like that in this crazy-ass world
The other problem was if the Hackers noticed him and fought back with any sort of attack—like a black hammer or even some sort of databomb—he was gonna suffer some serious dumbshock from running hot sim. I switched the commlink on, set the protocols, and discovered the commlink’s ID wasn’t his, but someone named Hitori Tetsu.
Ah...Tetsu. The missing sister?
With a shrug I donned the goggles again, connected to the PAN, and was instantly barraged by the daily specials (which correlated with Kazuma’s assessment that they hadn’t tried to jam the signals) as well as a flooded inbox of email, texts and coupons available from PRADA international.
PRADA huh? So—the Tetsu family was well off. Figures.
Even as I looked around the room I still saw the desk and a small pop-up window identifying the type of datajack and the IP address. The damned thing even informed me what company manufactured the broom and a red blaring message warned that the mop had a known defect in the rotary connection.
Wow...what a rush. And then I looked at Kazuma.
And got nothing. Not even a PAN identifier or ID.
Now—I wasn’t completely savvy on the latest wireless craze that’d pretty much rerouted the world in the past seven years—but I had been paying attention enough to eek by. Had even set up my own PAN and had my commlink spoofing alternate IDs from a data-set I’d bought with good nuyen.
But from what I understood, an active PAN should show some sort of ID to it.
Or was his on private or something? Either way—it was time to apply a little of my own hacking skills.
I heard the yelling outside through the door and grabbed up one of the ear-buds from the shades and stuck it in my left ear. Now I could hear as well as see all the craziness being picked up by this ‘link.
As I looked around, I found a pop-up that told me there was an access panel to the left of Kazuma. With a grunt I moved over him on my knees and then felt along the wall. Two pushes and the pressure plate disengaged.
The opening revealed a slate gray surface with several lights flashing in what looked like random patterns. There were also two datajacks to the right. Reaching over his legs, I pulled up the bag and looked for cabling.
No cabling. What I did find was a small prescription bottle for some hi-test painkiller. The label tag opened a new AR window before my eyes. Kazuma Tetsu’s name showed up as the prescription recipient. His address flashed up as well. 1000 miligrams of Nano-profen. Wow. That was strong stuff. What was he taking it for?
“Derek,” came Kazuma’s voice to my left.
My left? Kazuma was to my right. But when I looked at him he was still sitting with his eyes closed. With a pounding heart I looked to me left.
There was something there—visible only in the shades in a third AR window. It was Kazuma—sort of. But he looked more like a trideo anime character than a person. His hair was bright red and he still had the ponytail. He wore a tight fitting black suit with a high collar, and the handle of a katana jutted up behind his right shoulder.
Now that was stereotypical.
His eyes were large and green and bent up on the ends like a cat.
“Kazuma?”
He nodded. “Matrix icon,” he said. “You’re wearing my sister’s comlink.”
Oh great. I didn’t even want to know what this commlink’s persona resembled.
I nodded to him. “It was the only one you had in the bag.” I kept looking at him, but the AR windows didn’t give me any more information. Not even a handle. “You care to tell me how the hell you’re doing this? I mean—you got an internal ‘link?”
Kazuma’s cartooned face smirked. “No, I don’t care to tell you. I should have told you to put those on sooner—makes this much easier to work in VR and solicit your help. I found the Agent they sent to the Horizon node—and I destroyed it.”
I was impressed. Confused as hell but impressed. “So—this is
The other problem was if the Hackers noticed him and fought back with any sort of attack—like a black hammer or even some sort of databomb—he was gonna suffer some serious dumbshock from running hot sim. I switched the commlink on, set the protocols, and discovered the commlink’s ID wasn’t his, but someone named Hitori Tetsu.
Ah...Tetsu. The missing sister?
With a shrug I donned the goggles again, connected to the PAN, and was instantly barraged by the daily specials (which correlated with Kazuma’s assessment that they hadn’t tried to jam the signals) as well as a flooded inbox of email, texts and coupons available from PRADA international.
PRADA huh? So—the Tetsu family was well off. Figures.
Even as I looked around the room I still saw the desk and a small pop-up window identifying the type of datajack and the IP address. The damned thing even informed me what company manufactured the broom and a red blaring message warned that the mop had a known defect in the rotary connection.
Wow...what a rush. And then I looked at Kazuma.
And got nothing. Not even a PAN identifier or ID.
Now—I wasn’t completely savvy on the latest wireless craze that’d pretty much rerouted the world in the past seven years—but I had been paying attention enough to eek by. Had even set up my own PAN and had my commlink spoofing alternate IDs from a data-set I’d bought with good nuyen.
But from what I understood, an active PAN should show some sort of ID to it.
Or was his on private or something? Either way—it was time to apply a little of my own hacking skills.
I heard the yelling outside through the door and grabbed up one of the ear-buds from the shades and stuck it in my left ear. Now I could hear as well as see all the craziness being picked up by this ‘link.
As I looked around, I found a pop-up that told me there was an access panel to the left of Kazuma. With a grunt I moved over him on my knees and then felt along the wall. Two pushes and the pressure plate disengaged.
The opening revealed a slate gray surface with several lights flashing in what looked like random patterns. There were also two datajacks to the right. Reaching over his legs, I pulled up the bag and looked for cabling.
No cabling. What I did find was a small prescription bottle for some hi-test painkiller. The label tag opened a new AR window before my eyes. Kazuma Tetsu’s name showed up as the prescription recipient. His address flashed up as well. 1000 miligrams of Nano-profen. Wow. That was strong stuff. What was he taking it for?
“Derek,” came Kazuma’s voice to my left.
My left? Kazuma was to my right. But when I looked at him he was still sitting with his eyes closed. With a pounding heart I looked to me left.
There was something there—visible only in the shades in a third AR window. It was Kazuma—sort of. But he looked more like a trideo anime character than a person. His hair was bright red and he still had the ponytail. He wore a tight fitting black suit with a high collar, and the handle of a katana jutted up behind his right shoulder.
Now that was stereotypical.
His eyes were large and green and bent up on the ends like a cat.
“Kazuma?”
He nodded. “Matrix icon,” he said. “You’re wearing my sister’s comlink.”
Oh great. I didn’t even want to know what this commlink’s persona resembled.
I nodded to him. “It was the only one you had in the bag.” I kept looking at him, but the AR windows didn’t give me any more information. Not even a handle. “You care to tell me how the hell you’re doing this? I mean—you got an internal ‘link?”
Kazuma’s cartooned face smirked. “No, I don’t care to tell you. I should have told you to put those on sooner—makes this much easier to work in VR and solicit your help. I found the Agent they sent to the Horizon node—and I destroyed it.”
I was impressed. Confused as hell but impressed. “So—this is
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