"I need some gear for the van, the fragger who tried to null Trixie made a mess of my windshield and some electronics. I'll need some replacement parts. Nothing major but I'll need to do the work on the way, so I am going with the Van."

Biomage asks Jester, "You going alone? If you are, it might be nice to have someone come along and watch your back."

"I need some blades taken over and some drugs. Everything else is legal and easy to get to Japan." Calisto leans back and takes a drink.

Calisto:
"Are the blades unique in some way or could I simply get new ones for you when we get to Tokyo?" asks Hafiz. "A dikoted katana is easier to get my hands on than the hassle of getting your blade--"

The rigger is cut off by the sound of your cell phone chirping at your side, it is Mr. Toriyama's number.

Jester:
The Arabian rigger turns his attention to you as your assassin answers her phone.

"Is there anything that can be done for the van tonight or would you prefer to fix it on the boat? We have about twelve hours before we head out." He seems deeply concerned about damage to a vehicle.

"Excuse me for a moment." Calisto reaches into a pocket and connects her cell phone to her datajack.

Mr. Toriyama I am so glad to hear from you.

Calisto:
"Daughter, I hope that I find you well. My specialists have sought to unravel the mystery of what you brought me. It appears to be very similar to a Personafix code from certain illegal software designers. I believe they are called "Better than Life" chips on the street. This program seems to simply create loyalty to the "All-Father". The reason I said it is similar to the persona program, is because it appears to have a lot of extraneous code which it just downloads into a person's brain. My designers do not know what it is used for, only that it is there."

Biomage turns to Jaron and asks, "Did you read the journal?"

Biomage:
"I was able to skim through it a bit. His symptoms at the end seem very similar to that of Network System Withdrawal, a condition common in data researchers and deckers who spend enough time jacked in that they become addicted to the simulated sensation. It is a condition that could be compared with the need that some people have to continually go under the scalpel for cybernetic upgrade or continued tattoo work. I am not convinced that he was schizophrenic until I have spoken to the psychologist that diagnosed him."

Biomage replies, "That's a cold lead. Talk to Jack about it. He and Trixie dug up the info. Are we ready to go?"

My many thanks. I will be in touch when I can and be safe.

Calisto unplugs her phone and returns to the conversation. "Sorry, to answer your question Hafiz, any baldes will do. I will give you a list of what gear I need." She begins to quickly type into her wrist computer. "My friend also called back with more info about the program we were attempting to unravel. It appears to be very similar to a Personafix code from certain illegal software designers. This program seems to simply create loyalty to the "All-Father". It appears to have a lot of extraneous code which it just downloads into a person's brain. They do not know what it is used for, only that it is there. It is like a BTL."

Biomage says, "How interesting.." with a grin, "Anyone ever wish they could 'fix' people to like them?"

He says, "Jack slotted the chip we picked up for research. How do you feel about the All-Father, Jack?"

Trixie shoots Biomage a very hostile look. "No. I've never wanted to 'fix' people."

Shaking her head, she turns to Calisto, "Can you have him send over a copy of the code he was able to reverse engineer? I'd like to look it over myself while we're on the trip."

To Jack, "You should be ok, I mean, you went in Cold so it shouldn't have been able to hit you like that, right?"

Trixie is obviously very upset with Biomage and is doing her best to just ignore him.

"If you could get me the parts in the next hour and, Trixie, and Jack could help, then I could probably have the repairs done in 10 hours. I don't have anything illegal to get smuggled in so I could go by plane."

Thankful for a distraction from her current mood, Trixie smiles at Jester, "I've be more than happy to help you out with any Electronics problems. Its been a while since I got my hands dirty."

Hafiz looks visibly calmer once assured that the van could be fixed in a matter of hours.

"I will get for you what is necessary and will gladly help you make the repairs if you'd like. Let's go have a look..."

Both riggers rise and go out to look at the damage of the van. They come back a few minutes later with Hafiz on his cell phone speaking rapidly in Farsi.

"Alright the parts will be here soon, shall we begin working on the repairs? I will make the last few arrangements including a local guide who will be able to show us around."

"For what it's worth, Ah'll be more then happy to help with the van, for what it's worth."

::Elsewhere::

The house is small but comfortable. The only term that could describe the look is "organized chaos" as a workbench sits littered with take-out boxes and various electronic components lay uncompleted but obviously worked on recently. A kettle whistles with steam at the same time the phone rings. Outside the sun is just starting to rise across the city.

"Phone on, voice only" The telecom chirps to life.

"Hello," the resident calls out as he adds steaming water to a teapot with dried leaves. By necessity, Nanashi had been paranoid of late and wasn't taking any chances now.

"Nanashi-san, I have work for that needs doing." Yoko's voice comes clearly over the line.

"Video On." A vid screen activates and has the image of a Japanese female in her early thirties.

"Yoko-sama, what can I do for you?" Nanashi comes to stand in front of the screen so that the camera on the telecom will transmit his image not that of the mess behind him.

"I have been asked to provide a guide to a group of visitors from Seattle. They are mostly interested in the computer systems in this area and since I know little about that area I wanted you to help me."

"I see. I'd be happy to give them the grand tour."

"They will be arriving in 19 hours. I have the hotel that they are staying at if you wish to meet them there."

"That would be helpful. Aside from the computer systems, anything else they will be looking for?"


"They are in need of a guide, only one of them has been to our land before and they are not familiar with our customs or methods"


"Newcomers...I will have to keep a close eye on them, then. It is easy to find trouble in a strange land."


"Quite true"


"They will probably want a shopping trip as well..."


"perhaps. I trust that you will see to their needs."


"I will. Oh, and how will I know them?"


"Their group will be hard to miss, most notably you are looking for a young elf, not yet a woman, a man with obvious cyber arms and an Arabian man known to me. Here is his picture..." A still image of Hafiz fills the vidscreen on the phone.


"Sounds like an interesting group. Do they know the language, if only by chip?"

"Some do."

"That will help them some. Any further knowledge of what they are looking for here?"

"I only know that they are meeting someone and doing some work in computers that could not be done remotely

"Well, guess we'll see any problems when we come to them. I will give you a call to let you know when they are safely here."

"Thank you."

Ending the call with shared pleasantries, Nanashi swallows the last of his tea leaving dregs in the bottom to swirl the leaves around with. Focusing his will on the future he asks what the foreigners will find in his land.

They seek and shall find the Shadows of Life.

::Day 3 0830::

Spending most of the evening repairing the van, the majority of the team plan to sleep on the plane. As you are preparing to leave a manic young teenager comes barreling across the lobby to where you stand at the concierge's desk. Nicholas' hand drifts below the counter as the boy reaches into his coat but stops when a courier's envelope comes out instead of a weapon. Gasping for air, the young boy who ran through heavy downtown traffic to deliver a wrist computer has made it to Ravenna before you left the Hotel.

"I'm...I'm ..I'm supposed to...deliver this..." He holds out the courier envelope to Calisto and backs away to lean against another counter. Her eyes scan a small piece of parchment before tossing some nuyen at the boy.

"Thanks kid. Trixie here's the code you wanted." The assassin-bodyguard hands her an optical chip.

Climbing into the newly repaired van and Hafiz's large SUV the team drives out to the airport. The riggers consult for a few minutes as everyone piles out of the vehicles. Hafiz orders his SUV to go home and drives away in the van with the cybered-mage in the back.

The van reports to the RC Deck in Jester's leg that it has arrived at a large cargo plane and gotten loaded on board. A two meter by one meter by half meter coffin shaped containment box serves as Biomage's transport container for the trip over.

"I am most sorry, but it was the best I could do in such short notice."

The trip is long but without issue. When the team traveling via supersonic transport arrives in Tokyo, they are pushed through customs on well-greased wheels each person slotting their SIN-chips once and giving biometric data to the customs officials without question.

By the time everyone is situated at the hotel and changed into fresh clothes, the van, luggage, and Biomage are delivered. The Hotel Ritz proudly welcomes you to Japan in sixe different languages.

At the appointed time, Nanashi arrived at the hotel, and took a seat where he could watch the people coming in and out. The wait was just starting to get boring when he spotted the face that matched the picture he had been shown. Yoko hadn't been kidding about the group sticking out.

Heading over to the group, he addressed Hafiz. "Hafiz-san, I presume. I was sent by Yoko-sama to be your guide."

The one reguarding the group was about 5'6", with typical oriental features. He looked to be not that much older than Trixie. Though his manners are cultured, he seems to not be into keeping up with fashion.

Trixie does her best to blend into the background, letting some of the odder looking folks in the group stand out so that her race isn't as much of an issue. Though she does smile at the young boy come to guide the group and greets him in perfect Japanese.

In perfect chipped Japanese, Hafiz replies with a bow.

"Good morning, these are the individuals you will be showing around. Nanashi-san, this is Jack, Calisto, Biomage, Jester and the young one behind him is Trixie. I will be busy with a few other things, but if any of you need me the hotel will route your calls through to a local phone as soon as I get it setup." He gestures to each individual as he goes through the introductions and then bows again as he departs.

Nanashi gave a slight bow to each in turn as they were introduced. He returned Hafiz's bow as the older man left, and then returned to reguarding his charges. He smiled back at the girl who had greeted him. "I was told that some of you spoke Japanese." he responded in decent English. "I have no problem with translating, but in some places it is best if you are able to speak for yourself. Now...any idea where you wanted to start? I heard you were interested in the Matrix..."

"I need to make a call to someone. We'll be meeting face to face, as far as I know."

Looking to the group, Trixie asks, "Should I go ahead and make contact then?"

Calisto nods as she adjusts her coat slightly.

"I think that'd be the easiest place to start."

Nodding, Trixie takes out her PSec and plugs a datacord into it. A moment later she calls The Fool.

"Allo?"

"We're here."

"Okay, meet me at the place I mentioned. There's a tea place on the corner called the Jade House, you'll recognize me."

"Got it." She hangs up and looks to the group, "He wants to meet now."

To Nanashi, she asks, "You know a place called the Jade House? I should be across from the Palace."

"Ah yes. I've been there a time or two. Great view, and good service. Did you bring your own transportation over, or should I call a cab?"

Biomage says, "In that case, I'd like to see try and get a Japanese linguasoft while we're out. Do they take nuyen here?"

"Yes, but as they aren't Imperial nuyen, there will be a five percent conversion charge. We should be able to stop by somewhere on the way to pick up your linguasoft." he said in answer to Biomage's queston

Biomage nods and says, "When do we leave?"

"Now. Jester, is the van ready to go?"

During the conversation, when it looked like the team was going to be moving, Jester used the RC deck stored in his leg to call the van from the garage where it was stored after transport. When Trixie asked him the question his eyes gained focus,

"Yeah, give me a minute, traffic is backed up and she's around the corner."

Team:

Once the van signals to Jester that she is out front, you all go out and climb inside. Traffic is stop and go at the best and several team members idly question if it would have been faster to just walk or take the subway. Eventually you arrive at a Japanese "Welcome Center" designed to break tourists of their bad habits and get them to speak in Japanese even if it is only chipped. Picking up the necessary linguasofts, you continue on to the Jade House.

It is lit almost exclusively through natural lighting coming in through the windows on both the ground floor and up above. An opening in the center allows people from the higher floors to look down on the main floor from tables that line the small interior terrace. You pass through the tea house looking for the Fool whom you have never met and never seen a picture of.

On the second floor Trixie stops as she looks across the room at a man rivaling the silver-haired rigger for years. He has a small scepter with a rat on the end resting on the table.

Trixie walks over, ahead of the group and takes a seat accross from him. Knowing that he would instantly recognise her from her online image, she just sits and smiles, letting him get things rolling.

The Fool turns a cup over and pours Trixie a cup of tea before refilling his own. He gestures to a large table next to them for the group to be seated at.

"So, you found me as I found you. I must ask what you must do next, shall we hunt them before they hunt us?" The voice doesn't match the body, as it still seems filled with playful innocence in a body which has obviously been pulled heavily through the years.

"They are already hunting us. Just before we left an assassin was sent after me. He mention he was going after my tribe, but I don't belong to one, so I'm not sure what that was about.

How should we go about hunting them? I'm not even sure of who they are yet. I dug around on Mennon, but I have no hard leads yet. I don't know if he is working for All-Father or against him. We figured out what All-Father is doing with the BTLs at least."

"We must strike as they strike. If they find us before we find them, there will be pain and Pain will be there. Must find the network, the network must find us." He sips his tea and seems to contemplate a course of action for a second.

"Walk with me." Pulling a bag out from under the table the Fool sets it on the table and lays four fiber-optic cables out for anyone who will take one. He slots a fifth cable into a datajack just above his wrist.

Trixie glances over at Jack, then picks up a cable and jacks in.

Inside:
You find yourself inside a small room. The Fool has donned his patchwork outfit and you see him layering on the checkered makeup which you seem to know will deflect attacks away from him. When everything is finished you can sense the utilities wrapped around him but they all seem part of one cohesive entity which is the Fool.

He turns and you are swept away as he leaves the room bouncing out into the busy streets of the Tokyo LTG. There is no brick wall or dilapidated alley this time just the instant immersion that comes from a wireless link. Your mind tails behind him as he runs through the streets. He raps soundly on doors and begins to collect a following, deckers of all persuasions based on their icons.

"You know what we hunt. The others are here, find his host, track down the signature in his code."

Trixie watches in amazment. "You've already gathered an army to go against him?"

Inside:
"Many of us have lost things and people that we hold dear. Though some of them cannot fight what you are seeking, they can scour the Matrix and find the traces of code that signal where HE is. You have seen his work, you must see that it is a signature piece that cannot hide from us."

"Yes, I understand. But.. how do you fight him once he is found?"

Inside:
"First we must find him and examine his strengths then we will find his weaknesses."

"You are brave" is all she has to say to that. Memories of running away from the God of the SCIRE flicker through her thoughts.

Inside:
"This is all I have left. You saw me out there and can hear me here, the difference must be clear. We don't have room for the giants in the playground."

Calisto declines the cord. "I'll be out here to watch, be careful."

"I'll keep an eye on them in there," Jester plugs in, not able to interact with them in anyway, but able to watch them at least.