IC 2076
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IC 2076
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Robyn breathes a sigh of relief when Silk comes to and the bio-monitor indicates that she is fit to travel, although she needs to be careful. She listens in on the sub-vocal communications. >>Let me know what I can do to help. I will also remain in AR, as advised.<<
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Yup, I can drop it for you, that’d be a relief to be honest. But are you sure about what you’re doing? eGhost or not that thing is coocoo for now, and trust my experience with ghosts, they are no longer what they were in the living. That AI may have kept some of your Mom’s memory and personality traits, but that’s gonna be the extend of it. Your mom is no longer of this world, and if that AI is a fragment of her, she’s on another journey; one that you are not part of, nor should you be. If your Pattern brought you here, it might be for a good reason indeed: take that chance to say good bye to her. Embrace the living.
That speech was difficult for Deckard. He had search for his Wife Cora for so long. Her spirit, her soul, her ghost if needed. He’d travel to Metaplanes to find traces of her. As he spoke he realized those words might have been for him more than for Silk. He had a knot in his throat.
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Isaint patted Rick’s shoulder at his last words and squeezed once in affirmation.
“Quite right.
But it would be helpful if you could fill us in on all relevant data about your mother: Her likes and dislikes, her full name, pets, other family and loved ones, her specialties as a runner and hacker, the order of operations she would employ to solve problems, i.e. was she analytical or rather intuitive, preferred subtly to force or vice versa, etc.
Every info that could help us to show her that we are not her enemies would be helpful.” -
Al was pushing the groggy Silk back and forth on her office chair, clearly antsy.
<<So can we move already? She-HAL, or Mom, or whatever it is may be able to consider three trillion options per nanosecond or whatever, but bringin’ physical force ta bear on us still takes meat world time, an’ the more mobile we are the harder it’ll be ta focus her resources on us.>>
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<<Right, let’s get a move on. Use the chair to get Silk going. This will get worse before it gets better.>>
Isaint unfolded his briefcase shield and made sure his various handguns were loaded and easily accessible. That done, he moved to the door, peeked outside and gestured the others to follow him. -
Robyn nods and stands, walking to the door to help move the filing cabinet that is keeping it open. Once past it, she looks at the others. >>Maybe I should push her so that ISaint and Al can have their hands free in case we meet any resistance up ahead?<<
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Isaint nodded: <<Do it. Rick you watch our six. I’m still worried about those noise weapons. So don’t hesitate to shoot fast and first. Al, if in doubt you take the right side, I’ll take the left.>>
#620
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Al turned the chair over to Alyce and led out alongside Isaint, shotgun at high-ready. He supposed they could run into a group of uninfected security guards, but the stakes were high and sometimes you had to play the odds – he’d be taking Isaint’s lead and shooting first at any threats. In any case, the way these headcases could bounce back, he wouldn’t be shooting at the man first anyway, he’d be firing to disable the screech weapon.
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>> You got it. Simply answered Deckard.
He could feel the power of the Elemental inside him. Small arcs of electricity were running down his body and arms. He followed his companions, cautious of what could hide behind them. Sustaining all those spells were taking its toll on him, but he made sure to have some resource left to cast a Sound Barrier spell should any threat shows up with those sonic weapons. -
[Tuesday September 15th, 2076; CTec Aquaology, Tonga Trench]
As the team hustled away from the med bay Silk responded to Isaint’s question as best she could
<<If we had net access I would download Argent’s profile on my mum, without that I’ll tell you what I can in the time we have… Her full name was Sara Waters, born on the third of March twenty twenty two in to the chaos of the second VITAS outbreak. Her family were a typical cop breed and inevitably she followed them and eventually became a Fed surveillance operative. Working for them she met my father, he was an English second gen runner under investigation. You might even have heard of him, he turned fixer a few years ago and although he operates mostly in Europe he has an international client base, with the handle Torrent. He influenced her enough that she gave up on the Bureau and entered the shadows in the late twenty forties. She worked as a rigger and surveillance specialist for a number of teams until she had me in twenty fifty. That put a bit of a crimp in their plans but not as much as you might expect. She stayed a runner throughout my childhood, although she shielded me from the worst aspects of that life and ensured I had as normal a life as possible. We moved around a lot and lived in an RV but I still managed to attend school via the matrix and in person when we were back in Seattle. By this time mum had her handle, Mother, she was always a bit of a mother hen to the teams she ran with. She hooked up with Bale in sixty four, shortly after a bust up with Dad, and Balefire was born. She ran with them until she died in twenty seventy.
She was analytical and overly cautious when it came to running. She would rather watch from afar than get in the faces of the foe. In that she complimented the brasher approach that Bale preferred. I don’t know how that ties in with what she may be now…she seems angrier than I would have expected, but then perhaps being dead does that to you!>>
With Deckard’s spell gone Silk propelled herself out of the wheelchair and faced the nearest sensor. Peeling off the hood of her skinsuit she looked out through her mother’s face
“This was the face you wore right? Sara Waters, Mother… it’s not meant to be a trick, I knew that the face would be recognised, I just didn’t know by whom…” and she peeled off the synthskin mask… “Mum? It’s me, Suzanna… Silk… is that really you…?”
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Robyn is momentarily concerned when her charge leaves the wheelchair, but she manages to stop its forward momentum and avoid hitting the woman. With Silk trying to talk to her mother, Robyn uses her augmented senses to scout out in front and behind them in the corridor. Her hearing and sense of smell are better than those of most people and she is hoping to get some sort of advance notice of anyone approaching them.
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Isaint kept his eyes on the direction they were going while answering: <<Yes, we all know Torrent. I had no idea that he was related to you, though it explains quite a bit.
Regarding your mother’s personality. That… could be a problem. I hate to fight against opponents more paranoid than me. Her having been a rigger in her previous life could allow her to pilot drones and especially anthrodrones with frighteningly high efficiency.
Let’s hope her ghost will respond more positive to you once it recognizes you as her daughter.>> -
With his hand on his pistol, Deckard reacted to ISaint’s comment. >>She’s just an AI now. Or could be. She’d have no problem controlling a drone anyway, rigger or not. <<
He watched with interest when Silk showed herself to the sensors. Could the AI find the understanding of human feelings? -
<<There is still a difference between a normally controlled drone and the shit that a rigger can make a drone do. Something like the difference between me and Arthur.
Let’s just hope this facility hasn’t bought recently some of the new S-K models.>>
Isaint sent back while he continually scanned for approaching enemies. -
>> EVO buying S-K? but where is the pride?<< Asked Deckard sarcastically.
Wouldn’t all the drones be registered in the system? Even connected to it if the AI would need to take control.
Deckard thought about it for a second, but that would require Robyn to connect to the system and put her at risk considering She-HAL instability, nor would it help the interaction Silk was trying to have with her right now. -
<<If you’d seen that demonstration of the new Wolfspinne… Even EVO might be tempted to buy a few dozen – or at least try to create a knock-off. Those things are vicious.
And yes, they probably are – but those things can be taken over relatively easy if the original operator can’t resist anymore.>>
Isaint replied. -
>>Yeah, well, I hate snakes more than spiders, but the thought of a giant metallic spider armed with minigun is pretty scary. << Instinctively Deckard looked up, scanning the ceiling for any threat they’d miss.
>>My Magic allows me to detect life within a certain radius but that’s null with drones. Luckily for us, that’s not an environment one would be smart to use miniguns in. Let’s stay alert though. -
Robyn nods and holds up a hand. >>Fortunately for us, we have more than one means of detecting things. I am picking up the noise of two sets of footsteps and some soft whirring, like the propellers of some sort of drone. They are coming in behind us, but the echoes are making it hard to judge distance accurately.<<
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Behind us, of course! Just when Deckard was watching the 6 that trouble needed to show from behind.
He drew his revolver but kept it pointed at the floor, mentally preparing to cast a couple specific spells. A sound barrier spell, should whoever were approaching be armed with their sonic weapon, and a physical barrier, should they need to be kept at bay.
He positioned himself closer to the wall looking for niches to get some sort of cover.
He knew ISaint needed no tactical direction, so he left it to him to lead the other to where they should go.Only two sets of footsteps and a drone…
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Robyn slips against one of the walls and unspools her whip as she waits for instructions from ISaint. She focuses her attention on trying to isolate the various sounds coming to her. >>It is two men and only one drone, but there might be a second drone if the rotors of one are masking a second one. I am sorry that I cannot be more certain…………..wait. OK, One of the men just swore at the other to keep his fragging drone away from his, which confirms that each man is controlling one drone. Instructions?<<
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