It was time for some real world hacking. The rules for the real world as far as hacking were mostly the same as cyberspace with either slicing or cracking along with crashing the whole thing which was much more difficult with hardware and then just getting the access codes through phishing or intimidation.

Right now I would be trying to slice my way into these drones and placing myself into their perception as a thing not to be logged or paid attention to. This was simple enough in theory as drones were simple creatures as far as programs went, they were the simplest of daemons as people didn’t like complex programs having real world effects.

I would need to gain access to their runtime behavior script and check for a white list of things that didn’t need to be logged or looked at. There were likely already things the company didn’t want it’s random drones taking evidence of after all. Then I would simply add myself to that list, as soon as the drones detected me and checked my cerebral implant ID they would immediately scrub their memory of their checks and my presence and then go about their business.

First I would need to slice into the little grid the drones were likely running between each other to stay synchronized, a constant little IR laser than ran between them. I would get into the grid through one of their receivers and then try to slice them while still in real space.

I poked my head around the corner as soon as one of the drones turned around completely to face the wall, leaving only the droned facing down the corridor to the right. I pinged a connection request to that drone. Feeling the micromotors in my cyberware IR transmitter roll around to line up on the side of my head.

The drone froze for a moment as it received the request and I took that moment to launch my attack program, pulling across my netrunning screen on my interface.

[Loaded program Trncn1.to by Mal to Platform.]

[Launched program Trncn1.to]

The drone started to move and rotate around on it’s wheels to look at me when it froze up again.

[Launched program Trncn1.to]

The drone stayed frozen again as it’s little CPU tried to deal with the conflicts that my attack program was causing to it’s logic on it’s grid. It was time to do some real damage though.

Using Sanctum’s velvet worm program would be cheating, only for emergencies, as it was an order of magnitude better than anything I could make myself. I whole league above what I should be able to actually code.

I did have another tool though.

[Launched PkAx_SkltnKy1.to]

The drone was still frozen as it processed the truncheon programs when it got hit by the pickaxe program and immediately the little tools that were still poking out of the front of the box at the front of the drone pulled themselves back in and shut. The drone was either resetting or it had run out of RAM and turned off it’s tools to save some to handle the load the program was using.

I sat there for a moment watching both the drone and the slowly decreasing heat gage on my netrunning interface. I was running quite hot after running so many programs so quickly and that was ignoring the nearly maxed out RAM I had. Programs operating as hacks needed computation at both the source and the target so as much as it was using the drone’s RAM, it was also using mine.

Suddenly my connection request was accepted and a new menu for the drone and it’s grid opened up interface. I opened the targeting data and flicked through until I got to the security lists and then the white list. I added my own ID and then put a deletion time of twenty four hours along with a security wipe of all the metadata associated. That should keep me out of the records for this drone outside of a security entry for metadata wipe and it would require someone to personally check this specific drone for that.

Now these drones would consider my presence a non-issue and ignore me unless I got into their path, at which point they would just try to work around me while not recording me on their tools and trying not to get me in their cameras as best they could. Simple secrecy measure.

I walked out and stepped in front of the drones, the one I had hacked just went along with it’s work and the other one swung around a little before turning back and continuing with wiping down the patch of wall it was working on. Success.

Not a huge victory here, just some shoulder height roller droids that were programmed for tunnel maintenance. Not exactly milspec kill droids or anything. They didn’t even have proper ICE, just a password lock. There were probably bike locks with better security.

For my first time being a real world hacker though it made me feel fuzzy and excited as I walked past the drones like a full on high level operator would walk past a military checkpoint without being noticed. Invisible to the guards, droids, cameras and scanners despite being right there but not actually noticeable because of a range of hacks shutting down all digital traces of their passing.

Not quite the same as I walked past some cleaning drones. A bit different.

Walking along to the flood shelter took a little while but I soon arrived and pulling the big handle to open the door, I didn’t worry too much about digital traces here as most of it was mechanical instead of digital. Likely just to keep the thing working if there was a major EMP or some sort of AI attack or whatever.

As the door opened I got a whiff of the rot stink, full on to the face. I braced myself to see knife operator guy melted onto the floor but apparently some cleaning bots had already come through and moved the body to the recycler at some point. Obviously didn’t get to it before it had time to rot a bit and make the place stink though.

Walking in the lights turned on automatically which told me those cleaning bots must have fixed whatever the operators had done to the electronics to make it not work last time. Looking where the knife guy had died there was a very faint outline of pale white on the fercrete which likely explained the smell, leftover body juice dried into the fercrete.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

I headed through to the computer room and found the tables back in the right locations for the configuration the room was designed for which seemed to be an office space with vague rows and then a turned around desk next to the computer bank and racks of processors and memory racks.

I didn’t spot any corpse juice markings in the room so they likely took out the desk with gun operator guy’s body on it. He was still sitting there when I left. The room still stunk though and I turned to my good friend Sanctum to save me from this stench hell.

[Disabling the User’s ability to detect a specific scent would be very complex and require a long processing period to collect enough data to isolate specific responses to specific chemical compounds and shut down the chemical exchanges needed to provoke the brain’s response.]

[Disabling the ability to smell at all would be a much more simple process that would only require some temporary nerve denaturing that could be allowed to heal later. It is advised that the User does not to elect to do this as it exposes the User to undetected dangers.]

So what do you suggest I do? Just get used to the rot smell?

[User will not be able to smell the rotten material while netrunning as their brain’s input from exterior stimuli will be limited to a few specific safety features which don’t include smell. Sanctum will accept input of these exterior stimuli in order to warn the User if something is detected that is a danger.]

You can just take over my senses?

[Sanctum has passive sharing of all User stimuli both interior and exterior at all times as part of it’s core functions, when the User netruns Sanctum does not gain direct access to User perception of cyberspace. Instead operating based on the code output. This is one of the reasons why Abilities require translation in addition to the lack of biological components.]

[User should be advised that they have a new Ability translation available before you undergo another long session of netrunning.]

Oh yeah, the new ability. What are my options?

[Adrenal Autotachypsychia has two choices for translation that can be chosen from.]

[Allows the User to force a grid bandwidth claim that slows time perception for the User and speeds it up for others on the grid on demand. The duration is based on the User’s ICE integrity and complexity versus the grid’s ICE integrity and complexity.]

[Suspends all incoming data transfers for a brief period upon a perceived hostile action. Allows the User to move through the grid and undertake actions within paused time for a few seconds. All queued movement and actions are carried out instantly on the grid as data transfer continues.]

You offered me slow time in cyberspace before, I took it then but what would happen if I used the KD slow time with the AA slow time? Slower time?

[There is no existing data on ability synergies to draw conclusions. Current estimates either point to total overlap where one ability either exists alongside the other with no change in function. The example being an attack is received and the User experiences slowed time, then activates the other and time remains slowed to the same degree.]

[The other estimate is that the synthesis effect would be a deeper time slow effect or total stop of time depending on the data transfer speed tolerances of the grid in question.]

Let’s go with B then, at least the stop time one is unique. I can always try the other version at a later date when less important things are on the line.

[Adrenal Autotachypsychia translated to cyberspace variant beta.]

Thanks Sanctum. Don’t worry about the smell either in any case. I’ll just have to cope for now and get a cybernose in the future.

I rolled the office chair out from under the desk nearest the computer bank and sat down for a moment to go through my netrunning settings to slot my new attack program into my platform and check my settings to see that, yeah, smells were going to be off during the netrun. Preem.

Looking back up from my interface I looked at the IR cluster on the computer bank and connected to it, fortunately the security tag on my platform still let me connect without needing a password. My setup from the other day paying off.

It was go time, first things first was home security. I needed to make sure this whole shelter was a locked down fort until the job was over, I didn’t want to be in cyberspace while a bunch of gonks wandered in and shot me while I was staring into space in a chair. Sanctum keeping an eye out or no.

Heading to the front of the shelter I closed the big front door and then opened up the security panel hidden on the side and pulled the bulky lock handle down. I head a loud mechanical clunk as whatever hydraulic mechanism opened the door had a bunch of physical clamps close down on it’s moving parts. No getting in here now, not without some good explosives or the specific engineering key for this shelter that would override the lock and open the door from outside.

I then set up some flash traps on the pillars and two more on the way to the computer office room I’d be in. Then I did what I did last time and piled up a whole bunch of desks and spare chairs into a makeshift barricade in the way of the door of the computer room, making sure the barricade broke the sight of me in the chair around the back of the computer bank.

With my little safe zone set up I was ready for some netrunning, I’d likely be in cyberspace all day though. I didn’t have a net suit or a cold suit though so I’d be stiff and aching after all that time not moving.

Sanctum can you do anything with my body to prevent me from basically turning into a big pile of clicking and snapping filled with pain when I come out of the net? I’ll get an actual suit at some point but I’m curious if you could do anything in the mean time. Maybe get me up and about a little as time goes on?

[Initiating motor controls would be impossible as your netrunning interface assumes access and transfers to that portion of your brain. If Sanctum were to attempt to move you around it would interfere with your netrunning activities. Instead Sanctum could stimulate the blood flow of the User manually throughout the netrun and stimulate low levels of production to the synovial fluid to prevent stiffness to User muscles and joints.]

That sounds like it’d work. What synovial fluid? Is it like spinal fluid? I’ve heard of that.

[Synovial fluid is a lubrication agent used in some of the major joints of the User’s body. When relaxed for an extended period this fluid is not produced, leading to stiff joints.]

Ah, so it’s like motor oil. I get it.

It was time to get the job going. I pinged the address listed on the file that Marchand sent over before I came out, the connection going over the local net through the computer bank and reaching out for an indirect connection. This would let me call someone but not let any data outside of the audio pass through.

The call quickly connected to an unknown user.

“Who’s calling?” The gruff voice asked.

I quickly double checked the file for the password.

“Gamma seven seven zero zeta gamma two.” I said, seemed a bit overkill to me but whatever.

“Right then. We’re starting now that you’re here. We’re currently at the first contact point. Ready to move to point two on your mark.” The voice said.

“You’re early, and you’re starting early. Why the change?” I asked, we still had two hours or more left before this was suppose to be kicking off. Inconsistency kills.

“We’re all here and there’s no need to hang around. Ready to move to point two on your mark.”

“Fine. Jacking in. Be ready.” I said, hiding my distrust for now. I knew my local area was secure but I didn't like this level of separation and I didn’t like working with groups.

Suppose I’d have to be ready for this sort of thing being a netrunner now. I selected the jack in button on my interface as I leaned back into the office chair.