Oliver spoke up for Carl first, already planning to drag him out the door if the cost was too high. He needed to know the numbers before things went any further.
"I have the Militech Parallel Lines operating system for five thousand euro, and the Arasaka Corporation Type One for seven thousand five hundred."
Oliver's mouth twitched when he heard that. "Doctor, all the operating systems here aren't brand-new, are they?"
He had told Carl earlier that a bit over three thousand euro would be more than enough, but that assumption was based on used and outdated cyberware. A ripperdoc who dared to charge this much was clearly selling new stock, and if he could sell old junk at real prices, his clinic would not be operating in a poor place like Watson District.
"I'm not some gang ripper or a damn organ harvester. Of course everything here is legitimate cyberware."
Viktor Vektor casually picked up a certificate from nearby and showed it to them, proving he was properly licensed. There was nothing shady about the paperwork.
"Then we're in trouble…"
Light flickered in Oliver's eyes as he checked his account and found only fourteen hundred euro. Even if he added that, it still would not be enough.
He had planned to turn around and leave, but he had never expected the doctor to sell only brand-new goods. This was not Pacifica, where gangs and hackers could grab good stuff through dirty channels, and normal ripperdocs were supposed to keep some old stock on hand.
Because of what Viktor Vektor said, Oliver decided that even if he had to borrow money, he would make sure his new partner got a Cyberdeck here. Ripperdocs who dealt in used cyberware were often tangled up with scavengers, and he did not want to risk waking up missing organs.
He quickly typed a message to his sister.
"Sis, emergency. Send me 500."
"Five thousand?"
After hearing the price and noticing Oliver's expression, Carl counted his own Eurodollar and found he had only thirty-two hundred euro. He was still eighteen hundred short of the Militech Parallel Lines.
He had looted gang members and still could not afford a single Cyberdeck. The irony was not lost on him.
"Beep."
"Where did you run off to? Your location isn't in Santo Domingo."
Oliver saw the transfer come in. It was not five hundred, but five thousand.
"Thanks, sis. Met a friend outside. I'll be back later. Love you."
"You only talk sweet when you need money. I won't be back to Night City for two more days, so remember to head home early."
"Got it."
After finishing the exchange and receiving the money, Oliver was about to tell Carl the good news. Instead, he saw Carl place thirty-two hundred euro on the table beside Viktor Vektor and turn toward the door.
"Wait a moment, Viktor Vektor doctor. Here's thirty-two hundred. I'll bring the rest back right away."
After racking the slide of his Militech Lexington and confirming it was ready, Carl planned to find some work outside. Given the frequency of shootouts in this city, he did not expect to wait long.
"Wait, Carl!"
"Hold on, young man."
Both Oliver and Viktor Vektor stopped him at the same time. The ripperdoc pointed casually at the stack of blood-stained Eurodollar on the table.
"That's enough. I'm not against bargaining. No need to rush like that. I'll take three thousand and install the Militech Parallel Lines Cyberdeck for you. Take the extra two hundred back."
"Oh, you can bargain?"
"Of course."
Viktor Vektor smiled as he looked at their surprised faces. "I'm more curious why neither of you tried to bargain and just accepted my price."
"I only just found out ripperdocs can bargain."
Trying to act experienced in front of Carl, even though his sister usually handled all his cyberware, Oliver quickly sent the money back to her. Then he pulled Carl over to the operating chair.
Viktor Vektor stood up and carefully examined Carl from head to toe. "From how he addressed you, your name is Carl, right? How old are you, and have you had any major surgery before?"
Carl chose to answer based on his current appearance. "Eighteen. I've never had any surgery."
"So, completely unmodified?"
"Yes."
"Then this operation may take a bit longer, and you'll need some time to adapt afterward. Everyone has a first time, so don't be afraid. I'll handle the anesthesia. Do you want to stay fully aware, or just feel the process as it happens?"
The pain would be numbed, but some sensation would remain. After thinking it over, Carl decided experiencing the surgery might be worth it.
"Alright then. Get ready and brace yourself. I'll prepare the tools. In a few hours, you'll come out a new person."
Ten minutes later, after Carl was positioned on the specialized equipment, the surgery began.
"The surgery is done. All set, you can get up. The anesthesia will linger for a bit, so do not move too much."
After hearing Viktor Vektor say this, Carl touched his spine and slowly sat up from the operating table to the side. His body felt strange but stable, like something new had settled into place without resistance.
"How does it feel now?"
Oliver had watched for hours without saying a word, afraid of disrupting the procedure, and now he finally leaned in to ask about the result. He spoke with open curiosity, saying he had needed a long time to get used to it himself.
"All I can say is that it is more bearable than I expected."
As Carl spoke, he realized that with a simple shift of thought, he could try to connect to local servers belonging to different corporations. The sensation was distant and muted, but it was there.
"I removed the backdoor programs left by the vendor. This Cyberdeck only gives you basic access functions, so if you want more processing power or to do technical work, you will need extra hardware," Viktor Vektor said. He warned him not to overdo it, because if this thing was misused, a hacker could break in and turn it against his own body.
Viktor Vektor stretched his hands, which felt numb after the long operation. The external mechanical arms had done the precision work, but his real arms had still borne the strain for hours.
"You can set up a private account on it now. Your money can be stored there, and unless someone takes you out or hacks into your operating system and cracks the account, no one else can touch it."
He glanced at the bloodstained cash on the side and added that it would be better to use online payments in the future, since cash like this was hard to clean. Hearing him say that, Carl suddenly imagined a crime boss saying the same thing, which felt oddly out of place.
From looks alone, Viktor Vektor was deceptive. No one would guess that a middle-aged man with a handsome, weathered face and a sense of history was actually such a skilled ripperdoc.
"I will remember that. But if you deal with someone, you can take the money from their private account?"
"Once someone is dead, the money in their personal operating system can be hacked and accessed."
"If you had this Cyberdeck earlier," Oliver added from the side, "maybe we could have paid full price without any trouble."
"Then we will watch out next time."
Walking over to the gear bag he had left before surgery, Carl opened it and took out Oliver's gun, tossing it back to him. Oliver caught his pistol with a grin.
"Oh, my dear Nova, you are back. So, are we going to look for some work now, KK?"
Darra Polytechnic DR-5 Nova was a traditional revolver, easy to break and easy to fix, the kind of gun everyone needed at some point.
"When you are out of money, you have to work."
Stuffing the extra two hundred euro that Viktor Vektor handed him into his pocket, Carl lifted the bag. He said he still needed to find a gun shop to sell the rest cheap and buy some ammo on the way back.
"You planning to look for work now?" Viktor Vektor asked.