Next up on my list of must-have elements for Serotonin Overload: GADGETS!

I know I talked a bit about tech in the first of these posts, but I wanted to dig in a little more.

IRL technology has made massive strides since the 80s and 90s. Cyberpunk, as a genre, needn’t remain stuck in dark rooms crowded with a dozen screens, chunky modems making their weird demon noises, chubby bestubbled hackers with clunky VR glasses … I mean, I loved all those things.

And I tip the hat to many of them in Serotonin Overload. There are “dive chair” type devices, where a user lies down and connects via neural shunt to a virtual reality. I have those. They’re just obsolete.

There is one scene involving one that I think is awesome, and they figure heavily in some deep background lore as well.

It’s worth noting that the basic technology underlying the neural shunt method of connecting to the internet has been used to create a kind of control system for “clone proxies.” Those with the means can have bespoke clones grown of themselves, genetically modified not to develop any pesky higher brain functions. Slip a plug with a basic OS and some wireless capability into a shunt at the base of the skull and you now have a remote controlled extra body. Since this is a nasty dystopia, I’ve explored some really nasty applications for this.

“There are many applications. Working in hazardous environments. Or being two places at once, like attending a conference on Luna without having to actually leave Earth. Aging feedshow actors use younger clones for roles all the time, especially in flashback episodes.”

“I bet I could think of some less savory examples. I’m always thinking the ultra-rich should go fuck themselves. I just never realized they could do it literally.”

Serotonin Overload, chapter 7.

Cloning is also integral to the business model of the future’s most successful fast food chain, EAT THE RICH! I found this bit of irony particularly delicious, as customers pay the wealthy for the privilege. The slogan “eat the rich” is thus fully subverted. Rather than bringing them down, eating “them” only increases their wealth.

Another bit of obsolete tech: a facial masking system developed to defeat omnipresent surveillance. It’s a hood that goes over the face and projects a different set of features, or a shifting blend of them (like in the film version of A Scanner Darkly).

She found the face dancer and pulled it over her head. When it had tethered with her optic, she set it on the features of a nondescript young man. It wouldn’t fool anyone up close, but so long as she kept her distance no one would recognize her.

Serotonin Overload, chapter 9.

This is something I’m surprised we don’t see more of in the real world right now. The idea or extremely similar variations have been proposed a number of times.

They’re obsolete in the story because the surveillance tech has improved since they were invented, and also because they can’t properly fool the human eye. They’re a novelty, a joke.

We’ve got implants galore. Our hero has an optic implant that projects a virtual HUD in her visual field. She can use it to surf the net, “flicking through the feeds.” She can tether it to a smartgun and hit her target with perfect precision. It can tell her when its time to take her anxiety meds.

She eschews the more invasive implant tech. No chips in her brain! Not falling for that one!

Another character has a “cardio-backup unit” implanted in his chest. One has a device in her brain that stimulates pheromone production. And not for any reason you might think.

Of course, most denizens of the City aren’t walking around with heads full of chips and cybernetic limbs. Not everybody gets the internet blasted straight onto their optic nerve. “Handsets” are ubiquitous. These are the same as those in my related Voidstrider series, and basically they’re just smartphones.

One of my favorite pieces of tech in Serotonin Overload is Herman, our hero’s “weasel” drone.

Nestled in the form-shaped plastic within was a small, rounded device about twelve inches in length. The outer casing was dark brown and soft to the touch like synthleather. Inside that casing was a modern marvel of engineering. The entire thing was flexible enough to wrap itself into a bracelet around her upper arm.

The technical name for it was Semi-Autonomous Recconaissance, Surveillance, and Retrieval Device. Folks like Molly called it a weasel. Sera booted it up with a command sent through her new companion implant, pondering what she was going to call it. By the time she’d finished the configuration process, she’d settled on Herman.

Serotonin Overload, chapter 3.

Herman’s a little robot friend! I love little robot friends!

This one is shaped a lot like a cyborg ferret. It can scurry through ducts and has a little laser for defense against actual rodents, of which there are many in the City. Herman can stream data back to Sera’s optic implant. It can carry small objects, making it extremely useful to thieves.

Herman appears on the cover! I can’t wait to share that with the world! (Soooon…)