A peaceful morning for the Martinez family.
As a family on a tight budget, they drove the most common car in Santo Domingo, a Galena G240-a car with terrible performance.
It shuddered every three seconds even on the elevated highway and had virtually no interior amenities. Its only advantage was its price.
In Night City, you couldn't get by without a car. Without one, you couldn't go to work, take your kid to kindergarten, or escape when gangs started shooting.
David bounced his leg in the passenger seat. "Mom, do we still have money to upgrade the official system? Why don't we just use the pirated firmware the Ripperdoc gave us?"
"No!"
His mother, Gloria, refused flatly.
As someone who worked in a gray area, she knew how that pirated firmware worked-
Firmware that performed just like the official version, offered at a low price? Were those hackers running a charity?
Of course not. Who knew when they might set their sights on you?
"But... aren't you out of money?" David looked out the window in boredom, his mind still replaying the thrilling XBD he had watched last night.
"That's because payday hasn't come yet! Of course we don't have piles of cash sitting around at home-and stop bouncing your leg!"
David stopped bouncing his leg and let out a long sigh.
He was young, but that sigh was something else-anyone who didn't know better would have thought he was fifty, unemployed, and behind on his mortgage.
"Actually... I've been thinking lately. I could take a break from school, look for work or something."
"What are you talking about!?"
"Mom... you know we can barely afford even the system upgrades. And I don't fit in at school at all. You don't know anything about that either, do you?
If you're