IC 2071
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IC 2071
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Becky shrugged “No magic… and don’t expect to bring the rocket launcher. This is an international airport, we are lucky if we can have weapons at all… Perhaps I can sneak in a small knife but I do not see myself overthrowing airport security with a mere knife. On the other hand, money makes the world go round. Thinks politics, dirt, influence… Think Jenny getting questioned by security never to see the light of day. Nonsense like that – now lets come up with a nonviolent ruse. As Macey pointed up, a good leader listens – how do we keep Jenny alive and well in an international airport where we have no weapons and there is an HTR team on standby in case we resort to violence. Try not to get us killed as terrorists. I am listening, brainiacs … “
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Macey/Willis
Mid-afternoon, Monday August 10th, 2071; Whale Watching Tour, Off the coast, Calfree StateBecky’s words intrude on Macey’s thoughts and she is surprised at them. It seems that perhaps Becky has listened a bit, after all. Macey raises a hand. “That is a very good point about weapons, Becky. I would agree to leaving the rifles and pistols safely behind. My knives will not be picked up on scanners, so I can take them if you consider that safe enough. Otherwise, I think I am limited to what martial arts I have. Willis is in the same situation with his staff and will probably need to rely on his fists if it comes to a conflict. Becky, do you think that anything Forty can do in advance would be useful in this? Perhaps some preparations for added agility or strength, if that is possible?”
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Becky replied “Look I love violence as much as the next gal… It makes me feel alive. But this is an AIRPORT, we need to do something unexpected. Besides, if people are going to see my face on TV, I want it to be advertising cosmetics or shampoo… “ she grins a silly smile and imitates one of the popular shampoo advertisements.
Then on a serious note, she adds hesitantly at first but more fluent as the ideas flow.
“Perhaps instead of hiding Jenny – we can make a comlink look just like her? Let’s make them think that they are following Jenny but leave her here, at sea outside the range of matrix reception. Chat on the matrix that we changed her to a turtle or something – and bring an actual turtle in a box that prevents astral sight. Something magic proof. Then, we arrive at the meetup with a box with an actual turtle and a comlink that looks like Jenny from the matrix. If everything goes well the box would have GPS coordinations of the ship. The Jhonson can come to pick up his new techno-girl at his leisure. If it is a trap, then we all get arrested and the AAA get their hand on a turtle, I know some good lawyers and they’ll get us out of it. We can still give the Jhonson the coordinates for Jenny and it will take some time before the cooperations figure out our ruse. By that time, Jenny will be living her happily ever after.It is not a complete plan, I am just tossing ideas… I know that this is a risk and everything. Let’s try to form some good plan so that we get paid and Jenny gets the master she chose. “
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You listen confused: <<Why wouldn’t we then just tell the Johnson to meet us out at sea? I thought we wanted to bring the girl to the airport so she could travel from there. I have traveled in a box in an airplane. It wasn’t fun but I survived. So can she. Maybe this time we give her some electric ghost boxes so she has company inside the box and doesn’t feel sick.>>
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“Well, just my gut here, but this one seems like he maybe don’t have the same sorta limitless resources some o’ the corps seem to. Or maybe he gits sea sick. Or a dozen other things. Or he’s jist an idiot. Or a genius. Whatever the reason, he’s the one set the meet, so maybe he’s got his reasons. In any case, I don’t know how much trid ya done seen, but callin’ the J back to quibble deets after ya already ended the call, like, ‘Oh, hey baby, sorry ta call ya right back, but I forgot this one thing….’ ….well that jist ain’t done, amigo. Shee-it, the very walls o’ cool’d be fallin’ down around our blessed ears. So it’s the airport.”
A chill sea wind found its way across the deck, and Al pulled his oversized jacket closer around his emaciated frame. The air out here had been doing wonders for his incessant coughing, but he still looked like death-warmed-over most of the time.
“But Precious is right about goin’ at this sideways. The kinda shell game she’s talkin’ sounds real righteous ta ol’ Al. Course, end o’ the day, some assholes’re still liable ta come after us with large caliber weapons, airport or no. But we at least try fer the slick option, then those of us that walks away can do so with our panache intact.”
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Becky replied “I can handle the Jhonson, the question is what is the right thing to do. When we took Jenny we had the element of surprise. Now we meet in an environment which is difficult for us due to security. Our SIN’s as much as the good Jhonson intended are still fake which is another problem… and I doubt they let you bring active alchemical preparations to an airport.I heard of people that were forced to get rid of a bottle of water… So something that could be a bomb is unlikely to be allowed on a plane. “
She took off some air and then addressed Macey “You always complain afterward, speak your mind now. ”
Then she asks “Do we bring a teenage girl to this meetup or are we going for a ruse, doing something completely unexpected like showing empty-handed and keeping her someplace safe.”
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“Well, I say we take ‘er. If’n we go ta all the trouble to make the meet an’ don’t have her, shee-it, they ain’t even much reason ta go at all. We’s guaranteein’ failure, whereas if we take her with us, failure is only highly likely, or, ta be fair, somewhat likely, considerin’ I’ll be there. She already decided to trust this Johnson, an’ we already got suspicions he might not have as many resources as he’d like. He must’ve named that spot cuz he had some sorta access, which he probably don’t have at some other place, especially on short notice. So havin’ her somewhere else completely, that jist means we fail afore we even start, have ta do the whole thing over again with more warnin’ fer the bad guys, an’ piss the guy off ta boot.”
Al stopped talking long enough to cough, hawk, and spit, then continued.
“Mind, I’m all fer yer little bait-an’-switch. Conceal the real deal. Work up some kinda decoy, check, check, an’ check ta all that. But fer all that, we gotta keep her somewhere in easy reach.”
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Macey/Willis
Mid-afternoon, Monday August 10th, 2071; Whale Watching Tour, Off the coast, Calfree StateBecky’s words hang in the air between them, but Macey shrugs and smiles. It is the closest she has had to a compliment from the woman since this whole thing started. “Becky, you are pretty good with disguises and illusions. What about disguising me as Jenny, at least until we get to the Johnson to be sure everything is on the level. Jenny could be disguised to look like me or even someone else. That way we keep her close enough to protect, but the initial looks from the Johnson and others would be on me.”
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Forty — Mid-afternoon, Monday August 10th, 2071
Forty screwed up her face in concentration as she followed the discussion. Becky was thinking that the enemy would hit them in the airport, not on the way to it, and wanted to keep the girl somewhere safe. Al wanted the girl with them, but wanted to be sneaky about it. Macey was down with the switch and was offering to be the decoy — Forty didn’t know why Macey was so eager to dance with death, but tried to remember to watch out for that. Willis hadn’t said anything yet, Khili hadn’t give a real plan opinion yet.
What did she think? She knew she didn’t come up with the most clever plans, but they were all trying to get Jenny there safely, maybe she could come up with something? She walked away and activated a willpower preparation to help her remember back to when she’d been in airports, and what she’d seen on the trid. And then she actually had an idea, so she hurried back to offer it up before she forgot.
“I don’t know frag about airports these days, so maybe this is total drek. But back when I was a kid we flew a few times, and when we transferred flights I don’t remember going through security again. Is there another airport we could get too easier, you know close to the water or got smuggling tunnels to it or something-something? Go there just in time for our flight, then fly to Seattle, and land already in the security zone?”
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You listen and wonder. Your brief interaction with planes really doesn’t make you qualified to add anything to the discussion, but one thing you know: <<You can’t bring a living spell with you on the flying buildings. They have small spirits spying around, and wards like those at Jenny’s prison.
Put us both in the big box where the electric ghosts can’t escape, fill it up with ghost boxes so she doesn’t suffer. I’ll be in there to protect her and if anyone tries to look in, I’ll discourage him. Few people will stick their hand into a box with an irriated dog.>> -
“Teamwork makin’ the dream work, mi compadres. Macey looks like Jenny, guarded by me an’ Precious. Willis an’ Forty go in as a totally separate party, Forty some kinda hippy-dippy animal rights activist, gotta stay with her organization’s ‘canine ambassadors’ instead o’ stowin’ ’em in cargo, an’ the big guy heftin’ pet carrier holdin’ Khili and puppy-Jenny. I can rig the extra commlinks into the carrier housing, make it look like some posh animal calmin’ get-up.”
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Becky replied “I can do that… I can see some benefits… Yes, there is a limit to how annoying you can be and still be in character. Just kidding, well half kidding. Let’s go for it. Khili can you ask your decker friend if he can make Macey’s matrix persona looks like Jenny’s?”
She thought loudly… “The key to any successful illusion is to keep them looking at the wrong way. Willis is impossible to miss… and a troll and a young lady like Jenny – impossible to look away. Willis and Macey/Jenny are together – when the shit hits the fan the two of you got some fighting chance. By the time the smoke clears we delivered Jenny, safely. Does that make some sense? I know that on the field I’ll just improvise but it is good to think of some outline of a plan. “
Looking at Al, she said “Now the real Jenny can be made into a puppy… and I like the canine ambassador part. Al do you want to sport that? I can go with a big box that blocks the astral and a turtle inside. If someone is watching me on the astral, they’ll be suspicious. If they see past the Willis and Macey ruse then they’ll jump me and I’ll surrender the box without a fight. The question is, how can we get an active spell into the airport without being detected. Or perhaps Jenny can just be made to look different and accompany Forty in this animal activist thingy?
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Becky was a smart lady. So she tended to think fast, and sometimes to relay those thoughts fast as well. But the more Al played her words back in his head, the more he liked the way she’d evolved their approach a step further.
“Okey dokey, then, Precious, lemme see if ol’ Al’s groovin’ ta yer jive jist right. So yer now talkin’ ’bout a double decoy – which I like very much.
“First they’s Willis an’ Macey. Good pairin’ – they work together real well. They’s the primary decoy, with Macey done up ta look like Jenny. They also become the primary target, but, once again, they’s well suited fer that.
“Second they’s you on yer own, Precious. You an’ a small pet carrier – containin’ no more’n a real critter o’ some sort – but done up ta maybe have Jenny’s matrix signals or somethin’. The opposition knows we like that animal-changerino trick, so great. They go after ya, no possible loss, an’ even if they never tip to ya, yer then available as a reserve force.
“Third, Forty an’ me dress like hippies an’ take Khili, masqueradin’ of course as the animal ambassador Popsickle Pudding Punch. With us is the real Jenny – either disguised as another hippy or else as our gender-equalized animal ambassador Mrs. Patches Fitzpatches, that detail ta be determined. I git it right?”
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Forty nods along to the conversation, glad to be working with people who are smart at this sort of thing. But she has questions, and they might be dumb questions, but one thing she’s learned from working with smart people in the past is that sometimes they skip over the simple stuff, so dumb questions aren’t always so dumb to ask.
“What sorta magic security do we gotta deal with anyway? Like, just magic barriers at security and spirits on the secured side? Or do they have something-something going on in the terminal and parking and all that, like more spirits or magic screens on all the entry doors? ”
“If we even make it that far. How do we know they don’t catch us on the streets again, like they done to us in San Francisco? How long do we stick together for defense and how do we split up for showing up at the airport looking all separate?”
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You do as you are asked and Czerno’s answer isn’t long away: <<Hey guys, good news bad news situation: I can totally can use a wrapper program to make a persona look like something else – another persona even – but as soon as someone runs a simple scan it will register as fake.
Now, I understand that those guys keep track of your girl’s living persona by finding her on the ‘trix, slapping her with a few MARKs to pinpoint her location. And since the little techno witch doesn’t seem to have learned yet how to delay reboot her living persona, it’s hard to hide her.Well, I know a solution to that: The girl has to enter a host. Doesn’t matter which one. As long as she stays inside one, matrix searches for her persona won’t find her as long as they aren’t in the same host. I’ll extend a MARK to her for a shadow host. Once she is in, she can only be traced by anyone already inside the host – and without anyone knowing the host it will be near impossible to do so.>>
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Having said her piece to those doing the planning, Forty goes off to find Jenny. She figures that eventually one of the planners will come and let them know what is going on.
She eventually finds the girl huddled in a corner, arms around her knees, eyes suspiciously red. Fory commands her “Get up, come with me to the back of the ship, I got something to teach you.” She puts some authority into her voice, and Jenny didn’t argue. She may have still looked frightened and a little overwhelmed, but that was fine — Forty wasn’t trying to make it all better, just give her one toe up on future challenges.
Pulling out her little machine pistol, Forty explains “Today you aren’t going to have a gun. We get you into the airport successfully, none of us will have a gun. Today you got us to fight for you, and we got ways to fight without guns when we need to. Frag, I guess you got a whole head full of ways to fight without guns, yourself.”
“But maybe this guy isn’t as great as he sounds. Or maybe he is, but something happens later on. Someday, maybe you need to get yourself out of somewhere, and you don’t got people like us to fight for you, but you can get your hands on a gun. So maybe someday knowing how to shoot will save your life. You are still pretty small, but my Mama taught my sister and me when we were even younger, so you can do this.”
It didn’t go as smoothly as Forty would have liked. She wasn’t exactly the most gifted of teachers and Jenny was not exactly the most eager of students. Forty almost developed sympathy for some of her old teachers. Almost. One clip almost went overboard, one of the crew almost panicked when they saw a red dot track up their leg, and they burned off a clip of ammo that Forty really hoped she wouldn’t need later.
But eventually Forty was reasonably confident that in a pinch, Jenny could point a gun properly, check that it was loaded, operate the safety, and knew the very basics of aiming at centre of mass and riding recoil.
When she eventually escorted the girl back to a warmer spot Forty sighed. That had been the easy and fun part of the day. Next up, dealing with Becky and Al showing her how to look like hippy, when she didn’t even have that much curve.
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Becky said “As strange as it sounds, taking her in the way is difficult. We are well armed and very dangerous, and they failed to do so already. So while they could try more force, I assume that their environment of choice is one which is uncomfortable for us but comfortable for them. If they ambush us on the way- we’ll be careful on the way but then we are well armed. Macey even had a rocket or two stashed up somewhere… . Thinking a bit more she said “I also like the host suggestion. That way, there is no real Jenny icon, just smoke, and mirrors…”
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Everything that the smart people were saying seemed to make sense, but there was something niggling at the back of Forty’s thoughts. Finally she moved away and spent a few minutes writing up a prayer to the kami to grant her clear thinking. Once she activated it and started going through the plan again, she quickly realized what the problem was.
She jogged up to Becky while the thought was still clear in her mind “Hey, I got maybe a problem. My fake SIN ain’t so hot, and I got a criminal SIN. I bet they check SIN real good at the airport, an’ it ain’t just my fake failing that could be a problem — if they figure out my real ID ’cause they grab blood or stuff, then I’m probably headed back to prison.”
“Now, I got an answer to the problem: get a better fake ID. With what this job is paying maybe I can, but it might take a bit, I don’t really know the best people for that so it ain’t a question of ‘Yo Sally I need a number five with a side of special something-something, be there to pick it up in thirty minutes.’ You know? I know some people who might know people and all that, but things take time.”
“So I guess what I’m saying is, your plan either needs to leave me outside tough ID checks, or has to give a couple of days or whatever to get a good ID.” She scowls “At the start o’ this thing, nobody said nothing about walking all nicey-nicey into security, you know?”
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Becky frowned “I know a guy for SIN’s… the best fakes can get – but indeed we’ll need to wait a few days. Find a safehouse to lay low in, or perhaps we can get to Seattle with a smuggler ship and just walk into the airport in separate groups. Each, with its own flight to a different destination…
The good part of that plan is that if all went well we take a vacation someplace else and lay low until we cool down.
So I am thinking to return by ship and walk to the airport on foot. I mean, the coyotes are due to pick us up anyhow from a beach of our choosing… Jhonson said to meet him at an airport – not to board a flight. Hopefully, by the time we get to Seattle we have solid SINs. For the actual dropoff.” -
<<Dogs don’t need SINs, just permits. But still, if you can get it, I’d like to have one that says I’m a sniffer for bad medicines like the other dogs around.>>
You add to the conversation, just so you don’t fall asleep again.
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