Chapter Two - Finally Getting Good


    Chapter Two - Finally Getting Good


    Mesh Sex is the best, no worries about birth control, theres always someone willing, and no matter the kink, you will find a group of enthusiastic weirdos to talk to about it!


    --An Enthusiastic Meshizen, 2039


    ***


    I wasnt about to go gallivanting in the matrix while in the kiddie pool. Nah, I was going to do that on the bed. I laid down, fiddled with my augs until I found my Full-Dive System, and I flicked it on. There was that weird sensation of sneezing backwards as I dove in.


    One of these days Ill convince you to buy better neural augmentations. Then you wont need to set up all of these extraneous things.


    I told you, Im not super fond of having my brain messed with. Also, where am I loading into? I asked. For the moment, I was a shapeless nothing in a void, which... while not exactly unpleasant, wasnt nice either.


    Then the world turned on, as it were, and I found myself in a room with cement walls all around. There were a few tables to one side, then a couple of booths overlooking a long, long room with some holographic targets floating at the end. They looked like glowing orange model threes, though these were entirely stationary, and a bit cartoonish.


    Is this the place Grasshopper wanted me to see? I asked.


    This is a training facility. The tablet to your right allows you to pick and choose a weapon, as well as attachments and equipment. The range is to your left. You shoot things from there. Time is slightly dilated here, so that three hours training in Mesh will count for one outside of it.


    Uh-huh, I said as I walked over to the little panel and picked it up. Then I stared at my hand. It was... a hand. My hand. Mostly. I squinted and noticed that the texture of the skin wasnt quite right. Right, VR bullshittery, I said. Outside of the Mesh that arm was cybernetic. I glanced down at myself, just to be sure. I looked... like me, but in a dull grey jumpsuit. The only hint of personalization was the nametag CAT over my left breast.


    You can hardly train with a weapon if youre not in your own skin.


    Yeah, I suppose, I said before tapping the panel. It lit up and I found myself with a dozen options. Assault rifles, DMRs? Bolt-Action, Handguns, Shotguns, Exotics, Im guessing these are the bigger categories for guns? How many guns are on here?


    All of them.


    When you say that, I said.


    A large number of gun enthusiasts have recreated nearly every weapon ever made by humanity as faithfully as they could, including many prototypes and otherwise lost weapons. The latter were designed off of existing photographs and records. All of these are available for you to play with.


    A smaller copy of the target appeared on the table next to me, with pinpoints showing me where Id hit it.


    Hey, thats... nearly a bullseye, I said.


    You have been improving. Though your accuracy against moving targets is still lacking.


    Look, I spent most of my life with just one eye. Im not tripping over myself now that Ive got working depth perception, but its still hard to tell where something is moving to.


    Understandable. With time the discomfort will pass and youll grow more accustomed to tracking and firing upon moving targets. Practice will, of course, help.


    Thats what were here for, I said. Uh, Im not feeling this gun. Its too... big? Chunky? Maybe itll feel better with power armour on, but right now, eh.


    I understand. The gun is limited by being a model entirely designed by humans with limited crafting capabilities. There are some very potent weapons available to you from your various catalogues.


    Ill definitely be needing something more potent, I said. The last little while had me running into a lot of bigger, meaner aliens. My current level of firepower wasnt keeping up with the amount of resistance the bastards I met could put up.


    Fighting the antithesis was something of an arms race, one that I definitely wanted to be on the winning side of.


    So, what do the Sunwatchers have thats decent?


    This one might interest you. Its actually a relatively common medium-to-short range gun. It is technically a shotgun because it fires shells and its a smoothbore gun, but I think most modern classifications would consider it a PDW or sub-machine gun based on weight and ergonomics alone.


    The big gun on the table disappeared, replaced by a much smaller, much sleeker weapon. Not to say that this was any less lethal. I picked up the gun and checked it out. Bullpup, with the opening for the magazine just under the stock, and with a set of holographic sights at the front and middle. The barrel was a bit bigger than the joint on my thumb, which I imagined let it pack a punch.


    Whats this called? I asked. And what does it fire?


    Its actual name is a single word whose meaning has no equal in English. It roughly translates to the captivating way a beam of light travels across the ground. As for its ammunition, this can use a number of fifteen millimetre shells. Mostly fin-stabilised discarding sabot seeking rounds with miniaturised warheads.


    Oh, neat. The gun had fire-modes too, and seemed compatible with my eyes software. Yeah, Ill try this out. Got all day to figure out how to shoot straight, right?


    ***