"...Vessel? You there?"
Grey had been trying to reach the Vessel for a couple minutes now, but it seemed like it wasn't going to respond.
Had it shorted out or crashed somehow? Grey felt lucky that it didn't stop pumping blood through his body when it did. He could have died right there and been unable to do a thing about it.
"Pilot to Vessel, wake up!"
Silence.
Well, he thought to himself, I sure fuckin' hope I didn't kill it.
Whatever he did in the near future, he'd need the Vessel's help. If it died out now…Grey wasn't sure. Would its parts keep working? Would the AI just die off and leave him as the only voice in his body?
More questions and worries, just what he needed.
Sitting there and wondering would do nothing. But he couldn't just go on without knowing. He needed an expert.
And he knew just the person.
Minutes later, after dressing himself in something…not new, but fresher and more his style than the cheap clothes the hospital had given him, Grey was knocking on his neighbor's door.
The smartest person he knew lived right next door to him. He was…interesting, to say the least.
A moment later a small holo screen appeared on the door, showing the image of a woman in her early thirties. Grey knew she was actually in her mid forties, she just aged very well.
The woman hesitated, staring at the bruises covering half Grey's face.
"Can I help you?"
"Hey, Mrs Saito, it's Grey."
Himari Saito's eyes widened in recognition and surprise. "Grey?! What happened to you?!"
"I got into a bit of an acc-"
The auto door split in the middle and opened. Himari reached out, grabbed Grey by the front of his shirt and yanked him inside.
"You get in here right this instant!"
Grey didn't even bother fighting. Himari's motherly instincts were not something a simple man like Grey could fight.
Within moments he was pushed into a chair with Himari pulling his head this way and that with a grip that was gentle but firm enough that he knew better than to fight.
He'd met Himari about four years ago. Her son had gotten himself lost and into a spot of trouble that Grey busted him out of. From there he'd helped the kid out dozens of times over the following years. He had a knack for getting himself into it.
After a while the whole family began to see Grey as extended family.
"An accident? I keep telling you to stop working those dangerous jobs. Akira would hire you in a second if you just asked! He needs an apprentice to help with his high end jobs."
"Mrs Saito, plea-"
The hand on his face squeezed harder and she glared at him sharply.
"Himari. Please, I'm fine. Just banged up a bit." He pleaded. She let him go with a scoff. "I appreciate Akira's offer, but I just don't think that life is for me."
"Fine, fine." Himari waved his words away. "You aren't much for social calls, so what brings you here?"
"Is Ren around? I could use his help with something."
Himari's face took on a dangerous twist and pointed a threatening finger at him. "If you're trying to get him involved in your work, I swear-"
"No, no! It's not for work. It's a personal thing!" Grey threw his hands up. Himari was a sweet woman but she could teach the Intrepids a thing or two about violently protecting their children.
They'd at least eat him, she'd dump him in a trash bin somewhere and let the scavengers at him if he brought trouble to any of her kids.
Her finger dropped, but the warning in her eyes didn't. Yet when she spoke it was as if nothing happened. "Good. He's in his room. Akira's out working right now, but be sure to say hello to everyone. They haven't seen you in a while."
"Will do, Himari." Grey lifted himself from the chair she had shoved him into, his body protesting silently, and made his way to one of the doors off the main room.
The Saito residence was much larger than his own. His apartment was a single, large room while theirs consisted of a large room that held both a living room and kitchen, plus three bedrooms that branched off of it. Grey's apartment fit into a gap in the floor plan, two walls bordering theirs.
Himari's oldest son, Jingen, sat in his usual space in the living room, watching a holoshow. He was reclined in his seat as far back as he could, nearly laying down.
"Hey, Jingen, how's it going?" Grey tried his best to sound courteous but he knew Jingen wasn't much of a talker.
"The same as it always is, Grey. But you better be careful, keep getting hurt and mom will wrap you up just like me." Jingen coughed out a short laugh. Gesturing to the bandage wrappings that cover most of his body and face.
Jingen suffered from a condition commonly called scan sickness, caused by the cleansing scans that covered the city daily to keep bacteria, insects and the like from starting a plague in the densely packed megacity. Out here in the outer ring of the city the scanners were old and poorly maintained. Some days they wouldn't even trigger, often they'd do what they did to Jingen.
Every now and then, with increasing regularity, a person in the outer, and sometimes the middle ring of the city, will be horribly burned by the scanners. It wasn't yet known why this happened, some think the scanner malfunctioned, others believe the food served out here is so full of garbage that the scans mislabel living tissue for removal. The sickness took a heavy toll on the minds, as well.
Grey sure hoped a solution for scan sickness was found soon. Jingen was only twenty-six, but in a couple years he'd lose his mind and die from its effects.
Grey chuckled, "I'll do my best, J. I assume your sister is with Ren?"
"Always is. Think Ren has some new project she's helping him with."
"Alright, mate, take it easy." Grey nodded to Jingen and turned to the room to his right, which bordered his own.
He closed the distance to it quickly, knocked, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the snap of an electrical short on the other side.
The door popped open and Raidi, Himari's youngest daughter came out, looking no worse for wear but slightly electrified. Her long hair couldn't quite stand on end but it tried its best to.
Raidi was sixteen, a socialite, and a bit of an antagonizer.
"Oh, Uncle Grey!" Raidi's face split into a bright smile. "I didn't think you were coming back this time. I was almost worried about you."
She liked to tease him often, and if Grey didn't know that she was obsessed with Ren, he'd think she had a crush on him.
"Oh, wouldn't that be unfortunate!" He countered, "but, then who would keep your darling Ren out of trouble?"
"Certainly not someone as beat up as you!" Raidi lifted her finger to Grey's nose and the electric charge she picked up from whatever Ren was doing jumped from her finger, zapping him.
Grey reeled back from the small shock and Raidi scampered out of his reach and across the room in a heartbeat.
"I'll get you for that next time, you little gremlin!" He called after her. Raidi took cover behind her elder brother and stuck her tongue out at him.
Grey simply shook his head and turned back to Ren's room, peering inside.
"Oh, Grey. Hello." Himari's youngest child, Ren, barely looked up from the machine he was tinkering with. "Improper insulation on the power cable. Hmm. Maybe get one from a mega screen?"
Ren was the boy Grey had gotten out of trouble four years ago, and every year since. Ren had proven himself a genius at ten years old, and now at fourteen he was always involved in some experiment or project. The concept of stealing really didn't factor in when he needed supplies for something he was building, so when he stole something from whatever machine he found, be it mega screens, antennas, sometimes even from vehicles who parked within walking distance of the building they lived in, he got in trouble often.
Lucky for the boy genius that Grey was able to get him out of it more often than not. Grey could swear that Ren planned his little heists around Grey's schedule so he could get away with it.
"Hey, Ren. What'cha working on today?" Grey leaned against the door, afraid to step too close to whatever it was.
"Electro field generator." Came his reply. Short and to the point. Ren wouldn't waste time with details. If you couldn't understand what he was doing just by looking at it, he wouldn't bother explaining it. Unless you asked, of course.
"Should I even ask what for?" Grey shook his head and stepped into Ren's room, the door sliding closed behind him, plopping down on a box Raidi must have been sitting on before.
Ren looked up with a quizzical look on his face, "Do you want to know what for?"
"No, I'd like to have plausible deniability about this."
This field generator would get Ren in trouble somehow. The kid found a way.
With that said, Ren returned to his work without another thought. In his mind, if Grey wanted to know he would just ask directly.
"Anyways. I need your help with something, Ren. You got some time?"
Ren glanced up at Grey, then back down to his project, then back to Grey, then back to his project. Grey knew the kid was just doing some quick math, trying to figure out if he needed to finish this now or not.
"I believe I'll need some new parts before the next test, so I can spare some time for you. What do you need?"
Grey began telling him about his implant, omitting everything related to how he got it and about the Vessel. Ren was a good kid, but he didn't really understand secrets. He wouldn't go out of his way to tell everyone, but if someone asked about it he wouldn't think anything of it when he told them.
"A malfunctioning implant? I can take a look at it." Ren stood, walked to the corner behind Grey and began turning on a collection of screens he had set up.
"Thanks, kid. I don't really know much about this thing. I'm telling hopin' you can learn something about-" Grey cut off as Ren suddenly plugged a cable into his neurojack. "Hey! What did say about touching people without consent?!"
"But you asked me to look into the implant?" Ren's confused look returned.
"You still have to ask before actually touching, Ren. It's the right thing to do."
"I will remember next time, Grey. Thank you." Ren thanked Grey for the proper instructions on handling people, not even considering the idea that he should apologize for his actions. It simply didn't cross his mind.
Grey glanced passed him to the monitor Ren had turned on.
"The hell is that?"