V
The Shape of Things
Night City, 2077
The pale glow of dawn pushed weakly through the apartment windows, the Night City skyline still obscured by rain and fog. Sofie’s desk was cluttered with notes and a tangle of wires, her computer humming softly in its hiding place behind the monitor. She was facedown on the desk as Ma?l tried unsuccessfully to get a better look at her through the camera feed.
Her brother was seated in his office in Oslo, shoulders squared in a crisp maroon blazer, the afternoon light behind him catching on a dusting of snow across the rooftops.
“…The research teams are settling into their new directives,” he was saying. “Dr. Krüger’s work on the environmental suits is drawing interest from European investors. Most of the old-guard execs are begrudgingly coming around to your side. A few, Nilsen and Kotka for example, are adamantly refusing to acquiesce to to our changes.”
“Ugh,” Sofie groaned as he continued his report. When she’d reluctantly agreed to take her mother’s place as the CEO of Ymir Skandatek, she’d done so with the intention of changing the corporation’s ways. Long before the corporate wars began, Ymir Skandatek had been focused on the creation of technologies that would allow for the exploration of hazardous environments. The deep ocean, outer space, volcanic caverns, and more, but when the Second Corporate War had loomed on the horizon, all of that had changed. The corporation had changed directions drastically, and began creating weaponry both physical and digital.
At the end of the fourth Corp War, Yrsa Hrafnsdottir had backstabbed her way to the top of the tower and doubled down. She had created the Ni Heimar project, and used the nine children wrapped up in it as assassins and thieves, stealing tech from other corporations and killing those who posed a threat to her rule. Sofie had killed her in a bid to protect herself and her siblings, an unintended consequence of which had been the gaping hole left in the corporation’s hierarchy. A hole that Sofie was doing her best to fill.
She rolled her face to one side, cheek pressing against the desk, and groaned again before finally pushing herself upright. With a the push of a button, she transferred the call to the living room television display. Ma?l’s image leapt from her cluttered desk’s monitor to the wide screen mounted on the wall, his blazer and snow-dusted skyline suddenly filling the apartment. Sofie pulled the band from her platinum hair, raking her fingers through the tangles as she left her desk and started to pace.
“Don’t roll your eyes,” Ma?l said. “Nilsen and Kotka aren’t opposed to your ‘defensive measures only’ policy. Not really. But they furious about how fast you forced the change. Half the contracts tied to Militech evaporated overnight, and the board hasn’t forgotten how much profit went with them.”
Sofie folded her arms, bare feet padding against the hardwood as she crossed to the window and back again. The camera mounted atop the television followed her as she moved. “They’re just going to have to life with smaller margins. I’m not selling our souls just to keep everyone’s pockets heavy.”
Ma?l inclined his head, but his tone stayed measured. “I agree. But contracts aren’t the only problem. It’s been two years since you announced the shift, and implementation is still grinding. The labs are moving as fast as they can, but at least half of them were designed for weapons development. Converting them has been… messy, to say the least. That said,” he glanced at his notes, then back up to her. “We’ve been lucky. The labs and production systems that have properly changed over are outperforming expectations. They’ve nearly closed the gap, which is why we’re greatly ahead of last year, and only marginally behind the profit line from before you took charge.”
Sofie stopped pacing and sat down on the coffee table in front of the couch. “Then why are they still making noise?”
“Because marginally less isn’t good enough,” Ma?l said. “Nilsen and Kotka aren’t the only ones who see the profits we be making if we’d kept those contracts intact, but unlike the others, they’re not thinking about that alongside what we’ve managed to salvage in the transition. To them, it’s just wasted potential.” His mouth tightened. “And they’re not alone. A couple of our smaller former partners have been needling us since we dropped them. Unlike some of the bigger corps we broke contracts with, these couldn’t absorb the loss, and some have taken it personally. They’re stirring rumors, trying to pressure us into reestablishing their contracts.”
Sofie leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “Needles I can handle. Rumors too. But if they’re desperate enough, they’ll try something sharper.”
Ma?l nodded. “That was my concern as well. So far, nothing that wasn’t already public knowledge has leaked, but you never know.” He folded his hands atop the desk, expression grim. “I’ll arrange a meeting with one of their representatives later this week. Better you face them directly than let them keep gnawing at us in the shadows.”
She let out a quiet breath, rubbing at her temple. “Fine. Put it on the schedule. If they want to talk, I’ll hear them out, but I’m not dragging Ymir backward just to keep them afloat.”
“Good,” Ma?l said. His voice softened slightly, “Well, I think that just about covers it. If I think of anything else I’ll text you.”
Sofie nodded, but before she could answer, the smell of fresh eggs and toasted bread drifted in from the kitchen. Ares emerged a moment later, balancing two plates with the ease of someone used to long mornings on the move. He set one on the coffee table beside her and kept the other in hand as he took a seat on the couch, dark eyes flicking to the screen.
“You always know how to make a morning interesting, Ma?l,” Ares said.
Ma?l’s mouth twitched, a smile breaking through. “And you always seem to be punctuating these meetings with food, but you never bring me a plate.”
“I promise I’ll include you next time one of these meetings is face to face,” Ares laughed. “It’s good to see you, brother.”
“And you,” Ma?l replied. His eyes softened further and the stiff lines of his posture eased. “Take care of her, Ares.”
“Always,” Ares said without hesitation.
Sofie shot her brother a look. “You know I can hear you, right?”
“I’m counting on it,” Ma?l said. His smile widened a little before his image dissolved into static and the display went dark.
Sofie let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and pulled her plate onto her lap. She turned to face Ares as he bit into a piece of toast with an egg stacked on it.
She studied him for a moment, appreciating the easy way he chewed, unbothered by the weight of the conversation they’d just concluded. A smile tugged at her lips as she picked up her own fork and collected the first bit of her own food. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“You’d be late to your appointment with Dr. Krüger.” Ares teased. “Now eat up, we’ve gotta leave in twenty.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
* * *
The lab sat in a two story block of steel and glass on the northern edge of Japantown, unremarkable from the outside, but humming with purpose within. The ground floor held the heart of the work, fabrication rigs, diagnostic bays, and long benches lined with half-assembled prototypes. Twelve engineers and technicians moved through the space, some bent over consoles, others guiding drone arms with practiced fingers. The team was still lean—Krüger had room for twenty, but he was still hunting for the right people.
Sofie had picked the location herself a little under two years ago, carving it out of Ymir’s budget as part of the company’s shift back toward exploration and survival technology. Dr. Elias Krüger had been given free rein after the final walkthrough, and the old warehouse shell had been transformed almost overnight. He’d had the place tailored to his liking within two weeks, every corner adapted for function over form.
The upper floor was quieter, reserved for offices and record keeping, though Sofie doubted Krüger spent much time up there. He belonged in the lab, among his team. Today was no different. She spotted him through the glass partitions at the far end of the floor, his coat already dusted with carbon fiber threads. He waved her and Ares over with the enthusiasm of an artist ready to unveil his most recent painting.
Behind him, a frame suspended the latest prototype of the environment suit the scientists had been working on. Dr. Krüger had formerly worked for the Waldmann Systems Research corporation in Zurich, and was the creator of the Reactive Organic Mesh that Yrsa had tasked Sofie and her siblings with stealing from the Waldmann Corp when she was just fourteen years old. In her efforts to make things right, Sofie had made amends with Dr. Krüger, returned the ROM files, and given over to him the netrunning bodysuit that Ymir’s scientists had fashioned for her to wear. The only thing she asked in return was that under her new banner, Dr. Krüger return to his original plan for his creation, which coincidentally, was perfectly aligned with Ymir’s new mission.
The frame held nothing sleek or elegant. The prototype looked more like an armored diving rig than the form-fitting body glove Sofie had left with him—broad shouldered, heavy jointed, cables and plating layered over a thick weave of the Reactive Organic Mesh. Where Sofie’s netrunning suit had clung to her skin like a shadow, this one was built to stand between the wearer and the void. Not pretty, but purpose-built.
Elias was already circling the rig, his lab coat catching on the edge of a workbench as he waved them closer. “Look at her!” He exclaimed, one hand sweeping toward the bulky frame. “Radiation shielding stable through three full tests, adaptive filtration system running at one hundred percent efficiency, and the modular plates are holding up better than projected. We’ve already got two variants ready to trial—deep sea and high-radiation—and the martian configuration is next on the list.” His eyes shone as he turned back to Sofie, voice brimming with energy. “This is what the ROM was meant for, Sofie. Protection. Adaptability. Survival. We’re finally building it the way it was always intended.”
Sofie couldn’t help but smile at the way Elias moved—animated, almost boyish despite the silver streaking his hair and beard. He spoke with his whole body, hands sketching shapes in the air as though the words alone weren’t fast enough to keep pace with his thoughts. He wore his excited brilliance openly. It lit up the whole lab around him and drew in everyone listening.
“And that’s not all,” he said, tugging at his sleeves before pushing his glasses back up. “The environment suits are only half the story. Come this way, I’ll show you our other project. As you know, I’ve been working with the bodysuit you left me—Crude work on Ymir’s part,” he continued with a shake of his head. “But the concept was sound. Very sound. The ROM lends itself beautifully to cybernetic interfacing. We’ve already sketched out a more refined design, and our tests have all proceeded very smoothly.”
His hands moved faster as he spoke, sketching invisible circuitry in the air.
“Stabilized signal clarity, cleaner data throughput, and far less feedback. I believe we can design something that doesn’t just enhance a netrunner’s interfacing, but actively shields the user against the neurological strain of a prolonged deep-dive. And, just like your old suit, the ROM will handle all of the connections via direct contact with the skin and cyberware, just as well as if you were plugged into it. It will also disperse the excess heat generated by your cyberware in an even more efficient manner than before.”
He stopped in front of the half covered workstation nearby, resting one hand on the surface. “It’s not finished, and I won’t make promises about when it will be. But the foundations are strong, and for once the timeline will be dictated by precision, not politics.” His eyes rested on Ares for a moment as he inspected the design documents and ROM fabric scraps scattered across the table. He smiled enthusiastically as his gaze then flicked back to Sofie, bright with purpose. “While you’re here, I’d like to take your measurements. That way, when we get to the point of fitting everything into the suit, we’ll know exactly how much suit we’ll have to work with.”
Sofie’s lips curved into a small smile as she ran her fingers across one of the fabric samples on the table. The weave was smooth and thin but dense, its subtle shimmer alive even in the lab’s flat lighting. “You’ve come a long way, Elias. When I asked for a replacement I didn’t expect you to outdo the original this quickly,” she said. “How long do you need to take my measurements? We have another appointment in an hour.”
“Ten or twenty minutes,” Dr. Krüger replied.
“That’ll be fine,” Ares said when Sofie looked at him for confirmation.
“Sounds like we’ll have time,” Sofie said. “Please, lead the way.”
It had been nearly a month since Sofie had had the luxury of diving into the net for herself. Lately her dives were confined to jobs—surgical, precise, no room for the aimless curiosity she brought with her under other circumstances. She missed it. The drift through oceans of watercolored data, the way the code bent and twisted to her will. She’d been so busy with her new responsibilities, balanced against the mercenary work that they didn’t really need to take on, but did so because Sofie refused to use the seemingly bottomless bank account she’d inherited following Yrsa’s death (which she had split evenly among herself and her siblings) or the equally overwhelming amount that filled another account she’d set up to contain her salary as the CEO of Ymir Skandatek. Unless there was a very good reason to spend the money she received from the corp, and it would benefit many more people than herself, she had no intention of doing so.
She’d only opened the coffers twice in the last two years, once to purchase the apartment she and Ares had moved into after megabuilding H5 had collapsed, and once to purchase and renovate the very building that Dr. Krüger’s lab now filled. She’d used her own funds to do so because in the event that Dr. Krüger didn’t wish to work under the woman or corporation that had stolen his life’s work she had intended to give him the suit, the data, and the building as a gift with no strings attached. In fact, she still intended to make the lab the property of Dr. Krüger. The only reason she hadn’t given him the paperwork yet was because he was always in such a good mood when she came to survey his work, and she didn’t want to do anything to slow his roll. She’d bring it with her next time.
By the time Dr. Krüger was satisfied that he had collected each and every angle and curve of Sofie’s small frame, he was buried in notes and promising to update her once there had been any progress. Sofie and Ares made their way back around the outer edge of the lab toward the exit.
Near the door, Sofie spotted a pair of familiar faces. The first was Jamie Birch, the second was Matthew Mendoza. Jamie was bent over the exoskeletal frame of the latest environment suit mock-up, a cluster of diagnostic tools spread across her bench in deliberate chaos. Her expression was hard to read, as usual—serious and aloof—but her hands moved with calm precision as she tested a torque actuator. Sofie had learned early not to mistake that detachment for disinterest; Jamie simply lived in her own orbit, eccentric and absorbed in her work.
Across from her, Matthew hunched over a workbench littered with circuit boards. His eyes flicked between three different displays and a large magnifying glass as the fine tools built into his cybernetic fingers whirred softly, soldering and adjusting with deft speed. He was only twenty three, at least a decade younger than any the rest of Krüger’s team, but his irrepressible enthusiasm for tech meant he fit right in—and was only matched by his love of old movies. A grin spread across his face when he noticed Sofie and Ares approaching.
“Boss,” he said, giving her a quick wave before leaning right back over the board. Sparks danced for a moment, then he muttered something under his breath.
Jamie didn’t look up, but she waved over her shoulder as she kept fiddling with her own project.
“Good to see you two,” Sofie said, pausing by Matthew’s table.
These two were the only members of Krüger’s team that she had personally recommended. They, like her and Ares, were former residents of Megabuilding H5 displaced by Night Corp’s mass evacuation of the tower. Each left without a job, Sofie had offered an opportunity, but not special treatment. All she’d done was give Dr. Krüger their names. Both had still run his full gauntlet of interviews and screenings, and proved her faith was well placed. They had been the sixth and seventh additions to the lab’s staff, back when it was still brand new. Seeing them here folded into something constructive instead of drifting, felt like one more piece set right.
After catching up for a few minutes, she left them to their work and followed Ares out into the city. The rain was finally letting up.
