The Sandevistan was an active operating system. The instant it activated, it squeezed every last drop of potential out of the body, pushing reflexes and mobility to their limits. To its user, time seemed to slow or even stop.
The Kerenzikov continued stimulating the nervous system when the body was under extreme stress, passively improving reflexes and squeezing out the body's latent potential.
The Kerenzikov topped out at roughly 50-60% time dilation. The more excited and agitated its user became, and the more dangerous their situation, the stronger its effects.
That might sound like useful cyberware, but compared to the Sandevistan, it was practically worthless.
Most people died in combat before they even had time to feel stressed. After taking a bullet, they might achieve over 40% time dilation.
But by then, the gunshot wound would leave their body unable to sustain high-speed movement. For an ordinary person, activating this thing... wasn't necessarily good news.
In short, because its effect was passive, ordinary people couldn't trigger it when they needed it. By the time it actually triggered, they might already be at death's door.
But V was different. Once she entered combat, her focus always stayed at its peak, and her body always stayed tense.
As V closed in on the Mantis Blades and more bullets streaked past her, the world slowed in her eyes.
She moved into the path of Lier's wildly fired bullets, taking hits that just happened to miss the areas covered by her subdermal armor, drawing little bursts of blood.
Her body began to hurt, to tense, to flood with adrenaline. The world grew slower and slower-
She was waiting for an opening.
Ultimately, the difference between the two might have been around 10%, but the Nekomata fired supersonic rounds. With less than thirty centimeters between the muzzle and the body, time dilation would probably have to reach 99% for anyone to react.
Even if they could react, the body still had its limits. The Sandevistan enhanced the body. It wasn't... some magical component that let people break the laws of physics and move faster than sound!
Bang!
Terrifying kinetic force slammed into Nott's body. Machinery and flesh alike shattered in that instant.
The Tungsten Nail Round punched straight through him, leaving a crater over twelve centimeters across in his body.
Having passed through the hail of bullets, V rose and turned, while Nott sank helplessly to his knees-
Bang!
Another shot blew Nott's head apart completely, shattering the priceless Sandevistan along with it.
The gunshot rang through the sky. All that remained around them was the sound of burning flames.
Clean and decisive. She hadn't given the big man a single chance.
"Holy shit... badass, V..." Bracing himself against the ground, Lier barely managed a thumbs-up. "Killing a veteran running a Sandevistan with a Kerenzikov? In Night City, that already makes you a legend. You just need Smasher to kill you to seal the deal."
"Fuck you." V dropped onto her ass, unable to stop grinning. "I just fucking killed a Militech elite! I should be the one killing Smasher!
"Wait, why do you keep bringing up Smasher? Are you sick in the head?"
"I'm already sick."
"I think this asshole had something wrong with him too. You didn't see it-he was standing there like he was dancing, waiting for me to run into him."
"Maybe he had an episode." Lier lay flat on the ground, panting. "Cyberpsychosis?"
"What now?" Holding the Nekomata, V looked at Zhu Shen. "He looks like he's still alive."
Lier forced himself to stay conscious despite his body's distress. Looking over at Zhu Shen, he saw the man's eyes were almost rolling back into his head.
"Leave him-originally, I was going to do it myself. Now... let fate decide. Who knows how long Trauma Team will take to get here."
In reality, Trauma Team wasn't a suicide squad. Militech had sent in a military unit; they would at least wait for the fighting to end before coming over.
V gave Lier a surprised look. "You were planning to sell him out all along?"
"I came here to make money, not be someone's dog. He broke the rules first.
"Militech has another wave of pursuers just behind him. We need to keep moving. That vehicle-get it upright and load the stuff into it."
Lier pointed at the overturned Militech Behemoth armored vehicle nearby.
Conservatively, that thing weighed at least five tons. V should be able to right it if she put her back into it-though, in theory, the vehicle ought to have a self-righting function.
"Then what? I figure we'll be wanted for the rest of our lives. Become nomads?"
"No." Lier shook his head. "As long as we get away, they won't be able to trace us.
"Don't forget, you're still hunting Scavengers, and you're halfway off the books. As for me-I'm completely unregistered. Totally off the grid. At most, they'll find out I had a Brain-Computer Interface and a Cyber-Eye installed in Atlanta.
"Look around. Militech and Kang Tao personnel, weapons, drones, and vehicles everywhere."
The dead people and wrecked vehicles all belonged to the corporations. The Nekomata sniper rifle that had torn through everyone came from the Veterans Association.
The president of the Veterans Association-he was right here, scattered everywhere.
"All they'll know is that someone joined the fight. Who was it? They can knock themselves out investigating.
"As far as the public is concerned, everyone will just believe Kang Tao and Militech beat the living shit out of each other here."
"I guess I have to trust you..."
Bang!
Just as V was about to say something else, a bullet grazed the rock. She cursed and ducked behind it.
"Fuck! Pursuers! Think of something, quick!"
Lier crouched low and headed toward the cargo container-
Hopefully Nott hadn't had time to shut down that physical channel! He needed to call in outside help!
"Vic! Vic! Thank God! I need a favor!"
"This... this Sandevistan is a prototype in the truest sense.
"When a Sandevistan activates, it pushes the nervous system to its limit, so it can't run any Demons or execute complex Intrusion Protocols.
"There's a theory: once you become too immersed in data, your brain becomes digitized. It starts working faster and faster until you completely forget you're human.
"That's why Sandevistans have safety protocols that restrict you to functioning like a human, rather than a supercomputer.
"But this Sandevistan doesn't have that restriction-even its firmware has no signature. It looks like the developer hadn't gotten around to adding one.
"Imagine how overwhelmingly powerful a Sandevistan is against ordinary people. Use this cyberware for netrunning, and you could achieve the same effect in real-time network combat.
"But I still have to say this: this cyberware wasn't made for humans."
Lier had called Vic over to inspect the implant.
Vic was astonished. He had never seen anything like it.
Unregistered components, unregistered drivers, an unregistered designation...
This was top-tier prototype technology from within a corporation, but it clearly wasn't intended for human use. It was probably more of a research project.
Of course, it might also have been intended for people who were supposed to die anyway.
After hearing Vic's explanation, Lier changed his plan-
He had originally wanted V to install this Sandevistan, but it was clear she couldn't.
Lier summed it up. "In other words, someone equipped with a Sandevistan can normally only fight and kill. But this one is different. It can be used for hacking."
"No..." Vic shook his head. "You don't understand. It can, but if you do it, you'll definitely go insane-the corps love making twisted shit like this."
"Pretty twisted, all right-install it in me."
Silence hung in the air for two seconds. Vic's brow furrowed deeply.
Lier stripped off his clothes while checking that the surgical equipment worked properly.
"Are you out of your mind?"
"No, I'm not-this is the edge of the Rust Belt Network. When people cross between networks, they have to reload network protocols, ICE, and things like that.
"At that moment, network defenses are relatively weak. Everyone fights in cyberspace using their hardware's capabilities.
"This is our best chance. The network boundary is moving toward us. We don't even have to move to encounter the network disruption!
"At that moment, I can take them out over the network. Once they lose contact, our pursuers will be left with open plains stretching in every direction-they won't find us."
Network boundaries in the cyberpunk world shifted.
The Blackwall prevented humans from using the old internet. They could only use "wide area networks" under NetWatch's supervision, and each network domain was a separate Local Area Network.
As the Blackwall traded attacks and defenses with the AIs beyond it, the boundaries between these Local Area Networks shifted slightly in both physical space and cyberspace.
And right now, that tiny shift was the key.
"That's not the point!" Vic said incredulously. "You'll go insane! And you might go insane before you even pull this off! Cyberspace is an abyss. Once you fall in, nobody climbs back out!"
"I won't go insane." Lier calmly lay down on the operating table. "Trust me. I won't."
"Do it, Vic. This is the only way to escape pursuit-"
"No..."
"There's no time-Vic, do it!" Lier said in a low voice. "Do it! Or we're all going to die!"
Bang!
The bullets came thicker and thicker, even striking the cargo container's door!
"Damn it-this is the most unethical operation I've ever done! And there's no anesthetic this time!"
Lier rolled over onto his stomach on the operating table. Messages flashed before his eyes, one after another-
[Severe pain caused by surgery is eroding your mental faculties.] [Remove?] [Remove.] [Severe pain caused by spinal severance...] [Pain caused by spinal misalignment...] [Remove.]
Pain-
Agonizing, gut-wrenching pain swept through Lier's brain, pain that made him regret ever coming into this world.
But he neither passed out nor lost his ability to think-he even used his Cyber-Eye to move the operating table's built-in adjustable tablet in front of him and started studying hacking!
Vic was a little stunned.
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