0000.0.2

I was slammed awake by the alarm going off. It was piped directly to my auditory nerves with a homebrewed biograft I designed last year. It’s connected to my own personal mesh network that I use to connect the cameras and laser tripwires I put up anywhere I’m going to be staying.

I reached behind my ear and pressed the button just under my skin to turn it off. A jolt of adrenaline surged through my system; not from my endocrine repository, though. This one was homegrown.

The network disabled the elevators, and that bought me a few seconds as they had to make it up on foot.

They were professionals. Probably NullState security. Didn’t wait to find out.

Slid the rig into its bulky case, and threw it over my shoulder on my way outside.

The sky cast its purple glow on the street. The lights of the city dancing in the puddles far below.

I kept close to the building as I worked my way to the fire escape and went down one flight. The window was unlocked and I slipped into the apartment.

Heavy boots trundled past in the hallway as I watched them take the final flight of stairs through my cameras.

I held my breath as I watched them stack up beside the door directly overhead.

A silent count to three and the battering ram took the door off its hinges. It also disconnected the current holding the incendiary devices at bay.

The ignition shook the floor. It almost drowned out the screaming. They broke radio silence, and my mesh network identified the new channels.

A few moments later and I was in their network. My cameras acted as localized positioning anchors and the system triangulated each node that was sending and receiving on those channels.

Milliseconds had gone by and I had the callsigns of each operator from their signal metadata. I singled out the two operators in the back of the building and cut them out of the link.

Everyone else heard them shout “Contact! Contact! Contact! Target is leaving through the back exit. All units converge on my location.”

The crew upstairs had been taken out quickly, and I waited to see if the bait would pull everyone or if their crew was willing to leave them behind.

I watched all remaining dots flow to the back of the building as I moved to the elevator and out into the city.

* * *

“You’re still in it?” Kan asked.

“No, I’m getting out,” I lied.

“So you’re still in it.”

I half smiled. “Yeah. This is the last one, though. Then I’m out.”

Kan nodded into his coffee.

He was my only friend who wasn’t in the business. He understood most of what I did from a general perspective, but none of the specifics.

I tried to keep him in the dark as much as possible. If he didn’t know anything, he couldn’t let anything slip.

He could still get tangled up in this run, though, and I was directly putting him in the way just by being here.

“How’s that going?” he asked. His eyes focused on his mug.

“Smooth for the most part.”

“For the most part,” he laughed. “So you need a place to hide,” he said. His tone making it a challenge more than a question.

“Yeah, for a day or two at most,” I said.

“You bring that stuff here, and I’m pissed.” He sounded tired. “Don’t plug that thing in,” pointing to the bag. “I don’t need your fingerprints all over my network. I know you said you’re good at this stuff, but it sounds like they’re better if you’re showing up here in the middle of the night.”

He might not be in this world, but he knew how it worked.

* * *

I left my kit at Kan’s place and headed to a bar that existed mostly neutral territory for corporate and independent breakers. In here professional respect for the craft was paramount.

Settled into the chair at the bar, I thought through my options. Not long ago I had done a job for a client who wanted to stay anonymous, but I could tell they were corporate. Probably CypherLight Systems based on the fact that they didn’t try to screw me over.

Fractal directories were part of the mission brief, so the NullState system hadn’t been that big a surprise. I wondered how they might be connected when someone sat down next to me.

“How you doing, Delrand?” I ask without looking up at the loan shark that owned me.

“Better than you,” he said. His smile showed half genuine concern. The other half showing his fangs.

“I’ve got it coming. I swear. I’m on a big job right now; right in the middle of it. You’ll have your money soon, I swear. As soon as I execute, you’ll be the first person I pay back.”

He nodded. “You know I’ve been patient with you. On account of that squeeze you got my sister out of.” His hands showed he he meant what he said. “But, even then, that don’t add up to this,” he gestured in the space between us.

“We’re doing it here?” I asked. “Now?”

The moment dragged out as Delrand looked at me. His jaw chewing over the problem. My whole body electrified, waiting for disaster.

“Nah, you’re good tonight,” he said.

My whole body coiled even tighter expecting a twist.

“How else am I supposed to get your money if you’re no good?” he said. “Here’s the thing, though. Your interest has been piling up. It’s a /lot/ bigger than you think. I know you took some of that money and tried to get rich quick off those memory bootlegs that turned out to be old sitcoms. I’m embarrassed for you, if you aren’t.” His eyes kept scanning the room behind me as he talked, but his attention was fully on me. “I’ve got some recent. . . challenges, and you’re going to help me out of ’em. You’re not just buying your way out. We’re working together. I’ll send you details.”

* * *

I made it back to Kan’s apartment after my chat with Delrand. My life just kept getting more complicated.

There was a note on Kan’s beaten and stained table. It was in his simple handwriting.

“Date. Don’t wait up.” Good for him. Might as well get some work done.

I went to the spare room and set up the rig. I powered it up and took a minute to look through the settings. I tried accessing the machine code level, but was locked out. Just above that level, however, I could see system-level details. One caught my attention.

It was a number slowly counting up. It had a credit sign in front of it. “What the hell?” I said.

It looked like the client was charging me for work for him, and I was a couple seconds from wrecking his whole world.

The visuals glitched. Everything blinked out and came back. Edges were interrupted, and the colors were all wrong.

An imposing error window popped up directly in front of me. Blazed so bright it hurt my eyes.

“Payback time.” is all it said. I opened the metadata, and saw the message was signed by Kan. No way to fake his private key.

“What the hell?” I said for the second time in as many minutes.

I smelled something. I ripped the cortical connection and tore my visor off.

Smoke poured in from the living room. I reached for the door handle and it was already hot.

Shoved the rig back into the bag and gathered what I could. I rummaged through the coat closet and found a few layers of non-synth clothing. Fake fibers will melt to your skin while natural fibers will only burn you.

I wrapped a few layers around my head and hands, tore open the door, and dropped to the ground. The superheated air from the living room found the air in my room and exploded inward in a giant fireball.

On my hands and knees, I dragged the rig behind me towards the front door. I coughed and gagged in the heavy smoke. My head swam from the fumes.

After I got to the front door I reached up to find the knob while I tried to stayed as low as I could manage.

Found the lock and my way to freedom.