Chapter 2
A Feeling of Self
Boise Neighborhood
Auburn, Seattle
10:12 pm
Lori pulled up across the street from the address that Hector had given her. It wasn't much to look at. It was an old building nestled impossibly close to it's neighbors. The paint was chipped and it's brick walls were covered by years of grim. The front door was at the top of a few concrete steps. There was also no light shining from any of the windows. In fact, all the windows seemed to be covered by some sort of screen.
She sighed, knowing that there was no turning around. She was about to enter the world of a shadowrunner in it's fullest form. No more working in the background, providing information to a fixer. She was in the mainstream now as Hector had put it.
She stepped out of her small car, pulling a bag from the passenger seat and slinging it across her shoulder. She glanced around the street, finding it quiet and deserted. With a final breath she crossed and headed up the short flight of steps to the front door. Her hand pressed up against her hip, feeling the reassuring weight of her pistol sitting there. Lori gave one more quiet sigh, looking around the street a last time, before knocking on the ancient door.
"What?" A deep, harsh voice rumbled from the other side. Lori could almost feel eyes watching her.
"My names Tart." She said, telling her nickname as Hector had told her too. "Hector sent me here."
There was a moment of silence. Then the maglock was undone and the door swung open just enough to allow Lori to come inside. A hulking shadow stayed behind the door, using it for cover incase she wasn't alone.
A shadowrunner, Lori thought, a big one on top of that. Not sure on how to act, she smiled back at the large runner as he closed and locked the door. Even though she had been snooping the Matrix for Hector for months, she never had met the runners that he had hired her to get the information for. This made Lori a little curious, wondering what would happen next. When the runner flipped on a light, Lori saw that he was an ork. An ork standing over a half a meter taller than her with dark skin and a chrome arm. His features were harsh and menacing with tell tail scars running on his flesh and blood arm and on his face. She felt a little uneasy, but tried to relax.
"I'm Gideon." He said, looking her over from head to toe. "Hector told us that you were coming." He motioned her down a small hallway to a door at the end. "This way." He pointed.
As the two of them walked passed a small, side room that had no door Gideon nodded his head at a shadow that was by a window. "Smiley." Gid rumbled. "You got watch, don't frag it up."
"I got it covered." The shadow replied, crouched a the window. "Shut off the damn light."
Gideon nodded, switching off the light as he opened up the door at the end of the hallway and let Tart through.
The door opened to a room that was flooded with blinding light. It took a moment for Lori's eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness. Gideon didn't seem to have any problems with it. The room was completely made of concrete with only two doors. The windows had been covered over with brick to prevent any light from getting out. Immediately as the two of them stepped in they heard the arguing voices of few people.
"No I won't do it." Nightsky blurted, his hand on a printout of the blueprints for the research center. He pointed to a long hallway than ran from the south door to the lobby were a guard booth was located. "There's no way I can make that. That's at least three hundred meters down that hall with cameras on. The guard at the booth will see me before I get halfway there. And that's not the only thing." He flipped through a few more sheets of clear plastic printouts. "Right here, the security says that there's a patrol on this floor. There's no place to hid in the hall."
"You won't have to worry about the patrol." Lenny said. "There's another way."
"How? By offing the guards, sure, but that's going to attract some attention when they don't report in."
"You don't have to face the guards, period." Lenny pointed a small room just on the other side of the south door. "You said that you can get this door open. This room next to it is a janitor closet. Mops and such, nothing really to protect. So there won't be a camera there."
The young norm shrugged. "How's that help me get to the guard booth?"
Lenny pulled out another set of blueprints. This one for ventilation, electrical, and plumbing. "There's a duct in that closet. Through a bit of twists and turns, it comes out over the booth, just a few meters behind where the guard sits. Knock out the guard and take control of the booth. Then switch off the fence so we can cut our way through."
Nightsky didn't reply. He picked up the blueprint and started at it for a moment, tracing a winding path through the ducts to wear it came out above the booth. "Well, it's going to be a tight fit."
Lenny shook his head. "You're the only one small enough to begin with."
Nightsky nodded. "And I'll probably get lost in all these twists and turns."
"Then you'll just have to memorize the map." Gideon rumbled, sending a small shock through Nightsky who almost jumped at the ork's deep voice. Gid closed the door behind Lori. "Lenny, this is Tart. The decker that Hector sent over."
Lenny looked her over, sizing her up. For a moment Lori felt that like she was being interrogated, so she appeared to cringe a little. For the first time she noticed that, besides herself and Gideon, there were three other people in the room. One, a norm with reddish-brown hair and pitch black cybereyes, had to be Lenny. He was the one that had been pointing things out on a large printout that covered a metal table in the center of the room. The other human in the room was nothing like Lori would expect a shadowrunner to look like.He stood shorter than her, obviously lighter than herself. His body seemed to be constantly tensed and he wore a long coat that made it difficult to judge his size. Even so she could still make out the butt of a handgun in a cross-draw holster. Another person that she almost didn't notice was an elven female who was wearing an extravagant blue-leather body suit that was stunted with jewels and other things that glittered in the light. She had brilliant blonde hair that Lori was instantly envious of. Yet some of the decorations on her body suit looked unusual.
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Tart." Lenny greeted warmly. He crossed the table to her and took her hand in a light gentleman kiss. The small norm that he had been talking with backed away as he approached. "Hector's said some good things about you. Reliable and intelligent to be flattering." He gave a warm smile. "Let me introduce you to some people."
Lori returned his smile. Though she still felt a little uncomfortable with everyone referring to her as Tart. She wasn't quite use to this lifestyle.
Lenny motioned at the ork behind her. "That's Gideon behind you. I think you would know him." His hands moved across the room. "The lady there-" He pointed to the elf. "-is Shard. Our astral muscle."
Shard walked over and shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, Tart." She said, her eyes giving a faint glow as their hands touched.
Lenny pointed to the small human that he had been talking with. "That fellow there is Nightsky. He's a little like Shard, being with magic and all. 'Cept that he's a physical adept."
Nightsky looked Lori over, finding her to be quietly attractive, but somewhat shy. Still, not wanting to seem cold, he nodded and waved at her from a distance. She looked uneasy enough with Gideon and Lenny surrounding her.
"Our rigger, Riggs, is downstairs. You'll meet him later." Lenny pointed out the door they had entered. "And that's Smiley by the front door. He's a bit eccentric, so try not to bother him much. Not to worry, though. He's harmless." Shard smirked at that last bit.
Lori straightened her posture. She sensed that an uneasy silence was about to descend, so she decided to pick up and say something. "Hector said that you needed some Matrix help on your job. He said you needed some research done and someone to watch security?"
Gideon exchanged glances with Lenny who gave a small shrug. Gid then turned back to the door. "I'm going out on watch." He said as he left.
Lori felt a little uncomfortable after the ork left. To her, that was a little strange.
Lenny motioned to a folding chair buy the table. "Something like that. We do need some data confirmed before tomorrow night. Have a seat and let me fill you in."
Lori snaked into the chair, sitting her cyberdeck next to her on the floor and gently folding her hands on the tabletop. Nightsky, the physical adept that Lenny had mentioned, moved into a seat next to her while the mage, Shard, sat at the end of the table. Her eyes darted back to Nightsky. A physical adept, She thought. She had heard about them before, though physads didn't receive as much notice in official circles as mages and shamans did.
"We've been hired to penetrate this facility." Lenny explained, waving his hand over the layers of blueprints. "Our objective is here." His finger stamped on a room labeled Laboratory 2. "It's a offline system that's not hooked up to the Matrix. Our goal is to download a file from this system by having you, our decker, to directly access the mainframe. Once you've downloaded the file our goal is to get back out without anyone ever knowing we were there.
"Now we've already planned how to get passed the security." He pulled out an outside picture of the facility from underneath the blueprints. "The site is surrounded by this fence." He pointed out. "It's about three meters high and topped with monowire. To make it harder, it's got an electric charge running through it. We've got information that the cut-off for the fence is in the guard booth here." Lenny pointed back to a set of blueprints that he and Nightsky had been talking about. "What we are going to do is boost Nightsky-" He pointed at the physad. "-over the fence. His job is to sneak up to this south door, pick the lock, and gain entry into the building. Then he's to enter this closet and get into the ventilation system." Lenny pulled out a map of the ducts and traced a path so that Nightsky could see it. "Here's is the path you can take, 'Sky. From here you should have a shot at the guard at the booth. Once the booth is under control, switch off the electricity in the fence. Then the rest of us will move in." Lenny paused and pulled out a floor plan to the first level where the lab was. "Me, Smiley, Gideon, Shard, and you, Tart, will cut through the fence and make our way to the already opened south door and head for the lab." Lenny pointed a finger at Michael. "Sky, you monitor the cameras from the booth. Let us know if any patrols came by. Once we have the file, we'll all go out the same way that we come in."
Lori frowned. "So, I'm going to have to be going in with the rest of you?"
"That's right, there's no other way because it's on a closed system."
"There's also a few other problems that we've got to deal with." Shard said.
"That's for sure." Nightsky interjected. "There's cameras on the outside of this place and on the inside that might pick me up before I can take the guard booth."
Lenny held up his hand, quieting the two down. He turned back to Lori and continued his explanation. "All the cameras run into the guard booth. The guard at the booth will be taken care of once 'Sky gets to him. So there's no threat of the cameras on the way out. However, it's different on the way in."
"So you need me to put in a droppler on the camera screens to they'll show the same image over and over." She pointed at Nightsky. "While he makes his way inside. I can do that, but I can't stop any physical guards from seeing him."
" I wouldn't worry about that." Lenny smiled. "Nightsky's job is not to be seen."
Lori felt a little embarrassed. She stole a glance at the physical adept, expecting to see a cold stare. Instead he was focused on a map of the ducts. "There's something I don't understand." Lori started to explain just as the second door in the room swung open.
With a loud squeak as the door moved against its hinges, a short, waddling figure made his way into the room. The dwarf was no more than a meter and a half tall with a bald spot on the middle of his head and a rough, flowing beard that was so long it completely covered his neck.
"Ah, Lenny, I finally got the blasted piece of tech up to specs, but I don't think the little drone will handle the weight too much. Going to slow it down." He said, scampering into a seat next to Shard. "But it works--" He cut himself off as he noticed Tart. "--whose this?"
"Tart, this is Riggs. Our transportation expert." Lenny introduced. "Riggs, say hello to our decker."
"Er...hi." Riggs replied, Tart smiled back. "Look, Lenny, I don't know how that drone will handle the extra weight, so don't expect miracles."
The paranoid rigger that Hector mentioned, Lori thought to herself. She couldn't help to laugh a little. This short, obnoxious dwarf would be driving.
"I never do," Lenny added. "Now back to the business. What were you saying, Tart?"
"Well," She cleared her throat. "I can block the cameras, but where am I going to do it from?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you said that I have to be inside, right?" Lori hated that thought, but she pushed it aside for the moment. She may be shy at everything else, but the Matrix was her playground. It was embarrassing to mess something up there. She wanted to prove that she could handle it. "Where am I going to connect with the Matrix to override the cameras? Normally I could do it from any phone line, but I don't see how here."
"So you need an uplink to get into the system?" Lenny asked.
"That's right."
Lenny ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, we could run a hardware link from on of the datalines running into the place. That's another headache, we'd have to fake some repair orders and come up with work uniforms to have a reason for messing with those things."
Riggs stuck out a stumpy finger. "Nah, there's another way that I heard of." He turned to Tart. "Tell me girl, ever heard of a satlink?"
Indeed Lori had. A satellite link would mean that she could uplink to the matrix from anywhere as long as she had a dish. Her deck had already been configured to support one. "Yes, yes I could work with one of them. But where would the dish be?"
Riggs shook his head. "That's the problem. We don't have a dish."
"Can you get one?" Lenny asked.
"Probably." Riggs replied. "I don't know, maybe. It'd have to be mounted on top of the Bison and that could prove to be a pain in the arse. I'd have to install a firmpoint, but I don't have the room."
"What about a portable one?"
"Portable?" Riggs repeated. "Yeah, that might work."
"Those are hard to find." Lori added, feeling proud of herself that she had something to say. "Companies don't just hand them out. There's registration and all."
"Could we get one off a news van?" Nightsky offered, knowing that his knowledge about electronics is limited beyond maglocks.
"Nope." Riggs snapped his fingers. "I might be able to make one." He looked at Tart. "But I'm going to need some help. It won't last long, maybe a dozen or so uses, a few hours worth of connection time, but I'm sure I could do it. All we'd have to do is set it out when we got there."
"What would you need?"
Riggs spared a concerning glance toward Tart, expecting her to have something to say. "Well, you can get the electronics at any friendly neighborhood Radio Shack. There's a type of plastic webbing that can be used and some polymers. Plus cable and links to hook up to the Bison's powerplant."
"How long to put it together, Riggs?"
"Maybe an hour or two, but you got to have the parts."
Lenny nodded and glanced at Tart. "You need anything to make it work?"
Tart was about to speak up, but remained quiet. She answered after a brief moment. "No, nothing."
"Okay." Lenny pulled out a cigarette and lite it with a plastic lighter. "Riggs, you and Tart go out tomorrow morning and pick up what you need. Try to have everything together by noon and give it a test run to make sure it holds together. Take Smiley with you as backup."
"I need to pickup some materials too, Lenny." Shard said. "There's something about this that I don't like, so I'm going to bring in some spiritual support. I've already called Hector and he thinks he should have the materials I need by tomorrow. I need some time for the summoning too. Maybe four hours or so."
"Okay, Shard." Lenny glanced at Michael as he knocked the ashes off his cigarette. "Nightsky, go with her in the morning. I don't want anyone wondering off on their own for the next few days."
"You got it." Nightsky replied.
"Gideon and me will swing by the site tomorrow as well. Give the place a look over. In the meantime-" Lenny dug out a pocket secretary from the mound of blueprints and printouts on the table. "Tart, this contains all the information that we've got on the job. I want you to get on the Matrix and try to verify some of this. Specially the information about the security and the company, ParaTech."
"Okay." Tart said and took the secretary from him.
"Let's get some rest. We'll go over what you've found in the morning." Lenny stood and stamped out his cigarette. "Riggs, Nightsky." He called. "You two got watch in three hours, so you better get some rest. Shard and I will take the dawn watch."
"Yeah, we're always stuck with the midnight shift." Nightsky commented as he got up. "Com'on, Riggs, we know when we're not wanted." The dwarf waddled out of his chair and followed Nightsky out of the room.
"Tart," Lenny continued. "Let me know what you find. There's a few bedrooms upstairs and a lounge that's got a telecom link you can use. There's a garage in the basement. If anything goes wrong in the Matrix that could lead anyone back here, tell whoever's on watch. There'll always be two of us up."
Tart nodded. "Okay, I'll take care of it." She said and headed up to the lounge with her bag.
Once she had left the room, Lenny approached Shard. "What do you think about her?"
"Who, Tart?"
"Yeah. Hector said that she had a lot of talent, but was relatively new to this type of work." Lenny explained. "He spoke highly of her, though." He added as he began filing away all the papers on the table and putting them into a large gym bag. Each of the blueprints he rolled up and tucked the loose printouts into their own folders.
"Hector's never let us down before, Lenny. If he trusts Tart, then we should too."
"Still, I'd like to keep an eye on her. I'll spread the word around before I go to bed."
"Your getting as bad as Riggs." Shard smiled and stood, brushing off her clothes. "Goodnight, Lenny. See you in the morning."
March 11, 2059
5:23 am
Lenny sat in a reclining chair feeling somewhat relaxed. Yet the wires in his body and his current mood wouldn't let him fall asleep. That was okay with him because it was his watch. Not that he needed to pay much attention. Shard had summoned what she called a Watcher spirit to patrol the grounds around the safehouse. The spirit could cover much more ground than he could, leaving Lenny with little to do. He still smiled at the fact that the spirit, Shard had said, was about as smart as a brick.
A small tridscreen flickered with the early morning news. An attractive looking norm female gave a bright smile to her audience as another male anchor showed off his rock-like hair. For the most part, Lenny ignored what they were saying. He caught important things like the weather and traffic reports, keeping a running tab of which roads would be closed and which ones would be opened. Soon the topic changed to the current political race that was in progress. To Lenny, there seemed to be one of these every year. This time it was for Seattle's Congressional seat in Washington. Somebody named James Eli Wesson and his opponent, Brandon Cole Olson, held debates and arguments in an attempt to gain popular votes. Lenny found the whole thing silly, yet amusing. Though he wouldn't be voting for either of them. Being part of the SINless made it hard to vote in elections.
Lenny barely noticed when Tart came into the room he was in. Her small frame made little noise on the old, plush carpet of the flat. She held a few printouts in her hand as she crossed over in front of him.
"Good morning." He said, staring up at her. He took the remote in his hand and hit the mute key. "Have any interesting times last night?"
"Yes, I did." She said, a little unsure of herself and not quite knowing how to take Lenny's question. "I found some things."
"Anything different with the info on the site?"
Tart looked down at the papers in her hand, then back up to Lenny. "Just a few things. They use dogs to patrol the fence and the security force is larger. There's at least fourteen guards on duty each night. Those extra guards are stationed at the main gate. Not inside."
Lenny nodded. "Anything else?"
"I've got some things on ParaTech."
"Let's hear it."
Tart cleared her throat. "It's not much, but the company makes most of it's profits in the field of chemical compounds. They research new ways to produce compounds for the industrial market and sell the research to manufacturing firms. They also do some experimental work in developing new compounds. Mostly they work with organic substances. It's a small company, with their headquarters based in downtown. Some of the most recent records and news reports I've found say that the company's been going through some hard times. They've had to downsize by about twenty percent."
"What kind of compounds?"
"Well, from what I found, most of it is petroleum by-products. New types of synthetic oils, cleaners, and soaps. Some of their more interesting advances have been in organic substances by finding new links with carbon chains. They've developed a few new materials, including a new transparent plastic, that's been put to use in industry."
"Any idea why they downsized?"
Tart shook her head. "Not any one reason by itself. The past few years they've been having research set backs. This caused some companies to pull their grants. Mostly small companies, but Boeing use to be a major funder. They put up nuyen for research into new manufacturing solutions in making the alloys at their plant. Some other corps major corps also include Renraku and Mauss Chemicals to a small degree, but Renraku pulled out almost three years ago. Mauss only in the last six months."
Lenny nodded again, filing away the bit of information. "Okay, find anything else?"
"Only one other thing. That file we're after?"
"Yeah, the one labeled Rankers 120 in the offline system."
"Well, I ran through ParaTech's records and found out who was working on the project. A chemist by the name of David Gill. Nothing really special about him. He's got a wife and two daughters, model husband. From his file, he's a hard worker, though a bit over zealous to Para's executives." Tart sat down in a couch across from Lenny. "That's it."
"Okay, good job." Lenny complimented. "You better get some sleep after all that time in the Matrix. I'll wake everyone up around seven and fill them in on what you've found. Riggs will come and get you at about eight so the two of you can work on putting that dish together."
Tart nodded, thinking that Lenny wasn't so bad after all. She made her way out of the room.
"Oh, and Tart."
She looked over shoulder. "Yes?"
"Let me congratulate you again for pulling all this off." Lenny said. "On top of that, you did it without getting traced."
Tart smiled, though she detected a little accusation in Lenny's voice. "Thanks, Lenny."
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