Sam (Cyberpunk)

Sam is the ninth episode of Cyberpunk. The previous was Skeletons in the Closet, and the next is Revelations and Revolution.

Story
The year was 3990. The Pacific Ocean was in its fifth year of combat with the Atlantic. Tens of millions of lives had already been lost on each side, and there was no clear winner among them. Sam, a 16-year-old catfish, fought on the side of the Pacific under General James Milton.

Milton was leading a seige on an Atlantic military base when Sam, discovering that his laser gun didn’t work anymore, hurried back to the tank to recharge his weapon. He tried his best to dodge enemy fire, but the sight, the smell, the sounds of death overwhelmed him. Finally, just inches away from the tank, he kneeled in the mud and wept, realizing that the bodies he had stepped on were the bodies of his friends, of the people he had trained with.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his back, and by instinct, he turned around and shot his assailant in the chest. The world around Sam began to spin, and the next thing he saw was a series of bright lights. Sam closed his eyes, and he opened them again to find a man in a surgical mask leaning over him.

“You okay?” said the doctor.

“Why don’t you tell me?”

The doctor laughed. “At least your wound didn’t impair your sense of humor.”

“Wound? What are you…oh.”

Sam looked down at his stomach, wrapped in a thick white bandage with a large red stain.

“Yeah, it was pretty bad,” said the doctor. “The lower part of your spine was blown away, and-“

“Why can’t I feel my legs?”

“I was getting to that. The lower part of your spine was blown away, and as a result, you’ve been paralyzed from the waist down.”

“You mean I can never walk again?”

“That is what paralysis means.”

“No, this can’t happen! Not to me! I have a family! I have people back home who rely on me? Why did Neptune have to let this happen? Why did Neptune have to let this damn war happen?”

“I don’t know,” said the doctor. “Sometimes I wonder if Neptune even cares anymore.”

The doctor said goodbye then left the room. Minutes passed after that, but to Sam, they felt like hours. Suddenly, a fish in a neighboring hospital bed spoke to Sam in a weak but determined voice.

“I heard what was going on,” said the fish. “And I know somebody who can help you.”

“You do?” Sam was suspicious. “What’s in it for you?”

“Nothing,” said the fish. “I contracted a disease while on the battlefield, and I won’t be alive for much longer. This is my last act of charity.”

The fish handed a slip of paper to Sam. “Call this number. He’ll know what to do.”

“Thank you.”

The fish nodded.

Twenty days later, Sam rolled his new wheelchair into a military research facility.

“Hello?” muttered Sam.

“Well, well!” A three-eyed frog with a lab coat inspected the crippled catfish. “Yes, yes, you’ll do.”

“I’ll do? So you can help me?”

“I can do more than help you, old sport! I can make you super! I can make you more powerful than anyone before you!”

The frog reached into a treasure chest and pulled out a thin metal rod.

“What’s that?” asked Sam.

“This…” The frog blew off a layer of dust. “…Is your new spine.”

“Why is it made of metal?”

“Because it will not only restore your mobility, but it will make you stronger. It acts as a lightning rod, concentrating all the electricity in your body and allowing you to use it as you please. With this spine, you’ll be able to climb up walls, flip boatmobiles over, and shoot energy from your fingers.”

“What? Why would I want to do any of that?”

“Because you need a new spine, and I’m offering you one. If you want to live the rest of your life in that wheelchair, be my guest. I could easily find another subject for this experiment.”

Sam thought about what the frog said for a moment. “Fine. You win. I’ll be your stupid lab rat, but don’t think I’ll enjoy it.”

“Don’t worry.” The frog put the rod in Sam’s hands. “You will.”

Meanwhile, a thousand miles away, a young mother was holding a baby boy in her arms for the first time.

“I know what I’ll call him now,” said the mother. “I’ll call him SpongeBryan.”

The year was 4000. Seas creatures all over the ocean celebrated not only the coming of a new millenium, but the tenth anniversery of their victory in the Pacific-Atlantic War.

“…and we never would have gotten that victory,” said a history teacher in an Alvean schoolhouse. “If it wasn’t for our secret weapon – Sam the Electric Man!”

A ten-year old SpongeBryan scoffed. “Everybody knows that Electric Man’s a myth.”

“No,” said the history teacher. “He’s real. He was all over the news. You’re just too young to remember it. Now, all of you, take out your pencils and paper. We’re about to take notes.”

“Why do we have to use pencils and paper, anyway?” whined SpongeBryan. “I heard that the students in the Upper Ring get to use laptops!”

“Well, we’re not in the Upper Ring, are we?”

SpongeBryan, sensing the irritation in his history teacher’s voice, said nothing else. One day, I’ll have my own laptop, thought SpongeBryan. And I’ll be better at using it than any of those snobs in the Upper Ring!

Comforted by that thought, SpongeBryan got out his pencils and paper.

The year was 4014. Pat and Ron sat in the circle of chairs at New Life Rehabilitation Center. After hearing the story of a newcomer, Guy Perchins focused his attention on Ron.

“So, are you still doing alright?” said Guy Perchins.

“You mean am I still sober?” replied Ron.

“I didn’t mean it like tha-“

“No, it’s okay. It’ll take some getting used to, but I think I’m hear to stay.”

“That’s great to hear,” Perchins said. “Did Jim by any way influence your decision?”

Everyone in the room laughed.

“If there’s anything Jim’s known for,” Perchins added. “It’s his persistence.”

Suddenly, the lights flickered on and off, and Sam, the bounty hunter, trotted into the room.

“There somebody here who belongs to me,” said Sam. “Or should I said somebodies?”

Pat and Ron stood up.

“What do you want?” asked Pat.

“I want you two. Somebody’s paying me a lot of money for you guys as well as your yellow hacker friend.”

“SpongeBryan?”

“That’s him.”

“Well, you can’t have us or him.”

Sam laughed. “You see, I wasn’t planning on making it a choice.”

Sam opened his right hand to reveal a ball of electricity, and he threw it at the brothers. Pat and Ron ducked just in time, and it hit the wall behind them, causing a massive explosion.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” shouted Perchins to Sam. “Get out of here right now!”

“Not until I get what what I came for,” said Sam.

By then, Jim was the only New Life patient (besides Ron) who was still in the room. Some had already run out the door, and the others were scrambling out of the hole in the wall left behind by the explosion.

“Holy shrimp,” Sam uttered with a look of surprise. “Jim Carpfish, heir to the Carpfish fortune.”

“Carpfish? Where have I heard that name before?” pondered Ron.

“Jim Carpfish’s father, Cecil, owns FutureWorks, the largest company in the aquatic world,” explained Sam.

Pat and Ron were taken aback. They knew that Jim was rich, but not that rich.

“Cecil would pay a fortune if he knew you were in my hands.”

“If I go with you,” said Jim. “Will you leave Pat and Ron alone?”

Sam thought about it for a second. “Sure. They’re chump change compared to what you’ll bring me.”

“Fine,” said Jim.

“W-what?” stuttered Ron. “Why would you help us? You don’t even know us.”

“I know that this is what I have to do,” said Jim. “You and your friend will get locked up for the rest of your life if I don’t go with him.”

“But what about you?” said Pat.

“I’ll get a slap on the wrist, at worst. Don’t worry. This was bound to happen, anyway.”

Jim left the room with Sam, and Sam suddenly flipped him over and tied his arms and legs together with rope.

“What was that for?” said Jim. “I won’t try to escape!”

“I know you won’t,” said Sam. “But I want to make sure you don’t interfere when I return to take Pat and Ron along for the ride.”

“What?” cried Jim. “You made a deal!”

“The only deals that matter to me are the deals I make with the people who pay my bounties.”

A stone bounced off the back of Sam’s head. SpongeBryan walked out of the room with Pat and Ron right behind him.

“You aren’t leaving with anyone tonight,” said SpongeBryan.

Sam laughed. “You think you can stop me with rocks?”

“No, but I can stop you with this.”

SpongeBryan pulled out a laser gun, and Sam immediately knocked it out of his hand with an electric discharge. SpongeBryan was baffled at first, but then he remembered the stories his history teacher told him about Electric Man.

“So, you’re not a myth after all,” he said.

Sam shot another spark of electricity at SpongeBryan, but he dodged it.

“Tell me,” SpongeBryan said. “Why would a war hero like you get such a crummy job as this?”

“Even war heroes got to pay the bills,” replied Sam.

Pat and Ron attempted to break the ropes around Jim’s arms and legs.

”It’s no use,” said Jim. “Just leave me here.”

“No!” said Ron. “We’re not going to abandon you. Not again.” Sam noticed Pat and Ron trying to free Jim, and he grabbed them, shocking them both until they passed out. SpongeBryan sprinted for his laser gun, but Sam caught him by the legs and sent a pulse of current through his body that knocked him out, as well. Seeing that SpongeBryan, Pat, and Ron were completely incapacitated, Sam dialed the number of Arthur, the detective, on his wrist-phone.

“Hello?” said a voice on the phone.

“Arthur, is that you?” asked Sam. “Why isn’t your hologram turned on?”

“I like to respect my privacy, if you don’t mind.”

“Whatever. I’m just letting you know that I captured your fugitives. I’ll meet you at the same coral tree at the same time tomorrow.”

“Excellent.”

The voice on the other end of phone belonged to the one-eyed leader of the fish who killed the detective. The leader hung up and turned to his followers.

“Buckle up, boys,” said the leader. “This is gonna be a bumpy ride.”