This is an adventure for all the William Gibson fans ( especially those who liked his short story Johnny Mnemonic).  My thanks to Matthew for granting permission for me to host his revised article on my web site. - Kevin Clark - Jul 4th, 2000.

INTRODUCTION

My agent, Bennie Dicker, hadn't really been able to set up one of those "really hot" deals he's always talking about.  I was beginning to think about having someone else shop my talents around when he came up with this job.

"All you have to do is keep your eye on this sweet little thing for a couple of days," he says.  "It's easy money."

But, you know, easy money is never that easy.

Some "sweet little thing."  This woman was vicious.  Not in a physical way, or she wouldn't have needed us, but you could see it in her eyes.  She knew what she wanted and exactly how to get it.

There was something else I could see too -- she was scared.

The PCs are offered short-term employment as bodyguards for Brigitte Gentry, described by their agent as an independent businesswoman.  The job pays Lv200 a day for each PC, for a minimum of 14 days, plus expenses.  Gentry has retained the option of continuing the employment for an unspecified amount of time.  She has also indicated a need for a cyberspace jockey and will require the PCs to find one for her if there is not one among their group.

Gentry will provide the following information about herself and her situation: She acts as a storage medium for clients who have sensitive information that needs to be kept in a place where it cannot be accessed.  In order to do this she has had herself wired with a gigabyte of protected memory.  Her clients download their information to her memory and set an access code.  This memory is protected by a security program called Watchdog, and Gentry cannot access that portion of memory or override her security protocol.  It is a very secure arrangement and Gentry is paid well for her services, averaging Lv100 per megabyte of storage per day.

This service, as well as her other business dealings, have worked out well for Gentry over the last couple of years -- that is until now.  Gentry is currently carrying a large block of information for Jase Skinner, a fairly experienced cyberjock.  He arranged for Gentry to hold his goods while he looked for a buyer.  But someone wasted Skinner in his apartment two days ago.

Now Gentry needs the PCs to find a secure place for her to stay, find a cyberjock who can unlock her protected memory so she can access the information there, and try to find out who killed Skinner and why.
 

REFEREE

Skinner lived in a high-security building, but whoever hit him walked in and out like there was nothing there.  If the PCs try to access police records regarding the incident, they will learn that the cops think the job was done by corporate ninjas or some very high-level muscle.  The coroner's report indicates that Skinner was injected with a neuro-toxin and was in extreme pain for 14 hours before he died.  If the PCs manage to search Skinner's apartment, they will not be able to find any clue as to why he was killed or what he had in Gentry's memory.

Word on the street says Skinner was hit by the Yakuza and that they also have a contract out on Gentry.  That will explain why most of her friends and associates are avoiding her like the plague, as will friends of the PCs if they find out the PCs are working for Gentry.
 

OPTIONS

If and when access is gained to Gentry's protected memory, the PCs will be able to download 750 megabytes of data that looks as if it was stolen from a Yakuza organization in Bangkok.

The referee should decide exactly what the information is in Gentry's memory.  Use this to tie the scenario into your continuing campaign, or as a start to a future campaign.  Some suggestions are:

• A large amount of corporate shares or money in an exclusive account.
• Embarrassing data on a Yakuza boss who is cheating his superiors.
• Technical data on some new high-tech device or pharmaceutical.
• Information linking several world leaders to the organization.

There are a number of possibilities for this scenario, but all involve the PCs in a situation that requires them to do some investigation and then extricate themselves from a sticky predicament.  Can they negotiate with the Yakuza to get the contract lifted?  How much money can they make by selling the data they retrieved from Gentry?

The PCs should find it hard to move without being followed by the Yakuza.  Use of credit or identification cards, etc., will pinpoint their whereabouts, and they will probably find some nasty fellows on their doorstep shortly thereafter.
 

BRIGITTE GENTRY

Gentry is a courier specializing in the transfer of information.  She is an attractive woman of medium height and build, with auburn hair and green eyes.  She is a Veteran Administrator NPC with increased skills of Appraisal-3 and Bargain-3.

She has a modified Subdermacomp implanted and wired to her neural pathways so she can control it with a thought.  The unit has an internal chronograph, one gigabyte of protected memory, and an external I/O port, similar to a neural jack, located at the nape of her neck.  She runs various business programs and a sophisticated security program at all times.  Although this hardware allows her to interface with other computers, she cannot use it to manipulate items that are set up for a neural jack.

NPC MOTIVATION RESULTS: Club 3: Gentry is very confident and not easily intimidated or frightened, and she won't back down in a situation until satisfied with the outcome.  Diamond 2: She is very shrewd when it comes to business, and you can bet she'll come out on top of any transactions.
 

SUBDERMACOMP ACCESSORIES

Neural Control Circuitry: The Subdermacomp is normally controlled through various fluctuations and movements of its owner's hand.  With the addition of this circuitry, the Subdermacomp is wired to the character's brain and can then be controlled by thought.  Cost is Lv7500.

External I/O Port: Allows access to external computers, data sources and program chips.  Similar in appearance to a neural jack, it is wired to an interface in the Subdermacomp.  Cost is Lv3000 ( a discount may be given if installed at the same time as the Subdermacomp).

Memory Expansion: A Subdermacomp's memory may be expanded up to one gigabyte.  Cost is Lv1500 per 200-megabyte increment.

Watchdog: Watchdog is a program similar to the intrusion countermeasures programs run by mainframe computers in the matrix.  It is designed to be run on portable computers as a TaSTAR ( Terminate and STAy Resident) file.  It does not affect the normal operation of the computer unless trigged, in this case by an attempt to access the computer without the correct access code.  If an attempt is made to access memory with a cyberdeck, Watchdog will combat the intrusion with the following statistics: Speed 5, Accuracy 3, Offense 7, Defense 9.  Watchdog also has the same capabilities as the Fast Forward program.

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