This is Rom from the Packrat Sprawl, making waves and coming to you live and direct from Hell’s Hearth in the Shizuoko ghetto on the Zone side past Harbin street. I have a meeting today with a contact who wanted to meet me here. The dogs are out tonight. I can see them past the sound barrier on my way to Hell’s Hearth. They hover there right at the precipice ready to attack but the sound vibrations in the alleyway block them from moving forward as it pains the dogs. The sky is sprinkled in red mist this evening as the sun begins to set. It looks eerie as the radiation particles float through the air. I can feel the radiation in my lungs but I have the mask up now. Hopefully it will provide me a little bit of protection. I did take my iodine pills today. Come on lets go to the meet.
Rom pushed in the door to the Hell’s Hearth after walking down the concrete stairs. There was a bouncer at the door who grabbed onto Rom’s arm as he tried to enter. “Who are you here to see?”
“I don’t know. I am supposed to meet a data messenger here.”
“No dice. Get me a name or you stay out,” warned the bouncer.
Rom pulled his handheld out of his pocket and sent a message to his contact. He waited for a few seconds and got a reply then showed the screen to the bouncer. The code name given was cryptic.
“Yeah, I know Som1245Escher. He is here. Find him yourself. Go on inside,” said the bouncer and moved out of the way for Rom to enter.
Rom stepped into the bar which was covered in a haze of smoke, patrons gently talking. A few stared in Rom’s direction. He made sure not to meet anyone’s eyes, not wanting to start something he couldn’t finish. He made his way to the back of the bar and sat down at the far table so he could scan the room. He let his psi lead him feeling out the clientele as he read various people’s thoughts: the man with his mistress with a pregnant wife, the woman looking to buy a hit of neurocyne, the data messenger talking to a customer, and the one mind he couldn’t read who felt like a dark spot in the room. Rom directed his attention to the dark hole and turned his head to a side table. His eyes landed on a man with a scarf and a blue data messenger jacket. Their eyes locked and the man blinked and waved his hand. Rom got up and went over and sat down at the man’s table.
“You’re blocked?” asked Rom as he settled in across from the man who stared through him.
“Your psychic power is formidable then. Most can’t tell.”
They sat in silence for a few moments. Rom tried to size the man up. He was young and definitely anxious. Rom had happened upon him when he located an avatar named Juicy on the dark boards looking for information on The Seal. The person mouthed off after being provoked which caught Rom’s interested. He wanted to know more about The Seal.
“You are Juciy? I saw your posts on the dark boards talking about Velvet Hour. I am Rom…”
“I know who you are. You run Packrat Underground, a subversive website that organizes actions against the Elite government. We have some things in common.”
“Like Velvet Hour?” asked Rom suddenly after Juicy cut him off.
“Yes, I am Juicy. I have a favor to ask you. I need something that you might want to get your hands in.”
“What, if I may ask?” Rom sized up Juicy who went into his pocket and produced a slip of paper and pushed it across the table. This kid was an amateur putting his fingerprints on something that could be traced. Rom eyed the paper in his cut off gloves and made sure not to touch it as he read the printed words. “You are looking for subway schedules? The government locked those down and keep the trains random due to the gas attacks that happened on the subway lines in the Echelons recently. I think it was three trains that got gassed over the last month. The Zone Police were not able to catch the culprit.”
Juicy squinted his eyes and blinked which Rom caught. Somehow this person knew about the gas attacks. Rom tried to find out more. The kid went into a bag he had under the table and took out an energy drink in a blue can labeled ‘Pink Monster’ and set it down in the center of the table.
“You wanted The Seal? You are looking at it, my friend,” said Juicy.
“What is The Seal?”
Juicy hesitated and looked away as Rom eyed the can as he held it between his gloves not getting fingerprints on it. The can looked like an innocuous energy drink but Rom noticed the top of the can was closed and had a different opening that didn’t look normal. He palmed the top of the can. Juicy thrust his hand out and grabbed Rom’s hand touching the can. “Be careful with that.”
“What is it?”
“Bioengineered nanomachines…”
“So?”
Juicy didn’t answer and motioned for the can. Rom pushed the can and Juicy put it back in his bag. “I need the subway schedule. Can you get that for me?”
“What does that have to do with subway trains? Give me a minute,” said Rom and then got on his handheld and stood up walking to the back of the room. He called Acolyte at the Packrat Sprawl and told him what he needed. Ten minutes later after Acolyte hacked the government, Rom received an encrypted communication with a subway schedule. He sat back down at the table and handed his handheld across the table.
“You get 5 minutes with the handheld then I want it back,” said Rom handing the device over with the communication displayed. Juicy looked at it and went into his bag and wrote down the information on a notecard. He handed the handheld back to Rom who now had Juicy’s fingerprints on his device.
“What about what I need?” asked Rom.
Juicy went back into the bag and produced an envelope. Rom didn’t look inside. He swiped the manila rectangular envelope off the table and walked off. Their meeting was over. He had seen The Seal and now it was time to identify this Juicy but only after he took the envelope back to the Packrat Sprawl. Rom walked back up the stairs to the street and hid in the alleyway waiting or Juicy to leave the establishment.
Rom had a hunch Juicy was on his way to the subway. He stuck on Juicy as he came out and walked quickly to the Lafayette subway stop. Rom followed behind him about 20 meters keeping him in sight. When Juicy got to the subway station, now having him psi located, Rom teleported down onto the platform and waited for Juicy to arrive. Rom stayed near the cyber café in the station sitting at a table as Juicy passed and went to stand on the platform for the northbound train which would run the route through the Echelons and up into the City.
Rom watched Juicy as he stood on the platform and then the train came in. Rom stood up and rushed to the platform and entered the next train car, not the one Juicy stepped into. He watched Juicy through the windows of the car. At the last minute Juicy jumped off and let the train door start to close. Rom made a quick leap back onto the platform as the door closed and the train went on its way.
Juicy just stood there for a moment and then walked towards the stairs to exit the station. Rom followed him with his eyes. What had Juicy been doing in the train car. Rom shrugged it off and walked up the stairs and out into the street. He teleported back to the Packrat Sprawl.
When he got in, he went to his sleeping mat at the back of the living quarters and pulled the envelope out of his pocket. He opened it onto pictures of Elena his 15 year old sister who lived in the City with their father, Mr. Stuart, the Lead Minister of the Parliament. He smiled as he saw Elena at school, at a store near the mall, at the library, a picture of her with their father at an art gallery. He wondered how Juicy had come about gaining access to these pictures. He didn’t really care how Juicy got them, just that he could feel closer to his sister. He hid the envelope under the blanket as Faid came and engaged him standing over him with hands on his hips.
“You need to come with me. Something has happened,” said Faid and motioned Rom to follow. They walked to the Acolyte Forward Base and Faid brought him to a monitor at the back attached to a hardline terminal. Faid put in an address to the Newsfeed which was doing a story about a gassing that happened on the subway.
Rom watched for a moment on the chaos as Zone Police were in hazmat suits at one of the subway stations after people had died in the train car.
Rom brought his hand up to his lips as a camera panned into pools of blood and clothing in the car.
“Do you know something about this?” asked Faid.
“No, why would I know anything about this?” replied Rom.
“This is footage from about an hour ago at the station right after Lafayette. Someone gassed a train car. Everyone in the car died. All that was left was clothing and a single energy drink can. The people’s flesh was seered off.”
Rom thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know anything about it. Why are you asking me?”
“You had a meet up near the Lafayette stop. The security cameras we hacked into caught you entering a train car and then getting off before the train left the station. I thought you might know something.”
“No, I don’t.” Rom wanted to keep the envelope with the pictures of Elena a secret.
“Alright. The Zone Police may try to question you. Just keep your wits about you. I don’t want you herded off. You are a Level 9 hacker. We can’t have you wanted by the Zone Police after the government put that hacking warrant out for you a while ago,” said Faid. “I think I want you in for the next few days. No Packrat Underground until we get this sorted.”
“Alright. I will stay close to the Sprawl.”
Faid touched Rom on the shoulder smiling and then walked away.