CD & EA 1.4 - Operator

Hey all - so I've been writing my a$$ off for the last few days because I want to push four chapters of this new story to RR on Friday. That said, I've got three, kinda rough chapters to share with you all today, and I would love any feedback you want to give me. Is it still interesting? Does anything seem stupid? Are my mentions of tech too hand-wavey? Is Juliet likable? Anything else you can think of :)

-Plum

Post 1/3 for the day:

Juliet walked from the waiting room into what felt like another—a small square room with two black, faux leather couches facing each other, nothing else but a blank viewscreen on the far wall. A closed door was to her left, so Juliet just walked forward, allowing the one she’d come through to swing closed, and sat down on the couch to her right. She wanted to be able to see whoever walked in.

She’d just sat down and crossed her legs when a message appeared on the viewscreen: Please take a seat and wait for the doctor.

“No shit,” she muttered, then subvocally, “Angel, are we being blocked in here?”

“I was just about to tell you that, yes, this room is shielded.”

“I had had a feeling.” Just then, the door in front of her buzzed and clicked, and the man who’d called her earlier stepped through. Dr. Tsakanikas had curly, dark brown hair, very tan skin, and light brown eyes. He must have been in his forties, though his slightly heavy build made it hard to tell—his cheeks were full and didn’t reveal many wrinkles. He wore the same gray suit pants from when he’d called her, though his jacket and tie were gone, just a white, button-up shirt tucked into his slightly too-tight pants.

“Juliet!” he said effusively, like he was greeting an old friend.

“Dr. Tsakanikas?” Juliet asked, though she was quite sure it was he.

“Correct.” His tongue rolled over the word while he turned and pushed the door shut, and it clicked resoundingly. “This room is secure. I have a static generator that will corrupt any vids or audio you record, and no signal can get out. Naturally, this is good for you as well. We can speak frankly.”

“Okay . . .”

“I’m assuming that you need something done, hmm? Something you can’t really afford? This is the gist of the message our mutual friend left me.” He tugged at the fabric of his pants, giving himself some slack before sitting on the couch opposite Juliet.

“That’s right.” Juliet shrugged.

“I understand you’re nervous. Don’t be. I deal with this sort of thing all the time. I’m guessing you’re trying to hide your movements around the city?” He gestured to Juliet’s head, and she realized she was still wearing her sunglasses and hat.

Self-consciously, she pulled her oversized rose-tinted sunglasses off and hooked them onto the front of her t-shirt. “Yeah, I need upgraded retinal implants. I need some with projection capabilities.”

“Oho, not cheap, not cheap. Let me guess; you want to scramble your identity for the automated surveillance? You know the software is more expensive than the implants as far as that goes. It’s not easy staying ahead of the fucking police state.” His accent grew noticeably thicker when he said “fucking.”

“Um, well, I have the software I need.” She added, subvocally, “Right, Angel?”

“Right! I can easily manage the masking. You just need the new implants, and the higher the bit rate and resolution of the projection, the better.”

“Oho? That’s impressive! I thought I had a little street rat coming to me, looking for a big piece of cheese and offering me nothing but headaches!” He took a deep, noisy breath through his nose and eyed Juliet up and down. “You don’t look like a rat, though. You have some skills? Mark won’t see a finder’s fee if I don’t get some good work out of you.”

“Finder’s fee? Shit! I thought he was doing me a favor!”

“Everyone wants to get paid, Juliet! It’s the first rule of the street. Don’t go forgetting that, hmm? Tell me a little about what you can do.”

“Well, I’m good with a welding rig. I hit journeyman a thousand hours ago. Um, well, I have some hacking skills, but I need a data jack. I had a portable deck that got lifted. My software’s in the cloud, though.” Angel had prepped Juliet on how to present her hacking abilities, or rather, Angel’s hacking abilities.

“That right?” He touched a recessed button at the base of the couch, and a panel detached from the smooth white wall next to him, allowing a chrome arm to fold out. It continued to unfold, revealing a clear plastic data pad. Tsakanikas bent the arm until the data pad was situated in front of Juliet. “Let’s do a little evaluation, hmm? Here,” he reached into his breast pocket and took out a pair of augmented reality specs. They were impossibly thin, with delicate wire frames, and Juliet knew there were pricey. “You can borrow these.”

“Uh, all right,” Juliet said, reaching for the specs and carefully putting them on. They booted instantly, and a big splash screen displaying “AURORA” floated through her field of vision. “Nice,” Juliet said—Aurora Corp. made high-end tech.

“Juliet, I’ve blocked and disabled three separate virus vectors through your retinal implant. The lenses should be safe to use now,” Angel said.

“Tsakanikas, you tried to hack me? That’s disappointing.”

“Oh, nothing dangerous! That was the first test!” He spluttered, his accent much thicker than before.

“He’s not completely lying—the viruses were a keylogger, a tracker, and a data worm.”

“Well, you sure were going to try to mine me for every bit of information I had. Let’s not do that again, Tsakanikas. How can I even trust you to do my wire-work now?” Juliet sighed and moved to remove the glasses.

“Juliet, Juliet,” the doctor said, holding out his hands placatingly. “You’ll be conscious during any work I do, okay? You’ll have an uninterrupted data stream log for every piece of tech I put in you. Come, I’m just trying to see if we can work together, and if so, what kind of jobs you qualify for.”

“I will be able to easily find and eliminate any malicious code he installs, Juliet, firmware or software,” Angel said, and that was all Juliet needed to hear.

“All right, what do you want me to do to this tablet?”

“The lenses have a wireless data jack—just connect to the tablet, turn it on, and get me the codeword stored in the encrypted folder labeled “Miami Dolphins.”

“Huh, sounds easy enough . . .” Juliet started to say.

“The codeword is “bonanza,” but you should wait a couple of minutes to let him know you got it,” Angel interrupted.

“Seriously?” Juliet asked subvocally.

“Yes, the firewalls and encryption are very dated on that tablet. You should recommend he run some security patches.” Angel’s voice had a certain quality that Juliet took a moment to realize was smugness. Her PAI was being smug!

Juliet messed around with the AR glasses for a few minutes while she pretended to be hacking the tablet, admiring the sleek UI and the dozens of installed apps. She picked one that let her virtually tour a museum in France and spent another couple of minutes marveling at the precise brush strokes and vivid colors of an ancient painting of a bowl of cut flowers before gently pulling them off her head.

“Bonanza,” she said. “You need to update your security software, doc.”

“Oh, this is good news, Juliet! Tell me, how’re your electrician skills?”

“Apprentice. I still need something like seven thousand hours for journeyman. I don’t get much opportunity to practice at the scrapyard.” Juliet had been trying to get all the licenses she could over the last few years, but the online training courses and automated hour-on-task trackers were expensive and impossible to get around.

“But you know how to avoid shocking yourself, yes?”

“What? Yeah, I know what wires not to touch. Why?”

“I already have a job in mind for you, but I’ll need to do some checking first. The team is a bit particular about who they’ll work with.” Tsakanikas sat back on his couch, crossing an ankle over his knee and giving her another appraising look.

“Team? Job? Shouldn’t we cover a few more bases first, Doctor?” Juliet sat back and pushed away the articulated arm holding the tablet, giving herself a clear line of sight to the doctor’s face. He reached up and rubbed at his chin as though there was some stubble there, but it was smooth as fresh synth-skin.

“Sure. Let’s say I help you out with some new retinal implants, say some Hayashi Prisms. Those retail for twelve k and implant surgery at a decent clinic will run you another ten thousand. That would mean you owe me twenty-two large. You got those kinds of bits?”

“You know I don’t.” Juliet frowned.

“So that’s where jobs come in. I meet many people in my line of work, you see? Sure, I have clients with money who just want to improve their looks or add a fancy new implant, but I also have clients who need to improve for some other reason, oftentimes reasons they’d rather polite society didn’t know about. We’re talking people concerned with the laws and regulations of the corpos, you follow?”

“Yeah. Look, Doc, I’m not an idiot. Mark kinda explained this already. You want me to do something, not ask questions, and I’ll earn some credit. Am I right?”

“Just so, Juliet. Just so. I’ll need a few hours to try to arrange things, but those people I mentioned? The team? Their operation is going down tonight—how do you feel about that? Can you make yourself available?”

“Well, I’m going to level with you—I have some heat on me, so the faster I can get those implants, the better. I’m not even sure I avoided cams and satellites on my way here.”

“Well, while you were sitting in the front waiting room, I was scanning traffic. Nobody’s on their way here for you; I’m quite sure. There was some activity at your apartment, though.”

“What?” Juliet sat up, a spike of panic running through her.

“Yes, a corp out of Phoenix, WBD? They radioed Helios about searching your apartment.” Tsakanikas smiled at her, folding his hands, lifting his shoulders like he was relaying some innocent news about someone scratching her car in the parking lot.

“And you didn’t think to mention that?” Juliet leaned forward, her voice rising with the strain of keeping herself from cussing the man out.

“What would you do? Race off and hide somewhere? Hurry back so they could arrest you? I doubt you left anything incriminating in that little domicile, did you? No, this was fortuitous, Juliet—the chatter helped me to confirm that you’re just the right kind of person to do some work for me. The kind of person I like to work with is a better way to put it.”

Juliet sat back and took a deep breath. She supposed he was right about one thing—there wasn’t much she could do about the corpos searching her apartment. At least she hadn’t been home, which was just dumb luck. “So what do I do?”

“Why don’t you hang around here for the afternoon? I have another waiting room with more amenities, and you can begin earning some credit with me right away—I have a little bit of light hacking I need done. I’ll give you a thousand bits in credit for the afternoon. Not bad, hey?”

“And how much for the job tonight, assuming you can get me the job?”

“Well, you’ll need to split your cut with me—finder’s fee, you see? Still, it’s a good payday.” He stopped as if considering something, then said, “Let’s say that you should earn enough for a down payment on the Prisms.”

“Ask him what model the Prisms are; you don’t want anything older than v.7.50,” Angel said in Juliet’s ear.

“What model are the Prisms, and how do I know you’re not going to screw me over?”

“Oh, you know your stuff, don’t you? I have to remember to be on my best behavior with you! Let’s see,” he said, and his eyes went glassy as he scanned through something in his AUI. “There they are. Brand new—version 8.2.”

“All right, good. But about screwing me over?”

“We’ll set you up with operator credentials. It will allow you to start earning some rep with the other operators and fixers in the city. Well, any city, but your local rep will matter more, no matter where you are. More than that, you’ll be able to rate my operator license number. That keeps me honest—I can lose a lot of business if operators start dropping my rating.”

“Hold on—people have licenses for this shit? I thought we were working, you know, under the table.”

“Yes, Juliet, but operators do legitimate work, too. We use the system to keep track of each other, connect with each other, and rate each other, but the jobs we do aren’t always the jobs we post about. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, it makes sense, but won’t it make it easier for corpos to find me?”

“Operator boards are encrypted end-to-end. Sure the corpos have agents with access, but unless you work directly with one of them, they’ll never know when and where your next job is. The most they’ll see is your rep rating, your cleared jobs, and any reviews someone might write about you. Most of us keep our reviews pretty nondescript, ‘She was on time, did everything we asked without complaint, and handled her business.’ That sort of thing.”

“Angel, is this legit?” Juliet subvocalized.

“Yes. ‘Independent Operator’ is a generalized term for people who use their talents to complete contracts for security, espionage, surveillance, and even targeted warfare if legal and sanctioned by the local authorities. It’s well known that such operators perform a large percentage of their jobs under the table, often completing tasks that are not legal. Corpo legal and security branches spend a large percentage of their resources pursuing action against such operators. Still, politically they have little support as other branches of those same corporations are often the operators’ largest clients.”

“I thought we weren’t able to access the net?” Juliet asked her, wondering how the PAI had read that report to her.

“We’re still blocked, but I came upon this information while researching possible outcomes for this meeting between you and Dr. Tsakanikas.”

“All right, so, even though a corp is looking for me, you think I can get this ‘operator’ license and get started tonight?”

“Sure! It’s all automated,” Tsakanikas said, unfazed by Juliet’s lengthy pause while she listened to Angel. “We’ll get you set up, leave off any information that might be used to locate you, and, assuming I can get you the job, you’ll start making the big money tonight.”

“Really? That easy? What about Mark? Why isn’t he ‘making the big money?’” Juliet had been around enough to know when something sounded too good to be true.

“Mark? He’s not an operator, Juliet. He’s a small-time contractor who does a little under-the-table demo work for me. I’ll admit, I thought you’d be something similar, but when I saw your hacking skills . . .” He trailed off, holding out his palms like there was nothing else he could say.

“Juliet, the hacking I did could easily be accomplished by anyone with any skill. This man’s standards aren’t all that high; use caution,” Angel said, and Juliet frowned.

“Well, I’m over a barrel here,” she said, both to Tsakanikas and Angel.

“Good, good,” he replied, standing up with a smile as though Juliet’s professed lack of options was just what he wanted to hear. “Come, I’ll take you to a more comfortable room where you can use my encrypted line to create your profile. There’s a five hundred bit fee. You can manage this?” He asked over his shoulder as he tapped on the door. A moment later, it buzzed and clicked, and he pulled it open.

“Doc, if I had five hundred bits, I don’t know if I’d have come here so quickly.” Juliet sighed heavily, but Tsakanikas just laughed.

“Of course, of course. I’ll float the five hundred. Actually, let’s just say I’ll give you the five hundred up front for the one k I promised for the hacking job. You can work on it after you get your license.” He chuckled again, leading Juliet down a short hallway and then left into a much larger room with high ceilings and bright windows overlooking a desert-scaped backyard. Juliet whistled; he had to have half an acre, and he was only a few miles from downtown.

“Pricey property you have here,” she said, following him over to a long, faux wooden table where several data terminals were set up. The chairs were all empty, but Tsakanikas pointed to the one on the left.

“You can use that one. If a little guy with green hair comes in and starts to use these other ones, just ignore him. That’s one of my assistants, Yan.” He stood, hands on hips, stared out the window, and sighed with a big grin. “Yeah, it’s good property. Business is good; what can I say?” He chuckled. “I’ll have Yan send you the address for the operator license, and when you’re done, he’ll use that to give you the hacking contract. It’ll sound like something more benign—data retrieval or some other bullshit. Still, it’ll be good to get your first job under your belt.”

Juliet sat in front of the terminal and picked up the plastic specs attached via a hard-wired cable. “Quite a step down from the ones you let me borrow earlier.”

“Patience, Juliet, patience. You work for me for a while, and you’ll have a wireless data jack that’ll run circles around those glasses.” He turned and started to walk down a different hallway, but he stopped and said, “I have a surgery, but I’ll check on you afterward. Should only take me an hour or two tops. Look for Yan’s message.” Then he was gone, shuffling down the hallway, and Juliet was sitting there, holding data specs and wondering what she’d gotten herself into.

“Angel, I’ll put these on and connect to this terminal. Please watch out for viruses.”

“Always, Juliet.”

“Right,” Juliet breathed and put the specs on, staring straight ahead while Angel managed the handshake between the terminal and her retinal implants. Someone without the cheat of a hyper-advanced PAI would need to run their own software, operating it through a data chip that interfaced with their PAI systems and the deck. Angel handled everything.

“I don’t detect any attacks, and I’ve established the encrypted connection through the data terminal. You just received a message from ‘YanMan88.’”

“Open it.”

“It says, ‘Hey, noob. Here’s the link to establish your operator profile,’ followed by an encrypted link. You’ve also just received a transfer of five hundred Helios-bits.”

“All right, let’s do this. Go ahead and follow the link. Fill in what you can.”

“I’m done,” Angel said after a second or two. “There were a few things I couldn’t fill in for you. I’ll display the fields one by one in your AUI, and you can tell me what to write.”

“That was fast. Sounds good. Proceed.”

The first thing that came up in her vision, displayed in amber, monochrome lettering, was an agreement that required her retinal signature. It seemed fairly boilerplate, indemnifying the SOA-SP or Special Operators Association of Sovereign Peoples of any liability for any actions Juliet took while working under her license.

Scanning through it, Juliet saw that she was responsible for licensing any weapons she used, making sure any equipment she used was legal in the jurisdiction in which she operated, and reporting any illegal activities that she witnessed, engaged in, or was contracted to complete. She snorted and touched the “retinal signature” button, and that was that. “Next, Angel.”

The license agreement faded and was replaced with a prompt that gave her some pause:

Operator Handle:

“What’s this, Angel?”

“It seems that many special operators have a name they want to use for jobs other than their legal one. If you create a handle, the SOA will use it wherever a legal name isn’t required, creating a professional persona around which you can build your reputation.”

“I don’t have a handle, Angel. Just leave it blank for now.”

“Understood. One more thing for you to review. There’s a skillset list, and I populated it, but you should make sure it’s to your liking.”

Operator Skillset:

Combat:

N/A     *

Technical:

• Network Security Bypass/Defend     *
• Data Retrieval     *
• Welding     *
• Electrical     *
• Combustion & Electrical Engine Repair     *

Other:

• High-Performance Driving/Navigation     *

“Really, Angel? High-performance driving? What do the asterisks mean?”

“The asterisks are your rating for each skill and won’t populate until you’ve had some client and team member reviews. I added the driving because many of the profiles I scanned for examples said the same thing, and I thought you’d be able to fake it. You do have a driver’s license, after all.”

“I guess it’s fine. I used to be a decent driver . . . before I wrecked my car. It totally wasn’t my fault, though, Angel!” Juliet laughed at herself and then said, “Anything else?”

“That’s it. I filled in all your other information, demographics, contact info, work experience, et cetera.”

“Did you embellish?”

“Yes, quite a lot.”

“Great!” Juliet sighed. “Okay, send them the five hundred bits, and let’s get done with this.”

“Done! Your SOA-SP license number is JB789-029. Your current operator reputation level is F-0-N. F is the lowest rep baseline. The zero is where you rank between zero and one hundred; if you reach one hundred, you’ll advance to rep level D. The final figure is your seniority ranking.  N stands for new, and it helps to offset the terrible rep level you have; people will see that you’re new and not be too worried about the low rep. You qualify for the ‘new’ status for only three months, and then it will be replaced with a one, meaning you’ve been operating for a year or less.”

“Huh. Makes sense, I guess . . .”

“Juliet!” Angel cut her off, “I just received a contract from ‘Doc Sack!’ I think it’s Dr. Tsakanikas; it’s a data retrieval contract with an attached encrypted drive file. The payout is five-hundred bits. Shall I accept?”

“Angel, c’mon, you know that’s Tsakanikas; he said he’d send the contract after we created my profile. Just accept it, and let’s see if it’s something you can handle.”

“Oh, yes. Excuse my excitement, please. The doctor would like us to retrieve a list of names and account numbers from this encrypted drive and send him back the data, compressed but not encrypted.”

“Can you do it?”

“Yes, I have routines that will work. If you had a better port with co-processing capabilities, this would go much quicker, though.”

Juliet took off the data terminal specs and stood up, stretching her back until it popped, then asked, “How long will it take, Angel?”

“As little as fifteen minutes or as long as two hours. There’s a great deal of luck involved.”

“Well, let’s get started. The sooner you’re done, the sooner I can pretend to be busy doing something else.” Juliet shook her head and walked over to the counter. Tsakanikas had a fridge and a coffee machine in the room, and while he hadn’t told her she could help herself, he hadn’t said she couldn’t. “It’s been a long time since I had real coffee, anyway.”