With my schedule for the rest of the day and tomorrow pretty much set, I realized that I was suddenly running out of free time to build. This was the fifth day of my break week, and while I didn't bother to check the countdown directly, I could still feel it ticking by.

  Thankfully, I could reliably lean on Samwise for a good chunk of what needed to be done. He was more than capable of picking up my slack, and now that the vault was switching to a mostly automatic building process, he had considerably more time. Noah would also have more time, and I expected him to start working on the town's structures soon, something I was genuinely excited for. The main part of the town could use a makeover. Having a proper meeting place, a security building, and more would go a long way to legitimizing our presence.

  Not that that was our primary concern. Noah would have some rather big projects coming up, something I informed him of specifically so he wouldn't be overwhelmed.

  Really, things were progressing well, thanks in no small part to the hard work of my AI friends, as well as my own. The power armor was finished in a way that I was happy with, and I could leave alone until I unlocked something substantial. Kaytlyn knew about the stealth version and knew to ask Samwise if she wanted hers modified. Samwise had, somehow, also been staying on top of our weapon systems. Nothing had been majorly overhauled, but a few bits of Fallout tech had been worked into our mag weapons, making them marginally more powerful and less power hungry.

  He was also working on our laser and plasma weapons in the background, though he wasn't building or designing anything. Instead, he was collecting information in a portfolio so that when one of us got around to finally designing our own versions of each, we wouldn't have to go through everything to find what was useful.

  Samwise had a few dozen little projects that he was working on and staying on top of, so I was not concerned about staying ahead of our development process.

  I let out a long breath, releasing some of the built-up stress that had accumulated as the break week started to draw to a close. After considering the situation for a moment, rather than dedicating my time to another large project, I decided to work on something fun and interesting. This was my break week, after all, and having just barely survived the Fallout tech tree, I wanted to have a little fun. If I was going to have to shake hands and schmooze with the backstabbing corpos, I wanted to look good doing it. I was going to design and print my own fancy clothes.

  Yes, it was a moderate waste of time, but what was this break weak for if not personal, waste of time projects?

  I took a few minutes to visualize, or at least conceptualize, what I was looking for. I needed something sharp and subtle for my own sanity, but also something that impressed and fit in with the current trends, at least a little.

  My first instinct was to go for the custom-fit, simple, clean-cut suit and tie combo. At this point, it would be considered a classic, even a callback. Unfortunately, if I wanted to make an impression, simplicity was counterproductive. I wanted to stand out, especially knowing the sorts of things Sable wore. Besides, from what Sable had said, she was passing me off as an eccentric inventor.

  I might as well fit the part.

  My first designs were impressive, but came off too military, like I was trying to come off as some grand, seasoned leader who demanded respect. At some point, I would probably be able to wear something like that without it feeling like playing pretend, but for now, it was too much. I wanted to look good and stand out, without looking like I was cosplaying someone's edgy video game character.

  To combat the military-esque designs, I shifted my focus to sleeker, tighter looks. Despite my concern about looking like cosplay, I took inspiration where I could, specifically from games and movies from home. I was trying my best to come up with something that matched Cyberpunk's aesthetic, but still retained its own uniqueness, and that I thought looked cool. I came up with a few designs, pushing the punk aspect, then mixing up something for a more grunge look. I ended up saving those because even if they weren't what I was looking for at the moment, they still looked cool.

  I was honestly a bit surprised I was doing so well designing the clothes in the first place. I could feel myself having to pull from basically every bit of artistic knowledge I had gained from all across the previous tech trees. No single design had given me any sort of massive artistic breadth, save maybe the liquid skin programming and design knowledge, but combined, I knew a fair bit about how to make something artistically and visually pleasing.

  Eventually, I settled on something that I enjoyed, something that I hoped looked as good as I thought it would. I wasn't particularly worried about it, however, since I knew Sable would have no issues telling me that I looked like an idiot if I had failed miserably. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she showed up with something for me to wear, which was now my backup outfit.

  I didn't have long to wonder about my outfit, as Frank called me shortly after I finished, asking me to come through to the vault. Not only were the rooms done and ready to see, but he and Samwise had just finished up a room for my courser frame.

  Curious about how it had gone and very interested to find out what our final rooms looked like, I headed to the teleport room and traveled over to the bunker. The teleporters had been reorganized, allowing me to take one that would lead directly to the living space.

  It felt like genuine progress, experiencing each step of refinement my AI creations achieved, and I couldn't help but smile with pride at their work, especially when it looked so good. The new vault teleport room was completely finished, with black granite walls, inset lights, gold trim, and a red-stained solid floor, made from a material I didn't recognize. It was warm, big enough to not seem pressing, and decorated with hanging vines and plants I was pretty sure weren't alive, but definitely fit the feel.

  Unsurprisingly, as I left the teleport room behind and walked into the central living space, I found that it too had drastically changed.

  The floors were a combination of gravel with wooden platforms that circled around like walkways, connecting to each apartment doorway. In the center was a tube, which I knew contained the primary elevator, and around that was a patch of dirt. In fact, there were patches of dirt everywhere, bordered by gray stone edges. It took me a second to realize that Samwise had sectioned off space for plant boxes, grassy areas, and flower beds all over the interior.

  The flat outer walls had been accented by granite pillars, fused to the wall and frequently connected to the many flower and plant beds that ran along with it. The walls must have had some sort of color-changing tech, as they shifted from a grey color to match the gravel around the wooden paths, to a pale blue. I could imagine this was meant to be obscured by bushes and plants, something that would happen either when I got around to spending a ludicrous amount of money on seeds, or until I gained the knowledge on how to make seeds from essentially nothing.

  Fingers crossed that didn't take long.

  Going up past walls, the color of which faded into the dome perfectly, was some sort of projection system, possibly a modified version of what I got from Titanfall. It rather breathtakingly created the illusion of clouds in the "sky". It was a beautiful day in the bunker, with a slow, cool breeze coming through occasionally that kept it from feeling too warm under the "sun." It even smelled like the outside world, though it was missing the stink that often blew off of Night City. All of that worked together with the warm "sunlight" to somehow completely trick my body into feeling like it wasn't sealed inside a bunker, deep underground.

  I turned slowly, looking at every angle, loving the warm, pleasant feeling, wondering how it would look and feel when it rained, or when it was snowy, if that was something that could even happen. After a few minutes of walking around the large room and looking up at the sky with a big, dumb smile on my face, Samwise finally stepped out of one of the rooms. The door he stepped through was simple, a self-opening, two-wide door that wouldn't look out of place in any high-end building in the city. I could see the sensor system above the door, which would be where the system detected who was trying to enter and if they should open automatically or notify anyone inside that there was someone at the door.

  Samwise waved me to come closer, the door staying open as I approached. He guided me inside, showing off a large, relatively barren room with no walls or anything else breaking it up. There were two simple beds at the opposite end, as well as simple tables, chairs, and exercise equipment, including a weight machine and treadmill. I could see that… I was lying down on the bed, eyes closed, as Frank leaned over me.

  "Wow… that's disturbing," I admitted, making my way closer to the bed. "This is the first time I've seen a doppelganger, since the liquid skin system was off on the ALEO version when I saw it."

  "Well, you won't have to see them often," Frank said, still leaning over the courser version of me, looking at my pupils before standing up straight and turning to me. "They will require very little in the way of maintenance, and it is nothing we can't handle on our own."

  “Good…god it's weird…” I repeated, shivering slightly. "Why the two beds?"

  "For a second model," Frank responded simply. "Redundancy will prevent any issues from arising should I wish to add anything to them."

  "Fair… Make sure the doors only open for me… The real me," I added, shaking my head. "Is there any way to do that? Lock them out of security that is tuned to me without marking them as obvious fakes?"

  "Yes, we can ping their entangled photon whenever you activate security, to confirm they are still here," Samwise explained. "That will prevent them from being used against you, at least unknowingly."

  "That's something at least.

  "Should we store your mechanical combat model here as well, Jackson?" Samwise asked, gesturing to a free bit of space along the wall. "We have room for two of them if they are locked in place along the wall.

  "Sure, no reason not to," I said, purposely looking away from the synth on the bed. "Frank, you did an amazing job. Thank you for jumping right into this and making it happen. Samwise, thank you for helping him get it done, but I need to get out of here. If I hang around this thing any longer, I will start questioning my existence more than I already do. Show me my new room, Samwise."

  He nodded, and we left the synth frame storage room behind, walking around the curve of the inner dome before stopping at another door, exactly the same as the other. I did take a closer look at the door frame, managing to spot that there was another door system inside the rim of the first, something that could probably be deployed in an emergency. For a moment, the sensor along the top of the door scanned me before it slid open silently.

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  "Now that it has a scan of you, it will open without the pause, as long as it senses you," Samwise assured me, as if having to wait a second for the door to open was unforgivable.

  As we walked through the doorway, we stepped into a mudroom area with racks for shoes and a closet for coats. The fact that there were already shoes and coats there would have concerned me, but knowing Samwise, he would have already filled my wardrobe with new clothes for me. The mudroom had two exits, one on either side. To the left was a staircase, which, after a peek, I saw led upward to a hallway. To the right was the entrance to the first floor, passing by my own teleport station. I would be able to bounce between here and the workshop as I wished.

  As we walked around the right entrance, I stopped, frozen as I took. It was an open design, with the bed front and center, sitting on carpet that was partially covering a black marble floor. The walls, which gently curved around after about two meters, was a refined concrete, textured but not bad enough to feel like sandpaper. There was a TV, a desk, some bookshelves, and two large windows, which showed the same weather that the dome had been showing. I could also see partially into the second floor, which came around with a reading nook, complete with another window.

  There was also a door to the bathroom, cleverly hidden along the far wall. The bathroom itself was impressive, with the same black, grey, and white color scheme, with a huge bathtub and shower.

  A quick look upstairs showed a full kitchen, an island counter with stools around it, and a proper library area, though the hall also contained more bookshelves. I was happy to note that the bookshelves were mostly empty, meaning I could fill them with books or baubles and things I collected or made.

  "Samwise… this is incredible," I said for the fourth time since we started the tour. "I… I get the sense this is bigger than originally intended, but I can't find it in my heart to complain."

  "We were struggling to rid the rooms of the cramped, compressed feeling of being underground," Samwise explained. "Open floor plans like yours solve that issue rather well, but we held back because that sort of space was not in our original designs. It took several reminders for it to truly settle in our processors that we were working with near infinite resources and space. We kept realizing we were restricting ourselves when in reality, there was no reason to. Most of the living spaces will be of similarly increased size to include designs like this."

  "Good to know. Remember what I told you about not going overboard, however."

  "Of course, Jackson."

  I opened my mouth to respond when I received a message from Jackie, explaining he was on his way with Misty and Mama Welles and that Vik and Rebecca were right behind him. I apologized to Samwise but explained that we would be back soon, and that he didn't need to pretend to be a dumb robot around our new guests.

  I made my way back through the teleporter and to the Ridge, waiting for our guests. I was a bit nervous, since this was the first time we would be revealing just how crazy some of the stuff I had been working on was. I didn't think that any one of them were going to run away screaming or anything, but that didn't mean I wasn't nervous about it.

  About five minutes after Jackie's warning, the two cars pulled up, both parties stepping out to greet me. Vik just shook my hand, while Mama Welles gave me a hug.

  "You haven't been visiting Jay, you need to take more time for yourself," She said, patting my shoulder. "If you keep working too hard, you'll burn yourself out."

  "Yeah, came pretty close to that a week ago," I admitted, rubbing the back of my head. "Don't worry, I've learned my lesson, and the circumstances were pretty unique… I hope."

  She ruffled my hair with a knowing smirk, which honestly was a bit overly friendly since I had really only met her a few times. But then again, that's just what kind of woman she was, and I wasn't about to call her out for it. It was sweet, and I was glad she had accepted me to that degree. I led everyone inside, and we sat around the table. Once everyone was settled, I spoke up.

  "So… before we can get too deep into any of this, Jackie and I are going to get a quick implant," I explained, nodding towards the stairs that led up to the bio lab. "It will only take about fifteen minutes for each of us to install, and we should be fine afterwards."

  "Weren't you getting the nerve reinforcement today, Jackie?" Misty asked, looking over at her boyfriend.

  "I'm gonna put it off until tomorrow, Hermosa," He explained with a smile. "Don't want it getting in the way of spending time with you and Mama Welles."

  Both Misty and his Mom smiled at the sentiment, wishing us luck as we went upstairs. It was quick surgery for each of us, made even easier with some stimpaks. All Vik had to do was carefully cut into our chest, carve a section out of our sternum, slide the primary implant into the carved area, before drilling and tapping two dozen stimulating filaments into the marrow. That was then covered by a slight armored plate before everything was sealed back up and healed.

  Each surgery took just over ten minutes, giving Vik plenty of time to confirm our vitals were fine and that everything had chipped perfectly. After that, we all headed back downstairs, with barely any signs of being cut open, nothing more than a bit of lingering soreness.

  "Right, thank you guys for being patient, everything went well, so we can finally start off. First, I need to know if you were serious about joining up, Rebecca, and if you think she will be a good fit, Vik," I asked, both of them glancing at each other. "I realize I'm putting you both on the spot, but the next conversation is not one I'm willing to have with people who aren't part of the group."

  "Honestly… If you don't hire her, I think I might," Vik said confidently, getting a surprised look from the short woman. "Having backup on hand has made several meetings feel a lot less stressful, and she has been helpful in turning away people I'm not interested in dealing with. She is a good fit and a good person."

  "That's good enough for me," I said with a nod. "Rebecca, we can get you on the payroll, or you could choose to do what Kaytlyn does, which is live off of her cut of the gigs and loot we take, while getting 'paid' day to day by getting to keep the gear I make for her. Any preference? Assuming you want to join. It sounds like you'd be working with Vik, and when we have work or need for an extra gun, we would call you in."

  "I… Yeah, okay. That sounds good," she agreed with a nod. "I got some savings from selling off Pilar's junk, so I'm good with getting paid in my arms and gear for now."

  "Good. We've got more to talk about later, you and I, but for now, welcome to the team," I said, before looking at Misty and Mama Welles. "Now you two are here because not only is it not fair to ask Jackie to keep hiding things from you two, but there are things you should know anyway."

  "Hiding things?" Mama Welles asked, looking over Jackie. "I know he's been working here. Has that been a lie?"

  “No Mama, I just haven’t… well I… you see its…”

  "Mama Welles, he hasn't been lying to you, he just hasn't been spreading the whole truth, because we've been working hard to keep most of it under wraps," I explained, with a frown. "We have been walking a tightrope on what we can reveal, what would gather too much attention, how we would protect people if we did get too much attention. Thankfully, we are getting to the point that not only will our corporation protect us if we reveal a bit more of what we are capable of, but we can also now officially properly protect everyone if we misstep and everything goes sideways."

  "I'm not sure I understand," Mama Welles responded after a moment, looking between me and Jackie. "But I'm starting to get a bit nervous.; What exactly have you gotten yourself into, mijo?"

  "The bottom line is that I've been holding back… big time. Even what you know, Vik, is a few steps back from what we are, and will be capable of," I explained, catching the ripperdoc off guard. "But rather than try to convince you, I can go ahead and show you."

  I encouraged everyone to stand up, and we headed over to the workshop, stepping down into the teleport room. It took a little convincing, but once Jackie stepped through, the rest followed.

  After a few minutes of wide-eyed confusion and disbelief at having watched someone disappear before their eyes, of course.

  Once we were in the vault, I continued my explanation, introducing Frank, Sam, and the others as full AI, and showing off some of my tech. We sat around on benches, next to what would someday hopefully be flowering gardens, talking about what we were attempting to do, about the change we were going to try and force onto Night City, and then the world. I also have a short explanation about my weeks of "inspiration" and how I would receive various types of knowledge that I would need to work on. I answered a lot of questions and had to explain quite a few times to Mama Welles that the AI were, in fact, safe, but eventually, after a few hours, I managed to convince all of them to wear my secure watches, with the implant in their wrists. Misty was perhaps the least happy about the implant, as she only had a few bits of Cyberware and preferred it that way, but eventually she caved.

  After that, I showed off a few of the vault rooms, which I could tell got everyone thinking. The main dome room was intriguing and interesting, but the rooms hammered home the advantages of living there, as they were considerably nicer than most places. Only Mama Welles could claim her normal home was bigger, but she admitted that the vault apartments were better, simply because she couldn't tell which way the wind was blowing by whether she could smell trash, sewage, or industrial waste.

  I invited each of them to stay the night, which reminded Jackie that he had planned to finally try and crack passible, actual pizza, something I had been poking him to try for quite a while. Rather than all of us leaving to head up to the Shack, Jackie went to grab the dough, which he had made earlier, while the rest of us settled into Jackie's new home, which was finished, though currently looking on the plain side. I was sure that wouldn't last long, as both Misty and Mama Welles had ideas on how to decorate it.

  I wasn't touching that with a ten-foot pole, and I could see Vik clearly thinking the same thing.

  Eventually, Jackie returned, Kaytlyn and Riggs following him back, while Jackie began making his attempt at pizza, the apartment filling with the smell of freshly baked cheesy goodness. When he eventually started handing out pizza slices with actual toppings like chicken and mushrooms, not crickets and worms meat, I had to give it to him, he had done a damn good job, something everyone clearly agreed with. The cheese was a bit off, but other than that, it was spot on to some of the pizza spots from back home.

  Eventually, the night wound down, and I headed to my new place. Mama Welles, Rabecca, and Vik all claimed their own apartments, while Jackie and Misty slept in Jackie's, and Kaytlyn was in hers.

  The next morning, I didn't even bother leaving my room. Instead, I got up and made myself a simple breakfast of cereal before making my way back down to my bed. I lay back and booted up my link to the newly completed courser frame, the system activating smoothly. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I was looking at the ceiling of the significantly less fancy and newly minted storage room for my frames.

  Rather than immediately running out of the room, I took the time to work out for a few minutes using the machines set up inside. The courser frame, while it looked exactly like me, save a few missing scars, was a significantly improved body compared to my own, and I needed time to get used to it. Thankfully, having spent time in an ALEO frame, as well as wearing my armored undersuit, I was fairly used to enhanced strength and speed.

  Once I was sure I wouldn't punch myself in the face by accident, I made my way out of the frame room, having to notify Murtaugh, who was already hooked up to the vault's basic security, to open the sealed door to let me out. I then took the public teleport to the workshop. I snagged a spare mag pistol and holster from storage before making my way to the Shack for a second breakfast, this time enjoying an egg sandwich made by Jackie, though he was busy dropping everyone else back home.

  Vik would be back at the end of the day, however, to install Jackie's new reinforced nerves.

  I sat at the Shack for about thirty minutes, unwinding a bit and taking some notes on some future projects, when I got a message from Sable that she was on her way. A few minutes later, when Murtaugh messaged me that she was approaching, I made my way outside. I couldn't help but feel a bit excited to let her into the big secret, to show her just what kind of stuff we were working on. Sable had been working hard to set up our company, TinkerTech, and get it into a position where we would be safe to make moves and start producing things that could change the world.

  I trusted her enough that I wanted her to know what was really going on. Besides, with just a few glimpses of what I had built, even if she turned out to secretly be the worst kind of Corpo, I doubted anything would change. Any single unaffiliated Corpo that saw what I was making, saw just what I was capable of, and what I could do, would be desperate to stay on my good side so they could ride our coattails to the top.

  Eventually, Sable pulled into the parking by the shack and climbed out of her Rayfield. She walked around the front end, and we shook hands.

  "Good to see you again, Jackson," She said with a smile. "Today is going to be an interesting trip. I hope you're ready for it."

  I couldn't help but laugh at her phrasing, nodding in agreement.

  "You're absolutely right, Sable, today is going to be a trip," I said with a smirk, watching her expression shift into confusion. "Unfortunately, you're going on one first."

  I turned, gesturing for her to follow me as I made my way to the workshop, listening to her as she followed behind me.

  "It's time for you to get a look behind the curtain, Sable," I said, looking back over my shoulder at her. "No more secrets."

  "Really?" She asked, her footsteps speeding up as she followed closer. "You're going to show me everything?"

  "That's right," I said with a nod. "No more hints or tidbits. We are going all the way down the rabbit hole."