#15

"Of course. I think we can eat something here while we wait for you."
Waywalker proceeds to sit at a table and waits for a waiter to pick up his ordination of "two plate du jour, please".
While waiting for both the food and Renè, he starts to surf the Matrix in AR, looking some infos on the French National Archives.

Once Rene had left, Rex took his place again under the table, keeping an eye open while Waywalker did his thing. <<I'll start with familiarizing myself with the incomplete copies of the book from the matrix. As soon as we are settled in, we should go on a walk around the university to get to know the terrain.>>

Looking into the french National Archive agency turned out to be far more interesting than Waywalker expected. The mission of this agency - attempting to keep track of a LOT of things (at first on paper, and then on the Matrix) led it to become both a top notch, and large, Matrix system, made of several dozen of hosts, each specialized in storing different data, from very public, to ... pretty much highly classified ones. Many rumors attributes some of those "red" hosts - because, yes, the agency still uses pre-crash 2.0 lexicon, to contain secrets, like full copy of Dunklezahn will, complete account of the events of the Renraku Arcology Shutdown in 2059 and apparently even who killed people called JFK and Two Pack ?

Waywalker shrugs this one out, and keeps digging, to try to locate which archive might hold their payload. He also looks on where to hit to the agency from a physical point of view. Apparently, after the first crash, the agency mission and role gained a lot of traction. So many knowledge - including some much needed french computer science IP, was rescued from the crash by the bureaucratic tendency of the agency to back up, offline, everything - and even print and store some stuff out ! Anyhow, at the time, the storage place, both physical and the matrix, were mostly located in a few locations, and now, there is a lot of vault, dispatch all over France, with data being redundantly copied in several locations. However, the main office are still in Paris, France apparently still struggling to fight off the authoritative centralization imposed by Louis XIV... Not sure an employee from the Paris site might have access to the archive they need, but for sure, most of them might be able to point them (willingly or not) to the right direction...

In the meantime, Rex is looking into the Universities in Paris, while drinking the water the nice looking, but rude, waitress put in front of him without asking, neither muttering a word, when she bring the "plat du jour" to Waywalker. The content of the two plates - she did not imagine the second one would be the dog on the floor, was a bit of a disappointment - Franck prediction was right, pasta is no serious thing in France, and the sad sack of noddles, somehow oozing in his plate, because of the table being a bit tipped, looks more depressing than restoring.



However, Rex search on local universities brings back a lot of options. Paris is still a stronghold of education and there is at least half a dozen University options in and around the city. Despite the amount of options, he quickly manages to limit the options to La Sorbonne and l'Univeristé de Fontainebleau, both in the 5th district of Paris. The first one is the leader in the astral space research, including astral realms exploration, which comes with a large need for exploring ancient texts, in hope to find clues to unlock destination. The second one is bit more versatile, and, while also exploring astral space, to a lesser extend, also investigate geomancy and research techno-magic field (with little success). Both establishment comes with high security, when it comes to their research staff and facilities, but appears to quite lax, when it comes to the most "regular" students.

Switching topics, Rex then starts what appears to be a long search, for the numerous fragments of Levy's books, supposed to be available online...



Waywalker are still scouring the Matrix, with half empty of bad pasta in front of them, when René calls them back:

"Salut l'ami ! So I've secured for you a discreet location within Vincennes. I won't be guiding you there, but here is a meet point, nearby, with a good friend of mine. Don't worry, she is alright, I can vouch for her. Regarding your SatLink, you can probably find one in "Méta Deck", rue Bonapartre... Yes, it's in the 6th district. It's a Renraku fan boy shop, but it is run by a former Decker, a dude called Loic Bellian - aka "Virus". The guy used to be a legend, but he hanged his deck back in the early sixties, and has become full legit for a long time now. But he still has good wares... No, sadly, you can't go there right now, it's closed. Man, it's 10pm ! Everything in Paris is closed but bar, restaurant and jails !"

Checking out the texts, Rex had to admit that finding wasn't so much the problem as being able to distinguish the actual content from re-translations and later additions.

But at least he would be able to fake a conversation about the contents of the book.
'I really need to polish up my lore knowledge. It's been too long that I enjoyed an evening just reading'

<<Any luck so far with your research? I've found a bit of the text - enough to identify it should I stumble across the real copy. Posing as students of Fontainebleau is probably the best starting point. As far as I can see they have a lot of different and partially obscure research topics.>>

A bit pityful, Rex keeps looking at his humble notes, in AR, on the book. Yes, he could discuss of the book with someone, but certainly not fool anyone about it.

#16

Waywalker saw the search from Rex in his commlink's AR and decided to have his Agents help him, to be faster, so he could focus on the search on the Archives.
The plate did not seem very appealing, so he chose to just pay and get up.
"I'd go to the location Renè mentioned, so we can crash and relax a bit. It has been a togh day between the trip and the mee in the Catacambs. However, I think we can pose as students from that university, and to be more believable I could plant some fake data on their host. What do you think?"

<<Fine by me, and thanks for the help. Those text hi-lights and cross links really help me get a grasp on this book. And yeah, I wouldn't mind crashing a bit before we start our impersonations. On that account I thought maybe you could figure out a likely candidate that really exists but is currently on a sabbatical or otherwise unlikely to appear at the uni. Should be easier than to invent a persona from scratch. And you just have to hack their commlink and make sure you can screen all calls to prevent us from being found out.
But I'll leave that in your capable hands - although I now have a spell that allows me to boost your cognitive abilities even more than that bioware you got. Just tell me and I'll fix you up.>>
Rex followed Waywalker to their car and hopped in once the door was opened for him

#23

#17

Waywalker closed the door of the van and turned on the engine.
While driving following the AR indication of the Paris' Gridguide, he manifested his thoughts on the 'link:
"Yes, phishing someone's data may be a good idea. From your perspective, do you want to come physically in this form or projecting, when will be time to go there?"

<<Good question. I think physical is the more practical approach. It's pretty hard to read things in astral form. But for the actual break in I'll probably take the form of a small cat that you can smuggle inside with you. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First we need to find a fitting student and use his identity to get access to the index or someone who can access the index for us. Only once we know where the book is located can we think about how we get to it.
With any luck it's somewhere in storage with low priority.

So I imagine, the first step will be to get into the matrix part where student information is located. I probably won't be of much use for that, but as I said I can try and help you with my new spells a bit.>>

Rex sighed content as the car moved again and the air passed through the far superior car filtration.

The hotel that the runner are leaving is quite closed to the border of the (historic) center of Paris, which allow them to be quickly back on three-way roads, instead of having to zigzag in the narrow streets of the city. Now that the night has fallen, the red fog of earlier has turned into a sort of white or grey mist, and the empty streets - and in this low traffic highways, looks far more... threatening. Waywalker even spots a group of bikers - clearly a gang looking for problems, and think for a minute that Rex and him will need to shave off the group to get on their way. Fortunately for them, the gang moves on, ignoring their vehicle.

After only twenty minutes, Waywalker gets out of the three-way road, and arrives in the suburbs that surrounds the Bois de Vincennes. This part of the urban sprawl surrounding the so-called "city of light" have clearly seen better days, and the rigger even need to look behind, to double check the visual presence of the Effeil Tower, just to be sure he did not cross over an other city altogether. The sharp, and rusty, object is still visible, barely through the mist - despite the expensive lights on it. Sniffing, both astrally and physically, the decay and despair surroundings them, Rex almost wished the rigger did indeed went in the wrong direction.

However, their vehicle is quickly done with those derelict surroundings, and reaches, in only a few minutes, the outskirts of the Bois de Vincennes. Pictures on the matrix of the place do not gave justice the regenerated woods. If this part of the city used to be a somewhat tamed forest - in fact, more of very well arranged park, the Awakenings and the arrival of the 6th Worlds certainly turned the tide. A dense, almost medieval, thick woods is now facing their car, in what seems to be a defiant stands. Most of the pavement, at the entrance of the forest, has been torn by the tree's roots, and even the street in front is all twisted. Waywalker knows enough about pavements and roads to see that it is not because of lack of maintenance, but rather constant aggression by the nearby wilderness.

Waiting beneath a bus shelter is the contact of René: a rather young human girl, with red - not redhead, dyed red, hair, hidden beneath a woody. Despite the darkness - very few light poles in the area seems to be working, and the few that are, are in fact flickering, Rex can spot a red spot in front of her face. The woman is enjoying a cigarette. Waywalker first's reflex would have been to ping her using his commlink, but he soon realizes that, against all expectations, the girl does not appears to have a commlink.

The road is too badly damaged to go closer, so, reluctantly, the rigger parks his vehicle, less than twenty meters from her improvised shelter (the bus stops has clearly not be serviced by an actual bus for years now).

Purely by habit, Rex opened his astral sight to take a look at the girl and her surroundings, once he had left the car.
<<You know, this certainly has the feeling of a very twisted fairy tale. Red Riding Hood waits for the Big Bad Wolf and... well I guess you must be Grandma then.>>

Rex takes a long glance into his surrounding in the astral.The urban sprawl they are still in for now has a deeper feel of abandonment and decay. Buildings looks bigger, but also bendy, and derelict in the astral. The lack of local denizens feels somewhat stronger. There is even a hint of... dread. The source of this dread is however obvious: the massive, and colourful auras of the tree in the park, seems very strong, and appears to be reaching out for the sprawl, slowly trying to consume it.

Before dwelling too much on the tree with his astral senses, Rex gazes into the aura of the young woman, causing her to shiver for an instant. She appears to be healthy and refreshingly free of any cyberware. She also appears mundane, and getting impatient, while remaining overall calm.

#18

Waywalker was a bit nervous while parking and refitting his gas mask. Walking in the direction of the girl his thoughts formed a text.
To:Rex:"What kind of people goes without a 'link today? And in Paris without a gas mask? However, we're better rolling with it."
He greeted the red-hair girl with a wave and a smile (through the gas mask).
"Hi! We've been pointed here by a mutual acquaintance that goes under the name of Renè."

As Waywalker gets closer to the young girl, he realises she is not wearing a gas mask because the smog is far less potent here - even if it does not smell that much better. The girl stands up - letting the two runner to the realization that she is actually quite small, not bigger than 1.50m, and replies

"Enchanté... You can call me Laura. I'll take you to the place. It's inside the park, but you can leave your vehicle here, it's safe enough. The district is quite empty because people got scared, back in the day, by how the tree behind appeared to be transforming, but it's not a bad a neighboorhood. Just not a populated one."

And their "petite" guide starts leading them into the Bois de Vincennes.

Following the girl into the park, the runners only walks for about 100 meter before arriving to your destination. Easily hidden into the dense foliage stands a ... shack. When René mentioned this safehouse, Waywalker and Rex had imagined something a bit more... modern.

"Yeah, I know, it's not the Ritz for sure. But it has a roof - a waterproof one, some clean toilet and a shower. Well, if the reservoir is filled, but it must be given the rain we had lately. Oui, oui, mec, t'inquiètes, the water is indeed filtered. And the main advantages of wood as a construction material is that the trees does not try to destroy it right away. By the way, don't go deeper in the forest, you got some ... Saules Pleureurs ? What the frag do you call'em in English ? Ah yes, Weeping Tree. You know, like Willow trees but the Awakened kind ? Anyway, just don't go there..."

Waywalker barely listen to the girl as he is desperately trying to get a better signal. As foreseen, between the lack of other devices nearby, to propagate his requests to the matrix, and the dense foliage, noise in the area is a bitch. On his side, Rex has also a bad surprise. The park comes also with a background count - nothing as gloomy as the one he would have expect from the former Universal Brotherhood Chapter, but still...

<<Well, at least this house will be pretty safe - at least from random passer-bys. I'll have to erect my lodge, but on the plus side it should be pretty easy to call on the Kami of the Green for help. How is your reception? Do you need to install some kind of relay system for a better signal?
I'll unload the van and make this place a bit more hospital for us. And when I'm done we can go and find a shop for a bit of French quality food.>>

Despite the moderately charged mana field surrounding him, Rex was optimistic. The air smelled a lot better and contained a lot less soot than the rest of the city.

#19

" I wonder if the Universal Brotherhood would not be more comfortable. Well, at least here we should not worry about rain, or so I hope.
Tomorrow I'll pay a visit to get that satellite link, maybe I have a better signal, but I should manage to do some Matrix running anyway.
I hope your mojo is stronger here. I'm totally on board with the French food shopping you mentioned."

Carrying the gear was easy, thanks to the levitation spell - Rex didn't pay much attention to the girl but instead concentrated not to miss the path or get surprised by some woodland critter.
Setting up the lodge would take a few hours, so Rex contended himself for the moment to unpack, using his magic fingers spell and arranging everything in a more or less pleasing Feng Shui order, so the Kami would feel welcome here.

<<Food first. Afterwards we can start with your search and I'll set up the lodge, so we can sleep undisturbed tonight.>>

Tuesday 10th March 2076

Once settled in, the runners falls asleep rather quickly. The trip had been long, and the were already quite weary. When the morning comes, Waywalker and his dog-shaped partner have the nice surprise seeing rays of sun coming through the shack. Yesterday's misery of smog and rain have been lifted, and today is looking sunny. Or at least sunnier. It's still somewhat chilly outside, especially in the shade of the trees. Even the air is a bit less polluted, at least, according to their mask.

Getting back to the car and back in the city does take an extra twenty minutes, but they are both happy to see that their new found safehouse is not that far away, while remaining discreet. Sadly, parking in Paris is still the nightmare it has been for the last century, and it is only at the end of the morning, a few minutes before lunch time, that Waywalker and Rex finally cross the doors of the Métadeck shop - under the disapproving glare of the few sells persons around in the case of Rex.

The three-story shop is rather nice and offer an excellent and wide options for numerous electronic devices. However, despite the numerous brands available, a connoisseur quickly realizes the place only sale, indeed, Renraku hardware. As Waywalker approaches the corner of the third floor dedicated to Sat Link and other similar devices, a ghost-like persona appears in front of him in AR. Looking like a floating, siren - expect that the fish part is not present, and her lower body simply fades into the matrix.

>>> Bonjour ! Bienvenu à Métadeck ! Le spécialiste de l'électronique et l'outillage matricielle, numéro un de la région parisienne ! En quoi puis je vous assister ? Please press this ARO for English (or other languages).

#20

Waywalker almost felt the sun rays through his trenchcoat, and it was very refreshing after the day of rain. It was a nice walk to the shop, where he quickly reached the sat link corner and started examinating one of them.
An Agent of the shop greeted him in French and he pressed the ARO to translate in English.
He continued to look at the devices and chose one of them, then proceded to the cash desk.

Rex looked around curiously but otherwise kept to his dog disguise - and a well behaved dog at that.
He couldn't remember anything about his previous life, but he knew that he certainly wasn't a computer person. Although, he had the distinct feeling he should start to develop an interest. The technology was just too useful.

>>> Thank you for shopping at Métadeck, we hope you have enjoyed your visit and will be satisfy with ... Renraku Ultrasensei Repeater... Have a nice day !

Waywalker also hope it will be enough to cope with the condition of their safehouse. Checking out of the shop, still followed by Rex, in a dog shape, the decker then proceed to locate a nice place to have lunch. A quick glance in the matrix comes up with dozen of restaurant nearby with all of them having... bad reviews. Looking at them, Waywalker realized quickly that french people are not only passionate about cooking and eating - but they are also excellent at ... complaining about it.

After some reading and checking, he locates a little Italian place, a couple of blocs away from the shop, and quickly secures himself a seat inside the protected terrace. Paris used to be famous for its café's terrace, but the deterioration of its air quality had forced most of them to hide under some kind of protection.

While waiting for their food, and hoping it would be as delicious as they both hope (yes, the waiter with a phony Italian accent had been nice enough to serve a plate to Rex), both runners have now to decide their next action.

"Now with the the repeater the Matrix coverage of our safehouse should be better."
After paying the repeater and a satellite link, and putting it on the van, Waywalker and Rex enjoyed a nice meal.
The return trip was pretty uneventful, saving for some disfunction of the local Gridguide promptly corrected by the rigger.
In the safehouse, Waywalker made himself comfortable, turned on all the programs for quality signal and went in VR, looking for the first step of their plan.