Dialogue: KOLD MIRAGE

V

1AUgh... Fuck a dogdoll…

Johnny

1AOne thing I know like I know my own name – you do not poke around strangers' coolboxes. Best case scenario, you find a half-gallon jug of rancid milk, worst--

1AMotherfucker up a satmast. That's Rache Bartmoss!

V

2ARache who?

Johnny

2AWhaddaya mean, "Rache who?" Bartmoss, for shit's sake! Gonk who fuckin' trashed the first net?

2ADataKrash? RABIDs? No pings? Jesus, what'm I doin' here, who are you, even…?

V

2BThe Bartmoss? DataKrash RABID Bartmoss? Guy who trashed the first Net?

Johnny

2BWell, it wasn't his uncle. Yeah, yeah, him!

1AI'd recognize that mug anywhere. Wanted posters all over town back in twenty-twenty. Public enemy number one, dead or alive… Half the city was on the hunt.

1APoor bastard. Ended up here as a dead rat in a coolbox... Till some circuit blew and he thawed like so much meat.

V

3AUh-huh. Yeah, 'bout twenty years back, judgin' by the stench. Well, stood about as much as I can, gotta go.

Johnny

3AHold up, hold up! Gotta be some electronics in here. First-Net relics, almost crank-powered? Be a shame just to leave it.

V

4ANeed to think about it.

Johnny

4ASaid the gonk who missed the shuttle. C'mon, look inside.

V

5AWell, well... an SGI Tech "Elysla." Best cyberdeck in its class.

Johnny

5ASee? Worth gettin' a little rot on your hands sometimes.

V

5AHey! One of the Afterlife's denizens – Nix? Could prolly pull some data from this, don'tcha think?

Johnny

5ACouldn't hurt to ask.

V

5AAaah, not so sure. Near came to blows last time we had some biz.

Johnny

5AYadda yadda. Soon as he hears it's Bartmoss tech, he'll piss himself silly. You'll see.

Johnny

5A'Ey! Just thinkin' – cat at the Afterlife, goes by Nix… Looked like somebody who'd know legacy tech.

5AChat 'im up, see what happens… Could end up pullin' somethin' from it.

V

5AHm... whadda we got here? Looks like... a box.

Johnny

5AYou're a fuckin' box. Try cyberdeck.

V

4BEven if there is, it's bound to be bunk.

Johnny

4BBound to be? Wouldn't be so sure. Only one way to find out.

V

1AHey, Nix, listen. Found something... Bartmoss' deck.

Nix

1AMhm. What else'd ya find? Alan Turing's tapes?

1ANow get the fuck outta my face, dawg.

V

2ABein' serious. Have a look-see.

Nix

2AOoooh, runnin' shits. God damn, V!

2AWhere'd ya ferret this out of?

V

3AFound it outside town. In a fridge... next to its former owner's rotting corpse.

Nix

3AHmph. Bartmoss all the way. NetWatch made him a wanted man, went lookin' in Shanghai, Lahore, Santiago de Chile…

3AWhile that dawg alighted to the Net. Wonder how long he'da kept buzzin' those wires if the power hadn't gone out.

V

3BFound it under my Christmas tree.

Nix

3BMhm. But serious, like?

V

3BSerious, like, it's just not your biz.

2AThink you can pull anything off it?

Nix

2AMm… Tech's comin' apart, humidity damaged... Encryption on the memcube – gotta be near divine.

V

2ASpare me the two-step. Yes, or no?

Nix

2AI can try. Failure, though, is a distinct possibility. Then all data'll be lost, done and gone.

V

4ANo risk, no reward. Get to it.

Nix

4AOK. Put the deck on the counter... just ginger-like!

V

5AAll yours.

Nix

5A"All yours?" Oh, V, V… got no sense of reverence... Expect if you found the goddamn Holy Grail, you'd fill it with caramel corn and Pop-Turds...

5ANow, let's get this show underway. Hm, hm. Most data's corrupt… but not all. Password? A dictattack, maybe...? Nothin' doin'. And what about injectin' a command…?

5AHah! We're golden. One more hurdle, but it oughta be as easy as pie. My, my, of all people, Bartmoss shoulda done better.

5AAaargh! Argh! Aaaaarrrghhh!

V

5ADog shit, cat shit, rat shit…

Johnny

5AIdeas, V, fast and stat. Couple of minutes and his skull sponge'll be well-done steak.

V

5AOf course, fuck!

5AGoddammit!

5AHah! Gotcha!

Nix

5AAaa… Errgh… fuck a muffin…

V

5AYou breathin'?

Nix

5AApparently... though it feels like I got a skull full o' hot embers.

5AJust... what the hell happened?

V

5AYou started convulsing, lights went out, outlets started spittin' sparks…

5ASo I sat down and finished for you.

Nix

5AHold up, hold up… Mean to say you breached Bartmoss' deck? Lowly you?

V

6ADamn straight. I'm the best netrunner in town, after all.

Nix

6ADoubt it, kid. Buuut… maybe someday.

V

6BGuess I got a little lucky.

Nix

6BHad luck comin' out your ears, kid.

5AA'ight... Let's see just what you pulled from this artefact…

5ALogs... mail... chat history o' sorts... Hm. Potentially interestin', but nothin' explosive.

V

5AAh, shame, kinda. Well, guess I can delve some more, see if I can't find somethin' interesting in there.

Nix

5AListen, my services usually command a tidy sum. But this time, well… seems you rendered me a service.

5ATake this. Handful of daemons live on that shard. Wasn't Bartmoss who coded 'em... but they should be useful nonetheless.

V

5AThanks, Nix... Ya gonna get it together, be all right? Or you need help?

Nix

5ANo, no, be just fine. Couple o' painkillers washed down with whiskey, and I'll be a new man.

V

5ASo I killed the power. It helped.

Nix

5AShiiit, wait, the deck... Oh, man. It's wiped. All gone.

V

7ARather have died? Really?

Nix

7ANo, 'course not, but... Shit, now I'm 'onna spend the rest of my life wonderin' what was on there.

V

7BProlly better this way. Can't know what was on there. Mighta been nasty, brought the net down again.

Nix

7BYa know... find myself wonderin'... what the world'd be like if we suddenly found ourselves back in the age of telephones... or the telegraph. If it wouldn't just be better.

V

5AReset this baby.

5AOOO-K... Can't be that difficult, can it?

Johnny

5ASimp, sure. Deck only belonged to the twenty-first century's most superb hacker.

V

5AWanna do this? No? Then shut your pipe.

5AOK, whadda we got here…?

Johnny

5ASaw what we got – a brain broiler. You absolutely sure you wanna jack in?

V

5ATssshhhh.

4BThought about it... Let's give it a shot.

4CThink there could be some no longer known vectors on the disk? A DataKrash-like thing or RABIDs? 'Cause if so…

Nix

4CThen we pop open a bottle of malignant gin.

4CPainfully aware of the risks, I am. But speakin' straight… curiosity's consumin' me. You feel it, too?

V

4DYa know what…? We should let it lie.

Nix

4DI getcha. But should you change your mind… I be waitin' right here.