Cephalic Courier 2

Cephalic Courier

An ongoing story serially posted at the forum for Trese Brother's Games
Set in the world of Cyber Knights RPG
Written by shards

Trese Brothers Forums

"Bacto," I say, slipping into a booth in the back of the Killing Naga club. A raise of the eyebrows tells him I've uncovered some dirt on Yakashima. I'm still a little sore from the ambush a few days ago. It seems unlikely to me that it was a setup- but somebody wasn't guarding their information well enough, and it nearly got my runner killed. That deserved retribution.


"Knight," he addresses me. The connectors weren't kidding. You really do assume an all-new life when you become a Cyber Knight. People don't know my name, and they don't want to know my name.
"What's good here?" I ask, picking up a menu, not really paying attention.
"Cut the crap, Knight."
I slide the menu back across the table. He knows I've left a micropane full of Yaka paydata in between its sleeves.
His sustained glare means he's asking me how much. I lay five fingers down on the table. His mood lightens. Barely.
"It's expensive," he tells me, "the kind of stuff well-paid people can afford. I'm sure you'll be fine."
I order a half-dozen shots of synthetic alcohol and scan the room. Scorpion sits at the bar. Clive chatting up some corp waitress in white perforatex. Exits at 3 o'clock and 7 o'clock. Twelve tables, a couple dozen patrons. Any of them could be armed, dangerous, and possessing any kind of unfortunate objectives. That's fine though- I've had my evening pax and I feel ready for anything.
"By the way," Bacto says to me with those cold mechanical eyes. "Someone left you a message. Said to call them back. Didn't leave a V-chip though. Good luck with that. You gonna drink those?" Unceremoniously, he reaches across the table and picks up a shot glass of vudka, tilting the contents down his throat. The glass hits the table with an audible clack before he slides it in my direction. It skids and falls over. A V-chip lands in my lap. "Anyway, my time here is up. The work of a tech head is never done. Nice talkin' to you, Knight." He's gone as quickly as I came in.

---

I leave Scorpion and Clive at the mall across the street while I make a stop to the American History Museum. Its halls echo with the dead stillness of a tomb. Empty- just the way I like it. Their Matrix terminal looks like it hasn't been updated since the 22nd century. I make the call.
The vid window is black. A voice comes out the other end, warped and distorted. "Hello Knight."
"Hello, ominous black screen."
"I will be your Connector. An unspoken party needs a Cyber Knight willing to work against Yakashima to infiltrate a building inside of Yakashima territory."
Infiltrate a building? This is a step beyond the usual cap-and-walk assassinations these creeps were fond of handing out to me.
"And if I agree?" Never agree until you hear the price tag.
"I'm not here to prance around, Knight. Underneath the Matrix terminal you're at is a package. Pick it up."
I remove a white, lozenge-shaped container from under the terminal. Just as I'm trying to puzzle out how to open it, it slides open with a ker-psshh.
"Inside, you will find a lab coat, an ID card, retinal lenses, artificial fingerprints, a covert voice modulator and chip containing detailed floor plans and information about staff and guard changes."
"What is all this for?" I ask, bewildered.
"You, Knight, are going to break into CyberDyne Medical Tech. On the nineteenth floor, you will find an infranet terminal that is completely off the Global Matrix."
"And?"
"Your job is to plug it in. We'll handle the rest from there."
I go over the specifics in my mind. It's a suicide mission. I won't be able to take any heavy weaponry. I might not be able to take any weaponry. Same goes for armour. And I'm not thrilled about trusting a disembodied voice on a blacked-out circuit.
"If I refuse?"
"Refusal is not an option. But, my employers are not criminals." (Yeah, right.) "I have wired you an advance. I would suggest you spend it in preparation of your coming ordeal. You have exactly four days, seventeen hours and forty-three minutes. Connector out."
The line goes dead. I check my credder. It's sixteen thousand yen larger than it was twenty minutes ago.

I guess I better start preparing.