"Janus?" A deep and familiar voice said.

"I'm sure he's fine, big guy. Just let him rest."

He felt something prod his leg, but he still couldn't open his eyes.

"Janus!" that same deep voice exclaimed. This time his entire body shook. Janus blinked twice and awoke to Gurk standing in front of him, holding onto both of his arms.

"What? Where am I?" Janus' eyes darted around the room as he began took in a rapid series of deep breaths. "Not this again!" he shouted. Gurk let him go and took a step back once Janus had calmed down a bit.

"Relax. You're in LMC 68," Itzel replied as she placed a hand on his shoulder. He turned to focus on her face. She was calm, but still looked a bit annoyed.  Janus placed his left hand on his forehead and leaned back against the wall that his bed was against. 

"I vaguely remember what happened. Something about getting an Implant, right?"

Itzel's eyes drifted towards his right hand that was resting on the edge of the bed. "I'm guessing it's that thing right there," she said as she pointed at the bulky blue device. Janus raised the back of his hand to the front of his face, eyeing the device in both awe and horror. His memories of the Medical Center started to flow back to him. 

"How long was I out for?" Janus asked.

"The AMIE said about forty-five minutes."

"Wow. That procedure put me out for that long, huh?"

"Yeah, looks like it really took a lot out of you. How do you feel?"

"I... think I'm alright." Janus noticed that the device was now glowing bright. He could see symbols present on the screen as he tilted it around. He then moved his fingers and his palm. There was still a bit of soreness and stiffness to them. "My hand feels a bit weird, but nothing I can't overcome."

"Implant?" Gurk asked.

"Yeah, that's what they told me. I guess this is a Late-Term Implant. Hopefully I'll be able to do all of that stuff that everyone else does."

"Try!" Gurk said excitedly. 

"Alright. No one told me how to use it though. Might take me a while to get it right, so bear with me." Janus let out a sigh, rubbed his hands and focused. He thought about bringing up the same kind of screen that he had seen everyone else do before. His eyes cut straight ahead of him. He took in a deep breath. Rubbed his hands again. A small glowing panel appeared in front of him. "Hey, I think I got it!" he said with a grin. 

"Cool," Gurk replied. 

"Great," Itzel said, resting her hands on her hips. "Now that you've got an Implant, you know what that means right?"

"I'm allowed to exist?"

"No. Well, yeah, I guess that's kinda true too. But I was talking about earning Tokens."

"Oh. I suppose that's important too."

"Yeah, it is. Help doesn't come cheap. Before Ringa and Bri left, they asked us to make sure that you're alright for the time being. Of course, Gurk over here said 'yes' without even thinking about it." Itzel's eyes rolled to the back of her head. "If you're going to stick with us, you'll have to pull your weight."

"That's more than fair. Did Ringa and Bri say anything else before they left?"

"Nothing too much. Just that they wanted us to make sure that you stay out of trouble while you get accustomed to using an Implant. They were in a hurry, so they couldn't stay around long enough for you to finish your little nap. But they did mention that now you have an Implant, you being in Labrisson shouldn't be a problem."

"I suppose that's one good thing about all of this."

"Says a lot when being able to stay in Labrisson is a good thing."

"Yeah." Janus' attention shifted to the screen in front of him. At the very top was his name as well as a portrait of himself. There was a series of icons spread all throughout the screen. He pressed his finger against a symbol of a gold coin with a capital T on it."

"That's your banking account," Itzel said as she took a seat on the bed next to Janus. She leaned over to look at his screen. "It shows how many Tokens you have. You can send and receive payments there too. Take loans. Everything related to money, this is where it's done. Trust me, you'll be looking this screen a lot."

"Right. And where can I see how much I have?"

"Uh-oh." Itzel's face made a sharp frown.

"What? What's the matter?"

She pointed towards the top of the menu. In dark red, the number 311000 could be seen. "That's your balance, right there,” Itzel said. “Right next to where it says 'DEFECIT.'” Janus leaned in closer, adjusting his glasses to make sure he read the number correctly.

"What? How am I already over three hundred thousand in debt?"

"No insurance," Gurk grunted.

"He's right. I can't imagine getting a late-term Implant being cheap. Looks like they already took the fees out of the money that you don't have."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Janus turned towards to Itzel, worry written across his face. "What happens if I can't pay it off?"

"You will pay it off. Whatever you earn will get a portion of it deducted and transferred to paying off that debt. Fortunately, paying off debts granted by the City of Labrisson don't have any strict deadlines. Can't speak for other places or institutions, but as long you work hard you should be able to pay it off.  Eventually."

"Great. I just need kill almost a third of a million Lurkers and I'll be all clear!" Janus said as he stood up and phoned in a smile. 

"Don't worry," Itzel gave Janus a pat on the back. "It's a lot of Tokens, don't get me wrong. But it's not like it's something that you can't do with a bit of hard work and determination. Besides, you didn't plan on buying any big fancy items, did you?"

Janus shook his head. "No. I own nothing. I'm too concerned with making sure that I live to see tomorrow!" His voice almost reached the level of shouting. "I haven't been here for an entire day and I've almost been killed. Twice! Then I had to save an old man from getting crushed to death only to be threatened with apprehension if I didn't get this permanently embedded into my hand!" Janus raised the back of his hand, showing off the blue device to Itzel. "And now you're telling me I owe hundreds of thousands of Tokens to some city that was more than willing to ship me off to some dangerous territory not even an hour ago! So now I'm stuck here, having to work off a debt that I didn't agree to! So no, Itzel. I am not concerned with buying some fancy carrier. I don't want to get some crazy laser sword. Or a cauliflower farm. Or whatever crazy, backwards thing you'd call "big and fancy" here in this messed up world!" Janus and Itzel's eyes locked. He remained still, his face flushed from frustrated as his hands were in fists that dangled at his sides. Itzel cocked one eye and nodded.

"No need to make a scene, alright?" Itzel became less tense, looking somewhat sympathetic.

"I-I'm sorry Itzel." Janus took a seat back on the bed and lowered his head. "I'm just stressed out is all." He felt a large hand give him a few pats on his back. "Thanks Gurk."

"Welcome."

"I know how tough Labrisson can be, Janus," Itzel said, her voice sounding friendlier than what he was used to. "I know I was hard on you when we first met. When you've been in this city you're entire life, you learn not to trust people and get too attached to them. You seemed like another one of those loons that spent too much time by the exhaust pipes in the Refinery Sector. But after getting to know you a bit more, you're not a bad guy at all." Janus looked towards Itzel. She had the faintest of smiles on her face.

"Thanks, Itzel. I just really, really miss Oregon right now." Janus said as he rubbed his eyes.

"I get you."

"And I can't talk about it with anyone because they'll just think I'm crazy, so I have no clue where to even begin if I want to go back. For all I know, I could be crazy and maybe Oregon doesn't exist. At this point, maybe a dire case of amnesia is the most sensible conclusion."

"I don't know anything about amnesia, so I can't help you there. But I'll tell you what. Gurk really likes you. I think you're alright. We'll be willing to help you out a bit. Make sure you can stand on your own here in Labrisson. How's that sound?"

"You'd do that for me?” Janus asked, pointing at himself.

"Sure," Gurk said while nodding.

"Yeah, yeah. We've got a place you can stay at, and we can help you start earning some Tokens to pay off that debt of yours." Itzel gave Janus a nudge in the arm. He grinned, but still looked exhausted. "Of course, don't think of this as a free ride. You'll have to earn your keep." Itzel winked. "So, what do you say?"

"Of course. I'll gladly accept that offer!"