It had been a pretty uneventful day, up until Ralph called. I had been trying to straighten out some bugs in one of the servers when I got some E-mail from him. He asked that I meet him. I knew where he meant, put on my mirrorshades and slid into the web.
"'Member that girl you met climbing?" he asked.
"Which one, Shannon?"
"No, the younger one. I believe Cassie was her name."
"Oh yeah, what about her ? "
"I believe she's in trouble with the New World Order."
"She's in trouble with Who? "
"Let's just say that they're a section of Technocracy that taught the three letter agencies all they know."
"Great, she's in trouble with Big Brother Incarnate and I get to be the one to save her ass. Just wonderful.
"OK, so how am I supposed to pull this one off?"
"I know a guy named Mr. Forteau, he should be able to help out. Oh, and give him this message."
"So where is this guy?"
"Just use this subway token. It'll get you there."
"Do what?"
"Oh, these things are tass constructs with a destination encoded in them. Just jump there."
And with that he transferred somewhere else. I guess I should get used to being left without a clue as to whatever hell I've currently been dumped into. It happens enough. I wonder how these tokens work. I'll have to get Ralph to explain them next time I see him.
Well, time to get on with the show. I wander down to the bathroom and make sure the place is empty. The token sits in my hand staring quietly up at me. I sure hope this thing doesn't slap me down into a crowd of sleepers. Here goes...
---
"Son of a Bitch" I'm standing in front of some house in the middle of friggin nowhere and there a couple of people gawking at me like I've got wings and blazing red eyes, but this isn't the web, so that can't be it. Ralph better be taking Paradox for this one. If they're end-users, this is going to be tough to explain.
Actually one of them is an old man that doesn't seem the slightest bit phased. Must be Forteau. Well, just one way to find out.
"Mr. Forteau?"
"Yes"
"I was asked to deliver a message and tell you that there is a young girl in trouble with the NWO."
"She can't be here yet! The girl is in trouble? Are you sure?"
"Yeah I'm sure. Dr. Evans said the Big Brother has got Cassie."
"That's not the girl."
And he turns away. Is everybody cryptic today? Man this guy is an obnoxious bastard! He's trying to treat me like a damned servant. I came here as a favor to Ralph and the guy speaks like he is deigning to talk to me. I'm going to give him the friggin message and go help Casie.
I hand him the message and hop on my bike. It starts without a problem and then promptly dies. What the hell's going on now?
"Bring the others with your." says Forteau.
So he knows his stuff. He's still a bastard. I guess the others will be useful. Especially considering that I haven’t a clue what I'm getting into. But he better hurry. I need to get Cassie away from whoever's got her. She seems like a nice kid. I don't want anything to happen to her. What would the NWO wants with a 'user anyway. That'll have to wait till later.
I wait around for the people on the porch to get their act together, when several more people show up. When I first got here, there was a guy and a girl sitting next to Forteau, but now two other guys wander around from the other side of the house and a tall guy and a little girl wander out of the tree line. What is this a party? I just want to go get Cassie. Forteau seems agitated. This must be the other girl the bastard was talking about. And true to form, he take the guy that was sitting on the porch and the one from the tree line, along with the little girl inside the house and leaves us cold. Well, information wants to be free, wonder what's going on in there. I'll just widen my perception a little and ... what the hell there's nothing inside the house. Not as in no other people or furniture. There's no 3space. OK, if someone doesn't tell me what's going on I'm going to be pissed.
Eventually they come out and there is an inside to the house again. Talk about the start of a weird day. He instructs the others to go with me and gives one of them the keys to his car. It's a Cadilac, of course.
Forteua asks me where Cassie is. Just one way I know to find out. A simple scan of the triangle should do the trick. It's hard to get a lock on her, but it seems she's in Durham somewhere. Damn, these guys move fast. Wait a minute, I don't even know where am I. That needs remedying. I tap a couple keys and just like magic, the answer scrolls across my shades. OK, I'm on the south side of Durham. That means Cassie is north of here. I'll have to get a better fix later. Time to scram.
I go flying out of the driveway and surprisingly the Cadilac is keeping up. There must be something special about that thing.
We travel down the road a ways and run into a funeral procession complete with a hearse and patrol cars. I'm worried about Cassie and we need to get there fast. These police could be a problem. It's time for a solution. I think a shorted spark plug in the lead cop car should do the trick. I find the plug and arc enough electricity to the fry the thing. Seems to work beautifully. There's one problem down. The whole procession has stopped. Now we can just get around it and be on our way. Hmm, the Cadilac is falling behind. Is there anything that can happen to delay us. All right, they're back behind me. I think it is time to find Cassie.
I rescan the area, this time having a little better idea of where I'm looking. She turns up about 500 yards down the road. All right Cassie, we're coming.
I pull off on the side of the road and hear the Cadilac tires crunch on the gravel behind me. I explain where Cassie is and turn to look for her when we see four figures dressed head to toe in black, shades and hats included. And behind them is Cassie. Several of them are holding guns and two of them start heading after my friend. I think it is safe to assume that this is the enemy. I flinch as a gunshot rockets my way and tears a whole in my jacket. That was a little too close. Another shot goes of and a scream responds. Damn it, I think one of ours got hit.
All of a sudden, the most terrible roar I have ever heard rips through the air. I spin around to a sight that is nine feet tall, covered in fur, equipped with plenty of sharp claws and fangs, and enough rage to make you wish you were dead, just so that the future wouldn't be quite as painful. Then to my amazement, it launched itself at our quarry and ripped into it. So that thing looks like something from the gates of hell, but at least he seems to be on our side. I gunned the throttle on my bike and targeted the closest of our adversaries. I saw a gratifying stock of surprise as my bike slammed into his body. He went down, but didn't seem to be finished. To my left, that thing ripped the head from the body of his original target and the body melted as it fell, forming a pile of slime on the ground. Another bullet flies my way, but Lady Luck seems to like me tonight. I turn around and spy one of the other men in black heading towards Cassie. I think this is one of those times for vulgar magic. Hell, if something as ugly as that fur coated death is running around, what's a lightning bolt between friends. I scan the area and reach out to one of the high tension powerlines running next to the road. I think that guy over there would make a wonderful ground and with a few taps of my keyboard, I convince the electricity of this too. A very satisfying boom echoes through my chest. As my custom made lightning wracks my target's body. But he's not dead. What the hell are these guys. Judging from the beating my last target just took, I really don't want the guy I ran over getting up. It's time to see if these guys have got an allergy to lead moving at high velocities. I pull out my 9mm and fire it point blank into the forehead of my adversary. I'm not kidding around anymore. Yep, that did it we now have pile of goo number two. Suddenly I feel the air charge with energy and I realize that one of the remaining two guys is about to let some nasty spell go and I try to counter it as best I can. I hear two more thunder cracks and another ungodly roar. The third man in black goes down to our furry nightmare. I think someone else in our party tried my lightning trick. That leaves one more thing between me and Cassie and I intend to fix that. I find our last adversary start headlong into a run and then I feel 3space start to shift. Damn it, he's sliding through the correspondence point. But he's not getting away that easy. I furiously start hacking away on my deck and try to track him. His pattern is slippery, but I follow his movement from North America and into Europe. This guy is good. He ends up in Italy somewhere. Son of a Bitch, that's as close as I can get.
Now someone nasty knows who we are and probably has friends. Life is going to suck real soon now.
Well. it's time to get what I came for. Cassie is over to my left. I start running, but the underbrush is pretty dense and I trip a couple of times. I think some of my companions are going for her too, but I don't think a scared little girl is going to take kindly to anyone she doesn't know.
I finally catch up with her and see that she appears to be OK, if not a little shaken up. I yell out her name and she latches onto me and starts sobbing. She asks if the bad men are gone and I tell her we got all four of them. She says something about two more. I quickly scan the area, but anyone else that was here is gone now. She also asks about a fairy wolf. I don't know anything about fairies, but I tell her about the walking carpet of doom that helped us out. Maybe there is a connection, but I sort of hope not. There is another guy with us, who calls himself Nathaniel. He has some weird device in his hand and is playing with some of the buttons on the side. I get the impression that he's fairly clueless. Cassie says she's all right. I think a small investment for the future would be a damn good idea. I ask Cassie for some item on her person, so that I can use it to find her in the future. It's time to leave, for a 'user she's going to be one shook up little girl.