"Let's move along then, we don't want to keep Jaron waiting." Calisto gestures for the rigger to lead on.

While waiting for Hafiz and Callisto to return, Biomage decides to make conversation with Jaron. Strolling up to Jaron's wheelchair, he asks, "What do you know about a certain holy man in Portugal?"

"Someone want to give me a hand prepping the Opel. It's going to take me about an hour to prep the place for a lengthy departure, so bear with me." The old rigger goes about cleaning the place up, storing chemicals and locking down anything he can. His tool kit goes in the external cargo bay of the Opel along with extra repair materials. He grabs a box of self heating rations and secures them inside the van.

"I got plenty of room for whatever you all need, so no worries there." After a while he stands by the van talking a long look around, making sure he doesn't leave anything important behind.

Biomage:

"Which church? I admit that I haven't kept up to date on most of the religious movements in Europe, but if it's a major movement I may have seen an article in the UCAS Times or the Seattle Post?"

Calisto:

Hafiz heads out the of the ranch, stopping by the stables to make sure the automated feed system is caring for the horses. He puts both bags in the back of the SUV and re-engages the security system with a few mental commands.

The drive back to Tacoma is long and quiet. Your companion regularly shifts the color of the paint scheme and transponder as you travel, jumping from one grid to another. You pull into the hangar as Jester closes the cargo bay and gives a last look over the building to make sure everything is in place.

"Wake me up when Calisto gets back, I need to talk to her."

Trixie currles into a ball in the corner of the garage. Instantly she is off to sleep, making it apparent she is used to sleeping under such conditions.

Biomage continues, "Monsignur Joseph Mennon. Sorry, he's in Rome, not Porugal. A member of the Catholic church. He seems somehow connected in all of this. We've been able to find out that he has made it his mission to purify the matrix in some holy war against darkness. He placed a request for 'the falcon's crown and the german jewels' a few days ago. I thought you might know something more."

Biomage:

Jaron seems to poll some kind of mental database.

"The name doesn't ring any bells. He certainly has the sound of a zealot if he is waging a crusade against a digital army of darkness. The falcon could refer to me, as it is one of the avatars I occasionally use, but I was never warned that I had a priest interested in my activities."

Biomage thinks for a few moments before responding.

"We think... that your friend Markhum Zeidel may have succeeded in creating an AI. His journals mention finding a shortcut to the X-Factor. As he stopped taking his medication, the writing became more cryptic. Right now, it's only a theory, but we think that perhaps this AI still exists on the real Matrix, not Zeidel's mini version. We think this AI may be helping Mennon in his crusade, though we are not sure why. We've done some analysis on the trode set you gave us. It isn't just a trode net; it has a piece of hardware similar to an induction jack, firmware memory that had some data stored, and a wireless uplink. Jack decrypted the file after making a copy, and it turned out to be program code that seemed to be purposely made into the shape of a helix. Callisto thought it was important to check out a new BTL that was on the streets too, so we checked it out. The chip had a pretty strong feed, and its internal components contained several parts that are normally used in cranial cyberdecks. It's just a theory, but all of this may be related. I wanted to see if you knew anything that might help shed some light on this mystery."

Biomage:

"What do you mean stopped taking his medication? What was he taking? I know about Markham's attempt to shortcut the x-factor, but I didn't know aout this vast conspiracy which you are stumbling upon. And also, which 'trode net are you referring to? I don't recall ever giving you one. As for the program, do you know what its purpose was? Or have you simply looked at the code in a 3d programming environment?

During the prep Jester grabs a wool blanket out of the back of the truck and gently places it over Trixes sleeping form.

This is no biz for a kid. Poor girl.

If any one gives him a look he just shrugs.

Biomage looks over at the trode net, and then back at Jaron.

"You'll have to ask the deckers. They did the analyses. I may be mixed up on this one. I came in late, and they already had the trode net. If you didn't give it to us, then the others must have recovered it from Markham's apartment when they went to do a little investigating. They brought back his journal and some other stuff. They told me that Markham was apparently taking medication to treat schizophrenia. You didn't know about that? How well did you know Markham? Did you keep in contact?"

Biomage:

Jaron straightens himself a little, obviously confused about your information.

"I ran a thorough check on Dr. Zeidel before investing in his research. He did not have schizophrenia, a history of mental illnesses with paranoia and or delusions would have blacklisted him. Are you sure that he was ill?"

The executive seems cool and confident in the truth of his facts.

Biomage says, "I went over his journal. The deckers did some digging on him. All I know is that I got an impression, from his spiritual aura still imprinted on the book, that he was definitely troubled. The writing got harder to understand toward the end. There was a strange shift in the handwriting style, and some odd caption in capital letters at the very end."

Handing the journal to Jaron, he says, "You should take a look at it. And if you have any aura reading ability, maybe you can confirm what I found. It would have been nice to also take a look at the knife and Markham's body, if we were able. This mystery is deeper than I had suspected. The more answers we find, the more questions they raise. You should also talk to Trixie and Jack after you're done reading."

A soft rumble comes from the corner. Whoever thought such a small girl could make such noise in her sleep?

Jack almost visibly perks up, hearing his name as Biomage randomly tosses out various bits of ill-combined information. He just shakes his head, mentally making a note to keep his cards a little closer to his vest, and finishes packing up the satellite system they were using for 'trix access.

He helps Jester finish packing down the hanger, and hides the small smile as the grizzled rigger covers up the sleeping girl.

Tossing the last of the equipment into the van, and tugging both the holsters for his guns to settle them, he turns back to Biomage and Jaron, shaking Trixie awake softly before he begins to talk.

"Alright boys and girls, load up. We're heading out to pick up any other indcidentals we need, including a few changes of clothes and a toothbrush for yours truly, and we'll meet back here with the others to finalize the transportation plans. Jester, mind if Ah stow mah bike in your hanger for the duration? Everyone else, climb in."

Trixie's eyes spring awake and she quickly recoils from Jack before remembering where she is.

She sighs, "You woke me up 9.185 minutes early."

She stands, wrapping the blanket around her frail form, then realizes she has it and smiles a bit to herself.

"Is Calisto back yet?", she asks, glancing around.

"Not a problem Jack, everyone else is welcome to stow their gear here as well."

Trixie:

As you pull the blanket towards you, the fog in your mind starts to clear up and you begin to make sense of the random images that had been flooding the your mind. Separating the nightmares of your mind from the horrors of your own past, pieces of the puzzle start to click into place.

Whoever is behind the BTL manufacturing has to have their fingers in an endless cookie jar or they have managed to take control of some kind of production facility without anyone noticing. The fact that the Triads want them so badly means that it is probably being done outside of the darker elements of society--unless of course another mob war is brewing. Your thoughts keep returning to the concept of an AI breaking out of its digital prison and coming into the brave new world you call reality. The horrors that Deus accomplished could be spread across the entire globe, and spread that widely no one may ever have noticed...

While everyone is gathering their gear together, Trixie remains pretty reclusive and keeps to herself. She grabs a quick bite to eat, but then returns to her spot on the wall where she sits in deep thought, looking very troubled.

Calisto walks into the hangar, giving everyone a once over. "We're back."

Biomage looks up, breaking off the conversation with Jaron, who seems silent now.

He greets Callisto and Hafiz by saying, "Great! You have the gas vent?"

Settling up with Hafiz, he says, "How much do I owe you?" before completing a credstick transfer.

Addressing the hangar, Biomage says, "Jack! Explain your findings on the code in that trode net to Jaron if you have time and aren't busy. You'd understand it better than I would. And someone also fill him on our finding about Zeidel being schizophrenic. Jaron says it isn't true as far as he knows. It could be that someone on the Matrix is jerking us around, intentionally or not. Jester! Have any spare tools? I want to attach this gas vent before we get to Tokyo, unless anyone here knows how to do the work. I've never tried doing it myself."

Trixie's head pops up as Calisto walks through the door.

"Calisto! I need to talk to you!" She motions for Calisto to join her in the corner. Once she does so, Trixie speaks in a hushed tone... "Umm... Can you take me shopping? I don't really know anything about fashion... its been years since I've been able to buy new clothes..."

Team:

Biomage begins to fiddle around with his SMG, the new gas vent resting in his lap. He starts to randomly turn the gun as if looking for something. Finding the pin that keeps the foreguard tight around the barrel, he forces it out and the barrel slide out in his hand.

With the gun resting on the table, GasVent in one hand and the barrel in the other, the cyber-armed mage contemplates how the pieces actualy fit together.

"Not a problem. Let's go and get what you need while the man-folk get everything packed away." Calisto turns from Trixie and walks back to the rest of the team. "I have my stuff in the trunk of my car. Trixie needs to grab some things before leaving. I'm going to go with her per the rules." She nods to Jack with a half grin and pauses a second to frown over Biomage's make shift gun lab. "Let's relocate to another squat. I believe Jaron may have a spot or two we can shack up in until we leave." She looks to Jaron for an answer.

Biomage sticks the piece together a few times, trying to make them magically click into place or something. With each failed attempt, he becomes increasingly agitated, eventually cursing and muttering things under his breath.

"Grargh!... Stupid... How could anything be THIS hard?! Rrr.. should have asked for a fraggin kit too.. along with a training manual... Drek! I think I broke it!... ARGH!!"

Biomage slams his fists down on the table, making the gun frame and the gas vent bounce with the force of the impact.

Team:

Calisto's comment about shifting locations is punctuated by the sharp sound of metal bouncing off wood as Biomage begins to lose his temper.

"I know a few places, but the Hotel California should be more than sufficient for the moment. And it would be professional suicide for anyone to try and make trouble there."

The executive seems to be nonplussed by the growing frustration of the mage. Meanwhile, as non-hostilely as possible Jack approaches the table.

"Ah think thatta I should be able to give you a hand wit'dat."

The cowboy slides the pieces across the table to himself and begins to tinker with the gun. Fifteen minutes later, he has gotten the gas vent firmly seated on the barrel and the gun put back in one piece.

"Ya may need to get used to the new weight, but it shouldna be too difficult."

Perplexed at the ease with which Jack accomplished the task of refitting the gas vent, Biomage says with a stunned look on his face, "Thanks, chummer! I owe you one."

His expression changes to a smile, surprisingly enough, and you think you may have just gotten on his good side.

Now that everyone is present, Trixie takes a moment to let loose with her findings and ideas.

"Before I head out, I should let you all know some stuff. I've been rolling all the data I've collected around in my head trying to connect the dots. Its just something I've always been good at. I'm almost certain that we're dealing with an AI. Think about these BTLs we're dealing with. Its some of the highest tech I've ever seen. You may not all understand just how revolutionary it is for a chip to have C2 parts, not to mention an uplink, stored in it. Well, its like someone just invented flying cars. The ammount of reasorces and the different types of tech involved are real heavy too. On the level with a Mega. I think an AI figured these chips out, then found himself a facility to take over and start production. I'm getting very temped to put out a call to Overwatch for some help."

Jester nods at trixies statement. "May be good advice, but on the other hand if we put a call out, wont the thing know whater were up to?"

Jester puts the last piece together and takes a step back.

"I'm ready when y'all are."

"True," She replies, "and that is why I'm only temped so far..."

Biomage checks his gun before putting it away. He goes to the refrigerator area and finds a ziptop plastic bag to put the gas vent II into before putting it into his pocket to protect his coat from being stained by gun oil.

He walks up to the discussion and joins in, "So.. if we're dealing with an AI, how do we handle it? Jaron's own network may be compromised by now, and if it has the whole Matrix to run around and play in, how can we fight it? We don't even have a name for this AI yet."

"There are things we could do. Some AIs have a weakness built into them, some don't. We can try to take the fight into the meat world for starters and shutdown whatever facility it is using to make the BTLs. From there, if we need to take the fight into the matrix, that will take some help. We've got one ally in The Fool already and I can likely dig up some more if it comes down to a fight. The last time I was involved with something like this, it took help from another AI, but that was also a special situation where Deus had his own hardware to run on. This AI will be having to steal processing time from the spare cycles of other mainframes. But don't think for a second that means its a push-over. AIs are as hard core as they come and there is no way that The Fool and I can take it on solo without some secret weapon up our sleeves. Right now, we need to worry about the next step in front of us, getting to Japan. From there we can look into stopping the chip production.

On a side subject, I want to know if you guys care if I make a post on Shadowland about our findings with the BTL. I can erase my trails so its an anonymous post with info on what they do. At least that way people are getting informed and they can warn others not to use the chips. We can just sit on info like this..."

"I say go for it."

"Ah agree. Someone needs tah' put the word out while we're hunting the facility down."

She nods. "Ok, I'll get on that now, just so its done sooner than later. Give me about five minutes Calisto, then we can take off."

Trixie heads over to her connection and jacks in...

Biomage just nods and says, "Fine. Do it."

Another business opportunity wasted. We could have just taken over the production and distribution and started raking in the cash. No.. that makes me as bad as that mage. Ah.. why do I care? It doesn't matter either way. The world's already gone to hell.

Trixie:

The home you grew up in as a small child materializes around you. You smell the soy-free chocolate cake that your mother used to make for special occasions. Voices of your parents in the other room call to you as you set your lunchsack down on the table.

School had been a little tiresome, but overall entertaining today. Somewhere nearby a rat squeals in panic, but your parents are here and they have guests over.

Team:

For the tenth time today, the young girl's body goes completely limp, folding in on the lotus position that she assumes each time she jacks in.

With his vehicle checked out and all the gear he could stuff into it loaded, Jester did one final check on his weapons. The Glock easily ejected from the hidden port in his right leg, the rigger drew it and spun it around once on his hand. A smile and a chuckle shadowed his face as he gripped the weapon like a cowboy. The case less magazine ejected. Falling into his other hand. He then locked the slide back and visually checked out the barrel. Finished with the pistol he spun it one more time and slid it gracefully back into his cyber holster.

The UMP rested in its special sling, nestled behind his command chair and the bullet proof bulkhead that separated the cockpit from the passenger section. The SMG was barely larger than a pistol with it's shortened barrel an folded stock. HE extended the stock and held the weapon tight into his shoulder. Satisfied that the sights were aligned he ejected the blue tagged magazine, and inserted a red one. Charging it once he put the safety back on and slipped behind the chair.

Jack slid his deck into the van under one of the seats, leaving the strap out just enough for quick evac if necessary. He leans up against the van, arms crossed over his chest, looking at Trixie for a moment before turning to Callisto.

"So, you know Sully? Funny, she never mentioned you." he says with a bit of a smile.

Trixie:

The voice in your mind screams as you are caught between illusion and truth. Everything about this world is real, you remember this day it was the afternoon before Deus began his rampage and killed your parents along with hundreds of other innocents in the arcology. Your mind starts to reel as you see the hazy edges of simulated sensation closing in on you.

Team:

Caught up in conversation, you catch movement along the edges of your peripheral vision as Trixie's body jerks erect and slumps back down again.

Jester's hand shoots out and slaps Jack across the arm to get his attention. He then points at Trixie.

"Hey, shouldn't she be back by now?"

Biomage holsters his weapon and goes to watch Trixie with his astral eyes.

Drek! I should pay more attention!

With a scowl on his face, he sits down in front of her and monitors her aura for signs of physical stress.

Biomage:

The world fills with light and color as you part the veil on your third eye once more. Voids and pools of darkness sift through the aura of the young girl before you. Obvious implants in her mind do little to comfort you as you are buffeted by the sensation of being trapped that pours out of her. Buckling your own emotions under control so they don't get mixed with Trixie's, a second glance shows her to be free of any addiction, ailment or injury.

Jack huhs, turning and glancing over. He steps over to the girl, crouching down next to Biomage.

"Is she okay? We shouldn't pull the plug unless something's wrong. Getting dumped hurts like hell, even when you're using one of the cranial decks."

Biomage looks back at Jack and then turns back to Trixie.

He says, "She's trapped. Call her and ask if she is ok. I don't care how much it hurts; I'll pull the plug if I have to. Her body suddenly standing up straight all by itself isn't supposed to happen is it?"

Biomage leans closer and stands up Trixie's torso by the shoulders and then holds his left hand against her back to support her while he lifts up her face with his right to examine her face and body astrally to make sure there isn't anything on the front of her body that he missed a second ago, like bleeding or fluid coming from the mouth.

I don't know much about it, but I don't think a decker's body is supposed to do that. I wonder if something else, like a signal from the Matrix, made her do that.

Biomage continues to hold Trixie up so that he can keep a close eye on her physical state.

As Biomage hefts up Trixie's frail form, her body jerks once more, but this time there is a clear grimace of her face. Her arm jerks up and yanks the datacord connected to her temple free. The room is filled with screams...

"Jack," the old man yells.

"Pull the damn plug now. Dumpshock is better than death!"

half hops, half runs to Trixie, he grabs one of her arms and helps hold her down.

"Do it, Jack."

Team:

Trixie's body spams and writhes as her screams echo off the hangar walls and build stronger within the acoustic nightmare. Her skin flowers in shades of red and blue generally reserved for Urban Brawlers as neural feedback courses down her spinal column and forces muscular contractions and vascular dissonance. A few seconds later, the only sound is the fading remnants of her shattered call. Blood curls off the side of her lip and down her cheek.

Trixie's eyes snap wide open as the scream is choked off in her throat.

She whispers... "He found me."

Blood trickles from the corner of her mouth as her eyes stare at nothing, unblinking.

Jack twists his head away, biting his lip as the girl screams. He looks back down as she goes limp, fairly helpless at the moment.

"She dumped pretty hard...we need to get her into the van and get going. Obviously somebody found us."