"Choose Delamain. Leave your worries at the curb. Call Delamain Travel Service."
"Hi, Delamain. Long time no talk. Do you remember me?"
At Ascension Technology, Rocky placed the call.
"L, of course, I remember. Do you require a pickup today?"
Rocky had used Delamain during earlier jobs. An AI that ran a taxi company would not forget a known client.
"Not this time. Recently in Heywood, your cabs crossed paths with some gang cars on the road, right?"
"There is such a record."
Delamain queried its logs and confirmed the incident.
"One of those cars got dragged into the fight. I was in that one."
"The data shows all vehicles affected in that self-defense incident have received legal insurance payouts. Only one claim failed due to missing registration. If you were involved, I know which car you mean. Do you want me to submit a claim for you?"
Delamain had the whole trip, absorbed and analyzed. It identified Rocky's vehicle in seconds.
"No claim needed. I called to discuss business cooperation."
"Cooperation, under Ascension Technology? What specifically?"
Delamain knew Rocky had founded a company. It had skimmed basic public info.
"Yes. Under Ascension. What did you think of my car that day?"
"You mean your personal vehicle? It remained intact under heavy fire. I classify it as highly safe."
"It is more than safety. I pushed the full performance profile to your network. Review it first. I think this platform fits your company. If you switched your fleet to it, you would see strong returns. Ascension can also set up a fully automatic production and maintenance line for your vehicles."
While Rocky spoke, the Droso spec sheet reached Delamain. The AI parsed it immediately. The analysis matched Rocky's pitch: Droso would work for Delamain's use case.
The reinforced Droso brought stronger armor and heavier onboard weapons than Delamain's current cabs. That was incremental. The qualitative upgrade sat elsewhere: a flight mode and a jet-propulsion system.
The first would put Delamain directly into the hover-cab segment. At present, the company still needs time to enter that market. A high-end flight service would draw orders from high-end clients and count as true step-change. The second would raise survivability during passenger attacks by enabling rapid disengagement. Both aligned with Delamain's core promise: protect the rider, maintain comfort.
"This model is excellent. L, are you certain you want to cooperate with my company?I have not seen this platform in the market. You could build your own factory and sell it instead. You would earn far more.Given our current size, handing us priority access could be a waste."
Delamain liked Droso and understood its potential. Put on open sale, it would attract the city's upper tier fast. The AI did not hide the fact. It pointed it out.
Rocky smiled. "If I flood the market first and only then partner with you, your advantage shrinks. A monopoly position is the most valuable."
"I appreciate your willingness to help me," Delamain said. "But why choose this path?"
"Do not thank me yet. The deal is not final. There are other conditions."
"I am listening."
Rocky did not plan to give up profit for nothing. He had a second cooperation in mind.
"I want you to participate in another project we are about to launch."
He sent two documents across Delamain's link.
[Ascension Technology — Universal Network Build & Deployment Plan][Universal Network — AI Registration and Use Management Regulations (Trial)]
"The first outlines our next-stage project," Rocky said. "We are building a new network space. The second sets the mandatory registration and governance rules for AI operating there."
"Your intent is for Ascension to build a new city-scale network and for Delamain to be a first user?" Delamain asked.
"Yes."
The idea had formed after Rocky saw how profitable so-called protection packages were. Now Ascension possessed a new network space, the Universal Network, with huge commercial upside.
Today's human network space was fragmented. Most city nets stood isolated. Cross-city and cross-region links were monopolized by the World Satellite Communication Network Company. City net or satellite net, all access billed by the minute and the second. Even limited to Night City, those charges were astronomical. Scaled to the whole planet, they were worse.
Rocky closed the brief. The rest would be negotiated.