"Why 'Samurai'?" Fuck, I don't know. The name was not chosen by the protectors. When you first launched, they called you the vanguard of humanity. Someone directly tells you that you are the one who rushes to the front, the one who breaks the trend. Warrior? It's the clever idea of some self-righteous punk that sticks to the drywall like. It makes sense, once you become one of us, it's like ...... You are part of a new caste, you know? ”

June 2032

***

"Okay, thanks." I said, then tightened the bracelet with my teeth.

"You're very, very welcome," the voice of an Indian child, half-asleep, came out of the robot's mouth. "Thank you for using today... OUR SERVICES. ”

I made sure the bracelet wasn't too tight and showed my middle finger to the robot sitting behind the desk to test the dexterity of my wrist.

Lucy giggled and walked over to the robot. Within seconds, she was putting on her bracelet.

Still a little annoyed, I stamped my feet to the museum door, accompanied by the click of Lucy's cane on the marble floor.

"Let's explore!" As soon as we left the security counter, Lucy said.

"Take care of the kids first," I said.

We turned a corner and found ourselves on a small platform above the open museum. Most of the exhibits have walls at the back, and some of them come together to leave plenty of room for people to move around.

I'm guessing they're expecting quite a crowd. In fact, there were about three dozen kids running around.

Hovering camera drones move around, filming footage of children staring at displays or poking at interactive exhibits designed to teach them something. They may get great footage of kittens and kids playing from elsewhere and add it to their media feed.

"Phew, kittens aren't all stupid. They can run around and burn energy. Our threats alone should keep them aligned," Lucy said. "That's not right, is it?" She growls at the twins, who scream and giggle and run away.

"You're terrible." I said with a blank face. I nodded to the main hallway, which splits the main floor in two, according to the hovering floor plan at the entrance. "We can find Daniel."

Lucy showed her characteristic smile and "click" sound, and walked ahead of me. "We can check as we go!"

I snorted and followed.

I didn't really like museums that were more like promotional materials, but I was still impressed by the exhibits at the main entrance. The first steps along the main road open up a one-to-one scale opposing model, which stands tall in the middle of the corridor, full of menace. Its four-hinged jaws are wide open and crush an air hovercraft inside, and its skin is covered in conical spikes, making it look very dangerous.

Samurai holograms fade around the monsters, some of them flying through the air on hoverboards or jet packs, others appearing next to the monsters or behind holographic bunkers, armed with bizarre weapons. One or two even seem to be riding on the creature's back, close-range weapons gleaming, ready to take down enemies.

"Cool," Lucy said. Impressive display.

"That's model twelve," Daniel said as he rolled over. He pointed to the monster's slender back. "See its second belly? There should be some kind of organic subject there. They can cheat even the best cameras or scanners.

Bus bugs. They are always labeled as hoverbuses and carry model 1 and 3 cars everywhere. ”

"Are you memorizing an encyclopedia?" Lucy asked, her tone light and sweet.

Daniel's cheeks flushed slightly. "No, I read the plaque," he said. "Uh, hey, do you still need help with your auger gear?"

I nodded.

"If you can get out of this mess, I promise I won't laugh at you, a samurai fan."

"Don't do that, Kate," said Lucy. She put a hand on Daniel's shoulder and squeezed it. "We're happy to help."

"Yes, that's right. Come on, there's a cafeteria over there, there's a guy. Hungry. ”

The cafeteria is like a gorgeous waiting room. A few benches, a small table, and a row of a dozen vending machines huddled against the wall, neon advertisements grab attention.

We sat around a small table——, we girls sit, and Daniel beat us with that punch when his leg stopped working—a statue of a girl in a frilled dress stood in the middle of the table.

"Which one?" I asked, pointing to the girl.

Daniel replied after only looking at the statue for a second. "Neon Girl Happy Chen. One of the first generation of samurai. She's still nearby. It's horrible, you know, the first generation. ”

"Hmm," I said. I watched as Daniel pulled out a small cube, covered in abrasion marks and cracks. He fiddles with the screen and manages to get the tiny machine to spit out a foot-tall spiral galactic hologram.

The boy pulled a cord out of his pocket next to the chair and sighed as it came out in a mess. "That's right." He said as he hurried to untie the knot. "Jack joins this."

I reached to the base of my neck, felt the hole where the auger was inserted, and removed the label that covered it.

It's better than nothing. Without the right equipment, a person cannot interact with the media.

The small computer in front of him moved, showing three columns, hundreds of tiny specs jumping from one column to another. He pointed to the largest of the three. "This is the primary operating system on your device. The other column is the typical hardware bits, CPU, battery, charging, network modem, you get the idea. He pointed to the third column. It's a neural uplink thing. ”

The third and smallest pillar itself is twisted and deformed,

It's like having six dozen streamers spinning around each other, creating an optical illusion. "Strange," I said.

"Yes, neurotechnology has always been two magical things. Except for a few samurai who were keen on it, no one was skilled at it. Your question is here. His eyes rolled wildly, and then the two parts of the normal pillar lit up red. You have viruses in your operating system and gear belt drivers. ”

"Fantastic," not completely ignorance. I'm sure some of my orphaned companions used to be coders and developers of the same virus that annoyed me at the time.

"Can you get rid of them?" Lucy asked.

I chime in before Daniel did. "Yes

OOT access, right? ”

"Yes, almost," he said. "The good news is that we are centrally located. The internet here is very fast. ”

I frowned. "What does it matter?"

"Would it be faster to re-download the entire operating system?" He asked.

I leaned forward on the table, letting my forehead land on the cool surface. "Okay," I said.

Lucy played with my hair and talked to Daniel about which parts of the museum he wanted to visit while hints and lines of code flashed in my field of vision. I didn't save much, just a few preferences that I needed to adjust later. Although the loss is not large, it is painful.

"We're done!" Daniel said. "Try it?"

I looked up and looked around the room. No more pop-ups. I don't have a clock in the upper right corner of my field of vision. "I don't even know if it's on," I said.

"Look at the vending machines," he said.

I turned around and stared at the light blue machine for a few seconds. A bow appeared in front of me, floating a few feet away.

Master Cold! The coldest one! *

Kula

275C

Hot brown drink

275C

Happy Coke

250C

Prepsi

300C

Golden goose

300C

* Not actually the coldest

"Yes, it works," I said. "The price is nothing short of a robbery."

"It's a museum, and you want cheap drinks, go somewhere else and buy them," Daniel said.

Lucy jumped to her feet, then grabbed the edge of the table to avoid falling. "We can move on!" She said.

I smiled behind her and stood up while unplugging my gear. "Here, thank you."

"No problem," Daniel said. "Every boy dreams of dating two girls."

I snorted. "Don't leave it to chance. I don't mind hitting idiots, with or without a wheelchair. ”

"Will you be lame?" Daniel said with a smile.

We stood up, and Lucy pushed down from the bench and put the cane under her armpit. As the only one who could still use my legs, I jumped up and circled around Daniel. "If you're also a cripple, you can be lame. That's a big loophole, haha. ”

"Ah, the infamous disability clause." Lucy nodded wisely. "That's why I have these crutches instead of some fancy gravity device. So I can use them as weapons of last resort. ”

I shook my head and led the group out of the cafeteria, then looked around. His nose rested against a glass monitor, a finger in his nostril, and next to him was a expressionless Junior. The other kids around weren't my problem, so I ignored them. "Where?" I asked.

"I want to see pretty dresses," Lucy said.

"yes." "There's a whole samurai fashion district here." Lucy pointed to a small sign hanging from a pillar. One look at it opens up a small map of the museum, including the fashion district.

"What does this have to do with human endurance?" I asked. "You might think they'd at least try to keep things on topic."

"Maybe it's talking about the durability of miniskirts and their effects on humans?" Daniel wondered.

"Shh," I said.

Daniel smiled at me. "I want to see the technical part. They had first-generation deck and propeller installations. ”

'Hey!' Lucy shouted.

When I pushed Daniel forward, I was surprised to find myself so much fun.

Suddenly, the lights in the museum flashed red, the whole building trembled, and the sky I could see turned crimson.