Heywood

October 30th

2069

The air was cool, even with the sun high in the sky, by the time Sophie ventured out into Heywood. She had a hood pulled over her face, trying to blend in as she passed the occasional Valentino loitering on street corners.

She found it much nicer than the current state of Watson and the edges of Westbrook, where Maelstrom had been attacking for the past few days. No firefights, no burning vehicles or shredded bodies on the sidewalks.. Just the muted hum of life moving at its own pace.

She’d been forced to leave her home after reaching the limit of what she could do with her netrunning practice. Fortunately, Night City had no lack of vending machines, so she was able to quickly find one tucked away in a shadowed alley. It looked like it hadn’t been serviced in years, the colorful display flickering erratically and the smiling cartoon mascot on the screen struggling to maintain its cheerful expressions.

Sophie sat down opposite the machine and swiftly found an access point, slipping into its systems. The now-familiar grid overlay filled her vision and she mentally prepared herself.

Alright, she muttered, flexing her fingers. Time to see if I can crack you open.

She dove deeper into the system and the small cyberspace quickly changed into a digital battlefield. The vending machine's network wasn’t as simple as she had hoped. Unlike the abandoned laptop she had practiced on, this system had significant layers of encryption, firewalls, and countermeasures. The datastream too, was more aggressive than what she was used to.

The first attempt ended in disaster when she found herself entirely overwhelmed by the jump in difficulty. She’d miscalculated the speed of one of the machine’s defensive protocols and was booted almost immediately, the system sending an error message that seemed to mock her.

“Seriously?” she grumbled, letting out a sigh. She could feel a slight headache forming but she still had plenty of mental energy in the tank.

She broke back in and tried again, adjusting her approach. The process was painstakingly slow as she fought against the data that seemed to be viscous, like slime. She had to change pathways, disrupt small portions of the firewall by entering a tiny bit of code and locate the vending machine’s core operating system. She had to do all that whilst avoiding digital defences and alarms that would reset her progress.

An hour passed. Then two. Sweat trickled down the side of her face despite the cool air as she hunched over. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep going as the heat of her cyberdeck increased and her mental energy depleted. But finally, after what felt like an eternity, she found her target: the machine's core system. It shimmered faintly in cyberspace, a pulsing sphere of neon green and yellow light, protected by one final barrier.

“Alright, almost there,” she whispered, concentrating intently on her objective.

This system was different to the laptop she’d been practicing on over the past week. There was no void, no hole to exploit as far as she could tell. Instead, she had to actually break through the barrier. If not for the progress she’d made with Basic Netrunning, an additional two points, she would have been completely lost. And even with that progress, she was struggling to make sense of what to do.

However, she recognised that she had to give it a go. She carefully began unraveling the final layer of encryption, slipping in tiny bits of code that would slightly disrupt the defence systems. The sphere grew brighter while the barrier grew dimmer, signaling an imminent success.

Just a few more seconds and I’ll have full control over the vending machine, she thought. She could already imagine the victory. Specifically, the free NiCola she’d walk away with.

Then, without warning, a jarring sound shattered her focus.

Her optics flickered as a holo-call notification popped up in her vision, the unfamiliar glowing icon buzzing insistently. Startled, Sophie’s mind twitched, and she lost her grip on the system. The vending machine’s defenses snapped shut, slamming her out of the datastream with brutal efficiency. She almost cried as the connection broke before it turned to anger at the interruption.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“Are you kidding me?!” she snapped, swiping at the notification to answer the call. Her annoyance was palpable as she barked, “Who is this?”

The person on the other end spoke and she was immediately struck by how…energetic they seemed to be. “Hi there! You’re Sophie, right? I hope I got the right number!” It was a clearly female voice, though it was impossible to tell whether they were actually female.

Sophie blinked before responding slowly, “...Who are you?”

The woman laughed, completely ignoring the sharpness in her tone. “Don’t worry, I’ll introduce myself when we meet! That’s the most important thing! I’d like to meet you! Face to face.” She paused, as if distracted. “Hmm? Oh, you think I should mention you?” Sophie frowned, noting that they weren’t speaking to her.

There was a slight crackle before they turned their attention back to her. “Sorry about that! I was just so excited to speak to you! We would like to meet you, face to face.”

“I’m sorry but how did you get my contact? I have no interest in speaking to someone that won’t tell me who they are, especially if you want me to meet multiple people. Goodbye, and please don’t contact me again.” Before she could disconnect, the other person quickly became flustered.

“Wait wait, don’t go! I got your contact from Padre. He told us you were the person we’re looking for.”

Sophie frowned, her confusion growing. “Padre? Wait, what-why would he give you my number? Seriously, who are you?”

“Like I told you, we’d prefer to keep our identities hidden until you meet us. It’s all part of the surprise!” they chirped and Sophie felt herself grow even more confused. “But I’ve got something really important to discuss, and I promise it’ll be worth your time. Let’s just say I’m a...client in need? Or maybe a friend of an acquaintance? Doesn’t matter! What does matter is that you come to La Palma Street, you know, over in the nicer part of Heywood? We’ll be waiting!”

“Wait-”

“See you soon!” the voice interrupted before Sophie could get another word in. The call disconnected with a soft chime, leaving her staring at the empty space where the interface had been.

For a moment, Sophie just sat there, dumbfounded. Then she groaned, leaning back against the alley wall and letting her head thud against the cool concrete. “What the fuck was that?”

Still fuming from being interrupted, made worse by the confusing interaction, she sent a quick message to Padre: ‘Who the hell was that? Some hyperactive weirdo just called me and said you gave them my number. What’s going on?’

The response came a few moments later, simple and yet maddeningly cryptic: ‘A good opportunity. You should meet them. It will be beneficial.’

Sophie’s eyes narrowed as she stared at the message. She wasn’t sure what frustrated her more; the holo-call that interrupted her training, the fact that Padre had apparently sent this person her way, or the vague, unhelpful reply he’d given her. She sighed, running a hand through her hair, then started grumbling.

“No. Fuck no! I’m not doing this! Even if I’m curious. The whole thing fucking stinks!”

With that, she returned to her netrunning practice, putting the baffling and enraging holo-call out of her mind.

-----------------------

Around an hour later, she got another call, interrupting her practice again.

“What do you want?” She snapped, annoyed at the constant intrusions.

“Sophie. You haven’t met with the woman that called you?” Padre asked gently.

“Fuck no. She wouldn’t give me a name or tell me what she wanted. I’d be a fuckin’ gonk to meet someone like that, even if you’re recommending them to me.”

The call was quiet for a moment before the fixer replied. “I understand you’re concerned and if I was in your position, I would be too. These people are…strange. But make no mistake Sophie. They are dangerous. If you don’t go to them, they will come to you. And you may lose your chance to build a positive relationship with them.”

“Really? Sounds like they’re the kind of people I want to stay as far away from as possible. You can tell I won’t meet them, not if I don’t know who they are. You sure as hell don’t seem keen on telling me anything.”

“Forgive me, child. But these are not people I can ignore. They wish to introduce themselves in person. To surprise you, though I’m unsure why. I believe it’s just part of their eccentricities.”

“Well, the way they’re acting is ringing all sorts of bells for me and the fact you seem scared of them certainly doesn’t help. If they aren’t willing to give me names and the reason they want to meet me, I’ll continue to refuse. Actually, I also want the meeting place changed. I want it somewhere neutral, preferably a place I can pick.”

Sophie heard a deep sigh from the other end. “Very well. Give me a moment. I’ll see what I can do.” The call cut out and she was left standing there. She shrugged. Eh, I doubt they’ll agree to those terms. Shouldn’t cause any issues.

A few minutes later, as she was reviewing her most recent attempt to break into the vending machine, she got another call.

“What now?”

“The woman that called you. Her name is Ophelia. She, along with her husband, Benjamin, want to meet you for two reasons. First, they want to thank you for something you did recently. They requested I don’t explain any further than that. Second, they want to extend an offer to you.” Padre sounded exhausted as he spoke to her.

“Uh huh. That’s great and all. What about my request to change the location?”

“They refused. Apparently they can’t or won’t move from their current location. Before you ask, they didn’t explain why.”

“I don’t like this, Padre. It reeks of a trap.” Sophie replied sourly.

“I know. If it makes it any better, I truly don’t think they want to harm you. They’re weird, yes and dangerous. But you’re also not that important to them. They have far more to worry about than you. Go and meet with them. You may get something out of it.”

She groaned in response. “Fuck. Fine. Making it seem like I don’t have a choice.”

“Truthfully, I don’t think you do. If you don’t go to them, they will come to you.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll go.” She paused. “Thank you for the advice. But if it goes wrong, I’ll be coming for you.”

“I would expect no less. Good luck, Sophie.” With that, the call ended and Sophie leaned her head against the wall behind her.

This fucking sucks.