by A. Omukai
Daniel was a more straightforward type, but he could see the value in operating in a more subtle way. It was easier to remove the tick if you suffocated and slowly screwed it out of the skin.
His target was ‘Rebel Radio’. What a cliche way to name a group. He already knew that most of them were kids, with barely any body hair. That didn’t make them any less dangerous, though. Armed kids could do a lot of damage.
When he got out of the capsule, he was only a short walk away from the apartment complex. His system provided him with a scrambler that concealed his identity, but he knew it wouldn’t work well enough for these kids. What did work though was the other chip, the source of all his physical problems. The cause of his episodes. For all the trouble it caused him, it was worth it all twofold, and more. He switched to the secondary system, which wasn’t in his skull, like the FaithNet chip. This one sat behind his ear, just under the skin.
While he made his way along the busy commercial street, he let his standard system run the simulation and disconnected it, as he always used to when changing to the secondary one, so that in case he got monitored, nothing unusual would show up in the logs.
The apartment in question was on the sixth floor. The house had no elevator. It also had no security at all. The kids were banking on the fact everybody used the same closed network environment, FaithNet, but they were in for a surprise.
The stairwell lay in the dark. This was not a residence of the wealthy and successful. What was left of blue-collar jobs after automation was living in places like this, unadorned and grey, almost spartan.
With no one seeing him coming, there were no obstacles to overcome.
Second floor, nothing. Fourth floor, still nobody in sight. Before he climbed up to the fifth, though, he felt a presence. Imagination? Daniel would find out. He pulled out a gun and set it to stun. There was a rumbling sound above, and he ran, taking three stairs with each step. They must have detected him. How? No time to think about that now. When he opened the door that led out to the seventh floor’s corridor, he ran into an old woman. Before he could utter an apology, he felt the barrel of a taser at his ribs, and the next thing he perceived was his body hitting the floor. He cursed. Thankfully tasers didn’t paralyse him. As an agent, he was modified to deal with this.
The person disguised as an old woman disappeared through the same door he had used to come in. This was a ruse, no doubt. He had the choice, chase after the woman, or break into the apartment. If they risked something like this, it must have been worth it. He pressed on, but made sure the red herring was fleeing, not hiding nearby, ready to pounce on him again. He heard the rapid sound of footsteps rushing down the stairs in the distance and grunted, then turned around and closed in on the apartment door.
The lock was damaged, as if the owner had broken into their own rooms. Or as if someone had broken in to occupy an empty flat. He gave it a good kick, and the door flew open.
It was dark inside. No windows, no lamps, seemingly no electricity at all. Daniel switched to infrared. Remnants of body heat on floor and walls, and the knob of the door. Probably from the ‘old lady’ he had had the pleasure to meet just moments ago.
“You can come out and get away alive, or you can make me find and eliminate you.”
His voice produced the hint of an echo in the unfurnished room.
He did a step forward, then two. A door slammed in the distance. He cursed and jumped back out into the corridor, just in time to see a shadowy figure disappear in the stairwell, too. The door to an apartment two rooms further down the hallway had sprung open again. This time he didn’t hesitate. He went into a sprint, opened the stairwell door, listened to the footsteps down there and went to chase after it.
Daniel was fast. He leapt down the flight of steps three, four at a time, double the speed he had when he came up just a few moments ago. But going down was faster.
When he reached the ground level and pushed open the door, all he saw was a homeless old man standing at the street, regarding him with weary eyes.
Well. He had sent a message. Not with as much emphasis as he’d have liked to, but anything was better than nothing. Maybe he’d return later for seconds.
8
Makoto
The train jerked a bit, then gained speed quickly. The scenery didn’t change at all over the course of my commute. The same architecture, street layout, even the shops all belonged to the same chains. I could get from here to my office in Chiba City, without ever knowing in which city I was, if there wasn’t an announcement at each station. One giant urban jungle across several levels underground, the lighting following Earth’s natural day and night cycle.
I was lucky today, someone had gotten off just when I entered the train car, and I could capture the seat. A splendid start for a potentially devastating day.
“You’re not on my list for today,” the secretary said.
Her voice sounded distracted, and her eyes were clouded.
“I’m not, but I’m sure Mr. Uehara would want to meet me.”
The video feed showed her shaking her head subtly. Her hair whipped a little, then fell back into shape, perfectly in order.
“You need an appointment to speak with the CEO.”
“I would agree, under normal circumstances. These are not normal circumstances. We’re about to waste an enormous amount of money, and you could help me stop this.”
She cocked her head, and her smile froze. It rarely happened that someone from inside the company was this insistent, especially not a lowly engineer. You didn’t just skip everyone above your position and went straight for the top.
Even only getting me an appointment this urgent could get her into trouble by making her look like an accomplice.
I was very aware of her doubts, but I wouldn’t give in this time, and I hoped she’d understand the futility of trying to convince me otherwise.
Her iris flashed, and she frowned. A fine line appeared between her eyes, something she seemed desperate to not let happen often. If I got her to invest this strong of an emotion in me already…
“I will get in trouble for this,” she said.
“You will get in trouble if you let this go on, knowing what’s happening,” I countered.
A moment of silence followed. I could hear the rattling of the train cars and feel the vibrations of its engines below me. Warm air came from a heater under the seat.
“I will get back to you in maybe an hour. No guarantees, you understand.”
This was not a question, and my chances were still slim, but it was progress. I could always go up there directly and confront her in person.
I nodded. “Thank you. I’ll wait.”
She ended the connection, and I lingered in the main menu for just a moment and closed my eyes. This was already draining a lot of energy.
When I opened my eyes again, a pregnant girl entered the carriage. She didn’t lift her eyes to look at her surroundings when reaching for a handhold, a heavy bag on her left.
I stood up and gestured for her to sit down.
She nodded and smiled faintly, but didn’t meet my eyes.
9
Nadya
Nadya sat in a comfortable, but old armchair in the corner of the hotel room. The wallpaper was mouldy, and the dust in the air tickled her nose.
Not quite first class, but luxury would have to wait until they had sold the AI.
The small quarters at the outskirts of Khabarovsk, not too far from the Chinese border, were cheap, and the place was out of the way.
Khabarovsk was a surface town, once the biggest place in the region, but that was before the sea levels had risen, and the weather turned into a variety of violent storms. It was uninviting, but not uninhabitable.
“I think it’s a no-brainer to do it in Europe.” Tanya regarded the others with a serious expression. “And we should get out of Russia until it’s done, the last thing we need is people poking their noses where they don’t belong.”
�
��What’s wrong with Australasia? Less police there,” Dmitriy said.
“Less police also means less safety.”
“Doesn’t it just change who does the sniffing?”
“Not unless we stand out. We won’t. We don’t need the whole team there either, it’s just a simple transaction.”
“And that’s where we don’t agree. What type of people will be our customer? I guarantee you, we’ll need our guns. I’d even go so far as to say, let Pavel or me do the deal.”
Tanya growled, and Nadya suppressed a laugh.
“Yeah, yeah. I know,” Dmitriy said and backed off with a slim grin.
Nadya intervened, before this could get out of hand. Tanya had a temper, and Dmitriy was blunt and stubborn. They’d make a good couple. She forced herself to be serious.
“I’m not happy with Europe either, but it’s the least risky option. Let Tanya and me do the trade, and you cover us and see to it that we don’t get ambushed.” she said.
Tanya nodded. “Leave the business to us, you provide the security.”
“How far along are we anyway? Did you find a buyer yet?” Pavel asked. He was more of a silent type under normal circumstances, but since their return from China, he seemed nervous.
Nadya shook her head. “We’re not there yet. There are a few places to go if you want to sell hot wares, but most are known and tolerated for some reason. Sell something like this, and you’re in deep shit.”
Dmitriy laughed his rough laugh and drank something smelly from a brown, unlabelled bottle.
“Apart from that, I don’t want this thing in my head for too long. Some backups would also be great. Why sell something once if you can make profit twice? I just haven’t found a vault safe enough for it yet.”
“That’s a risky game,” Tanya said.
“I know. But that only means we have to be good at it.”
Tanya shrugged. She shook her head and grabbed her long, blonde hair to tie it into a ponytail.
“I’ll leave that problem to you. I’ll set up the sale and get us to the location. It’s probably best to not travel in a group.”
“Why not?” Dmitriy asked. “We could be two couples. Pavel and Nadya, you and me.”
“You wish.” Tanya’s eyes flashed, but she smiled anyway.
While Nadya was working, the two men left the room.
She exported the files to an encrypted cloud in Indonesia. She wouldn’t leave it there for long. While nobody would search there for a while, it wasn’t impossible that someone stumbled over it by chance. She herself sometimes drifted around and decrypted archives for fun.
Even if someone found this, they would not know what it was, but that, too, was no guarantee the files were safe. People did many crazy things because of boredom, or to troll others, or for reasons she couldn’t imagine.
But for now, this was all right. She could remove the files from her personal system and free up space to be productive again.
“I think I got something.” Tanya said.
Nadya looked over to her friend, who had reclined on the sofa and put her feet on the table.
“You wanna eat from that?” She asked, half serious.
“What? Oh… “ Tanya laughed and put her feet on the ground. “Anyway, wanna hear or not?”
“What do you have?”
“It seems like there’s someone interested in Japan. We can’t go there, it’s too dangerous, even with Dmitriy around.”
“Any idea who that someone is?”
“No. I don’t want to know, to be honest with you. The less we know, the better.”
“The more we know, the better we can prepare, though.”
Tanya stood up and paced through the room. There wasn’t much space to roam, but she moved around the table and into the small kitchen, then came back.
They were all on the edge, Nadya knew. Tanya more so than herself, only Dmitriy was firm as a rock, as expected. She envied him.
“We need to get to Frankfurt, I’ll arrange our meeting two weeks from now. Think that’s enough?”
Nadya thought for a moment. This was a question for Dmitriy, but two weeks sounded like enough leeway to work with.
“Sure, set it up.” she said.
“Okay, done.”
Not even a minute had passed. Tanya was spontaneous—or was it impulsive? Nadya wasn’t so sure anymore. She was used to her teammate and didn’t have enough distance to tell.
“Wanna tell the others?”
Tanya shook her head again. “Not yet. How far are you along with your work?”
“I’m good, for now. Two weeks is enough to get things in order. What’s up with Pavel by the way?”
“Pavel? What’s with Pavel?” Tanya had ended her connection and returned to reality some moments ago and mustered Nadya.
“Didn’t he seem nervous?”
“Well, yeah, aren’t we all?”
“Not like this. But maybe I’m wrong. We should monitor him, anyway.”
Pavel was the latest addition to their team, but he’d been with them for a few months now. Getting over her suspicions would take a bit of effort, but did she even want to?
“I’ll leave that to you for now. I’ll be busy with preparations. Let me know if you need my help.”
Nadya nodded and went back to her system’s main menu.
10
Makoto
I got the call directly from Uehara, not his secretary. When I saw his name flash up in my notifications, my heart skipped a beat. Not even an hour had passed. I jumped up from the toilet, hit the flush and pulled up my pants, then accepted the call. His face appeared at the upper right corner. I pulled it to the centre and resized it to double. I left it transparent, so I could see where I was going.
“Suzuki.” His voice sounded even higher than it had in his office. “You asked for a meeting with me. I saw the record of your talk with my secretary.”
Blood shot into my face, I couldn’t hide it, but if Uehara saw it, he didn’t react.
“I’m not in the building today, so you’ll have to come to my residency. Get the address from my secretary and see me at…” He looked down, then back at my face, “twelve o’clock. That’s in a bit over three hours.”
“Understood,” I said and was paralysed when he closed the connection.
I stood in front of the lavatory, shirt sticking out of my pants, hands raised slightly and my thoughts raced at light speed.
The door opened and someone came in. I turned my head, only to see Ishida. He eyed me up and down, frowned and went into one of the toilet booths himself. I hastily washed my hands and got out, even though I still needed to continue my session. I’d buckle up for now.
***
Uehara lived in Heiwadai, a rich part of town. Getting there took time, over an hour from the office building. Only few people could afford capsules and cover the distance in less than half the time, and I was not one of them. When I arrived and left the station, the difference was immediately noticeable. The ‘sky’ was actually blue here. Even clouds were projected on the ceiling. The air was cleaner, too, and the street was lined with cherry trees. Now green, they would carry pink blossoms in spring and make for a gorgeous view. The Uehara estate was a short walk from the station, five minutes up a slope. The old man himself would probably not walk the distance. The slope was steep enough to ramp up even my heartbeat.
I reached the estate and stood in front of a high gate of black metal. Beyond it, a path led down a winding path through a park with actual grass—I’d never seen something like this.
“Please step closer for a scan,” a voice sounded from a hidden speaker.
“Identified as Makoto Suzuki,” it added, before I even stepped forward.
“Scan finished. Please wait here for further instructions.”
The guard at the gate didn’t let me wait. Not even a minute had passed, when the gate opened and a man in a dark blue uniform stepped forward to greet me.
“Mister Suzuki, we
lcome. Mister Uehara is expecting you. Please follow me.”
He bowed, then gestured towards the house, down the path. He walked at a brisk pace, but I had no difficulty keeping up with him. His steps were light and silent. He carried his weapons concealed, but if one knew what to look out for, they were obvious. They were even for me, and I wasn’t that type of agent, but the bulge in his jacket was more than obvious. I hadn’t been aware that this part of town was this dangerous—it probably wasn’t.
Another guard expected us at the house. My companion bowed again and turned around to walk back, while the second man led me inside the surreal building. In this world, where space was at a premium, people usually lived in apartments the size of rabbit cages. I was a successful hardware and software designer working at the world’s leading computer company, and comparatively well off, but even my apartment was narrow.
The entrance of this house was more of a hall, and a huge stairway led up to a gallery, from which visitors could go further inside. The black-and-white marble floor was lavish, and everything here screamed money.
“Suzuki, about time you arrived.”
The voice startled me, and I jumped a little, but Uehara ignored it. I silently scolded myself. This had not been the image I had planned to convey.