The heavy metal door of the workshop closed behind them, shutting out the complex gazes of Maine's crew members.
The usual silence returned to the space, with only the low hum of energy conduits and the faint hiss of the cooling system as background.
Osiris' massive, heavy, dark red body turned towards the corpse on the cryogenic platform.
A servo-skull hovered silently nearby, its steady beams of light from its eye sockets clearly illuminating the remains of Rucky Batmos.
"Start recording, Buddy," Osiris said in a low voice, his mechanical fingers sweeping across the control panel, bringing up several analysis interfaces. "Research sample: Rache Bartmoss, a key figure in the history of local network technology, estimated time of death over fifty years ago."
He first performed a basic physical condition assessment.
Several servo-skulls surrounded Bartmoss' remains, equipped with high-precision sensors, performing a comprehensive scan of the body.
"External observation: Male, estimated age at death between twenty-five and thirty," he stated calmly as he scanned. "Slender build, muscle mass below warrior standards, but muscle fiber arrangement shows unusual fineness, which may be related to the demand for extremely high neural conduction efficiency.
No obvious external trauma on the skin surface; lividity distribution is consistent with long-term low-temperature, fixed-posture preservation characteristics.
Fingernail residue analysis… primarily keratin protein and trace amounts of insulating material debris, consistent with long-term precise manual operations."
A mechanical tentacle behind Osiris moved to the corpse's head.
"Cranial structure intact, no signs of implant penetration. This is very interesting," Osiris' tone carried a faint hint of interest. "In a world where cognitive enhancement through implants is common, the physiological structure of an individual who achieved legendary data processing capabilities with a natural brain must be unique."
He initiated a deeper scan: "Perform non-destructive internal cranial structure inspection, focusing on analyzing the density and gyral complexity of the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and corpus callosum regions."
Data streams scrolled rapidly across the projection screen.
A moment later, Osiris emitted a slight, air-passing sound, indicating he had noticed an anomaly.
"Prefrontal cortex neddien density exceeds local human baseline by thirty-seven percent; corpus callosum neural fiber connections and complexity are abnormally developed, almost double the standard model," he continued to analyze. "This explains why he could perform superhuman multi-threaded logical processing and information integration.
The cerebral cortex gyral area is also eighteen percent larger than the average… a biological processor naturally optimized for handling massive amounts of information."
His attention shifted to the corpse's spine and limbs.
"Spinal cord structure shows no obvious signs of reinforcement modification, but the thickness of the nerve bundles is unusually robust. Peripheral nerve nodes… hmm, there are multiple microscopic adaptive thickenings," he observed the data feedback. "This is more like physiological strengthening caused by long-term extreme use, rather than artificial intervention."
"The bone and joint structures of the hands are precise, and tendon attachment points indicate that his fingers once possessed extremely high flexibility and reaction speed," Osiris added. "This is consistent with his top-tier agility in the real world. Not for combat, but for ultimate operational precision."
With the basic physiological assessment complete, Osiris began to check for potential technical interfaces.
"Search for non-standard bio-interfaces or residual implant signals," he commanded.
The servo-skulls switched scanning modes, emitting detection waves of different bands.
"No large-scale, permanent neural implants or enhancement modules were found. Only a standard early network access port interface was found at the back of the neck, an ancient model, technology level… quite primitive," he read the scan results. "Additionally, there are traces of miniature data interfaces on both wrists, seemingly used for connecting external input devices."
This discovery made Osiris pause. "So, the vast majority of his achievements relied on this native brain, largely unmodified, and a basic interface that… by this world's standards, could even be considered outdated," he concluded. "With the pure computing power of his biological brain and unique neural structure, he mastered and crushed the digital world of that era. Impressive."
He retrieved data fragments about Bartmoss from the depths of the Cyberpunk World network and from fragmented information streams beyond the Blackwall.
This information, mixed in with incompletely destroyed corporate archives, logs scattered during the collapse of the early net, and legends of later netrunners, was full of contradictions and gaps, but the core pointed to the same conclusion.
"The individual 'Rache Bartmoss,' existing records generally believe that, if measured by this world's framework for human capabilities, his intelligence and network operation abilities had already reached the theoretical limit of that framework," Osiris' tone was steady, as if stating a physical law. "Others reached this limit because their abilities stopped there; he was at this limit because the measuring system itself could not define a higher level.
Existing physiological structure analysis, especially the complexity of the cerebral cortex and nerve connection density, supports this assessment."
"Regarding his reaction speed, there is a saying that in the real world, his reactions had reached the theoretical peak of human physicality; and once connected to the network, his reaction speed could break through this constraint, reaching a level that could not be calibrated within conventional frameworks," he paused briefly, his processing core comparing neural scan data with those legendary fragments. "From a physiological structure perspective, his biological neural conduction speed has indeed reached perfection.
But that 'beyond framework' performance is more likely to stem from his consciousness' unique mapping and interaction mode within data space.
His thought processes and the network environment achieved an almost seamless integration, leading to a qualitative leap in efficiency, giving the impression of breaking limits.
This is essentially the ultimate optimization of consciousness-machine interface efficiency, not a true contravention of physical laws."
Osiris began to review Bartmoss' life, these information fragments piecing together in his processing core.
"Accessed the network at age four, achieved legendary technical skill in adolescence. Used millisecond time differences to defraud multiple companies, acquiring enormous wealth," he recounted the information. "Behavior patterns show extraordinary insight into system rule vulnerabilities and the ability to exploit them."
"After achieving financial freedom, his behavior shifted to exposing corporate scandals, leading to the bankruptcy of several small companies and damage to the reputations of large corporations," he continued. "Motives seem to include a non-utilitarian sense of justice, or dissatisfaction with power structures."
"Co-founded the 'Net Neutral Zone' with Alt Cunningham and Spider Murphy," Osiris noted this point. "This action shows his capacity for social organization and a protective consciousness towards vulnerable groups."
His gaze lingered on the records concerning the Fourth Corporate War.
"Key event: Persuaded by the AI-ized Art Cunningham, he intervened in the conflict between Militech and Arasaka. He single-handedly confronted Arasaka's anti-netrunner department and achieved an overwhelming victory," he pulled up the relevant records. "Records describe his method as 'lighting up the early Net cyberspace,' speculated to be some form of large-scale, highly efficient data attack or system overload method."
"Faced with the Soulkiller program, he chose to disable his firewall and inversely imprison the program," Osiris analyzed this tactic. "This tactic is extremely high-risk; successful execution depends on instantaneous, complete analysis of the target program's operating mechanism, and the extreme stability of his own consciousness structure. His brain's unique physiological structure may be key."