“Are you a stray cat?”

“Evenin’ ta’ you too Ms. ‘Becca.” R4 replied as they returned to Of Mine Ememies. “Jus’ droppin’ off Zephyr. Had a bit of excitement at th’ movie theater, wanted ta’ make sure she got home safe.”

“A shootout, three gunmen, scopmunchers the lot of them.” Becca gestured to the news channel playing on the screen next to the noodle bar. “Funny how quick the story came out, smells of corp.”

“Mom, you always say that.”

“This is Nu’Grav Zoe, the whole F****** place smells of corp.” Becca replied. She flipped through several channels, each one broadcasting the robbery of the theater by three gunmen. It took R4 five channel flips to realize they were each about different theaters. Turning from the screen Becca cast a baleful gaze on R4. “Let me guess, you want something for rescuing my girl from all that.”

“I wouldn’t say no ta’ some dinner.” R4 replied. Her stomach growled in response. “Now that I think about it, don’t think I ate today, too busy.”

“Zoe, why don’t you go get R4 something, Got a pot of dragon oil simmering and the steamer’s full of rice.” Zoe vanished behind the counter, and R4 noticed Becca motioning for her to get closer. “What did you drag my girl into?”

“Wasn’t me, I was jus’ fixin’ some projectors an’ ran inta’ her. I had no idea th’ place was getting’ robbed that day, if that’s what it was.”

Becca glared at her for a moment. “At least you’re not stupid. Punks may run the streets, but the corps are the puppet masters and the AI writes the script. You know, this movie cost Lok-1 200,000,000 credits to make, and it’s only paid back over 3 billion despite being out only a week. Yet, I’ve only been sending out double my usual amounts of pop corn. From what I can figure, unless this film is hugely popular outside Nu’grav they’re lucky if they’re bringing in one billion. In corp terms that’s a flop and anyone with so much as a hand in the film would be on the street, except they’re not. The stocks of Mars Corporation slowed their increase by .1%, still increasing and still in the black but it’s got them hopping mad and throwing interns out the window, but Lok-1 is quiet. Mars Corporation is targeting theaters playing the film, yet Lok-1 is being quiet. From what I hear, they’re paying bribes to keep the film in theaters longer.” She tapped her watch and immediately R4 felt her horns begin to buzz. “Regular of mine who works for Lok-1 got roped into doing some vacation work, shot me a text he saw Zoe meeting up with her girlfriend. Had some kind things to say about how you handle a knife.1 So, what’s it going to cost to get you to leave my daughter alone?”

“What?” R4 asked. “I didn’t think I was bothering her. Besides, we’re just friends.”

“That right there is the problem. Zoe always wants more, and she’s not ready.” Becca pointed at R4. “You’re a trouble maker, I can tell and worse the city can. It knows when someone’s trouble, and it’s got algorithms to deal with them. You’ve been here a month and how many times have you almost died?” R4 paused to count, “Exactly, and it’s going to keep happening. The city’s likes to push its problems together, isolate them like bugs in a box and watch as they eat each other. Then it takes the strongest ones, tiers them up, and throws them into the next box. The moment your patron picked you up you got put in a box.” She tapped her hands on the counter.

“Were you having me watched?” R4 asked.

“Soup’s on.” Zephyr announced. R4 did a double take, the girl had found time to stash her cloak and change into a tank top and black sarong that R4 knew she hadn’t been wearing at the theater. She quickly tore her eyes from her friend's legs, focusing instead on the food.

“Smells good” R4 replied, and they quickly dug in. Becca busied herself with other tasks, but R4 did see her glancing back. “Did you see the new movie that was playing?”

“I meant to, but all the theaters were running out of Popcorn so Mom kept me busy. Want to go see tomorrow?” Zephyr asked. “I’m pretty sure they’ll have the theater cleaned up by then.”

“There was jus’ a major shootin’.”

“Only 3 criminals, If it wasn’t for the one being tier 1 it wouldn’t even qualify as news. She took a bite from her food, allowing R4 to do the same. Her stomach growled even as her mouth exploded with heat. Some instinct compelled her to eat more, as if consuming the rich broth and chunks of vegetable could somehow ease the burn. It seemed to, for a moment, compelling her to eat more. “This isn’t my first robbery, though it was the most dangerous. Nu’Grav is the city of tears, if you stopped for every tragedy you’d go broke in a week. The door opened and she turned to the man who entered. “Speaking of which, hey Vipper.”

“It’s Viper, like Viper fish.” The man looked young, maybe 16, but he was heavily tattooed with twin viperfish reaching down his arms and bearing their fangs at his hands, as well as a pair going up his face and biting at his eyes. Both sets bore tiny lights.

“Choom, there are 5 Vipers. R4, this is Vipper, the third greatest fixer of the Deep Fish.” Vipper gave her a look like she had slapped him across the face. He opened his mouth, which R4 noted had been filled with long needle teeth like a viper fish, though they were short enough he could close his mouth and he did have molars behind them

“Howdy, so yer’ a viperfish zipper, you’re a deep fish who brings folks together?” R4 asked. For a moment Vipper just stared, then he began thinking. R4 could see the light turn on when he realized what she had said. “So yer’ th’ guy ta’ talk to ta’ get gigs in subsector 6?”

“If Reef or Plankton are busy.”

“Wha- Zephyr!” The boy looked frustrated. “So yeah, I’m a junior fixer, but you’re just a junior runner and she’s a remote. Not like the big names deal with you either.” His lights flashed red and white in annoyance.2 It was sort of cute. “Got a job for you, sensitive data.”

“One last job before bed, guess I’d better get to it.” Zephyr tapped her phone to Vipper and took a small tube from him. “Heavy, this one of the lead lined ones?”

“Think so, but given the credits I’m getting I’m not asking questions.” He turned to R4. “What are you good at Remote?”

“I’ve got 8 in tech and 7 in computers.”

“You good with locks?”

“Sure, I think I’ve got a welding torch in here somewhere. Can’t be locked if it’s a liquid.” R4 replied patting her bag. Some talents are best left quiet.

“Shame, I’ve been looking for a new locksmith since Fluke got zeroed.” With a gesture they exchanged numbers. “Becca, I’ll take today’s special.”

“Well, I’d best be off. Movie tomorrow?”

“Sure,” R4 replied. With a flick of her tongue she cleaned out her bowl, her mouth opening impossibly wide as she finished, which raised an eyebrow from Zephyr. “What? Did I get something on my face?” she wiped her face with a napkin, popping that too into her mouth.

“Oh, nothing,” She blushed in a way R4 wasn’t sure she liked.

R4 made it to the tram station without incident, though a few Deep Fish gave her some looks, more appraising than threatening. On the tram ride home she ran into some familiar mowhawks, and made a few credits unjamming their guns. “Ok, so first of all see this,” She pointed out as she opened up one firearm, “The firing pin is plastic with a metal cap. See how it’s bent? This is a gun that’s made to be disposable.” She gestured to the already forced grip with a magazine that was supposed to be fixed, but another tech had broken the gun and built it back from plastic and superglue. The brand EZPZ Firearms boldly proclaimed it was a piece of junk, and she vaguely remembered the EZPZ food brand was banned in the Solarian Technocracy for that exact reason. “Yer’ tech should a’ replaced it when he fixed the magazine, but they didn’t. I kin’ make ya a new one fer now, but ya’ need a new gun.”

“But this one matches my ‘hawk.” She eyed the man, wearing an open neon orange coat, purple jeans, and a vibrant green mowhawk. The gun was the same green with blue accents, while he had an actual long-sword on his back that matched his pants.

“Look, you can get a kit that will make your gun whatever color you want. Get a quality gun that’s not goin’ ta’ jam at th’ worst possible time, ‘cause that’s when they’re goin’ ta’ do so, an’ ya’ might actually live ta’ enjoy yer’ crime against fashion.”

“Choom, the tech’s got a point.” A girl with a vibrant purple and green mowhawk added. R4 quickly noticed that the men of the gang either wore loud T-shirts under their coats or nothing at all, while this member wore a loud crop top that matched her Mohawk and blue body paint on her face and midsection. All of the members bore the faint marks of sub-dermal armor save one who wore a tiedye kevlar vest. “Remember that shootout with the masks,” She promptly shot a glance to a bunch of masks who were staring them down at that exact moment.

This, of course, lead to said masks approaching her right after to question her allegiance, and one to ask her to look at his gun. R4 immediately diagnosed the issue as him using a Lok-1 magazine on a Mitian gun with a Mars Corporation sight and a Gentek ergonomic stock.

“So if that last guy’s outfit was a crime against fashion, this gun is a crime against armament.” R4 explained. The man nodded even as Aleph glared at her.

“Nothing I haven’t told you a thousand times Theta.” Rho spoke up, tapping the wrench emblazoned on his gas mask. “Listen to your tech.”

“Looks like your magazine is designed to work with a similar gun, but there’s a safeguard here that stops it from working if you’re not paid up on your subscription. Your tech, Rho I’m guessing,” Rho nodded, “filed it off for you, violatin’ SEVERAL warranties. He also managed to bypass the kill bolt here which I respect an’ approve of. Planned obsolescence is a pox. However the magazine isn’t quite the right size, meaning the bullets kin get a bit twisted, especially if th’ gun gets hot from shootin’. I’d recommend usin’ a Mars magazine.”

“Love to, except they stopped making magazines for my baby.” Theta complained.

“Again, planned obsolescence is a pox. I’d recommend gettin’ a new gun outright or having custom magazines made.” She paused, noticing the man actually had a similar gun under his coat. “This was a test, wasn’t it?”

Aleph scoffed. “Pretty much.” Rho admitted. “You’ll work with anyone, won’t you?”

“I’m a Remote, I can’t exactly afford ta’ be picky.” R4 admitted. “Not dimdwel though, I won’t work with them.”

“Right, F*** the dimdwell.”

“I prefer ta’ shoot ‘em, but y’all do y’all.” That earned a snort, but the gas masks left her alone as she got off. She even got a few credits out of the deal.

Collapsing into bed she took a deep breath, then took out her phone for something she had not been looking forwards to. Maybe her mother was still awake, maybe she wasn’t. It was 19:00, so midnight back in Alton of the Solarian Technocracy. She took out her phone, then sniffed her jacket. She had gotten shot, maybe she should do some wash. Five minutes later she was back in bed, looking at the phone. She was a little thirsty, maybe she should, R4 shook the thought from her head and dialed the number.

“Hello Rachel.”

“Hi Mom, hope I didn’t wake you.”

“Not at all, the bats have been keeping me company. Say hello Fluoxetine.” There was a loud chirp. R4 could see the creature in her mind’s eye. These were not the tiny bats from Earth but a native species. They sort of resembled bats from Earth, but were usually just shy of a meter long and their heads resembled dog heads a bit more. They also tended to perch on shoulders since landing on the wrist like a falcon was liable to knock over their handler, though some of the cheeky ones still did that. They were smart too, smarter than ravens and smart enough a few of them could actually mimic a few words. She smiled at the thought of Liar, a bat who learned that yelling “Fire!” made people run away so he could eat whatever they dropped. “Th’ night gaunts and coyotes have been active again, so we’re on night duty keepin’ the Fluffs safe. Got th’ old punisher on my lap an’ a cup a’ caff keepin’ me wired. So choom, how’s college? Preem an’ shiney like y’all promised? Ya’ makin’ friends?”

“Well… Not exactly.” She took a deep breath. “See, Nu’Grav university is expensive, really expensive. The scholarship kind of fell through, so I’m taking a year to work and I’ll be joinin’ next year.”

There was a long pause, then a sigh. “Rachel, I love you and I always will. So please, don’t lie to me.”

“There was no scholarship. I made it up.” She replied. She took another deep breath, then another. She waited for her mother to get mad, to yell. She hadn’t heard her mother yell since the fire.

“I know.” She replied. “Your uncle has an even worse poker face than you do. The entire town is making bets on when you’ll return. So, you’ve been to the big city, seen the sights. Is it all you hoped it would be?”

“I’m, conflicted.” R4 turned on her back. “Nu’Grav is a horrible place. I’ve almost, I mean, I’ve had some close calls, things I wouldn’t even think of back home. Just today there was a robbery at a movie theater I was working at.”

“You found a job at a movie theater? Be careful Dear, takin’ a job jus’ until you get something better has a nasty habit a’ lastin’ a decade or more. I signed on as a bat wrangler for, hold on.” There was a pause, followed by Whoosh of her crossbow. While R4 knew she’d have her shotgun at her hip, Fluoxetine and the other bats would not appreciate the noise. “I signed on as a bat wrangler fer’ a year an’ you can see how that ended up.”

“What? Y’all didn’t sign up to give your boss two kids? They practically bake that into th’ contract here.”

“Actually many contracts insist you do not reproduce without permission, yours included.”

“Come again?”

“Rachel is someone in your room with you?” Jessica asked.

“Just Red my phone’s AI reminding me something. I don’t actually work at the theater, mostly gig work, made,” She checked her balance

User Rachel “R4” Smith

Balance

incoming/outgoing

3704

3204

500

Khat Photos ;)

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1204

2000

Kraken theater

1244

-40

Food (bunny shack)

844

400

Theater repair work/hush money subsector 8

664

180

Theater repair work

484

195

Theater repair work

289

220

Theater repair work

109

180

Theater repair work

“Made over 2 grand in credits for fixing a bunch of movie projectors. Of course food and rent are really expensive too. At this rate I might not even have ta’ take out too many loans fer’ college.”

There was a pause, her mother taking several breaths thinking of what to say. “So you’re serious about college, engineering? Like James.”

R4 paused, and her brain chemistry took a nosedive. “Yeah. It’s what he would have wanted. My degree back home barely counts as undergrad here, but it’s enough. They say that this place is a decade ahead of anywhere else, and I believe it. I was working on exercise equipment a week back with parts our best engineers would swear oaths for. It’s all patented and has a ton of planned obsolescence but still.”

“It’s not going to bring him back though.” For a moment neither of them spoke.

“I still owe it to him, to Dad and Grandpa.”

“No, Rachel you don’t owe anything to anyone. I don’t care what anyone says to or about you, it was not you who killed him. I’ve watched that security footage a dozen times, there was nothing anyone could have done any different. Policy was followed, best practices enacted within acceptable margins. Rachel I prayed every day he might still be in the rubble, I searched the videos for something that could have been done different. Short of divine prophecy everyone did exactly as they should have. He saved a lot of lives stopping that monster. The fact one of those lives was yours does not cheapen his sacrifice. You don’t have to give up your life chasing his dream.”

“I know, but if I don’t I’m going to always regret it.” She paused. “We lost over a decade of progress that day, and if I have a chance to regain it I’m going to.” She paused again, considering what to say. “Mom, me being here feels, right. It may be difficult, it certainly has its foul moments, but it feels like I’m here fer’ a reason.”

“Is this like the boar incident.”

“Yes. It’s not as intense since the path forwards is not as clear, but it is.” She smiled. “I actually had an incident like that earlier today. I met a friend at that theater just before the shooting. Getting them out wasn’t as strong as that incident, but it was similar.”

“Male or female, am I getting grandchildren soon?”

“MOM!” R4 exclaimed, to her mother’s laughter. She sighed into the phone, glad that talk of her brother hadn’t sent her mother into tears like it used to. Somewhere between the therapy and the medication, she had recovered from the psychological wounds.

“I couldn’t resist.”

“Female friend, her name’s Zephyr.” R4 went on to tell her mother a somewhat sanitized version of her adventures in the city. I was a little surprised she mentioned the Dimdwell incident, though she did not mention Mara instead saying she had found a cache of technology. She also left out the fact she was now tier 1, and the fact she had spent the night in Issac’s bed.”

“Sounds like you’ve been busy. Things are the same as they always are here. Coyotes are nasty as ever, the herds are producing wool like they always are. Love you Dear.”

“Love you Mom.” With that R4 hung up, and immediately sent a text.

“Hey Uncle Josiah, how would one go about getting Tier 2 immuno-suppressants?” Within a minute she had a reply.

“Your mom would kill me over it, so you can have my supply. U doing ok in The City?”

“Preem, just hit Tier 1 and have a lead on Tier 2. Don’t tell Mom.”

“Sweet Choom. Can’t talk now.”

“So just a heads up, don’t take any traditional immunosuppressant. Your ravager isopod would probably crawl right out of your skull to get away from it.” R4 winced at the thought. “It creates its own, and if you need to take some supplements I will let you know. I take it your uncle is more on board with your ascension.”

“He’s the one who helped me get into the city.” R4 stretched. “But that’s for later. Bed time.”

“Don’t forget to brush.”

R4 didn’t, yet that was about all she had time to do, her eyes were closed before her head hit her pillow, and she was out like a light. It seemed as if not even a moment passed, before her alarm clock began to ring.

“Pspspspspsps.” She reached over, tapping the device, and paused. Sunlight, actual sunlight, shone into her room. She listened, and the singing of birds reached her ears. There was a fluttering sound, then a WHAM as something hit the window. She rolled out of bed just as the bat began tapping on the window.

The first time she had seen Sertraline tapping on the window like that she had screamed, a brown and black dog faced goblin with glowing red eyes tapping on a thin piece of glass. Despite his angled face, and rather large teeth, R4 eagerly opened the window for her brother’s favorite bat.

“Ruff.” Bella barked, sitting up on her bed.

“Good morning to you too.” R4 replied as Sertraline climbed in. The bat promptly landed on her shoulder and nearly knocked her over. Bella, being the jealous dog she always was, got up and nudged R4 for scritches. R4 eagerly obliged, running her hand over the white dog’s black ears. She never did know what kind of dog Bella had been, some kind of terrier with something larger for extra mass. Her long limbs and slender build made her quite the runner, not that it mattered at the most critical moment.

“I miss you girl.” R4 muttered, kneeling down to give the memory of her dog a good petting. “And Sertraline. What are you doing in my room? You're supposed to be James’s bat.”

Sertraline squeaked and pointed with one of his wings, still off colored from where the vet had patched it with cloned wing. “Huh, so he sent you to come get me? I get that, so why didn’t he just,” R4 picked up her phone and found all the numbers were senseless squiggles. “Figures. Hey Red, can you talk to me in a dream?” No response, though not for a lack of trying.

R4 quickly slipped out of her room, which was only a blur in the dream. Down the stairs and right outside, for her dream had no real details of her home. The scent of cinnamon and axle grease brought back a feeling of nostalgia, reminding her more of the home she had left behind.

The smell was swiftly replaced by the scent of blood, as R4 surveyed the dream. Before her lay her family’s ranch, where hundreds of fluffs, or Forbidden Alpine Alpacas as their actual species were called. Not truly related to alpacas, the fluffs looked like clouds in the form of animals, and would almost be comical were it not for the fact they were 2 meters tall at the shoulder, with an additional meter long neck. The fact each had a rounded beak used to break open stones and were not shy about using them on the skulls of predators distanced them further from the Earth alpaca. While they were soft and fluffy, and R4 had spent many nights sleeping on the backs of her favorite, each one was 600 kilograms of muscle and another 50 of fur.

Said animals now lay in a heap, their orange blood staining their dappled fur, while a highlighter yellow bobcat sat licking its claws. It looked up at her and hissed, making Bella begin barking up a storm.

“Now I s’pose y’all think y’er mighty tough, killin’ my family’s flock.” R4 spoke to the bobcat. “Y’all never fought a floof, I don’t care if y’er Tier 1 or Tier 2, by the blood those things’ll give a tier 3 a fight if th’ kids are at stake. I’ve seen them swat vultures right out’a th’ sky with those beaks an’ rip cars apart with twice the skill of a wreckin’ crew.” With a gesture she sprouted her claws. “Now come on ya’ miserable excuse fer’ a feline, I’ll show ya’ seven ways ta’ skin a khat.”

The khat looked bored as she approached it. Just as she swung the cat seemed to vanish, reappearing behind her. Three long scratches opened from her shoulder crossing her back to her hip. R4 let out a low breath before the ravager toxin washed the pain away as if it had never been. “Cheatin’ khat.” She whipped around and lunged, the cat returned to its previous location with a bored expression, and that was its final mistake.

“Sertraline, if you don’t mind.”

The Cat never even saw the bat coming, until it was already in the air. It let out a yowel, twisting and thrashing yet unable to get its claws into the bat.

“DROP!” The cat fell, and R4 lunged. Seven claws on each hand left fourteen cuts, which immediately burst into flames.

[[Sleep protocol interrupted]]

[[Unusual signal produced. Signal appears to be .wav.]]

[[Isolating file]]

[[Warning: File is migrating to connected devices]]

“Pspspspspsps.”

R4 sat straight up, knocking her horns against the top of her capsule. Both hands burned with lambent green flames, sheding wan light into her small pod. She shook her hands to extinguish the flame and made sure she hadn’t dented the ceiling before sliding out. She quickly slipped into some work jeans, but when she went for her jacket she couldn’t find it. Instead she found a fluffy pink hoodie with cat ears.

“Red, where’s my coat?”

“In the wash, remember. You got shot.” R4 thought about it, and remembered vaguely thowing a load into the washer. She eyed her fluffy red hoodie.

Bound Crimson Cat hoodie (T1): A cute but revealing hoodie for when you want to show your assets off without freezing off your assets. Provides 1D+2 points of armor and cold protection.

Well that’s a surprise, this is more armored than your jacket was. Doesn’t cover your stomach though.

It had been child’s play to add a few clasps to the hoodie, though R4 said a prayer Issac wouldn’t mind when they returned it as she added a few more. The simple Tier 1 bone clasps could be removed fairly easily if need be, and it already had pockets. She put on a tool vest over it quickly to be safe.“So Red, when were you going to tell me the things I make with my tool arm are now tier 1?” With a gesture her bag was in her hand.

Seventh Generation carryall bag (T0): For The Lord may bestow any trial in any location. Let us have the tool to meet him where he leads us

(potential) Telekinetic Tagalong (T1): Tough as tier 1 leather, this carryall automatically sorts anything within it. Telekinetic threads allow it to be carried via telekinesis easily. Bag has 2D armor. (requires long thread)

As she read the pop up R4 found she had grown a long lock of firey red hair which easily detached. “Later Red, we have to check on this.” She immediately tore the batteries out of her alarm clock to make it stop playing the sound, and set her phone to reboot. Both stopped making the sound, yet it still echoed through the building. She drew her phone to text Coach, but it was still rebooting. She therefore did the next best thing and walked two pods down and knocked.

“Who’s there?”

“Coach, y’all hear that?”

“R4? Why are you waking me up gonk?” The man pushed out of his cubby, where he wore only a set of striped boxers and a wife beater. He took out his ear plugs and heard the sound. “Weird, this some new update?”

“Somebody hacked your system and started playing that sound. Where are the fuses to the speakers?”

“Now let’s not be hasty.” He entered a code into his phone and pressed a button. The sound stopped. “There, that’s,” The sound turned back on. “Huh.” Immediately the sound resounded from his own phone. “Dang tech, reminds me of that time a Web Walker took the song Ear Worm Rhythm 43 and made it spread from device to device.” He glanced back at his phone. “No I don’t want to upgrade to premium for 49 credits a month. The fuses are behind the desk, follow me.”

It took only a few minutes to get from the sleeping area on the second floor to the ground floor of the gym, and R4 had the required circuit breakers out in less than a minute. There had been a lock on the box, but it had yielded to her touch within moments.

“Here, I’ve got the key,” R4 looked up from where she was already closing the fuse box to see coach eyeing her. “I guess you didn’t need it.”

“Tier 0 lock, fairly wide tumblers, more ta’ keep curious folks out than a real deterrent.”

“The catalog said it was unpickable.” R4 flashed him an apologetic smile as she snapped the lock back into place. “Hey R4, if the speakers are off why can I still hear it?”

R4 listened. “Phones, everyone’s phones are playing the sound. Check your MESH, there might be a virus in there.” She took her own phone out before switching to resonant. “Red, you there? Can you run a diagnostic?”

“I’m here. Nice work with the Khat by the way. I couldn’t talk, but I could watch. Sorry about the Floofs.”

“Th’ real ones are ok, an’ they would’ve torn that thing ta’ shreds. So, any clue what that was?”

“I don’t know, I’d have to do some diagnostic work and that will take time. If we went back into the under city to the cocoon I could do a more in depth search, or I can do one up here. I’ll need a few external processors to resonate off, but I can show you how to make them easily enough.”

“Yeah Red, I don’t want ta’ go inta’ the under-city. Let’s jus’ do it up here.”

“I get that, so it’s 200 right now, we can spend 6 hours on diagnosis, and while I’m at it spend some exp.” R4 stopped mid stride walking up the steps to her room. “You forgot, didn’t you.”

“Maybe.”

“So, drumroll please,” R4 actually heard a drum in her head as she crawled back into bed. Her phone let out a beep.

Back in the saddle

30

Daily exp (aptitude) (maxed due to extensive work)

50 aptitude

Like something out of a movie: Escape (50). Incapacitate/kill one of the assailants (100, let’s not kid, that guy was dead on his feet). Incapacitate all assailants (nope). Have an extra edgy interrogation scene (Mr. Blade doesn’t count). Get in a car chase. Have a romance scene (150 empathy). Have a tearful goodbye with Zephyr (kind of glad you missed this one, I’ll hold a prototype for her though). Have a hacking scene (nope). Have an espionage scene (50). Avoid losing your head (200).

400 + 150 empathy

The Khat came back

50

GRAND TOTAL

480 + 50 aptitude + 150 empathy

“Huh, interesting… wait. Red, why are you holding,” Her eye began to tear up and as she wiped it away an isopod clung to her hand. It gave her a wave before biting into her and sipping her blood. “Red, what’s this?” She thought about swatting it, but a sense of nausea bubbled up in her throat. As she looked at the little silver isopod she felt the same sensation as she had when she had first held Bella as a puppy, her dog not the critter she had just met. “No, Red this bug ain’t cute.” It looked up at her, its big eyes exaggerated in her vision by a vague psychic field and far too much oxytocin. “Ok, maybe it’s a little cute, mind altering parasite.” The isopod began to trill, and immeidately R4 knew how to create the device.

It took a little doing, using bone and a few broken circuit boards. The final component, however, was the isopod itself. R4 had to swing by one of the vending machines to grab some nutrient powders, which she mixed into a brine and plopped the creature into before wiring it to the device. Finally she wrapped the entire thing in a hardened bone shell until the final thing was about the size of an old school phone book and covered in LED lights, most of which were just so it looked complicated. There were a dozen switches, which were from light switches she was holding on to, and each one did nothing save for three that would allow her to open the isopod slot to feed it. As for the isopod, it set in and began trilling quietly.

“So, first round of updates since ascension. A few new rules I should bring up. One, increasing a skill costs 10 times the skill’s level, attributes cost 100. However, for every skill you’ve got at or above that attribute, 10 exp is knocked off. As you know, using a skill just before a round of improvements makes it cheaper. When you were Tier 0 we could take shortcuts to get your base attributes up, can’t do that anymore. Also, we can only increase a skill to the next die, so you can go from 2 to 3, or 2+2 to 3, but not 2+2 to 3+1. We’re trying to find a work around, but for now just spend that exp on something else, I’m sure being well rounded will come in handy.”

R4 looked at her character sheet, I mean stats, and thought for a bit. “Can I use exp ta’ improve cybernetics?”

“Well… maybe. I haven’t looked into it, but if something comes up possibly. Exp is borrowed computing power, you could probably use it as currency with AI if you really felt like it. Oh, by the way, your little friend there can generate EXP passively.” R4 cast a glance at the isopod enclosure, and got the feeling it was waving at her.

“So Red, quick question. If my claws use melee to attack and strength for damage, why am I getting the feeling you want me to put points into brute? Also why do you want me to use medicine?”

“Well before you used melee to stab the thug, then brute to rip your claws THROUGH his rib cage. Having both opens up lots of interactions. Medicine helps with anatomy. Think of it like this, you’re facing a bruiser of a cyberpsycho. Medicine helps you find a route to his heart around his armor, melee helps you hit it, and brute helps you rip it out. For less violent applications, brute also helps you lift heavy objects and squeeze those components that SHOULD fit into places they don’t WANT to fit.”

“Sold.” R4 immediately invested some points, and was pleased to find she had several discounts for skills she used recently. “Shame talking to the cat didn’t give me a bonus to animals, did I really intimidate anyone today?”

“The guy with the mantis claws.”

“Oh, that guy. Probably better put some in shooting too, I probably should have shot the cat rather than claw it.”

“I’m going to remind you Rat Face, a Dimdwell punk, took on Issac, Cutter, and Harris with his claws. Flare protocol or not, I’ve looked over the files taken we nabbed from the undercity job, that guy’s isopod was RIDDLED with prions. Never bet against a ravager in a battle of claws. Also when you use flare protocol they also jump to Tier 2.”

Tier

1

Force

5

Athletics: 3

Brute: 3+1 → 4 (cost 50*)

Endurance: 2+1 → 2+2 (cost 20)

Resolve: 2+1

Swimming: 3+1

Reflexes

5

Acrobatics: 3 → 4 (cost 75*)

Firearms: 3→ 4 (cost 90)

Melee: 3+2 → 4 (cost 25*)

Parry: 2 → 3 (cost 60)

Stealth: 3→ 4 (cost 75*)

Aptitude

5

Driving: 2

Medicine: 3

Security: 3 →4 (cost 90)

Sleight: 2+1

Technology: 3+1→ 4 (cost 45*)

Mind

5

Bureaucracy: 2

Computers: 2+1

Research: 2+1

Perception: 2+1

Science: 2+1

Survival: 2+1

Empathy

4

Animals: 2 → 2+1 (cost 20)

Comprehension: 2+1 → 2+2 (cost 30)

Intimidation: 2+1 → 3 (cost 30*)

Persuasion: 2+1 → 3 (cost 30*)

Subterfuge: 2+1 → 3 (cost 30*)

R4 took a final look at her selections and closed her eyes. She hesitated, and opened her bible app. Fifteen minutes later she closed in again. “Ok, begin diagnosis and upgrade.” She blinked, and found herself before Issac again. For the next six hours she spent in a dreamlike trance as she went over her memories, rehashing every relevant interaction with Issac, refighting the Khat, clawing her way through the thug, and trying different things. Most of the things didn’t work, but from each failure she learned. With no consequence to failure she had a chance to experiment, and find what worked. Finally she heard her phone, and realized it was not a phantom within the waking dream.

“R4, how can I help you?”

“Hey R4, it’s Jun, where are you? It’s an emergency.”

“I’m in my pod, why?” R4 pushed her way out.

“The entire sector is on fire.”