Chapter Sixty - How To Skin A Cat

"Hair-loss is such a 2010s problem. Beautiful, full, healthy hair! Hair so strong you can strangle a man with it. Hair in such a wide array of colours and styles that you'll want to replace it every week, just so that you can try something new and dazzle your friends with how incredibly unique you are!

--Because We're Worth It campaign, 2035

***

As much as I would have loved to sleep in as much as I wanted, I had shit to do, and time was pressing ever onwards.

Myalis woke me up with increasingly hard nudges at around five in the morning.

I stumbled out of bed and to the shower. Fortunately, the water did help to wake me up some, which... was more than necessary. With only a few hours of sleep in me, I wouldn't be very useful.

Some was better than none, but it didn't feel like it just then.

"Alright," I said as I stepped out and smacked my cheeks before the mirror. I let out a sigh, then looked at my reflection.

I had some bags under my eyes. Nothing too alarming, but it wasn't pretty. My hair was matted down, and I could only barely make out the once-vibrant blue of one of my bangs. Still hadn't gotten around to fixing that.

Are you well?

"I'm fine," I said. "What's my point-total looking like?"

Current Points: 34,771

Not bad. I'd spent a few here and there, not just on consumables, but on crap that I probably didn't need, but last night... this morning's run, had buffed things back up a little. "I've been putting a few things off," I said.

Are you preparing yourself mentally for some upgrades?

"You don't need to spell it out like that," I said. "But, yeah, pretty much. I think I'm starting to get to the point where I should be a lot better than I am. I don't wanna go full-borg though."

Your current augmentations include one self-healing system in your chest, a pair of prosthetic ears, a cybernetic eye, and your arm. You have spent relatively little on improving your physicality. At the same time, you have access to two relevant blueprints. One for the Feline Cat Reflex Augmentation suite, and one for some prosthetic ear implants.

"The blueprints are mostly if I want to make that shit myself, no?" I asked.

Yes, and if you had the time and surgical systems to install them, then that would be the less expensive option, though obviously time isn't something you have in great supply at the moment.

"Right," I agreed. Then I placed a hand on the counter. "Okay, this is what I want, mostly, I need to move faster. I don't just mean like, physically, I mean... my reflexes, I want to act quicker and have more time to react to shit. It'll make up for me not being able to think as quick."

Something could be arranged.

"And I need to be a little tougher. Like I said, I don't wanna be a borg, but I don't think it would hurt if I was harder to kill." I pinched the skin on my arm a little with my cybernetic arm. It was squishy. I had been wearing my undersuit, and then some armour on top of that. I had a decent suit of power armour waiting for me in the bedroom. The Tiger's Mane. It was damned tough and pretty stealthy and had cost me a little chunk of change.

I didn't need to replace that just yet. Plus for any big engagements, I'd be in my mech.

So that was... several layers of safety. The mech, the power armour, the undersuit. But past that? All flesh and bone.

Understood. Here are my suggestions: First, for the reflex adjustments, you'll likely want to avoid anything too sudden. I would advise three items, totalling nine hundred points.

That was on the steep side, but I was also a point-pincher, and it was something that would help in the long run. "Go on."

The first is a set of nerve replacements. The second is a system to actually introduce these to your body. The last is a mental-reflex enhancement system. The nerve replacements would change out your current nervous system for a bio-electrical system that runs via minute electrical discharges. The main sheath would run through your spine and out across your body.

"That's more or less what I was imagining, for the nervous bit, how are we, uh, getting that installed? Am I gonna be flensed alive?"

That's what the second purchase is for. A small vat of medical nanites plugged into your bloodstream with access to microfilaments of the nerve replacement. They'll travel through your body and replace your nerves. This will not be pleasurable, but it won't hurt, either. The transfer should take approximately two days, assuming you don't get injured in that time.

"So... what, I swallow both?"

No, the system will hook into your back, along your spinal cord. It'll feel similar to a heating pad placed along the centre of your back. The final item will be inserted along the base of your skull. It's an injection that will travel to your brain and reconstruct itself into a small computerised system linked between your meat brain and your new mechanical nervous system.

I took a deep breath and looked at myself in the mirror. "Will it be worth it?" I asked.

Your reflexes will slowly but steadily improve over the course of a week or less. You will be able to command your limbs to move faster.

"Command my limbs to move faster?" I asked. "Not actually make them move faster?"

They are still organic, and you don't seem interested or ready to replace all of your musculature or bones.

"Ah, no, yeah, okay." I shivered. This was already pushing it. I... didn't mind the cybernetic arm, much. I'd never really fucked with prosthetics before. They felt like they were a shitty replacement for something I'd lost. This one was fine. Better than a real arm, but it didn't feel entirely... me. I did appreciate the vibrating function, but it was not... eh, whatever.

I'd need a real good therapy AI to get over that hangup.

At the end of the day, I still wanted to be me. New nerves? That wasn't so bad. I'd get used to them. New muscles and bones and probably all the rest? Fuck, at that point I might as well tuck my brain in a jar and pilot a suit.

I knew there were some samurai that did just that.

"Okay, what about being tougher?" I asked.

Would you be partial to skin replacement?

"That sounds horrific," I said.

It's less invasive than you'd think, all things considered. I can have the skin replacement take a similar approach. A suite of nanomachines that would slowly replace all of your skin with fresh, new skin laced with materials to improve it. Your skin would flake off, as it does already, though at an accelerated rate. The replacement skin will be indistinguishable to human sight, but it will be less conductive, slightly thicker, and capable of resisting minor cuts and abrasions. It would also have a series of capillaries beneath the surface to better allow regenerative materials to travel through your skin. You would, essentially, heal faster and bleed less.

"Would it be bullet-proof?"

No, but the average Earth dog would find you exceptionally hard to bite through. Sensation-wise, you'll retain your sense of touch, though it may be improved slightly. You will be more touch-sensitive. Your skin would also be much smoother to the touch, and should you manage to live that long, will wrinkle far less with age.

"Okay, okay," I said. "Any downsides?"

You'll need new hair.

"Uh."

Yes, all over. Though, only where you wish new hair to be. Your current hair will fall off, though it won't be immediate. You'll have a day or two before it starts to come off. You might want to consider shaving your head before that happens, then picking a suitable replacement.

Right, that wasn't that bad. There were lots of fake hair replacement things out there. Neon coloured hair was pretty common, as was RGB hair, and there were wilder things out there. Self-styling hair, and hair that could move itself and shit.

"Yeah, I'd be alright with that. How much is this skin stuff?" I asked.

Five hundred and fifty points. This one will require that you drink a rather large bottle of a liquid substance. You will find that it has no taste.

"It tastes like water?"

No. The actual taste is horrific. Your sense of taste will be deactivated almost as soon as you first smell it. It'll return to normal within the hour.

"Oh, great," I said. "Well, let me get started with one of those super-coffees of yours. I think I need one if I'm going to be doing all of this shit."

Of course! I'll make it extra-strong. Maybe the taste will linger a little.

***