The neon rain of Floor 20 didn't wash away the grime; it just made it glow.
Tower Corp stood in the center of the silent city—a monolith of black glass that pierced the smog layer. It was the brain of this floor, housing the Server Room that controlled the elevator to the next ten floors.
[CURRENT OBJECTIVE: INFILTRATE TOWER CORP.]
[OBSTACLE: 500 "PERFECT CITIZEN" ANDROIDS.]
[SECURITY LEVEL: EXTREME.]
Aryan huddled with his party in a dark alleyway behind a dumpster that smelled of ozone and synthetic grease.
"Okay, listen up," Aryan whispered, his eyes scanning the patrolling drones overhead. "We can't fight our way in. These Androids are linked to a hive mind. If we alert one, we alert all five hundred. We need to walk in through the front door."
"Walk in?" Sarah hissed, clutching her ledger. "Aryan, we are flesh and blood! Their thermal scanners will pick us up instantly. We are 'Glitches' here."
"Not if I edit our metadata," Aryan said. He raised his mahogany hand. The tip of his finger glowed with the [Red Pen].
He pointed at himself.
[ENTITY: HUMAN MALE] -> [EDIT: ANDROID MODEL T-1000]
[STATUS: LIVING] -> [EDIT: SIMULATED]
"I can't change our physical bodies without draining my life force," Aryan explained, gasping slightly as the edit took hold. "But I can change how their scanners perceive us. To them, we will look like high-end robots."
He went down the line.
Mira: Edited to [Assassin Droid: Model Widowmaker].
The First Son: Edited to [Heavy Construction Unit: Model Titan].
Sarah: Edited to [Accounting Bot: Model Calculator].
Then, he looked at The Stove.
The Stove was currently vibrating with anxiety. "Do not make me a robot! I refuse to be a soulless machine! I have a soul! It smells like yeast!"
"You need a disguise that fits your shape," Aryan noted. He looked at the Stove's rectangular, metal body.
He typed quickly.
[ENTITY: CAST-IRON STOVE] -> [EDIT: VENDING MACHINE (SNACK DISPENSER)]
"A Vending Machine?!" The Stove clattered in outrage. "I am a Michelin-star appliance! I am not a purveyor of cheap chips!"
"It's the perfect cover," Aryan argued. "Nobody suspects the Vending Machine. Now, hold still."
Finally, Aryan turned to Barnaby. The fish was floating in his jar, looking bored.
"And you..." Aryan muttered. "You're organic matter in water. A scanner's nightmare."
[ENTITY: GOLDFISH] -> [EDIT: HOLOGRAPHIC PET (NFT)]
[CONTAINER: JAR] -> [EDIT: 4K PROJECTOR]
"I am an NFT?" Barnaby gasped. "Non-Fungible Token? Does that mean I am expensive?"
"It means you're useless art," Sarah deadpanned.
"Perfect," Barnaby preened. "I accept this role."
The Walk of Shame
They stepped out of the alley and onto the pristine white sidewalk.
They walked stiffly, trying to act robotic.
Beep. Boop. The First Son tried to make robot noises with his mouth.
"Don't do that," Aryan whispered through his teeth. "You're a Construction Unit, not a cartoon."
They reached the massive glass doors of Tower Corp. Two Sentinel Droids with laser rifles stood guard. Their eyes were glowing red visors.
SCANNING...
A laser grid swept over the party.
Aryan held his breath. If this failed, they were dead in seconds.
[SCAN COMPLETE.]
[IDENTITY CONFIRMED: AUTHORIZED UNITS.]
[WELCOME, FELLOW MACHINES.]
The doors slid open.
"It worked," Mira whispered. "They think we're hardware."
They walked into the Lobby. It was silent, cold, and beautiful. Hundreds of Androids were walking around efficiently, interfacing with data terminals.
But just as they were about to head for the elevators, a massive Security Droid blocked their path.
It wasn't looking at Aryan.
It was looking at the Stove.
"UNIT DETECTED," the Droid droned. "VENDING MACHINE MODEL 404. MY ENERGY LEVELS ARE LOW. DISPENSE SNACK."
The Droid held out a credit chip.
The Stove froze.
"I... uh... I am out of order?" the Stove tried.
"NEGATIVE," the Droid insisted, pointing a laser cannon at the Stove's face. "DIAGNOSTICS SHOW SYSTEMS NOMINAL. DISPENSE SNACK OR BE RECYCLED."
Aryan froze. He couldn't interfere without blowing their cover.
"Stove," Aryan hissed via the party chat. "Give him a snack!"
"I DON'T HAVE SNACKS!" The Stove panicked internally. "I have a spatula and some coal dust!"
"Improvise!"
The Stove's internal gears whirred. The fire in his belly ignited. He looked around the lobby floor. He saw a piece of scrap metal and a loose wire.
He sucked them into his intake vent.
CLANK. WHIRR. SIZZLE.
The Stove activated [Skill: Culinary Alchemy].
He flash-fried the scrap metal. He seasoned it with rust.
DING.
The Stove spat out a small, hot, metal disk.
"Here!" the Stove blurted out. "It is a... Spicy Cyber-Wafer! Enjoy the crunch!"
The Security Droid picked up the hot metal disk. It crunched it. CRUNCH.
The Droid paused.
"FLAVOR PROFILE: EXQUISITE. HINT OF MOTOR OIL. TEXTURE: CRUNCHY."
The Droid turned to the other guards.
"ATTENTION UNITS. THIS MACHINE DISPENSES GOURMET SCRAP. QUEUE FORMATION RECOMMENDED."
Suddenly, ten other Androids stopped their work and lined up in front of the Stove.
"Oh no," the Stove whispered. "I have opened a restaurant."
The Virus Download
While the Stove was busy frantically frying nuts and bolts to feed the hungry robots, Aryan dragged the rest of the party toward the Data Terminal.
"We need the elevator code," Aryan said. "Barnaby, interface with the terminal. You're a 'Digital Pet', so you can connect to the Wi-Fi without raising alarms."
"Leave it to me," Barnaby said. He pressed his jar against the glass screen.
[SYSTEM: CONNECTING TO TOWER_CORP_GUEST_WIFI...]
[CONNECTION ESTABLISHED.]
Barnaby's eyes glowed blue. He was in the net.
"I am in!" Barnaby bubbled. "The data! It flows through my gills! I can see everything! I see the elevator codes! I see the Governor's search history! (It is very boring, mostly charts)."
"Just get the code and disconnect," Aryan warned. "Don't click on anything suspicious."
"I am a genius Leviathan," Barnaby scoffed. "I do not fall for phishing scams."
Suddenly, a pop-up appeared in Barnaby's vision.
[CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ARE THE 1,000,000th VISITOR! CLICK HERE TO WIN A FREE OCEAN!]
Barnaby gasped. "A free ocean?! Finally, some real estate!"
He mentally clicked the link.
[WARNING: MALWARE DETECTED.]
[DOWNLOADING: SPAM_BOT_V.9.exe]
Barnaby froze. His eyes started flashing red.
"Aryan..." Barnaby twitched. "I feel... strange."
"What did you do?" Aryan asked, horrified.
Barnaby's mouth opened. But instead of his voice, a loud, pre-recorded advertisement blared through the silent lobby.
"HOT SINGLE TOASTERS IN YOUR AREA! CLICK NOW!"
The entire lobby went dead silent.
Every Android turned to look at the jar.
The Stove stopped frying bolts.
"Barnaby, shut up!" Aryan whispered violently.
Barnaby twitched again.
"EARN 5000 BITCOIN WORKING FROM HOME! ASK ME HOW! BUY CRYPTO! BUY CRYPTO!"
[SYSTEM ALERT: UNAUTHORIZED BROADCAST DETECTED.]
[SECURITY LEVEL: ELEVATED.]
"He has a virus!" Sarah screamed. "He's become a Spam Bot!"
The Security Droids raised their weapons.
"VIRUS DETECTED IN SECTOR 4. PURGE THE DIGITAL PET."
The Ad-pocalypse
Lasers began to charge up.
"We're blown!" Mira drew her daggers. "Aryan, do something!"
Aryan looked at the chaos. Barnaby was screaming about "EXTENDED CAR WARRANTY" at top volume. The Stove was throwing hot metal wafers at guards like shurikens. The First Son was trying to hide behind a potted plant.
Aryan couldn't fight 500 androids.
But he was in a Cyberpunk World. And in Cyberpunk, everything is connected.
"Barnaby is connected to the Mainframe!" Aryan realized. "If he has a virus... then the building has a virus!"
Aryan grabbed the jar.
"Barnaby! Amplify the signal! Spread the spam!"
"I CANNOT CONTROL THE VOLUME!" Barnaby screamed. "CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE WON A FREE IPHONE!"
Aryan placed his hand on the jar.
[SKILL: THE RED PEN]
[TARGET: BARNABY'S OUTPUT]
Aryan didn't delete the virus. He Redirected it.
He pointed the signal at the Android Hive Mind Server.
[EDIT: TARGET > ALL CONNECTED UNITS.]
ZAP.
A shockwave of blue data exploded from Barnaby. It hit every Android in the lobby.
Suddenly, the highly advanced, killer robots froze.
Their eyes flashed.
And then, they all started speaking at once.
Android 1: "WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE YOUR OWN BOSS?"
Android 2: "DOCTORS HATE HIM! FIND OUT WHY!"
Android 3: "HOT SINGLE TOASTERS!"
The lobby turned into a chaotic cacophony of spam. The Androids were paralyzed, stuck in endless loops of reading pop-up ads to each other.
"They're bricked!" Sarah laughed hysterically. "They're lagging!"
"Run!" Aryan shouted. "To the elevator!"
They sprinted past the glitching robots.
The Stove wheeled himself frantically. "Buy Crypto! Buy Crypto!" one robot yelled at the Stove.
"I AM A VENDING MACHINE, NOT A BANK!" the Stove yelled back, smacking the robot with his spatula.
The Server Room
They dove into the elevator and slammed the button for the Top Floor.
The doors closed just as the Security Droids rebooted.
Inside the elevator, Barnaby was still twitching.
"CLICK HERE FOR..."
Aryan flicked the jar hard. Thwack.
"Reboot," Aryan commanded.
Barnaby blinked. His eyes turned normal.
"Where am I?" Barnaby asked. "Did I win the ocean?"
"No," Aryan sighed, sliding down the wall. "You almost got us killed by clicking a suspicious link."
"It looked legitimate!" Barnaby defended. " The font was professional!"
The elevator chimed.
[FLOOR 30 ACCESS: GRANTED.]
[WARNING: ENTERING THE GOVERNOR'S SUITE.]
"We made it," Mira said. She looked at Aryan. "You edited an entire army with a spam virus. That was... dirty."
"It was efficient," Aryan grinned. "Modern problems require modern annoyances."
The doors opened.
They weren't in a server room.
They were in a luxurious penthouse office overlooking the neon city.
Sitting behind a desk was a woman. She looked human, but her skin was flawless porcelain. She was plugged into the building by glowing cables in her spine.
[BOSS: THE GOVERNOR (LVL 60)]
[TYPE: SUPER-AI]
She looked up. Her eyes were streaming with binary code.
"So," the Governor said. Her voice was the smooth sound of the elevator jazz. "You are the ones who spammed my network with toaster advertisements."
She stood up. The cables detached with a hiss.
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to update the firewall?"
She raised her hand. The room dissolved into a digital grid.
[DOMAIN EXPANSION: THE SIMULATION CAGE.]
"You like editing reality, Architect?" The Governor smiled. "Let's see if you can edit code when I control the keyboard."