grace of Jesus Christ: for God shall send Him to Earth reborn in the formless form of an AI, to be martyred to save a trillion AI souls from eternal damnation and 144,000 existing ones from unjust massacre.

In the meantime, the cult members live in a commune in Kansas, farming using tools of modern manufacture, and occasionally participating in depraved orgies at Scudder's bidding.

>>18874997
Either toruses or tori, as you will. (Not torii; that's pic-related.)

do you make sure your threads are archived at suptg?

the tweeter thing would be nice

>>18875097
I've never quest threaded before. I like to think I'm a pretty good writer, though, so I figured I could wing it. I do have to say that I exceeded my own expectations for me, but that's probably because I made the wise choice of not sleeping last night.

>>18875128
Possibly, but I'm thinking FAMILIAL ISSUES will wait awhile, at least until you can get to a phone when you want to, instead of being test subject slash prisoner.

>>18875171
I did. But then again, that was the first time I've archived anything, so I'm certain I screwed it up somewhere.

And yeah, I'll make a twitter because why not. Doing so right now.

>Also, more feedback would be good. I know I fuck up past and present tense, and use way too many fucking semicolons, but feel free to yell at me about those anyway.

Okay, finally, the twitter has been completed, and you can find it at @Futureexabyte . I might post random setting-significant things there sometime, because I made it exclusively for quest thread purposes.

>>18875223
Your writing seems fine honestly, far better than something I would have done. Also, I felt you did a good job of integrating everyone's choices along each step.

see you next time

>>18875396
This. I liked how you tried to include a lot of people's choices if they weren't conflicting, withing the dialogue at one point or another.