Is this all of Antisoc? Just the three of you?

I glanced around the dim, cluttered workspace uncertainly. The t-shirted man nearest me answered while the others looked on, multitasking on their various panels and screens. Jacked into the system through the back door. I didn’t see the cat anywhere.

>Of course not. Just as we never use the same location twice, we will never reveal our true numbers. Many Volunteers assist us, as we assist them. Not all who help Antisoc are Antisoc<

So you are the Three Magi… Tank Man, Q… and…

>Fawkes. The faces, so to speak, of the resistance<

I watched as each visage, or portion thereof, shifted at irregular intervals. Most revealed some form of physical abnormality. A gallery of evolutionary misfires. I also could not see any Volunteer ID codes, but why would they be reckless enough to show them? Just as their faces were masks upon masks, their names were nothing but aliases upon aliases.

Q as in the letter? Or Queue as in… waiting in line?

>Q as in Quảng Đức, not that it is any of your concern<

Well, I am here to help. With the special job. And you wouldn’t have let me in here if you had reason to suspect me. So tell me what you know about The Collective.

>Patience. Quid pro quo. You help us with this heist, and we will shine our light a little brighter for your benefit<

I checked my Subroutines notes again.

[>SUBROUTINES

* Assist Antisoc with Repository Heist (Pending)]

You want my help to pull off a heist at the Repository so you can continue funding your operation. But what about the system, this world, everything you’ve told me about Collective Security? How are you sure you can even pull off this heist?

The last thing I wanted was to be set up as a patsy so this shadowy group could withdraw some illicit funds. They claimed it was System money. But could it be Citizen money? What about Volunteer money?

>You hunt bounties. We hunt glitches. Although technically impressive the system is far from perfect. The glitches are opportunities. Vulnerabilities. You may notice things change from time to time, although you haven’t been here long. A door you once saw as red is now blue. A street sign is suddenly in a different location, like a mirror image. You remember things happening one way but history, even your recorded history, reflects something else. It is the Mandela effect. When you remember something that in theory never happened, it usually means a system change has been made<

Okay. And one of these opportunities exists in the Repository?

One of the others, currently appearing as shaven-headed with a massive surgical scar across his cranium and wearing thick mirrored glasses, spoke up.

>You don’t have a high enough Protocol to understand it. The vulnerability exists. You’ll have to trust us<

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Right.

I’ve never been to the Repository. What exactly is the role you need me to play in this?

The one with the t-shirt smiled a grim smile that persisted across several identities.

>Pay it a visit. Many Volunteers use the Repository for Crypt storage, item storage, or both. It would not be unusual for a first-time visitor or potential customer to request a tour. Bots run the place, of course. When you are inside, we will initiate a DDoS attack. This will take all Repository services offline. Temporarily. That is your window<

My window for what?

The third figure, the one who had not yet spoken, stepped away from a panel and approached me. He, if it was a he, wore an oversized white lab coat. The figure reached into a coat pocket and produced what looked like a long, black, semi-cylindrical flash drive.

>This is a ghost stick. Completely shielded, although it will take up metabytes. If you get caught with it on you, ColSec will notice the storage discrepancy. So don’t get caught<

The t-shirt man spoke next.

>Have you gotten a shine job?<

I’m sorry?

>Can you see in the dark?<

No. You’ve seen my menu and I haven’t gotten much changed in the meantime.

I grew irritated as I recalled the helplessness I felt as the enlarged, glitched-out faces of Antisoc poured through my personal information without consent. I pushed the feeling aside and tried to refocus on the conversation.

>Once the DDoS attack goes off, it will be lights out. You will need a method of seeing in the dark without generating light. In the absence of a little eye surgery you might consider night vision goggles. Although, again, if you get caught having just purchased night vision goggles, that will be suspicious. Q?<

The lab coat wearer reached into the other pocket. Ah, so that one was Q. This time the figure held up a pair of technologically advanced goggles. They looked like miniature binoculars attached to a black headset.

>These are also shielded. Same deal as before. They won’t show up in your equipment or history, but they will take up space. We’d prefer to get them back when the job is done<

I reached out and accepted the ghost stick and the goggles, feeling the weight of them in my hands. I concentrated and highlighted the goggles.

[Accessory: (Thermal Goggles)

Frequency: missing parameter

Details: Superior to goggles that amplify existing light, thermal imaging goggles convert heat radiation into a visible image. This allows the wearer to see in complete darkness, as long as there is a temperature difference between objects.

Properties: This accessory is Shielded, and will be invisible to others in your Menu and History. If the item is sufficiently damaged, it may lose the Shielded property.

Size: 10 metabytes]

I quickly added the goggles to my Equipment menu but did not yet equip them. I kept the ghost stick in my hand.

So I ask for a tour, the lights go out, then what?

>On your tour, you must get into the data vault before the attack. If our calculations are correct, all deposit boxes should open, exposing the data ports. Simply plug the ghost stick into an open port. When the power is restored, the ghost stick works its magic. Think of it as a Trojan horse in the palm of your hand<

Any open port? What do you think the response will be? How long until the power is restored?

>We ran a test on a different establishment several cycles ago. A Citizen bank deep in The Collective proper. Polizei bots evacuated all the Citizens and had the power restored in about six minutes<

I took a deep breath and studied the ghost stick in my hand. Then I dematerialized it into my inventory.

Get into the data vault before the DDoS attack. Plug in the ghost stick within six minutes. Don’t get caught.