"You know? I was startled when I saw your file."
"With your skill and ability, even if no company is willing to take you in, you should be able to set up a decent studio. Let me guess, with that bunch of leeches’ AI algorithms, how much of the loan is left unpaid? Ten thousand? Twenty thousand?"
Arthur squeezed his pistol, aiming it at the person on the couch.
"What the hell does this have to do with you? Are you here just to tell me jokes? Get the hell out of here, or I’ll blow your head off with a shot."
Even with a gun pointed at him, the person on the couch remained relaxed, "You won’t be able to blow my head off by firing the gun, give it up, Arthur. As someone who came out of Military Science, you should know better than anyone the threat your gun can pose."
"Moreover, as someone who infringed on our company’s patents, my willingness to sit here and chat with you instead of calling a group in to tear you to bits is already quite polite."
"Company dog... what exactly do you want?" Arthur gritted his teeth, pulling down a light bulb from the ceiling to shine on the other. Ever since leaving Military Science, he’s been at odds with the company. There’s not a decent person in the company!
"Even though I don’t particularly like that label, call me whatever you want." The man set down the file in his hands, stepping out of the shadows under the light, "I just feel that someone as talented as you is wasted in such a small place."
"There’s a group of people that really need your help right now. Would you be willing to grace us with your presence and come work for us?"
Lin Miao found it hard to imagine someone like him would fall to such a state, but after the old captain explained, he understood.
There are many people like Arthur who have left the company, most of them losers in internal fights. Even if they survive, it doesn’t come without a price.
First, all the money in your bank account will be deducted to repay company loans. Secondly, your body implants will be entirely shut down and reclaimed. If you die at this step, so be it.
Only a very small part of the implants or those under protection by others can escape disaster and survive by luck.
Arthur is clearly of the former group.
Due to the non-competition agreement, not even Huang Ban would take him in—not publicly anyway—or risk Military Science doing the same thing, as many ex-employees have been expelled from Huang Ban.
And because of bank loans and their status as former company dogs, these people’s lives become miserable. Money earned is used to repay loans while suffering trouble from gang punks now and then. Most end up corpses.
Arthur is already one of the relatively well-off cases.
"Work? Just to be used until like a broken cloth thrown out the door? Get the hell out of here now!"
Robbed of his ideas by AI, whose superiors monopolize the credit, mocked, rejected, and isolated by colleagues, and his creations marked under other people’s names, Arthur has had enough of company exploitation. Even in this dark basement living in poverty, he feels freer than before.
"Don’t be so upset, Arthur Clarke, I haven’t finished yet."
The calm voice of Lin Miao persisted, despite Arthur seemingly ready to pull the trigger any moment.
"I’ll repay the remaining loans of Military Science for you and fund the establishment of a studio. All you have to do is craft personal equipment for a group of people, no matter how bizarre and strange their requirements are; I hope you can meet them. You design and produce it, I’ll cover material and labor costs."
"You can even unleash your creativity during free time to design whatever you want, anything goes. I won’t interfere."
"If you wish, you can even sign your name on each piece of work."
"I won’t promise high salaries, but it’ll be enough for a reasonably decent life and maximum creative freedom with safety guarantees."
An odd offer with no high pay, no excessive benefits, not even fancy talk of options to tempt him, but rather creative freedom. Arthur thought he heard it wrong; it didn’t sound like someone trying to earn money.
But regardless, he released the gun in his hand, as the guy seemed not to be trouble-making.
"You’re recruiting me? Doesn’t sound like it’s just me."
"Yes." Lin Miao nodded, "Your work got swiped by us after all, though I don’t expect compensation, but something has to be given back, right?"
"Currently, including you, there’re five. Three self-taught and one ex-company employee, but there’ll definitely be more later. The workload isn’t small, but you’ll have plenty of time for rest and entertainment."
"Where’s the contract?"
Lin Miao tossed a chip over, Arthur grabbed it and after a moment of silence asked,
"Why don’t they go to a studio if they need it? Night City should have plenty of mechanic workshops."
Lin Miao sighed slightly, "They won’t accept those people’s orders. Their demands are too excessive, numerous and varied, so I had no choice but to recruit someone myself."
Arthur felt strange. If their needs were too complex or challenging, exceeding the studio’s capacity limits, then being turned down is reasonable, yet if those workshops can’t even accomplish the task, isn’t recruiting oneself odd?
Besides, couldn’t they just go to Tsunami Defense? That company specializes in custom equipment, doesn’t it?
Not able to solve the puzzle in his heart, he still spoke,
"...I need to check the contract first. I’ll get back to you in three days."
Lin Miao nodded, "Okay."
And three days later, Arthur understood what "numerous and varied" meant from the mouth of the other person.
A goofy young man stood before him, eagerly saying,
"You must be the Ocean Superman mechanic? I want a Eureka Raider, or even a Hazard Wanderer!"