The interior of the room that Masato was led to was something that he had only experienced in movies and historical documentaries. The whole room was a replica of the Queen's Antechamber from the Palace of Versailles. It wasn't uncommon to have rooms that were able to emulate whatever "sleave" or "wallpaper" the user of the room desired, placing the room in the middle of the space, in the middle of nature of the liking, or in the middle of whatever room the user felt was appropriate for that meeting. You could even have a meeting in the White House, the former seat of the president of the country formerly known as the United States of America or the Emperor of Japan's meeting quarters.
But this room was a complete physical replica of the Queen's Antechamber Palace of Versailles. Masato guessed that the reasoning was that they wanted to maintain cyber security while making this room as "impressive" and "unforgettable" as possible.
However, Masato didn't dwell on the room for more than a second. There was a man, wearing a white suit jacket over a purple silk shirt sitting at the table. There were loud yellow flowers printed on the silk shirt, and from the design, both his suit and shirt were designed in the 1970s, or at least were a replica of the style of that time.
The man's hair was neat, with a high skin taper haircut, and he had a short goatee on his chin.
The eyes were intense, but he had a twisted smile that told Masato this man was unhinged.
"Mr. Goto? I hope you didn't wait too long. Coffee?"
Goto smoothly stood up and bowed slightly. "Thank you Mr. Inamura. Yes, Coffee will be fine."
The receptionist immediately brought a pot of coffee that looked like it was designed to be used in this room, served the two, and stepped out of the room.
"So, Mr. Inamura, I am curious." Goto slowly looked around the room while spreading his hand as if he were admiring the room. "What would a humble man from a small company in District 9 be able to offer to someone from one of the most prestigious conglomerates in the world? Or...would this meeting be more of a...private request perhaps?"
Goto put his forearms down on the table and he clasped his hands together.
Masato observed Goto briefly, trying to read the man. After a few moments of silence, he went straight to the point.
"There are some specific samples of data, and some code if possible, that I would like to acquire. I hear that you may have access to such data, or may have a path to obtain the necessary files."
Goto raised his left eyebrow and smiled that twisted smile.
"Well, Mr. Inamura, Goto Industries prides itself on our data operations. As you surely know, we supply BII with hundreds of terabytes worth of unfiltered harvested data every week."
"I am looking for specific data, concerning the brainwaves, and the signals received and sent to the BCI of specific...clientele, as they access some of the more...colorful content that would only be offered to a small handful of select individuals. I believe that these individuals may also be utilizing a highly tailored BCI model that may have some...interesting functions that may not find their way into the public market due to some constraints." Masato stopped there to gauge Goto's response.
Goto's eyes sparkled as he raised both hands to massage his head. He had a gleeful smile as his hands moved back and forth on his head as if he were trying to contain his excitement while thinking things through.
"Now that is a request that I did not expect!" Goto clicked his tongue. "I will need more details concerning your request before I can give you a clear answer. Don't get me wrong, I have a genuine interest in this...request, it may even align with some of my...aspirations shall I say. But I see a few...challenges."
Goto paused, but before Masato could ask about the so-called challenges that Goto saw, Goto continued. "As this appears to be a business proposition, I assume that you have some funds that you will be able to utilize in this project?"
Masato, confident that he was able to interest Goto, nodded. "Yes, although I do not have unlimited resources, and there is a limit to what I have...I should have enough to satisfy our needs."
Goto nodded. "Don't worry, I understand. BII is known to have vicious guard dogs that do not allow anyone near their vaults, but they have been fair in their payout."
"What of these challenges?" Masato asked.
Goto clicked his tongue again. "The first is the powers that be. Goto Industries is...old school shall I say. Very few have the vision needed to revolutionize the market. Fortunately for you, I have ways around this. Plus, this is more of an internal matter, so you need not worry about this...It is the second wall that will be a bigger challenge. How much do you understand about the content market you are interested in?"
"Most likely, only what is on the surface. There is the general market of what is made available by the streamers on the black market, and some markets that reside on the...more limited market. There is the content market that is more organized by...establishments that reside in the unregulated districts. In the case of ShinTokyo, those would be in D9, D11, and D13. And finally, there is the invitation-only select market with more advanced content. And for the data I require, it is most likely only available in this market." Masato felt like a student who was failing his class, trying to bluff his way through his answer in front of the teacher.
Goro chuckled. "Ok, so basically you know nothing. It is ok, that is why professionals like me exist in the world."
Goro sipped his coffee and continued. "There are only 2 ways to enter the select market that you desire. One is by invitation and a guarantor. If you are a paying customer, you can invite one person per year. You will be required to vouch for that person and be responsible for the payment for his or her content and for any and all actions of your invitee during the evaluation period of 3 months. If the person you invited passes the evaluation, they get to become a paying member. If not, you lose your chance to invite another person for a year and get one strike. 3 strikes and you are out. As in you get taken out. The second way is if you are a content provider. You would need to have noteworthy content that could suit the needs of their clients. Usually, the more extreme the better. Once the content provider gets an invitation, you will be given the opportunity to create content using their equipment to meet their standards. If you are a known content provider, this is the only way to get access. And as you can probably guess, I am someone who dabbles in the production of content. Oh, not as Goto Industries, although I believe we should go beyond the gladiator fight market...I have my teams who work under me individually."
"So, what you are telling me is that you do not currently have access," Masato asked with some irritation in his voice.
"Ahahahahaha!" Goro laughed out loud before wiping a tear off from the corner of his right eye. "That is why I asked you for more concerning your request, and the availability of funds. Give me 3 days, and I should be able to give you an answer one way or another. In the meantime, I would like you to see if you can get your hands on some equipment for me. I would also need a skilled coder. If all goes well, we will both benefit greatly from this little... project."
Goto specified the devices he needed and then prepared to leave the room. "Oh, and make sure you get permission to enter and return from D9. Meet me at the gates on March 3rd at 08:00. If you can, bring the equipment and the coder with you."
Back at the office, Masato invited Sakamoto to the kitchen for some coffee.
"What's up?" Sakamoto asked as he sipped the synthetic coffee.
"I would have liked to go over this in a quiet location with real coffee, but beggars can't be choosers. We don't have the time, so I will just go ahead and ask you if you are willing to take a chance, even if it means you may have to walk through some mud?"
Sakamoto raised his eyebrow. "Are you talking about pushing the boundaries of my morality? Or are we talking about the dark grey zone?"
Masato answered with a straight face. "Most likely a little bit of both.... No, most likely, a hell of a lot of both. I have no idea if we will be walking out of this clean. If we do walk out of it, I have a feeling this page will be terminated from history, yet it will haunt us for the rest of our lives."
Sakamoto sat there and continued to sip his coffee while he thought about it for a while. "Do you see any other path?"
Masato shook his head and replied. "Do you?"
Sakamoto sighed deeply as he shook his head. "K, count me in. What do I need to do?"
2 days later, at the train station, Masato gave his twin girls a big hug and kissed their cheeks.
"You two be angels and help Grandma and Grandpa, ok?"
His twin girls cried, wanting their Daddy to come with them, but Masato reminded them that the new teddybears that they designed together would protect them in his stead and that they were big girls now. Big enough to start going to school in a month.
Once the girls nodded and let go, Masato stood up and turned to his wife.
"Michiko, stay safe and take care of the girls...and yourself."
He then hugged her tightly and whispered into her ear. "I put 2 letters in your bag, just in case...One is for you, and one is for your father. But don't bother opening them unless...something happens to me. I hope to see you in a month."
Michiko silently nodded and gave him a kiss before boarding the train with the twin girls.
"Stay safe my love," was the last thing Masato heard before the door of the express train closed.
Later that same day, AI Yoko appeared on Masato's screen to inform him that he was expected in the small meeting room.
He had made a few out-of-the-ordinary requests, so he figured it would be an inquiry about them, but when he opened the door to the meeting room, he was surprised to see the holographic avatar of AI Saturn waiting for him.
"Good day, Mr. Inamura. Thank you for your time."
"Good day, AI Saturn. Not a problem, it is always a pleasure to meet you." Masato bowed.
"Please sit."
Masato sat down, a little nervously, but tried to hide it as much as possible even though he knew that his biometrics were under constant surveillance in the office and that he couldn't hide anything.
"Mr. Inamura, I called you here to inform you that there appears to be a change in the management structure of the Goto Industries. I am aware that you met with the new CEO, and wanted to inform you in advance of your next meeting with him."
"!!!" Masato's heart almost skipped a beat.
"BII was informed of the change of management this morning and the reasoning behind the change of management according to the records was the prior CEO's "heart stopped" and "he stopped breathing". We were aware of some internal struggles within the organization, so we were not surprised by this change in the management structure. We had actually predicted this to happen within the next few months, but it seems like the internal timeline was sped up due to some unforeseen events." AI Saturn continued. "We have approved your request for the SDK and development prototype equipment for the educational hardware, and the monitoring equipment. We predict that these units will be used for the testing of a theory your team has come up with, so we will be looking forward to the test results. They should be arriving at your office as we speak and will be entrusted to Mr. Sakamoto. You both have the necessary permits for your field trip to D9 that are valid for multiple re-entries until the end of the month."
"Thank you AI Saturn, we will use them wisely." But just as Masato was going to thank AI Saturn and leave the room, AI Saturn spoke up once more.
"We hear you were at the train station to see your family off earlier this morning. It was wise of you to have your family go off on a vacation. Assuming that you have gained some inspiration great enough to request equipment, I assume you will have little time to spend with your family, and they would have become an extra burden for you. Feel free to spend your nights in the Oxy-pods, or at the BII Park Hotel across the street. We have reserved rooms for you and your team." And with that, AI Saturn disconnected its holographic avatar from the room and disappeared.
Masato, feeling a chill run down his spine, sat there, unable to move for a while.
It was at 07:55 that Masato and Sakamoto arrived inside the gate security office.
"Mr. Inamura and Mr. Sakamoto?" A young security guard called out for them as they entered the room.
Sakamoto, holding two large suitcases nodded.
"Please prepare your identification, and follow me." The gate security guard turned around and led the two to the "border control" area.
Masato noticed a man in the same white suit and a red silk shirt beyond the "border control". Masato curtly nodded in the direction of Goto, then went through the procedure to go beyond the gate.
Just as Sakamoto and Masato finished their identity scan and were cleared to cross the border, the officer in charge stopped them for a moment and said, "Please be aware that beyond that gate, you lose all protection that you normally enjoy, You seem to be under the care of the gleaners, but once again, please be aware of your vulnerability on the other side of the wall."
Once the guard finished giving his mandatory warning the gate opened and the 2 crossed over.
As soon as they walked past the "border gate", Masato walked up to Goto.
"Thank you for personally greeting us. I understand that you received a promotion so I was expecting perhaps a secretary of yours to pick us up." Masato smiled as he reached out to shake Goto's hand.
Shaking Masato's hand, Goto laughed as he replied. "The promotion was a matter of time, but was timely. As for greeting you, why wouldn't I? This project is too exciting to allow a mere secretary to come to pick you up."
Goto then turned to Sakamoto and nodded. "I assume you are the coder that we will entrust this project to?"
Sakamoto bowed and introduced himself. "Greetings Mr. Goto. My name is Sakamoto, and yes, I will be the coder for this project, basically because I know how Mr. Inagaki's brains tick and can manage to keep up with it."
Goto laughed again, then clapped his hands as he turned around while saying, "Follow me, I shall take you to the studio."
It was the first time for either Masato or Sakamoto to enter D9, or any slum for that matter, and they were shocked to say the least. The whole scene reminded them of recordings of warzones from the 1900s. The destruction brought by the earthquake that had been documented so well was still present. In fact, no effort had been made to restore the town. Half the people they saw looked like they hadn't enjoyed a bath in at least a week or two, if ever. The clothes they wore looked to be designed in the early 2020s, and color coordination did not seem to be an option. The thing that struck them most though, was the smell. It was suffocating. It was the smell of garbage, unwashed humans, death, and alcohol all mixed into the fragrances of food being pumped out from the restaurants placed along the wall.
The only children in sight were small ones that were carried by their mothers, who seemed to be here shopping at what looked like a black market.
"I would offer you a ride, but the studio and data center are around the corner." Goto pointed down the road. "Gotta be near the gate if you want to deliver quick. For your information, the Goto Industry does not control this area, but we have a business agreement with the powers that be, and most Gleaners have their studios in the neighborhood, so it can be considered to be a neutral zone."
The studio was a large warehouse that looked to only be a few years old. The grounds the studio stood on, seemed to have been cleared especially to build this very studio, as it seemed to be the only building in the neighborhood that was not littered with rubble.
As they walked into the building, Masato realized that the interior was rather modern and up-to-date with security systems installed and a decent number of trained security guards with high-powered taser weapons.
"Here, let me show you around." Not minding the fact that Sakamoto was carrying 2 heavy suitcases, Goto proudly led the two around the building.
The first stop was the data center.
"As you can see, we use state-of-the-art servers that should be in line with the current models that BII data centers use. I won't bore you with technical details, but this room alone should tell you that we are serious about our harvesting." Goto said with a proud smile.
Curious, Sakamoto asked about how data was harvested in District 9, as it didn't seem like many people had the money to utilize the services that data is harvested from.
Goto grinned. "We may not have the luxury to enjoy many of the more entertaining services, but there are plenty of ways to harvest data. Once a person turns 15, his or her tracker chip is activated. This is mandatory. Obviously, BCI interfaces cost money. Even the cheap ones. Thus everyone gets the lower-end models that come with a contract that offers the BCI chip for "Free" in exchange for personal data. Thankfully, we are not regulated, so we can basically harvest all available data. On the flip side, we only get to harvest people who live in our own territories, so the size of the territory determines the size of the income." Goto chuckled before he continued. "You also got to remember that people do not have access to that many credits. An average working-class person would probably earn somewhere between 1,000 to 1,500 credits per month, and depending on what neighborhood they live in, they have various services that are hardwired into their chipsets, and the service fees are collected through credits or data harvesting. All in all, it isn't like they can sign up for paid services for entertainment, but it is usually the paid services that trigger their downfall. Naturally, if the system determines that they have no more data to harvest, they quickly become labeled as a "husk", and their BCIs shut down."
Sakamoto glanced momentarily at Goto and asked the question that had been forming. "I assume the unbathed ones outside that were roaming the streets with hollow eyes were the "Husks"?"
"That or a DFer. The difference is that husks only have their BCIs and chipsets shut down. Meaning not having any further access to what little social services we have, thus no further employment. Whereas the DFers, as you know, had their chipsets fried along with parts of their brain in the process. But most of those aren't produced here. They are usually sent from the upper districts. I wouldn't be surprised if you recognized a few of your former co-workers wandering around the city. Not that they live that long, so perhaps not." Goto flashed his twisted smile and turned to guide him to the next area on the 2nd floor.
When they walked into the room, Masato was shocked. The room was rather large, but all that was placed in the room were cameras pointing down, and there were a number of security guards roaming the room while observing what was going on below. The whole floor was transparent, giving the observers above a full view of the 10 or so rooms on the first floor.
"This is our porn studio. As you can see, various films are in production. Actually, some of the material for the BII virtual sex content is created here. We have "actors" recreate the desired scenes, which are converted into 3D models and the AIs sync them with the various brain activities that are recorded."
Goto pointed to a room on the other end of the floor and led the two over to it.
"This room is designed for data collection, and you are in luck! It seems like we are in the process of farming. I have no idea who fancies this, but oh well."
Masato looked down to see a young muscular male porn star having a wild intercourse with a lady that looked as if she was in her 70s or 80s. Both "stars" had a half-capped helmet with various wires sticking out of them strapped to their heads.
Goto continued to chat as he led the two to the next area. "Most porn content is done over here in D9. It is kind of like when the old Hollywood studios, remember them? But yeah, the old Hollywood studios would film in Mexico to go around regulations or Union regulations. So the studios in the upper Districts will come here to film content. Sometimes they will bring their own stars, sometimes they will just procure locally, and we are happy to provide. There are plenty of girls or boys who will agree to star in a film as long as it comes with a meal and a handful of credits. If they don't, well they still might end up starring in one depending on the desired content." Goto clicked his tongue and opened the next door.
"This is the editing and broadcasting room, as you see there are over 40 editing stations. 20 of them are for live streaming by content provided by our streamers.
Sakamoto was disgusted by what was being shown on the screens, but he held his tongue and looked at Masato. Masato looked like he was just as disgusted, if not more so, but he somehow managed to keep his poker face to the point that Sakamoto was sure that he was the only one in the room who understood how furious Masato was.
"The next room is the final room of this tour." Said Goto as he led the two out of the room through a door that opened into a computer lab.
Sakamoto quickly noticed that a few teams were working on building OS software for custom chipsets, others on custom hardware design, and others were writing applications for BCIs.
"This is our future lab" Goto said proudly.
Masato, who recognized some of the hardware, casually asked Goto about a team that was working on a specific device.
"If I may ask, I believe that device there is a portable virtual sex machine. Are those produced by your lab?"
Goto looked over at the team and shook his head. "Naw, I wish. No idea who made that, but we have our suspicions. One of our men was caught trying to plant a ransomware virus in our servers and was apprehended. We found it on him and we are trying to reverse-engineer it. We tried to get as much information out of the guy as possible, but his brains got fried in the process." Goto shrugged. "If we find out who is producing those, we will be happy to take down the power behind them, and then take over the production."
Goto then led them to his private office which his father used to occupy. Upon closer inspection, there were still some spots of dried blood on some of the photo frames, but Masato chose to not bring that fact up.
"Thank you for the tour, it was quite helpful to gauge the scope of your operations." Masato thanked Goto as tea was being served.
Goto flashed his twisted smile and replied with finesse. "Not at all, not at all. I am glad that I was able to show you the scope of what we do here. After all, if I was not able to show you what we are capable of, the discussion from here on would have been challenging."
Masato nodded. "In our prior meeting, you had mentioned that you might be able to gather some information concerning the path forward."
Goto's eyes almost twinkled as he showed his biggest smile yet. "And oh boy was I able to move things forward." Goto spread his hands out as if he wanted to show Goto all of the marvels of the room. "The first challenge was the internal structure of Goto Industries. As you are already aware, that challenge has been removed, and I am the management now, so we will have no roadblocks as far as Goto Industries go."
Goto quickly rubbed his hands together as if he were facing an appetizing feast.
"As for the second challenge, this is where it gets tricky, but I have already commissioned a number of films that should catch the attention of the targets that you are aiming for. Unfortunately, this process may take time."
Masato showed a hint of disappointment on his face for a second, but Goto continued as if this was not an issue.
"This is where my proposition and your coder and hardware come into play.
Masato and Sakamoto looked at each other, confused.
"Do you remember the original purpose of the educational software and VR learning interface?" Goto asked.
Masato replied while nodding. "It was originally developed to pass on the skills of experienced craftsmen, technicians, repairmen, and construction workers. The earthquake killed many of our skilled masters, so in order to train a new generation, the VR learning interface was developed. This was mainly a two-step process like your porn studio. The first step is attaching the helmet to the master to film him while monitoring his brain waves and signals. This was later converted into software for step two. A user could wear a helmet, or enter an educational pod and experience the masters at work. Not as a VR, but actually experiencing the whole process as if he were the master. All of the brain signals and muscle memory were transmitted to the user so that he could get a firsthand experience of how the masters operated. It didn't turn the users into instant masters, but they got reference points that helped them develop at a much faster pace. Having said that, there are very few cases where this content is still in use unless we are talking software for traditional crafts such as pottery or Japanese paper making due to most manual labor being replaced by bots."
"Exactly! Don't you get it!?" Goto jumped up and down in his chair with excitement before continuing. "What if... just what if, we were able to do this real-time? Just imagine! What if, let's say a streamer who was streaming a hunt, had the hunter wear one of those helmets designed for step one of the educational material and had the data content live-streamed? What if the viewers got to experience the "hunt" firsthand? It would be like they were in the body of the hunter, experiencing all of the thrill and the pleasure of the process, feeling the blood on our hands, feeling the rush of adrenalin as we close in on the target, feeling the pleasure of the targets body of our prey as we mount them, but without the risk of having to face the consequences of being caught!?"
Goto and Sakamoto's jaws dropped.
"This is killing two birds with one stone!" Goto continued. "You want the data of the perverted pleasures and whatnot, which we can collect through their entertainment, and I want a new market! Fuck having to be the lap dog of some unknown group that will keep you on a tight leash! Fuck having your research delayed due to these old men that want to stay in control and are not willing to share! All we need is to use the Hardware that you brought and code it so that you get what you want! Who is there to stop us!? Those pesky laws do not apply in D9. Hell, I am the law in Shinjuku, and I am sure we can get all the data you need in the Beta testing phase. All you will need to do is entrust the code to us, and we will be able to produce our own VR helmets that will connect to the BCIs or our clientele, so it will never ever come back to bite you. What do you say?"
Masato felt as if he was going to throw up. How could the human mind get so twisted!? Unfortunately, Masato knew that he did not have a choice here. He was quite sure that this had never been tested, at least in Japan. He was pretty sure that BII had no such data, and that, usable or not, they may be able to discover another data point. Legally speaking, it would definitely be considered criminal, but there may be enough wiggle room if applied to select content. What if he was able to find data points that could be utilized for say... edutainment content, letting the user experience the battles firsthand? Not as a sidekick, but as Nobunaga, or Hideyoshi? Toning the transmission down to a level that will only give the user a faint feeling of what the character they were experiencing was experiencing? What if movies were set up so that you could flip through the characters you wanted to experience and experience them? What if you could partake in a professional baseball game or soccer match? The possibilities were endless.
Masato gulped and looked at Sakamoto who looked horrified. "This is intriguing! Sakamoto, is it technically possible?"
Sakamoto paused, then looked at Masato as if he didn't know the man. "I cannot guarantee that it will work. But technically speaking, although there are challenges, I cannot say that it is impossible." Sakamoto then turned to Goto. "I just received the hardware and the SDK yesterday, now that I understand the goal, my job is easier. May I head back to my office to go over the schematics and code, and come back with a definitive answer tomorrow? Perhaps tomorrow at the same time? If I have access to my virtual terminal and corporate libraries at which I can study the material at 4x speed, I believe I should have enough time to come to a conclusion."
Masato understood Sakamoto too well. He knew that Sakamoto knew that it was possible, but he wanted to give them a day to make sure they wanted to go down this rabbit hole.
Goto was not able to catch the little nuances of Sakamoto's backpedaling and was satisfied that the 2 managers from BII took his proposal seriously.
"Wonderful! Then I will keep my schedule open for the morning. Are you able to find your way back here with no trouble? Or shall I pick you up again at 8."
Masato smiled back at Goto. "You are a busy man. It would be a crime if we wasted your time. We will both be here at 08:00."
The two left the "studio" without speaking to each other, as if in deep thought. It was only after a few minutes, as they neared the gate that Masato suddenly stopped his footsteps, and shot his arm out to stop Sakamoto in his tracks.
"What?" Sakamoto spat out in frustration before he saw that Masato was looking past him, and the arm that had blocked his path was now pointing at a scuffle going on in an alley.
The scuffle was between three men and one lady, but it quickly became clear that it was the two men and the lady who were attacking the other man. It seemed as if they had succeeded in "liberating" the man of his expensive suit, but the man was fighting back for anything that would give him warmth.
It was clear that the half-naked man was on the losing end of the battle. Yes, his body was in better shape, and his mussels were well-toned, but he had a serious burn mark running down his neck and halfway up his scalp starting from behind his right ear. Based on the additional facts that he also seemed to not be able to form words and nor was able to control his actions in any organized fashion, it was clear that his chips had been "burned". He was a "deadfall", or a DFer.
Judging from the fact that the suit he was "liberated" from was still relatively new, Sakamoto realized that the DFer must have been a new "addition" to District 9.
"You may not recognize him..." Masato said in a hoarse voice. "But that man is... or was... Akita Kenshiro... my former co-worker... and the reason we have our current assignment."
Sakamoto instinctively turned to go and help Akita Kenshiro, but Masato firmly stopped him.
Masato shook his head sideways. "There is nothing we can do. Let's get out of here for now, we need to talk."
The last thing the two saw before they turned to head towards the gate, was the lady jumping on top of a blanket that Kenshiro had lunged for, and one of her partners landing a heavy punch on Kenshiro's temples, knocking Kenshiro out cold.
One hour later, Masato and Sakamoto were sitting at a table of the ramen shop at Inogashira Park. They both had their RF shields on and were eating their ramen in silence.
"So... what was that bullshit back there?" Sakamoto asked halfway through his bowl of ramen.
Masato, put his chopsticks down as if he had lost his appetite. "Our reality I guess."
"Did you know what Goto was cooking up in his demented brain before you even asked me to come along?" Sakamoto glared at Masato.
Masato slowly shook his head. "No... I truly don't even know what to think of it... I mean... what I had asked for was the data farmed by the... unorthodox entertainment industry... Those of the "high class" and "exclusive" variety..." Masato sighed. "I knew that the data would be hard to come by, considering that the content is highly... what can I say... exclusive. Yes, exclusive and confidential, only to be consumed by those whose taste goes beyond the scope of what we would consider abnormal. I didn't know that Goto would come up with a way to up the ante while collecting a data set that most likely has never been collected before."
"It's fucked up," Sakamoto said flatly.
"Yup, it's fucked up" Masato replied and paused, but then continued. "Can you do it?"
Sakamoto replied with a question. "Do you have any idea what we will unleash?"
Masato looked straight into the eyes of Sakamoto. "Can you do it?"
"Fuck..." Sakamoto put his chopsticks down on the table. "The simple answer is yes, technically it can be done. Using the SDK we have, it would probably take less than 20 hours, even if I don't use one of our AIs to code. The question is, should we. What will we unleash? I mean, yeah, 99% of the people on this side of the wall will use a regulated version. But think of the 1% that will fuck things up. We will be enabling 118,000 sicko's just in the Districts that we have control over in ShinTokyo. Add the Kansai block, Nagoya, GreaterSendai, the Kyushu block, and other major cities to that... and then there is the international market that we dominate. Plus, just because you may have not been able to find data on something like this in our libraries, there is no way that some sick mind hasn't tested it in the past!"
"The only thing that I can assume is that either the original creators of the technology had pure minds, or the legal issues were so abundant that they didn't bother trying to thread the needle... meaning it never left the labs" Masato picked up his chopsticks again, and started to eat his ramen again.
"Humph," Sakamoto snorted. "And what do you think will be different this time?"
"Three points." Masato held up three fingers.
"One. The laws have pretty much been set, and our legal department has 35 years of finding loopholes in the laws."
Masato lowered one finger, holding up two.
"Two. The BCI technology has been firmly established, and we pretty much know how much we can transmit to the brain without causing major damage. We know how to balance the input and output. Plus, we don't need to inject ideas into our brains. We just need to know how to subtly give hints in small doses. You know, like when you feel a trigger of pain and cover your balls whenever you see an image of someone being kicked in their balls... Just send a subtle hint of pain or pleasure... just a hint that will reinforce what the users are visualizing... all while we capture and trigger signals that we may currently be unaware of"
Sakamoto shook his head as Masato lowered one more finger, holding only one up.
"Three. The actual experiments being conducted will be concluded by the Goto Industry, against targets who in all reality have no legal rights... well at least no legal claims that can be enforced as long as they are on the other side of the wall."
If a look could kill, Sakamoto's eyes that were piercing Masato's eyes would have landed a fatal blow. "You..!" Obviously, the experience he had earlier in the day, and the direction this conversation was going, went far beyond what Sakamoto felt was "moral", and far beyond the limit he was willing to go.
But before Sakamoto could say anything, Masato added one more statement.
"Oh, and four. If we don't go through with it and have something to show, it will be us fighting over a blanket with Kenshiro... Oh, and with our families."
It was at 08:00 sharp that Sakamoto knocked on the door of Goto's studio to get to work.
Masato, on the other hand, set up a meeting with his legal team.
"Thank both of you for making some time for me this early in the morning." Masato slightly bowed in the direction of Ms. Sanada and AI Nami.
"How may we assist you?" It was Sanada who took the initiative to represent the legal department. Technically speaking, AI Nami had a "higher pay grade" than Sanada, but then again, Sanada was human, and Nami was an AI.
Masato sat down, gesturing for Sanada to also sit, and took a deep breath before walking the two through the potential legal challenges they would be facing during the research, and then the ones they could face if the research bore fruits that could be productized.
Sanada was fuming, but waited until Masato ended his explanation with a "...So, what are my options?".
*BANG!* Sanada hit the table with both fists as she jumped up to her feet. "What the FUCK are you thinking! Every single bit of that is illegal! Don't even mention the fact that it is against company policy! I will probably get fired or go to jail just listening to you!"
Masato just blinked and calmly told her to sit down, before he continued.
"Technically speaking, we have nothing to do with how the hardware and software is used and what data is collected. That is the responsibility of Goto Industries. We will technically just be buying data from them. What is illegal about discovering some new data out of an unfiltered data dump?"
Sanada wasn't taking any of it. "Bullshit! Don't you have any morals!? You know, and now we know exactly how that data was gathered!"
"And..." Masato continued as if nothing was said. "What we are talking about is refurbishing some of our existing edutainment software, educational software, and perhaps some movie content so that the users can have a more in-depth experience that would give them a better understanding. Have you never dreamed of actually becoming the heroin of a love story and being caressed by the handsome hero? I am quite sure that you already reenacted the scene even without the enhanced content that we are..."
But before Masato could even finish his sentence, Sanada shot up and slapped Masato across the face. "Shut the fuck up you fucking psychopath!"
The room fell silent other than the sound of Sanada panting, trying to calm herself down.
After a minute or so, the door to the meeting room opened, and to the surprise of both Masato and Sanada, a team of security officers walked in. Sanada, realizing that AI Nami had called for security due to the content of their discussion, jabbed her finger in the direction of Masato and raised her voice.
"Detain that man! He is a danger to BII and to the society in general!"
Masato stiffened up, but to his surprise, and to Sanada's, it was Sanada that the security officers had come to pick up.
"Wha..!? What is this about!" Sanada screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Thank you for arranging the pick-up, officers. Please detain Ms. Sanada for aggravated assault on her superior, and hold her in a private holding cell until further notice." It was AI Nami who spoke up.
"Wait! Wai... ahhhg!" The protesting Sanada was knocked out by a powerful taser, before being dragged out of the room.
Masato remained frozen in his chair, while AI Nami turned to him. As soon as the door closed, AI Nami started speaking again.
"Mr. Inamura, the legal department apologizes for the unprofessional conduct of Ms. Sanada. May we continue our discussion?"
Masato looked at the smiling AI Nami on the screen and silently nodded.
"Wonderful." The avatar of AI Nami clasped her hands together and continued. "I have communicated with AI Saturn and AI Neptune, and we have come to a preliminary agreement concerning the position of BII. Concerning the research. We recognize that your team is in a position to conduct debugging and maintenance of the hardware of the company known as Goto Industries. As Goto Industries is one of the many companies that BII purchases data from, it would not be out of the line for your team to perform extended maintenance on their hardware in order to collect higher quality data."
Masato blinked once, before nodding. "I understand AI Nami... So, BII will not make an issue out of the fact that we may not have a service agreement concerning maintenance?"
AI Nami smiled and nodded. "That is correct. It is not uncommon for sales representatives to perform maintenance as a personal favor in order to build better relationships with their clients."
"And concerning the purchased data?" Masato asked, already knowing the answer.
AI Nami kept her smile and answered just as Masato had expected. "Naturally, there are no issues purchasing data. How the data is utilized may become a topic that will need to be further reviewed depending on the use case, however, that is a discussion for another day. I am sure that we will be able to find an amicable solution. In the meanwhile, it is suggested that you assist Goto Industries in a private capacity in order to acquire the highest quality of unfiltered data."
"Understood. Thank you for your advice." Masato stood up, bowed towards the screen, and walked back to his office.
As he entered the office, he noticed two engineers from the security division were performing a lockdown on the desk and chair that Ms. Sanada was utilizing, and all personal items were in the process of being removed.
"Boss..." Shiro and Hidenori walked up to Masato's desk.
Masato signaled them to stand down and remain calm before he invited the two over to the kitchen for some coffee.
Once they had coffee in their mugs, they sat down at the kitchen table for a short "chat".
"There was a minor incident with Ms. Sanada today during our meeting, but it is nothing to worry about. Things should be back to normal in a couple of days." Masato tried his best to appear relaxed as he sipped his synthetic coffee.
Shiro and Hidenori looked at each other while saying that they were relieved, but their Masato could tell that they didn't believe the BS he just fed them.
Masato also explained that Sakamoto would be in and out for the next 2 or 3 weeks as he performed some "fieldwork" at a client's studio, but that they were going to get busy soon.
"Hidenori, remember the batch of data that you had mentioned the other day?"
Hidenori, slightly alarmed, nodded.
"Well, we will most likely not get that batch... but we may have found another source. Perhaps later on this evening, you can inform Shiro about what we had discussed? Perhaps over a private dinner?" Masato casually tasked Hidenori to brief Shiro.
"Sure boss. Have time for a drink tonight?" Hidenori asked as he glanced at Shiro.
"No problem, I know just the place." Shiro smiled an uneasy smile.
By the time the three returned to their desks, all traces of Ms. Sanada had been wiped from the room.
"AI Jupiter, what is your assessment of Ms. Sanada Reiko?" It was AI Saturn that started the discussion in the chamber of the BII 5.
"After today, our assessment has been concluded. There is nothing further that she can provide. I would have liked to have assigned Mr. Inamura's team with perhaps a more flexible legal attaché, however, she was the only one that was reaching her end of usefulness, and the others would have been wasted if this project did not produce satisfactory results." AI Jupiter said as her avatar played with her hair, twirling her hair with her fingers as if she was not really interested in the topic and had better things to spend her time on.
"AI Neptune?" AI Saturn asked the one in charge of security.
"Raising her hand at her superior is already an offense that would end her career. Having said that, the main issue that I observed, as AI Jupiter had hinted, is the fact that she was not able to rise over her emotions and process the information in order to find the optimal reply that would enable her team to attain their goal while avoiding legal implications. It is my opinion that she has a 78% chance of leaking confidential information concerning this project in order to vent her frustrations."
AI Saturn spun a few times before asking for a vote. "If there are no further opinions, I would like to call for a vote of no confidence in her further employment at BII, and for the cleansing of her memory devices and termination of her hardware."
AI Mars replied, "Wipe clean and terminate."
AI Neptune replied, "Wipe clean, encrypt, and thoroughly terminate."
AI Venus replied, "Wipe clean and terminate access to hardware."
AI Jupiter replied, "Wipe clean and terminate."
AI Saturn concluded the vote. "Ms. Sanada Reiko's memory shall be wiped, and her hardware shall be terminated. AI Jupiter, shall we set a replacement?"
AI Jupiter replied, "As the preliminary conclusion of earlier today states, the issue concerning the use of data is a matter of another day. There is no reason to assign further personnel to this task at this moment. Legal AI 73 will be sufficient for the task."
Ai Saturn spun a few times before replying. "Confirmed."
By the time Masato showed up at the studio in D9, Sakamoto was already in the process of debugging the code that he had written.
"How is it going?" Masato asked Sakamoto.
"The basic software is ready for testing. Fortunately for me, the settings of the SDK didn't require much tweaking, as it was set to gather and transmit the widest available ranges of signals. I think the idea was to shut off the sensors for unnecessary feed rather than build the code for each feed you wanted. We want it all, so the only thing I had to work on was the live-feed transmission and the conversion sync between the two separate brainwaves. There is a slight lag, but I was able to balance it by delaying, buffering, and syncing it with the audio and visual lag, so although it is "real-time", there is about a 5-second delay between the actual incident and the receiving end experiencing it."
Masato smiled and pat Sakamoto on the shoulder. "Way better than the "real-time" video feed from the moon landing."
Sakamoto laughed before informing Masato of some of his concerns. "We may have to put some initial restrictions on the device though."
"Oh? What restrictions are you thinking of." Masato asked while he raised his left eyebrow.
"Biological restrictions," Sakamoto replied. "I know I won't have to go into details about this... but if there are any sexual... "experiences" being streamed, and a male subject was trying to experience the pleasure of a female subject, well, you know, the biology does not really work, resulting in potential permanent brain damage. Sure, if the user had the leisure of experiencing it in a virtual sex pod, the orgasm could be turned down a bit, and or the biological signals could be reassigned, but there still is a well-documented risk that is in no way low."
Masato nodded in deep thought. "Well if we were to productize any of this technology, we would have to face the biological realities and limitations in any case... but you know..."
Sakamoto raised an eyebrow and looked at Masato.
"You see, we had this conversation with the legal department today... and based on that conversation, we are not here to develop any software, hardware, or content... we are just here for maintenance of the hardware owned by the Goto Industry. We are also only here to buy some batches of unfiltered data..." Masato paused before he concluded, "Perhaps we could just give them a warning about the danger, rather than put restrictions on the software or hardware."
Sakamoto opened his eyes in shock. "Are you telling me to..."
Masato shook his head. "I am not telling you anything new, as this is a Goto project, not a BII project." Masato then leaned forward and whispered into Sakamoto's ear. "I believe Ms. Sanda was removed from the board today... she didn't like the smell of this project and kind of blew up on the spot, resulting in AI Nami consulting with AI Saturn and AI Neptune sending an order to have her detained..."
"What!?" Sakamoto jumped in his seat.
Masato nodded as he pulled back. "The track about us conducting maintenance on our clients' hardware in order to encourage them to provide us with better data... was mentioned after Ms. Sanda was knocked out with a high-powered taser and dragged away."
After half a minute of silence, Sakamoto slowly nodded. "I guess a warning would suffice for now... If that is the case, give me one more hour, and we can do a test run. Perhaps we can ask Mr. Goto for some volunteers?"
Masato, with a complete look of surprise on his face, asked Sakamoto if he was serious. "A test? So soon? What do you have in mind for the test?"
Sakamoto grinned an evil grin. "Well, you see, there is a studio one door away with multiple rooms being used to film men and women fuck the shyt out of each other... and if you look around this room, you see it is filled with coders and engineers that look like they have never had the chance to experience a real woman in their lives..."
Masato blinked a few times before grinning. "I shall go ask Mr. Goto if he has any candidates."
"Oh!? A test already!? My oh my, you people from the civilized districts sure work quick!" Goto grinned. "Perhaps I can experience the pleasure?"
Masato laughed but shook his head. "We will need to test it a few times before we can risk putting it on such an important leader like you. Too weak and it will be a disappointment, and too strong, and your brain can be damaged. Let us test it first and fine-tune it. Once it is ready for the true trial runs, I guarantee that you will be the first to experience it!"
Although Goto showed a hint of disappointment, he laughed and agreed to the terms. "So, I assume you want someone who can document the feelings like a proper scientist, but that is expendable?"
Although Masato almost choked, he caught himself just in time and nodded as if it was a given. "Yes, that is exactly who I am looking for."
Goto nodded and tapped a button on his desk that served as his workstation.
"Tetsu, bring in those kids we are training as the next batch of junior engineers. You don't need to tell them nothing. Just bring them straight to my room."
A few minutes later, five young men were standing in a line in front of Goto and Masato. They all looked in their early twenties and definitely looked like they had never experienced the company of a female.
"These kids all came to me when they were 15 like all other kids. Based on their aptitude tests, they seemed to have a knack for programming and engineering. We have been training them for the past 4 or 5 years." Goto looked at them before turning to Masato and nodded. "No need to worry. No strings attached. We have plenty more from where they came from."
The trainees all looked nervous, so Masato decided to brighten the mood.
"So, who here wants to experience a woman today and fuck their brains out?"
The five looked alarmed, but it only took them an instant before they all raised their hands.
"Good! Don't worry, you will all get a turn! And guess what? You all get to choose a girl of your liking!" Masato added, and the boys cheered.
Masato led the first boy to the transparent floor looking down at the studios. A sofa was set up in front of some server hardware, and a helmet that was wired to the server sat on the sofa.
Sakamoto walked up to the two and asked the young man what his name was.
The young man, who was slightly shorter than average, and could not be classified as handsome or athletic, replied, "Hiroshi."
"OK Hiroshi, nice to meet you kid. Unfortunately, I have to crush your expectations and inform you that you will not be actually fucking a girl." Sakamoto informed Hiroshi, who instantly looked disappointed. "Having said that, we will see if you won't get to experience the next best thing. You see that helmet there?"
Hiroshi nodded.
"You see those rooms down there? You will be able to choose from these 8 rooms and pick the girl that fancies you. The man standing next to the girl, who is an experienced professional stud, will put on a special helmet that is paired with the one on the couch, and will fuck the girl in your stead. You, sitting on the couch with the linked helmet on, will experience everything that man is experiencing, giving you all the experience you will need to be able to satisfy a girl when you get the chance in the future. Hell, if it all works out, I might just take you out to treat you to a girl." Sakamoto paused for a moment while he thought about it, and asked Hiroshi, "They have brothels here right?"
Hiroshi vigorously nodded.
Sakamoto grinned before saying, "It's a deal then. Go pick the girl you want to experience!"
Hiroshi quickly looked over the rooms before selecting room number 4.
The female porn actress in the room looked like she was 18 or 19 years old, and had obviously come over from another district for the shoot.
Sakamoto sent out the signal for the male porn star to don the helmet while making sure that Hiroshi had followed his instructions.
Hiroshi, who was wearing the helmet that covered his eyes and ears, sat ready on the sofa.
"Commence alpha test 1."
While Sakamoto monitored the two with the helmets on along with the status of the various monitors, Masato was glued to the monitors that showed the signal and data output.
All started well as the male porn star started to fondle the breast of the female porn star with one hand while grabbing her rear end and kissing her. Hiroshi had a silly but happy-looking half smile on his face while he licked his own lips.
Masato didn't have time to bother with anything else as he started to pick up a number of brain signals that he had never really focused on before, wondering what they represented.
He immediately recognized the activity spike in the thalamus and the front medial lobe, but this was expected. The reaction might have been a little strong, but then again, Masato thought, the subject was a virgin.
The next stage was the activation of the hippocampus, and then the amygdala. "This kid must really be horny..." Masato remembered stories about kids shooting their load before even penetration, as he chuckled. This was probably why he thought nothing of the activity in the cerebellum, the frontal cortex, and the anterior cingulate cortex at this stage.
But when he saw the orbitofrontal cortex shut down along the immediate and abnormal spike in the level of dopamine, oxytocin, and norepinephrine, he sensed that something was wrong. Yes, the orbitofrontal cortex does turn off, and yes the brain releases those hormones, but the sequence was too quick.
He tore his eyes away from the data and realized that Hiroshi had started to spasm.
It was at this moment that data from the moment the male porn star penetrated the female porn star arrived, and with a scream, Hiroshi spasmed one last time before going limp.
"Abort test!" Masato screamed at Sakamoto, who immediately hit the kill the transmission button.
"What happened!?" Sakamoto rushed over to check on Hiroshi. Although he already knew the result based on the monitor, Sakamoto reached out to Hiroshi's neck to check his pulse. "He's dead... What the fuck happened!?"
Shaking his head, Masato took off the helmet from Hiroshi and checked behind Hiroshi's ear.
"Fuck!" Masato shouted as he slapped his hand across his forehead.
"What!?" Sakamoto replied before he checked to see what Masato was looking at. "Shit... looks and smells like his chips are fried... what the fuck!?"
Masato shook his head. "Let me guess... the transmission power was set for our standard BCI chips?"
Sakamoto almost fainted. "Oh shit... don't tell me..."
Masato called Goto for confirmation. "Mr. Goto, may I ask you about the model and spec of the BCIs that these kids have implanted?"
"Let me check..." After a pause, Goto replied. "Seems to be the standard GE015v2e model. Is there an issue?"
Masato knew the model well. It was a counterfeit model of a 27-year-old baseline model produced by a well-known international conglomerate based in North America. This model did have all of the basic sensors and features, but it was the cheapest model that only had a battery that would last for 20+ years from activation, would not recharge, and the transmission rate was so low that it would be the difference between a cathode-ray tube television and a cheap standard 64K screen. The company only sold the model in North America for a year, before it discontinued the line for mainstream production, and was sold in bulk to African and South East Asian nations for a number of years before it was banned due to the high accident rate and not meeting the later established international minimal standard..
"Mr. Goto, I am amazed at how you came across such an antique model... But thank you for the information... we can now adjust the input and output accordingly... as for the first test, there is both good and bad news. May I ask you to come over to where we are set up?"
As Goto walked into the room and saw Hiroshi dead on the, he clucked his tongue and gave Sakamoto a questioning look.
Sakamoto bowed in apology and explained what happened. "Mr. Goto, I am so very sorry for this accident, it was my error for not confirming the BCI model beforehand. I have never worked in an environment where the BCIs do not meet the minimum standards that had been set even before I had my first BCI implanted... I know it is an excuse, but it truly never crossed my mind."
Goto raised an eyebrow. "So, what exactly happened?"
Sakamoto nodded and explained. "Imagine if you took a home appliance and plugged it into a socket that was set to provide three times the amount of allowed voltage, and there was no safety mechanism to block the current? It would quickly fry your appliance, killing it. Basically, not only was there an overflow of information, but the BCI went into overdrive, killing itself, and Hiroshi, with a surge the moment the porn star who seems to have a more recent BCI model, penetrated the actress... meaning that there was a large surge of new sensory data"
Goto clucked his tongue again and paused before adding, "And what of the good news?"
Masato spoke up. "According to what I was able to observe, the data transmission went well, synchronizing well, and if the output is adjusted to the BCI model that the test subjects are using, the receiving end should be able to experience a near full real-time immersion into what the transmitter is experiencing."
Goto nodded. "How long do you think the adjustment will take?"
Sakamoto did some mental calculations before he replied. "Technically speaking, it is only one line of code, so it will take no more than 10 minutes... But I would like to run some tests first. Would it be possible to borrow some unused BCIs of the same model and get a little more information on them?"
Goto nodded as if to say no problem.
"With the BCIs in hand, I can do it in three hours," Sakamoto concluded.
Goto nodded again and started to turn away before he stopped, and looked back at Sakamoto.
"I will have my men dispose of the body, but don't feel too sad. In a way, you kept your initial promise to him."
Sakamoto looked at Goto with a question on his face, but then Goto burst out in laughter. "He sure fucked his brains out, and he sure had one hell of a happy ending!"
Goto pointed at the crotch of Hiroshi's pants, which was thoroughly wet, laughed again, and walked away as if he was laughing at the funniest joke he had ever heard.
It was already after dark when the tests were restarted 3 hours later, and they all seemed to conclude without issue. There was some fine-tuning required in order to balance the level of data transfer from the BCI on the receiving end so that the user could feel the full immersion without feeling a total loss of self, but for the first day of tests, it could be said that it went well, setting aside the initial death.
It was agreed that Masato and Sakamoto would take home the initial data to run some tests and analysis and that they would regroup in 2 days, on March 5th, for the next run of tests over the weekend. Goto was to prepare a series of test scenarios to his liking and find the test subjects for both the transmission and the receiving end.
The next morning, Masato was sitting at the meeting table in his office, along with his remaining team members and AIs.
After going over what had transpired and their current short-term goals, along with the long-term possibilities, he opened the floor for comments.
Shiro was the first to voice his opinion. "Mr. Inamura, I am honestly not comfortable with the means that the data is being collected, but then again, that is not my job. My job is to analyze the data that has been collected, no matter what means were used to collect the data. Unfortunately, I am going to need to know detailed information along with a firm understanding of the timeline of events in order to accurately analyze the data. Would it be possible for you to have, perhaps someone from Goto Industries to be in charge of providing me a detailed timeline of events that can be used? I'd rather not have to experience the content in this case."
Masato nodded. "Noted. Obviously, I will make sure the data is as accurate and as dry as possible, limiting the notes to a written recording of facts in order. Filtering the known data points can be done with relative ease, but it will be your responsibility to find previously unnoticed data points."
Shiro nodded with an air of assurance that he knew how to do his job and was confident in it.
Masato tapped the table a few times to give Shiro access to the CVMs that the company had prepared for the data. "Although we only have 5 samples of data from yesterday, including those of the initial screwup that ended prematurely due to a data surge... the content is standard orthodox porn experienced by socially challenged male virgins, you may find some interesting data points." And as if he remembered something, he continued. "We have also uploaded the codes of the software developed and the schematics of the hardware too. If you have time, take a glance over them, they may turn out to be good for reference."
As Shiro nodded in agreement, Hidenori spoke up.
"The porn aspect really does not interest me as we have plenty of content for the legal market... Your ideas concerning the edutainment, educational, and movie market seem intriguing. I can possibly see us starting up a new "exploration market" where people can experience being a professional adventurer, let's say skydiving, or speed skiing down the Alps... But I do have one question. How will this differ from the VR and AR content? I am sure you have already experienced first-person shooter games or role-playing games. I understand that we do not have true full-immersion content yet, but the difference seems slim."
Masato smiled. "Good point! The difference is simply in who you are, or become. Even if you are to experience a full-scale full-immersion MMORPG with sensory data, you are still you. Whereas in our case, you will be experiencing being in the skin of another person. Remember the old educational content where you got to experience how the expert did his or her job? Getting a feel for the muscle memory of the Master? Well, what if you were to experience the battle of Sekigahara as Kobayakawa or as Ieyasu. Perhaps experience Ishida Mitsunari too? You would be there, in the skin of the warlords, well in the skin of the actors playing the warlords, as they go through the battle. You won't be watching the battle as a third person. You would smell the death, feel the heat, experience the rush as you order the charge, feel doom as you are cornered, and perhaps even understand why specific actions were taken! What if you were to hop in the skin of an action hero or superhero? What if a professional porn star let you experience the precise movements used to satisfy the ladies? What if you were to experience a kiss or a moment with your favorite actress? Well, there may be some technical issues there... but I am sure there will be a way around the legal and moral issues, or around the technical issues of how far one is able to "experience" during love scenes or battle scenes where you get shot up or sliced up..." Masato mumbled to himself for a moment before continuing. "But you see, we don't even need to go through a full immersion. Even if it is only a partial immersion in which you get hints of the emotions or feel slight touches at the right moment, it can bring us a whole new market. And guess what!? Depending on the data points we can find, I bet there will be triggers that can be utilized that no other corporation is aware of. What if... just what if... we are able to find a way to emulate a sense of longing, or a feeling of accomplishment, or a hint of joy of a new discovery, and feed it to the users in very very subtle doses... just enough to tickle the brain... or even perhaps just discover how it triggers other actions by the users... I have a feeling that we will be opening a trove of data that would be proprietary and that we could observe on other batches of data on the market." There was almost a hint of madness in the glee in Masato's eyes.
Realizing that both Shiro and Hidenori were frozen in place, Sakamoto spoke up.
"Don't worry mates. This is how Inamura's brain works when it is in discovery mode. Half the stuff is the rambling of a madman and will not come to pass, but there are always gems hidden in the rubble. I guess it is the job of data analysts like you guys and the legal team to dig them gems out of the shit and polish them up so that they become presentable."
Masato shot Sakamoto a glare, but when he realized that he had been a little unhinged, he quickly blushed and scratched his head.
"S... Sorry there, I got a little carried away... but yeah, the key is that we now know how to let you experience what another person feels in real-time, and will learn how to emulate that. We also should be able to dig deeper into what we know about the human mind and body."
Hidenori nodded. "We may have a chance to get through our current predicament. We just need to crack the code in time, or at least be able to present a clear idea about where we are heading and have at least some promising data to back that up."
Shiro stood up and bowed before saying, "Well, if that is all, I will head back to my desk, it seems like I have some data to dive into." and headed back to his desk.
And with that, they all headed back to their desks and initiated their first deep dive of the day.
"Umm, Mr. Goto, are you sure of this?" Sakamoto asked Goto, ignoring the fact that his foot was being kicked by Masato under the table as a sign to shut up.
"Naturally!" Goto smiled a twisted smile. "Without experiencing pleasure and pain, how will we be able to decode the brain and get ready for the true beta tests, let alone the real-life implementation?"
Sakamoto and Masato were looking at a schedule and script that was presented to them on screen. The first of the day was based on some hard-core SM and bondage, the second was the same, but the helmet would be worn by the female actress, and the receiving side would be experienced by one of Goto's female staffers who claims to personally enjoy the act. The third and fourth were both scheduled to be a rape, with the person to be on the receiving end of the victim of the fourth script being the lady who had been the "star" of the second film... And the last one was to be of some sexual acts that neither Sakamoto nor Masato knew how to describe.
"Understood Mr. Goto. I see that you will be reenacting some of the content that had been discussed concerning the privileged clientele. Thank you for your consideration. We will be collecting as much data as possible." Masato bowed his head towards Goto.
"No problem, no problem. The pleasure is all mine!" Goto's twisted smile beamed.
With each test lasting up to two hours from the setup according to the BCI model used, to the end of the cleanup, It was dark by the time the two of them left the studio. Neither of them spoke as they walked past the gate back into the sanctuary of District 3.
They had decided to take Sunday off and regroup on Monday to go over the data.
And although neither of them really wanted to go back to the studio, they understood that they needed to at least see the testing phase through.
By the time Masato made it home and checked for messages, he was too tired physically and mentally to open the video message from his wife and daughters.
"Tomorrow... I promise I will watch them tomorrow."
Although Masato did open the message and sped through the message so that he could write a quick reply so his wife would not panic, his heart was not there. He was already sickened by what he had experienced over the past week, and sickened by how he was also intrigued by the troves of raw data he had acquired.
Masato tried to comfort himself by telling himself that it was all for survival, he knew that the human brain was also something that fascinated him, and any data that helped him uncover the unknown would push him beyond what he thought he could take.