This is Rom from the Packrat Sprawl making waves and coming to you live and direct from Central Street near the Office of Affairs. There are hosts lined up around the corner trying to get their licenses for the year before the deadline runs out. Faid was here earlier in the day getting his host card and his shots which all hosts are required to do. He works out of The Hole, x-rated magazine shop and is pretty popular. Faid has never had an issue with that. He has an AA+ rating which means he is pretty highly sought after. But enough of that. Why am I here today you ask? Well, I have something to say.

Living in the Echelons is pretty hard. Sure there is finding a place to sleep, searching for food, begging for money and just trying to stay safe. If you are a host you pretty much are set. But some of us are not host material. My friend Faid looks like a model. Me, not so much. I couldn’t pull in off. No way, no how. I am scrawny, short and well it just won’t work. So I have to get by on my wits and maybe my mouth. There are only so many shop windows you can clean or entrance ways you can sweep for a few credits. Those shop owners don’t want to deal with us from the streets. Some of them say we scare away their customers. Tram lets me hang out and panhandle outside. They are nice about it but not all places will let you do that. They will send the Zone Police after you and haul you off to the kedek mines.

Me, I like to laze into it. I wake up relatively early. Now that the Packrats have moved into the abandoned subway I was sleeping in and they setup the Sprawl I am finding that I am at least not so alone as I was before. The Packrats are a close knit group. You screw them, they screw you hard and don’t look back. One of the things I did have to do was fight for status when I first came in. I really didn’t want anything to do with it at first but I am finding now that the more status you have the better your life is. An outsider is pretty much shunned and has no say. I defeated Shine by a small margin but that made a big difference. For now, Faid still seems to think he is indebted to me for the Sprawl. I am shrewd, I think I will ride that for as long as I can and make sure he doesn’t know. If he finds out he could force me into a challenge. I don’t want to have to fight Shine again.

Lets take a walk.

Rom had a saddle bag with him. He took a right down an alleyway and scattered some rats as he came to the end of the way. He put the bag down on the ground and pulled out a can of black spray paint which he had picked up from the storage cabinet in the Sprawl near the living quarters.

Faid lets me paint. It is really tagging but you don’t want to call it that. The Zone Police get you tagging you are going for a ride.

Rom started to spray paint the word ‘Packrat’ on the wall. He made elaborate arching motions with his arm as he outlined the letters in a funky style. He put the black spray paint outline down and pulled out a can of red paint. He started filling in the letters. He did it slowly. A drug addict came down the way and watched him for a moment then went to sit down at the opposite wall and shot up just watching. Rom continued his work. He took out a yellow and white can of spray paint and went in making the highlight. He finished the word after some time and went in and made the letters look metallic with the lighter colours. He took a step back from the work when he was done.

The addict clapped his hands a few times as Rom leaned over and picked up the black paint again and wrote out the word ‘Underground’ in script under the word. Suddenly someone came running down the alley.

“The Zone Police are coming. Bail out.”

Rom quickly picked up the paint cans and threw them in his bag and then took off down the alley and out the back. He left his work drying on the wall.

Xander Storm the Zone Police officer in his black armour and face plate came down the alleyway and stopped in front of the work. Xander knew who did it by Rom’s style.

“Rom you can’t be doing that…” Xander said out loud and then left it alone. He walked out of the alley. Rom was leaned up against the wall at the end of the alley. He had seen Xander come up.

“Not fast enough. Hackers Unite!” he bailed out putting his back to Xander and then walked on.