MISSION Echoes of the Past

[B B]

Tag: @Balthazar Harris @Xasha Callisto

---

Location: Harris' Apartment

Bathazar wakes up from his dream in his bed, and a loud snoring noise hits his ears from the sofa, or more correctly near from the furniture. He needs a little time to release Sarah Blackrock, a small build, small statue, yellow labrador exotic who sleeps there from the K9 Drug search unit. Her apartment flooded last day and she just asked a favor from him so she can sleep somewhere between two shifts.

As he wake up more a message arrive:

Dear Mr. Balthazar Harris,

We are so sorry, and please accept that we will need A little extra time.
We will Place the earlier ordered items where you marked and we promise, the last time this happened. About the Legends old collection project we hope our items will show you the quality of what you will accept. Of course after this incident we changed the deadline of the Project, so I hope we can forget this small past event, and we can stay within the original delivery deadlines.
Nobody lives Forever, but this collection shows the milestones of technology in the past.

I wish the best,

Alicia Lynn Talon,
Sales manager

He heard a very quiet voice like somebody whispered into his ear from very close, but nobody was there.
"Follow the clues"

---

Location: Xasha's' Apartment

After a strange dream she wakes up in her chair. She had again a night when she didn't reach her bed before she fell asleep.

A message awaits her from Lolo, a small size stray neko girl, who mostly works with netrunners. She is not a netrunner, just a very flexible creature who mostly sneaks in places to give access to the system from inside or just steal things.

"Hey Girly! Do you have any sneaky gigs?"

A little later a new message shows up:

Dear Xasha,

We are so sorry, and please accept that we will need A little extra time.
We will Place the earlier accepted money where you like and we promise, the last time this happened. About the future of the Legends project we hope our work will get better. Of course after this incident we changed the deadline of the Project, so I hope we can forget this small past event, and we can stay in the original argument.
Forever for a Greater World.

I wish the best,

Alicia Lynn Talon,
Team manager

She heard a very quiet voice like somebody whispered into her ear from very close, but nobody was there.
"Follow the clues"

 

[Xasha Callisto]

Active Location: Online
Physical Location: Her apartment
Objective: wake up, engage
Tags: @B B @Balthazar Harris

The Thai woman woke up in her gaming chair again and cursed she noted the golden stain on her top where her energy drink had spilled onto her in her haze, it was dark in her room but the light that crept in through the hinges of her shutters betrayed that it was daytime. "บานประตูหน้าต่างเปิด" || "Shutters open" she winced as the light cascaded in and humiliated her with the pile of gaming debris around her.

Callisto: Urgh, I feel like death and I look worse.
Kore: Nah, Gan says you are a straight up smoke show!
Callisto: Ha, could be, could be some 40 yo dude tho
Kore: Dudes can smoke too! #equality
Gandymede: lmao simp
Leda: lol
Kore: imma block you all and go to bed. Anyway, sup?
Callisto: dunno
Callisto: …
Callisto: got this weird message, got right past my ICE
Callisto: Here ::
Leda: huh, weird
Kore: Yeah
Io: I got a theory but it's pretty out there?
Callisto: I'm listening
Kore: Calli stuck it in a dirty port and caught something nasty?
Gandymede: lmao, ew
Io: idiot
Io: look at the clue word "a place where legends of the past stay forever". I thought a graveyard, but then those initials? Gotta be right?
Leda: what?
Io: no one? Seriously
Callisto: shit… Ghost City? if Alt Cunningham is messaging me.
Io: could explain how they blew through your ICE with no alerts.
Callisto: Yeah thx Io, thats a good call
JUPITER: user CALLISTO gifted -0.05 gravity to user IO - approved
Io: awe thx C
Callisto: No worries, going to shower then maybe answer this?
JUPITER: User Callisto submitted poll YES - 6 NO - 2
Kore: Catch you later Calli
Gandymede: Keep us informed… ALT; the woman, the myth, the legend

Xasha stood in the shower for a while thinking about her options, if this was Alt Cunningham in touch, then she was on the radars of the rogue AIs hidden away on that dead Island back west. This could be fun or it could be of concern as they were old and powerful. She finished and dried herself, throwing her hair into a wrap before she sat to reply to the mail.

Ok, you've got my attention "Alicia". By reading this you have downloaded a rather cute daemon, if you are some joker, enjoy watching all your hardware fry in about 30 seconds. If you are who I think you are, enjoy a sample of my coding… and what do you want?

Xasha

 

[Balthazar Harris]

Information

Objective: Follow the clue
Location: National Bank, Night City
Equipment: Normal outfit
Tags: @B B | @Xasha Callisto | Open

"English" | <"Japanese"> | << Radio >> | ~ Thoughts ~
[ Fight as One ] ​

The man did not feel rested and refreshed at all when he woke up from his sleep. The first thing he heard was snoring; he instinctively reached for the gun on the bedside table. Knowing exactly where it was, he immediately found it, and then unlocked it as he jumped out of bed. As soon as he did, he remembered who was sleeping on the sofa in the living room and for what reason. When he realized this, he put his gun to rest and put it back in its place. With that move, Balti was actually fully awake.

The next moment, he received another message. He read it quickly and frowned, raising an eyebrow. The first thing was that he hadn't ordered anything lately, but the man had enough experience in battlefields and other places to recognize the secret message in the message. As soon as he read the hidden message he knew which place it was, and the ALT was... was it the AI or was someone just using his name?

The man did not know this yet, but he will probably find out. However, the message caught his attention, if only because of why it was him. He hadn't really been to the Afterlife before, the bar wasn't one of the circles he frequented, as Balti was so good that he didn't need to be a mercenary to find a good job after the military. As he sat back on the edge of the bed, he sent a message to the number from which he had received the message.

When?

The man sent the message, that was all it was, not long, to the point. Since he didn't know the place he had to go to, he thought it was the best way. Of course, he might be wrong, but that remains to be seen. As an ex-soldier and now a commando, the man was a little paranoid, especially since in that place, he might not be a popular person because he works for the authorities. In any case, he didn't want to walk into any traps, so he still thought it was the best choice.

Well, the truth was that he was curious, he had adrenaline, but not enough to walk into a death trap from which there was no escape and he would die.

 

[B B]

Tag: @Balthazar Harris @Xasha Callisto

Location: Harris' Apartment

After his message, he got an error message, to the other ID doesn't exist, but after a little later he see a glitch on the wall, and a message:

9:00 AM Parking lot near the entrance.

Under this time, the snoring dies, and the noises come as Sarah stretches out her limbs, and tries to climb back to the sofa from the floor. She has a very sleepy head as she pulls closer to a cheap Ice coffee can and tries to open it. Slowly stand up and start walking in an oversized t-shirt and stop before the window. She watches the street as she thinks about something, before her ears begin to move, and lifts up her head while sniffing. She releases Balthazar awake too .

"Ohh, eeer, Good Morning" She waves and after blushes and looks away as she starts to mumbles. "I guess… I hope I wasn't too noisy…" She looks at him with a cute face as she scratches her ears.
"Ohh… eeeer… thanks again, to you allow me to use your sofa. Just tell me if I can help you with something."

---

Location: Xasha's' Apartment

After she sent the reply, she got just an error message that the mailing address doesn't exist.
Xasha hears a soft woman laughing in her ear, and a whisper from so close like the other person leans very close to her ear.
"Follow the clues, find the places, and maybe you will get the answers you are looking for now."

After this she got a new message from the earlier address.

9:00 AM Parking lot near the entrance.

Beside this she got another message from Lolo too.

Hey Girly, Do you hear anything about the rumors, so somebody wants to play some kind of Hide and seek in NC? I got a crazy message from a non-existent address. I sent you the message that I got. I go to the Afterlife to collect some eddies, the Fixer wants to meet me there… I hate these meetings, but the good side is I can try another Legend's drink.

She sent a little other type of message than what Xasha got, but the hidden message is the same there.

 

[Xasha Callisto]

Active Location: Online
Physical Location: Her apartment
Objective: wake up, engage
Tags: @Balthazar Harris @B B

There was no further response to her message, only an error message. It was hardly surprising if she was honest, she probably would have done the same after sending such a message.

from Lolo
"I go to the Afterlife to collect some eddies, the Fixer wants to meet me there…"

Afterlife? That's a club up in Watson right? Rather you than me. Got someone wanting to meet me in the carpark outside my apartment in a bit, gonna get some gaming done. Ciao!

Xasha grabbed her headphones and jumped onto her console, she had ninety minutes kill so she might as well go and blast through space blowing up newbs for a bit. She muttered to herself under her breath as she gamed, thinking of the meeting out in the car park, something was nagging on her brain though, a meeting at her apartment didn't make sense, this place was registered through multiple shells to keep her hidden it must be something else.

Callisto: Hey guys, can someone quickly do a search on Afterlife, Watson and give me the TLDR?
Gandymede: Lazy bitch, hang on
Gandymede: Afterlife, Watson. Most famous club in Night City, popular with edge runners and celebrities, pretty popular, sounds like your kind of hell Calli
Callisto: Where legends go perhaps? It's got a car park I assume?
Gandymede: maybe? Yeah, looks like it. What's up?
Callisto: Not sure, I might need to head out.
Callisto: @Jupiter have there been any recent intrusion attempts on my port?
JUPITER: user CALLISTO - three unsuccessful intrusion attempts detected along your port in the last hour.
Callisto: Ok, @Jupiter please enable PFA on my port
JUPITER: user CALLISTO - Physical Factor Authentication enabled - please input gesture in 15s
JUPITER: Please repeat gesture
JUPITER: Physical Factor Authentication enabled for user CALLISTO
Gandymede: uh oh
​

Xasha made a repeatable gesture with her hand, nothing would pass from her port to 5th World unless she made the same gesture again, if she was dealing with someone with the skills of ALT she would literally have to take control of her body and remember this gesture to get access to her secret world. She grabbed her coat and headed for her car to take her to Watson. She cursed herself for now only having forty-five minutes to navigate pre 9am traffic across Night City, she kept her foot on the gas to get there. Xasha pulled in to a lay-by a few hundred yards away from the afterlife, just behind an NCPD patrol car. She quickly hacked into the city CCTV. She might as well have that system on speed dial.

Within seconds she had eyes on the carpark outside Afterlife as the clock ticked down to 9am. Let them arrive first, she wasn't getting jumped and thrown into a corpo van.
​

​

​

​

 

[Balthazar Harris]

Information

Objective: Follow the clue
Location: National Bank, Night City
Equipment: Normal outfit
Tags: @B B | @Xasha Callisto | Open

"English" | <"Japanese"> | << Radio >> | ~ Thoughts ~
[ Fight as One ] ​

After sending the message, the man finally looked at the time, 5:03 am. Today was his day off, so he didn't have his alarm set, but he always woke up this early. It was a habit he'd picked up from his time in the army, not to mention that in his current position, the day off was also mostly a constant on-call duty, because if there was a problem in town, he had to go. His contract said so, but he didn't mind, in fact he was the one who wanted it that way. Adrenaline addiction can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. An advantage at work, a disadvantage in your personal life.

After the message was sent by the man, an error message came back saying that the sender did not exist. Balti was not surprised, a better Netrunner always covers its tracks. After that, he changed into the clothes he used to train in at home; he started every morning in them. When he had finished, he suddenly received another message from the place where he had come from before. Nine in the morning, he had nearly four hours to get everything ready and get there. He was reluctant to go out into the living room for the moment, lest he wake his co-worker, but eventually he heard the snoring stop and even the sound of a soda pop opening echoed into the bedroom.

Balti only then went outside and saw the woman in front of the window overlooking the street. She shook her head at the question and finally answered it out loud.

"Good morning!" he told her."No, you weren't a bother, my son is usually louder." he said sincerely and grinned a little.

Meanwhile, the man went to the kitchen stove and put on a pot of water to make coffee, but in the meantime, he opened the fridge and took out an energy drink. It was Balti's way of starting the morning, and then some breakfast.

"I hope you slept well, but you can go back to bed if you like, it's only five o'clock. I don't know what time you start today. But if you don't want to sleep, do you want coffee or breakfast?" he asked her.

Depending on her answer, he will also take enough food from the fridge, and another mug if needed. Balti had lived alone a lot and had to manage on his own, so he could be considered a bachelor, even though he was divorced from his wife; he was quite good in the kitchen, although making an omelette or sandwich was no great science anyway.

 

[B B]

Tag: @Balthazar Harris @Xasha Callisto

Balthazar - Location: Harris' Apartment

Sarah grinned, after Harris mentioned his son. She listens to him, and shrugs.
"I don't know when I will start today and where exactly. We wait for the paperwork so we can check some properties, but you know how fast things go. The gangsters get enough time to pack up and go to another location before we get the paper so we can look around there." She sighs, and pushes her back to the wall.
"But I hope this time we will get clear evidence and we can kick those drug dealers' doors. But for now, I think I just accepted your nice offer, and I would like to ask for a little breakfast."
Sarah watches as Harris makes the food, and after she sits down, and eats the food. It's clear that she is that type, who mostly just lives on junk food.
After she finished the food, helped clean up, and she went away training a little, and checked her home.
Harris has some extra time now alone, before he can go to the Afterlife.

Xasha - Location: Near to AfterLife

Xasha arrives near the Afterlife and looks around with the cameras, she see nothing interesting. Yes this is not the time when the "Party faces" come here and drink something. The people who walk around and go inside or come out from the place are clearly the type who have business here. Lolo is there too, she just pushes her back against the wall and drinks something like an energy drink. The clock is ticking and the time is getting closer and closer to 9 am.
08:59:59 still nothing, maybe this was just a cruel joke or prank?

Balthazar & Xasha - Location: Afterlife

09:00:00 Suddenly glitching stars appear with bright neon colors, and the separated glitches begin to show up as characters, or more like numbers and cover the wall beside the entrance. Looks like most of the people there see nothing, they are just chatting or walking, and nothing more. But some of them may see something unusual, their faces show this. Maybe, just maybe is this something bigger? No pattern here, just random people, like Alt, just randomly points to some strangers and starts this little "game".

The message on the wall:
01010111 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01000011 01101100 01101111 01110101 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101111 01110101 01100011 01101000 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100111 01110010 01101111 01110101 01101110 01100100

No personal message, no voices, just the message on the wall, and slowly the message just faded away as it never was there. Some people walk away, others just chatting, like an average day.

 

[Balthazar Harris]

Information

Objective: Follow the clue
Location: National Bank, Night City
Equipment: Normal outfit
Tags: @B B | @Xasha Callisto | Open

"English" | <"Japanese"> | << Radio >> | ~ Thoughts ~
[ Fight as One ] ​

After his morning routine, Balti did his usual workout, then after a long hot water shower, he headed to Afterlife. Although he was an adrenaline junkie, that didn't mean he was suicidal. He liked to assess the terrain before plunging headlong into any action. That was also true today. Although the man was able to fold his bow small and then open it in one motion. However, unless he was carrying a special energy bow, or one where the arrows were assembled by nanotechnology, the man's work made the archery fighting style difficult to execute. So, when he went into town, Balti was forced to carry the two pistols with him.

Before he left, he even put on a bodysuit armour under his clothes, which was perfectly invisible under his general clothing, just in case. He put on a pair of sneakers, long jeans and a T-shirt, and an old-fashioned baseball cap. So he went to the neighbourhood where Afterlife was. He didn't really see anything special here, so when the appointed time came, nothing happened at first. The man here suspected a trap, thanks to his paranoia, but eventually a message appeared on the wall, made of bits.

01010111 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01000011 01101100 01101111 01110101 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101111 01110101 01100011 01101000 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100111 01110010 01101111 01110101 01101110 01100100

Since Balti wasn't exactly perfect at transcoding binary code into a normal understandable language, he was forced to use a translator or website on the Net, which was easier. This gave him the result and the translation. As soon as he saw the text, he sighed.

Where the Cloud touches the ground.

It's one thing for the sender not to want to be found, but the man had no desire to spend the whole day running around town like a poisoned mouse. Of course, the man also knew Cloud and his reputation. Clouds was a nightclub located on the 12th floor of Megabuilding H8, Japantown in the Westbrook District. It was a very esteemed nightclub known for its braindance venue and catering to its visitor's every desire. Not really the kind of place a man would go to, at most for a raid, with a big backup. But since the message was for downstairs, he wasn't too worried.

After that, he headed towards Megabuilding H8, where he also didn't go too close to the location, but looked around and tried to assess the area before going there.

 

[Xasha Callisto]

Active Location: Online
Physical Location: Her apartment
Objective: wake up, engage
Tags: @Balthazar Harris @B B

Xasha sat in her car hooked into the CCTV as the clock went past but almost missed the binary message on the video wall as the CCTV never really gets video screens. What tipped her off was the few people who walked past with enough awareness of their surroundings to notice it themselves and start to translate it.

Xasha looked at it and rolled her eyes. Another clue for this scavenger hunt. Now she knew someone was just having a laugh at her expense although at least she had her AI blocking any attempted intrusions. She couldn't be bothered driving across town to Clouds, she had less than zero interest in that place, their biggest selling point was something you could literally do at home if you had the right hardware, and she did. So why do it surrounded by other bodies? She shuddered at the thought of being inside a nightclub and prepared to pull out back into traffic.

The Thai woman pulled away and drove a little. She might take the freeway but she was hungry now and still coming down from the AMPs she took last night. She pulled up next to the window. "Two burgers, cheese, no fries and a diet coke." The speaker crackled and she barely understood what was saying before pulling around, paying for her food then parking up in the parking lot to eat. It was so good, it wasn't real meat but at least this place did a good fake. The netrunner leaned back in her chair and spent a few minutes savouring the food with her eyes closed. It was a strange feeling to also be off the grid due to the security precautions she had taken before coming out, but it was weirdly refreshing to just spend a bit of time disconnected and she wondered if this was what it was like in the old times before the web was implanted into your brain.

Of course, she didn't like it enough to never go back, she knew her skin would be crawling for a data fix before long.

Xasha pulled back out of the lot and started weighing up her options. Sure there was the whole fangirl in her that might be interested in something to do with a retro AI but the pragmatist in her, and dare she say the bitch in her couldnt be asse driving round in morning traffic on a wild goose chase so she turned back towards her apartment.