[01/04/2051 12:00:00 Ugly's Bar]

It's midday at Ugly's, and except for you, the only other customers are a half-dozen losers who've no better place to go this afternoon than a slightly run-down bar. The other patrons. four men and two women, all normals, wear the look of loneliness. The men, two in beat-up raincoats, the other two in ragged sweaters, haven't shaved for days. The women, middle-aged former beauties gone downhill, are heavily made-up, but you can tell their hearts weren't in it. They just don't care anymore . Nobody is talking, and even Johnny Ugly, the bartender, seems weighed down by the general despair .

You wouldn't be in a place like this, except for a call from one Noggin, a fixer with contacts at Renraku. "A simple job," he told you. "Find a girl who's run off with a valuable and bring the prize back. Ugly's. one hour." You don't know whether or not you'll take the assignment, but Noggin's got a good rep . And the biz sounds like a slice .

The door to the bar cracks open and sunlight flashes in . Everyone raises a hand to their eyes and then the door swings shut, returning the place to its comfortable gloom . Noggin, well-dressed in a Yotama business suit, walks over to your table and pulls up a chair . He glances around the bar and shakes hi s head . Then he puts his fingertips on the table and says, "Here's the score . There's an exec at Renraku who needs a personal job done. Danial Simpson . I checked him out for you . He's clean as an Elven baby's bottom . He's never dealt with runners before and I'm sure he never thought he'd need their services. "

"Now I don't normally handle jobs with kids, but you have a good reputation, and Mr Simpson said he wanted 'investigators that don't look like investigators' I recon you meet that need."

Johnny Ugly's hulking form appears beside Noggin, pad in hand . "Nothing today. Thanks," says the fixer. He then reaches into his pocket, pulls out 20 nuyen and hands it to Ugly . Without a word, the bartender is gone, and you know that he won't be back to bother you while Noggin is at the table.

"He wants this quiet. Real, real quiet. Which is why he tracked me down through Renraku's offices and wants to hire you. He wouldn't give me the specifics. Just that he gave a present to a girl, and now the girl is missing and he needs the present back. Without knowing the details, I couldn't negotiate a price, of course . He wants to meet you at the Renraku building employee parking garage, floor B3, section Green 4B, at two thirty. He'll be wearing a red and black tie. He downloaded a visitor's pass to me."

From another pocket . the fixer draws out a blank magnetic keycard, which he sets on the table. It's a guest pass that will get someone who doesn't work for Renraku into the employee garage. "The card has a one-time entry code on it. As far as I can tell, there're no bucks, no data, no murder, just love gone sour."