Daschande felt himself being rematerialized into solid matter. It was always a funny feeling to him; but now it brought him comfort. Comfort that he was truly OK; that "wierd" sensation somehow made him feel more "normal" at that moment. As he blinked to regain his vision, he saw the familiar sight of the Haven city. The org's name was as poignant as it was truthful. That name never seemed more symbolic than right now.
Thankfully, the Grid terminal also deposited him right next to his favorite bar! Walking up to the familiar bartender, he gave only slightly more than his usual drink order:
"3 Plumbo's and a bottle of whiskey...for starters, please"
"Scottish whiskey OK?"
"Oh Jesus..." Dasch said while holding his head in his hands "I'll feel this one in the morning... Sure!"
"Hmm, sounds like you've had a rough day" replied the bartender as he filled my order. Such things come easily to those who have seen it all. Wisdom usually comes as easily too, but right now I just wanted to be alone.
"You have NO idea my friend, but I really don't want to talk about it now." I made my best attempt at a smile and turned away to find a table. For once, I didn't take my usual seat facing the Trade Market after realizing that I could be caught out in the open in that seat. Not there, I decided after glancing around; there were way too many sight lines to my forehead in that seat.I had never worried much about death before; my experience reclaim pool could CERTIANLY attest to that... but now it was different. Queena had messed with the Omni-Armed Forces. When they tore down the door to our small but beautiful one-bedroom apartment in Jobe, my first instinct was to defend my lover and to extricate the invaders from my home. The fact that it was MY Love and MY Inner Sanctum being attacked demanded the use of extreme force. That meant that I had messed with Omni-AF. And those guys don't F around.
After Queena and I grew closer, she hinted about secret missions that she might know about; but when pressed she refused to say anything except that "It's for the good of Free Citizens across the world." ...But that was Queena. Her honesty was ONLY overruled by her loyalty. She would have been an excellent Bureaucrat! But that was not the path she chose; when the proverbial stuff hit the fan, she trusted her rifle far more than anyone's words. I took a long, deep swig out of the bottle of whiskey and grimaced. She certaintly wouldn't drink this S. After cracking open a Plumbo, I poured some out in the grass. "One for my Homies" I explained to the bartender, when he looked up from his work to see what I was doing. He smiled his usual big, knowing smile as if he knew exactly what I was going through. I sighed; perhaps he did.
I finally sat down at the table closest to the whompa to Neuters 'R Us. It wasn't much of an escape route, but the window of opportunity is always wider when you provide yourself with more options. Plus, I needed to take care of a few things before I got hammered. I checked my communicator to see if my Org president, Ghiam, was available. He might be my first peice in this impossible puzzle. ...Damn, i didn't get through! I left him a short message, not wanting to give too much away, just in case THEY were listening.
"G, it's Dasch. I think I may need your help with some org issues before they become big problems... please get in touch with me!" Hopefully that would throw anyone off my scent. Mr. Paranoia was finally kicking in again. I sure could have used him earlier...
It was just the night before when Queena told me to watch myself. We were at the Reet Retreat; she had somehow talked me into going dancing at some GSP party, but I spent most of the time at the bar until she noticed me having a lousy time. After many drinks in a quiet corner booth, she finally told me as much of her secret as she was ever going to tell me. By the look in her eye I knew to just shut up and not press for details.
"I've got myself into something BIG here. I promise I'll explain everything when it's all over, but for now just watch your back... Our backs." she added a second later, before finally admitting softly "I may really need your help with this." Looking back on it, that should have told me how serious things were. Before I could ponder for very long though, she grabbed me and pulled me close, whispering in my ear with that special look on her face "We need to get home...now" At that point I couldn't tell if she was speaking out of inebriation or out of love but, needless to say, I did NOT object!
Early the next morning, I decided to surprise my love with breakfast in bed. She hated cooking and my day job while in the Professional Academy really came in handy! While the eggs were bubbling happily, I flipped on my home terminal and checked my mail. One of my monitoring programs automatically beeped at me; there were voices outside my door and the scanner showed that it was a large group of heavily-armed men! Before I could check the logs, I heard from the live feed "NOW! NOW! Mission compromised, MOVE IN!" as my overly-sturdy door exploded into shards of metal and faux woodwork. My faithful robotic guardian was on the attackers instantly; so was the alarm set to my personal communicator, now beeping annoyingly on my wrist. I cursed myself for not setting the majority of my "traps" designed to delay or stop an intruder, but I still had one trick left up my sleeve.
Running back in the kitchen, I turned off the gas burner and turned the gas on again, just high enough to not auto-ignite the flame. My antique range was going to save my neck today; or at least create a distraction. As I started a small fire in the cabinets and ran back to the bedroom, I saw Queena crouched at the doorway with her eye in her scope, ready to make her final stand against the next thing that moved around that corner. "Not today!" I screamed to her, looking back just in time to see my lifeless bot on the ground, riddled with bullet holes. I knew that we had precious little time. Back in the bedroom, I shoved the bed to the side and pulled on the carpet until I found my secret trap door. So secret, if fact, that even Queena didn't yet know of it's existance; but she only exclaimed with a smirk "A secret door, huh? Damn I Love you!" I pulled Queena down with me as I jumped feet-first down the chute. If all went according to plan, we would be deposited in the alley next to our apartment building, out of a door cleverly disguised as a trash port. I had taken every possible precaution, even registering that portal for automatic weekly pickup... under a false name and authority code, of course. Working as a Bureaucrat Attache' had its advantages, especially when you need to work around the system to keep your own secrets.
When I saw the door at our feet, I knew we were only one solid kick away from freedom. I put my foot against that door with all my might, but it would not budge! Queena illuminated the light on her communicator and shined it on the door jamb. "Look at that metal, right there...that shouldn't be there. Someone sealed us in" she said, sounding completely detatched and clinical. "The door is welded shut" HOW???? I wondered. NO ONE knew of my last chance escape route! I took EVERY precaution. I left NO trail... yet somehow, we were stuck in a metal box, but climbing back up only meant certain death, or worse.
"Oh well" Queena sighed "Maybe that gas will explode before they shoot us. I'd prefer a quick death anyways"
The gas! I thought to myself. Maybe I can fool them, if the timing is JUST right... I frantically punched my communicator until I reached an old trading friend of mine. A while ago I had saved him from bankruptcy and he told me of a special trick he learned through hacking the OT communications network. He promised me that it would be useful one day when I really needed a favor; damn did I ever need a favor right then!
"...you want me to grid you from WHERE? OK, what the Hell is going on? "
"I don't have time to explain right now, but I'm trapped in a hole with people shooting at me, and the building is about to blow up any second! ...oh, and I have an extra passenger too. She gets priority though."
"Extra passenger? SHE? This must be a good story and now you'll have to share; especially for a grid warp from Jobe! ...one second! "
I heard the sound of gunshots from above. They must be getting frustrated but were still too stupid to check for my trap... "I don't have a second, this building is about to ignite NOW!!! PLEASE get us out of here!"
"OK, here goes nuttin!" We stood there waiting for our saving grace when voices came from above:
"We found em' Colinel, they're stuck in the hole!"
then another voice, farther away "Fire! Fire in the kitchen!"
A fullisade of rounds was pumped into the wall in-between the bedroom and the kitchen
Just as I felt myself digitize, I could hear the beginnings of "No, You Idio...." which was drowned out by an enormous roar and replaced immediately by a wall of flame shooting directly towards us down the trash chute.
Before my brain could process that threat, I instantly re-materialized, as if I were going in between the Grid and solid space instantaneously. I found myself in my friend's apartment in Omni-Trade. Sitting directly next to me was Queena's Caterwaul and the pendant I had given her a few days ago.
"What the Hell happened?" I berated him "Where the HELL is Queena?" This man was a trusted friend but he was still an Omni employee... Had they reached him too?
I stared him down as I pressed the muzzle of my pistol against his forehead; at this range its relatively low damage would make no difference. The look in his eyes showed that he understood that fact too."Tell me what you did with her... NOW!"
"I swear to you, my friend" he replied, shaking noticably "I did nothing to your passenger. You and she were supposed to end up directly next to me. The process relies on reclaim data so it should be foolproof under ANY circumstances!" I lowered my weapon and he paused, thinking. "Well, pull up her reclaim data please and we can see where she is now"
He typed in an account and eventually I saw the familiar ICC Citizen Interface, with one critical change which eased me immensely. My good friend was looking out for me after all. I holstered my weapon as I sat down.
# Please input Citizen ID:
I typed in her ID carefully, fearing the worst. No way had OT been able to erase her reclaim data; that technology was rumored to exist, but that would be a crime of the highest order! All Clans and even many Neuts had sworn boundless war against ALL Omni, even families, if they didn't end their reclaim research that was halted several years ago. Nowadays only the ICC had acces to that kind of data...Hopefully. I closed my eyes as I hit Enter.
# Sorry, no data for Citizen #1969728, Please input Citizen ID:
I Screamed, I cursed, I threw objects around until Remy finally calmed me down, then I tried again and again
# Sorry, no data for Citizen #1969728, Please input Citizen ID:
# Sorry, no data for Citizen #1969728, Please input Citizen ID:
# Sorry, no data for Citizen #1969728, Please input Citizen ID:
# Sorry, no data for Citizen #1969728, Please input Citizen ID:
# Sorry, no data for Citizen #1969728, Please input Citizen ID:
Slowly the realisation sunk in. Queena was Perma-Dead. Someone had taken great care to make sure she was never heard from again; but who? And why? How was the least of my concerns at that point. I thanked Remy profusely and left before drawing any more attention to us. On the short Yalm flight back to the Grid Terminal, I wondered what Queena had done to make someone see her as such a large threat. ...then the realization hit me... They'll probably be looking for me, maybe even now! That didn't seem like a very happy or prosperous future.
Sitting in the Grid, I pondered my next move "Aww, F it" I thought to myself "I need a drink; probably several" and headed to the friendly local Cantina...