Chapter 2

Drake Star takes a stroll to one of his haunts. Word has gotten through that the man he's looking for can be found here.

Upside New Chicago was not a place you wanted to be late at night, or anytime of day for that matter.  The main roads were scattered with discarded boosters, and mod-junkies could be found in every alleyway.  In the three dimensional matrix of the city the higher you went, the worse it got.  However if you wanted something done, this was generally the place to go.

I turned left at the corner of �" 5 street and 29 �" road, then continued for a while before going up to Mike’s bar.  I had sent notice through the usual connections that I was looking for a codebreaker.  Word came back that I could probably find him in Mike’s.  This was a good thing, because I needed a drink.

From the outside, the bar looked like every other building in the complex.  The only signs that I could use to identify the bar were the bar’s code number 45381♈ and the inevitable drunks passed out by the entrance.  There were three of them this time, and I carefully walked around them before entering the bar.

Once inside, I looked around at my fellow alcoholics.  There were two older men in the corner, probably in their elevensies, playing tri-chess.  I examined the game board briefly, If he moves that knight to King 5, 3’rd floor, it’ll be mate in four moves.  I then turned my view towards the other corner, where a man was manipulating a virtual display with two hands while injecting a green drink into his arm with a third.  There was a man sitting at the bar, his skin was a rich cerulean blue.  Must be a mutant, I thought, the color’s too rich to be a dye.  The bartender was an older model- Mike 6000.  Despite being nearly a decade outdated, it still served a good drink.  I sat down at the bar, a few seats away from the blue man.  I motioned to the bartender.

“One Venusian Brandy.”  I hesitated, “Make it a double.”

The machine buzzed an affirmative and served me the fuschia drink in a syringe.  I motioned to the bartender again.

“In a glass, please.”

The machine clicked for a few seconds and then complied with my request.  The robot’s confusion was understandable, most people didn’t eat or drink anymore. Instead, sustenance was ingested by syringe.  It made up for the tastelessness of the nutrient sludge that was our main staple.  However I was old fashioned.  I insisted on eating and drinking through the mouth, like I insisted on dressing in an increasingly archaic suit.   I felt it made me more human.

The bartender returned with a glass of pink alcohol.  I thanked him, and inserted a coin into its tip slot.  I drank deep.

“My guardian once told me a story of Home. One passed down from guardian to apprentice for generations.”  I looked over, the man with the azure composition had started talking.  “It was a tale of a blue planet, filled with life.  A tale of Earth.”  The other patrons in the bar looked over briefly, mention of Earth was often frowned upon in the post-terran society.  Too many bad memories.

“It was a story of a time before the war, when an ancient ancestor was running through fields of vegetation.  He was a boy then, around twelve years old.  The legend has it that he came across an ancient tablet hidden under some rocks.  He could not read the writing.  It was some ancestor of Common, called English.  He took the tablet home and compared the writing to hundreds of others on the servers.  Eventually he broke the code, learned to translate the language.  It was just an old folktale about two children going up a hill, but the key was that he broke the code.  He soon learned to break many others, and he passed this knowledge down to his son, who passed it down to his apprentice, and so on.”  The blue man looked over at me, “My name is Jack Corona.  I believe you are looking for a code breaker.”

I smiled slightly.  “The name’s Drake Star.  I believe you are correct, Mr. Corona.”  I shook his outstretched hand and downed the rest of my drink.

Jack Corona was, by reputation, a genius.  This was the first time I had made contact with him, but I knew quite a few other PIs and police who claimed he was the best at his work.  Most recently was Jack’s breaking into the Central Authority’s main database, despite their triple encrypted password lock.  Of course, there was no official proof that it was Jack, just a symbol of a crown over a hill burned into the database.  Even so, I was surprised by how fast Jack translated the note.

“It’s a simple code, really.”  Jack said as he handed me the paper.  “Each symbol has a certain number of lines, which correspond to a number.  That number is the symbol’s alphabetical location.”

I nodded, “So what does it say?”

Jack glanced at the note.  “It’s kinda long.”

“Just read it.”

Jack rubbed his neck, “I actually have an appointment in a half an hour, some rich kid wants me to hack into his girlfriend’s terminal.  Says she’s been acting ‘suspicious’ lately.  I would too if I was her, but the money is good.”  

I drummed my fingers along the bar, “So...”

“So, I’m going to mail you a visual update, you’ll be able to translate it on your own.  Does that work for you?”  

“Sure.  The address is [email protected], send it in a .visu form, not visux.”

Jack raised an eyebrow, “Haven’t upgraded yet?”  He caught my glare and waved his hands soothingly, “It doesn’t matter, not my business.”

He froze for a minute, probably accessing his virtual space, then his eyes refocused and he smiled.  I saw a blinking letter in the top right of my field of vision indicating I had received a package.  I nodded, and he left the bar.

I pulled up a virtual image of the file and tossed it a couple of times.  I ran a spyware check on it, just to be sure.  Picking up a virus of any kind could be deadly, especially visual ones.  I knew a man who caught a bad one a few years back.  All he saw were Betty Crockerbot ads.  The worst part was he could not turn it off.  He jumped onto a lift to the lunar surface shortly after that.  He didn’t wear a spacesuit.

The scan didn’t pick up anything, but if Jack had bugged the file, I wouldn’t see it anyway.  Well blue man, let’s see how trustworthy you are.  I ripped open the virtual envelope and waited.  Nothing obvious happened.  I looked at the note, and smiled.  Instead of symbols, the note was now written in Common.  I picked it up and read it, setting my eyes to record for later viewing.

Hello Slick.  I bet you’re wondering what happened to your stuff.  Don’t worry, none of it’s destroyed.  It’s all with me, unaltered and unopened.  See, my client isn’t interested in your data, he just wanted your attention.  He has a job for you.  What kind of job you ask?  A well paying job.  Of course he needs to see if you’re up for it, so there’s one more test.  Meet me at the 84842’nd east floor lift at 1630 Fifthday.  

Sincerely,

~R.L.

I pushed a button on the bar, and a virtual check appeared before me.  I glanced at it briefly, and swore.  The flucking blue b*****d had put his drink on my tab.  Scowling, I pushed the green ‘Accept’ button, and morosely watched the ticker in my bottom left field of vision decrease accordingly.  I had installed the visu-checking upgrade a few years back.  It was useful to be able to see your finances at a glance, but it was also flucking depressing.

“Oh well."  I said to myself.

“Can I help you sir?”  The bartender asked.

“No, Mike.  I don’t think you can.”

I stood up slowly, and strolled out of the bar.  Today was Threesday, so I had around thirty six hours before the meetup.  I checked the list I had made before work: Four protein bricks, three sugar blocks, vegetable paste, and milk.  I walked to the nearest bus station, took the levi-bus to the market center, and stopped in Stellάr Mάrket to pick up the groceries.

Leaving the grocery store, I noticed it had gotten dark.  A quick check confirmed that the soft light emanating from the steel beams had dimmed considerably.  Getting late.  I quickened my pace a bit because I wanted to get home in time for the rocketball game.  It was going to be the New Chicago Mutants versus the Marinfold Armstrongs.  The Mutants were going to lose of course, but home team pride was strong regardless.  I just barely caught the bus and headed home.

When I saw the steel contours of my block I checked my watch.  19:23, I’ve got seven minutes.  I hurriedly buzzed myself in, and immediately went to the cryo-storage unit on the far side of my apartment.  With the perishables safely stored, I opened a beer and sat down in my zero-g space.  I set my eyes towards the right station and I was just about to begin watching when I saw something out of the corner of my eye.  I whipped around, but there was nothing there.  A quick scan of the 10 X 20 room, the only room in my apartment, was equally fruitless.  Must be my imagination.  I prepared to enter the game channel when I felt a wave of agonizing pain, a hit from a Neu-stim.  I just had enough time to think fluck, before I felt myself falling and my sight went dark.