Cyberpunk - Badland Madman [Cyberpunk 2077]

"Hah!" Cypher finally chuckled and let himself fall flat on his back, eyes staring up. His one hand landed on her ankle, where he just held her tightly. "I'd like that, Pan. Punch me if I ever get lost. But you really believed me? I'll fix the world and shit?"

"Well, you have built some insane things. That Moisture Vaporator is probably keeping every Nomad clan supplied with water. Then there is that hoverboard sitting at your place. I know that is only the tip of it. Anybody else, I would tell them to wake the hell up. But you? I'll watch your back. So stay alive, all right? Losing you would be one hell of a blow… Not just to me, to plenty of others. Not puffing up your ego, maybe even the whole world," Panam replied and, just like him, looked up at the starry sky.

"But…" Panam continued, "What's your end plan?"

"You're looking at it."

Panam frowned for a second, looked at him, and then back at the sky. "The stars?"

"And beyond. Hell, I bet in a few years I'll crack the tech to get us out there. Not just to the nearby star systems, but way out to distant galaxies too. There's gotta be an Earth-like planet, right? Besides, Militech's already got salvaged alien spacecraft."

"They what?!" Panam stiffened.

Cypher let out a quiet chuckle and patted her knee. "They wanted me to help them reverse-engineer it. Mostly anti-grav, ion cannons, and matter-antimatter engines. But it was a damn slave contract. Besides, I've already got that shit. Why the hell would I do it all over again?"

"You have it? Anti... Ah, the hoverboard. I... I think I am finally realizing what I've gotten myself into. You are actually going to fix this place?"

"Back to the good old days. Hell, even better. And you, Panam, you're gonna have a front row seat." Cypher said, pointing up at the sky. "Maybe we'll head to Mars one day. A quick twenty-minute adventure."

Cypher hid a soft smile this time. Yeah, he had to see Mars. For Jane.

"I think…" Panam shifted suddenly, pushed Cypher's arm from her knee, and lay down right beside him, side-by-side, flat, face to the sky, but used his arm like a pillow. "I would love to walk on that red rock someday."

Cypher didn't move his arm or himself. He let the moment drag on, the noise of fire, insects, and Panam's breath close by. It was strangely calming.

"You don't gotta head back? You said you were going to sleep."

"Not after learning aliens are real," she replied. "What about you? No important project?"

"Seriously? Warm fire, clear sky, and the great Panam by my side? The hell am I supposed to leave for?"

"Great Panam?" She drew her words longer and shifted plush into his side as her face turned sideways to him. "Something happened today, right? You seem different."

"That easy to read?"

"Too easy."

He just shook his head, but didn't look at her. "Saw some evil shit. Biotechnica shit. Let's not talk about it."

"All right." Panam softly whispered and…

Cypher could swear he felt her lips on his cheek for a second before she looked up at the sky again. He didn't say anything after that, too many thoughts to deal with in his own head. He knew he wasn't smart. His intelligence was limited to tech. Itches didn't suddenly elevate his thought process, political wits, or life-related knowledge.

But he had lied to Panam.

He did have end goals. Just two of them. The first was to fix the damn planet, which he now really believed was the reason he woke up in that world with those itches. And the second was to make an awesome worldship for Atlas. So his best friend could roam the entire universe without ever being damaged.

That was it.

So much shit to do.

But right then, he heard something.

Oh? She so she does snore.

####

Militech Offices,

Meredith felt out of place in that large conference hall. Usually, she was never invited to something so confidential, even less so given a seat in the front row right beside Militech's top general, Lieutenant General Samantha Lee Young, a veteran of South American Wars as well as the Fourth Corporate War.

Now, the general was the head of special operations, which ranged from covert operations, espionage, to full-scale battles. The old woman was sent by the CEO to handle this mess with Arasaka.

Meredith sat there stiffly. The only reason she wore a military uniform now, with a silver oak leaf on her shoulder, was General Young herself. She didn't know if General Young was also a pawn of Cypher Blackwell; she dared not ask.

"...thanks to our incompetent friends at FIA, the hit on Arasaka led a suspicious trail to NUSA's asset. This is the worst thing that could have happened as we now lack the option of turning a blind eye…"

The man speaking was Militech CEO Lucas Harford's secretary. It was a briefing about the ongoing escalations with Arasaka, and what Arasaka planned to do about the hit on Waterfront and the humiliation of Adam Smasher.

Meredith looked to the side; Director Goldstein was also there. The man was a board member of the company itself and had every right to be anywhere he wanted. But Blackwell's leash was tight around the man's neck now.

But the man was happy, as the new brainwave interface Cypher Blackwell had given made many projects leap forward. It was now possible to mass-produce FBC monstrosities without the fear of cypherpsychosis.

Seems he wants a fifth corporate war. And they're all walking right into it.

Meredith focused on the meeting, yet was unable to. She had received a grand reward already, and it made her nervous what Cypher Blackwell would demand in return now.

"...Arasaka has begun funneling capital into their Night City headquarters. Funding for key projects has increased, and the Waterfront is seeing heavier shipment traffic than usual. There is no doubt they'll retaliate. Smasher's humiliation was Arasaka's humiliation, and according to the CEO, that Japanese zombie hates humiliation above all else.

"Prepare for every escalation scenario. Budget has been allocated for war simulations. The CEO expects a report by next week. That is all."

Sounds of people shuffling out came from everywhere as all uniformed and civilian executives left. She herself was half-executive now; that was what a lieutenant colonel was. And while she was still directly under Director Goldstein, she was also to work closely with General Young.

"Stout, with me."

Meredith stiffly stood up and followed General Young.

####

Cypher took a short nap and got to work early. The new itch was to arrive soon, and he had to finish the previous ones. With SecUnit out of the way, the only remaining ones were Hydroponic Bays and Durasteel.

To make Durasteel, he had to first fuck the periodic table a little. The first two materials needed, iron and carbon, were easy. However, carvanium, lommite, meleenium, neutronium, and zerisum were entirely new.

Now, the thing was that in Star Wars, one could collect materials from across an entire galaxy. All sorts of planets produced all sorts of natural ores. Amongst that list, meleenium was the hardest to procure because it was found on just one planet. Depending on who you ask, it came from the seas of a certain planet or a particular high-gravity planet. It was used in trace amounts to make Durasteel.

"Atlas, I've got the whole quantum pattern matrix for all this stuff. Exact proton counts, isotopic profile, the crystal matrix, the binding energy it needs, quantum state, it's all up here," Cypher muttered, bouncing ideas off his best friend. "But it's some alien element from another planet. Ain't no way we can just make it. The Replicator can't work at that kinda quantum resolution. It just copies shit. Ideas?"

Atlas was already in his physical form beside him, staring at the large screen on the planning table in the underground factory. "Could you write it all down for me?"

"Sure."

Cypher grabbed a stylus pen and started writing and drawing on the massive screen on the table. He wrote down everything, from configurations to energies to quantum states. He kept writing it afterwards, doing it for all five elements.

"We can produce them," Atlas replied immediately. "I can redesign the Replicator. Based on the Star Trek data I've analyzed on the Old Net, I estimate humans, and most advanced intelligent species in that fiction, fall between Type One point Five and Type One point Eight."

"Ah, the Kardashev scale?"

"Yes. Relative to them, I conclude I am definitively a Type Three entity. Should I choose, I can ascend further, reach the sublime, and depart the physical universe entirely. Modifying any technology from Star Wars or Star Trek presents no difficulty, provided it obeys consistent natural laws. Only phenomena such as magic and your soul transmigration remain beyond my capability," Atlas explained, rubbing his old, bearded chin.

"If industrial replicators are achievable, the remaining variable is energy. In Star Trek, warp drives operate through matter-antimatter reactions."

"Damn, you sure are yapping today."

Atlas looked at Cypher with an eyeroll, which didn't suit Morgan Freeman's face. "I am merely helping your neanderthal mind understand my capabilities."

"No… I'm a homo—"

"I know, Cyph. You are attracted to men, and I do not mind. Let us continue." Atlas interrupted with a slight smirk, sketching across the screen.

"You do not yet comprehend the importance of this discovery, Cyph. We finally have the last component needed to build a truly iconic Magnetohydrodynamic Direct Energy Conversion fusion reactor. Currently, the six Arasaka engineers are designing a reactor that spins a steam turbine. Essentially, we are still boiling water.

"However, with room temperature superconductors and Durasteel, we can create flawless plasma confinement and reach 70% efficiency. We will also use modified SecUnit's Fusion Core to capture the electromagnetic radiation. Essentially, we can achieve 90% efficiency."

"Holy shit!" Cypher exclaimed.

"Was that too hard to understand?" Atlas asked.

"No, man. I'm honestly shocked I understood all that mumbling. So how damn small can we make these solid-state reactors, Atlas?"

"As compact as a SecUnit's Fusion Core. In practical terms, we can power SecUnits and your Dark Knight armor with limitless energy instead of batteries. The reactor will still produce non-radioactive helium gas and low-grade heat as waste, however. The Durasteel will help, and with a few changes, I can make it. It's no different from a paperweight to a mere single percentage of my processing."

"Alright, you're just being cocky now."

"But it remains inferior to a matter-antimatter reaction. By calculation, a matter-antimatter reactor is approximately one hundred times more powerful than a nuclear fusion reactor with identical fuel. Therefore, Industrial Replicators cannot operate as unrestricted print-anything devices. I will design large replicators capable of producing only one item, requiring less energy.

"We must first build a standard turbine fusion reactor to generate enough durasteel for the true reactor. Until then, SecUnit's Fusion Core can briefly operate a small custom replicator and produce a speck of durasteel to end your mental itch."

Cypher hummed and wrote a few things on the screen. "Hm… Alright, let's do it. I'll pay a visit to the 'saka engineers later. Let's fire up the Hydroponics Bay first."

Cypher turned the screen off and walked to a separate part of that underground lab. There, a tiny, half a meter by half a meter patch tray sat on a metal box. But in reality, that entire metal box was a part of it.

Quickly, Cypher placed a single seed of a tomato on the bay and hooked it to the power supply of a SecUnit Fusion Core. Then, he turned it on for a few seconds. From what he knew, the thing used a computer to stimulate the seed and deliver a micro-mist of targeted nutrients. It grew food 40-50% faster than traditional farming.

However, he didn't have enough energy to run this tiny one for that long, let alone a big one. But soon, he knew he would. So, as soon as the itch vanished, he turned it off and sighed.

"Atlas, if you modify it, how fast can it grow food?" he asked.

"If I were to optimize it, I believe it could achieve hyper-accelerated botanical synthesis. I can directly regulate cellular biology and overclock photosynthesis. By my calculations, leafy greens and microgreens could be produced within two to six hours. Standard crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, and rice would require one to two days. Fruits and complex vines would require three to five days. It would demand immense energy, likely a dedicated reactor for a field the size of this entire floor."

"Sheesh." Cypher let out a low whistle. "I got a job for you, Atlas. Once we get this thing working, use it to bioengineer crops. I want seeds that'll grow out in the Badlands easily, and won't get wiped out by Biotechnica's viruses."

"It is done. We only require the physical means to do it now."

"..."

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Check out Cypher X Judy, Cypher X Rebecca, Hanako Arasaka Solo NSFW ART, and advance chapters at [email protected]/MrPlotThickens Or Subscribestar.adult/mrplotthickens

Advance chapters on [PATREON] are in long-form format. I have 10 long chapters of this story on P@treon. That's equal to 35-45 NovelPhoenix chapters.