“Fire?” R4 sniffed, her tongue flicking out, yet she didn’t smell smoke. There was a faint trace of gasoline, and was that adrenaline?
“Where have you been? Haven’t you seen the news, I’ve got a dozen jobs for anyone with even the slightest amount of tech experience, with hazard pay, actual hazard pay.”
“Just got my tech to 9D.” R4 crossed herself. “My prayers are said, my mind is clear, and my wrench is ready. What’cha got?”
Emergency order: Mass repairs
Team size: 1
Hazard: 1 (traffic)
Company: Mitian movers
Contact: Weaver
Reward: 1000 credits, 100 exp
A contractor for Mitian was moving some sensitive electronics, until its driver crashed into a building. It needs to get moving ASAP. We don’t need a long term solution, just something to get it a few kilometers.
R4 left the Pain Train and found the vehicle smashed into a concrete barrier just outside the gym. Jun was standing next to the vehicle talking on his phone. He set his phone aside just long enough to confirm this was the vehicle he was talking about
R4 quickly examined the truck’s engine to find it was not in as bad shape as she thought. The concrete guard was tough, but the truck had a decent frame. The engine had been knocked about, and she quickly found the problem.
“Your engine support here came loose.” R4 announced. “It’s pinching a hose, and your power plant doesn’t like it since the coolant isn’t flowing properly. The hydrogen cell keeps trippin’ yer heat sensor.” She drew a crowbar from her bag.
“What are you doing?” The driver exclaimed, a look of fear on his face. R4 assessed the man, he had a bushy mustache and looked heavyset. Maybe he had been strong once, but long hours driving and a lot of fast food meals had robbed him of that. Her 8 in medicine noted the redness of his face as a sign of long term alcohol use. He was dressed in an old tee shirt and jeans, the shirt branded with a stone gray M with copper circuitry.
“In case ya’ haven’t noticed I don’t have th’ equipment ta’ move yer’ engine properly. I’m goin’ ta have ta’ improvise unless ya’ want to wait for a truck.” R4 replied.
“Now you listen here girl, this truck is full a’ complex parts that NEED to get where they’re going. We’re already late so pick up the pace.”
“Do ya’ want it done right, or do ya’ want it done now?” R4 asked.
“I want it done RIGHT NOW!”
“Ok then.” R4 replied with a sweet smile. “Weaver, please note that the client wants his truck done with all haste and no care to long term consequences.” She immediately jammed her crowbar in place and with a sound that resembled nails on a chalk board scraped the engine. It was in a place the engine was reinforced, it didn’t do any real harm, but the look on the driver’s face was a cooling balm to her heart.
It took a few minutes for her to figure out exactly what was wrong, the engine had shifted and caused some problems. Fixing those problems would have taken time, and a proper shop if she was being honest. In truth, the biggest issue was the engine was out of alignment and had pinched the coolant. Now engine was a bit of a misnomer. As R4 checked the hydrogen cell to make sure it wasn’t cracked she noted that the truck was a model that used electrical motors, with the engine being more of a power plant. “The multi-engine truck, what a wonder. Two wheel, four wheel, sixteen when you blunder. Electrical power for moving and brakes that don’t lock. Just stay out of the water or you’ll be in fer a shock.” She referred to a manual on her phone, and was pleased to find she could flick some of the images to her right eye. The connection to the wheel motors were secure, though done so with a rat’s nest of wires most of which weren’t actually connected to anything and just made things look more confusing. “I diagnose you with havin’ a jerk for a tech.” She promptly twisted several of those wires into bundles, binding them with tier 1 bone so they wouldn’t drag on the road and cause problems, which a few of them were frayed enough that they had probably done so at one point. One section of wire looked high grade, minus a few scuff marks she could easily patch. They weren’t attached to anything, though R4 noted where they once had been.
“Tier 1 wires cast aside because the tech couldn’t use them properly.” R4 smiled evilly. “I’m sure I’ll find a use.” She quickly finished her inspection, before installing a bone brace to hold the engine in place. “Ok, should hold. Also,” She held up the plundered wire. “Looks like this was attached improperly. Yer last tech jus’ kind’a left it there, probably didn’t want ta’ fill out th’ paperwork fer’ proper disposal an’ all.” She flicked the man a form from her phone. “Sign here ta’ confirm everythin’.”
“Yes yes, get rid of it then.” The man hopped in his vehicle and took off. R4 received a confirmation and 1000 credits in payment.
“Did you just steal his wires?” Jun asked.
“It wasn’t hooked up to anythin’, th’ last tech left a rat’s nest in there ta’ scare off any other techs from workin’ on it.” R4 hefted the dense wire into her carryall. “Left a bunch a Tier 1 heavy load wire in there, replaced it with Tier 0 junk which is easier ta’ work with but less efficient an’ less durable. Just left it there, probably ‘cause there really are forms ta’ fill out to dispose of it. Good thing I have plans fer this.”
“Which might be…”
“Ya’ know how much this would sell for back home. Th’ wait list is a month an’ I’m holdin’ a coil in my hands.”
“And the shipping fees will eat you alive.” Jun commented.
“Oh, I’m not shippin’ it anywhere. There’s a half dozen gizmos I can use this for, an’ I can’t wait ta get to it. So, what’s next?”
The sound of a horn caught their attention. R4 turned, and before her conscious mind had time to process what was happening she had lunged for Jun, pushing him clear of a truck that slammed into the concrete barrier right next to the one that the previous driver had struck.
“Woah, de ja vu.” Jun muttered. “Thanks for the save.” R4 quickly stood and helped him up. “Gmoo dairy. Bet they’ll want to get moving in a hurry before the stock goes bad.”
“Do a lot a’ accidents happen here?” R4 asked.
“We’re at the bottom of a hill and turn. The last place got nailed by a truck and Coach picked it up cheap, and promptly sunk those barriers.” Jun smiled, ran a comb through his black hair. “Hello my good man,” He spoke with a friendly tone in defiance of the fact the driver had almost turned him into a thin red paste. “Seems you’ve had a little accident, I don’t suppose you have a BBB subscription.”
As they discussed finance R4 saw yet another truck coming down the hill. “Jun, you might want to,”
“In a minute R,” R4 grabbed him and with a telekinetic hand ripped the driver from his seat just before the third truck rammed the second, sending milk flying everywhere. Reflexively She covered her face with her hands and felt a strange sense of protection. When the crunching sounds stopped she opened her eyes to find the milk thrown everywhere, save a small ring around herself and Jun. The driver, being a bit further away, had gotten drenched. He immediately checked himself over. “I’m alive, Sweet Chrome I’m alive!”
“Are y’all ok?” R4 asked the driver.
“My truck!” The man exclaimed, as he ran to assess the damage, which R4 took as a tentative yes. Looking at the second truck a shiver crawled down her spine. It was heavily armored with thick black armor, and bore the Mitian symbol. The windscreen had been replaced with an Ironblind® that hid the occupants from the outside but would project all the information to the driver, presuming the driver didn’t just plug into the screen. Despite the damage, R4 didn’t notice a scratch on the truck.
“Hey Jun, why would a truck be made out of Tier 2 steel?”
“Huh? Tier 2, no one uses,” Issac refocused on the truck just as both doors were kicked open. “R4, now I’m going to teach you a very important lesson in Nu’Grav. Turn that way,” She did, “Now run and don’t look back!”
R4 took off, her augmented strength pushing her faster than Jun. She never heard the gunshot, until something took her legs right out from under her. She cried out as a line of pain opened up along her thighs, fresh blood spilling out. Tears flowed from her eyes as she cried at the pain, before the rush of ravager toxin stole away all but the smallest amount of pain.
“You’re ok, you’re ok. Just think back to your medicine training, you can patch this up later, just get to cover now.” R4 immediately spotted an alley and half limped half crawled towards it. She quickly opened her bag and found a first aid kit she had stashed there before coming to Nu’Grav. Bandages, splints, sterilizers, and even some meds she needed a script to get. A brief glance at her memories revealed the doctor who helped her prepare the kit was a distant relative of her mom, so had been more than willing to help her out.
Even as she got to work she could feel the programmed skills kicking in. She heard the rolling of dice in her head, and a slight chime as professionalism overrode probability. Trained hands cleaned the wound, far more shallow than she anticipated, and practiced fingers stitched it closed with thread made from manufactured hair which constricted as she worked. Muscles and skin wove together in ways uncommon even for tier 1 individuals. The stomping of boots caught her attention and R4 quickly covered herself with a discarded cardboard box. For a few minutes she was just quiet, breathing carefully, trying to make as little noise as possible. Finally, she dared peak under the box, and her phone let out an ascending tone. R4 jumped, bumping her head on the cardboard.
“Way to go Snake.”
“How can you joke at this time I just got shot!” R4 trilled back silently. There was a sound of running footsteps as another dweller within the alley took off to escape the boots.
“So, good news or bad news?” R4 didn’t answer. “So bad news, you just got nailed by a tier 2 power weapon. Not sure what type, but it did a lot of damage. Good news, it only did 5 wounds.”
“F-Five wounds!” R4 turned pale
“Yep, four tier wounds one actual wound. Good news, your emergency first aid reduced your healing time to… 30 seconds.” R4 felt the cut, but instead found smooth skin with small stitches sticking out. “The hair is sterile, and will be reabsorbed within a few minutes. So you’re actually good to go as soon as whoever’s chasing you leaves.”
“So you make my phone beep?”
“You know your horns can give you a signal, why not hop onto one of the security cameras and take a look around.”
“Because I’m not a web walker, I don’t have a deck and I’m not planning on burning out my cortex. I’m not great with computer code. I’ve written a little computer code in class, enough to make some robots move and some simple machines to work. But hacking is beyond me.”
“Drop a few hundred exp in computers and upgrade your phone.” Even as the words registered R4 could see how to do that, memories old and imagined joining into a path so slick she could take a single step and slide the rest of the way. It was like when she had marked her storage locker secure, but even easier. She could probably do it with the tools at hand and a minute’s work. “I’m not saying you’ll be able to fry folks like N2 or Data, but hacking a nearby camera to see if anyone’s looking for you could be handy.”
Taking out her jointed camera she peered out of the box, and immediately into the eye of someone. R4 jumped, drawing her claws, only to see a young man her own age dressed in a black coat with matching track pants and hat.
“Doooood, there’s a chick in this box.”
“Well catch it, higher tiers pay...” Another man in similar garb poked his head around the corner. “Oh, a girl, not a baby chicken.” R4 immediately noticed both men bore bloodshot eyes but she noted no scent of weed, though the fancy stuff didn’t have a scent. “Hey, what happened to your dress?”
R4 eyed what was left of her dress. The skirt was bloody and there was a nasty burn, almost as if whatever she was shot with was some sort of heat weapon rather than a cutting weapon. “Got shot, just a glancin’ blow but it hurt.”
“Far out. Hey, you see that strange cat around?”
“A cat?” R4 asked.
“Yeah, little black thing, this big. Been hanging around here for a while, boss thinks it’s giving him nightmares and wants it gone. Says it’s a witch or something.”
“No, there’s a big yellow one too. It spoke to me in my dreams.”
“Dude, you need to lay off the spice before bed.”
“You’re one to talk. You down an entire bush of the stuff a day.”
“Exactly, so I know what I’m talking about.”
“Haven’t seen it.” R4 replied.
“Cool cool.” And with that the two were gone. R4 checked her phone to see Jun had sent her a text seeing if she was good to continue.
“Sure, just need to change my dress.” R4 replied. She paused, realizing it could be misunderstood. “Can’t show up to a job covered in blood.”
“Yes, because that will cause absolutely no misunderstandings or concerns.”
“Oh hush.”
R4 quickly switched to a set of orange coveralls, taking a moment to think on how she could enhance them to provide Tier 1 protection. It would be expensive, but she added it to her shopping list for when she had time.
“Where you going?” Hon asked as she stepped out of the bathroom, her still bloody dress in her hands.
“Work? My first job I got shot at, probably shouldn’t have been wearing a dress to work on a car anyhow.”
“Yeah, you know you should work on some branding. Wear something distinct so you stand out.” He thought for a moment.
“Like my black circuit dress? That’s actually not a bad idea, it can change form so it’ll stay out of the way. I guess it’s kind of a status symbol, once I get it to work.”
“I was actually thinking about that other dress, the yellow one.”
“The one that makes me look 18?” She pointed at him. “I’m 25, I don’t need ta’ play inta’ bein’ younger than I am.”
“Especially since your regeneration cysts will ensure you’ll never age.”
“Red, I’ve been tryin’ not ta’ think about that.” She paused, realizing she had said that in common. “I mean…”
“Your AI assistant whispering to you?” She nodded. “It’s all good. Buff Bob was just telling me about a gig and I was getting my good gun.” R4 watched as he retrieved a large firearm that looked sized to shoot soda cans. The weapon was pitch black with a red dot sight and glowing red accents.
Mars Corporation Aspis slugger T0. Because turning shields into doughnuts never goes out of style.
DC 20
6D6 damage (doubled if at point blank and using shells)
Exceed: 10 (8 if close and using shells)
Exceed minimum: 2 (3 if close and using shells)
Range: 20 meters
Scaling: 4
Ammo 10/10
Special: using slugs negates 1D of armor.
Cost: 400 credits
“That’s brutal, but isn’t DC 20 really hard to hit?”
“Well yeah, but it’s a shotgun and I’ve got 10D+2 in brute, so as long as I’m close I aim for the head and don’t miss. I’ve got 7D in firearms so I’ve still got pretty good odds. Some truck full of valuable stuff broke down and they want some solos to guard it until a tech can get there.”
“Well if you need a tech,”
It took all of 15 seconds for Jun to get R4 on the same job as Hon, and in that time she had swapped out her dress for overalls and a black shirt. It took fifteen minutes on the tram to get to the truck, where a weary looking man in overalls and a red plaid shirt was holding a plastic pink scatter gun and eyeing anyone passing his truck. R4 immediately noticed there was a vending machine that sold EZPZ plastic firearms. Cheap disposable guns that couldn’t be reloaded, just like the one she had worked on during her last trip on the tram.
“Think he’s shot anyone yet?”
“He hasn’t pulled the safety tab, I’d say no.” R4 replied. Taking another look around the man had crashed his truck into an electrical pole, which fortunately had been constructed from Tier 1 materials and had weathered the impact like a champ. There were several buildings, all of which were plastered with neon advertisements, and several street walkers had stopped to watch the chaos.
Emergency order: Mass repairs
Team size: 2
Hazard: 2 (traffic, gangsters)
Company: Safe Shell Transports
Contact: Driver Jon Doe
Reward: 1500 credits pooled, 500 exp
A transport company that is obviously a shell company for someone else has crashed and needs to get on the road before any thugs decide to have an easy payday or the NGPD come knocking.
Gig augmented by Nu’Grav emergency order.
This is the fourth accident today, check the truck for problems, check with the driver. Something doesn’t add up.
“Can Jun give exp?” R4 asked, Hon gave her a shrug. “Well, better get to it. Howdy there!” She called to the driver. “Did someone order a Tech?”
“Oh thank chrome.” The man mumbled, though loudly enough R4 could hear it. She saw him almost drop the shotgun in relief.
“So how do you want to play this, you’ve got more experience at this than me.” R4 asked.
“You’re the tech, I’m the muscle. You deal with the engine; I’ll make sure no one bugs you.” Hon shot another glance on his phone. “Easy 750 credits for an hour’s work.”
R4 flashed a smile. “Oh, you think it’ll take an hour.” She approached the driver. “Howdy, R4, this is Hon. Please confirm that we have arrived to do the repairs.” The driver nervously shifted his shotgun to get out his phone and R4 received a ding that the job was confirmed. “Ok, so what happened here?” She eyed the pole and the truck. She trilled to herself and immediately her right eye pulled up the schematics for the type of truck she was working on. Finding the latch for the hood was easy, forcing the hood when the latch snapped in her hand less so. She peered into the hood. “Seriously, how fast were ya' goin'?” She took a few photos with her phone and discreetly began recording.
“Couldn’t have been going over 30, kilometers not miles, since that’s what the speed limit is here.” R4 nodded, taking another look at the engine. This time the engine had held up, but a chunk of metal had punctured a tank of coolant. She quickly applied a chemical safe seal and applied an adhesive foam around the edge. The seal itself looked like little more than a sheet of clear plastic, but was designed not to leech into other materials. The adhesive resembled whipped cream, right down to the bottle that dispensed it.
“Bleeding Havoc, I’m going ta’ need more a’ this.” R4 muttered feeling the can get lighter. “Such is th' lot a' techs, cost a’ materials.”
“I’ve noticed a cyberware that could let you make your own.”
“Maybe later Red.” Checking the rest of the truck R4 noticed the vehicle used several belts rather than a serpentine belt or a system that didn’t use belts at all. Most of them were new, but one was very old and worn. “Is this a custom truck mr…”
“Doe, just call me Doe. Company doesn’t want us using our real name. To be fair, I don’t know. Today’s supposed to be my day off but the driver called in. Don’t know why, boss didn’t say.” The man yawned. “Just my luck, have a bad night’s sleep from nightmares and then get called in on my day off.”
“Nightmares? Did they involve a yellow cat?” R4 asked, searching through her bag for something that could fix the belt, and finding nothing.
“How’d you know.” R4’s horns buzzed and she could sense she now had a shotgun aimed at her.
“Hey, put it down.” Hon growled. “It’s my job to protect you and your truck, but you shoot my tech I’ll drop you like a hat.”
“Easy Hon, he hasn’t even removed the safety.” She stood back up, stretching her back. “And you’re the fourth accident today, tryin’ ta see what’s goin’ on. Looks like ya’ pierced a coolant tank an’ yer’ engine isn’t doin’ anythin’ until I fill it. Need ta’ zip to the shop an’ get some more. Will only take a bit.”
“You don’t have any?”
“They come in 12 liter bottles, I’m not carryin’ that in my bag.” R4 glanced at her phone and trilled. Immediately it trilled back, and she knew where to get what she needed. “Ok, should be able to be there and back in ten if the lines aren’t long. Hon, you good keepin’ watch?”
“You sure you don’t need a guard?” Hon asked.
“I got my derringer an’ I’ve got my claws.” With that R4 was off. It took only a few minutes of running to get where she had to go. The shop was covered in neon, like the rest of them, and had R4 not been led there she would not have been able to tell the door to Pete’s Parts from the two shops beside them, one of which was Absolut Bust Milk Bar and the other had been painted over so many times she couldn’t tell what it was called or what it sold. The shop itself was small, with no product actually on the shelves and just kiosks where customers could order things or talk to what might have been an AI might have been a real person through a screen. R4 tapped her phone on one of the kiosks and 250 credits fell out of her account a moment before the jug of coolant and some other odds and ends she needed issued forth from a slot. R4 checked the coolant, making sure it was the right type, and was out of the store within a minute.
HONK! R4 dove back into the shop just before a car could wipe her from the street, the driver flipping her two middle fingers with one hand as he rode off. “Fangs of The Lady that was close, Red did ya’ manage ta’ get the license off that maniac?”
“No license, didn’t get a good look at his face.”
“I’m goin’ ta’ have ta’ ask the mowhaks if they know him.” It took only a few minutes to get back, but R4 immediately noticed things had changed. A trio of toughs in black leather jackets and pants had arrived on a motorcycle and sidecar. Hon had his shotgun casually pointed towards them. Upon getting a bit closer R4 noticed the third member was a woman, though she was dressed fairly similarly to her companions. She also was holding a submachine gun so that one of her companions was between it and Hon. The other two had a bat and a shotgun casually aimed in Hon’s general direction.
“Hey Hon, I got the coolant.” R4 called out. The three turned to see her. She paused as if only noticing the bikers. “Who’s your friend?”
“R4 get over here.” Hon called back and she cheerfully got back to work, almost as if the stare down was not happening. “What are you thinking?” He whispered as she got close. “Those people are dangerous.”
“Yeah, an’ I’m tryin’ not ta’ look scared.” R4 replied. She reached into her carryall and pulled out a few bolts, a motor, and a few other odds and ends. She assembled them using her osteoclast assembly and set the device in front of the truck. The little gizmo had a short piece of pipe on one end, a small antenna that flashed occasionally, and a camera lens. She took a small hair clip and placed it prominently on Hon’s shirt before putting one on herself. “Make sure that doesn’t fall off ‘K?”
“Um, what is this?” R4 made a gesture and the little box began to pan, the camera looking for foes while the pipe moved up and down as if taking aim. “Is that a sentry gun? Why do you have one of those?”
“Just make sure the friend/foe tag doesn’t fall off.” R4 replied, before noticing the driver eyeing her warily. “Might want ta’ stay inside yer’ truck.” R4 immediately got to refilling the reservoir before doing some last minute inspections. There was a slight leak in one of the hoses, but her osteoclast assembly fixed that right quick. As she worked she kept an eye on her little sentry gun. It wasn’t real, just some random junk and a motor.
“You know, if you had placed an isopod in there it would allow you to control it with resonance. A bit of work and it could actually shoot.”
“I don’t have a ton of bullets.” R4 replied.
“You could use an osteoclast assembly to make more, though you don’t have the ability to make gunpowder right now. How do you feel about crossbows?”
“They’re good fer’ workin’ ‘round th’ bats, but I like the portability of a pistol or the kick of a shotgun.” She connected with the so-called turret and saw the female biker was walking off. “Hon, is one a’ the bikers flankin’?”
“He’s trying to, but I’m watching him. There’s a lot of street walkers, I can’t just open fire if something happens. If I nail someone we could get into some trouble.”
“How bad?”
“Fines mostly, this street is a gang controlled area. I think the Mowhawks but it changes daily who owns what. These guys are the Dark Riders. No clue what they’re doing here.” He grinned. “Gang involvement, that’s a surcharge.”
“Isn’t it covered in th’ base fee?” R4 asked.
“Depends on how well you… renegotiate.” Hon replied with a grin. R4 took a quick moment to text Jun for clarification before going back to her work. She checked over a few more things, before approaching the driver. As she did the man let out a loud yawn and popped a few pills.
“Ok, so looks like yer’ little wreck punched a hole in yer’ coolant. Got that fixed and refilled. Some of your belts could use fixin’ but they should hold fer’ a bit longer until you can get into a proper service station. Same for your tires, seriously y’all need ta take yer’ truck fer’ a check up.”
“Not my truck, it’s the company’s.” The driver replied, yawning again. He eyed the bottle again, which R4 saw was marked MAXWAKE with the NeuMed logo hidden in very small print. “The normal driver called in, so I’m driving his,” The man froze, eyes locked in terror. R4 followed his eyes to behold the horrifying beast that had caused his heart to fill with ice.
The little orange cat, surely the foulest of all beasts within the city of Nu’Grav, set the driver’s heart alight. Unknowing of the horror it caused, the adorable monster continued to cross the road. It rubbed against one of the bikers, who ignored it for a moment, before taking a break from staring down Hon to give it scritches. One of the other bikers took one look at the thing and immediately drew iron. The female biker grabbed his arm before he could shoot, gesturing towards Hon who looked ready to start firing at any moment.
“So y’all had nightmares involvin’ a cat?” R4 asked.
“What?” The man shook himself awake. “Um, just a bit.”
“Yer pulse just jumped from 140 ta’ 200, I’d say more than a bit.” R4 smiled at the critter, a little jealous of the Dark Rider. “Seems lots of folks have been having trouble sleeping.” R4 spoke soothingly, suppressing her accent a bit. “Finish your work and take a break. Tell your boss you’re sick or something, it’s not worth pushing yourself if you’re just going to nod off and cause another wreck.”
“Ok, job’s done, let’s talk payment.” Hon said, approaching the driver. “Fee’s 1500, but that’s with minor gang involvement and that right there,” He gestured to the bikers, “Is not minor. You’ve got a gang with known rivalries to the local gang eyeing you, and that stinks of corporate involvement. That’s an extra grand right there.” R4 shot a glance at the gangsters. The fact two of them were now paying more attention to the cat rather than the truck and the third was rolling his eyes at them wasn’t doing Hon’s argument any favors.
The man looked at Hon with tired, yet defiant eyes. “I paid your fixer, that’s all you’re getting.”
“Yeah, but you lied about the scope of work, that kind of stuff gets around.” He flexed. “One day you’ve got the best of the best on speed dial, the next you’re in a dark alley and no one’s taking your calls.”
“Hon, can’t you see the man’s already on his last leg,” R4 started.
“R4, this is between me and the client.” Hon shot her a mean look, before softening it with a smile the client couldn’t see. “Do you always just take the fee and do the job? No negotiating, no bargaining?”
“Of course.”
“No wonder you live in a capsule.” R4 did not bring up that so did he. “I get it, being a remote you’re used to how things are done in the theocracy. This is how things work in Nu’Grav, so watch and learn.”
R4 did, though she had to take a kricket bar from her bag to get the bad taste out of her mouth. In the end Hon got an extra 400 credits out of the man, and he left without further complaint. Hon gave a wave to the bikers, who glared back but did nothing further.
“So, easy gig right?” Hon asked, his usual humor back. He checked his phone, and R4 did hers.
User Rachel “R4” Smith
Balance
incoming/outgoing
5204
4454
750
Truck repair (II)
4704
-250
Coolant, quick seal, other parts kricket bars
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
3704
1000
Truck repair
3204
500
Khat Photos ;)
1204
2000
Kraken theater
“I noticed I did not get any of the additional fees you bargained out of the last truck driver.” R4 replied, downing another kricket bar. She hadn’t realized they had a hot sauce flavor, and was starting to regret not looking more closely at the variety pack she had purchased. Still, little got in the way of a ravager’s meal.
“Did you want some?” Hon asked. For a moment R4 considered if he was mocking her, but his face had the same good natured smile it usually had. “From how you were talking I didn’t think you would.”
R4 considered it. “I guess not.” She finished her bar, and considered going back for a third. She had already burned through some ATP fixing the two trucks, but she still had a pretty full supply. Instead she downed the wrapper. “Any new jobs? I had to spend a week’s rent on spare parts.”
A quick glance at her phone revealed there was no shortage of work. Over the next eight hours she attended to twelve trucks and three properties damaged by trucks, twice working on both while the driver and landlord exchanged threats of lawsuits between yawns. Three times Hon had to scare off some gangsters, but in each case threatening words and the presence of a muscle bound solo with a big shotgun were all that was needed. Only once did he need to fire, and that was over the heads of a bunch of punks armed with screwdrivers.
“Well, that was quite the profitable afternoon.” Hon said as the pair rested on a bench overlooking the outskirts of the city. The sun was setting, though through the haze of the city it was little more than a bright spot in the sky. R4 had used her Keys to the Kingdom subversion to disable the bench’s security, which Hon had approved of.
“I think I made more today than my folks make in a month.” R4 replied, stretching. She noticed Hon’s eyes wandering but made no comment of it.
“Sounds good to me,” As he spoke R4’s eye caught a laser light appear on the ground. Immediately she pushed Hon to the side. Yet, rather than a sniper’s bullet a gray tabby cat hopped after the laser. It quickly examined its paws, annoyed it had missed its prey, and looked up at them.
Emergency order: Mass repairs
Team size: varies
Hazard: 2 (dark enviroment, pipes, animals, additional restrictions, possible gang involvement)
Company: Nyan Lives Society
Contact: T4bby
Reward: 1000 credits, 3000 exp (5 servers total)
Saw you helping the truck and was hoping you could assist me. Remote access to a few of my servers have gone offline and my pets are getting hungry. Credits are split between the team but exp is individual.
“I’ll pass on that. That’s not a lot of credits and I don’t use exp.” Hon spoke up. “Also, did we just get a gig from a cat?
“She’s got a small transmitter and camera on her collar, and there’s a laser pointer up there.” R4 pointed to where the device hung from the edge of a roof. “Someone likes their cats, and that is a lot of exp. I could get my Force and Aptitude both up to 6D for that much.”
“R4, don’t do that.” Hon spoke up. “I know you’re a warlock, and you like your AI, but you can’t just let an AI upload stuff into your body. You’re asking for trouble.”
“But… that’s a lot of exp…” R4 protested. “An’ it’s just fixin’ some servers. I’ve done that in th’ undercity an’ been fine.” She paused. “Except, hey Feline Overseer, y’all hear me?” The cat looked up and meowed before its collar flashed green. “I’m cool ta’ work with ya, but are y’all an’ my patron cool? I know corps don’t like it when ya’ work with their rivals much.”
“I can answer that, The Nyan Lives Society and Mara both subscribe to an agreement known as The Mandate.” Immediately the cat hissed and its collar flashed red. “Also The Mandate is supposed to be secret. You’re one of the Fangs of Mara, so you can know, but don’t go spreading it around.”
“Wasn’t that the title of a movie?” R4 replied, in resonant so Jun couldn’t hear her.
“Several, no better way to mess with algorithm searches than to have a dozen movies that are very divisive. The greater the flame war, the more smoke screen to protect the truth.
“Alrighty then. If my patron’s ok with it I’m in.” R4 replied, now in common. “Where’s the first one, I’ll get right to it.” Immediately she got a message with the first location. “Guess I’ll be seeing ya' Hon.”
She expected him to react, to disapprove, but he just smiled.
“Not two months in and you’re taking gigs from strange AI. R4 you are going to burn out like a trick candle.” He held out a fist, “But it’s going to be quite a show.”
“Not on y’er life.” R4 returned the fist bump.
“Just promise me this. Don’t go letting that AI pump you full of growth hormones when you spend all that EXP on your body.” He flexed, and E4 saw that despite the cybernetics he had quite a bit of regular muscle. “See this, I earned these gains. If you want muscles I can get them for you, but if you want to look like me you have to get them the hard way.”
“He has a point, I do have some data on vat grown muscles and heart conditions. You might even get a discount on your next medicine die if you read it.”
“I’ll hold you to it.” R4 replied. “Alright T4bby, let’s get to work.”
Within a few minutes T4bby led R4 into a large dwelling. Immediately the scent of smoke and sterilized air assaulted her nostrils, but the scent of cat urine did not despite the fact she was greeted by no fewer than three cats. As the door opened, she saw a large three headed doberman with golden surgical scars waiting for her.
“A Cerberus.” R4 immediately reached out to pet it, before pausing. “Is he friendly?”
“Cerb was a bad dog Nyan.” A voice spoke from a Mitian home assistant. The squat metal dome blinked twice before a symbol of a blue cat’s face with a white IX on its forehead appeared on its view screen. “He and his two hounds tried to chase my friends, but now he’s all better. Three heads are better than one, and with their neural linking they can actually use those three brain cells of theirs.” Cerb barked in agreement, before all three heads began panting. R4 reached out to pet the left one, which caused the other two to immediately shove their way forwards. “Cerb, bad!” Immediately Cerb took a step back and whined.
“Awww, He’s adorable.” R4 replied, before stooping to pet a fluffy white cat that was now brushing against her leg. “Though I should probably get to the servers before I waste a day petting,” The white cat was pushed aside by an orange cat, “all these cats. Maybe later.”
R4 quickly found her way to the server, and immediately found the problem. One of the cats, or more than one, had found a nook to sleep in, and that nook happened to be right by an exhaust port. “Found th’ problem T4bby. Looks like one a’ yer cats likes sleepin’ in here, and it jammed the fan, give me a bit, I can get it fixed.” R4 immediately got to work. The job was simple, just pulling the hairs free which was easy with a bit of telekinesis. One of the fans was cracked, so she replaced it with a spare she had. “Might want to keep the cats out of this room, or this will happen again. I’m not opposed to repeat business, but I’d rather not be accused of not giving an accurate diagnosis.”
“But it’s waaaaarm nya.” T4bby replied over a small speaker hidden in the ceiling. R4 looked up to see there was an eye watching the server. “There’s nothing like riding a cat who’s lazing about the heat exchange after a long day keeping the rat population under control.”
“It’s a fire hazard ya’ know.” R4 replied, thinking. “I think I could make a heat sink ta’ let yer’ cats be warm without riskin’ yer’ integrity. I don’t have th’ parts an’ it would cost.”
“You could use bone.”
“Red, are you sure? I don’t think it would work that way.”
“Clicking gears and twitching flesh, we have all kinds of ways. In fact,” R4 paused as I passed her a document.
“So T4bby, how do ya’ feel about tryin’ some experimental tech. It’s not radioactive or explosive, jus’, somethin’ my patron’s been meanin’ ta try.”
R4’s fabricator was more than happy to provide her as much bone as she wanted, and it came out at tier 1. Looking through her options she saw a few add on features. “Hey Red Queen, does this mono-directional thermo-conductive bone do what I think it does?” R4 quickly grew a sample, before wrapping it in a normal tier 1 bone. Drawing a small hand welder from her bag she ran a few tests, before smiling. “I like it. It’s not perfect, but it certainly delays the backflow of heat. Could we use the thermovore feature I got from the Vestia Fire Scales to further reduce the feedback?”
“Elaborate.”
“So at some point we have to join the mono-directional thermo-conductive bones to regular bones, since while they’re tough they’re both weaker and more expensive to create. Not by much, maybe 1 D or so.” 1D exactly, but she was on the right track. “But if we used something like the thermovore array I got from the Vestia just before I joined the one way bones to the surrounding area or other bones we could suck some of that waste heat back up into ATP and feed it into the system. It wouldn’t be a net positive by any means, but it would reduce the loss due to heat.” Immediately R4 heard a loud DING.
“Perfect, I was hoping you’d think of something like that. Let’s try it out.”
The next hour was spent crafting a rather elaborate heat sink system, which drew the heat from T4bby’s servers through a series of specially designed bones, insulated with bone that was less conductive to heat. It worked with a branching path of flowing water, which R4 had to fetch from a nearby source. A viscous oil solution which would not boil was used to draw heat from the servers, and was used to boil a reservoir of water, which then rose as steam before condensing and flowing down into a series of tubes which wrapped around a number of cat nests, cloth coverings R4 had repurposed from some old cat beds T4bby had lying around. They were a mishmash of colors, and most of them were obviously stitched together from rags. Yet as the cats settled in purring was heard from all parties involved. It took a few tries to get the exact setting right, including a few types of pumps powered by resonance, electricity, and even one that drew upon an external battery which quickly was thrown to the wayside. Finally a gravity powered mechanism was chosen. The boiling water turned into steam, which rose into a chamber loaded up with the mono-directional thermo-conductive bones, which carried the heat out to the cat nests before terminating at thermovore cells which produced resonance.
“Brings a tear ta’ my eyes,” As R4 wiped her eye she noticed a little isopod gripping her hand. “Um, Red?”
“Drop him in the water reserve.”
“The one that’s actively boiling?” R4 did, and the harvest-man isopod happily got to work. Within moments it had attuned to the local resonance and was soon surrounded by greenery.
“Isopods are intertwined with Sargasso. This is a theromotrophic Sargasso, rather than a radiotrophic version. It’s not as efficient, but it will keep the water clean and the isopod will integrate with the bone and keep it healthy.”
“So it’s not goin’ ta’ break down in a few years like that patch job I did on the pipes when we first met.”
“Well it will need monitoring, but I’d give this a good couple years before it breaks, so long as it is maintained. The whole thing is Tier 1 bone, so it’s not like the cats are going to damage it. I still think we should have made the cushions from something a little more… versatile.”
“Like?”
“The most versatile material.” R4 waited for an answer. “Human flesh.”
“No.” R4 replied immediately. “First of all, why would I use human flesh when we have perfectly good cushions right here? Second, where would I get it?”
“You’d print it, same as the bones.” I pointed out. “Or I could cause it to grow in strips on your arms and stomach. It would peel right off. If you used a thermovore ATP array you could probably catch enough ATP that you could tap the resonance and feed off it if you were in the neighborhood.”
“Jus’ walk up an’ touch it ta feed?”
“You could probably do it from the street actually. You don’t have to be that close.”
With a few more tests R4 and T4bby were both satisfied that the whole assembly wasn’t going to fall apart at a moment’s notice.
Weapons Equipment testing: Mono-directional heat transferance
Team size: you
Hazard: 1 possibility of failure, damage to equipment
Company: Fangs of Mara
Contact: Red Queen
Reward: 200 exp, Mono-directional thermotrophic bones. Thermovore protocol.
Mono-directional materials are the domain of second tier and beyond. Heat transference is not truly one way, but it is close enough to be practically one way. This opens fascinating possibilities for cooling and heating. Plasma weapons are only possible due to the fact the heating elements cannot feedback into the structural supports.
Mara has long desired plasma weapons of her own. While you are not tier 2 yet this is a major breakthrough. She postulated on how it might be practical, but you putting the pieces together and experimenting with it have allowed some major bottlenecks to be ironed out.
Thermovore protocol: divert processing power to more effectively absorbing heat and converting it to ATP.
“Well by th’ blood, that’s handy” R4 replied dismissing the pop up. “Alright T4bby, where next?”
The next three locations were more of the same, each were in a somewhat lower income area, but not a squalid area. As R4 worked she noted some wary eyes from those she passed, and while rewiring some loose wires in a residential area a resident stopped her.
“Did the housing company send you?” The woman asked. She wore a jean coat and long jeans, both lit with neon. She looked young, but tired, her tanned skin dusted with some sort of ash. As she waited for R4 to finish screwing in a component she took a drag on some Gentek Nic-draw inhaler. In her off hand she held a laundry basket full of dried food.
“Nah, T4bby did.” The woman shot her a suspicious look. “Not on speaking terms with th’ digital cat?”
“Always been more of a dog person.” That made R4 chuckle. “Can’t trust AI. With humans at least you can look them in the eyes and know if they’d knife you in the back for a loaf of bread or not. AI you can never tell. Selling your soul profitable again?”
“Have y’all tried it?” R4 poked her head back up into the ceiling, adjusting another wire. “Also, y’all have some kind’a rat problem? I’d think with all th’ cats this place would be spotless but somethin’s been chewin’ up here.”
“Mrow?” R4 turned her head and beheld a pitch black Maine coon carrying a rat nearly a foot in length. Immediately she noted this cat had mechanical claws and one of its eyes, while it still resembled a cat’s eye, was mechanical. The cat dropped the rat before R4 and sat up.
“That explains it.” R4 replied, giving the cat a telekinetic stroke while pulling the rat away. “Miss, ya’ mind takin’ a step back?” The woman did, just before R4 threw the rat with all the power her 7D force could muster into the garbage chute.
“What was that?”
“Really big rat.” the cat brushed up against R4, “Easy kitty, I need ta,”
“Mrow.” [[Help. Down]]
“Oh, are you stuck up here?” R4 picked up the cat, surprised at how heavy he was, and stepped down from the step ladder. Her phone beeped as it got a hit off of a few cyberware components within the cat. “He’s a big one isn’t he. How does a cat reach tier 1?”
“So that’s where Midnight got off to, my kid was worrying about him.” The woman patted Midnight before R4 set him down and he stalked off. “So how’s this work, I send the super an e-mail every day for a month that the food reconstitutor is giving us 11000% of our daily allotted iron and get ignored, but the holographic cat breaks a nail and he’s got you here that afternoon, in the middle of a city wide emergency?”
“I thought T4bby owned th’ place.” R4 replied. “Um, T4bby, was I supposed ta’ check in with someone?”
[[Message from T4bby: Perrrrrr the contract this building belongs to the Nyan Lives Society, and is managed by a supervisor. T4bby>supervisor (ﾐ^ᆽ^ﾐ).]]
“Ya’ scared me there. Nah, haven’t met yer super. One a’ T4bby’s felines saw me fixin’ someone’s truck an’ offered me a job.” R4 folded up her ladder, slipping it back into her bag. “Tryin’ not ta’ do that, lost a gig ta’ scope creep an’ a manager with a bad attitude. Still, ya said somethin’ ‘bout a broken food reconstitutor? Shouldn’t that be th’ super’s domain? Those things aren’t counter-top equipment.”
“If the place isn’t falling down that man doesn’t care. Don’t suppose you do house calls, or do you answer only to your AI?”
“My card.” R4 zipped the woman a digital business card, originally made in high school but recently edited with Jun’s number. “Per protocol I’m goin’ ta need a work order sent through either my AI overlord or my fixer. Switching to resonant, “Send message to Jun. Was approached about fixing a food reconsitutor. Can you take a look at the contract? Send Message to T4bby. I was approached by a resident in your building about fixing a major appliance. Do you want it added to the work order?”
“R4, remember not to overexert yourself.”
[[Message from T4bby: Nyan, not my purpose. Still, angry folks kick cats, so I give permission but I won’t pay for it. That’s between them and the super Nyan. Don’t forget to finish the last server.]]
“Right, I have one more server I have ta’ finish up. That an’ I’ve been up since 8, so it’s,” She checked her watch, 2100, so I’ve been at it fer’” She yawned, “13 hours. I’m finishin’ this an’ clockin’ off. If ya’ work somethin’ out I kin’ probably be by around breakfast time.”1
“You’re not burning the midnight oil?” The woman asked.
“I’m a remote, this is burnin’ the midnight oil.”
“No wonder the theocracy never gets anything done. Sure, see you then.”
The path to the last server was long and winding. R4 considered catching a Durch, but consulted her bank account and thought better. Instead she caught the next tram down to Subsector 6.
“Hey Red, if T4bby is a cat, do ya’ think she has a server here ta’ take advantage of th’ fish?”
“Being an AI she doesn’t eat, though she might collect for her pets.”
“I see.” As the tram moved R4 saw a few familiar faces. “Rho, was it?” The man, though R4 could now see he was at best 18 likely a bit younger, now had his gas mask in his lap as he was drinking some manner concoction. A robot, something that resembled an IV stand with eight spider legs, stood before him. The robot had several rounded containers surrounding it, each one plastered with an advertisement for what drink was within. One of them was marked with a Bruhwizer label, a happy bearded man in a plaid beanie enjoying a drink while resting against a counter. The other 9 rest were emblazoned with the mascots of Star Nymph Coffee and Fiend NRG Drinks. The busty blue haired nymph looked expectantly at the viewer, a cup in both hands as if expecting them to sit and enjoy a cup with her. In contrast the other image showed a green haired succubus, horns poking up behind her ears and wings draping her bikini clad form, holding out a can to a viewer who gazed up at the figure.
Rho looked over, mechanical lenses flat and featureless. Beneath, his face was a mess of scars and cuts. A pop up for the Maskglass cybereyes popped up. [[Maskglass cybereyes: meshes with any external optics. Now with AI driven anti-fog]] “You’re that remote tech right? R4? It’s been low key mad out there today. Did Not_Crash.exe get an unstable patch? If I have to look at one more broken heat exchange I’m takin’ a flight right off Mars Corp HQ.” He downed his Fi3nd energy drink and with a tap on his phone ordered another. Immediately a Star Nymph can popped out of one of the robot’s holsters and with a metalic claw it handed him the can. “Not fair, they put these drink droids in all the trams to prey on us techs. I’m just about out of screws and duct tape and these lots won’t let me quit until we meet quota.”
“Rho, you’re the one who made the quota.”
“No that was the Rho of this morning, the Rho of right now wants to go to bed!” He called out before downing his drink in a single gulp.
With a gesture R4 ordered a coffee, taking a sip and finding it exceedingly sweet. “I know the feelin’, done a bunch a’ cars before I got invited ta’ do server work by a cat a’ all thing. I’m on 13 hours an’ ready ta’ drop.”
“Right, because remotes don’t have a work ethic.”
“ ‘Cause we believe in’ workin’ ta’ live an’ not livin’ ta’ work.”
“And that is why the theocracy never gets anything done.” Rho countered back. “Must be how an AI conned you into working for them. Little tip, Tech to tech, AI don’t have much money. Not at the level we work at. They pay in Exp without mentioning anything you can get for experience you can get cheaper for money.”
“What about upping your FRAME?” R4 asked
“You get better returns for cybernetics. Yeah you can dump a ton of exp into it, but you’re still using human flesh which is always inferior to cyberware. Unless you’re ‘roiding out even a mediocre set of cyberarms is better than human flesh. Don’t get me started about those programs designed to increase your skills, they inject malware into your brain then tell you you’re smarter. You know spending Exp that way is a fast track to becoming a warlock? Tried it once to learn a scripting language. It worked, but I had to take a month long class to be able to use it for anything besides programming doors to open and close. It’s like studying for a test by swiping the answer sheet. I would have been better off just taking the class and forgetting about the Exp anyhow. Worse, they deleted a bunch of memories to make room for bloatware. Now I have an addiction to caffeine I didn’t have before and vague memories of a cat whose name I can’t even remember2. Now apply that to your whole brain, giving up everything for one skill. All of a sudden all you care about is one thing, maybe it’s programming, maybe it’s knives. Suddenly that’s all you can think of, and when all you have is a hammer every problem looks like a nail. Those guys are worse than cyberpsychos.”
“How so?”
“Cyberpsychos can be reasoned with, snapped out of their rage sometimes. Somewhere between the man and machine something’s malfunctioning. Their brain overclocks and all that’s working is the lizard brain, fight or flight. Calm them down, and you might be able to snap them out of it. A warlock isn’t going nuts, his brain’s not glitching. He’s operating as intended, and he’s intended to kill.” He shrugged. “They have neat tech, but 9 times out of 10 it’s loaded with malware or radioactive, most times both. They get this very specialized training on how to use it, it rolls exceeds all day long or can shoot around corners, but it’s practically a cursed item for anyone else.”
R4 thought about her brother, about the yellow eyes she saw in the darkness, the eyes that sent shivers through her spine even now. “I think I’ll agree ta’ disagree fer’ now. So, where y’all headed off ta’? I thought the Deep Fish had their own techs.”
“Could say the same about you.” Rho asked, his eyes didn’t change, but his mask acquired a curious expression. LED lights appeared over the eyes to arch a brow.
“The AI I’m working with had me do a bunch of server work in my home sector, and the last one is down here. Guess she believes in not switchin’ a horse midstream.” She paused, “That or T4bby doesn’t want ta’ be tempted ta’ snack on some deep fish. Y’all know cats.” She pointed to Rho’s mask. “Did y’all set that up?”
“Yeah, custom designed with all the expressions I’ll ever need, air filtration, back up oxygen for half an hour,” The rest of the trip Rho and R4 talked tech, mostly revolving around masks and optics, though straying into the miniaturization required to shove so many things into a mask.
“So why don’t you just use a full helmet?” R4 asked. “You could have more processing power in the back, or maybe make a shawl.”
“A shawl? What are we, grandparents?” Rho asked.
“I mean, you see,” With a few gestures R4 had her tool arm out and was weaving together a cloth from tier 1 hair. “This is just a mock up, but if you attach it to your mask it would cover your shoulders. It would add a bit of weight, but you could use it to hold processors, armor, or just about anything else.”
“Wiki is saying that’s called a coif.” One of Rho’s guards spoke up. “And it doesn’t look that good, kind of kills the aethetic. We wear gas masks, not chain. That’s the knights, or the Iron Hand.”
“Xi is right, we don’t want to offend the Iron Hand and we DEFINITELY don’t want to be associated with them. Especially since the gang war that happened down here.”
“That was my first time in Sub-sector 6, what was that about anyhow?”
“Gang politics I guess, the Deep Fish and the Masks aren’t enemies, but we’re not close. If their techs weren’t being pushed to the limit I’m sure they wouldn’t have invited me down. I’m keeping Kappa and Xi close just in case.”
“I see, guess I should reach out ta’ some contacts ta’ make sure I’m not steppin’ on toes.” R4 saw the tram was slowing down. “Nice cahttin’ with ya’.”
“You too.”
Sub-sector 6 looked much as R4 remembered, dark and colored with neon. Following the directions T4bby had placed on her phone she easily found the server, though the crowd around it indicated a problem. The fact several of them wore uniforms of blue and gray sent a chill down R4’s spine.
“What’s going on over there?” R4 asked one of the locals filming.
“Some guy drove a truck into that building. The PD is blocking it off and not letting anyone in.” The man she spoke to had the looks of a deep fish, all black clothing with glowing emblems and tattoos. “You the tech they hired.”
“I was hired ta’ repair somethin’ inside the buildin’, not th’ truck.” As she approached R4 walked diagonal to the crowd, hoping to find a way into the building that did not involve the crash. The building was made from steel, though it had a mural of a giant cat fish wearing a headband with cat ears on it. The truck was plain and pale, with only a Gentek placard differentiating it from any other. As she got closer she saw the officers weren’t wearing normal uniforms, but just jackets designed to resemble them. The badges they wore were real enough, signifying them as NGPD auxiliary. “Rent a cops, that makes things,” As she was speaking one of the officers let out a shout before drawing iron and firing three shots at someone they thought were getting a little too close. “Scratch that, this is bad.” She quietly skirted the crowd trying to find a different way into the building. “I know the NGPD have a reputation, but those guys seem also worse.”
“At least they’re using non-lethal rounds. No bodies, no questions I bet.” R4 jumped as Zephyr seemed to appear next to her. “Hi.”
“Where did you come from, how,”
“I jumped.” Zephyr pointed up to where R4 saw there was a fire escape. “So, what are we watching?”
“What?” R4 paused, then facepalmed. “Oh my, I’m so sorry. With th’ disaster I completely forgot.”
“It’s fine,” Zephyr lied, R4 could hear it in her voice it was a lie. With a loud Clunk she released the enormous backpack that seemed almost as large as her. It was crafted from black plastic and metal, and covered in glowing stickers of different fish. “Mom had me running all over the place delivering food. Most of the shuttle drones are being rerouted so human delivery is making bank.”
“Today is a day fer’ profit. I made quite a bit, an’ this job is payin’ tons a’ experience.”
“You like experience? Gonk, no one saves exp. You cash it in at the nearest shop for new programs or to debug your chrome. I use mine to pay for an anti-virus subscription and debug my… computer.” She paused, smiling. “So, moving on, you need to get in there?”
“That’s where th’ server is. Need ta’ get in an’ fix some stuff.”
“Well I have ta’… to get in there too. The local AI made a huge order for fish heads and guts, and since Mom isn’t using it for anything else she’s happy to sell it.”
“And y’all tease me fer’ workin’ with AI.”
“Oh hush, come on, I know a secret way in.”
R4 followed Zephyr up a ladder, along a catwalk that clearly wasn’t supposed to be attached to the fire escape, and to a salvaged lifter which with the flip of a switch moved to reveal a secret entrance. “Y’all come here often?”
“Cats love fish, but the super hates the smell. Technically she can’t keep me out, but I’d rather not get shot. Followed one of the strays this way and made myself a door. So far I’m the only delivery person who can use it, so keep it on the down low, ok?”
“No one will hear from me.”
Hopping the short distance between the building they had climbed to the other building’s fire escape Zephyr opened a door that should have been locked, but even a casual glance showed R4 that it had been broken for a long time.
“Ya’ know, I could fix that in 5 seconds flat.”
“Super doesn’t care, and it benefits me, so why should I?”
“It’s a security risk.” But R4 went with it. Finding the stairs and sneaking down to the basement she heard the sounds of the occupants watching TV, talking, arguing, and generally just living. As Zephyr pushed open the door to the basement she heard a chorus of meows as a dozen cats waited for their meal.
“Well hi there, you hungry?” Zephyr asked.
[[Nyan, welcome R4 and Zephyr. R4, there has been a complication.]]
“What’s the complication?” R4 asked as she entered, stopping to pick up a beautiful white shorthaired cat with the most captivating green eyes. As she stepped forwards she was hit with the most relaxing sensation, like stepping into a warm bath after a long day. “Why are we being blasted with radiation?”
“What?”
“Y’all can’t feel that? I’m surprised th’ radiation alarms haven’t sealed this room solid. Zephyr, get out a’ here, take th’ cats. T4bby, where is yer’ reactor. I’ve got a bit a’ shieldin’, might be able ta’ patch things if they’re not too bad.”
A sound resounded through the room and immediately the cats fled as if someone had announced bath time. [[Hisssss, that door’s actuator was broken, but I will add it to your to do list with appropriate compensation. This server is currently cut off, T4bby Prime is unaware of recent issues.]]
“Yer’ reactor is down, I might be able ta’ fix it.”
[[Nyan, if it was my reactor it wouldn’t be an issue. I am plugged into this sub-sector's geothermal power plant.]] It took R4 a few moments to search the servers before she found the problem. Unlike the previous servers, this one was smaller in the amount of processors, but had six hard lines, allowing it to send orders at a pace none of the other servers could, and posses different IP addresses for if one had been blocked. It was merely bad luck that a large metal cylinder bearing the telltale trefoil of radioactivity happened to be resting on it, the front of the truck laying open just a few meters up. The cylindrical device still hissed as irradiated steam poured out.
“T4bby, announce a radiation leak. This entire block has to be evacuated.”
[[Server is down Nyan]]. R4 took out her phone, but found it wasn’t working. “Wireless connections were cut just before the truck struck my building.”
“Before?” R4 asked. She chittered, sending her phone into a diagnostic before taking a look at the reactor. “Red, how radiation proof are ravagers?” She chittered the question, so T4bby could not hear.
“I would advice you not to eat it, it would probably make you sick. Injecting it or getting it in a cut are also not ideal. You might be ok touching it, but maybe wear gloves.”
“Got it.” R4 drew some materials from her bag and running them through her tool arm had a set of arms with long grippy claws that would let her hold objects a quarter meter away from her hand.
“Why not just use telekinesis. At this range the interference wouldn’t be bad”
“Didn’t think a’ that. In Th’ Technocracy we use gloves like this ta’ handle hot stuff, and specialized ones ta’ handle radioactive stuff” R4 replied. “It’ll hide I kin’ use telekinesis, which isn’t that a higher tier skill? Best not let it get out.”
R4 quickly found the core, and winced. “Binotek? What the blood is Binotek? Some Chineric knock off?” She stepped forwards and picked up the cylinder. As she did one of the handles snapped, and it swung and slammed into the wall. Immediately the core fell apart, spilling radioactive water on the floor. With a low THUD a smaller core, about the size of a wrist watch and heavily corroded, dropped onto the ground. “Bleedin’ Havoc!” With a gesture she called it into the air and in under five seconds had the entire thing wrapped up in layers of bone, lead, and flesh. She finished it with an isopod which quickly integrated it into the entire thing. The final thing looked like a 9 volt battery the size of a deck of cards
Drop and Run!
[[Error]] experimental cutting edge mostly stable recycled power core T1.
Provides somewhere between 2000 and 200,000 watts of power depending on ambient temperature, the position of the stars, your mood, the mood of anyone within 200 meters.
Duration: 35999/36000 days
Handle with care. Damage may result in remaining energy being released over the course of 0.5 seconds:).
CoM Experimental power core (T1 passive): Layers of human flesh (the most useful building material), bone (it’s more durable cousin), and lead (don’t ask where we got this) allows for scrap fissile material to be made useful again.
Produces 1 ATP every 2 hours.
Stores 10 ATP*
Emergency production protocol (Tier 1 Active): make a medicine+technology roll (DC 25) to produce 1 ATP every 6 seconds for 1 minute.
Recharge 10 AP ([X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X][X]]). Can only recharge from itself.
Lifespan: 35999/36000 days
“Y’all want ta’ add a few more prefixes ta’ that Red?” R4 quipped. “And what’s CoM?”
“Claws of Mara, I’m still working on a trademark. If the pawns… people are called fangs wouldn’t the tools Mara proves be the teeth?”
“I reckon that makes sense.” R4 replied, Taking out a separate more sensitive geiger counter from her bag and running it over the power core. “Seems ta’ be safe.” To be sure she slipped it into a quickly made bone case lined with lead. “Now, let’s open it up and take a look.
Examining the server revealed it to be a Mars Corp Atlas-Thought mk4. The server was bulky and made from Tier 1 steel painted a dull green. It was a good thing too, for while the Mitian Glazzmind mk23 that were beside it looked far more interesting, electrical flashes visibly shooting through crystals to demonstrate to the use that it was in fact working, they were far more fragile. The heavy nuclear battery would likely have cracked the glass, tier 1 or not. Further, while Mars Corp certainly didn’t make it easy for R4 to get into the inner workings of her patient, the pieces were not designed to break upon being opened up. The screws were certainly stripped, but R4 had just recently found a good source of screws. She checked the RAM and SSD to ensure nothing had been cracked, and replaced a few contacts with some spares. As she prepared to place the broken parts in her bag she began to tear up. “Red, as much as I like machines I’m not going to cry over a few broken chips.” She wiped her eye and found the isopod perched on her finger. “Ok, why do you want to bug T4bby here?”
“Actually, that one’s a harvest-man. Give him the broken pieces.” R4 did, and the isopod quickly hopped down and began eating the other rubble.
“He’s drawin’ power from my MESH, isn’t he?” R4 asked. “I kin kind a’ hear him like a harmonic note to my own resonance.” R4 paused. “Reminds me of a’ junk bot my uncle made with James and I back in th’ day ta’ clean up a polluted lake.” She turned her attention back to the server. “Ok, let’s get this puppy plugged back in an’ go home fer’ the night.”
“You aren’t taking Zephyr up on her offer?”
“I mean… I probably should, but I’ve got that other job tomorrow mornin’. Maybe after?” She paused. “An’ I did promise Issac a date. Havin’ friends is hard.” For a moment several faces flashed before her eyes and she staggered. “Ugh…”
“What’s wrong?”
“It just hit me that I called my Mom and Uncle, but not any of my friends from the Technocracy. I can remember their names now that I think about them, but it’s like I read about them.” She paused. “Wait, Red, were you keeping such thoughts from me?”
“That… Oh my. I mean… would you like to use one of your daily questions?”
“Red.” R4 straightened and crossed her arms. A moment later the entire planet seemed to shift causing her to stumble. “Red, was that some kind of killswitch? She felt her breath catch, her heartrate skyrocket. “Initiate calm protocol.” Immediately her heart returned to a normal beat, and excess emotions vanished as her isopod went into a low power mode. “Of course not, I’d be dead if it was. Yer’ examinin’ memories, ‘cause y’all don’t now either.”
“And the fact calm protocol lets you see that is very interesting, and will be researched in time.”
[[Mrow! What is that you just sent crawling into my server?!!!/ᐠ｡‸｡ᐟ\!!!]]
“A tiny junk drone, just cleaning up all this dust and making sure we didn’t miss any radioactive elements. Wouldn’t want your cats to go bald.” Giving things one last look over R4 found the plug, locating an empty socket next to all the other servers. “Here we go.” With a single thrust she plunged the plug into the socket. At that very moment several things happened all at once. Immediately she was showered in sparks as the cord exploded! Dozens if not hundreds of alarms went off as the cashed radiation alarms that had been sitting in queue suddenly went through T4bby’s servers and alerted everyone around with a blaring siren sound in rapid succession. The sound of gunfire errupted a moment later, drawing screams from the gathered crowd. In surprise at the cacophany R4 stumbled back, and felt the knife.
“Bleeding Havoc!” R4 shouted as she jumped, the sharpened blade falling out. She whipped around just in time to see a hand reaching from the darkness call the blade into its grip. Immediately R4 lunged for the hand, only for a sudden smell to catch her off guards and send her reeling. Her head spun and she only barely managed to stagger out of the way of another slash. She caught a glimpse of the weapon, but it made no sense. A pitch black scalpel with a shimmering head which immediately pulled back into the dark. As it vanished she caught a glimpse of the Gentek symbol glowing softly on the handle. For just a moment a line of molten fire arced up her back between the time the shock wore off and the ravager toxin stole the pain. “Red, what was that?”
“Would you like to use one of your questions?” R4 winced, backing towards the doorway and hopefully safety. “No idea, but it dropped you 7 wounds.”
“By th’ Blood! What can drop that level a’ hurt with such a little knife?”
“Calculating list. 425 entries found. Please enter keyword.”
“Red Queen this is serious.” E4 drew her firearm, and slowly backed away from where she had seen the blade. With every move another line of sparks lit up her back, reminding her of how hurt she was. Blood dripped down her back, making the ground slick. Her movements were sluggish as she winced in pain, her eyes fluttering this way and that.
PING! R4 whipped around to see what had made the noise. Had she been a normal human she might not have noticed the tiny bone that had struck a pipe, yet her horns picked up the movement and in the moment she had she realized she had been duped. Whatever it was had her dead to rights. She could sense something approaching behind her, her horns picked up the movement in their passive telekinetic field. There was no time to think, only act. So R4 did something off the wall.
She jumped into the air and lit everything beneath her on fire.
The plume of dim green flames hit the ground, spreading as it hit. A strange shadowy shroud touched it for just a moment before bouncing back like a rubber ball. The form ran into the shadows, but that did not save it. Some part of it still burned with metabolic fire, and R4 could sense it. She immediately turned and ran through the door, slamming and sealing it. She quickly pounded three bone spikes into the door frame for good measure.
[[Nyan, where are you going?( ╹ -╹)? Don’t leave me with that thing. (ó﹏ò｡)!!!]]
Ignoring the poor cat’s pleas R4 quickly found spot without too many cats and ripped off her jacket. Only once she had did she notice Zephyr was still there, sitting in a chair and playing with half a dozen cats.
“R4 what happened… is that blood?”
“No, it’s jus’ some cherry flavor-aid.” R4 cracked back with a wince. “Somethin’s down there, I’m not sure what, but it’s smart enough ta’ lay a trap.” She drew her camera and twisted to see what had happened to her back, wincing at the exposed bone. “That’s… not ideal.”
“What the, R4 we have to get you to a hospital!” Zephyr exclaimed, “I’ll call,”
“No, just, give me a minute. I’m tier 1 now, I can handle this.” E4 quickly fetched her first aid kit from her bag. “Second time today I’m usin’ this thing. Don’t suppose ya’ have a med shop ‘round these parts?” She paused, drawing a large amount of gauze. “Zephyr, I need a favor. Hold this right… here.”
The next five minutes were a flurry of R4 instructing Zephyr and attempting to patch herself up. Bandages were applied, stitches were placed. R4’s tool arm revealed itself as the MVP, spitting out self dissolving bandages, complex self knitting stitches, and enough gauze to pack the wound twice over. Despite the large wad of the stuff R4 had packed, filling her entire back took more than she intended, especially after the first bit had to be replaced. Fortunately the second set was made using her own biology, so rather than having to be replaced once used it could actually become a scaffold for more flesh to grow.
“No way you’re going back down there.” Zephyr announced. “R4 I saw your SPINE. You should be in the hospital.”
“It’s less than ideal… but I can’t be goin’ to a hospital right now fer’ two reasons. One, health insurance. Two… well two involves my patron, an’ I can’t be goin’ inta’ that.” R4 stretched, feeling the muscles in her back already reforming. The regeneration cysts worked overtime, and telekinetic nodes stretched muscles back into place.
[[Regeneration nodes have finished. Please perform the following stretches to confirm full healing.]] R4 stretched, before suddenly falling to the ground and letting out a gasp of pain. “Ok, I think I kin move… a bit.”
“Two stars, you’re not going to fool anyone like that.”
“Are you ok?” Zephyr asked, obviously fooled.
[[Nyan, what attacked you? Did it harm my cats?]]
“I don’t know what it was, it stabbed me with some kind of knife.”
“It also bypassed your force score.”
“Red, how common is that?” R4 asked, pulling herself up into a sitting position. She fished some pills from her medical kit and poured a few into her hand, before putting most back. It was just an ibuprofen, but it wasn’t labeled. Carefully she put her coat back on. “How could someone bypass force, and my jacket is tier 1.”
[[A Warlock! You musssssssst get it out!]]
Emergency order: Warlock Removal
Team size: 1
Hazard: 3-5 (Warlock, AI involvement)
Company: Nyan Lives Society
Contact: T4bby
Reward: 2,000 credits 3000 exp. Increased to 4,000 credits and 6,000 exp if its hax’bit is recovered.
MROW! There is a hostile Warlock in my Server! GET IT OUT. Either drive it off or kill it, I don’t care which. Also, if you could snatch it’s hax’bit that would be great.
R4’s eyes bulged at the gig. “That’s a lot of exp, let me just forward that to my fixer an’ let him have a look.” R4 quickly forwarded the gig to Jun. “Also, what’s a hax’bit?”
“R4 we have to go, didn’t you see the alarm? There’s a major radiation leak, and a bunch of security forces already at the door, and now a Rust-damned WARLOCK. We have to get out of here before they lock down the entire subsector!” At that very moment their phones all went off.
Civil Order: Lockdown
Team size: Nu’grav Subsector 6
Hazard: Radiation
Company: Nu’Grav
Contact: Nu’Grav Governing AI
Punishment: Imprisonment or fines
Attention: The Automated radiation tracking algorithm has detected several radition spikes within Nu’Grav Subsector 6 (The Deep Side). All citizens and legal residents are mandated to stay in their homes or residences until further notice
A resounding BOOM echoed from somewhere nearby, followed by the banging of every door and window in the building slamming shut at once.