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"What are the plans for our day off today?"
The girls looked at me, but I just shrugged.
"Well, we train every day anyway, and a lot of it, ever since you guys cracked the other training shards. Basically every free minute we have. So I suggest we go to our little house by the reservoir and have a barbecue..."
"Hmm..."
Panam looked at me thoughtfully. Breakfast had just ended, and she was in a slightly lazy mood, just like the rest of us. But that didn't stop her, or the other girls, from already thinking about lunch, or more specifically, about the barbecue.
"Are we going by ourselves?"
Lucy brought up the most important question.
"Well..."
I shrugged.
"...I was thinking of inviting Viktor and Misty. I think they need to unwind."
"Yeah..."
Judy nodded.
"...Misty recently wrote that Jackie's mom just had a funeral for Jackie, but Misty wasn't invited. She was standing outside the door. Vik would have ignored it too if he hadn't been so close with Jackie. Misty really likes him, and he clearly didn't like how she was treated. In short, they really need to relax."
"Well, then that's what we'll do..."
I froze for a couple of seconds, and then, turning toward a group of nomads who had gathered around a bonfire not far from us and were listening to the radio, I shouted.
"Hey, turn it up!"
They listened to me, and I could hear an urgent radio broadcast more clearly.
"...it's still unknown whether anyone survived on board the Kang Tao av, but it has been confirmed that the av was shot down. We repeat, the av was shot down not far from the microwave power plant, and the Kang Tao corporation is already investigating the incident. The terrorists' target was presumably a scientist who recently joined the corporation. The name of the employee has not been disclosed by the corporation..."
I let out a sigh of relief. She had used my weapon after all, and the unnecessary civilian casualties were avoided. Of course, there were probably casualties among the corporation's employees, but I had a choice between this and thousands of civilian casualties.
"She used your cannon after all?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, that's good. I wouldn't have wanted to zero her out."
"Me neither, Becca, me neither... Alright, I'm calling Vik. I have to invite him to the barbecue..."
"Go ahead. I'll get some equipment ready. Unless you're against having our first experiment on synchronized braindance recording."
I shrugged at Judy's suggestion.
"I'm not against it..."
After saying that, I closed my eyes, as was my habit, and called Viktor.
"Listening, David."
"Vik, we've got a spontaneous barbecue planned..."
"I'm not really..."
"Just listen first. In short, you're going to bring Misty, and you're going to come to the same place. I think both of you, and especially Misty, need to spend some time with friends. You're a tough guy, even if you're a little soft for this city, but Misty..."
"I... alright, what time?"
"Well, I think we'll be there in about three hours."
"Got it. The drinks are on us..."
"Alright, just remember I don't drink booze."
"Yeah, I remember..."
Vik grinned.
"...you're the only person I know who doesn't drink alcohol. Anyway, I'm going to go think about the drinks, and I still have to get Misty out of her room..."
"Go on..."
I grinned and hung up. Then I opened my eyes and looked at the girls.
"Let's get ready. We have three hours to get to the location."
"We'll make it..."
Panam grinned, and Judy brought a cardboard box out of the Behemoth. She took it to the car, and then she did the same thing four more times.
"What are you carrying?"
Becca looked at Judy with suspicion.
"Oh, you know..."
She waved the question away. I, meanwhile, just gave a mysterious grin, as did Panam, who knew what our Moxie was keeping in those boxes. And I really wanted to see the other girls' reaction to the scuba gear and wetsuits.
We got ready pretty quickly. In fifteen minutes, we were in the car, on our way to the store where we could buy fresh meat. Thankfully, we didn't have any money problems anymore; reselling the training shards was doing its job, and now Rogue and Regina were sending us a percentage for every shard they sold.
And it was just as I was standing there picking out the meat that my phone rang.
"Listening, V..."
I didn't close my eyes and answered the call, still picking out the meat.
"I'm calling to say thank you..."
"Yeah, I heard it on the radio... you shot down a Kang Tao av... so it wasn't for nothing?"
"It wasn't for nothing... I got the guy who developed the chip that's rewriting my brain, recording the personality of a famous terrorist on it."
"I'm happy for you."
"There's nothing to be happy about..."
V sighed.
"...he doesn't know what they did to the chip at Arasaka, but it's not what he made anymore. All he could say was that your EMP idea that affects the chip in a specific area is the best thing that could have happened. And he can't offer any solutions himself..."
"That's a shame..."
"This is why I'm calling... I was able to get the original blueprints of the chip from him..."
I stayed silent. I didn't want to offer my help. But I already knew that she was calling me specifically to ask for my help. And that was a bit annoying. Was I supposed to solve all of her problems for her? The silence, meanwhile, was getting longer.
"...maybe you could take a look?"
Apparently realizing that I wasn't going to say anything, she decided to voice her request herself.
"Alright... send me the data. I'll take a look when I get a free minute."
"Thanks..."
She was clearly ready for a turn of events like this, and the data was sent to me almost immediately after I gave my consent.
"...that means a lot to me. Honestly, I don't even know how to repay you for everything you've done for me..."
"Just don't get into situations like this anymore, and do a little work, because if I do figure out how to help you, it won't be a cheap solution."
Of course, I wanted to say a lot of other things, but I held back.
"I get it... but, honestly, I wanted to go see the Voodoo Boys... Parker said they were the ones who hired her to do recon at Kompeki, and they might know how to extract the chip."
"I wouldn't count on that..."
I shook my head.
"...you can try, of course, but I'd bet they just need the info from the chip. It's even possible they need Silverhand's Engram itself..."
"Why the hell would they?"
I pointed at a couple of pieces of meat that the butcher packed for me. After that, I paid him and headed for the store's exit.
"I heard something... about that guy..."
I frowned, theatrically feigning thoughtfulness. I didn't want to show her that I knew what and why, especially since I wasn't sure if she even needed that information. Although, in general... fuck it...
"It's like he was dating some cool runner girl whom Arasaka ruined... hang on a sec."
"Ladies..."
I got into the car, throwing the bags of meat inside. Thankfully, we had a side dish in the Behemoth, so we didn't have to buy anything else.
"...what have you heard about Silverhand's fling with a runner?"
I had to come up with a reason for my knowledge. So I figured it was more than normal to ask my girls about it. At least one of them had to know the story in some detail.
"It's a dark story..."
Kiwi shook her head, being the first to answer my question.
"It's like she was developing something secret for Arasaka, and then she was just kidnapped, almost zeroing out Silverhand in the process. He tried to get her back, but he couldn't... she escaped from Arasaka into the net..."
I frowned.
"...and then that psycho blew up the Arasaka Tower with a nuke."
"I see... and could this girl have become an AI?"
"Yeah, she could have..."
Lucy shrugged, picking up the baton from Kiwi to answer my questions.
"...in general, any runner, and not just runners, who goes into the net and doesn't come back to their body has a pretty good chance of becoming an AI. It's just that runners have a better chance of surviving in the net, especially given the Netwatch's work. They're mostly monitoring the systems that keep the old AIs out, but they have operatives, too... and they're watching the new net, and if someone starts acting too brazenly..."
Lucy drew her thumb across her throat.
"I see... thanks."
I turned my attention back to V.
"In short, listen, he was dating a runner girl who worked for Arasaka. It seems the runner was very cool, as she was kidnapped, and they almost zeroed out Silverhand himself. But she managed to escape into the net. She most likely became an AI, and given her skills, she could have become a VERY powerful AI."
"And?"
"And the Voodoo Boys might need to get in touch with her, and for that, Silverhand's Engram might be the bait. For that, they would probably ask you to dive into the net... But I can't predict how the chip will behave if you dive into the net. It could make the speed of your personality being rewritten jump through the roof."
We were silent for a bit.
"Is the possibility that they know something worth that kind of risk? That's for you to decide."
"I... I'll think about it..."
"Alright, you think. I have to go."
"Alright..."
The call ended.
"Did something happen?"
"Yeah, V..."
I grimaced a little. "Panam, how much longer do we have to drive?"
"Well..."
She shrugged.
"...about forty minutes... maybe an hour."
"I see. Then I'll do a little work. I'll take a look at the data on the chip that that lady sent me. Maybe I can figure something out..."
I got to work studying the data and even activated my Sandevistan to stretch out the subjective time and study the data V sent me more closely. And all I understood was that I didn't understand a damn thing... it was too complicated...
Panam touched my shoulder, getting my attention, and I immediately got out of the acceleration and, after letting out a sad sigh, I stretched a little. When I was sure that the car was in front of our familiar little house, I opened the door and got out. I definitely needed to take my mind off things, and while I was willing to spend time on work on the way here, now...
I took the groceries out of the car and went to the equipped area, where I started to lay out everything I had brought with me.
"Come on, spill it..."
Becca nudged Judy's shoulder.
"...what's in those boxes?"
"What, you don't know?"
"No... I know you've had those boxes for a long time, and that you didn't have them when we first met..."
"Actually, I did. It's just that what's in these boxes used to be in cardboard boxes, and David ordered these big boxes for me to store everything in, which is much more convenient."
"In cardboard boxes?"
"Uh-huh..."
Judy nodded and, putting the first box on the ground, she opened it.
"This is..."
Becca was a little flustered.
"A wetsuit?"
Lucy came up to them and voiced what she saw inside the box.
"Yeah. I decided that today we could have a preliminary experiment on synchronized braindance recording, and that's why I brought the suits with me. I think we'll dive a couple of times in pairs, with a third person as a spotter."
"Why diving, though?"
"Down there..."
Judy nodded toward the reservoir.
"...is my hometown. I just wanted to show you guys the place, to share it with all of you..."
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