Cyberpunk 2077 - The Ballad of Lost Souls

V and Eric take the stairs down to the lift that takes them to the ground floor. It's sunrise, the yellow lights are radiating through polluted air, engulfing everything into an orange mist.

V: Are we goin' to take the van?

Eric: No. We're going to walk. Look!

V looks high behind him and sees the Softsys building with the neon lights shut down, towering on the rest of the block.

V: Wait, you live like what… Two blocks away from the guy that wants you dead?!

Eric: Sanchez thinks he's a genius and he would be...If he was a plant.

V and Eric begin to walk, the city is full of life and people. Different languages mix together like in a giant pot, clouding V's thoughts.

V: Can I ask you something?

Eric: Why not.

V: You don't seem like the kind of man that would mix with somebody like Sanchez.

Eric: Life is full of surprises. By the way, did I give you the sunglasses?

Eric hands V a pair of aviator sunglasses.

Johnny: C'mon V, put them on. Look at yourself, what do you see?

V puts the sunglasses on, smiling.

V: Seriously, you didn't answer my question.

Eric: Know what, V?! Let's go get breakfast, I'm hungry.

V and Eric enter a small American dinner, where there are some customers eating. Eric sits down at the counter.

Waiter: 'Morning! What can I give to you?

Eric: I would like a small portion of chips. And for you, V?

V: Nothing…I'm not hungry.

Johnny: You know, I'm glad I didn't kill this guy. Look at him! In a couple of hours he could be dead and he's choking on chips. He's the textbook definition of don't judge a book by its cover.

Eric: C'mon, V! Sit down.

V sits down and starts looking at Eric, puzzled. The waiter comes back to the counter, putting down a plate full of chips in front of them. Eric starts eagerly eating the chips, after a while he starts speaking, breaking the silence.

Eric: Years ago I worked for Biotechnica. Chief engineer, but you know that. I supervised many projects, including the Prometeo project.

V: Prometeo?!

Eric: Yeah. The idea was simple. Cloning people to give them an extra pair of livers or extend their lives beyond their natural lifespan, bring back the loved ones… you get the idea. The possibilities were endless, all for a hefty price, of course.

Eric keeps eating the chips, sucking the ketchup from his fingers.

Eric: Don't know who started the project, but the technology was already old when I arrived at the company. We're talking a time waaaay before Implants were invented, but still… It wasn't even close to being ready for mass production. 

V: So?

Eric: It was the life of dreams, fast cars, a beautiful apartment…six figures bank account. Then Max was born.

V saddens, as if he understood something.

V: Your son?

Eric: Yeah. He seemed like a normal kid until he was five, then he started to fall over frequently. He was always too sick to go outside and play…He started to lose weight. Finally we brought him to the doctor.

V: …

Eric: ALS. Terminal. One of the few not curable.

V: I'm… I'm sorry.

Eric starts munching on chips, again, looking away from V.

Eric: Everybody is sorry until somebody else… Faith died that day. She's never been the same.

V: What happened next?

Eric: Went to the Director, begging to give Max a shot at the treatment. He laughed at me and said I should have paid like everybody else.

Johnny: Fuckin' bastards.

Eric: Faith worked at Biotechnica too. Chief of security operations. She has always been good. So we prepared a plan: she got the security codes for the complex talked about before. We went to Sanchez and sold them to him, he was a low level thug at the time.

V: Why did Sanchez want the codes?

Eric: I fed him all the bullshits that he liked: military cyberware, experimental optics, robotic limbs. I managed to pocket one million eddies… In sixty eight.

Johnny: Crime does pay after all.

V: So you gave the codes to Sanchez.

Eric stops eating and looks back at V.

Eric: Fuck no, V. I gave him a sequence of random numbers! His goons probably got blown to pieces by the automated security. I became the first man to fuck Sanchez and lived to tell the tale… It happened nine years ago.

V: And you lived all this time near the city's deadliest criminal?!

Eric: Hidden in plain sight! Told you the guy is an idiot. Faith constantly bombard them with fake clues, he even sent a squad down to Mexico. All they found was an empty farm with some donkeys.

Johnny: V, I take everything back. This guy is a fuckin' legend.

V: How did you end up here?

Eric: After I got the money I went back to the Director and he simply told me the project was canceled, just that. They did their homework and fired me and Faith after a month…We lost everything and ended up here. I found that apartment and I told her I was going to leave… I was so ashamed. She stopped me and kissed me. I… destroyed her life… everything that she worked so hard for…and she kissed me with love.

Eric lifts his glasses, visibly moved, cleaning his eyes with his hand. V looks down and closes his eyes, in pain..

Eric: V, is everything all right?

V: No… It's just… AAAAAHHHHHH!

A copious amount of blood starts coming down V's nose, Eric helps him stay straight.

Eric: Damn, V. Let's go get some fresh air.

Eric helps V get out of the dinner, holding him on his shoulder.

Eric: Here, sit for a minute…

V sits on a old ruined bench just outside the dinner

Eric: V, are you ok?!

V: No, I'm dying. But you already know that, don't you?

Eric puts his hand on V's right shoulder.

Eric: Everyone is dying V… You're just going faster than everybody else.

V looks down smiling.

V: Tsk. Who are you?! A philosopher?

V looks up back at Eric.

V: After all this pain, after all the deaths, after all this troubles… I'm stuck at the same point. I've already died once and it was atrocious. I had to watch all my friends and loved ones slowly die with me. Can't do that a second time.

Eric: It will not be the same, V. 

Eric sits down near him.

Eric: From the data I've seen the Relic changed your DNA, so your body started attacking you like an autoimmune disease. This time it's a different thought: you exist somewhere in this guy's Neural Link. You're basically redirecting his neural impulses, like a computer virus: streaming your mind inside his. You're moving him like a puppeteer.

V covers his face in shame.

Eric: The blood and pain comes from the fact that you're putting his mind under an extreme load. It's like living inside a Brain Dance for weeks, months. The mind can't resist beyond a certain point and from what I saw you are not alone in there either, so the process is going twice as fast.

Johnny: He saw me and he didn't even say hello, how rude.

V: How much time do I have left?

Eric: Weeks, days…Who knows? Depends on how strong this guy is. Once the time will run out you'll just go to sleep. You will not feel anything.

V smiles at Eric.

V: Your plan. The Biotechnica compound. Do you think we have any hope?

Johnny: Here we go again.

Eric gets all serious and adjusts his glasses.

Eric: Not gonna lie, the probabilities are slim. I can extrapolate a person's mind, but in order to link it to a new body I need something like the Relic and that ain't something you can build in your basement with old vending machines spare parts.

V: If you don't think you can do it, why are you risking your life like that?

Eric stops for a second, smiling, then looks back at him.

Eric: What will you do to save the life of a person you truly care about?

V smiles.

V: Are you talking about me?! Do you remember I tried to kill you?

Eric burst out laughing.

Eric: No, V… Talking about Max, my son.

V raises his head and looks back at Eric, serious.

V: I'll do anything.

Eric: I believe that. You are a good person, V.

V: You called me a terrorist though.

Eric: You ain't exactly a saint, let me tell you. But in this messed up world… Who is it?!

V: Everybody has his own plans.

Eric: Yeah. 

Eric stands up.

Eric: Don't worry, you will see her again. I swear on my family's life. 

V stands up and cleans his nose from blood.

Eric: Let's go now, we have an appointment.

Johnny: V?

V: What?

Johnny: There is more than meets the eye with that guy let me tell you. Been around long enough not to believe this good samaritan bullshit and you shouldn't too.

V: I didn't trust you when I first met you either.

Johnny: True. Remember who dug you out from that desert hole though.

V: Are you jealous, Johnny?

Johnny: Fuck you, V.

V starts walking along with Eric, then sees an old telnet phone.

V: Eric, do you mind a minute?

Eric: Yeah…

V walks toward a small alley where a big old phone with a CRT monitor stands, covered in dust and sand. He starts scrolling through the numbers on the old monitor, searching for one in particular.

Johnny: What are you doin' now, V?

V: Looking for a person.

V starts dialing a number.

Johnny: No seriously, what are you doing?!

V: Something that I should have done long ago.

Voicemail: Hi! This is Misty's Esoterica! Due to recent events we are closed. You can press five to book a remote card reading session or hold on to leave a message.

Johnny: Really, V?!

V: Hi Misty! it's me, V. I called you to say… just… I'm sorry. Never called you back, never checked on you and I'm so sorry.

V leans his left hand on the phone cabinet.

V: Jackie was a good guy and I let him down 'cause apparently It's the only thing that I'm really good at… I miss him every day of my life. I used to call him just to talk to his voicemail as I am doin' right now…

V closes his fists and his eyes, in pain, leaning the head on the phone cabinet.

V: I would really like to tell you that you could phone me whenever you fell down but… I doubt I will ever answer, because things are complicated as usual. I hope that wherever you are, you're safe… and happy. Take care Misty.

V hangs the phone, sad.

Johnny: Really V?! You just opened your feelings to a voicemail?! Why even bother when you have a real friend like mr. nerd over there?

V: Fuck you, Johnny.

Johnny: And now we are even.