The Found Arcana - Chapter 7 [IC] Options

[Beta]

When Mato was pulling out his gadgets, one of the boys whispered to the dwarf "He's the one that fought the bear!" She shushed him with a "Stop fanboying, Chet." Shortly after Mato activated the Jammer, the young woman who seemed to be their leader spoke up. "Please turn that back off. There is a chance of an important matrix call arriving, relevent to the situation. And my apologies for not introducing myself earlier, please call me 'Seraphina'."

Turning off the jammer also helped the bug scanner run better. It soon spat out a long list of local devices; it appeared that none of the young people were running silent or wireless off and they were all equipped with commlinks and most with trodes, smart contact lenses, and the like.

The younger people mostly listen attentively while the SIS team talks, and by the body language and facial expression some of them are taking AR notes. It doesn't take much skill to notice a ripple of concern when Mato explains that an extraction will be more expensive, and when he asks if the victim is a technomancer Chet mutters "Told you they'd be good."

After Bobby has said his part, there is a brief pause, then Seraphina says "We'll tell you everything that we can. That was a lot of questions, but I think I caught them all."

She unsteeples her fingers and lays her hands flat on the table, then admits "Yes, Brent is a technomancer." The Dwarf mutters "Not a very good one." Seraphina glares at her, then admits "She is correct. He has a sprite that he keeps around that he mostly uses, and he's learning a couple of techno tricks but despite the technomancer reputation I'd say he isn't as good at computers as most of the rest of us, even if we are just working with with tricked out commlinks rather than a proper deck. Uh, I guess you could call us the unofficial hacker club of Bellevue Village Green Private High School, and Brent was -- is -- one of us."

Chet interjects "Tell them about Peshtigo!" but Seraphina snaps back "I'm answering their questions first." Turning back to the SIS team she adds "That is his sprite, Peshtigo. We'll get to that in a minute."

She looks like she is consulting AR for a moment, then continues "Brent was not at school yesterday or today. No explanation and we could not reach him, which is unusual. His parents are ... let us say at least disapeared. For this school year Brent has been using his technomantic skills to help cover their absence, and we've all helped. For that reason we communicate frequently, and with the school no doubt trying to reach his parents due to Brent's absence, we should have been working on how to cover the situation. In short, we were already concerned."

"Earlier today Peshtigo came to me, saying Brent had been kidnapped and could we please hire help. It seemed quite confused about how it found me, and didn't have a lot of useful answers, no matter what I asked. Peshtigo can be kind of dumb that way, I don't know if that is normal for sprites or not. Finally I asked it to go back to Brent to get more answers, and it didn't come back. We are hoping that it might re-appear at some point."

"After that contact we searched around the outside of his house, and didn't see any signs of a break-in,but we founds an old-fashioned paper envelope lying in the stoop, with a note inside demanding 2 million nuyen in ransom, and, well, here." She pulls out a bag from an upper-tier clothing boutique and hands it over to whoever takes it. Inside is the envelope, and the note simply reading "We have your son. Bring a certified credstick carrying 2 million nY to the end of the breakwater at Yarrow Bay Marina at 6am Sunday morning and give it to the drone that will meet you there." Taped to the note is a tuft of hair, presumably off of Brent.

"Brent has access to some of his parents accounts, enough to keep the house running and the school paid, but nothing close to two million worth. Not until they are declared dead and he inherits, but he doesn't even want to start that process until he has turned 18. He fears what foster parents might do if they found he is a technomancer. We debated calling Knight Errant anyway, but I don't think they'd take us seriously enough to do anything in time. Hopefully you will."

[Tecumseh]

Mato absorbs the answers. He blinks, letting them sit for a moment.

"My initial reaction is that the kidnappers are not professionals.

"There's a dance to these things, almost an etiquette. A back-and-forth. Kidnappers are selling a commodity - a hostage - and often there is only one buyer. So, from the kidnappers' perspective, demand for their product is simultaneously very great but also very limited."

He holds up the note with the tuft of hair.

"Is this Mr. Sihler's hair color?" he asks to confirm. He pushes it toward Bobby. "We should confirm that this is indeed human hair. No professional would provide a material link that could be magically traced."

He exhales a bit, contemplating the note's message.

"One price, no negotiation. No chance to turn the screws into scared parents. Too much lead time. Not enough recon. Professionals would have conducted sufficient surveillance to know that Mr. Sihler's parents were missing. Why deliver a note to a porch when the intended recipients could be spending the week skiing in the PCC and never see it? Sloppy." Mato shakes his head in pity for these 'professionals'.

"No communication means no opportunity to provide proof of life either. In truth, without the opportunity to communicate with Mr. Sihler or to irrefutably confirm his life, there's little room for serious discussion. You're right that Knight-Errant would not commit significant resources to this, especially in the absences of Mr. Sihler's parents."

Mato drums his fingers on the table.

"His parents were some people of consequence, I presume? We would need to know as much about them as possible. We would also need access to his house. We would pursue all methods of investigation: mundane, magical, and Matrix."

He looks over his glasses again at Seraphina, again feeling old.

"Shall we discuss the nature of our engagement?"

[Gilga]

"Let me look at it." AM carefully examines the lot of hair, and astrally observes it to determine if it is a material link to someone, and to guesstimate how long do they have to use it. Is there a physical item that Bernt really likes?


Did Brent had any conflicts or enemies? Anyone that would want to wrong him? How public were Brent's abilities? Did everyone know or just a select few?

When was the last time you saw him, and did he act nervous or pressured? or unusual in any way? How long since his parents passed away, does he have a legal guardian? What is the deal with his living arrangements? Kidnappers knew where he lives - does the home has a security system? cameras, drones? armed guards? Servents?

How are his matrix habits? Does he keep a blog, social network presence? Online calendar? Fitness app, biomonitor for medical insurance? We can find all of this ourselves but you can do it faster since you know him."

She takes a moment to let it sink and then adds Do you updated pictures of Bert? Nothing digitally enhanced, I want to see what he really looks like. "

[Jack_Spade]

"Also, does he have contacts outside school? As you describe it, it's highly unlikely that he was kidnapped form his home. The kidnappers think his parents are still in the picture, but they haven't entered the house.
That screams limited information - as my colleague said. Someone from your school - either student, teacher or admin staff could have been behind it. We'll need a list of who your techno friend interacted on a daily basis. The stupidity of the scheme sadly doesn't automatically tell us it was an adolescent like yourself - adults can come up with stupid quite as well."
Bobby added.

[Beta]

After this barrage of bad news and doubts the teenagers passed lots of concerned glances back and forth, punctuated by staring off into AR. After an awkwardly long pause Seraphina gives a forced smile and says "We are assembling his contact list, but honestly he's kept mostly to himself and the club since his parents disappeared, trying to limit the possibility of being caught out. It helped that his parents were not very sociable. His parents did something about tax planning? They traveled sometimes to visit certain clients, but otherwise worked out of their house. Brent said they were in Morocco when they dropped out of contact. Presumed dead by Brent after a while with no word from them or anyone else."

There was another moment of AR communication, then she added "There is services that come to the house. Cleaning once a week. Gardening. That sort of thing. We think his parents used to hire extra security occasionally, but nobody knows much about that. Brent would call an auto-cab to take him from house to school, and from school or here home, or to do stock up on food and then home. He was kind of lonely, but he just had to make it until he was 18 in May, or maybe until the end of the school year, he hadn't decided. He didn't really have enemies, maybe a couple of kids were starting to razz him a bit about never coming to parties anymore, but that is about it. It is only us that know he is a technomancer, he admitted it after his parents disappeared and he needed out help."

The hacking club agrees that the hair looks like Brent's, but as a sort of medium-brown it is not highly distinctive. When looked at astrally it seems curiously inert, like it has been sterilized somehow.

Just then, Chet shouts, "Wait a minute! It's Peshtigo! Give me a sec." He apparently links to a trid display unit in the room, because what looks like a cartoon version of a stereotyped headhunter (complete with spear and bone through its nose) gets projected into the room.

"]Hi guys!" says the figure, "Miss us?" Its voice sounds a bit like a child who has just spent all day eating candy, oddly squeaky and rushed. A chorus of babble, both in real life and over the link, comes from the teens around the room. The figure continues "Brent said to say that the only matrix thing he can see is attached to a host too scary for him to hack, and he thinks it belong to Aztechnology from the gear names. It is a sensor of some sort, its only connection is to a satellite up-link, and from there he found the anonymizer that I came through. The anonymizer went away before I could come back last time, but now it came back so here I am! Brent doesn't know what the anonymizer is. Also I'm supposed to say 'the kidnappers keep me hooded but I can't hear any traffic and I hear running water so I think I'm in the country. I've heard three sets of footsteps, and I think one is a mage' I have no idea what any of that means but I'm sure it is important!"

[Jack_Spade]

"If there is a mage, we can forget about the hair sample. It will have been severely damaged or sterilized.
We'll need a current picture of Brent. And his address to look around inside."

To the sprite he transmitted:
"If he has even short contact to the net, try to trace him with coordinates for us to follow."

Bobby kept his mouth shut about the implications of Aztechnology being involved. That could be a whole different kettle of fish than a simple hostage rescue.

[Tecumseh]

"Well if they have a mage then that significantly increases both the challenge and the risk," Mato says. AM and Bobby will know this, of course. This is for the benefit of the kids prior to the discussion of numbers.

To the SIS team: <<I'm going to get out of my depth quickly here, but an anonymizer could be run by a Matrix gang or the kidnapper's hacker (if they have one) leveraging a little-used corporate node. The Brain Eater sometimes did that. So the kidnappers could just be piggybacking on Aztechnology's reputation to scare intruders away and to keep Mr. Sihler in line.>>

<<AM, correct me if I'm wrong, but a trace won't reveal the access ID of the original sender but rather the access ID of the mediator, the anonymizing node. Is that right? Then what... if we find it, could we hack the middleman to find the satellite uplink? If that doesn't work, then... what about triangulation? Can we use timestamps and response times to calculate physical distances? If we get a series of those over the course of the next 36 hours, could we daisy-chain our way to the source?>>

[Gilga]

"Confirmed, hair is useless for magical tracking" AM responds, and then she listens to the conversation with a stern look.

she texts Mato briefly about the possibility of a trace

[ Spoiler ]

I am not entirely sure what is and isn't possible - so I'll ask Beta, and let's say that AM says what he says.

but then adds >> Now that our employer has called, I think it is the best time to negotiate before we get overly invested in this gig.

AM keeps her expression neutral, identifying the best place to price the service. "Alright, Hacker club members, this is the moment of truth. Finding and rescuing Bernt is a difficult task to pull. Our firm has a combination of physical, magical, and technological abilities and you are in luck because we can pull it off given sufficient compensation.

I am going over the points briefly.
First, your kidnappers are convinced that Bernt is worth 2 million, which means they can justify very expensive personal and security to keep him locked up.
Second, Bernt is a technomancer so absurdly; he is worth a lot to the right buyer for experiments and stuff we better not mention.
Third, they have a mage... very dangerous and mages can potentially see the technomancer in his aura and learn this secret.
Fourth, there is an Aztechnology host - very expensive and may indicate that we're going against the business interest of some triple-A division.
Fifth, there is a concise window of opportunity to do this job, no time for errors, and success is not guaranteed.

Now given all these circumstances, 100k is a nice and reasonable rounded number for successfully delivering Bernt.
She lets the number sink in, and then comments to the mysterious sprite: ...did Bernt mentioned how much money he is willing to pay to be rescued? she looks at the hacker club members or are you going to raise money for rescuing Bernt?

[Beta]

Ana Maka's suggestion of 100 000nY drew a babble of "What!?!" "impossible" and "But you said ...." (that last aimed at Seraphina). After AM's comment about Brent possibly paying they paused, and then Seraphina held up a hand and demanded "Give me a minute." One of the boys muttered "Bossy much?" but they all fell silent while Seraphina apparently worked in AR.

Finally she dropped her hand and said "I don't think either side that is in this room should count on money from Brent that the rest of us in the hacker's club can't guarantee if something happens to him. Those of us in this room cannot guarantee a hundred thousand nuyen. Outflows that large would trigger parental investigations which would inevitably undo all that Brent has done to stay independent. On the other hand, we'd originally been looking at hiring you just to locate him, before we started making contact. So what if we break this into two parts?"

"For part one, we pay you a reasonable fee, consistent with jobs you have done in the past." she emphasizes 'reasonable' and 'consistent' in a way that suggests she has some idea of your usual rates, or at least thinks that she does. "That job is to locate Brent to a high level of probability and make some reasonable estimates of who has taken him and what threat they may represent. The risk level there should be fairly low, and with the information that Brent has provided and which we may get relayed through his sprite it shouldn't even be that large of a job. The Hacker's Club guarantees that payment, whatever happens with Brent. It is only a day of work, one way or another, but it is high priority and no no notice, so maybe ten thousand?" She says that last number hopefully.

"The second job would be to actually rescue Brent. That is the high risk job. We get Brent to agree to a payment of, say, the other ninety thousand. We here guarantee ten thousand of it, the rest is dependent on you getting Brent out alive, and for most of it you would depend on Brent being alive to inherit. He should be getting some more money when he turns 18, but it may take until he can get his parents declared dead that he could pay all of it. If we can come to an agreement we'll send Peshtigo to get Brent's agreement. But we should agree quickly because last time Peshtigo couldn't get back for a long while."

[ Spoiler ]

Judge intentions rolls for the current state of things, if you want (and Trouble's asensing). The situation has changed. The existing negotiation roll is fine since we haven't used that yet.

[Tecumseh]

Mato finds himself nodding along unconsciously. He mentally chides himself for such an obvious tell. Maybe it's not the end of the world: it shows he's reasonable. But he still needs to work on his presence, to study how AM and Jawsey comport themselves.

<<10K is reasonable for the investigation. 36 hours at most, the three of us, that's almost ¥100/hour and covers the time we spend sleeping too. I vote to accept the proposed arrangement.>>

He studies the kids. They're so similar to him in some ways, and so very very different in other ways.

Mato grew up well-off. His parents were corpers. He never went hungry, had good medical care, always had a comfortable home. But he saw the cost too: the professional pressure on his parents, how it crushed them, made them turn to drugs to release the stress. He still blames drugs for the car crash that killed them; the coroner had said as much. What good was all the money in the world if it killed you to earn it? (Mato has not been self-aware enough, so far, to ask the same question of his current profession.) Are these kids all on the same career path? What allowed Mato to escape it? Being dumb as a rock?

And that's where these kids are different. Seraphina, a teenager, is more eloquent than he is. She has a confidence and a command of the situation that's enviable for a teenager. Her response to AM was nimble, demonstrating an agile mind. She'd make a good Johnson someday. She's a decent Johnson already. Mato envies her competence. What would it be like to earn a living with only your wits, your mind? To think and create and to advance the world through your vision and originality?

But that is not Mato's path. He is a creature of flesh and blood and chrome. He started from the same place as these kids but went an entirely different direction. And yet... here they are, still in the same room. Same table, different sides. They probably enjoyed ¥25 milkshakes too. Mato sips his, belatedly realizing that he should have been studying their reactions rather than getting lost in his own thoughts.

[Gilga]

AM grins . "Seraphina, splitting the job is a terrible idea, and even if you insist that we only find Mr. Schiller and not rescue him, it would cost you a lot more than 10k. I will try to explain the situation.

She pauses Even just finding Bernt is not a low-risk job. Sure the risk of being physically harmed is lessened. However, we do not charge you much for such risks. We all live and thrive in Redmond, and we know the gangs, crimelords, and the other residents. The main risk for us is unwanted police attention that would slow down our business. The police attention risk is the same in both cases as we are getting close to a crime scene involving someone important such as Mr. Shiller. We will need the best lawyers to get us out of such a mess, and such lawyers will cost us an arm and a leg. This job is costly for you because it is risky for us. It is as simple as that.

She pauses Now, Seraphina I admire your computer skills on the spot for finding what you think our rates are.
I will explain myself to clarify the situation, we have nothing to hide. Yes, we have rescued a kidnapped kid for only about 50k. However, in that particular case, the kidnappers were gangers. They tied him up to a bed and called it a day. By calling it a day, I mean excessive drinking and BTL slotting. The kid was in Redmond, no risk of police, and the kidnappers were a bunch of misfits. No risk of anyone important being hurt in the process of a police investigation.


Your case is harder. The kidnappers have a mage and are likely well-armed and alert. It would take more than boldness to get Mr. Schiller outside. If we find Mr. Schiller, we may only have a small window of opportunity to retrieve him. Any delay in getting his consent risks exposure. So we are not stopping at that point as exposure is bad for us and bad for Bernt. We will do this work as fast as possible to maximize the probability of success.

Now, I made you a good offer that is just five percent of what the kidnappers are asking. I demonstrated my honesty by only asking to be paid upon successful delivery. Such a payment model also implies that I am confident about our abilities to retrieve him successfully. If I was talking to Bernt's parents they would not even negotiate such a price with me. However, I understand that this reasonable price is objectively a lot of money, and is hard for you to meet. You are not Bernt's parents but his hacking buddies and that you have your expense accounts and cannot just pay so much money on the spot. Without your parents asking questions. I respect that, and I am willing to take a step toward you to facilitate this transaction.

The job costs 100k, and this part is non-negotiable. It is a combined search and rescue job because this is the right way to do the job. As for payment, you will give me 10k right away, at least 10k extra when we deliver Bernt back to his home. At that point, the job is successful and Bernt is likely to have something to pay for his rescue. I am not sure if 90k or less, but this is your risk, not ours. You know him better than us, and have a better estimate as to how much he'll pay us. As long as we get at least 10k nuyen we're good at the time of delivery.

Now, assuming that Bernt may not have the whole 90k Nuyen on the spot, I will ask all of you collectively to make 10k monthly payments until you finish paying us the agreed-upon 100k amount.

She pauses and explains her idea a bit more. You will have cut down on some unnecessary expenses, or inflate your expenses without raising suspicion. There will be eight of you, I am certain you can collectively skim 10k once per month of your expenses. Make sandwiches instead of eating out, or clean up yourself, or cut down on matrix games. I am sure you will find some other way to spend less. You can endure some hardships for a good friend, and it is temporary.


In addition, your debt will have interest, but we will not collect it in money since lack of liquidity is what gets us into this place in the first place. Once per month, we will send you some matrix jobs that will be completely legal and take the hacker club less than a day. Now if you'll enjoy these jobs, and perform them to our satisfaction we may send you more jobs while reducing your monthly payments accordingly, meaning that your life will feel more comfortable. You'll have to show some genuine skill with computers for that, so no guarantees there. "

AM pauses and then says "Please, debate it upon yourself and give me an answer soon because there are some matrix actions I need to do right away if we take this job. She takes her Erika out of her purse, which is unnecessary but as all these kids want to have decks of their own seeing AM working her deck may get them excited, which may make them more likely to accept the offer.
She texts >> Peshtigo, I'll need you to invite a mark for me. I need the mark to trace you when you get back to Bernt. If this trace is successful, I may find out where Bernt is, which is the first step in rescuing him.

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby smiled as AM brought up the installment plan. "Paid internships at a top rated detective agency. You won't find a better of than that any time soon."

[Beta]

AM and Trouble both observe the same thing about Serephina; when AM had initially asked for 100k the girl was clearly upset, but after about twenty seconds she'd calmed down, and stayed at a very level emotional state all during her response. Which felt off somehow. As AM shreds the girl's arguments, Trouble notices that that Serephina has an almost detached emotional state, more like an observer than someone whose arguments were just rejected. As AM finishes up her points, the girl's body language suddenly makes sense to AM -- Serephina has someone guiding her, be it AR or by voice.

Once she has put that together she can see the beats. Seraphina steeples her fingers again and stares at AM for a few seconds, no doubt obtaining guidance, before responding "Yes, we'll need to discuss this more" but then pausing another few seconds, with just a beat of unhappiness in her aura at the end of the pause, before suggesting "Would you be willing to wait in the main part of the cafe while we talk? Feel free to order something each, on my tab, I've notified Theresa." The same unhappiness in her aura showing up again as she offers the tab.

[Tecumseh]

Mato kicks himself for not waiting to order the ¥25 milkshake. But then he realizes... he could get another ¥25 milkshake! Although that's a lot of sugar, even for an ork.

He stands. It's not an unreasonable request. Runners often need space and time to discuss an offer; it's not outlandish for a Johnson (or Johnsons in this case) to need the same for a counterproposal.

[Gilga]

AM nods in agreement. Having someone guide Seraphina is not necessarily a bad thing, teenagers are very emotional - and there is merit in the ability to take a deep breath and hear another perspective. AM could use such a break as she feels pumped up, and a little hesitant toward rescuing Bernt. After the security of the mansion, Van-der-Bloom with his monstrous deck, hell hounds, and armed guards - was this job the one to walk away from? Is she a brilliant negotiator for trying to get the team a contract for 100k, even if the flow of money would be slow - or she is the greedy pig on his way to the slaughter? Are they reaching out too high with the risks?

There is no time to hesitate, Mato is already standing up which means that the discussion is over. At her 160 centimeters, AM is barely visible when she stands up. She takes her deck inside of her purse, uncertain if it made an impression or not, and she texts her mates. ">>Order something to show respect but nothing expensive. She asks them with a mental text through her throdes.

[ Spoiler ]

Does Peshtigo ignore AM's text?

[Tecumseh]

Mato goes out to the front room. He doesn't really want more ice cream, but nor does he want to let an opportunity like this slip away. Mato hates missed opportunities.

"I'll have the birthday cake sundae, please," he orders. "With the Funfetti® ice cream."

It comes with whipped cream and sprinkles and a cherry on top. This is totally normal fare for ork street samurai, right? The tailored suit really completes the image.

He's uncertain whether to speak out loud or to comm, given the room full of hackers next door. Usually a Johnson would know not to hack the talent, but maybe a bunch of scared teenagers aren't exactly up-to-speed on their Johnson/runner etiquette.

<<First we're working for the mayor and a great dragon and British nobility>> he comms. <<Now teenagers.>> He marvels a bit at the contrast. <<Cred spends the same though.>>

Mato is privately impressed about how AM put the screws to the kids. He didn't think she had it in her. He hopes it doesn't cost them the job, because the job sounds like easy cred, but if the kids walk then Mato will go back to his day job (night job, really) of hiding in bushes and taking photographs of unfaithful husbands through the window.

"I could do it," he says under his breath, as much to himself as the others. "Sounds like good fun."

[Jack_Spade]

Bobby walked out behind the others and ordered... a glas of milk. Not as expensive as a lot of other things on the menu, but certainly more expensive than Mato's soy based sundae. Before taking the glas he moved his hands and fingers in a complicated Kata, touching briefly his head, and those of Mato and AM

'Better talk through telepathy. I'll translate each of your thoughts to the other. I bet you already noticed that we are hired by a bunch of stooges.
Can you find out who is giving them directions? I don't like that kind of complication. We are a legitimate business. If someone wants to hire us, they can. There are only two reasons to set up a false front for that: Either it's someone we hate or it's someone who has something to hide. And what you don't know could kill you.
If you want, I can go to the toilette and come out as a bug to listen in on their discussion - provided they don't just message each other.'

[Gilga]

AM thinks at Bobby I don't think they hacked us, but I took it as a possibility when I texted you. My request would have only made Seraphina respect me more, and more receptive to accept our suggestion. I am very careful with what I send over the trix.

I am certain that someone is whispering down Seraphina's ear, but I see that someone as a positive force at the moment. I placed a lot of pressure on her and she managed to be an adult about it and not break. It is impressive considering that she is not an adult, and I deflected all her arguments. A lesser person would flip a table or irrationally call it all off despite not having other good alternatives. So I assume that there is some adult in the picture, but see no evidence that said adult is secretly our Jhonson.

As for spying, Trouble is still in that room and would notice their emotional state. I imagine their talk should be emotional since they are teenagers risking many of their luxuries. It is difficult to give up good stuff once you grow used to them.
Troubles would definitely call to my attention if they are super calm - as would be the case if it was all a show and someone else is paying.

[Tecumseh]

No need to spy, Mato thinks. Let's observe the etiquette until we have a reason not to.

Mato hadn't noticed someone coaching Seraphina. Once again he's reminded about his own limitations.

Who would be coaching her? he wonders. Not a sympathetic adult, presumably, or the adult would be in the room instead of them.

Software? Like an activesoft? But maybe she doesn't have the wetware to run the 'soft herself, so he has to run it like a knowsoft that whispers advice in her ear?

He shrugs.

What does it matter? I don't care if the Johnson is 17 or 70.

But at the same time, let's not overestimate their resources. Speaking from experience, they might have generous allowances but these are probably on the scale of ¥500 to ¥600 a month, not ¥1,000. Collectively, they're going to struggle with a ¥10k/month payment plan. Even if there are seven of them, they're probably going to have a hard time with ¥5K/month. And you have to make allowances for the embezzlement. They need to be inconsistent, especially over the course of several months, or their parents will pick up on their patterns. They're not practiced criminals; they're a bunch of kids trying to save their friend. They can sacrifice luxuries, but if you push them toward outright theft then they're going to explore other options.

[Gilga]

AM comments "Let's see how it plays out Mato. I think that the greatest achievement so far is the 100k pricetag that Seraphina did not challenge. Their achievement is that they get to pay just 10k right away, and I am not sure they'll easily give up such an achievement. They do not have much money right now, but they get money over time. Let's say they find a cheaper firm that only wants 50k total - most would want to get paid the whole sum on delivery. Would these guys have 50k? Do you think someone will do such a job for less? I am not so sure - we took about 50k if you factor the car for taking a kid out of Redmond.


Now you may also be conservative about their ability to pay because Seraphina's clothes are super expensive. I saw them in a catalog before I came here priced in thousands. It is silly to wear these clothes to a meeting where you claim to have no money to pay. Bernt is also richer than the rest, and he'll be there to help them. Otherwise, we failed the job and only got a 10k advance.

Now, if they can't collectively make 10k monthly, we'll agree on a lower amount or use their services more. Jimmy taught me to think cooperatively. He had me beaten up on my first screwup, but the next month he gave me a job to not miss out again. Next month I had SIS, so things got alright - but he'd rather use me forever than kill me. He was ambivalent when I paid up the debt. On one side, it was a good investment, and his faith in me was justified. On the other, our relationship has changed and my price tag is now higher.

[Tecumseh]

Perhaps, Mato thinks, half-heartedly picking at his sundae. It's not as good as his milkshake, or maybe his milkshake curbed his sweet tooth. He moves the whipped cream from the sundae onto his milkshake and pushes the rest away.

I'm not interested in control or posturing or sticking it to The Man or The Man's children. The kids could have fun, pretending to be infamous. Maybe one day the trids will show the shadows as grim and gritty instead of glamorous and then interest will dry up, but until then rich kids will want to keep slumming it.

Why am I doing this? Mato thinks to himself, not exactly sure if his thoughts are private or not. And if Bobby hears them? Oh well.

For money? Sure, but it's not like orks live that long. I'm middle-aged already, coming up on 25 soon. No long and luxurious retirement for me.

For thrills? Yes, I suppose so. I spent my first 18 years on the couch, on the sidelines. Now I'm in the game and it's fun. I like it here. I want to stay, see if I can make it to the playoffs.

[Jack_Spade]

'If you think so, I'll let it slide. Still, I don't like puppeteers.'
Bobby mentally replied to the others. His milk was empty in about 30 seconds. Enjoying the fact that he wasn't lactose intolerant, Bobby contemplated for a moment what would be necessary to include real milk and fruit in their food budget. The number he arrived at let him drop that thought immediately again.
'Is Trouble getting anything interesting?'

[Beta]

While the SIS team was waiting and whispering, Peshtigo showed up in their AR feeds, and enthuses. <<Nice Ikon-329E57 person said I should do what you want, if you want me to do anything! Do you still want me to invite your mark, Nice Erika person 75A4C9 >> He sounds like he's had all the sugar that Mato is passing up.


just after that the boy who apparently goes by Chet comes out, calls out "Hey Theresa, a blueberry Italian Soda please.." Turning to Mato he says "You really wrestled a bear, right? Your ad went kudzu through the club last Fall, some thought it was tacky but I thought it was awesome! So when this happened I said we had to call you, and Seraphina, she ..." he trails off, shrugs, then continued "So I hope Seraphina and Dir -- Penumbra I mean -- can come to an agreement on our side, and that it works for you. It would be cool to say we'd hired you." He flashes his commlink at the pay pad without looking at it, to pay for his drink.

"Seraphina would do almost anything to get Brent back, but not everyone is so committed. Giving up our deck fund? None of us probably thought we'd ever really have enough to buy one anyway, so that part isn't too hard, if Brent doesn't manage to pay it back to us. But the rest? If Brent can't cover it when he comes back ... I mean, most of my pocket money comes from teaching swimming on Saturday mornings, my parents have a 'learning the value of a nuyen' bug up their ass so they cover school and uniforms and stuff, but even if I give up this place" he waves at the cafe "I don't know that I can scrape together a grand a month. Maybe if I can score some evening life-guarding shifts? Some of the others though, they probably could, and Seraphina is captain of the debating team so she can be pretty convincing."

He accepts his soda and then adds "And there is the bell to mark the end of the round, and our cue to go back to the room. Coming down to the wire, a life is at stake, egos are in play, this is pretty intense." He punctuates the comment with a loud slurp.

[ Spoiler ]

I'll hold here to give a chance to deal with Pesthigo (or Chet)

[Gilga]

AM is a bit overwhelmed when Chet begins to talk, mental chats and physical chats at the same time are confusing. Of course he was unaware that they already were talking. She focuses on Peshtigo trying to establish some trust with the mysterious matrix entity.

>> Thanks Peshtigo, you are looking nice yourself. I am very proud of my little Erika, it is a simple deck but it can do wonders in my hands. You just need to be aware of the limitations and work around them, for example, I installed a vectored signal processor because the deck lacks any form of noise compensation inheritably, and I also run the signal scrub software to further reduce the noise - and keep me reliably connected. Do you run programs? Did Bernt make you himself? How long are you in existence?


She then changes a mental tone and says... and yes, I need the mark on you so that I can follow you to Bernt. It is called a trace action, and it deduces your physical location according to the identity of devices that connect you to the matrix and their location. Are you familiar with the tracing action? It involves a combination of triangulation, common sense, and some luck if the one you are tracing does not want to be traced. In our case, you want me to trace you so you will not try to resist my probe queries and let them pass your firewall - that is if you can not resist the action. In any case, move slowly and stop to let me triangulate every several steps. Even if I lose you at a certain point, the longer I trace you the closer we are to Bernt. I hope that he is feeling alright and that we can go rescue him soon.

If need be, AM would explain Peshtigo the trace action, and would otherwise be very open with him to keep the Sprite cooperative. She is unaware of how these autonomous beings work - but she visualize it like a doctor that needs consent from a patient before administering a drug, she will explain her actions and get the Sprite to resist as little as possible and improve the outcome.

[Tecumseh]

<<There's a "Penumbra" in play>> Mato informs the others. <<Sounds like that's the voice on the other end of the line. Maybe not an activesoft or a knowsoft then.>>

"I did fight that bear," Mato tells Chet. "But bears are big, dumb brutes." This with a pointed smirk at Bobby to make sure Bobby heard him.

Mato isn't really arrogant but he does have a sense for marketing. He plays it up a bit for his audience.

"Bears are fast, but I'm faster." Probably true of a real bear. Probably not true of Bobby.

"Bears are strong, but I'm stronger." No comment.

"But the ultimate adversary, Chet, is the metahuman. Man is the peak predator, and the pinnacle prey." Mato conveniently leaves out dragons.

"And not just the other man. In conquering him, you must first conquer yourself." There's some quasi-philosophical bulldrek for Chet to think about when he's on his iam14andthisisdeep Matrix chat rooms.

Mato takes a slurp of his milkshake, probably undercutting the image he's trying to project.