Chapter 70

“Well well well. About time you wandered in here kid.” I turned at the sudden voice, and to my surprise it wasn’t who I thought it would be.

 

Or maybe it was?

 

The voice had been Yoko the owner of the Dewdrop Inn. Or at least the person that was always at the counter, but the avatar?

 

That wasn’t human.

 

Instead a massive woman stood before me, or I guess I should say a Kitsune. Nine tails fluttered in the windless air around her, and she wore a kimono that was only ‘slightly’ on her.

 

“How did you configure your avatar like that?” I couldn’t help but ask and a moment later the Kitsune laughed, a tittering sensual noise, completely different from the woman that I had spoken with in the real world.

 

“This is my server. Since I’m not wandering around the net, it’s easy to configure an avatar to my liking. Unfortunately I’m back to basics whenever I leave the Inn, but I rarely do that anyways.” She offered with a shrug that almost had her Kimono slip even lower. I think the only reason it didn’t was because it was a digital object because that shouldn’t have stayed up.

 

“Nice to see you then Yoko. Or should I say Kyuubi no Yoko?” I asked, and her face brightened up in a delighted smile.

 

“Hah! You know a bit of mythology good!” She said smiling brightly in a way the normally unemotive woman never had in reality. “C’mon kid. I know this is new to you, let me give you a bit of a run down, I also have some questions for you. Like how did you get V3L0CITY’s Rig.”

 

I had been about to start following her without a care but I hesitated when she revealed that.

 

She noticed as well. “No worries kid, no one is going to want revenge for that dickbag’s death, call it just curiosity.” she offered, waving the fan in her hand she gesturing me to follow.

 

I did.

 

Yoko might be a bit different here, but that didn’t mean I was going to suspect her of attacking me.

 

She led me out of the dance floor and up a pair of stairs made of nothing but light up to the second floor where there was only one door, but as we approached it blurred from a blank looking door into an ornate set of Shoji.

 

“This is my private lobby. There are a few others, but I don’t give up server space for nothing, but C’mon in. It’s secure, we can talk.” She offered as the doors slapped open and we entered into…

 

Well it was a Neon Japanese Shrine.

 

Once the doors sent me a handshake and accepted my entrance the room I walked into shifted, instead of a set of Shoji I was walking out from under a large red Torii gate. Into the open space of a Shrine. Other than the lights all being neon colors, and the aesthetics very focused on foxes, the place looked like…

 

Earth, sorta.

 

Neon stars in the sky, a big glowing moon above, and everything looked more realistic that I had seen elsewhere.

 

“I spend a lot of server space making sure my lobby looks good. You like?”

 

“Yeah it’s cool.” I replied looking around as she walked over to a picnic set up under a Sakura tree dropping neon pink flower leaves onto the area.

 

Yoko definitely had a theme.

 

“So whenever I saw you at the Inn, this is where you really were?”

“Mostly. I have an expensive Cyberdeck that lets me dive while still being active. I mostly have to focus on one or the other though.” She replies as she waves me to a seat.

 

“So Motoko. This your first dive? How are you liking it?” She asked and I blinked at the sudden surprise question.

 

I had been expecting a question about V3L0CITY. “It’s interesting. I had some trouble when I went exploring the Megabuilding H4 server, but the guy that attacked me wasn’t very good. I pushed him until he disconnected.”

 

“Oh? Already had a fight? Not bad. Most first timers lose their first real fight on the net.”

 

“I guess I’m used to fighting.”

 

“I suppose you are. I heard about V3L0CITY’s death. He was well known in the netrunner community. But not well liked. He did have a lot of information.” She said and that is when I realized what was happening.

 

“Information you want.”

“Information I will happily trade for.” She offers instead. “That is the way of netrunners. We trade information, for information. Of course that implies you have his server data? You are running off his hardware, and I can tell you have some of his hacks stored.”

“You can tell that?” I asked surprised looking at myself in shock. In order to find that out, she would have had to hack me!

 

“It’s an old trick. I’ll teach it to you if you want, it’s not something really secret anymore, but yes in a sense. I don’t know the hacks you have specifically, but I can read some of his leftover code on your avatar. Keep it in mind, whenever you have a program installed and ready for use, it can leave a trace on your avatar, and where you use it.”

 

“Like a smell.” I offered putting it together and she puffed out a laugh that would have been a snort on any other woman.

 

Stupid Sexy Kitsune.

 

“You can think of it like that if it helps you wrap your head around it, but yes. Such things can be tracked. I’ll teach you a bit about it, but first. Do you have his server data?”

 

“I do. He had a kill switch on the data, but I bypassed his ICE and disabled it. I saved everything and wiped the server for my use.”

 

“Brilliant!” She said, smiling happily. “I am doubly lucky that we already have a relationship, that data is valuable. Very very valuable. And I would appreciate the chance at a first look, for a fair trade of course. As you already know I’m willing to help new netrunners, so I have plenty of learning courses, and data to get you familiar with the wonders, and dangers in the shallow net.”

 

“And the deep net?” I couldn’t help but ask. The difference was easy enough even for a newbie to understand. The Shallow net was the net created after the DataKrash, after the Blackwall was put up. It was mostly safe.

 

The Deep Net was everything behind the BlackWall. The place where AI lived. The most dangerous place for a netrunner. But also the most valuable.

 

“I don’t usually recommend anyone go there Kid. Not even people with years and years of experience. It usually isn’t worth it. But what you learn about the shallow net carries over… Just more dangerous.”

“Why do you want V3L’s data so much? Did he have blackmail on you or something?” I couldn’t help but ask, but the way I said it hopefully conveyed to Yoko I was just curious and not looking to cause her issues.

 

“You wanted to know about the DeepNet?” She asked suddenly.

“I mean… Mostly just curiosity.” I admitted.

 

“V3L Was a Deep Diver.” She revealed and I rose up.

 

“That guy?”

“Yes. He was known for it. He lived in the net, never left unless he had to. He jumped over the Blackwall multiple times and returned. You want to know why I want to be the first to peek at his data? It’s because I really want to know what he found… You aren’t alone in wanting to know what’s behind the Blackwall kid… We all do.”

 

—–

 

I blinked my eyes for a moment as I came to. Wiping the crust out as I rose up and yawned. I stretched as I untangled myself from all the cords and connections.

 

I had done it.

 

Jumped into the Net.

 

I was a Netrunner now in truth.

 

In the end I agreed to give Yoko a peek in exchange for a lot of guidance, and favors. Really I was probably getting ripped off in some respects, but if the guidance she offered helped me survive my net dives then it was a fair trade.

 

Survival was more important than getting a few more goodies. Besides, I was a Gamer.

 

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

I just needed to keep improving and eventually there would be nothing that could stop me.

 

I checked my messages, a few texts had come in from my chooms which I responded back to, but then it struck me and I opened up my gamer window.

 

“The 250xp was real.” I muttered. I could gain XP while in the net.

 

That meant I didn’t have to kill people in the real world to level up!

 

I stretched out again, very happy at my new discovery. Until then though, I was going to need to gather the data up and visit Yoko in the real world soon.

 

But that was for later. Now?

 

I was going to get out of the basement.

 

I changed out of the netrunner suit back into my normal leotard which was much more comfortable.

 

Then I left. Taking the elevator up I walked past a few of the kids that were hanging around the lobby.

 

This time at least they gave me looks but didn’t stop me.

 

On my way home I stopped to get some food. Filling my belly for the first time that day considering I had spent hours in the net.

 

Full and feeling more alive I walked into the apartment and flopped on the couch.

 

“It’s good to be home.” I whispered to the air as I reached over and grabbed my guitar. More than enough time for a couple of songs before I would go see Yoko.

 

—–

 

Feeling alive, I had the shards full of V3L’s server data in my pouch pocket, and I was here once again.

 

Dewdrop Inn. Now that I had seen it on the web, I could spot some of the differences, but it was a testament to Yoko’s skill that it looked so similar. It was actually hard to tell the difference without going into the natural alterations of living in a city.

 

“Motoko, good to see you.” Yoko greeted me sounding almost flat, as I walked into her shop, and again it struck me how different the woman was on the web, and in reality.

 

“Yoko. Where do you want to do this?” I asked and she actually cocked her head and I leapt the counter and followed her into the back room.

 

We settled onto a table and we began.

 

Yoko went through the data I had, commenting on pieces she wanted and would trade for.

 

We went over everything, for the most part, I just focused on a guide to the net, which she seemed amused that I kept hammering, as well as one other task I had asked from her.

 

Otherwise some eddies, and ‘favors’ were passed into my hands.

 

“There is very little about his Deep net expeditions here.” She eventually commented as she was doing a quick check on the data.

 

“It’s everything he had on the server. I didn’t find any sub drives or anything. So he either kept it somewhere else, or-”

“No, I suppose he wouldn’t leave it on his main server. Far too easy to be forced to flee and have that data stolen, he would have hidden it. I was hoping there would be a clue, to where.”

 

“Probably just kept it in his head then.” I offered and Yoko nodded agreeing.

 

“So about what I asked?”