Chapter 69

It took the entire day to finally break the server’s system from within. Literally sneaking past all the ICE and security.

 

It was awesome.

 

And I am glad that I waited, because as I looked through the security, if I had tried to break through it definitely would have deleted everything.

 

Instead, since I had gone slow, careful, I had access to all of the files. His netrunning information. His programs!

 

He wasn’t a programmer himself, but he had bought plenty of stuff. An array of daemons, and netrunning hacks were all there collected on the server for me to play with.

 

So I went to work, first copying everything over to drives, and then doing a complete wipe of all the data on the server.

 

I even went over the hardware itself just to make sure there wasn’t a physical trap involved. Only once I was sure it was all clear did I move on. Checking his chair, and the setups there. I couldn’t use most of the Biosystems he had installed as they were made for a borg.

 

A borg blood injector wasn’t going to do much for me after all.

 

But the actual monitoring systems were great, and I happily reconfigured them to fit me instead. Then I went through the hardware that was laying around, it had basically everything I would need, I already pulled out the Netrunner suit and hooked it into the chairs systems, it would draw power and keep me cool as I ran.

 

But as much as I wanted to jump in and get started, the basement still had plenty of other things I needed to go through.

 

I dug into the security system, taking it over, checking the ICE and using a bit of knowledge I had seen from systems that gave me trouble, actually separated out each camera into its own partition. It took hours of work, but if someone pinged the network, it would only show the camera they pinged, and the security terminal, instead of everything connected to the system.

 

Unless they were extremely skilled, or their Ping was far superior to my own.

 

Specifically I wanted to cut off the rear hatch from the network entirely as well.

 

I didn’t exactly want someone sneaking in from the back door and killing me as I was netrunning, but it was also too useful to close off entirely.

 

So instead I had removed it from the security hub, setting up my spare laptop across the room near the tunnel and setting it up.

 

It would act as the security hub for just that door, cutting it completely off from the system.

 

No one would be able to ping the system and find out about it. V3L0CITY for all of his skill had been kinda dumb about actual physical security. He was probably a terror on the net, but in real life his skills didn’t quite equal out.

 

I went through the elevator security protocols as well completely coopting them and even setting up some ways to activate the elevator if I wasn’t around.

 

I wasn’t a shut in like V3L had been, and my chooms might need to come down here for some reason. So I had sent them a security key that would send the elevator down to the basement.

 

I wasn’t going to give it to Richard though.

 

It wasn’t that I thought he would kill me or something, but he could come down here to steal something.

 

It’s not like we were chooms or anything, despite the agreement he had made with Hiromi.

 

Then finally after going over all the equipment. I was ready to netrun!

 

Which is when a beep distracted me. I had just gotten a text.

 

Well…

 

I would be ready if Jun hadn’t just asked where I was.

 

So I locked everything down, headed upstairs and drove home.

 

Tomorrow. Tomorrow I would netrun.

 

—–

 

Jun had listened to my story about what I had been up to with wide eyes.

 

“Motoko. You took over a gang?!”

 

“No! I just beat a gang, and then Hiromi made a deal so they don’t mess with my stuff… And I’ll give them some gigs if I find anything while netrunning. Not the same thing.”

 

“Motoko you took over a gang.”

“I really didn’t!” I denied but to my surprise Jun reached over and pulled me into a hug.

 

“Look at you! Leading a gang and everything! Oh! You should talk to Fujimura-sama, he might be able to help keep the gang in business, maybe set them up as a TC offshoot. It happens sometimes.”

“I don’t want to!” I denied almost yowling but Jun just laughed and swung me around.

 

I was gonna claw his fucking eyes out!

 

Jun must have sensed my irritation as he put me back down and patted me on the head which I took a swipe at his arm that he pulled back hurriedly.

 

“It’s preem Motoko. You should be proud. That doesn’t happen a lot you know? It’ll be a good experience, and with so many people working for you, you’ll be able to do some really big gigs.”

“I don’t want to. It’s annoying, and I don’t want to be responsible for a bunch of kids getting flatlined.”

 

“Kids get flatlined everyday ‘Toko, you can’t do anything about it. Just-”

 

“I absolutely can do something about it. Not be responsible. I can’t help every street kid in the city, but I can certainly help a few around me sometimes, but I’m not taking on responsibility for forty gonk kids that want to get themselves killed to make a few eddies.” I grumbled and Jun just shook his head.

“Everyone is willing to get themselves killed for a few eddies Motoko. It’s why there is always a need for more gonks.” He said, shrugging. Which only made me more irritated.

 

The lack of respect for life everyone in Night CIty had was super annoying, and doubly annoying because usually I’m worse than the average person.

 

But I don’t like the idea of killing kids, especially just being blase about it.

 

“Yeah I guess.” I grumbled, but the argument was over. Jun obviously did not want to argue with me about it. He instead raised up the remote and turned on the TV.

 

Another one of his annoying shows was put on, but I decided to sit with him for a while and watch it. Sure I didn’t really like it, but Jun was family, and sometimes you have to do stupid boring things with family so they knew that you loved them.

 

—–

 

I considered waiting until morning to head out, but honestly, it wasn’t like I needed to sleep, so I ended up just tinkering with some of the program data I had pulled from V3L’s server loading a few of the quickhacks, and Netrunning programs and daemons into my Cyberdeck after thoroughly checking them out.

 

I looked through my Cyberdecks status to make sure I was set up.

 

[ICE Shield. Matt Mk.3]

 

[HELL FLAME Anh. 2.132]

 

[Ping]

 

[Barrier Dataload Militech 9.4.2.111.2]

 

And then that night I left the apartment and drove over to the new complex.

 

The basement was just how I left it. I took a moment to strip and suit up into the full Netrunner suit, turning it on and shivering as the cooling unit kicked on and balanced out. Then I sat in the Netrunner chair and clipped everything in. The biomonitor activated and I sighed as I closed my eyes, and then when I opened them?

 

I wasn’t in reality anymore.

 

It was dark.

 

I was on a spire with a small flat area to stand on. And nothing else.

 

This was my lobby. The starting zone. Basically I was on my web browser’s home page, only it was just a blank page, because I had never set it up.

 

Now it was time to start running. I sent out a ping through the system, connecting to the citynet and basically opening up my view to the true net.

 

Above and below me a city grew from nothing spreading out as my ping ran through filling out the world.

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The city grew both from the ground and the sky, making me realize first that the rules of the net didn’t follow the rules of reality.

 

More and more it grew to the horizon until I couldn’t see anything but the visual manifestation of the net. There far out of my sight something bright and furious red glowed, clashing with the aesthetic blue of the city scape.

 

The Black Wall.

 

I took a step and left my little pillar, instantly I was within the net, Slipping through modem lines, and old infrastructure. I walked through the security that V3L had set up to protect the apartment complexes local net.

 

It was less leaving a space, and more walking out of the castle walls. Onto the streets of the net. Information flew past at a rapid pace.

 

And yet. As I looked at the almost video game-like visuals all around me showed me I wasn’t alone.

 

Every once in a while I would see a splash of foreign color, and it would be another netrunner. Their blank bodies only had the face visible, everything else was a sort of faded human shape.

 

They were running down the streets although they rarely looked like they were physically moving. Many ran around with futuristic vehicles, or on the backs of exotic animals. But they paid me no mind.

 

I didn’t have any sort of movement program. Relying instead of handshaking through different servers and systems as I moved along.

 

They could skip the ques on the back of their mounts, I was the peasant on foot needing to greet each gate guard to get passage.

 

It was… Fascinating. A different world entirely.

 

As I looked around I realized what it meant to be a netrunner. Each server, or network was a building, hidden things were literally hidden, Potentially under the ground, or in out of the way spots.

 

It was like a massive virtual dungeon, with safe rooms, traps, monsters and loot.

 

I understood entirely why so many people became obsessed with it.

 

It was also dangerous.

 

As I walked along I could see alleyways that glowed in more sinister colors of secure areas. Plenty of places had powerful ICE with big warnings to stay away unless you had a passcode. The warnings were often fences, or walls. ‘Physical’ barriers to entry.

 

But they weren’t physical. It was all a representation of the net given form and shape.

 

It was all so very very interesting.

 

I couldn’t help but feel like exploring so I headed towards one of the big buildings I could see that was open. A local net not super secured. As I both walked into the building up the stairs, and slipped into the server, I quickly discovered it was a server for Megabuilding, H4 to be precise. I slipped into the local net as easily as stepping into the server. It had no security blocking anyone out.

 

But inside was a riot of noise. Ads, and information everywhere. I looked up, just like the megabuildings this representation was a hollow building. A massive open space in the middle and as I looked upwards there was simply nothing but more megabuilding, going up and up and up practically infinitely. Every person that had ever lived in the building, every account, every person that had ever spoken to the corporation in charge to potentially rent every lick of data stored here.

 

Data that was made for them and stacked up higher and higher.

 

“The fuck you doing?” A voice called out surprising me, and as I turned, I found a netrunner. The man looked a little staticy, He was obviously using lower end parts but he was here. Like all netrunners his body was a weird sort of colorless body shape, the only detail their head stood out.

 

A netrunner here. And this was probably his home turf.

 

“Just looking around. Never been into a megabuilding server before.”

“Well fuck off. This is my netspace, and I know you don’t live here.”

“No I don’t. I’ll be gone as soon as I’m done.” I offered, but that was the wrong thing to say, because a moment later, he raised his hand, it distorted in static and data and turned into a gun.

 

It wasn’t a gun though. It was a representation of a program, a hack, a weapon. The fact he formed it like that meant it was a threat.

 

My normal Quickhacks wouldn’t have done much here. Maybe shutting down his optics, but I bet it would be really hard to get it working on him here, but luckily I had come prepared. I accessed the new programs I had installed from V3L.

 

The assault was sudden, but unlike when I had been nearly instantly hacked even through my defenses by V3L, this guy wasn’t on his level.