Chrome Symphony - Chapter 2

"Let's hurry up and get there before it gets too late," Jess replied to Duncan.

The group made their way via the transport tubes to Duncan's house. It was your basic living arrangement, a bit cramped, but tidy and full of neatly organized computer hardware, some of it looking to be more than 50 years old.

"I thought you looked like you belonged in a museum," Jess commented under her breath. "But you actually live in a museum, from the looks of things."

Duncan turned around as he shut the door. "What's that?" he asked.

Jess shrugged. "Eh, nothing. Nice collection of vintage gear you have here."

Jess sat down as Shell and Duncan connected themselves to the network. Since they were cyborgs with brain implants, they didn't need any additional gear. Elise activated her direct data link and sat back in one of the reclining seats. Jess picked up a helmet and inspected it. It was clean enough; in fact, it looked like it had hardly been used. It was a fairly up to date model, though not top of the line. Jess had some limited experience with 'net diving although she was used to more expensive dive gear with faster reflex timing.

A few moments later, Atlas and Renk arrived at the door. Duncan let them in and they sat down, each picking up a dive helmet.

"Okay," Jess said. "To investigate, I'd like to take us to the slums of the global network. Dark Spider and the Herei Mob Army hang out in some of the BBS's there and, if we use the correct avatars, we stand a chance that someone's going to blab something useful to at least one of us."

She put on the helmet and felt a light sting as her nervous system began calibration to the dive gear. Jess's limbs went numb and her vision went black for an instant before she awoke in an empty, featureless room, along with the others. Everyone appeared in this virtual space the same way they did in the real world, which was something they would have to fix before venturing into the 'net slums.

Duncan changed some settings in the environment.

"We're already anonymized," he said. "We can see each others' correct appearances but everyone else not in our group will only see generic human avatars."

Duncan walked over a door on the far side of the room. "As you all probably have some familiarity, most of the people you'll see in the dark net will have black silhouettes as avatars. We will appear to them in the same manner with no identity data attached. It will be difficult to tell anonymized avatars apart so we will have to keep that in mind as we collect information."

Everyone walked out of the door and into a bustling area full of people. It resembled an outdoor marketplace in a busy metropolis, even more crowded and congested than the city in which they were physically. Jess took the lead, having a good idea of the path leading to the "dark web" entrance.

They arrived at a large, round door in the side of a rock wall. Jess examined the door. Duncan walked up next to her.

"This should be one of the entrances. It's a little unusual that it should be in plain sight like this," he said. "It's a protected entrance so I'll have to brute force the encryption here."

A terminal appeared in mid-air in front of Duncan as he ran some custom scripts he had prepared. His eyes darted around to make sure there weren't any other people watching them and then opened the door.

"This is one of the Herei Mob Army's intel rooms," he whispered. "Remember, be careful about how you ask questions. I suggest that we split up and each go into a different channel. We should have some time before anyone catches on that we're a group here asking questions."

Each person entered a different channel. Duncan stepped into a blue room where there were five anonymized people sitting around a table playing chess. He sat down at the table and watched the chess boards as they played.

Elise took a detour back to her own place before linking up with Duncan and the others again. "I doubt it'll be useful, but I had to pick up a few things, just in case." She had some sort of large case with her, and did draw attention to a pistol holstered under her jacket. "Can't be too careful, not that any of this is gonna be the most useful where we're going."

She had no problem tagging along with the others to the Herei Mob's little intel room. Though at that point, there was a question of what to do next. She picked one of the subrooms and just walked right in, doing her best to look like she belong there. Even online, that sort of confidence can really help when it comes to being places you shouldn't.

Outside of the anonymous avatars, the place seemed similar to actual chatrooms of any sort. Just a bunch of people hanging out and having conversations, just like any more reputable parts of the 'net. Elise took the lurker approach, and just listened in on things for a while. No reason to try and speak up herself, unless she heard anything she could actually comment upon.

Shell entered a room with about 20 anonymous people standing around talking. She remained quiet as she listened to the conversations going on.

"I heard the EMA building went up this morning because of a faulty self-destruct system."

"No way. It was on purpose. I talked to someone who was part of the revolution and he said it was part of the operation."

Shell clenched her fists. Knowing she was in enemy territory, she couldn't possibly speak up in response.

More conversations sprung up around her, mostly ignoring her presence.

"Herei Mob Army will free all of humanity to go into the paradise in space. The heavens will be opened to everybody!"

"First we have to make sure Mr. Crest is secured. The ransom will be HUGE!!!"

Shell's attention focused on the conversation mentioning a "Mr. Crest". She watched and listened closely.

"Near Earth Asteroid 726? God, no one even goes near there anymore. I hear it was used as a weapons factory 10 years ago."

"They haven't decided yet but that's the best place for the rich p****. We'll barely keep him alive until they pay up."

"Hahaha, they'll have to pay the price for us to return the price. Priceless!"

"Your puns suck. GTFO."

Shell quietly left the room. She had a good lead for Jess.

Jess entered a room and listened to some of the conversations. There were 8 people, all anonymized, discussing random topics. She tried to focus on the discussions that were relevant to the investigation.

"It's a weapons factory, or at least it used to be, officially. They said most of the equipment was left behind when it was abandoned."

Jess listened more closely.

"Right, Herei's got a project going on there, in addition to, well, you know."

"That thing's almost ready to test."

Jess had the urge to ask for more information. The sudden appearance of a new stranger asking questions would be very suspicious and would jeopardize the investigation, she thought.

Jess had never been completely comfortable with 'net diving. Although the cyborgs were well-suited for it, it felt very unnatural to have no sensory input from her physical body. It was similar to having a deep dream but being completely aware that her body was actually totally paralyzed.

She continued to listen.

"Actually we need a secure channel to discuss that. You never know who might be listening."

Jess waited about a minute after hearing that before she left the room, in order to not appear that her departure was in response to that comment. After leaving the room, she entered another room.

"The ransom is being negotiated right now. EMA's going to pony up the money after losing their HQ."

"Really? That was quick. I guess they found out about the second target."

"The second target's too close to NEA726, it's an absolute last resort."

"Shut the hell up, man. Take that s*** to a secure channel, you idiot."

"Oh, sorry. I screwed up."

Jess shook her (avatar's) head. These guys are total clowns. They're making this way too easy, she thought. Jess left the room and went back to the common area right outside the door to the Herei Mob Army's area. She waited for the others to emerge so that she could share the information with them.