The Technology of MegaTokyo

When the year 2020 brought on the dawn of Boomer technology, there was an instant reaction throughout the world. The idea that mankind could create a being so like itself implied many things to the people. To some it was an ethical controversy or a religious debate. To others it meant money and material goods. To others still it meant freedom from menial labor. Even the Boomers could hardly compare to the other technologies that were being brought forth all the time. Cybernetics, the practice of replacing parts of an organic, living creature, became popular among everyone from the rich who wanted faultless organs to the streets punks who had their body parts augmented purely for the sake of style and shock value.

Human beings could also have implants that would allow them to communicate better with computer systems. These augmentations were most often the placement of a computer chip in the brain of a human being. The chip could download information from a computer and keep it permanently planted in the receiver's mind. There were more extreme alterations that could be made to human beings but they often resulted in seizures, brain damage, insanity, and other problems that resulted from the brain trying to take too much in at a single time. Too severe an augmentation of any kind could mean death for whoever participated in it.

Most of the talented doctors and scientists worked for GENOM but there were many other doctors who, though their credentials were less impressive, were making a great deal of money from the overzealous tech-freaks who wanted to improve their lifestyles. A woman could have her entire abdomen gutted out and replaced with cybernetic parts in order to end her period and the complications that came with it. A hacker could have a computer chip installed in his brain and plugs that would extend from his neck to his computer module, allowing him to 'talk' to the computer. Most of these surgeries were not nearly as costly as one might expect, but all of them were dangerous. There was the possibility that, when interfering with the body's natural shape and form, the brain, nerves, and mind might reject the new equipment and hurt, or even kill, the person who had been surgically altered. The list of problems went on longer than the list of surgeries that could be efficiently performed.

In AD2027 a new law was put into practice. It allowed the AD. Police to take on the job of destroying a human who had had seventy percent or more of his body turned into cybernetic parts. These people, called cyborgs or Boomeroids, were one of the largest controversies of all. As one character asked, what is the difference between sixty-nine percent and seventy percent? The difference, as it turned out, was that the AD. Police could legally gun down one but not the other. This created added friction among those who were for and against scientific enhancement of human bodies.

Prosthetic limbs were the most popular choice of all. A police officer who had been confined to a wheelchair after a bad day could suddenly leap ten meters horizontally without feeling any pain. Strength could be increased drastically with synthetic myomer adjustments made to the muscles. Everyday life was being improved all the time with little changes in the substances made to build anything from cars to television sets. Virtual reality was more realistic than it had been--someone could actually travel into another space and commit actions in that space instead of having to watch his progress on a television screen that used poorly crafted computer graphics. In a sense, the world was becoming a far better place if you had the money and desire to be immortal. Ultimately the greed and shallowness of mankind outweighed the moral dilemmas they faced with the introduction of things such as fiberoptic vision enhancements and artificial limbs.

In some cases these surgeries were taken too far and resulted in monstrosities like Billy Fanword, an AD. Police officer who had died during a Boomer incident but was soon revived as a walking tank, the AD. Police's Anti-Boomer Cyborg Unit. Billy was made from metal and ceramic allows and was the AD. Police's best weapon; that is, until he turned on them after going mad due to all the sudden changes he had gone through. Because he had no flesh left save for his tongue and some of his innards, Billy could receive no stimulation from anything but drugs. The drugs destroyed his mind and he went on a rampage through the AD. Police compound, killing many officers before Jeena Malso killed him.

With another sort of technology man was conquering the final frontier, space. Space stations were everywhere and satellites, from simple radio transmitters to orbital particle beam weapons, were floating abovehead, numbering well into the thousands. The satellites could fire very precisely and effectively, as Sylia Stingray and Commander Schwarz discussed.

When the world changed, so did its people. By the year 2020, when the Boomers are first being created at Whiz Laboratories, power means knowledge, and to have knowledge, one must have the technological means to gather it. Computers were found everywhere by the year 2020. There are palm-sized computers, lap tops, computers the size of ballpoint pens, measuring equipment like the computer Sylia used at Raven's Garage, computers that took care of all the minor household chores like washing the dishes, controlling alarm systems, and more. Without computers the people of MegaTokyo would be lost. They started to depend on technology so much that without it they would die.