"Sesdisk Technologies…" I muttered, blinking.
The name was familiar. How could it not be? Sesdisk used to be a huge company back then, making top-of-the-line chips and neural implants. Pretty much everyone bought from them because they were cheap, safe and good quality.
It also went bankrupt in the year 2602, because of the very same liquid metal implant that Ted was using. You see, back in my old world, that implant killed at least ten million people, created a huge scandal and led to the downfall of a company everyone deemed too big to fail.
Ted's face darkened as he asked for more details. I told him everything I knew: the chip worked fine for a few years, but after a certain point it became prone to sudden glitches and… problems. At first, they thought it was a software thing, but before long they discovered the ireal truth of the matter. The liquid metal of the implant interacted with the Green in increasingly problematic ways, causing all sorts of things including sudden and irreversible brain death. It made a big stink, but billions of people already had the chip in their heads and everyone took the fucking Green at least once in a while.
After that, it became a mad scramble to take the chip off, and another problem quickly arose. Liquid metal chips, at least the early prototypes, weren't designed to be removed. They figured it out in the end, but it took a while and more than a few important deaths.
Problem: I had no idea how they did it or even if I did, there was no way I could replicate advanced medical technology from memory here in this world.
"Fuck," the dwarf said. The atmosphere had shifted irreparably around us, with this latest revelation. "I'm doomed. I did take a dose of Green already. More than one, actually."
I met his gaze as he swallowed. Then his face shifted again, and the oppressive air of defeat vanished like a popped soap bubble.
"I take it back. Don't look at me like I am a doomed dwarf," he said sternly. "It clearly didn't kill me yet, and I am a tough boulder to crack. You said the only way is to remove the chip, right? Or is there another way?"
"Honestly? I don't know. Back then it was remove it or die, but here, with magic and all of that? I mean, there's no proof the Green even stays in your body after it alters your stats."
There was a flicker in the air. A distortion, something wanting to manifest and trying and failing. I felt the System stir, but most importantly I felt her presence through the bond. Her desire to be here, to help, her deep sadness at the state of things. For a moment, Eve was there with us, but then she was gone.
"Elyra," I said, and the angel—gosh, I loved her so much—already knew what I was asking of her. It wasn't going to be easy, but…
The bond flared to life. It was not just her, not just Eve. It was all of us. Elyra's wings and halo glowed with magic, under Ted's astonished gaze, and then a magic circle appeared ominous and dangerous right where it used to appear whenever she shot her laser of death. The dwarf tensed, expecting some pyrotechnics, no doubt, and he did get a surprise but not what he was expecting.
There she was, manifested out of bent and manipulated light, photons coalescing into neon lines of green and powerful magic. Eve, standing between us, a hologram of a gorgeous girl. My girl.
"Hello, Eve," I said. "I am so happy to see you here in the material world."
She smiled at me warmly before turning to the dwarf who was staring at her slack-jawed. "Hello, Ted Groutfok. I am Eve, the manifestation of the local sector's System."
"Nice to meet ya, lass," he said a bit awkwardly. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I was… listening in on your conversation, and I felt how much Sol wants to help you. Of course, this means I also want to help you. I have some information, but I fear it is not what you might wish to hear. The Green does leave your body once you stop taking it. It grants temporary stat boosts, and then breaks down like it was designed to do by its inventors, however the damage is already done by then."
"What about magic?" I asked. "It was not intended to grant stats, after all."
She sighed, looking all reagal and majestic out here in the world of the real. "That is indeed an unknown variable."
I cursed. "Does this mean he's cooked?"
Ted glared at me. "I don't be cooked, lad."
"Lad?"
"You being an ass, so I call you lad." Then he was all serious. "Listen, Eve. Can you tell me this? Am I going to die?"
"I," she began. "I don't know. I'm sorry. All I know is what I can glean from the automated System routines within me, and they tell me that the Green is in your body and is interacting with magic, granting you temporary stats. Maybe if you gave me access to your status, I could—"
"Done," he said immediately.
Eve flickered for a moment, closing her eyes in concentration. "I see it, let me…"
As she trailed off, I thought about Ted's show of absolute trust. Here was Eve, a girl from my bond, sure, but one he had never seen before. We told him she was the System and he just rolled with it, and then she asked to access his status, something that most people considered sacred, the deepest and most private part of their lives, and he just did it. Without question or hesitation. Even with his life on the line, it still showed how much he trusted us. How much he trusted me.
"Suppose we have to remove it," I said while Eve still scanned him. "Would you lose a lot?"
"I built my magic around this little thing," Ted said. "And I hoarded all sorts of tech that only works together with it. But fuck me if I'd choose death over starting from scratch. I am Ted Groutfok, by the beard of my ancestors. I'll rise again."
"And we will help, of course," Elyra said. "Sol thought it went without saying, but I think it needs to be said."
Ted's lips curled upwards in a hint of a smile, still riddled with uncertainty and pain but a bit less dark. "Thank you."
"I am done," Eve announced. "At this point, I cannot tell much beyond confirming what I already said. The Green has interacted with the liquid metal, and it is going to create problems. There is a silver lining, though. You have a decade or two before the first symptoms show up. After that, we need to consider either removal or better integration. I believe making it into a magical artifact, and maybe improving the Green as well, will solve all of our issues and let you keep your current magic."
As Ted's face brightened, I was shaken by the sudden thought that of all tech he might have gotten his hands on during his travels, he had gotten his hands on the one thing that wasn't compatible with the Green. Had I known that before…
How could you know he might have had a faulty chip in his head? Vespera said to me through the bond. It's not your fault.
Ted, oblivious to my inner thoughts, grinned. "Now that's what I wanted to hear. Will you help me? Just say the word, Sol. Anything, and I mean anything, I'll gladly give it to you if you find a way to save my life and magic."
"I…"
He interrupted me. "Listen, man, Sol, friend. I am not stupid. I used the chip's HUD to analyze the problem as we spoke. The chip, it's got brain enhancement features, something called narrow-AI, tech recognition, magic analysis modules, sensory channels, lots of shit, alright? Verdict is, without you I'm screwed."
"I was going to say," I began, stopping him with a hand on his shoulders. "That I am going to help you regardless. You don't need to convince me. We are friends, and I am going to do anything I can to help you. And I won't deny that I feel a little bit guilty for giving you the Green in the first place."
This made Vespera groan. "Sol."
"We will have to work on multiple fronts at the same time," Elyra said, going full scientist mode. "Extraction, integration, and stabilizing the Green."
I nodded. "We need to know more for sure. But we don't have the tech from my old world. We'd be starting from scratch."
"That's not true, sillyboy," the demon said. "We have all the dryad's computers and maybe you missed it, but Ted said he got the chip from a merchant in Cliff's Edge? Hello? That's the city we are heading to after the marriage so we can bind each other with the curse of horny??"
I smiled at her antics, but she was right. That city was a good starting point for sure.
"I can create models and simulations in the Bond-space," Eve proposed.
"I will help!" Elyra said immediately.
"I will… cheer you on!" Vespera supplied.
"No," Zery, who had not spoken until now, said. I felt her, a radiant presence in the bond, suddenly energized by a new purpose. "You and I, little troublemaking demon, will help as well."
"How?" the demon in question pouted. "I am no good with magic like this."
"You sell yourself short," the dragon said with a tone that conveyed her absolute trust in Vespera's abilities. "And I want to try a method we have been avoiding for too long. My pride held me back, but no more. Calla, will you help us approach the topic of magic and technology with empathy, compassion, and a willingness to negotiate rather than impose our will onto the arcane?"
The dryad gasped, feeling what we were all feeling. Zery's mind was like a vast beacon right now, bright and open and so beautiful. With tears in her eyes, Calla took the dragon's hands in hers, squeezing them even though they were three times more massive, and nodded several times just to show how happy and proud she was of her.
"Then it's settled, Ted. We're all in on this," I said.
We hashed out a sketch of a plan after that. He told us more about what he knew about tech, about where he got his hands on the shields, and other bits and bobs he gathered in his long travels. He once again promised great rewards for helping him, and all the assistance we might need. Fortunately, the time horizon allowed us some leeway, and we didn't have to postpone the marriage or his coup. In fact, the plan was to consolidate his power first, while we traveled and gathered as much information as we could, and then once we were back we'd start really hammering away at the problem.
"And we'll come out ahead," I said. "I changed the fucking System, a little chip will not stop us."
I reached out to squeeze Eve's hand, but of course she was just a hologram of light, made of Elyra's magic. I passed straight through, and for a moment I was filled with deep sadness. I almost wanted to close my eyes and go into Bond-space right then and there so I could kiss my Eve on the lips, but that would have to wait.
Ted thanked us again, and we chatted until deep into the night, talking about my origin universe, theories on how technology might have ended up here, the dryads and their strangely laterally advanced tech, how studying it might be a good starting point because of its integration with magic, then we talked about the System, how the world came to be what it was, the beast tides, the fall of the other Great Races—although he knew little, much to my girls' frustration—and then the machine gods, the kill code, the baffling paradox that was my life.
We talked and cursed and shared food all together in his warehouse, he and I and the girls. When we finally left late that night, going to the guild to rent a room and crash out, we all really thought about Ted as a friend. And friends helped each other.