"Easy there, kiddo, take a deep breath and hold it until the pain goes away," Cross says, scooting the cup out of K-Van's hand for a moment. "Brain freeze. You just made your body freak out a little at the sudden cold but it'll pass. Remind me to teach you some of the biofeedback techniques I learned when I underwent, uh... I learned when I was a kid."
Emily had remained quiet during most of the exchange, to let the others handle the planning. After Korvan and Amaryst left she felt a little less secure in the warehouse -- she didn't need to be psychic to know the other two Lashunta weren't as cheerful and friendly as Rollo.
She perked up some at Jin's suggestion. "Yes! I mean, yeah, that sounds fun." She said. "But what's an arcade?"
"A mall?!? Man, I remember those from before! You don't think we'd be noticed there, do you? Are they still a good place to hang out with your friends, do a little window-grazing and snacking? I could use some real food!" Maldor is as enthusiastic as Emily to get out of the warehouse and maybe do something fun. "This adventure-stuff can really wear you out!" he says with a grin...
The three lashunta (for Rollo is staying with his comrades) wave good-bye to the two psychics and Jin as they leave to go have some fun. "Watch yourselves," says Rollo.
"We'll be getting out on the water an hour or so after nightfall," says Ayda. "Be back before then or you'll be left behind."
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Jin is gonna take the kids to a mall close to his house. Have a nice dinner at a burger place and maybe drop some credits at an old-timey arcade to let them play some video games. They've got a decent surplus for the moment so it's not too big a deal. If all goes well he'd eventually take them home, letting them take the bedroom just to be safe, and setting Cassius to watch mode to keep an eye out incase anybody approaches the home.
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The moment Jin caught even a whiff of the police being near, he would have turned the kids around and headed back into the city. A metropolitan area like this has tons of hotels and such and it wouldn’t be hard to find one to stay in for the night.
There’s nothing illegal in my home anyways, so long as they don’t catch wind of Maldor and Emily then they’ve got nothing on me. he thought as they moved back into the city.
"Hmmm." Korvan mutters, contemplating the situation before saying to Amaryst, "This would be a hell of lot easier if this was simply a creds job. Shutting down the cameras and hacking passed the initial security wouldn't be too difficult. Not knowing what sort of lock is on the vault itself adds another level of difficulty - not to mention lugging the f!%#ing gold out. Without an experienced crew, which our happy little band of miscreants and refugees is not, I think attempting this job is a really bad idea."
"Shouldn't we be getting back to the craft so we can ride out with the others tonight?" Maldor asks as they walk around. "Or are we planning some later rendezvous that I don't know about?"
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"Amaryst and Korvan insisted on checking out the bank. I told her we didn't need to but she wanted to cover all the options she said." Jin says, a slight bit of sarcasm slipping into his tone as he mimics Amaryst's words "We are gonna have to schedule a pickup with the lashunta tomorrow, that said... hmm. I originally planned on being with Amaryst to get the ship running but, maybe it would be better if i stayed with you two on the shuttle.
"Regardless, we will need to find Cross and get him and Smyrna's brother onto the shuttle. Lemme call him." Jin says as he uses his mental uplink to call Cross's comm.
"Cross," Cross said by way of greeting, no preamble or other time wasters. Only people that knew him bothered to call him.
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"Hey, it's Jin. Remember that shuttle i messaged you about? We've gotten it's owners on our side. Korvan and Amaryst are out checking out the other option but i think this is our best bet." Jin began, not actually talking out-loud for both convenience and safety "It'll probably need a pilot and a mechanic when we get out there though. I can handle fixing stuff, can you handle the flying?" he asks and pauses for Cross's response.
"Hmmm." Korvan mutters, contemplating the situation before saying to Amaryst, "This would be a hell of lot easier if this was simply a creds job. Shutting down the cameras and hacking passed the initial security wouldn't be too difficult. Not knowing what sort of lock is on the vault itself adds another level of difficulty - not to mention lugging the f#~~ing gold out. Without an experienced crew, which our happy little band of miscreants and refugees is not, I think attempting this job is a really bad idea."
"I bow to your wisdom. Let's get back to the others and we'll begin planning how to break my ship out."
***
Amaryst opens a comm line to the party.
"Jin was right. Naomi's job's a non-starter Where should we meet to start planning our trip?"
"Amaryst and Korvan insisted on checking out the bank. I told her we didn't need to but she wanted to cover all the options she said." Jin says, a slight bit of sarcasm slipping into his tone as he mimics Amaryst's words
"You keep asking that like my answer is going to change. Send me the specs if you have them," he considered his next request, "Can you wire me the cash to get my bike out of hock? I need about 145 credits to make up the difference."
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"Hmm, that'll cut a nasty chunk into our funds... barring the sentimentality of the bike, do you think you will be able to make it back?" Jin says, obviously not aware of Cross's racing skill as he re-forwards the specs of the shuttle from earlier. Meanwhile, he accepts Amaryst's call and patches her in. "Don't head to my home, the place is swarming with trouble. Let's meet up at a restaurant or something, Cross, where are you?"
As he pauses speaking over the comm channel he speaks aloud to the two psychics, aware that he had been walking in silence for the past minute or so "Sorry about that, got caught up talking with Cross, we are gonna meet up with the rest of the group." he explains as he continues to lead them towards the second closest subway station.
Mal follows along, looking this way and that to see what he can see of this new city. He was especially interested in watching the people walking by - their outfits, their mannerisms, their interactions (or lack of) with others. All tiny intricacies he had missed in the Institute these past ten years.
"If you want me to race for you, I need that bike. I'm at a burger joint called 'Rocket Rogers,' I'll send you the location."
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Jin leads the kids to the mall and up to the top floor to find this Rocket Rogers establishment. Waiving down a waitress he asks ”Hey, would it be okay if we pushed a freestanding table up to one of the booths? We’ve got some friends meeting us and it would be nice to not be split up between two tables. I think one of them already came and got a table a while ago he said.”
"Oh yeasss...A baco-chedda-burger and fries with an ice-cold Nuka-Cola!!! It's like you've read my mind and I've gone to meet the Creator! This is an unexpected blessing!" Maldor is practically drooling as the smell of the burger joint hits him. Before you know it, he has ordered his dream meal.
His stomach grumbles loudly in anticipation of the gut-busting, fatty, juicy goodness about to come his way...
Jin, Maldor, MLE, Cross and K-Van meet at the burger place Rocket Rogers, where Cross and K-Van have been sitting and eating, drinking Cokes for awhile now. There, they go over their plan, make reservations at a local hotel online, and eat greasy, disgusting food. Also there is Steve Fergus, a race organizer, a human man in his mid-30s. Steve has a few cybernetic implants, including a prosthetic arm, implanted intranet feeds and a wide-spectrum ocular implant which allows him to see in the dark. This gives him a somewhat freaky countenance, but he's generally very friendly and competent.
The group gets quite a bit of attention - two transhumans and an alien in the same group, after all.
Amaryst and Korvan elect not to try and rob the bank due to the relative amateurism of the crew they have available.
Amaryst and Korvan roll in halfway through the others' meal. Amaryst quickly motions for the waitress so that she can order a bacon,swiss, and mushroom burger along with a tall vanilla shake. She carefully avoids the fries.
Munching steadily on her meal, she listens as the others catch her and Korvan up. Somewhere in the midst of that conversation she asks, "Has anyone heard from Smyrna?"
Emily remained quiet, but tried to enjoy the afternoon out with Jin and Mal. The crowds at the mall were overstimulating, and it was good to sit down once they got to the restaurant. She ordered the same thing Maldor did, but was less impressed when she started to pick apart the burger in front of her. It didn't look anything like the one on the sign. The red paste was probably ketchup, and the glossy yellow slime must have been the '30% real cheese-flavored cellulose topping!' that the menu boasted.
The drink was surprisingly good, however. After her second refill of the sugary, bubbly cola, Emily started absent-mindedly bouncing her leg under the table.
A nice evening eating burgers, drinking Colas, and planning Cross' race passes the group by. As the mall starts to close, the group separates, going back to their own separate dwellings - Jin, MLE, and Maldor head to a nearby hotel to crash. There is lots of work to be done for the next few days, after all.
The next morning, Jin makes a call to the lashunta and sets a pick-up time for himself, Korvan, and the psychics, while Cross and Amaryst head out to the local pawn shop to get Cross' bike out of hock. Getting the bike out is simple enough, just a factor of handing over the money. Then, with Cross having a garage, its just a matter of driving it back and working on it. It's sit still for awhile, so the bike requires some basic maintenance as well as a normal tune-up.
The lashunta give Jin and the others a pick-up point. An old decrepit docks, abandoned by the urban sprawl. The armored hovercraft comes roaring in, and the three psychics and two escorts hop on with the other two lashunta. "We're hiding out near some abandoned warehouses outside of city limits," says Ayda. "Stay down below. We've got some waiting to do, apparently." She guides the hovercraft away from the coast and out of sight, north towards Maine.
The hovercraft is about the size and dimensions of a wide yacht. Below, there are several cramped ship's quarters with hard bunk beds, as well as a tiny galley and, in the front, a "computers room" with camera feeds and control over ship's systems. The ship's deck is dominated by two turrets (controlled by hand from directly behind them, facing port and starboard) , a small helm's module near the back, and some bench-like seating near the front. Both lashunta are on deck, while their war-bot is in shutdown mode, a little pod waiting in a small lounge area.
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As Jin settles in he pulls out 2 of several small cubelike peripherals in his bag, each about 2 inches in diameter. In the lounge he plugs one into the television and sound system using a few conversion cables and then connects it to the small Holoprojector he brought with him before heading over to the computer room to talk with the Lashunta driving. ”Hey, if it’s not too much a bother ya mind plugging this into the computer somewhere it won’t get damaged? It’s a little specialized wireless adapter I put together in my free time, it’ll let Cassius keep an extra set of eyes on the cameras” he says deciding to take the blunt and honest route as he sets the cube on a desk within reach.
He then returns to the lounge where he finishes setting up the projector for Cassius and the connections to the Entertainment System. Loading up some old vidgames off his Rig and inviting the Psychics to play, it seems he has mostly an assortment of RPGs, FPS, and Fighting Games. Though it seems he only has two physical controllers and they appear to have come from some other game system.
Maldor inspects the hovercraft and takes a visual inventory of the cabinets, drawers, stowage areas, and any other place he can access. He'll take note of food, first aid supplies, water cans/bottles, and anything that might be used as a weapon. Because you never know when you'll have to grab stuff quickly and fight or flee...
He'll also play games with Jin and Em, commenting that he remembers some of them from his childhood!
It looks like the lashunta packed away a few hundred pounds of travel food. Not very tasty, but compact and nutritious enough to sustain ten or so people for at least two weeks. Surely it should be enough for even the longest single Drift jump, and should last multiple jumps. There is also nothing special, but there is a basic first aid kid on board the ship. They've also packed away a small selection of weapons and ammunition. A couple of batons, a few rifles, a few pistols, and a few cases of ammunition. The kitchen is also full of things that could be used as improvised weapons, obviously - knives, pots, spatulas, etc.
The lashunta plugs Jin's module into the ship, allowing his AI to access the cameras, but don't hand over the access passwords, so Cassius cannot control any of the ship's major functions.
,
Amaryst leaves Rocket Rogers with Cross. Outside, she's almost bubblely.
"I saw you race. You were good. Do you think you can pull this off?"
***
At the garage, the lashunta whistles at the bike. She runs a hand over the handle bars, the fuel tank, along the motor. "Nothing like this where I'm from. What's it like to ride?"
"A dream," Cross said simply. Compared to Smyrna's antique, his ride was a different species all together. It was as long as a car and about half as wide. A rider, and potentially a passenger would lay almost flush along the body of this beastly thing, with smart padding contouring to their form. The front and rear wheels were gripped by half domes making them look almost completely spherical.
"One Kobayashi high performance battery backed up by two fuel cells run her. The wheels are omni-directional and mag-driven with dual redundancies for breaking and acceleration. On board computer adjusts the wheel orientation and height of the suspension in real time. If need be I can route the systems through myself and take over for most of the operations."
"So how do we make it go faster? Rewire the redundancies so they're always active in parallel with the mains? You'd have a higher risk of complete failure, but you might shave seconds in and out of the turns."
"We could also hook up some extra capacitors to one of the fuel cells and wire them into the mag-drivers. It'll be hard to control but should provide the basis for a serviceable boost. I'm worried about the heat warping the pads, though."
Cross and Amaryst spend several hours working on Cross' bike, tuning it up, performing some experimental adjustments and cleaning out critical components.
After about an hour of movement, the hovercraft slows to a stop. It's hidden underneath some creaking, old wooden docks in an abandoned part of town. Korvan at least knows why this section of docks is abandoned. A few years ago there was a gang war out here. Biological weapons contaminated everything, and the government clean-up has been slow enough that only tweakers, the incredibly poor, and people with something to hide come out here.
The lashunta drape camouflage netting over the top of the hovercraft to conceal its chrome sheen from the docks above.
The lashunta smiles through most of the process, even after her wrench slips and she jams her knuckles. "That was fun. I've got to get one of these some day."
When they're done, she lounges against the workbench. "Now what? A little spy work on the competition?"
Arriving at the docks, Korvan says to the others, "Do your best to not touch anything unnecessary here. A real bad scene here a few years back, and I'm not sure everything has been cleaned up properly."
Cross stands and tosses a rag he had been using to clean his hands down on a workbench.
"Most racers in town know each other, so unless you want to go solo, spying is off the table with me in tow. We could still see what the rumor mills have for us."
- - - -
Just after the lashunta finish with the camo netting, a small group of people walks directly over the hovercraft. The lashunta motion for everyone to be silent and still, but it just seems like some homeless people smoking crack. They disperse after they finish.
Amaryst surges to her feet.
"We've got time. I feel like we should be doing something. Scout the course?"
Emily didn't know much about video games, but was willing to give her luck a try against Jin and Mal. She was used to playing chess from her time in the facility, however, and her strategy was pretty much the same -- read he opponent and try to do exactly what they didn't want her to.
"That's more in my wheelhouse, let's go see if anything new has collapsed," Cross said, tossing Amaryst a spare helmet and mounting his ride. Once again he bit back his discomfort at physical contact, aided in no small measure by the freedom afforded to him by a finely tuned machine. He was sure riding behind the prosthetic body of a cored human was not Amaryst's idea of a good time, either.
Amaryst brushes her hair and antennae back, then pulls the helmet on. "Let's go." She drops unto the b%@@@ seat and locks the heels of her boots on the foot pegs. Without hesitation she leans forward into Cross' back and wraps her arms around him.
After spending the morning and early afternoon working on Cross' bike, Amaryst and Cross take off across town to the old waste treatment plant that Cross had suggested as the site for the race. Situated on the Hudson River, the waste treatment plant shut down at the same time as all the other ones around the world. The day that the scientific community finally capitulated and declared climate change a hoax. Without much pressure to keep the ocean clean, companies shut them down as a cost-saving measure.
The old building is as easy to break into as the application of crowbar to ancient door. The inside is mostly dry and doesn't smell too poorly, but its an absolute tangled crowd of pipes, narrow hallways, and darkness. Cross can see quite well due to his artificial eyes, but Amaryst has to switch on her flashlight.
It seems like a good site for a race. Sabotage is common in the street racing scene, and the crowded building will make it difficult for long, straight runs and easy to be cornered. Because of that, there is a complication involving the possibility of being attacked mid-race. Otherwise, it seems surprisingly stable and well-built.
- - - - -
Sitting in the galley belowdecks playing video games with Jin, the group in the hovercraft is visited by Ayda. "Hey, you guys busy?" she asks in Common. "Tell us about your powers." she says. "You got powers too, four-arms?"
"Someone else is here," Amaryst whispers, even though it's probably not news to Cross. Abandoned industrial buildings of all sorts were inhabited by people who either couldn't afford better housing, or who didn't deserve it. Either way they couldn't complain about a race in their home.
"We should still be OK if we're careful." Amaryst steps into the gloom, keeping her flashlight beam low.
"They's might have heard us already, better see what it is first," Cross does not pull his piece and quietly steps out of Amaryst's circle of light and on nearly silent feet, pads over to the source of the noise. He was distinctly used to operating alone and not having someone looming behind him. Out on the edge, he knew what everyone had been capable of when there was a crisis. Needing to re-learn that level of familiarity was a pain.
In response to Ayda's question, Maldor says, "I have connected to my God's almighty power - not completely, mind you, but in a limited way. I have the ability to mystically heal you or remove certain debilitating conditions. The institute tried to force my powers to be used as a weapon, and I suppose I have some ability to protect myself. I was also trained to use several weapons and drilled in small unit tactics. So I am similar to a combat medic from my great-grandfather's time in the Marine Corps. What about you? Any special training or skills?" He smiles and glances back and forth between the lashunta and the vid-screen, more interested in the game...
Amaryst switches to her comm link. " I'll drift to the right."
She moves ahead and to the right, fully aware that her light makes her a target, but also makes Cross that much less noticeable. After a few steps, she lets the flashlight drift ahead of her, held aloft by the power of her mind.
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”Other than a killer fastball? Nothing really” Jin says as one of his free hands tosses a golden orb of energy up and then catches it a few times for dramatic effect ”I got tied up in this because I was at one point in time part of the team that gave Em her superpowers, though that was years ago. I had too many ethics for that lot.”
Amaryst and Cross split up, with Amaryst separating from her flashlight using her psychic powers. Together, they creep through the old treatment plant.
Both are sneaky enough that they can outmaneuver the other people in here. Amaryst and Cross share the plant with a pair of old homeless vesk, whose scales are dimmed and who appear sickly. Both carry old, dim flashlights of their own. They appear malnourished and thin, and are clothed in dirty, ripped and stained jumpsuits. One carries a wrench and the other a crowbar in addition to a handgun jammed into a pocket of the jumpsuit. Neither of you speak Vesk, so you can't understand their dry-sounding muttering that they do between themselves. Neither of them seem to notice either Amaryst or Cross, who are able to keep themselves out of sight, for the moment.
- - - -
"Oh? Healing and force powers? Interesting. I always wondered what exactly could be so important that we'd stage an attack like that." she says. A crass sneer forms across her face. "You think it's because the high brass wanted you free, or because they wanted human weapons research for themselves?"
Not about to start shooting a random pair of homeless vesk, at least not if they do not draw on him, Cross somehow manages to heave a sigh psychically should Amaryst care to listen in.
"Oi, gents," he called out to them, showing his empty hands, "What's new?"
Cross enters the vesk's area of light, waving at them. The first vesk sees Cross and his eyes bulge out. He screams, "Get him, I bet he has money!"
The other points at Cross and says, "E's a synth!" and the first says "Don't wreck him so hard then, we can sell him for salvage!"
They pull out their crowbar and gun and leap to the offensive.
"Are you really going to make me do this?" Cross asked, wearily. "I was going to see you got fed at least and I'm not carrying any nonlethals."
His own piece appeared in his hand like magic, looking a lot better cared for than the vesk's weapons. It was a nasty little semi-auto, not terribly big but small bullets killed as nicely as big ones.
"Hey lady! Please try not to kill anyone!"