Trace copied files from the ink-sheet as he went along. He didn’t trust the device to not have a remote wipe option on it. So, he grabbed everything that he could while he had the chance.

There weren’t actually all that many files on it. As far as he could tell, there were only a few that had come from the day he had taken it, and that was it. Each of the files was related to logistics in some form or another. He was sure someone would have found them interesting and perhaps even useful, but he wasn’t one of them.

Regardless, he kept the files in the sandbox environment for later use, just in case.

Setting the ink-sheet to the side, he picked up the closest data prism and plugged it into his NetConnect, only to unplug it a moment later. It was empty.

It was the same with the next one as well.

The third, however, contained what appeared to be a supply route for their weapon sellers inside the city. He set that one to the side, to give to Stick-Point later. Maybe he could give it to the client so they would quit creating so much noise.

The remainder all had a variety of schematics and diagrams for their low-quality guns. Nothing special, but he would look through them later and see what he could learn. It was possible that there might be one or two nuggets of good information buried in the refuse.

After that, he moved on to the data prisms he had recovered from the dead gangsters.

Trace popped each in, only to remove it a second later, as he felt a wave of second-degree embarrassment for those men and women. There had been so much porn. It was as if they had no other hobbies!

Gingerly, he picked them up and put them back into the pocket of his courier bag. He wasn’t even sure if he could sell something like that. What else was he supposed to do with them? Possibly wipe the data, and just keep them in case he needed the space for his own items?

He might stop picking up data prisms from people at this rate. They weren’t worth a lot if he resold them, and when he went through them, he kept coming across weird stuff.

When he had finished everything, he had a couple of messages waiting for him.

The one from Stick-Point was particularly annoying.

‘It was decided that you performed above and beyond what could have been expected of you for such a job. As such, it has been declared completed and the payout will be done in full. However, your rep will still take a small hit because of the client’s complaints.’

Trace scoffed at that and glanced at the data prism and ink-sheet with a shake of his head. ‘That’s too bad. You should tell the client that I was going to turn over a data prism and ink-sheet I had recovered to you. They both contain some information the client might have found interesting. Nothing exciting, but it could have proven useful to them. Now, I’m just going to wipe them both and add them to my growing stash.’

He sent off the message and opened the one from Sevorah. ‘He’ll make it, but whoever worked on him did him few favors outside of keeping him alive. The state of his natural body is bad, and his cyberware is little better. I think the only reason the slicer left him with everything is because of how damaged they all are. For the moment, I have him in a medically induced coma, while I pump him full of nutrients and slow-acting healing stims.’

It continued for a bit longer, letting him know just how bad Pushman’s condition actually was. In all likelihood, if he hadn’t called Ko the other day, he wouldn’t have survived for much longer.

At least now he had some more time to go through and swipe a few more of the modules he wanted. Pushman wouldn’t be missing them anytime soon, it seemed.

If he wanted, he could even move back into the apartment, though that was an idea he quickly disregarded. He already had a place of his own. He wasn’t going to avoid it simply because it was uncomfortable.

***

A day later, he had four pumps with hoses all running in the basement. They were draining the water into the sewer, raising the outflow into the nearby ponds by several inches.

He could maybe add another two pumps before he risked drawing attention because of the increased water coming from the sewers. Not that anyone would necessarily care. Either way, his earlier estimates were way off. It was going to take far longer than a few weeks to drain the water from the basement. There were thousands of gallons trapped down there and he was pumping it through a few four-inch hoses.

Even if he turned up the power on each of them, it would be awhile before the place was empty.

The tent around the office-turned-apartment was gone, and it had revealed an absolutely disgusting mess. There were mounds of bugs and rodents all over the place. He had pushed them into the sewer and then scrubbed the place down. After he was sure everything was clean, he had sealed every hole he could find. It didn’t matter if it was on the wall, floor, or ceiling. It had received a dose of caulk sealing it.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Once that was done, he went through and redid the outside of the place again.

Only then did he stop to get a bed and retrieve Deckard’s braincase from Ko.

It had been a busy couple of days, but now that he had a place to properly sleep, he was feeling better about everything.

Ko was surprisingly happy to pass the braincase off to him. She had taken the time to run him through their scanners and come up completely empty. The case was shielded. There was nothing she could do on that side of things. When she had tried to connect to the port with their equipment, it had requested a handshake and password. When they weren’t provided, the cable had melted.

Thankfully, the equipment itself was unharmed.

Regardless, after making some adjustments to his nutrient mix, she wanted nothing more to do with the braincase at that point.

Deckard would either wake up or he wouldn’t, she had decided.

Trace went into the clinic and found her helping Sevorah install a new leg on a little girl. They had moved out of the operating room and back into the main area as they worked on completing the settings for her.

Placed in the corner of the room was Pushman. He had two different IV bags hooked into him and a machine that monitored his vitals. Other than that, he was being ignored for the moment.

“I’m impressed,” Sevorah was telling Ko, as he walked in. “Your grasp of the basics has really improved recently. It’s had a noticeable effect on the quality of your work. You were always good… for someone with the amount of limited real-world practice you’ve had. Now you’re getting to the point where I would say you are just plain good. You aren’t there yet, and it’s only for something like what we did today. Still, that’s a lot of improvement. Good job.”

Ko bowed her head, partly to hide her blush, and partly to conceal the complicated expression she was feeling at the moment. The knowledge package from the G.H.O.S.T. System was responsible for her sudden improvement, not her own hard work. It felt a little disingenuous to accept Sevorah’s praise, and yet it still felt good to be recognized.

She would need to come to terms with how much of the knowledge was hers versus from the knowledge upgrade. From his own understanding of the process, it could be hard to tell the two apart.

“How’s it going?” He asked softly, so as not to startle them too badly.

Sevorah looked up at him and then went back to making her minute adjustments inside the leg. She was making the last of the physical settings, while Ko was working on the setting in the software side of things.

“That receptionist of ours really let you back here while we were still with a patient?” Sevorah asked without looking up.

“I waited until she took a restroom break and then walked past the desk while it was empty. You really should hire more people.”

“It’s never been an issue before you started coming around.” She closed the panel on the leg and sealed it shut with some precise welds from a laser attached to the ceiling for that exact purpose. “Ko, I’ll finish up here. Why don’t you and your boyfriend go do something fun? And don’t forget to bring me back some lunch.” She finished with a wink.

“Friend!” Ko protested. “He’s not my boyfriend. I haven’t known him long enough for that.”

“Ah, so what I hear you saying is that time is the only thing holding us apart?” Trace inquired, coming up behind her to blow lightly on her ear.

She jumped to her feet with a beet-red face and stormed from the room amidst their laughs.

“Be careful with her,” Sevorah commanded him after Ko had left. “She usually holds everyone at a distance. You managed to sneak your way inside her defenses. If you hurt her, there won’t even be enough left of you for the scavs to bother picking you up. We understand each other?”

He nodded. “Just to be clear though, I don’t have any intention of hurting her. I think she is cute, and I wouldn’t mind having something more with her. At the same time, I’ve never been in a relationship before or really wanted to be in one either. I know Stick-Point has told you about how poor I was growing up. No one wants to be with someone like that. So, if she wants something more, she needs to be the one to make the move. I wouldn’t even know how.”

Sevorah sighed. “That is a weird problem to have, but okay. I’ll believe you for now.”

He turned to leave, only to pause as a thought came to him. “Would it be possible to get a nutrient shot? I feel as though my body is running low on everything, and I’ve been trying to take better care of myself recently.”

“If what Stick-Point told me is true about how you grew up, then I wouldn’t be surprised. Sure, I’ll have some ready for when you get back. Now get out of here. I have work to do.”

Ko had grabbed the bag with Deckard’s braincase and was waiting for him by the now-occupied front desk. The receptionist was glaring at him with eyes that promised death, or at least a spiked drink, if he ever took anything from her.

“You ready? I just had to ask Sevorah something.”

She nodded, and they were off.

Inside the truck, Trace just started driving, not having a particular destination in mind. This hadn’t been part of his plan when he went to the clinic earlier, not that he was opposed to spending time with Ko.

“Is there any place you want to go in particular, or style of food you’re craving?” He brought up his credit balance and barely held back a wince. Yeah, it was definitely time to start working like there was no tomorrow. He had enough for lunch, but that was about it. All his recent expenses had drained what had so recently been the fattest account he’d ever had, almost dry.

“I wouldn’t say no to some Korean food if you’re up for the drive. As for what I want to do…” She hesitated. “I don’t know that it counts as a want, but there is a supply drop scheduled for one of the cities in Utah later tonight. I think we should watch it. The steel goddess only sends them down once a month or so, and she alone picks the sites they are sent to.”

“That feels awfully close to us considering the timing,” Trace muttered, glancing at the braincase containing the brain of the Steel Goddess Meredith’s son. “Maybe you’re right though. Where should we watch it? I don’t have a screen set up at the warehouse.”

She blinked silently. “I, uh, we could, uh, my place-” She shook her head. “Nope.”

Trace laughed at her reaction. She was fine coming over to his place, but the thought of him going over to her apartment was too much. “It’s fine. I’m sure we can find a restaurant or something that is showing the drop.”

He would just need to sell all the extra data prisms and other items he had collected to make sure he could afford it.