"Resting up a bit seems like a good idea. We already had a pretty exhausting walk outside. And it's still cold. I only need a few hours, really, to be as good as new. Can we get some more appropriate clothes for the outsides in here, before we head there?"

"So, how does this work. Can we get sick on the on side and be healthy on the other? I guess I can find somewhere warm and cozy to sleep, now that I'm in but what about you? If we take a rest - and I could do with a handful of sleep - it should be somewhere dry and warm."

Fox answers and it is difficult to listen "when you sleep you sleep in both places. Not very helpful to sleep in the snow anyhow."

He says and finds a nice sofa to crush, the apartment is furnished but it does not appear that somebody is actually living in it, thick layers of dust imply that nobody was inside for a long while. He seems very tense and doubtful that he'll sleep but he does his best to rest to Nova he says "Let me know when we go out. There are some clothes in the closet it would help a bit when we go out."

"Should we have guard shifts or something?"

"Probably" Fox answers, but it does not feel as if he is going to do anything about it. Perhaps he is too exhausted?

"Okay, so... six hours rest? bnc and I will alternate keeping watch, and also occasionally check the physical."

Rest is eventless, a bit awkward but eventless. At about 7 AM there is a knock on your door at the physical side.

Simulations, the night is eventless there is some happenings outside in the morning, people going about their days, flying drones buzzing around a lot of things for the paranoid and jumpy individuals to get freaky about but nothing that is of imminent danger. The sun rises into yet a busy day on Core, far from the paranoid description of Christa. As the buildings begin to wake up and people go about their jobs.

"Fox, I suppose it's best, you answer that? In the physical world, I mean."

Nova concentrates on her physical self, to be prepared, just in case.

Fox sighs "Yes", and he walks to open the door. He has a quiet chat with whoever is there, and he receives two breakfast meals containing something that resembles scrambled eggs and bacon. He sets the meal on the table and invites you to eat. Avoiding the meal altogether.

"Y'ain't hungry?", bnc asks, then prods the eggs skeptically herself.

How greasy are they?

"Oh, that's for us? Thank you!" Nova says and then asks: "Anything wrong?"

"I'll have my breakfast at work, keep my usual routines." he says plainly.

"Yeah, that seems like a good idea. Alright, then. Some clothes, and we are ready to go, I would say."

With that Fox exits the door and leaves to his day-to-day routines. Strangely enough, he is still with them simulation-wise.
The eggs are a bit greasy and underwhelming considering the kind of food you'd expect people this healthy to eat. Perhaps they are having supply issues due to the storm?

bnc shoves the plates away, leaving it untouched.
"I'm good to go. Let's check that hut out."

In the simulation, Fox shows the runners a map of the surrounding it shows Core as ten buildings, and an underground complex built into the mountain, and then it shows the path to a site called 'The Bunker' it has an access road, and the interactive map shows a vehicle slowly making its way to the bunker, perhaps to change shifts at about 8 AM. (it is 7'ish). the distance is about six kilometers which means two or three hours walking if you avoid the access road, and about one hour if you follow it. (less if you hitch-hike).

There is no tactical information about the site but Fox assumes it is well guarded. It is a bit confusing to be shown the map simulation-wise while eating, and so Fox would patiently wait until he has your attention.

"I'm not great with navigating unfamiliar territory. Let's take the road? We could still walk a bit away from the road itself and thus have some cover, I suppose, while using it as guidance."

"Still, would appreciate some other clothes before we go."

"I would rather we avoid walking along the road but I agree that following its course in a distance would be both safe and secure.
We are going to need a lot of intel. Fox, any chance to organize a FlySpy or something of that sort?"

Fox enters the kitchen and returns with a large onion. "Just like in the fairytales. Here is your flying eye." It is a limited solution, as using scripted illegal drones means you'll only have a few minutes but perhaps it is better than nothing.
He says So you want to navigate next to the road and move to verify the road's direction from time to time?

She cocks an eyebrow. "An onion? I love it. Too bad we don't have a proper pumpkin. I just hate walking.
Yeah, that's pretty much the plan. Thanks for the vegetables. You don't happen to have a well-sized cucumber with you, do you? I'm asking for a friend."

Fox grins, "So we know what to do, the last question is when - now or at night?"
Recall that it is early morning (you are actually having breakfast in the physical while speaking in simulation.

"Clearly we leave now. There are opportunities for the night, and those that work only during the day. As long as we don't know which one is better, we can't afford to waste time. So I say, we move now, then collect info, then decide how to proceed".

"I completely agree. Also, the so-called 'cover of darkness' isn't really much these days, with thermographic vision, sensors and whatnot."

Before you leave Fox suggests coats, gloves, and other winter gear that the apartment has.

The way to the base is a difficult walk through the snow where the feet get submerged in deep snow that fell through the night. It is less cold than in the night, but it keeps snowing and the wind speeds are uncomfortable. The forest is strangely peaceful, to the point where you wonder how it was so ominous during the night.

There are multiple cars that move on the road, during your few hour's walk, and movement is physically taxing. Eventually, you feel that the base is within reach, you do not see it per-say heavy fog and snow make visibility very difficult but you notice that a large van that has passed you is stopping and turning off. You hear a blip usually indicating it is now locked, you are likely so close to the fence that you nearly walked through it. That is if the bunker has a fence.

While still taxing, the daylight and the more appropriate clothes for the season makes the whole winter experience a lot more enjoyable.

Once they are closer to the base, Nova moves very cautiously, trying to discern what measures of protection they might face here, also making use of thermographic vision to get a better picture.

bnc checks the van and its inhabitants for matrix icons. She also releases the onion to get a picture about the area.

@Nova it is subtle but you can tell that the fog is too thick and too synthetic as it blocks most methods of visual observation. You can hear that there are people inside the compounds and can identify a cigarette heat signature but aside from that, it is very sparse information. However, since they nearly smashed into the base's fence without noticing it - and since nobody noticed them the fog seems to be as much hindrance to the base as it is to them - so it does not feel like a defensive mechanism - but perhaps as if they are again too late for the party.

@bnc Fox's script appears to be something of a premeditated hacking script that exploits vulnerabilities in the system to change the onion to a flying eye. The drone is initially utterly useless due to the fog as it manages to get a vision range of 1-2 meters. However, bnc realizes that such a thick fog is a double-edged sword as her drone is impossible to detect physically. More so, the base has many defensive systems like drones, and turret platforms that appear to be offline and sort of ignore the drone. Skimming through the base she can roughly map the buildings and out layers and identify two guards, that are unlikely to spot anything from outside.

Behind the curtain looking at the icons and scripts that make the simulation, she can feel that the data intensity of the area increases as the drone operates. Its existence is likely to generate some low-level alarms, and these gradually alert higher-level inspections of the area to detect the fault. Time is of the essence, and while going silent or fighting the AI may buy some extra time it is going to be a dangerous and eventually futile effort - so she needs to be very mindful with what she actually wants the drone for.

After a while she orders the drone to retreat.

"Seems like we came at a good moment. I don't know what caused the fog, and I doubt it is natural - whatever that would even be supposed to mean in a simulation. But apparently it wasn't created as a defense mechanism, because those suffer as well. So whoever caused it, they are likely the enemy, so we have no time to wait anyhow. I don't dare intruding deeper with the drone. I might even get rid of it. Maybe I'm wrong but it feels that the AI is more aware here, so the routines to check for recognizing irregularities seem stronger here as well, though it might as well be imagination. Fox, what do you think? I feel like at some point when we get closer, it might be smart to reonion the flying eye."

Fox says "this is very strange, it almost feels like someone was here before us. A worthy intuition, if someone has made a mess already then the AI would be here much shorter than usual. "

"This is some sort of armory? Then we can expect heavier resistance from whoever we are up against now? Guess we should still arm ourselves then... The guards do not exactly look agitated, though. Could it be that whoever was here, replaced the guards and took over this place as well?"

Fox says "It is a bunker, we usually keep weapons in there because there is no need for them in day to day. When the horrors arrive the orders are to lock all weapons there so that we do not go around killing each other in the simulation. Until then it is sort of an armory, hunters get to keep their weapons, and security guards, but we keep most of the firepower in here."

"That's bad. So raising any kind of alarm at all is out of question.

What the fuck is "short" supposed to mean if applied to an AI??"

"So, what now? Should we sneak closer? Talk to the guards about the strange fog? Or disable them? Can we do anything about any surveillance they might have?"

"Fox? What do you mean by short?

I'd suggest we try and sneak real careful. I don't know how good you are with words, but I'm positive I can't wiggle out of any suspicion two near-cyberzombies they don't know might cause. I believe I can aide us by manipulating the AI and our surroundings. Also, matrix perception still works so I should still be able to deal with drones and turrets. I believe we might be able to pull off some workarounds even they don't suspect. It's a bit of a stretch as I had little to no chance to get a grasp on what I can actually do, but I believe if we think a bit outside the box, we can be one step ahead. Don't use doors, make them. Stuff that's not possible in the real world, and therefore unexpected. I'm not sure how exactly it works, but, for example, I believe that changing coordinates is way less of a manipulation than actually crafting something. If my understanding is right, I should be able to move doors, cameras or even mounds without raising too much alert. To us, place and time are an essential part of how we grasp the world. To a machine, they are coordinates and timestamps. Or so I hope. We need to be creative, but I think, we can pull off a lot if we are. So I'd vote for stealth.

But I need to understand how that AI works. Could it be that the AI focuses its resources here?"

Fox says "Something is off, but so far it feels to our advantage so I would not ask too many questions and use this unexpected advantage.

Moving stuff around is a good call easier than making it up. If you fail however it can be bad. I can perhaps talk but no idea how to justify being in a bunker with two mercenaries after nobody was able to locate me in the simulation for a few days. Not for lack of trying. "

bnc angrily mutters under her breath. "Yeah, why for fuck's sake should you answer questions, for fuck's sake?"

bnc inhales deeply to keep her anger low. Each word comes out very pronounced with breaks in between as she were talking to a toddler or a drunk.

"Can you. Please. Clarify. What. You meant. When you said: "if someone has made a mess already then the AI would be here much shorter than usual." for fuck's sake?? Fox, we rely on you here and you keep ignoring questions, beating around the bush and talk in riddles. You're a programmer, for fuck's sake, not the Oracle of Delphi!"

I don't know bnc, one one hand there is more AI attention on the other hand... bigger glitches would be handled before small glitches. If someone is robbing a bank, nobody would care that you steal a pen sort of speaking. It takes minutes to handle glitches normally, but this fog is here - how come we see it? Are we that lucky that in the same minute as we arrive something else happens? I am as clueless about this situation as you are. He keeps his cool, but his hands shake and he seems very agitated as if he is struggling to not crumble to a pulp.

"Obviously, you cannot explain things you have no knowledge of. However, you know a whole lot more about this place than we do. Any details that you take for granted are not known to us, and might prove quite relevant in a life or death situation. Vagueness is not our friend here. Anyways, if we want to avoid the guards, we should make use of the fog and get some distance between us and them."

"Plus one", bnc comments in reaction to Nova's words, "also, as a rule of thumb, try using words than mean things.

Right, let's move on. Who knows how much time we have to get Fox inside?"

bnc starts to walk, silently. She sets her agent on checking hidden icons constantly, while she herself has an eye on all icons not running silently. The physical she leaves mostly to Nova and maybe Fox. Better to focus on one thing properly than to split your attention. bnc has always been a friend of dividing tasks by expertise.

The base is fenced, and it has a gate for vehicles there is a large truck parked near it. The fence is a little obstacle for Nova but bnc and Fox would either need to cut it or sneak past the gate. There is a group of people casually talking somewhere in the base perhaps near the truck, with two or perhaps four voices. There are no visible silently running icons, matrix visibility is a bit obscured as well and it is difficult to spot things.

bnc can see multiple weapons, and about a dozen people exist nearby, walls, doors windows, and plenty of other icons that catch her fency. For a moment she thinks she sees some quick-moving icon, but it is gone before she can make up her mind about what she saw - perhaps it is some procedure of the AI? Something else? She has no idea.


While conversing you notice a small dog-like drone walking not very far from the fence and getting closer to you, it is already very close due to the low visibility.

Nova climbs over the fence and helps the others over as well.

I think she has 8 strength? It should be enough to hold them.

Sneaking to the bunker is eventless nobody can see a thing, finding the bunker is a bit of a challenge. They need to make an effort not to fall at the steps leading to a magnetically locked door. Two men just exit a second or two very tired men before the team enters with they climb up a truck and "two more rounds" one of them says, and the other rants. They tap the floor of the truck to let the driver know they are ready, and then the truck leaves.

bnc disables the drone's ability to raise an alarm, then tries to sneak past it unnoticed.



"All right, honey. Get ready to save our sorry asses if what I'm doing goes south. I need to try how this matrix mojo works before everything depends on me making no mistakes. Still, be prepared for some serious drek raining on us."
Rather than hacking the door, bnc tries to alter it every so slightly. She attempts to simply remove the maglock-controlled metal bar that keeps the door locked. She then attempts to overwrite Nova's appearance with that of the man who is closer to her in stature and overall appearance.

"Two more rounds... with a big truck? That sounds like someone is relocating a lot of the arsenal here someplace else. Let's find out what they left for us..."

The door resists bnc's attempt to temper with its logic, and so does Nova's appearance. Her adrenaline surges when she realizes the implications of two illegal actions utterly failing and possibly alerting the AI when she cannot disconnect or erase the signs of her intrusion.

"Let's do this the mundane way..."

Nova gets to work on the maglock.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong but this is unreliable at best. I hope the AI doesn't have an equivalent to GOD.
Fox, does lying low help to get rid off the AI's attention?"

She tries not to show it too much, but she is disappointed. It sounded like she could do magic-like stuff, but in the end it shows up, all she can do is endanger them. So, instead of working this angle again, she falls back to what she knows how to do. She is only half-focused and doesn't work with the concentration and care she should. Still, the door almost doesn't resist, and Nova is able to push it open.

The lock gives in rather quickly to mundane efforts to open it, this exposes a dimly lit stairway leading to a small hall with shelves packed with survival gear and a corridor where more rooms may be.


Fox replies "Sadly no, the AI never forgives and never forgets. It usually lets you off with a warning on the first offense, and it does not directly kill people. Getting banned from the simulation and then exiled from the base is as good as death for many of us."

"Alright, then. Let's see what we have here."

Nova moves inside, scanning the room for anything useful, but quickly proceeds into the corridor, because what they are mostly looking for are weapons, and those don't seem to be here. They are in a bit of a hurry, also. Plus, they will get past these shelves again on their way out, and can still grab some stuff then.