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Post by The Stranger on Aug 6, 2012 14:12:42 GMT -5
The metal door slit flew upon as Sam finished knocking. It was so dark inside however, that nothing could be seen.
"Waddya want?" came a deep grumbling voice.
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Post by The Smith on Aug 6, 2012 14:30:35 GMT -5
Sam stepped back into the light, and tried to not think of the very large and deadly weapon most likely pointed at his head. Fear is death. I do not fear fear, so therefore I do not fear death ran through his mind, a mantra from long ago.
Sam smiled at the grate, "Hey there Troll. Its me, Hank's nephew. I came with him a couple times when he visited. You two used to play chess." He said, "Just needed a place to lie low for a couple of hours, and a little advice."
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Post by The Stranger on Aug 6, 2012 14:34:30 GMT -5
The door opened, with the sound of multiple locks unlocking "How is Hank?" came the reply. There was absolutely no light emitted from the room before Sam. In all likelihood Troll could see anyway, although Sam could not.
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Post by The Smith on Aug 6, 2012 14:37:49 GMT -5
Sam walked in as fearlessly as he could, as he replied. "He died. Almost nine months now. Triads." He was surprised at how much that bitterness still soured his mouth. He walked slowly forward, and added, "I do not have any nu-eyes so this is a little traumatic for me."
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Post by The Stranger on Aug 6, 2012 14:51:17 GMT -5
There was a grunt of annoyance, and then a few red lights, salvaged from some kind of christmas tree or the like, came on.
"Gotta use red, the Flare compensators don't work properly anymore, and I'm stuck viewing everything in low-light vision all the time. White light is damn near blinding."
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Post by The Smith on Aug 6, 2012 15:02:02 GMT -5
Sam moved deeper into the room, and lowered the kid to the ground, but kept her hand in his. "Thanks. I really apprecaite this." He turned to look at the other man, if he could still be called that, in the light. "I think I stumbled into a one of their plots."
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Post by The Stranger on Aug 6, 2012 15:50:32 GMT -5
"Whose plots?" Troll said sounding more bored than confused. The giant hulk of a man scratched at the side of his face, which was pockmarked and scarred from the heavy dermal armor plates that was interwoven into his skin. He was standing, leaning up against a metal desk, upon which sat various parts of some kind of oily black machine, probably a disassembled firearm. Troll did a small business in weapons and modifications, although only for friends, and then only rarely.
"What's with the girl?" he added.
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Post by The Smith on Aug 6, 2012 15:54:51 GMT -5
"I have no idea who 'they' are, but its always a 'they' at the end." Sam replied, and then looked down at the girl. He looked at her a long time, and then sighed, "She my friend is the cause of the cross hairs pointed at my heart."
Sam again stared at her a moment, before asking, "Do you have any spare jacks I can borrow? I need to log in."
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Post by The Stranger on Aug 6, 2012 15:56:57 GMT -5
Troll raised his eyebrow, "Ain't you using your Igenius no more? Or did she break down on you? Or... you don't want to be IDed?
Troll shrugged as if the answer didn't really matter, and he pointed Sam to a desktop-sized Deck, clearly not the latest model, probably slower than his IGenius, but without any ties to him on it, seated in the corner.
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Post by The Smith on Aug 6, 2012 16:01:40 GMT -5
Sam nodded to the Troll, and said, "I'll be right back." Then he smiled to himself and walked over and sat at the machine. He picked up the eye jacks, and once more looked at the little girl. He said to her, "I am coming to you." Then slipped them in, never letting go of her hand.
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Post by The Stranger on Aug 6, 2012 16:09:15 GMT -5
Sam's eyes opened and he saw himself, a small lonely looking white triangle in a sea of darkness. A moment of mental effort created a very vague avatar that was roughly "Sam-esque", although the shadows which obscured the face beneath his hat were an effect which would have been cheesy for a game produced thirty years ago. Sam took a step forward, before colliding with a massive red brick wall which suddenly appeared. A brief effort bypassed Troll's firewall, and he was out into cyberspace proper.
Data gleamed as far as the eye could see. Websites for various businesses in The Port, nodes to other areas, giant cattle-cars of data moving about.
Then Sam saw the image that Tabitha had referenced. A swirling tornado of... nothing was sucking up data at a tremendous rate. Sam noted as he moved that even his bare bones icon was slowing because of the draw the whole system was feeling, as data was being rerouted to flow into this sucking maw.
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Post by The Smith on Aug 6, 2012 17:37:15 GMT -5
Sam breathed in deeply and looked into the maw. He was no master decker, and while there was probably a hundred better ways to solve this problem he knew none of them. So he aimed his avatar at the black hole and headed in.
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Post by The Stranger on Aug 6, 2012 17:50:07 GMT -5
The cyberdeck gave a scream of warnings and alerts as Sam pointed it at the tornado but by that time it was too late. He could see numerous attack warnings noting his systems integrity was being penetrated at a dozen points. He could see every file on the deck being downloaded and sent off to...somewhere. Finally the everything went blue.
Instead of receiving a a standard crash warning and then being booted however, Sam saw the following message:
HI. HOW 4 U?
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Post by The Smith on Aug 6, 2012 18:00:56 GMT -5
Sam's mind was blank for a long time. It seemed like eons, but was probably seconds, "Good thank you. How are you?" He returned. He could sense something big, and odd happening but also felt like it may be beyond his comprehension.
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Post by The Stranger on Aug 6, 2012 19:03:55 GMT -5
WELL THNX U.
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Hope you all are well and happy.