Ghost in the City: Cyberpunk Gamer SI

"So you're basically exploring a haunted house?" I sent a very flat look over at Malcolm who from the smirk he was sending me knew that wasn't what I had said at all.

"It's an old server."

"So like an old house, abandoned and alone."

"Full of old data."

"Good stuff hidden in the attic." He added and I felt my eye twitching.

"And full of Daemons to protect it."

"Ghosts there to kill trespassers."

"I'll kill you."

"You love me." He offered instead and the elevator opened to the netrunning cave.

I, being the bigger and better person, ignored him, and didn't punch him in the arm. The fact he was carrying the food had nothing to do with it, but I did notice that when he put the food down he pointedly moved out of my reach.

Smart boy.

"Alright, let me set up. You need anything?" I asked him, as I wandered over to my netrunning chair.

"Nope. All good." He said, tapping on the bags of food.

"Preem. It might take me a while to get going, so feel free to relax." I told him as I went through some checks. The chair coolant was a little low, I'd likely need to update it soon, but it was still good. Everything was set. I leaned back, hooked myself up and closed my eyes.

Then opened them in a new room. I walked over to the nice couches and flopped in, which didn't really feel like anything since I was now in the net.

First thing first? I needed to finish leveling up. I was going to pump some numbers up, but I remembered previous issues.

Glancing at my current netrunner stats it really proved the issue.

Intelligence 14 (14) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4.

-Breach Protocol 12

-Quick Hacks 9

-Programming 13

Other than Programming everything was way too low! As much as my fingers itched to put a point into Quick Hacks, I skipped it, and instead put a point into Breach Protocol.

I shivered as I suddenly had experience in skimming data centers. Cutting back traces while digging through data, and moving through server architecture.

Sorting the feeling I processed it and only when I was feeling like it had all settled did I pull up my system and drop another.

As I knew getting too many skill upgrades close together was a bit intense. The second data drop gave me even more on moving through the net, the sense that what we saw wasn't the truth, and if you looked at it in different ways, you could move and slip through things as if they were simply suggestions.

There was knowledge touching on something big I felt, but it wasn't quite complete. Not ready.

I started looking, just without my eyes, noticing how… Fragile this lobby room was. The walls, despite looking like warm woods, and stone, were… Fragile. Cardboard with pictures on them. There was no durability. I could break them down even without my admin access.

A server was a series of data points but… The connections between them were only natural suggestions. It wasn't like data on a hard drive was stored in rooms to access only through a door. No, it was all data, and the access was usually the knowledge on how the computer could process the data listed, where to find those numbers to represent-

I shook off my thoughts and stood up. Internalize the information and move on.

Pulling up the old data that Vortex had given me, I found the IP for the server she'd told me about and I slipped out of my lobby and into the net. Then instantly into a leap across the city along the web lines taking me far out of the normal connection points. If I had to position this from reality…

Not out of the city, but deeper than normal, like it was buried under ground as the new net was built upon the old.

I checked the details she'd given me, and looked down, huh. That wasn't actually a sewer along the street, but an old door that now only showed a sliver of what it had once been, a data access point.

I squatted down and sent in a Ping, watching my data stream through without too much disruption. I can see why Vortex might not have wanted to check this place out for long before leaving. A squeezed data point like this would make latency increase inside…

Unless you fixed it. Hmm. I looked over the connection. Technically it was being overlaid with a more modern data net, which is what the street I was standing on represented.

Technically it was a programming issue, rather than hardware, or else this connection wouldn't even exist.

Could I reroute the data stream to give better access? Yes. Could I do it without pissing off whoever owned this data stream?

Hmm… Maybe. As long as the adjustment was short term, and I kept it from causing too many ripples. A data choke point would be noticed pretty quickly.

I looked around, confirmed no one was around so to speak, and dived into the data.

Slow and steady, I hacked in. The router that controlled this data area was accessed as quietly as I could, then with just a little work, I made a single adjustment on the router's workload.

The net around me shifted, the small door that led to this server was now bare, a set of ancient steps leading down into it, as the street had seemed to split open.

There was no hesitation as I entered, time wasn't on my side. I didn't need to rush, but the longer I waited the higher chance someone would fix what I had just done and cut me off while in a dangerous server.

I slipped through the door and instantly stilled.

This server was old. The architecture didn't… I looked around, but even that caused some visual issues. The server was… Flat? Like a 3d person looked at 2d. That's what the sense it gave me was.

*Whoa what is that?* Malcolm asked in my ear and I shook my head.

"Some sort of weird server architecture…" I explained as I looked around. I was in a lobby structure, but it wasn't anything like the servers I'd been in before. I remembered the white empty room that the idiots that had tried to kill Malcolm had used for their car dealership website.

I remembered the fractured distorted realm of the broken server Yoko had showed me.

This wasn't like either of them. A distorted low res area, that my display was struggling to properly convey.

Almost instinctively, I pulled open my Cyber Decks systems, and clocked back some settings, and suddenly the area reshaped itself correctly.

Comparing it to 2d had been correct.

I realized what I was seeing, this was an old school server. Back before netrunning had gotten as advanced, this server didn't have the architecture for the sort of interactivity I was used to, so everything showed up as data lines, and untextured shapes.

*Jeez, this is crazy, I feel like it's giving me a headache.* Malcolm added, and I nodded but remembered he couldn't see that.

"Yeah, old server, see that? That's the data line to the server data." I pointed out a sort of hallway made out of glowing lights. But… "Fortunately this server is so old a lot of the security won't even work on modern netrunners."

Instead of heading down the hallway, I simply walked over and walked up the wall as if it was the ground, and then 'out' of the room that was meant to keep runners inside.

Standing on top of the hallway I simply walked over it, bypassing the access and security restrictions, by jumping over the data node.

Digital architecture had changed drastically with the advent of netrunners. Just putting a password on a file wasn't going to stop a netrunner. You needed to build server fortifications, and defenses from entities that were partially digital.

It was funny, but the same advancements meant to stop Netrunners were how AI could be stopped as well. Even if Netrunners were nothing compared to a proper AI.

I had a thought that maybe it had been the AI that had pushed the advent of these defenses instead of netrunners, and it was the netrunners that came after that had run into AI defenses.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Either way it didn't matter. I walked over the hall, and the next 'room' although really it was more like a mess of data points was supposed to be some sort of hub page. Unfortunately it wasn't unprotected.

I could see four IMP Daemons wandering around. The Daemons were old, slow and stuttering along pre planned paths, not the sort of thing that would be a danger to a modern netrunner… Well, only if they knew how to move out of the architecture.

I poked my hand into the room, the security of this room already bypassed meant it was less a solid wall, and more just a data processing node.

Then I started uploading and after everything was ready I sent off my [HEAT Bullet Mk.1] the attack was registered by the server and the entire glowing lights shifted to a darker red. Huh an early alert system for the Daemons inside the server.

Neat.

But it was too late, the attack was too strong for old Daemons.

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

They burst into sparkles of broken data and that was enough for me.

I started hacking now that I was past the security and the Daemons were gone. Sending in a Ping to the data node, and watching as the my own light, a purple hue burst out and started pinging through the server. Lines of purple light shifting and spiraling all over as I stood up and just watched as the lights showed me an outline of the entire server…

Hmm. Okay over there was data storage. But I narrowed my eyes… I pinged again as the light faded after a while and watched again.

Something was off. There was definitely… There. A data node that had multiple pathways, but only one lit up, the others remained dark.

Definitely a security feature. Something keeping files off the root access?

I blurred as I Breach Jumped along the server. There were some defenses here and there, but not any other Daemons. Just old server traps that I bypassed by literally walking over the normal access channels.

I arrived at the data node, and slipped inside. The channel had four pathways. Normal entrance, and exit, and then two that…

There was a bit of floating data hidden within the data of the structure, it would be difficult to see. I imagine if I was using old Netrunner decks using a small screen as my visual point.

So was it added after the server had been created to mitigate Netrunners?

Either way I was able to access it, and with barely a thought cracked the security that it represented and then opened up a new path.

I once more jumped out of the server architecture as I headed through the path. Another set of Daemons, were guarding this section of the server, and once more they were destroyed without being able to register I even existed.

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

I slipped back in, and accessed the data. "Malcolm, I'm going to download this. You might see some lag distortion."

*Sure Motoko, find something good?*

"Yeah actually. This is old weapon data, and it was stolen from its source."

*Oh yeah?* He prompted and I could hear him breaking up a bit as the bandwidth was used up as I started downloading.

"Yeah, Militech Electronics looks like. Someone really wanted their laser technology."

*Laser tech? Why bother with that garbage?*

"It's only garbage because the tech got stuck after the datakrash. This looks like pre-Datakrash files, so someone might be interested."

*Whoa, what? You think it'll be worth a ton of eddies?*

"Nah, probably not. This is all stuff Militech already has I think. I recognize some of these weapons." I looked through the blueprints, and yeah, I think that was a Militech Electronics Laser Canon? Yeah definitely the laser canon.

It was just too bad Militech gave such a cool sounding name to a weapon that was notoriously bad. Not only was it incredibly unreliable, the effect of the laser was… Not great…

I mean, I was still tempted to get one, but they just weren't sold over the counter at gun shops or something. Lasers were cool, and I really wanted to pew pew at people with one, but they just sucked, and no one even sold them anymore.

Militech was one of the few companies that had worked on laser tech before the datakrash, and they hadn't really kept up with it. Too many other projects to try and focus on in the meantime.

Still this data could definitely sell to someone. Arasaka probably already had it. It's been more than fifty years after all, but other smaller corps? Newer ones?

Anyone that still had ideas for making laser weapons might want Militechs old weapon blueprints…

Hell, I wanted them too.

Definitely going to keep a copy.

The lag ended as the download ended, and I jumped back to the previous node, and broke into the second hidden data point.

Once again I simply walked outside of the pathway, avoiding whatever nonsense danger existed within until I reached the data node. This one didn't have any obvious defenses, no patrolling Daemons, or anything…

I slipped inside, keeping myself aware even with the stilted way of looking at things. But when I accessed the data point there was nothing, at least nothing bad. Just another file repository. I brought it up, swiping through it, and quickly realized this wasn't something I had any interest in, ancient, billing and sales. I quickly noticed plenty of blackmarket dealings, and illegal goods flowing through this ancient corporation, and finally an actual name.

Elite Electronics.

Never heard of them, and they probably didn't exist anymore. I copied the data, and then once the lag ended I disappeared out of the server back to the street. A few moments tp fix the data adjustment I did, and I disappeared from the area.

"Going to see if I can sell this stuff. Just a bit longer Malcolm."

*Take your time 'Toko. I'm just hanging around.*

Honestly I was kind of disappointed. I'd wanted XP, which I guess I'd gotten a little of, but I wanted more than what little I'd found in the server. Oh well, not all of them could hide Balrons, or be full of distorted Daemons looking to murder whoever slipped inside.

I popped back out at the facsimile of Kabuki Roundabout. Yoko was my first stop.

Taking a slow path up to her club, I looked around, nothing really changed here it seems, but at least it felt like there were three dimensions, and textures existed.

I felt almost light headed after being in that old server, the flatness of it, and the flowing lights felt like a Tron movie.

The first one, if that.

I slipped into the club bobbing to the music, and spotting Yoko without issue, as I threw up a hand in hello at her, she nodded, but went back to the conversation she was having. She wasn't alone with a few Netrunners sitting around her and they were obviously having a thing.

There wasn't any rush to sell ancient data so I took another seat, and waited.

I took in the music that was playing. Not a band I recognized, and it wasn't terrible. Very electronic, but it sounded alright. I was tapping my finger to the beat, processing the changes and already figuring out the pattern when I stilled, as I realized someone was there beside me.

Our eyes met, and I realized this wasn't a conversation I really wanted, but…

"Hey." I greeted Sasha who seemed to my surprise to hesitate for a second before building herself up.

"Hi Kit-Uh, Motoko… Uh, you mind if we chat?" She asked with a smile that was trying to be confident, and not too much. Find adventures at My Virtual Library Empire

I waved at the seat across from me, and she slipped in. We stared at each other for a while but I realized I really should start.

"Hey listen, about what happened-"

"No, wait, please… I'm sorry I pulled that scop on you. Like… Yeah it was a rezzer move." She started cutting me off and even waving her hands at me, like she would have covered my mouth if she could. "I screwed up, I wasn't… No, I don't have any excuse. I was showing you around, but wanted to play. It was stupid."

"It was… Well yeah don't throw me into stuff like that, but what happened was my fault. Not yours." I offered, and the older woman brightened up at my response.

"Thanks Kitten."

"Sure thing Pain in my Ass." I offered back smiling and she flashed a look of shock for a moment, before smiling, her lips quirked into that very cat-like smirk.

"Hehehe!" She giggled in return. "I've been called worse!"

"That I believe."

"Preem. I was honestly… I've been in touch with Becca, she mentioned you were okay, but like… That was a lot of damage."

"It was fine I had backup. It gave me a good excuse to go get an upgrade."

"Yeah I can see, you're not skezzing as much anymore. What is that?" She asked, obviously interested.

"Arasaka Shadow. Mk.4."

She whistled at my answer. "Really? Where did you get your cute little kitten paws on one of those? Arasaka are protective."

"It was stolen, and my choom is an Arasaka student. She got it covered in their logs, so I won't have any ninjas sniffing around for it."

"Nova!" She cheered. "Well oh my, that's quite a jump from that Seacho you used to have! That's great! Maybe that whole thing wasn't so bad after all!" She offered and I realized what kind of person Sasha was.

She was the type to accept any instance of a silver lining to excuse bad actions…I considered calling her on it, but I'd been honest. My freakout in the netrunner arena was my thing, not her.

"It wasn't great, but it's over. No lasting harm done." I agreed and she once more smiled sunnily.

"Well well, if it isn't a certain mangy stray cat." Yoko suddenly broke in her body, more detailed and formed than both of ours loomed over the table glaring down at Sasha.

"Nuh-uh! Motoko forgave me!" She looked at me, with big pleading eyes and I snorted.

"I don't remember asking." Yoko offered, not quite hissing, but there was a threat in there.

"Yoko, I was looking for you." I said interrupting the two netrunner women.

"Oh?" She asked, and instantly slid into the seat, pushing Sasha back as she basically took her place…

Pfft. I held back my laughter as the noise Sasha made in turn really was like a cat.

"Don't push my avatar around you bitch!" Sasha grumbled, and Yoko just quirked an eyebrow.

"Vixen is more accurate." She offered then turned entirely to me.

"I just came out of an old server, ancient really. Pulled some data, some tech, and some finance crud. Wanted to see if you had any interest."

"Alr-"

"Ooh! Let me see!" Sasha begged, jumped up and waved her hand doing gimme motions.

"I'll throw the flea ridden stray out." Yoko said and Sasha only had a moment to yelp before vanishing.

I blinked and realized Yoko had force booted Sasha…

"She's not going to be happy about that."

"It's fine. The Stray knows what she did." Yoko offered simply and then held out a hand. So I pulled a bit of the data for the laser weapon blueprints, and handed them over.

She looked them over and I could tell from the smirk on her face that she found it cute rather than interesting.

"Old data."

"Yeah I know. Don't look at me, like I'm a pre-schooler showing off a finger painting, that's rude."

She chuckled deep throated and amused at my description, but honestly it was true.

"Unfortunately this isn't worth much."

"Yeah I figured. Not many into lasers, and anyone who is probably has it."

"Yes, I can sell it though." She added and I perked up.

"Yeah?"

"Yes. I know a company netrunner that would be interested, you have the rest?"

"The whole lot I think." I offered, and then pointedly didn't offer it to her, just smiling.

She responded to my smile with a smile of her own. "Good, if you had just handed the data over I'd have disappeared just to teach you a lesson." She said without any shame and I scoffed.

"I know where you are in the real world you fox." I reminded her, and she just smirked, her face shifting in a way a humans couldn't.

"That would be a fun time."

I returned her smile, and then waved a hand at her. "I'm looking more for server locations than anything."

"Ah, decided to do some more diving?"

"Something like that. The more full of Daemons the better."

"Hmm. I see… I'll give you a nice bonus for this, if you tell me why you're so fascinated by destroying Daemons." She added slyly, and at that, I knew she'd been keeping an eye on me.

"Is that knowledge something netrunners at the arena have been asking about?"

"Just one or two. Vortex is one of them."

"Ugh. Not her again. But no, I'm not telling you."

"Very well. Let me pull up some servers I know about that fit your bill." And so we got to haggling, and as always I was sure I was being swindled.

Should have called Hiromi for this.