The Deadman

“I'll have to ask this, I thought you were a delivery boy?”

“I think a Courier fits me more nowadays.”

“Delivering customers to their destination. I think there is something wrong with this. I don’t understand.”

“Job descriptions can be confusing, miss.”

“It’s okay, Robert. You can call me Alice.”

“Okay, Miss Alice.”

“I do like the polite professional face. Then again, you’re being offered a Furuichi Fairlight Deck. I respect this tip-toeing. I fancy the idea of using a smart glass to act as your screen. Too bad the input lag is so brutal for me that it doesn't work.”

“I do control my virtualspace like a third person game. I don’t have the datajack to fully dive. I just compensate for it by surfing through ICE as steadily as I can.”

She crossed her arms, “It’s safe, but being in a virtualspace personally allows you to do more than just move and do pre-programmed actions. Yours is more close-ranged.”

“It is,” Robert admitted. “I don’t think I’m doing full dives. Unless it is required for me to have one.”

“Would you? Personally, I don’t think you’re the kind that would use these methods.”

“There isn’t much to do in my case. It’s only situational in my case. I’m curious, how much do they pay you for bug bounties?”

“It’s a lot. Every white hat does like to leave backdoors. It’s like creating a magical door in their system where I can jump to and intercept. I don’t go beyond black hats that have multiple blockers and shields. I’m not suicidal.”

“But you do complete most of your contracts.”

“Low-level corpo only want the basic level of protection. I do set traps to certain levels. From level zero to two. Mouse traps and bear traps that basically cut off their movement and action. Send out the ICE’s to them and preferably swarm them. Kinda like an active anti-virus that maniacally hunts them.”

“Are they AI?”

“Bots. IF they try to leave the secured space they get fried. Think of me as the gal that puts up defenses. It’s like setting up a tower defense where your only limit is the processing power of the system.”

Robert stopped at a red light.

“Must earn a lot.”

“I do contracts and most of the time I have to send instructions to their IT about how things are and I get paid for my consultation.”

“Sounds like a good earning. Do you think that I can sign up?”

“If you’re willing to wait two to three years. If you’re willing to have a neural processor or a datajack. They’ll think you’re an amateur. And that’s not even counting how they prefer degree and certificate holders – before they even think of putting you into a list they might veto.”

“Eh, I’ll pass.”

“It’s just a neural processor and a datajack. Though I do admit that there is merit into being off the grid. It’s hard to get any legal jobs today without the company chippin you. It’s a requirement, and bureaucracy has been terrible lately.”

“I was always wondering if they just can’t include it all in.”

“That would mean they would earn less. The documents that the local gov issues are very profitable. You think they’ll make it one document only? Fat chance they will.”

“Is it really that bad?”

“It is. I mostly have the documents already issued through connections and they send it to me by parcel. It’s expensive, but faster than getting it directly.”

Robert pushed the gas pedal and continued moving.

“I got to ask, just in case. But why do you need someone to do business for you?”

“To get it done immediately. You’d be surprised how it’s so easy for them to cooperate when you have a mouthpiece. It also adds this flair that makes you think that you are very concerned with your security. I like to believe that it gets easier doing that.”

“Hmm, sounds like you’re avoiding them.”

“Is it that obvious? I don’t like the idea of meeting up with suits who are so greasy. It’s 2097 and they still have this sexist idea that a woman can’t do it better than man when augments and cybernetics made that a non-issue. Of course, I’m not going to preach to you about that, but it can be tiring to deal with it so I rather have a mouthpiece to deal with me. You’d be surprised how many of them are so eager to get it done knowing that you give them this ‘mysterious flair’ and make you think that you are a net wizard.”

“I assume that you have other methods of dealing with this?”

“I did use a humanoid drone once. Then I realize that I don’t want it to be accidentally napped by someone or abducted. So I keep it in my hideout for safety reasons. It’s an Asimo Drone so it is expensive and needs yearly maintenance for top tier performance. The hologram generator is enough and it’s cheaper this way.”

“I can wholeheartedly agree, miss.”

“Well, you’d have more work if I choose this method. You do a lot of gigs and odd jobs, Robert.”

“Better to have cash than have none at all. Besides, it’s the only thing that keeps me busy these days. You’d be surprised how passionate folk can be when it comes to their profession. They are willing to share as long as you don’t inquire about their personal life. It’s their pride to be good at it.”

“That’s one way to look at it. I do enjoy being praised for my work. Well, if you have questions about my profession, feel free to ask. Just don’t spam me.”

“Thank you, miss.”

“Don’t mention it. I like people who ask and learn.”

Robert turned left and entered the main street where the meeting point was. Robert parked on the side and wore the digital mask and then took the hologram generator with him to this café where the meeting would occur.

“I am now connected to the generator.”

The hologram generator produced an avatar of Alice. Robert entered the café and found the table where he was going to meet the client. A four-eyed man with a business suit slid into the booth and stared down the hologram of Alice.

“I assume that you are, Miss Dorothy?”

“That I am,” Alice’s avatar bowed while lifting the hem of her skirt. “Pardon me, but this is for security reasons. Net has been buzzing about certain groups hunting down white hats. You must understand.”

He had a lot to say, but kept it to himself.

“And who might this be?”

“He’s a messenger. Please connect your personal link to the generator so we can have a private conversation regarding our contract.”

“Very well,” the client took out his personal link and jacked it to one of the slots of the generator. His irides visibly glowed as he was sent to the virtual room that Alice prepared for the client.

Putting the generator down. Robert watched the café. Scanning the place with his all-sense, wondering if there were any hostile near him.

He found four men highlighted red. Robert took his iron out and watched the four closely, wondering if they were after Alice. He hadn’t heard of any news regarding people hunting down white hats like her.

The four got closer. Their eyes were on the client and then to the generator. One of them walked near and as if thinking that Robert didn’t notice. Tried to snatch the generator.

Robert caught his hand and then pointed his pistol at the guy’s neck.

“Chill, what the fuck you want?”

“We want that generator. You can earn much if you cooperate with us. You are Dorothy’s face, no? If you agree we can pay you with the metadata that we’d acquire from her backdoors.”

Robert slugged the guy on the chin. His vision slowed down to a halt with all the colors of the world vanishing. Trapped in this black and white world. He disarmed the first one, threw the pistol to the second guy trying to bring his iron out, and leapt, slamming the heel of his shoe on the side of the third guy.

He grabbed the fourth person’s pistol up. Jabbed his right fist on the forearm, before throwing the guy down on the floor, following it up with a kick to the chin.

Robert exhaled hard. He looked around and saw no hostiles around his vision. The guards of the café approached with guns out and glared at him.

“What happened?”

“Tried to snatch my generator. You let anyone here do trouble?”

“No, sir. We’ll take care of these bastards.”

“Good. We’re trying to do business here and these folks are interrupting.”

The private meeting was disconnected. Alice’s avatar looked at the thugs being pulled away to the back of the cafe and glared at the client.

“Were you hoping something would happen, Sir?”

“No. I don’t. It seems that there are certain folks who are after precious data. I hope that you reconsider this offer.”

“We will talk with specifics later. I’ll contact you once I have made up my mind.”

“Very well.”

The client left the cafe with a bland face. Alice crossed her digital arms and then snorted.

“This is getting out of hand.”

“Does this always happen?”

“Not really. I heard that there are troubles with the data banks of the city. They want to sell data and auction them. So a lot of white hats and black hats have been trying to sell their backdoor access to certain folk.”

“Was that one trying to trip you off?”

“Who knows? I’ll have to make an inquiry about this. Good thing that I made measures if this happens. Nice job. It’s good that you dealt with it with little bloodshed.”

“Does this always happen?”

“Doesn’t used to be the case. And people think that I am a paranoid woman for betting on my safety. I guess this means that I’m going to do this remotely now.”

“Well, that’s a problem for me.”

“Sorry. I can’t risk my well-being with these kinds of meetups. We’ll leave now.”

Robert carried himself out of the cafe and went back to the car he drove here. He entered the driver’s seat and made his way out of the parking space while constantly sensing hostile people who were surveying the area for them.

“They really are either desperate or something else is happening. Lot of the local chatter’s about me. Wow, I never felt so famous until today.”

“What do you think’s the problem?”

“Who knows? I am not a fan of being involved with corporate schemes. Being used as a pawn by them never goes well. Hmm, I guess I’m selling most of my backdoor access now. What a mess this is.”

Robert drove the car back to her place. She wired Robert’s pay and then added an extra bonus.

“Tell Pei that you did well. I’ll be offline until this blows over. Those backdoor access should give me enough cash to go on without working for a month or two.”

She was reasonably exhausted by all of this.

“Are you planning to sell some of them?”

“Some of them, yes. I’ll keep the ones that are not involved. The rest’s going to become a paycheck for me. Ugh, what a mess.”

“So you aren’t taking this job?”

“It still depends. I can be convinced by a big paycheck, but if it's beyond my paygrade, then I am not risking my life. I am not a daredevil who likes to risk it all for fame and glory. Not my kind of thing. Never will be my thing.”

She clenched her augmented fingers and then looked dully at the sky, “Still, want to become a net wizard, Robert?”

“Not really. It’s not my thing it seems and I’d rather not give myself an implant unless I can’t help it.”

Alice shrugged and started walking away, “See you later, Robert.”

Robert sent a confirmation message to Boss Pei and told him by mail that he’d be taking the car back to the garage. He wondered if he was going to limit himself in regards to what kind of delivery he’d do.