(SCRAPPED) This Future Sucks: Chapter 3

Q: This city is rank. I always get mugged every time I want to go relax in a massage parlor in Bintang Street. I’m sick of it! Who can provide the best security and guns?

A: You see the bleeding Merdeka 118 over there? The giant, singular red eye perching on the spire gazing over the sadistic beauty of this Southeast Asian metropolis? Behold Malaysia’s security and armaments megacorp: Verdicts and Sec.

VaS is the Law. The foremost expert of flesh ape destruction. The might of Malaysian firepower. If you are visited by VaS Apostles, you have done something totally fracked that it warrants their visit. Even with the existence of other corpsecs, VaS remains a formidable force that you do not want to drokk with.

Many including myself are afraid of VaS. No shame in admitting it. They possibly have all the creds in the world to send their Apostles to your door no matter how many you have killed. If Apostles aren’t enough, they may send something like artillery. Or a mech if they hate you with a passion.

Q: Wait what? A mech? Like a giant pilotable robot?

A: Exactly. Besides serious heat, armor and personnel, VaS is equipped with other high-security equipment that will move the odds in their favor. Jammers. Hax Apps. Light Reflector Suits. Special ammunition. Militarized cyberware. Immense wealth. Et cetera.

And then there are the bipedal war machines.

These anti-human goliaths were first deployed in the Corporate War, one factor that contributed to VaS’s victory. Development was a secret until the first reports of massive enemy casualties, soiled pants and cries of mental anguish surfaced online. Today, they aren’t usually seen anywhere else besides a battlefield unless either the situation demands it, or VaS is demonstrating their steel balls.

VaS mechs are either humanoid or armless genocidal boxes with legs. Faceless or otherwise, all mechs have eyes, which I guess are where the cockpit sees through. Getting stared down by them should be enough for a meathead like you to shit bricks before you are subjected to the meatgrinder.

In place of the feet are heavy duty shoes or wheels. They might also have entirely different legs, though I don’t know much about those.

Not all mechs are colossal, but they are still way larger or taller than you. You can still get stomped or be grabbed and crushed in the skull by metallic digits. Or be kicked all the way into a car and die from a fractured thorax and internal bleeding.

Standard heat includes high calibre verdicts, explosives, EMP emitters, smoke grenades, their own limbs and sometimes laser projectiles. The list isn’t finished as there have much more destructive toys, but that’s the gist of their typical arsenal.

For the purpose of morale destabilization, mechs can make noises with horns or any other sounds like whales, soundtracks, screams and anything else that the pilot chooses for the engineers to install. Volume always set to max. Bass boosted.

I said something about VaS using a mech as a last resort, but truth is, they don’t need that or any other heavy ordinance to deal with you. Apostles should be enough to break you.

Q: What the dickens is an Apostle?

A: The VaS Apostles are the standard enforcers of the megacorp armored in Grade IV and possessing very capable firepower. To bring themselves to the edge, they are either installed with high grade cyberware or combat narcotics, so half of the turnover is due to copious, rage-fuelled drug addictions.

The entire armory is manufactured in-house, and much as they like to advertise about how their heat is the “BESTEST SHOOTAR EVAR”, they understand that combat effectiveness also relies on the folks wielding them. Standard Apostles usually carry rifles or submachineguns as their primary service weapon. Secondary goes to autoguns, though with proven skill, they may wield that as their primary too if they wish. Depending on their roles like scouts or heavy support, shotguns, machine guns, sniper rifles and explosives are also added to the table, as well as miscellaneous equipment. Nades.

Flashbangs. Smaller demolitions. Mods like silencers or holo sights. Armor may also be lighter or heavier than VaS’s standard Grade IV.

Speaking of Grade IV, the flesh is shielded by black and red plates from shoulders to toe, the corporate logo visible on the left breast. Protection against low-to-high calibre full metal jackets and hollow points. Blunt and sharp sticks. Chemicals. Fire and laser projectiles at some degree. Of course, it still hurts if you are hit by armor piercing weaponry or verdicts. Even Grade III AP can still affect your suit’s durability. Worse, to preserve some mobility, your pits and the back of your limbs remain unprotected.

At least VaS is charitable enough to include a codpiece too. So long as your balls are still intact, you’ll live.

Your head is fully encased in mandatory black kevlar balaclava and steel dome, a smartcam installed on the side to allow accurate targeting, scanning, thermal and night vision through a pair of polished visors across your eyes. Two neon red eyes are prominent on its surface. Unblinking. Inject the fear of omnipresent surveillance.

Q: How do I become an Apostle?

A: You must be either a member of the police force, which we will get to later, or have a legit resume of your experience with law enforcement, corpsec or the military in some places. Regardless, the minimum requirement is three to five years, though I heard some lucked out with just two.

You are only officially in Apostle training once you signed the corporate contract and offer letter upon acceptance. Then they will transport you into Merdeka 118. You will train, eat, and live in there. You may also be required to descend into VaS’s underground arcology for certain exercises.

Q: Who manages the Apostles?

A: Above a team of Apostles is a Manager, who instructs and leads them in training, operations and corpsec way of life. The Manager can appoint an Apostle as a Motivator, aka team leader. They can also assign members in different combat roles that align with their current skills and training.

Managers in turn report to Secretaries, who work under Directors of VaS’s different departments as their voices and senior administrators. Following the Directors is the Chief Of Operating Officer, and finally, sitting above all is the Techno Supreme Executive Officer herself.

VaS’s sea of employees is the pond scum in the ladder. Technicians, both weapon and civilian. Recruiters. Analysts. Public relations. IT. Finance. Backend. Customer support. Brand ambassador. Cooks. Jannies.

Miserable salaryfolks. Corp drones. Wage slaves. Dead ends. Postals at risk.

Q: You mentioned the police. Are they related to VaS? Why are they here when we already have the eye of the spire watching us?

A: If you forgot your history lesson or didn’t hit the books yet, VaS was formed when the original Royal Police was edging towards extinction near the end of the Global Slump.

With professional persuasion and money, VaS absorbed the force and transformed it into its own subsidiary.

While VaS deals with more dangerous operations or threats, both locally and globally, daily street law enforcement falls to the cops. Besides them, you have the usual inspectors, deputies, sergeants, or whatnot. Like the old force, the topmost rank is the Inspector General.

Although they aren’t equipped with VaS technology, the police’s own arsenal is still helpful in dealing with the common criminal and street punk. One distinctive equipment is a blue stun baton that can beat and shock perps into submission with whatever number of volts they are normally set in. Without electric, the head itself is still capable of cracking a bone.

The blue uniforms and cap are the standard apparel. If things escalate, they may be protected with Grade II or III bulletproof vests, pads, safety HUD goggles and a ballistic helmet. Apostles only step in if the police clearly face a possible FUBAR in an ongoing operation, though VaS reinforcements is normally not a 100% guarantee.

Unlike VaS, civvies are welcome to join the police force as a recruit. Try this with a criminal record and you will be sent to the pound.

Q: What happens if you are sentenced to the dog pound?

A: If you are arrested and can’t afford a fine or if the dog pound is imminent, you will be booted into the Pudu Penitentiary Center, aka the PPC Playpen, located outside KL at the Kajang district in the state of Selangor.

I was jailed once for four months because I was “part of a violent, unlawful demonstration” even though I was only there to record the shitshow and I happened to bump against a bruiseboy that was swinging his electro baton about and tolchocked me in the gulliver. Due to the nature of my gig, I couldn’t come up with a legal roundabout to mention anything about it, and rioters weren’t given a fine, so my Lucid visors was confiscated, and the only pictures of PPC Playpen are my memories.

There is nothing separating between petty or heavy cases. Rehabilitation is non-existent. Every cell is isolated. The shitter reeks at the corner, infested by dried toxic manwaste, flies and rats. Flushing only works once, and refills after 24 hours. The bed is a stiff slab of fabric. The door does not muffle any noise outside your cell.

There is a TV above the door, angled at your direction. Every morning and night, the same live broadcast of a masculine face speaks to you. Depending on your crime, some insults are personalized. Otherwise, you are a waste of oxygen. Waste of resources and time. A bastard that amounts to nothing, and if you argue otherwise, why are you here? A pervert that can’t keep his own reach out of what shouldn’t be theirs. You did this to yourself. You CHOSE this. It is all your fault. Stupid ape. You will not be missed. You only exist to contribute towards the biological economic cycle. Be part of the world’s accursed share. Become an excess absorbed by growth. Benefit the system. The bloat has reached its peak. Get shat out. Total loss calculated in earnings quarter.

Sorry. Lost my train of thought. I swear it wasn’t my Dumbo. Just bad memories, that’s all.

Look, you will be fracked over by oppressive guards and dangerous, batshit insane inmates left and right if you are stupid enough to look at them in the eye, but at least you get to eat some okay food. Fish harvested from aquaculture farms in a nearby lake and swamp. Genetic mash with sludge, grey gravy. Bits of veg matter. Bioishi Farms Kibble. Brown, partially cooked rice.

I got along with some inmates there when I talked to them about what I do to earn credits. That will be another story, but overall, they were impressed by my job description. Independent. Dangerous. Reckless. Stimulating. Rewarding. In return, they taught me some precautions and stories based on their own experiences, other inmates and a few bribed guards. One that is still sticks with me is the apparent treatment of inmates with serious records. Crimes that supposed to earn you the heaviest of sentences.

Officially, death sentences do not exist. Rather, you get something like life imprisonment instead. You will still be kicked into the PPC Playpen. According to my inmate buddies, there is no telling when you are suddenly called upon by guards and be taken somewhere else inside the complex. Death sentences is no longer part of the law, but not in the private walls of the Playpen. Those inmates will either be thrown into a literal grinder for corporate cuisine, harvested for organs, or be subjected to cruel experiments, most notably the physical and mental conversion into cyborgs.

Shitballs, I forgot about VaS cyborgs. Probably because unlike mechs and the TSEO herself, cyborgs are barely mentioned in the VaS database, and seeing one tends to catch people off guard. There were some articles that reported their existence, but many don’t know where or how they were truly manufactured. Inmates advised me not to shout anything about their true origins unless I want my ass blasted by Apostles.

They are riddled with implants and some weapons, and either work as corpsec in some branches or deployed in an operation. Most or some of their flesh remain among the metallic vessel, any retained natural organs sustained by chemicals and electronics. There is probably a variety of them but I have yet to find out about those.

Q: I have seen VaS in my home country before. Are they international? How is it so influential today?

A: Eeyup. VaS expanded into a multinational security corporation and have never shifted their HQ away from Malaysia since their initial formation. In most major cities, you definitely won’t miss the familiar red eye in your homeland.

The worldwide influence of VaS stemmed from their first establishment of lethal corporate liquidations. They were also the closest you can get to an army when the militaries were failing. Nothing was subtle about the liquidation stuff. They were willing to dip their hands into the guts of a dead billionaire to enforce their demands or address any offences made against them. They intended to show other corps and the world that suing or fighting them in any way is a ticket to VaS hospitality. This vicious, thriving business had since become the mainframe for future security corporations. Why sue and see somebody in court when you can simply call up, ask for security services, and let them get the job done after paying the fee?

Oh, your local lawman is after you? Do the same thing. The department will also get the message thanks to an unannounced visit, a phone call and bribes.

VaS outsources their equipment and personnel, especially Apostles, to different countries. Any foreign megacorp that wants pieces of that pie must sign a contract that notably forbid it from “infringing copyright”, which can refer to a lot of VaS branded stuff. The party must also pay an upfront fee, followed by monthly bills until the end of the contract’s period, which can be renewed free of charge. Not all corps are willing to go through for this reason, yet you can be sure that blue chips can cope with the contracts.

Q: Can I buy VaS heaters and other equipment in shops?

A: No. VaS prohibits the redistribution and sales of their property. If you want heat from them, you either make a phone call or go straight to the front desk in one of their branches or HQ. Any cyberspace communication is not entertained. You will also have to fill out some form and provide your personal details, current job, employer, what you exactly need and why. If they find your application truthful and reasonable enough, you will also have to pay for the prices of their equipment, which is expensive as shit, the minimum prices can range from several thousands to tens of thousands of creds.

Even ammunition is still a bit pricier than the average market price. Hope your superior is the one footing the bill.

Q: What’s actually inside Merdeka 118?

A: Besides certain elevators for the underground corporate haven and basement parking lots, the ground and first four floors are the 118 Mall, where corpo civvies and personnel

shop, dine and relax there. From the pictures, the space is huge but the fracking holo advertisements are so widespread that the indoor spaces look claustrophobic. I don’t know how the hell do the corpos cope with this digital vomit on a daily basis.

There is also an outdoor space with fountains and a hotel for guests to stay in. I read that there are entertainment facilities that people can enjoy in the 118 Mall and its compound. Cinemas. VR games with optional SimuJack packages. A skating rink. Arcades. A performance theatre.

It surprised me that despite its corporate image, VaS is also capable of churning this out or letting its clients set up their establishments there.

VaS territory is from the fifth floor onwards, and customers are only welcome in that floor as it serves as both a lounge and customer service. There are no official pictures of the HQ’s insides, and VaS warned that snapping or recording a single image warrants termination. Every corner is monitored. All sights and sounds detectable to the invisible eyes.

Only the two topmost floors are safe for public display as they are a VIP restaurant and lounge respectively. Invitation only. Comes with an entry fee.

Q: Who is VaS’s current CEO?

A: VaS’s Techno Supreme Executive Officer, or TSEO, is a woman named Suri Yana, who voluntarily borged herself to shove her middle finger up Death’s arse and ascend her humanity. She remains in her 40s, but she looks like she never aged past the early 30s. A fair face crowned in wild blonde. Beautiful. Chiselled. Lethal. If you look at her funny, you will go home with a dumbbell lodged straight into your windpipe.

Only her head, spine, neck and internal organs, save for her cybernetic heart, remain organic. The rest of her body is a perfect imitation of skin and flesh. A very expensive masterpiece of bio-genetic engineering by American megacorp Bataille Genetics. Soft. Flexible. It also bleeds, sweats and accommodates her original organs well, though I think she’d not give two shits if she loses another.

Despite not looking like a combat model on the surface, the body can suddenly alter its agility and strength at the user’s will. It doesn’t need extra muscle to cave her fists into your face. One Russian brand ambassador reported that he felt nervous when he stood beside her, wondering whether she will slap his jaw off to relieve her temper if negotiations turn sour. There are also unconfirmed rumors that her body conceals a cannon inside her limb or stomach. Or that she can grow a third eye that shoots laser cutters and psychic waves. I’d be scared shitless even more.

This is the mastermind of VaS’s business model and philosophy since its inception. The brainchild of corporate wetwork. The foot that shoved its existence to everybody’s face. The hands that bring in greens to sustain the red eye. The mouth that warned competitors about its power and the acceptable norm of liquidations. The mindset that concludes that persuasion is best expressed with cruelty, verdicts and guts. The pearly white teeth that grins when embracing ultraviolence and this sucky future.

Suri Yana, Techno Supreme Executive Officer of Verdicts And Sec.