“I brought a little dog drone from a wreck that broke through the speedway barrier a few streets west of this one. There was a shootout along the speedway the other night and one of the cars was riddled by a halo-chopper and lost control.” I said, before licking my lips and adding. “I went to look for salvage before city police got looking for it, it was mostly mashed together from the crash and I couldn’t salvage much but I found a small dog drone in the back seat foot well.”
“So, you think the drone got covered with the material and then got up and ran out?” She asked doubtfully. I sympathized with her, it was a bad lie if you knew what really happened after all. But there was enough truth mixed into to pass casual checking and that was all I needed.
“A lot of people program these smaller drones to return to the last known position of their controller when damaged. I’ve spoken to old scrappers who use smaller drones down in the pipe ways to look underwater before going swimming themselves, they said if their little swimmer drones take a knock from a turbine or something they just limp back to them at the first sign of damage rather than getting bashed around until it breaks out of sight.” I said, again mixing in some truth.
The old pipe way scrappers really had little fish drones to record video and return with scouted information. Down in the pipe ways if you scout somewhere yourself then you’re likely to find the water to shift flow direction unexpectedly and get crushed by a turbine blade before you can even orient yourself.
“The drone didn’t have a controller when it got covered in the material though. So it’d return to it’s last known coordinates. You know where those are then? The exact place?” She asked with her eye brow raised.
“Well I know it’s most likely place, the crash scene where the car hit the barrier or at least where the car stopped. Basically wherever the cerebral implant of the robots last owner shut down and stopped updating the return coordinates. I’ll give you that place to look.” I said trying to avoid the issue with the information. It didn’t work.
“But if the drone had a prearranged return location like their hideout then it’s long gone. Or if someone has already swiped the drone while it was traveling. I’d be left with nothing with this information.” She said, eyebrow not resting yet. She’d seen through the flaw in my offering instantly.
“Hey, I can only offer your best option. I can’t gift wrap the thing for you, it was out of my hands once it finished melting the flesh on them. This is the only lead I can give you outside maybe your team got the measurements wrong or someone sneaked in during the chaos and ran away with a cup of acid gas.” I offered. I hoped she was pressed enough for time to cut me loose and chase after what she had.
The corp lady, Ms. Webb, scowled and me and I thought it might be over for a moment. Then she turned aside and looked like she was checking her interface, her eyes twitching side to side as she likely read something.
“Fine, send me where you found the wreck and we’ll take it from there.” She said seeming to come to some decision. I was tense now because this was the end of the exchange, if she decided to take us out of the picture then this was when it would happen.
“Here it is.” I said sending her implant a message with a marker from my map. It was the actual location I’d found the car, a corp had more than enough resources to take the search from there.
Shame they wouldn’t find anything. Even if the wreck was still there, which likely wasn’t by now, then all they’d find would be a crushed steel mess cut open a little with a small welder.
I quickly disconnected from her implant and adjusted my posture a little to be ready to move, I tried to keep it subtle but I knew this lady basically saw through everything I did now so whatever.
She immediately checked the marker on whatever map software she had on her implant, her eyes losing focus on me as they did. Not that I thought of striking first, those hands were still sending me strong danger vibes.
She took a long drag of her cig as she took a moment after she was done checking the marker. This was it, the turning point. I clenched my jaw, nervous.
“Get out of here you two, don’t let me find you anywhere else you shouldn’t be. You two haven’t spoken to me or the corporation today about anything and have no idea who I am, if I find you throwing around stories you shouldn’t then we’ll be having another conversation.” She said and then just tuned us out and walked over to the chunky corp boxed computer set up on a table in the corner.
I guess we were just background to her now we were done.
Pulling mom away and out of the room into the next I nearly walked us into two approaching cylon types. They didn’t look happy with me. Understandable.
Quickly pulling mom off to the side and letting them through I noticed mom was looking nervous and was likely at the end of her rope emotions wise. She’d need to rest when we got back to the tent, maybe it would be better to take Ears up on that room offer? Just for the night to get out from under corp watch. I’ll look for him later.
I stopped dragging mom along when we got to the end of the alleyway and away from the blockade into the street proper.
“It’s okay mom, we got out of that situation free and clear. I’ve told you before to rely on me for these kinds of things. We’re safe now.” I spoke softly to mom, I was close enough for the words to reach her even with the background street noise.
Mom seemed to pull herself together from her stressed state and sped up her walk until she was pulling my along by my hand.
“It was too dangerous for you to come to that warehouse Mal, I know you think you can handle anything but we could have both been dead before we could even blink in that room as soon as you entered.” Mom said seeming to recover quickly now we were back in the streets. She even started to look stern towards the end of her speech as her emotions crept back in.
“I know mom, but I couldn’t leave you there alone with these corpos. And the more people involved the less likely they are to zero everyone involved.” I said while hoping she’d just let this slide. I know it was risky but between my instincts and Sanctum I figured we’d have enough leeway to get away.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Well, instincts had also got me into trouble sometimes but so far Sanctum hadn’t steered me wrong. Apart from the skin melting, I guess.
“They told me before they started questioning me that the apartments have already been repaired by the city drones but are being aired out over night to let air clear of fercrete chemicals. Apparently the corp has already verified there’s no danger there now. We’ll be able to move back in there tomorrow.” Mom said as we muddled along with the crowds on the wide sidewalk.
I pulled my hand free of her hand as mom seemed back to normal.
“Did they pay for our broken stuff? I’m pretty sure my bed is at least gone. Their hazmat people probably didn’t steal anything from slummer like us but that gas was everywhere.” I sad walking up beside mom.
“They said that they are not liable for damages caused by other corporation actions and to contact them instead.” Mom said as her face twisted at the end, clearly angry.
“Corpos. Well, I can hunt down some bits and pieces for the apartment. Your room wasn’t touched right?” I asked my expression matching my mom’s.
“Only around the door a little, I’ll have to throw out a rug if they haven’t already done that. The major thing is your room is basically back to the fercrete and the living room is not far off. The microwave and hot water dispenser are probably ruined too but I can put in a urgent maintenance request for those because they belong to the apartment. Shouldn’t cost much for the request.” Mom said as we got the tents.
We both walked through the crowds of people standing around talking in the narrow walkways among the large green tent structures until we got to the big central tent and went in. We both got to our beds and sat down on them facing each other.
“Well if you’re going to handle that today mom I’ll head out and get a bed and so on. I’ll stash it somewhere for when we’re ready to get back into our apartment. Is that alright? Do you want me to stay with you instead?” I asked mom grabbing her thin hand, she needed to eat more.
“No, my baba you go keep yourself busy and out of trouble. I’ll get in touch with resident support about the appliances. I know you worry about me when I’m not asleep but I’m not as fragile as you think, you know?” Mom said while gripping my hand in hers and pushing my hair back.
“Mom I’m 10, I’ve been out of baby name age for most of my life.” I said, pulling free to stand up.
“You’ll never be too old to be my baba.” Mom said while smiling at my response.
I scoffed and headed out of the big tent.
We needed to talk about the whole “Sanctum isn’t being tracked” thing.
And I needed your help to find a bed, maybe some scrap opportunities to help pay for the appliances. And it was about time to talk about that abilities part of my profile now I had a couple of skills to work with, why was it separate from skills?
[Evidently high accuracy corporate scanning technologies were deployed despite the risk that deployment of them could draw attention to the type of technology that had been involved in the destruction of the convoy and the subsequent damage to User’s neighborhood. It was considered too high risk an action to be chosen by corporate leadership but evidently they made the decision and likely opened them up to higher scrutiny among interested parties.]
But now that we’ve wrapped up their little bit of nanite blob by using a now missing imaginary drone we’ll be free and clear with this?
[Projections favor User’s assessment, it is very unlikely that Kitsuban corporation has enough evidence to verify the true status of Sanctum and they have even less of a lead on Sanctum’s eventual course of action where User was selected to house Sanctum.]
Preem then. Well, what about the rest of the stuff I said?
[Connecting to the local IR grid will allow Sanctum to quickly scan connected cameras with minimal protections to search for a bed and valuable scavengeable materials for the User.]
[Abilities are specially developed custom patterns that link together highly specific parts of disparate Skills along with learned knowledge and instinctual behaviors relevant to the Ability combined with Sanctum aided designer changes and additions from many source patterns to create distinct large impact micro-patterns that the User cannot improve themselves but can make full use of.]
So they are like little skills that I can’t improve in?
[They are distinct from Skills in that they are frequently multidisciplinary in design and usually provide an overwhelming effect in it’s area of function due to the nature of it’s design. Candidates that provided the patterns used in the Ability’s creation likely weren’t able to produce anything approaching the effect the final Ability could achieve due to their single approach. Abilities combine many approaches to an Ability’s area of function and are further tailored for maximum effectiveness though they are restricted by needing minimum Attributes and Skills to meet compatibility.]
I’m losing a lot of these terms you’ve giving me here.
I sat down on one of the many steel benches set up among the green tent jungle my home street had turned into, this little path where I sat wasn’t busy so I’d have some time to deal with Sanctum.
Can you give me an example of an ability? Like a normal one so I can gage what they do.
[A recommended example of a commonly early accepted, widely compatible Ability would be Instinctual Kinematometry. This Ability Gives the User an innate, constant understanding of the position, rotation and motion of all objects in their perception without loss of detail and without straining the User’s mind.]
So I know where things are that I can see? There must be more to that for you to make a big deal out of that Sanctum because that just sounds like something I do right now already. By, you know, seeing things.
[The Ability includes any perception function that gains a strong enough impression of any object and then allows the User to know where that object is and where it is going in real time. This applies to every single object in the User’s perception, regardless of the sense in question.]
I’d need to see that ability in action before I really get it I think. Do you recommend anything else for now?
[It depends on the User’s need. What does the User need for the near future?]
I guess I need something to keep me alive for my first thing, being all shiny with something that’ll make me a ton of cash right away would be great but I’ve seen enough people get killed going for quick prizes without looking after themselves first.
[Then Sanctum either suggests Kinetic Dispersion or Omnidexterity. Both allow the User more survivability without focusing too much on a single methodology in doing so.]
Alright well there some more words I don’t know. What is it with these ability names? So what do they do then? Give me a breakdown.
[Kinetic Dispersion is an ability that gives the User innate understanding in dispersing all forms of harm that might effect them as long as the User is aware of the upcoming danger. This makes received damage the minimum it could be in optimal conditions. Has minimal against non-physical harmful effects.]
[Omnidexterity allows the User to use any body part regardless of form, design or function with the confidence of their primary appendage when using it to perform any action. Does not alter the shape of any body part to perform a function well.]
So I can get hit in the face softer or I can use… My foot or something to open doors. I’d just say both of these are things I can already do but again I guess there’s more to them if you’re making a whole section for them Sanctum.
[All three explained Abilities have seen agreeable field testing results and have relatively low User requirements to reach minimum compatibility. All three have been described in the documentation as “Changing the concept of fighting.” And have scored highly on evaluations.]
Well omnidexterity might be really great to someone with cyberlimbs but I don’t see it having a huge effect on me right now. So let’s go with the kinetic one for now, I’ve been hit a whole bunch in the past and every single time I wished they’d hit just a little softer and maybe not broken bone.
[Does the User confirm their selection of Kinetic Dispersion?]
Yeah I do. Go for it Sanctum. I tensed for some big brain collapse of some sort.
[User profile updated.]
[Acquired Ability: Kinetic Dispersion.]