The neon signs flickered and flashed. Advertising IKEA knockoff hab-pods and bootleg Sony XPR pleasure rigs. Lights. From Panasonic outlet displays. And noodle bars with failing strip lights. Reflected off the shiny black roads and puddles on the walkways.
Kes Saunders trudged up the road. His knockoff Adidas baseball boots letting in water. Water from puddles declaring Osaka electronics ‘Were The Best In the World’. Kept his hood up not for the rain. Reached the end of Brick Lane and turned onto Whitechapel. The towering monolith corp buildings punching up into the skyline.
He turned down an alleyway. Single neon lamp at the far end. Nudged his hood back to avoid more puddles. Stopped at a plain steel door, stencilled: ‘clinic.’ White paint peeling..
Rapped on the door. Someone threw the door open, and the harsh fluorescent light from inside made Kes wince. A huge guy with a bald head and arms like an Olympic weightlifter stood there. Tattoos covered his skin.
“What?”
“Here for the doc.”
“Name?”
“Kes.”
“Wait.”
Kes stood in the semi-darkness, the raindrops on his fake Nike Hoodie, sparkling. The big guy came back.
“Get in.”
He stepped to one side to let Kes in. He glanced up the alleyway before closing the door.
“Go in there and wait.”
The big guy pointed at a small room with knockoff dining room chairs and a coffee table made of an old engine block. The glass top had cracks, and many mug rings stained it.
Kes wiped the rain from his hoodie. It sprayed across the cracked tiles on the floor. He didn’t give a shit. The place needed a clean.
The big guy came back.
“She’ll see you now. Down there. Last door on the left.”
Kes walked down the narrow corridor. The walls painted with matte magnolia paint. And peeling, with damp patches. He knocked on the last door on the left.
“Come.”
He entered a different world. This room hurt his eyes even more. It was so bright, so white. Surgical lights were burning. A single bed occupied the space under the surgical lamps.
There was a small workstation with a metallic grey laptop with a ‘DeltaTron’ logo on the lid. And behind the desk was a female doctor who looked like she belonged in one of the ‘Happy Time’ simstim apps.
She stood and smiled. Pristine white coat, corporate-sharp underneath.
“Kes, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Here for a jack? Is that right?”
“Er, yeah.”
“You are all meat right now? No other work?”
“Yup. All meat.”
“Okay, you know the cost?”
“10,000 credits?”
She nodded. “Yes, correct. Do the transfer now?”
She reached to her desk and picked up a Hitachi payment cube. Kes pulled out his cred wallet, tapped for access and waved it over the cube interface. His wallet pinged and asked for a figure. Kes tapped it on and moments later, he was 10,000 credits lighter.
The doctor stared at the cube for a moment. Then nodded.
“All good, Kes. Pop yourself onto the bed. And make yourself comfortable.”
He did as instructed. The surgical lights burned his eyes. The doctor walked over, pulling on a pair of latex-free Tegaderm gloves.
“I’m Eloise Johnson, from the Sprawl, but I found my way here. This shouldn’t take long. Ok?”
Kes nodded. And watched as she pulled over a scanner that whirred and clicked.
“Making sure everything is where it should be in your skull.” She smiled.
“Okay, Kes, see you on the other side…”
Kes felt something go into the back of his neck. Something sharp. Then, he felt nothing. Until he felt the pain behind his left ear. An itching, stabbing pain. He tried to open his eyes. They were open. It took him a moment to realise he had a mask on.
“Doc?” He croaked.
“Ah, Kes, you are back with us. All went well. You need to jack in as soon as possible.”
“I don’t have a deck.”
“Okay, wait one. Take the mask off.”
Came over to the bed with a shiny Acer K1000 deck. Also, she owned a Panasonic T80. Plugged a lead into both. “Okay, Kes. Jack in, I’ll see you in there.”
Kes did as asked.
The matrix opened up before him. Colours, patterns and dark data block shapes. A sleek black stream of data and code. His own avatar was a simple block. Then, he saw the doc, her avatar in a sleek chrome bodysuit.
“Come with me.”
She led him between black walls and silver-capped structures. She flowed while Kes jerked and wobbled. Trying to control his movement. She stopped at a glasslike structure with a steel cross on each corner.
“Use your icebreaker, Kes.”
He loaded his icebreaker, and it slid past the entrance, and through the ice-white firewall. They arrived at a vault. Eloise crossed to the data chips lining one wall. Pulled two down onto her deck.
“You grab two, Kes.”
So he did. And the intrusion alarm screamed, splitting his senses. Eloise gestured to make for the exit. The ICE modules were gathering. Kes tapped his Black Icebreaker module. Watched as the ICE defence units shattered. Eloise was doing the same.
A large ICE defence module stormed in, and Kes dodged. He felt the burn as it grazed by. He made it to the exit, with Eloise ahead. She pointed at her deck. He didn’t need telling twice. He jacked out.
His shirt was sticking to his back, and his brow was glistening with sweat. He sat up on the bed. Eloise was at her laptop, transferring whatever it was they’d taken from the hack.
“Give me your deck.”
He handed it over.
She said nothing more while she did the transfer. Then, she sat back and smiled.
“Double success, Kes. Your jack works, and now you are one of us. You can hack, no doubt about that.”
“What did we steal?”
“You don’t need to know that.”
“Well, I kind of would like to know—”
“No, not yet. Now, I have another customer soon. Marco will sort you out.”
The big guy entered the room. He pointed down the corridor. Time to leave. Kes followed him back down to the main entrance.
“Tell no one what you did. And be at the corner of Brady Street at 11am tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“The doc told you. You are one of us now.”
“I didn’t want to be one of anything. I wanted a neural jack.”
“Fucking tough, boy. You think we do this for fun?”
Kes held out his hands.
“Okay, man, but what am I one of?”
“The Alpha Crew. We hack the mega corps to expose them and to steal from them. So we can give back to the ordinary people. Now fuck off. And be there tomorrow. We know where you live.”
Kes headed back into the dark alley. Brady Street. 11am. Fuck.