Infinite, Progressing from Arasaka

Ignoring the Cybernetic Doctor's teasing, the Mohawk Boy called David flopped onto the sofa, his eyes drifting over the ceiling of their tiny home.

"But I really hate the way they look at me. When I applied, they clearly looked down on me, so why should I go crawling back to them?"

Cybernetic Doctor: "Ha, this is the road to becoming a Corporate Dog..."

The lights came on.

"David!"

"Whoa!" David hurriedly cut off the call with the Cybernetic Doctor and looked evasively toward the doorway. The Yellow-Clad Red-Haired Woman who had pushed open the door was glaring at him. "Mom." David lowered his head and called out.

"I didn't buy you that Braindance Headband so you could use it for entertainment."

David Martinez's mother, Gloria Martinez, entered with tired yet excited steps. Seeing that her son had not put on his Arasaka Tower Academy uniform, she sighed and could not help lecturing him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Sorry, Mom..."

"Don't make promises. Show me. Today is the freshman entrance ceremony at Arasaka Tower Academy. After working the night shift all night, the medical center finally gave me a day of personal leave... all because I'm attending an Arasaka ceremony. So you have to become one of those people above everyone else."

Setting her handbag on the coffee table, Gloria fussed as she carefully tidied David's appearance. She opened the package containing the Arasaka Tower Academy uniform and eagerly motioned for him to change into it.

"I... Mom..."

David took the uniform his mother handed him, his feelings complicated.

"Go put it on. Dress up nicely. It's the freshman entrance ceremony—we can't be late."

Gloria spoke gently. Only after David took the clothes did she turn on the Home Projection TV, preparing to watch the news coverage related to the Arasaka Tower Academy freshman ceremony.

"Good morning, Night City!"

The Night City Radio Host, Stanley's passionate and unmistakable voice immediately rang out.

An old friend they knew all too well.

Just as Gloria was about to change the channel.

"Hey, hey, hey! Yesterday's Death Lottery—guess how many there were? A solid thirty? Fifty? A hundred? None of the above!

"You can thank those Vortex Gang cyberpsycho idiots for biting off more than they could chew. Of all the cargo they could've robbed, they had to rob Arasaka's! Last night alone, hundreds died in Watson's Old Industrial Zone! And that's only counting the ones whose bodies could still be pieced together.

"As everyone knows, there's an old saying—right, a new official lights three fires upon taking office. Didn't Arasaka's Security Department get a newly appointed executive recently? The Vortex Gang chose that exact moment to touch Arasaka's cargo. Wasn't that a slap in the face?

"At a time like this, who cares whether the cost of retaliation outweighs the gains? The Vortex Gang became the chicken our newly appointed Arasaka Big Shot used to scare the monkeys. Slaughtered. How tragic!"

Gloria did not listen closely to Stanley's big mouth, but one line sank in: "Hundreds died in Watson's Old Industrial Zone alone."

David's schooling required a great deal of money, enough that she could barely support it by working eighteen hours a day. If... if she could scavenge through the Vortex Gang's territory in Watson after Arasaka's sweep, then amid that massive mess where over a thousand people had died, she should be able to make some money even by digging through trash heaps.

"Mom."

"Mom?"

"Mom!"

"Ah! David..."

Roused by her son's calls, Gloria looked at David in his school uniform. It had to be said: clothes made the man. Whatever Arasaka was like, its aesthetic sense was still on point. David looked strikingly handsome in the uniform.

"Mom, what are you thinking about? You look so serious..."

"Nothing. I was thinking about how to treat my son after the ceremony." Gloria did not want to dwell on the subject. She patted David on the shoulder. "Come on, I'll take you to the academy."

2074/6/1, 7:50

Westbrook, Corporate District, Russell Apartment 414.

"Ha~"

Having thoroughly blown off steam last night and gotten a full night's sleep, Vera stepped out of her home, stretched lazily, yawned, rolled her neck, and slowly headed toward the landing pad for her hovercar.

"Destination: Arasaka Tower Academy."

Aftermath

"Destination: Arasaka Tower Academy."

'Holy Sword' Luxury Executive Hovercar in-car AI: Received. Route planned. Heading to Night City Harazaka Tower Academy.

The landing struts retracted and the cabin doors closed. Blue exhaust flames lit beneath the four Vector Engines as the hovercar slowly rose into the air. Following Vera's established habits, the smart system began playing the morning news at the appropriate time.

"This is the Night City Inquirer, interrupting with an important report. Last night, a major armed conflict occurred in the northern Old Industrial Zone of Watson District, Night City..."

After glancing at the reporter's stiff, formulaic report on the holographic display, Vera shifted into a more comfortable position and lazily sank into the soft sofa backrest. As she adjusted herself, she contacted her subordinates and reviewed files on the Built-in AR Grid.

"Have the bodyguards stand by at Arasaka Tower Academy. Yes."

"Information Department, this is Vera Adelheid. Yes, I registered in advance. Confirm again: this morning, I will be attending the freshman entrance ceremony at Arasaka Tower Academy."

Unless something was high-priority, urgent, or critically important, only messages and emails from necessary contacts could wake Vera at any time. All other routine administrative documents and daily life inquiries were intercepted by the intelligent program in Vera's operating system.

I'm an executive, not a grunt.

There was no need to treat the company as home and remain on standby at all times.

It wasn't a field assignment or wartime during a Corporate War. When work was over, work was over; she could handle it when she clocked in again. She already worked from eight in the morning until midnight all year round. That tiny sliver of private rest time was hardly too much to ask.

"Hm, what's this?"

As Vera browsed, her search-thought signal swept over the day's routine reports until it landed on the description of a message in her inbox. She froze for a moment.

Message: Death Lottery

Congratulations, you have guessed today's winning Death Lottery number! Your lucky prize is 66,666 eurodollars and a Chevrolet Emperor 620 RAGNAR! Take good care of it when you drive it!

--Image--

Vera's eyes flickered. She changed the channel to Night City's "famous mouth," host Stanley's program. "...As for the Vortex Gang, I heard even one of their crew bosses got killed. I'd say the Vortex Gang suffered a serious loss, but no matter how unwilling they are, they'll have to swallow it. Who told them to mess with Arasaka?"

"Oh? They actually didn't try to fob me off with one of those junkers... Reading the room really is a survival skill you have to master in Night City."

Big-mouth Stanley kept rambling on. Though Vera was still looking at the screen, her thoughts had already drifted elsewhere.

The Death Lottery, like Stanley's show, basically trashed every corporation, even NCPD and Night City's gangs. So why was Stanley still alive and kicking, saying "Good morning, Night City" every day?

Because Stanley's program was also owned by a Major Corporation. It was backed by capital, just a variety show for laughs. Stanley was an employee. The traffic money he earned from insulting Major Corporations ultimately still went to those Major Corporations.

Notoriety was still fame.

As far as Vera knew, Arasaka also held shares in it. It was one of the show's sponsors and received dividends every year.

After all, making money was making money. Insulting the corporation would not cost it a piece of flesh, and besides, by 2074, did the corporation's reputation even need anyone to insult it?

Stanley merely talked about things everyone already knew, serving as a public outlet for venting. The truly deadly, confidential information was something he could neither know nor dare to know, so he was free to say whatever he wanted about the public stuff.

Making money, free publicity, providing an outlet, diverting the public's attention... getting multiple uses out of one fish. When the public was busy being meaningless trolls in entertainment programs, public security actually improved. Brilliant.

As for why Vera had won, nobody knew exactly how many people had died in Night City yesterday. But Vera had been the one who acted, and she had taken the lion's share, so naturally she won.

At the same time, Vera was an executive in Arasaka Security Department. Passing her off as some lucky street nobody obviously would not do. The Death Lottery's usual prize cars belonged to people who had been happily shot to death, thoroughly dead—the refurbished old vehicles whose former owners had been killed.

Company employees who won were handled differently.

First, a new car. Give them what they liked: an SUV that every Corporate Dog loved. Worried it might look cheap? Add a cash bonus. Not too much, not too little. Round the number into something auspicious, and done.

Vera marked the message as read, sent a formulaic thanks, and closed the Death Lottery information window.

They gave her things, and she accepted them with a clear conscience.

Night City had its own rules for how things worked.

Last night, after teaching the Vortex Gang a lesson, cleaning up the battlefield, and recovering the Information Department's cargo, Arasaka was certainly not interested in the remaining "trash." But the Death Lottery was definitely interested.

Whether it was combing the battlefield again for leftovers, picking up cars, repairing them, stripping parts to piece together prizes for the next lottery, or profiting from increased lottery sales and program ratings driven by the incident's popularity, there was money to be made.

Oh, and after them, there were probably individual scavengers, kidney thieves, and other groups squeezing the place dry again and again.

Only after that would the aftermath of Vera's tactical suppression of the Vortex Gang finally fade, becoming another powerful display of Arasaka's authority.

"Got a commendation too. Not bad."

Vera closed the Built-in AR Grid, reclined her seat, took out a glass of orange juice from the in-car refrigerator, and drained it in one gulp.

It was not the kind of dye-and-syrup concoction sold on the market. This was the real thing, fresh. Every day, specialists cleaned and restocked the hovercar for her commute to and from Arasaka Tower. Vera only needed to swipe her card, place an order, and select the service tier she wanted.

Ding-dong.

In-car AI: Approaching Arasaka Tower Academy.

Through the dark, privacy glass, Vera's indigo eyes took in the red-and-cyan flying fish projections of Corporate Plaza. Arasaka Tower, Military Science Building, and Kang Tao Tower stood shoulder to shoulder, clearly divided yet side by side, like towering steel walls coldly overlooking everything that passed beneath them.

Arasaka Tower Academy.

Bzz... bzz...

The hovercar glided between the buildings. Rather than heading directly into the landing pad within Arasaka Tower, it flew toward an auxiliary building near City Center. After passing a ring of low buildings surrounding landscaped open space, the hovercar came to a stop above a fairly crowded clearing.

Under the guidance of the control staff, the laser device beneath the hovercar activated, outlining a glowing safety perimeter on the ground. The support struts extended, and it slowly descended.

When the cabin door opened and Vera turned to step down the stairs, a short, stocky middle-aged man wearing large square amber glasses and an academy uniform immediately came forward.

"Supervisor Russell, welcome back to Arasaka Tower Academy."

Arasaka Tower Academy

"Hello, Supervisor Russell. I'm Marcus."

"Supervisor Russell, I'm Sugihara."

"I'm Hoyle."

After ordinary introductions, the same formulaic pleasantries and greetings exchanged with all the other guests, and a few moments of small talk, Vera was ushered inside by Arasaka Academy's senior staff.

"Supervisor."

The bodyguard team that had arrived at the academy early and stood by after receiving Vera's orders now gathered around her.

"Brian, Laurie."

Vera's familiar black-and-white bodyguards, Black Phantom Brian and White Phantom Laurie, led the extra guards assigned after Vera's promotion and automatically took over security around them.

Vera might not actually need their protection. Setting aside combat ability, this was an academy run by Arasaka, not some community college that just anyone could enter. Still, they were always useful, and sometimes a grand display really did provide extra benefits.

Thus, surrounded by bodyguards and even faintly occupying the center position, Vera stepped into this so-called "alma mater" again after more than a year.

Its full name was Night City Harazaka Tower Academy.

Just as Arasaka Tower was not unique to Night City, Arasaka Tower Academy was not unique to Night City either.

Arasaka Corporation's branches and headquarters around the world were mostly similar, but only the North American Headquarters in Night City, the Paris European Headquarters, and Tokyo Headquarters could be called Arasaka Towers.

Branches elsewhere were generally called buildings.

Some branches had Arasaka Academies for the children of company employees, while others did not. Those with "Tower" in their names ranked one level above the other branches.