The Day of the Lounger

Secure personal data log entry begins
**:**:** *** ** 29***
J.Apt. *****




Finally.
I'm on Rubi-Ka.
The shuttle trip down was interesting. Damn near got wiped out by a Kyr'Ozch Interceptor. The pilot ditched in the shallow waters offshore which almost certainly saved my ass.

Reminder: Look up ICC Shuttle Pilot Dan Boykowycz sometime and buy him a drink.

Phase one went without a hitch. I backsassed the Shuttle Port Unicorn Commander and was summarily sent to "reconsider my attitude" back at reclaim. I don't think the arrogant s.o.b. has a clue that the coherant phase-synched energy beam that he despatched me with allowed me to inject my little "package" into the reclaim data stream. He certainly didn't hold back on the "witty" comments when I walked quietly past him on my way to the Borealis exit and hour or so later.

So far so good.

Borealis is quite cool, for a Neut town. Even the prevalence of Omni there lends a kind of carnaval atmosphere to the place; in the same way that clowns and elephant dung do.
I found the hidden apartment key just where it was supposed to be and picked up one of the stashes my father left around Rubi-Ka before his departure.
So I now have a decent set of armour, a passable weapon and some creds.

Next stop was Ofoz. He proved harder to find than expected. Seems some political changes forced him to move to Newland. Anyway, he was amenable enough once he knew who I was, and didn't charge me too extortionate a handlers fee for handing over the envelope my father had left with him.
Inside were two letters and an apartment key.


Contents: Letter 1

Son,
Maybe the day will come when you will be able to continue this work.
Against that possibility I have invested some of what resources remain to me.
Take this letter to Sirocco, listen to what he says.

Signed NA


Contents: Letter 2

Sirocco,
I told you I'd be back.
The day of the lounger is here.
Tell the boy where the code is, and give him the rest of what you owe me.
All of it!

Signed NA


This apartment is top notch. It's part of Jobe and unexpectedly luxiurious. But my business is with the grit and grime of Rubi-Ka.
However, the most important thing is that the apartment is secure and has a private link into the grid.

Now to wait a while and see if my "package" works.
If it does, it will be time to visit Sirocco.



Secure personal data log entry ends
**:**:** *** ** 29***
J.Apt. *****

((Nice writing. A bit cryptic, but I'm sure explanations will come as you continue. Keep it up!))

Secure personal data log entry
**:**:** *** ** 29***
J.Apt. *****




Recruitment day!
I thought I'd spend today signing up with the Clans and showing my community spirit by engaging in a few Omni harrassing activities.
The Clan Recruiter in Borealis seemed a little jaded. I think he doubted my sincerity. Still, having to stand down-wind of the Omni Recruiter can't be pleasant. Later though, when I showed him a bag full of mission tokens, he looked happier and gave me a contact at the Golden Cup who was able to land me the sort of missions I was after.
John Perkins is his name, an ex-jailbird and a bit of a nerd. He did time for hacking info-booths, which gets him cool points in my book. After a few drinks he fixed me up with a couple of missions that allowed me to get my hands on a prototpe virus container and one of the new high-grade data encryption units.
The guy has some skills, and if all goes to plan I may have work for him.

To round off the day I tested how well integrated my code package was into the reclaim system. That involved getting a tiny bit drunk. Partly for cover, and partly to dull the pain. I needed to be killed again.
I headed for the radio dish embedded in the hill outside Borealis. I managed to sneak past the patrolling Unicorn soldier and walked out along the gantry to the centre of the dish. Once there I started to sing loudly and lewdly, and took a piss over the railing onto the dish below.
I swear I saw "WTF" in large firey letters pass through the Unicorns tiny mind as it stalled, mid stomp, to identify the source of the splashing and singing. Needless to say, the corporate guard-dog reflex kicked in shortly thereafter and I was subjected to a terminal blast that would have taken out a small army. You can probably still see the smoke rising above the dish.

Still, job done.

Passing though the reclaim system was a success. The trip has subtley changed my shop access key and a few test transactions proved that the modification is working.
So now, whenever someone visits reclaim and is carrying their shop access key, it gets altered. Then whenever they use their shop there is a small chance that some of the creds from any transaction will go astray. From what I hear this is already happening but neither the authorities or the people seem to care. Crazy, but for now it suits me to have control of some of this missing money.

Tomorrow I have a date with Sirocco.





Secure personal data log entry end
**:**:** *** ** 29***
J.Apt. *****

Secure personal data log entry
**:**:** *** ** 29***
J.Apt. *****




Man that Sirocco is one cautious dude.
Three times he made me go away and come back the next day.
And even then he insisted on checking out the effects of my reclaim code himself. Well, I say himself. What he actually did was check the effects on someone else.
It took him quite a while to get a volunteer. Eventually one of the Club hangers on, a wannabe hacker called DrDoom stepped up to the mark. A mark that is now likely to be there for some time.
Personally I would have thought a clean shot with a beamer would have sufficed, but no, Sirocco stapped a gravlev belt around a two ton boulder and lowered it ever so gently onto the hapless volunteer.
Still, the results seemed to satisfy him and he's agreed to hand over the gear and the location of the x-code tomorrow.

It'll not be easy purging that squishing sound from my mind...


Secure personal data log entry end
**:**:** *** ** 29***
J.Apt. *****

Secure personal data log entry
**:**:** *** ** 29***
J.Apt. *****




I think Sirocco is playing for time.
I'm beginning to suspect he doesn't have my gear or know the whereabouts of the x-code.
He made up some lame excuse about me needing to be an approved member of the 'Smoke Loungers' before he could release my stuff.
So I've spent the day dealing with a lunatic hobo, an irritating woman, a crazy old witch, a completey loopy atrox, and a cheeky kid who only escaped a good slapping because I was standing in an Omni park in full view of a couple of OT guard apes.
I've also killed more bloody robot dogs today than I could shake a titanium tibia at. However I did make the acquaintance of a rather nice young lady from West Athen, and that may well be the only good thing to come out of today.
This evening though, I was eventually granted membership to the club, but no sooner had Sirocco pressed the card into my hand than he dashed off on some urgent business.
It had better have been regarding my stuff, because powerful and scary as he might be, he must have realized by now that there's a wind of change blowing and he would be well advised to take note of the direction.




Secure personal data log entry end
**:**:** *** ** 29***
J.Apt. *****

Secure personal data log entry
**:**:** *** ** 29***
J.Apt. *****




I got an encrypted message from Sirocco at daybreak. I was to meet him on the top tier of the FGrid at noon.
I got there early and had a chat with Gridman. I could tell there were things he wanted to say to me, but something held him back.
Sirocco tuned up exactly on noon. He had a quick exchange with Gridman and then led me around to the far side of the tier.

I recorded the conversation.


Sirocco: Let's make this quick. This place is the safest there is for information exchanges, but I am watched everywhere I go and even with Teds help...
Me: You have my stuff then?
Sirocco: Yes, yes, I have your gear. And yes, it's all there. You can pick up the physical stuff in this apartment. There, I just datavised the key to you.
Me: OK got it. What about the x-code.
Sirocco: That is more complex.
Me: You don't have it?
Sirocco: No, it was hidden. It had to be. It cannot exist as a single coherant datastream without becoming active. And you know that cannot happen before...
Me: Yes, I'm well aware of what would happen. So where is it.
Sirocco: It has been stored in a number of qubitstreams in quantum storage devices that have in turn been concealed in certain objects.
Sirocco: I am in the process of verifying the whereabouts of them now.


At that point Gridman flashed us an evac warning and Sirrocco vanished through one of the unused exits. I followed but the pad was inactive, so I dropped down passed through the nearest active exit.

I have returned to my Jobe apartment rather than go pick up my gear as I caught sight of several people entering the FGrid just before I exited and I want to be clean if any of them come calling.






Secure personal data log entry end
**:**:** *** ** 29***
J.Apt. *****

Secure personal data log entry
**:**:** *** ** 29***
J.Apt. *****



There was no noticable fallout from yestrdays meeting with Sirocco, either physically or on the net.
This morning I made my way to block 14 in Old Athen to retrieve the gear Sirocco had been holding for me. The man himself was absent from his usual hangout. Avoiding me perhaps.

So now I am well equipped with armour and weapons and the tools of the trade I'll be needing later.

The armour is weird. It's my first up close look at materials made from alien technology. It looks like nanowired leather, and smells like it's been cured in a vat of squashed roaches. But is certainly does its job and when wearing it I'm beginning to be able to take advantage of some of the better weapons available on Rubi-Ka.

As there was no news on the location of any of the x-code fragments I met up with John Perkins again and spent the day earning some more small victories for the Clan cause.

I paid a visit to my shop and picked up the earnings my cred scavenger code has been harvesting. Just small stuff for now, it amazes me how lax the auditing process is for the commission calculations.

Now it's time to meet up with Coco again. She's promised to show me some of the more intersting nightlife Rubi-ka has to offer.




Secure personal data log entry end
**:**:** *** ** 29***
J.Apt. *****

Secure personal data log entry
**:**:** *** ** 29***
J.Apt. *****



I met the leader of the Iron Council off-world some months back. He didn't volunteer much information about the organization during our conversations, but my subsequent enquiries showed them to be an old, varied and tightly knit unit with a high degree of capability and no small resources.

As I said I would, I looked them up and today Iaom inducted me into the Iron Council. As a mark of respect to my father, he has granted me full access to the Iron Council city and other resources and the honourary rank of General.

The Iron Council is ruled in practice by the Triumverate of Iaom, Boaz and Shibboleth. Between them they manage many operations influenced and funded by both the Clans and Jobe.

I attended an alien raid today and saw several aliens charmed and led off into the research labs. I followed to see what was happening and was suprised to see a couple of Omni's there. Iaom quickly took me to one side and explained that they were our people and essential to many of the clan successes of the past few years.

I can see the reasons - but find it hard to see myself being able to do that role, or to be able to entirely trust someone that does.

Still no word from Sirocco.




Secure personal data log entry end
**:**:** *** ** 29***
J.Apt. *****