Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 144277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 721(@200wpm)___ 577(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 721(@200wpm)___ 577(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
“It’s the augmentation software,” Xi explains. “This is his profile.” He taps the screen and it changes to a real image of a man. He’s… something, that’s for sure.
“Tyse Saarinen,” Xi says. “Thirty-one years old. He actually just had a birthday. Six-foot-two, two-hundred and eight pounds, Supreme Command Authority status in Biometric-Linked Weapons Mastery, Tactical Close-Quarters Combat, Advanced Marksmanship, Multi-Environment…
I actually stop listening at this point. Because the list goes on, and on, and on. It takes nearly a minute to list this man’s combat, leadership, and technical intelligence qualifications. Xi ends it with, “AI-Assisted Combat Synchronization. But those are just the highlights.”
I blink at him, saying nothing. Not because I don’t have questions, but because I’m still trying to process what this Tyse guy really is.
My silence makes Xi nervous. He gives me one of those all-teeth smiles.
I shake my head. “I have to be honest here. I really don’t know what you’re talking about. Supreme Command Authority status in Biometric-Linked Weapons Mastery? What the hell does that even mean?”
“It’s augmentation, of course. But I almost forgot to mention the weapon. This might be the best part. He’s got a working Versistrike, Finn. The standard Sweep-issue, genetically tethered sidearm, biologically synced upon final augmentation. The Versi is what makes a Sweep Augment a god on the field. Comes equipped with PulseMatch reflex targeting, AutoSelect combat switching, MindLink threat mapping, SoulBind loyalty lock, and ReturnCall retrieval—a Psi-City upgrade so intimate, it will crawl through hell to find its master.”
I try and picture this weapon, but can’t. I have no frame of reference. I wouldn’t even know where to start. “I’ll get one of these?” I ask. “If I let you augment me?”
He hesitates.
It’s small, but it’s there. “Yes. You will. Every augment gets a weapon. A Versi,” he adds quickly. “But… these weapons, they are… tightly controlled, as you can imagine. I don’t have them here. You’d have to visit my associate to be properly fitted with one. But we can talk about all that later. So… what do you think?”
I get up from my chair, muscles cramping from sitting so long, and walk over to the nearest pod. It’s empty. All the pods here are empty. Xi claims he hasn’t augmented a human in over a decade and these pods are only meant for augments after the initial process is complete.
He joins me, and we stare down at it in silence.
Finally, I say, “I’d be like him?” When I look up at Xi’s face, I find him smiling. He thinks he convinced me.
“You’d be better than him, Finn.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Because he was augmented seventeen years ago and the technology has advanced incredibly far since then. It used to be that you’d be prepped from birth for augmentation. He was. But it’s not like that anymore. I’ve made extraordinary improvements in the technique.”
I think about this, all the while staring up at him. He gives me this time, containing his smile because, again, he thinks he’s convinced me. “I’m not convinced,” I say. His smile doesn’t waver. “I mean, I don’t even know you. You say you’re a god, but—” I reach out and touch him.
Except I don’t touch him.
“But you’re not even here. You’re a trick of the light.”
Xi nods, stepping back a few paces. “How about this... how about I bring you and your woman to the upper dimension? How does that sound? So you can meet the real me. I promise, I’m the same man up there as I am down here. But it would be good for you to get a taste of the world you’d be operating in. And wouldn’t it be nice for that lovely woman of yours to have a night out? Dinner? How long has it been since the two of you had a proper dinner together?”
I don’t answer him. Not out loud, anyway. But in my head, I’m thinking of that night. Our last night in Tau City. We didn’t even eat the dinner my servants set out for us. We thought we’d have time later.
It was a mistake many people make, I realize.
Time later.
“Seize the day,” Xi says.
“What?”
“You’re thinking about some missed opportunity? Something to do with dinner?”
“You say you’re not reading my mind, but if that’s true, then how do you know what I’m thinking?”
“Because I’m leading you, Finn. Your brain thinks about what I tell it to think about.”
I scoff. “You’re manipulating me.”
“Influencing.”
“If I were you, I wouldn’t go around telling people that.”
“I normally don’t. But I’m really not trying to influence you, it’s just a consequence of conversation. You’re free to do what you want, but you and your woman—”
“She’s not my woman. She’s Jasina Bell. When you talk about her from now on, you will call her Jasina. Do not call her my woman again.”