“[…] Person A: We’ve done it, Person B! We’ve built the ultimate machine!
Person B: It’s magnificent, Person A! We calculated the limbs’ needed girth and length perfectly! They will surely handle the make and model of a new Neon Vortex Version 4L!
Person A: I cannot wait to try the new Neon Vortex Version 4L! Its sleek black finish, with accompanying tanned and fit limbs is so handsome!
Person B: I know exactly what you mean! Neon Vortex Version 4L has better legs than me! […]”
— An excerpt from an unreleased car advertisement script, year 2476.
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It’s been two days since I've gone out with Rin. Two days of no communication on her part. I did send a message reminding her of the contract she said I was allowed to shadow on, but I didn’t receive a confirmation in return. She did mention that it was supposed to happen later this week, and it was already Friday. Did she mean Sunday? If so, she might have some problems with procrastination. What about debriefing? Making a plan? Discussing potential difficulties? Were those things not necessary?
As I awaited Rin’s response in the matter, I tried to be productive. I found myself mostly training with Gabriel or having conversations with residents and frequent visitors of this building.
At night, I looked deep into my file directories and tried to uncover what the mysterious couple of petabytes of downloaded information were, but to no avail. They were slippery, moving from one part of my storage to another, and encoded in a way I was not familiar with. Even with those hurdles, I still tried to find out what they could be.
When I was not doing any of those things, I found myself to be often idle; walking around the Contractors’ HQ and simply observing people and overhearing their conversations. It was an enriching experience, as I’ve widened my vocabulary extensively with new and often experimental expletives.
I also watched people spar with each other at the gym below. Every so often, I even gave advice on how to improve the person’s fighting skills. After a couple of such small training sessions, I found myself to be somehow recognizable among the residents and visitors of the building.
As I found myself walking idly through the busy main hall, people that I’ve helped, or people that I’ve never seen before, would sometimes yell things like,
“Yo, girl! Could you help me?”
“Excuse me! I heard you offer lessons?”
“Wanna spar?”
As I was wandering around the Contractors’ hall after another such training session with a woman named Franky, who wanted to improve her right hook, a PCI message appeared in my ocular implant.
It was from Rin. At least, I think it was from her. It said:
Message from Trigger (NY):
yo calculator LOL (sorry) meet me @ the hall ASAP the contract’s on sunday so we gotta talk
What an atrocious grammar and writing style, but at least I was able to understand the message’s contents.
As I stared in wonder at an astonishing showcase of - definitely deliberate - lack of punctuation, I heard a commotion near the entrance.
I looked up and saw Rin rushing through the hall, frantically looking around. I guessed she was searching for me. What was so urgent?
I stood up and started to walk towards her.
“Hey! Come over here!” Rin exclaimed. As if I weren’t already walking in her direction.
When I was pretty close, Rin gestured for me to sit next to her on one of the benches that ran alongside one of the walls.
“So, I forgot about the thing, y’know. And I guess we need to walk over the job, right?” She huffed. Did she run here? Actually, where did she live? Gabriel said Moose also lived in the building, but he didn’t mention anything about Rin. She must’ve had a place somewhere else.
“I did message you about it.” I decided to mention it. Because what if she didn’t get my message? It would be prudent to check now, instead of finding out in the middle of a job.
“That was you?” She asked, perplexed. “Then you need to train your communication skills. And you have to get an alias. How was I supposed to know that was you?” Her eyes sparkled with an electrical impulse. “Here, let me read what you sent me.” A second and a half pause. “‘We need to talk about the job.’ Just that! And the user that sent me this is called ‘NA’ because you still haven’t decided on an alias.”
I considered her points and found them valid.
“I see. So your alias is Trigger and letters N and Y in parentheses?” I asked because I was confused how it was meant to work. How was I supposed to know that it was Rin who messaged me?
“It’s Trigger, yes, and I know it’s cringe, but whatever. The ‘NY’ in parentheses means that I’m a contractor under the Nova York branch. It can be whatever bullshit you want since it’s only used while communicating through our database.” Rin did indeed cringe. “So, before we start talking about the job, you should decide on an alias. I have to put you in the thing as a noob that’s gonna shadow.” With that, Rin looked at me and impatiently waited. I could tell from the rhythmic and erratic drumming of her fingers on the table’s surface.
What should my alias be? Rin said it didn’t matter much, so maybe I shouldn’t put too much thought into it.
“What’s Gabriel’s and Moose’s?” Maybe that would inspire some creativity in me. Which was quite difficult to do since I wasn’t wired well for creative tasks.
“Moose’s is Moose and Gabriel’s… Ah, I’m embarrassed, and it’s not even my alias.” She sighed once more in what, I thought, was preparation. “It’s Neutroblade.” Rin finished speaking Gabriel’s name with a pretend flourish and exaggeration. I had to admit it was a bit silly. It didn’t make much sense to me.
“Alright.” I said to buy myself some time before Rin’s annoyance would surely turn into pestering me to hurry and choose very soon. “What about Ripper?” I asked confidently. It originated from a synonym of my chosen name. It made sense to me and people would be able to guess who it meant after a short deliberation. I hoped.
Rin looked at me thoughtfully. “You know what? It’s not bad. Sure. I’ll put you in the contract as that, then.” She clasped her hands. “Now that’s over with, let’s go quickly over the plan.”
With that, I received a message from Trigger (NY) asking for confirmation about the contract titled ‘EZ RETRIEVAL’ from a man named Luk Forrester. I confirmed and a screen with very sparse information appeared in my ocular implant.
Contract: EZ RETRIEVAL
* Pay: 1000 chips
* Deadline: 08/11/2490
* Specialties Required: Combat / Stealth
* Minimum Rank: C
* Description: Retrieval of stolen merchandise
* Location: Downtown - Fan’s Territory
* Issuer: @Luk Forrester
Considering the job’s title and the pay, the specialities required were a bit odd. If we only had to go in and get something back, then that surely would not be this challenging to accomplish.
“Now, since I’m supposed to ‘teach’ you about how the contracts work, listen closely.” She put ‘teach’ in air quotes for some reason. “What you need to know is how ranks work. There are five. You’re currently rank F, when you finish this job I’ll send you to rank E.”
I wanted to ask more about ranks, but Rin interrupted me with a wiggling finger to my face.
She continued, “It’s like that so not every hot headed buffoon would get himself killed.” She took a deep breath and continued. “Your PCI has that screen with skills and stats, right? Those are filled after you do a job. Either the Issuer - that is the person who issued the contract - gives you a rating and what skills were used on a job or someone like me who lets you come onto a contract does that. That’s why it’s beneficial to take jobs with others when you start, so your profile gets better.”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I nodded to show that I was listening.
“And a better profile helps with contracts?” I asked because that was unclear.
“It helps if there are many people requesting a job. Then the Issuer usually chooses a Contractor with a maxed out profile. It matters more in jobs of higher rank.”
“What rank are you?” The rank system was interesting. Made me feel familiar since Fran-Mili also had ranks. Technically, I wasn’t ranked as anything there because machines do not get ranks.
“I’m in rank C. Rank B and A are for tryhards. Like Moose.” She scoffed the last part under her breath.
“Okay, so I know how to get from rank F to rank E, but how do I get to rank D and above?” Rin had to take a moment to think.
“I guess the answer is to just go and do contracts. The system then jumps you up in rank if it deems your skills fit for that.” She then added, “Now, on another topic. Here’s advice for you that’s not in whatever manual Tony’s sent you. You should only get contracts where the Issuer is verified, that is when there is the ‘at’ sign before their name.” As she finished speaking, I hoped for more information, but there was none.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because the jobs’ are dangerous, and you should limit the risk as much as you can. I heard some gruesome stories of noobs taking whatever job there was and just disappearing. A guy doesn’t have to come here in person to issue a contract. They might as well spoof some real life info and post a job. Tony’s working on a better system, but for now, that’s how it’s like.” She explained.
“I understand.”
“Great then!” She stood up. “I’ve had enough sitting! Let’s walk and talk about the real deal.” I stood up with her, and we started to walk towards the exit.
“You’ve mentioned that there might be resistance while retrieving the merchandise?” I questioned.
“Yep. It was the Fan’s people who stole from our guy. It’s a new gang in Downtown so we should be kinda safe with stirring up some trouble for the poor bastards.” We walked out of the building.
“And what’s the merchandise?” It was an important question. Depending on the size of it, our plan of retrieval would change.
I thought it was a simple query, but Rin’s face jumped through hoops of different expressions. There was embarrassment, disgust and mild arousal. What a strange combination.
“It’s nothing big. Just some games. You should be able to carry it out no problem.”
“And how would we transport that merchandise to the Issuer?” I questioned. I’ve never seen Rin drive a car. Not that I’ve seen her a lot, but my observation was still valid.
“Now, that is something that I’ve been busy figuring out!” She came up to the pavement’s curb. Cars lined the edge of the street we were standing on. Was the car in question parked somewhere near here?
“Is that the car?” I pointed to a poor looking and abused Neon Vertex X1 that Rin was standing by. It was almost 25 years old when I checked the manufactured date from its motherboard. I also checked the owner’s name. It did not say ‘Rin the Contractor’.
“Well… that’s the thing. Do you want it to be our car?” A strange gleam entered Rin’s eyes. It was neither electrical nor biological in nature. Was this what evil looked like, I wondered?
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I was a great pilot, so obviously driving a car was a no-brainer. Although, I did have to go through the driving laws of Nova York, which were quite extensive.
I also looked at the criminal law that was enforced by the GUF’s corpo-police, which were also just called ‘cops’, by people such as Rin.
“Don’t worry about the cops. There’s so much car theft that they just don’t care.” I nodded as I drove through a very busy roundabout in a stolen car. I also didn’t have a driving license, but that seemed like a minor crime compared to the obvious one.
I tried to voice my reasoning as to why we shouldn’t steal a car, but Rin did raise a good question in return. How else were we going to get ourselves to and from the place we were about to re-steal from, and transport the merchandise in question?
Well, I did not have answers to that, so I reluctantly agreed to Rin’s plan. Was I being too passive? Should I have asserted myself more?
I wasn’t certain on how to accomplish that since all I knew from interactions with others, like with people like Jack, was to simply follow orders. I didn’t have thoughts independent of that. Before.
Now though, I wished that a more legal solution was found rather than stealing somebody’s car. No matter how much Rin emphasized they would return it. Return it how?
Based on Rin’s confidence and apparent knowledge of how a policing force of Nova York worked, I assessed that this was probably not the first time she stole something or committed a crime.
If she said I shouldn’t worry about apprehension by the so-called ‘cops’ then I probably shouldn’t.
“You’ve said it’s in the Fan’s territory. What does that mean?” I questioned. The contract also mentioned that part in addition to describing which part of the city the merchandise was held at. Apparently, it was important enough to note.
“Oh, that? You remember how I said it was the Hotshots' territory when we went to Mandy’s?” I nodded yes. “Well, there are many gangs in this city. Some stay on top, like the Hotshots, and some fall and new ones take their place. Fan is a guy with way too much ambition, and he decided to claim all the Downtown, which is a stupid and crazy thing to say.”
I looked at what a definition of a gang was on the web and found out they were not lawfully recognized. That meant, the whole business of whose territory a certain part of the city was, relied not on lawful negotiation, but on something else. My bet was violence. At least, that’s how much I’ve been able to conclude.
“That means there won’t be a lot of retaliation?” I asked.
“Well, I wouldn’t say that.” That did not sound like what Rin mentioned before. “Before you get mad, the place we’re going to is itty-bitty tiny and unimportant compared to the whole stuff Fan claimed. We should be good, if we’re not in their face about it.”
Well, that was slightly better than the idea of a massive number of people trying to kill me on top of being in the sights of a corporation as big as Fran-Mili.
With that said, I thought that our current plan was still viable since it relied heavily on stealth.
I wondered how a mission of this type would feel while being under full control of myself.
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I had no experience with this type of job, since all the stealth missions that I’ve even done were carried out on other military bases. The building before me was no such guarded and dangerous place.
It was a ramen restaurant.
“You remember the plan?” Rin asked me as she put a new power core into her Sacrifico. It was a gun made of light red metal that shined brightly in the faint illumination from the neon sign that showed the restaurant’s name. ‘Noodled’, it was called.
“Of course.” I had a perfect memory.
At my response, Rin looked at me with uncertainty.
“Alright. Then we’ll do just as planned. But first, let’s connect on comms.” With that, Rin sent me a request for a communication link, I confirmed.
In one part of my ocular implant, a small image of Rin appeared. It was similar to what I had with Jack on our usual missions, although Rin’s face was far more expressive than Jack’s ever was.
“You hear me well?” She asked as a tiny echo of her voice generated in my hearing module.
“Affirmative.” Rin’s face twitched in what FERS recognized as embarrassment.
“You shouldn’t say that to anyone else. That’s just embarrassing.” She murmured. “Ready? If so, I’m going. You know what to do.” I nodded and Rin stepped out of the car.
How was saying ‘affirmative’ embarrassing? It was part of an official military vocabulary. Oh, well. I guessed that Rin was not military nor was I part of such an environment anymore.
I updated my verbal protocols accordingly.
Now, the plan was relatively simple since I was able to insert myself in the place’s monitoring system and download the floors’ layouts. When I told Rin that I could do that, she threw her fists in the air and exclaimed ‘I love synths!’, which in hindsight was not a profession based on loving all sentient life as it was, but more so in a way of criminal potential.
It was a much better sentiment than calling me a ‘calculator’ would indicate Rin to possess.
With knowing the place’s layout and apparent number of people currently in the building, pinpointing the merchandise’s location was not difficult. It was in the back of a freezer, located at the back of a very spacious kitchen.
Since the restaurant opening hours were still far away, it was a perfect time to execute this mission.
There were two floors, the first one was used for the restaurant and the kitchen, and the second was for living. There were five residents currently sleeping on the upper floor, so our main objective was acquiring the merchandise without waking anyone up.
Rin’s part of the job was simple lock picking which required skills that I found myself lacking. Nowadays, most of the doors were locked using either biometrics or with encoded passwords.
I had no training in opening locked doors manually. A grave shortcoming in my skill set.
As Rin was picking the lock of the backdoors, I was supposed to monitor the building’s network for possible alarms and follow Rin once I established that she hadn’t tripped any alarms. If an alarm did sound, the mission would be aborted, and I was supposed to drive us as fast as possible from the current location.
“It’s open. Any alarms?” Rin asked me through the comm link.
I checked the network and there was none.
“No alarms. The mission is still viable.” I responded as I got out of the car, which I’ve parked on the street two blocks away from the building in question.
“Alright. I’m waiting inside. The doors will be open.” Rin said as I quietly moved through the sleeping street. The restaurant was located in an area that I would consider poor and underdeveloped. There weren’t many residential buildings around and besides the neon signs and one or two working streetlights, there were plenty of shadows to keep close to.
As I neared the doors that Rin said she left open, I checked the camera feeds and the building’s network again. No activity.
I opened the door and stepped inside. Rin was waiting for me, leaning on one of the walls of a small corridor.
“Good. Let’s move.” She said as we started to move towards the kitchen area.
As we stepped into an open space of the restaurant, which was the only way that led to the kitchen, a loud sound of a bell greeted us.
“Fuck.” Rin exclaimed as she lifted her right leg up.
She stepped into a tripwire.
I hated mechanical traps.