the log, backed out from the mail server entirely.
"What are you doing?" asked Fed. "We had access!"
"You know what it is if it smells like shit?" asked Cessus. "It probably IS shit. That was easy, too easy. I didn't like how it smelled."
"I don't like how this car smells" said Cass. "You want to drop me off downtown so I can do some biz? My boyfriend's gone missing and sitting here listening you two hackers babble on is making me nuts."
"I agree" added Marcus. "Is there a safe connection I can leave you guys at for a little while? I would also like to do some business."
Cessus sighed. "It's not as safe if we don't keep moving, but we could do an hour on the tower. Is that cool?"
"Sure" said Marcus. "Let me drop Cass off first."
He headed downtown towards the banking district, down to where a long strip of restaurants and tourist joints jostled for space. They said goodbye to Cass, who promptly turned and disappeared into the crowd, and then headed north towards Cartoff Tower. Cessus pulled a discreet corporate-cut dread bag, matt black, over his dreads.
"Are your dreads wired into your brain?" asked Fed. Cessus smiled, a glint of gold in his teeth.
"No. They monitor temperature, electrical activity and such - for meditational purposes. But they don't jolt my brain. I don't need that kind of feedback fucking up my senses."
Marcus dropped them off in front of the tower, waved goodbye.
"They are spiked with memory metal, though" Cessus said. "For heat diffusion."
Fede grunted as they turned towards the tower entrance, huge glass doors spanned by bronze touchpads, fountains flanking each entrance in gaudy laser-lit gushes.
"Memory metal?" asked Fed, more for conversation than any real curiosity. The hotel made him nervous - too many suits, too many people looking down their noses at him, wondering about why this kid was here with this dreadlocked weirdo.
"Nitinol. Flexible wire, returns to its original form when my head gets above resting temperature. It's pretty weak, but it can lift some hair. I came up with the idea and Cass wired everything in. Thought the patent would do me some good, but it looks like folks haven't caught on to the trend yet."
Cessus nodded at the doorman, his briefcase held casually at his side. Fede felt suddenly out of place, the sound of the street cut off abruptly as the doors sealed shut behind them. They approached a bank of elevators, got inside.
"The Nitinol wires I use were formed straight, bonded to rubberized inserts implanted in my skull. Osseointegration, bonding gold/titanium amalgam plugs with bone. Your brother's a wizard at it - he's reinforced almost half of Marcus's skeleton that way."
He glanced at Fed, and added, "It takes a lot of skill, otherwise you get Heterotopic Ossification."
"Hetero what?" asked Fed, his eyebrows meeting as he tried to decide if Cessus was making stuff up.
"Heterotopic Ossification. It's a condition that sometimes happens with major implants. Used to be hip replacements were most vulnerable - basically the body starts trying to re-form the replaced skeletal tissue. You get pieces of bone forming inside the muscles around what you replaced. It hurts."
"Are you joking?" asked Fed. "Has it happened to Marcus?"
"Nope. Like I said, your brother's good. One of the best."
Cessus punched the top floor and stood back, hands folded over the handle of the briefcase.
"Anyway, the end result of my dreadlock design is that the hotter my head gets, the straighter the Nitinol gets. The straighter the wires get, the less my dreads cover my head and the more heat escapes." He smiled widely, "It lets me overclock my brain."
Fede stared at the line of illuminated elevator buttons and tried hard to pretend he wasn't listening. He knew Cessus was good at security - he'd seen that much already. But he didn't want to hear about how he thought he was overclocking his brain. Tonx had been right when he'd said Cessus was crazy.
They exited the elevator, turned
"What are you doing?" asked Fed. "We had access!"
"You know what it is if it smells like shit?" asked Cessus. "It probably IS shit. That was easy, too easy. I didn't like how it smelled."
"I don't like how this car smells" said Cass. "You want to drop me off downtown so I can do some biz? My boyfriend's gone missing and sitting here listening you two hackers babble on is making me nuts."
"I agree" added Marcus. "Is there a safe connection I can leave you guys at for a little while? I would also like to do some business."
Cessus sighed. "It's not as safe if we don't keep moving, but we could do an hour on the tower. Is that cool?"
"Sure" said Marcus. "Let me drop Cass off first."
He headed downtown towards the banking district, down to where a long strip of restaurants and tourist joints jostled for space. They said goodbye to Cass, who promptly turned and disappeared into the crowd, and then headed north towards Cartoff Tower. Cessus pulled a discreet corporate-cut dread bag, matt black, over his dreads.
"Are your dreads wired into your brain?" asked Fed. Cessus smiled, a glint of gold in his teeth.
"No. They monitor temperature, electrical activity and such - for meditational purposes. But they don't jolt my brain. I don't need that kind of feedback fucking up my senses."
Marcus dropped them off in front of the tower, waved goodbye.
"They are spiked with memory metal, though" Cessus said. "For heat diffusion."
Fede grunted as they turned towards the tower entrance, huge glass doors spanned by bronze touchpads, fountains flanking each entrance in gaudy laser-lit gushes.
"Memory metal?" asked Fed, more for conversation than any real curiosity. The hotel made him nervous - too many suits, too many people looking down their noses at him, wondering about why this kid was here with this dreadlocked weirdo.
"Nitinol. Flexible wire, returns to its original form when my head gets above resting temperature. It's pretty weak, but it can lift some hair. I came up with the idea and Cass wired everything in. Thought the patent would do me some good, but it looks like folks haven't caught on to the trend yet."
Cessus nodded at the doorman, his briefcase held casually at his side. Fede felt suddenly out of place, the sound of the street cut off abruptly as the doors sealed shut behind them. They approached a bank of elevators, got inside.
"The Nitinol wires I use were formed straight, bonded to rubberized inserts implanted in my skull. Osseointegration, bonding gold/titanium amalgam plugs with bone. Your brother's a wizard at it - he's reinforced almost half of Marcus's skeleton that way."
He glanced at Fed, and added, "It takes a lot of skill, otherwise you get Heterotopic Ossification."
"Hetero what?" asked Fed, his eyebrows meeting as he tried to decide if Cessus was making stuff up.
"Heterotopic Ossification. It's a condition that sometimes happens with major implants. Used to be hip replacements were most vulnerable - basically the body starts trying to re-form the replaced skeletal tissue. You get pieces of bone forming inside the muscles around what you replaced. It hurts."
"Are you joking?" asked Fed. "Has it happened to Marcus?"
"Nope. Like I said, your brother's good. One of the best."
Cessus punched the top floor and stood back, hands folded over the handle of the briefcase.
"Anyway, the end result of my dreadlock design is that the hotter my head gets, the straighter the Nitinol gets. The straighter the wires get, the less my dreads cover my head and the more heat escapes." He smiled widely, "It lets me overclock my brain."
Fede stared at the line of illuminated elevator buttons and tried hard to pretend he wasn't listening. He knew Cessus was good at security - he'd seen that much already. But he didn't want to hear about how he thought he was overclocking his brain. Tonx had been right when he'd said Cessus was crazy.
They exited the elevator, turned
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