[gilga]

Marco texts Jed "He is Ginny's new employer... Since she is going to Japan for hi for some job I'd love some online checking to see that everything checks up. I do not want anything illegal just use some common sense from known sources and tell me if he checks up. It needs to be in the next 36 hours before she leaves to Tokyo. Apparently she has quite a talent for sciences, brilliant brilliant lady I am just a bit afraid that she is  being played that's all."

[SmilinIrish]

While waiting for Marco to respond, Yelena sends notes off to Jed and Mike.  >>Jedediah.  Is Yelena.  Need talk.  Have money for pay.  Tell Yelena expenses.  Come garage today?  Come soon if can.  Yelena need talk PI man about trip to Europe.  Might have skills Yelena need there.  Send note Yelena if interested.<<

Drek, missed a message from Yelena too.  Milaya, my heart goes with you when you leave, but I'm tied up here at the moment on sort of a bodyguard job (don't laugh, its not nice   ).  My expenses on our last collaboration were nominal.  I believe I agreed to do it for $5,000.  Account info is attached.  I can meet you in VR if need be, but not very mobile at the moment.  Something you might not realize, if we can arrange a meeting location there, I can travel via astral almost instantaneously.  My actions are limited to the astral, but if what you need again is astral overwatch, and realize my limitations, perhaps I can be of service.   Have you seen the news?  They are saying some evidence disappeared during a recent high profile case.  How does that affect certain things?  Does it leave key people involved, or are they free and clear with their obligations met?  I'm awake now my dear.  Hopefully won't miss your next message. 

[ismilealot]

For Blake  >>Damn, forgot to hit send letting you know I can make it. I'm almost there now.<< As proof of that a few minutes later he's at the door. He's in his work clothes. ie, nice shirt, slacks and a leather jacket now with his sunglasses on.

[SgtBoomCloud]

Arc turned and left Firefly and Marco alone...it seems like the male keeb was asking the decker for a favor, and a personal one at that.  Not one to meddle more than seems fitting at the time, Arc instead returned to the monstrosity of an engine she acquired, expecting Yelena to be there . Grabbing a slice of meaty pizza, the mechanic took a bit and paused, her eyes not picking up the older keeb where she expected.  In fact, it seems she left the garage entirely.

"Huh...oh" Her nostrils picked up the familiar acrid scent of Yelena's cigars, solving that mystery by itself rather quickly.  Grabbing a paper towel and setting her slice on it, the human stepped over and out the door, her sweats warding the chill off her thighs quite well, though her t-shirt left something to be desired for warmth as the snow started to fall..

" Hoi, Srui, thought you wanted some pizza.  It's getting co...". She trailed off as timing saw fit to have Arc step out just as she saw the, albeit smaller than she is used to, hulking figure approaching the garage. Taking a moment, the two of them made eye contact, Arc's cybernetic greens meeting the troll's own.  Recognition seemed to be exchanged, and Arc gave a nod to the tall woman.  "Lemme guess, Tuskaloosa right?  You at the right place, c'mon in.  I got pizza, plenty to share too"

If any preconceived image of what Hrock's wiz mechanic looked like had formed in the troll's mind, it was likely not what was before her eyes now.  Standing in the doorway, the human woman barely crested five feet in height, a stout and well fed frame dressed simply in very casual clothing, sweats and a t-shirt..  Her brown head of hair was quite unkempt, likely just past shoulder length if it ever fell straight, the current getup conveniently exposing the circuit plates at the base of her skull...a control rig, too much for a simple Jack.  Besides that.the biggest feature was her right arm, a full replacement of chrome and cybernetics grafted at the choulder and collar, arms currently crossed under her chest to ward off the cold.

She gave a small smile as she brought herself out of the way, ushering her inside and nodding to Yelena, letting her smoke.  "Gotta admit, this thing you're interested in is a fraggin marvel.  I've never seen an engine of this size built from scratch before...and the design...this wasn't no traditional bike for someone this size so I'm having trouble with the design.."

Upon entering 're garage, they were met with an interesting mix of purpose in the place.  In the center were two bays for vehicles to be serviced, one currently hosting a clean black Americar, while off to the side a normal sized Scorpion motorcycle rested.  Around most of the sides, a number of shelves and workstations held a wide variety of parts and tools, each showing signs .if much love and use.  One workstation currently supported a number if pizza boxes, still fresh and hot by the looks of it.  On the side nearest the door, a couple used couches surrounded a space heater, where Marco and Firefly were currently in discussion.

The vital point in the room, though, was ok the opposite wall, where the custom built engine rested upright, a grid projector next to it overlaying Arc's rough body design.  St the moment, it looked like a Mirage in shape, but the front was bulked a bit heavier, the back sporting wing stabilizers of some kind with a six-pipe exhaust.

"It ain't perfect.  But whaddya think?"

[gilga]

Marco introduce himself to the (not so) big troll, that was still quite big for a (not so) big keeb, he watched Arc as she was getting her game. He that that Tuskaloosa was a buyer, but the way Arc spoke about that engine he was not sure that she was going to sell. When Blake showed up he allowed him to get some pizza and just right after Blake took a bite, Marco interrupted his cheese rush with the mind link spell. He thinks “Don’t be alarmed it is me, Marco. This is how I talk about illegal stuff right now. A guy can never be too careful. I was wondering if you can explain a little better what was it exactly that you wanted me to do and when is it going. Don’t worry you can think freely, I only hear what you want to share I am not reading your mind or anything.”  While ‘thinking’ Marco is skilled enough to casually talk and eat. The people that said not to talk with your mouth full have clearly never heard about the mindlink spell. Marco’s passion for words cannot be silenced by mundane things like chewing.

[Duck N. Cover]

     Although she could not 'read' the cyber eyes of human woman framed in the doorway  her other senses could tell that this was Arc, Hrock's mechanic: the oil smears—past and present—on her t-shirt.  The friendly cadence of her words matched the meeting invitation's style.  The confidence of a grease monkey in her natural habitat.
     No, this was Arc.  While the elf smoking against the wall felt like she belonged, this person had the confidence that came with ownership.

     “Yeah.  I don't know what Hrock has told you, but I'm Tuskaloosa.”
   
     She let herself be ushered inside, with an “excuse me” at the door.

     For a moment it felt like home.  It was nothing like Munoz Motors & Rotors of course, save the tools.  Perhaps it was the openness that a garage has.  Or maybe it was stepping out of the cold and into a warm, bright space.  The scent of warm pizza didn't hurt either.
   All she knew was that she felt a familiar and not unpleasant vibe.
   
     A male elf materialized at her side and introduced himself as “Marco”.
   She accepted his handshake, a little confused.  She was seeing a mechanic about a motorcycle—this Marco was too clean to belong in a pit.  “Uh, yeah.  Charmed, I'm sure.”
   
     "Gotta admit,” her host continued “this thing you're interested in is a fraggin marvel.  I've never seen an engine of this size built from scratch before...and the design..”
   Her words were lost as Tuskaloosa caught sight of the block.
   
     Quickly she scrubbed a paw across her eye. I promised myself I wouldn't cry...

[SgtBoomCloud]

A quick look from Arc to Marco spoke volumes about the sacred bond between owner and client and how interruptions had.  After they shook hands and went back to their own thing, Arc muttered up to the much taller woman.  "Got some friends meeting up, like to use my space for it.  It's all null sheen, no worries." .Grinning up,  She focused on on the main engine, pulling up the design she was working on.

"Anyhow like I was sayin', this thing is definitely not set up for any factory design, and any body built for it had to go through some serious mods.  I mean, who the Frag thinks to design the air intake on the sides to increase flow in turning?  Inspired...and a nine gear shift system...shirt of rigging this thing up, the rider would battalion know this baby like the back of her hand.  I mean, it..."

She paused, turning to the side to see that Tusjaloosa was not examining it as closely with her, straightening up her back and turning around, seeing the woman wiping her face.  The mechanic was confused...for a moment, until a theory graced her thoughts.  A custom built troll engine meant for racing... .Sure enough, cradled in one of the lady's hands was a racing helmet, and it hit her, eyes going wide.

"...you know this engine from somewhere huh...grab some pizzaBumuch as you like.   Lets talk.". Ckrsrinng off another worktable.Arc grabbed her pizza and took a bite, waving to Blake as she waited for the trolless to sit with her.

" That engine had heart out in it.  You're in some trouble aincha."

[gilga]

If I am already here I was going to help Arc get a good price, but one look is enough to say.  The short mechanic wants to pitch her engine herself. A shame because I can probobly get a very good price if I set my mind to it. Then again, I have Blake in my thoughts, so I just watch the two as I eat and talk to Blake.  Arc is on the right track identifying emotional connection between buyer and engine.  I am optimistic, but then she assumes that her client is in some sort of trouble? Soon we are going to start solving her problems. 

A troll that have seen better days comes to see an engine without a bike, (without a bike YET, I correct myself as Arc can probobly do anything in the world.) Why is the engine even on the market so soon. Perhaps she is not exactly a buyer, perhaps... can it be her engine? But if there is an engine without a bike attached... that troll lady is lucky to even be alive. Despite the grim thought, everything seems happier with a slice of pizza. Screw calories, I will just have to walk home to make up for my culinary sins.

[Duck N. Cover]

     Aw drek...she noticed.  Tuskaloosa tried to grin and shrug it off as nothing, but the human before her would have none  of it.
     
     With a sweep of her arm the tech cleared a swath of workbench, sat down and took a bite of pizza like she meant it.
     
     With and inward sigh Tuskaloosa slowly ambled over to the open boxes.  She selected the smallest slice of meat pizza she could find, clumsily rolled it up and popped it into her mouth like a dors d'oeuvre.  She crossed the garage to the workspace, licking her fingers clean as she went.  There--you're now off the hook as hostess.
   
     The stool across the cleared bench was large enough and looked solid.
   
     “That engine had heart in it.”  It was a statement of fact.  “You're in some trouble aincha.”
     “Trouble is a strong word, but...that engine didn't have heart.  It was a heart.”
     “The heart of somethin' special, by the look of it.”
   She nodded.  “The last bike built for me—after I stopped growing.  My adult bike.”  A thought came to her.  “Can I use the grid projector?”
     “Sure, if you want...”
   
     She quickly scanned through the pictures she had stored in her primary datatjack.  She found one without references to home or family.   A second...This should be useful.  “This is what it looked like whole” she said as she plugged into the projector and displayed the first image.
   
     “I also have a picture it in pieces.”

[Shaman_Yuri]

When Arc-sensei missed Marco-san's quip about spaghetti dinner I chose to ignore it.  It didn't matter, anyway.  Apparently my somewhat quarrelous and admittedly frumpy self didn't hold the stunning elf's interest as much as the pizza did.  Normally I would have been just as interested in food right now, especially since I heard Arc-sensei mention some of it was vegetarian, but my stomach still felt like it would rebel at anything more than water.  Or maybe some crackers or such.  Instead of think about food, I refocus on the tech.

Methodically I take each device with a chip, now even including the credsticks, and scour them for data.  I ghost each in turn to my Erika, always taking care to examine the data for malware or any other unexpected surprises.  Once safely in my possession where I control it, I scan over the contents and commit the general sense of the material to memory.  I then repeat the process with the next device.  Each time I use both my deck and my mind to look for trends, repeated topics or phrases, and the like. 

Data or knowledge, properly leveraged and to the right buyer, is worth far more than that engine fascinating everyone else.

Up until this point, I've been a contractor.  I was hired for 1500 nuyen to get the job done.  For a couple day's work and some recovery time, I'm grateful for it.  But if I can use my keen memory and phenomenal reading ability, not to mention my talents with a deck, to catch on to an unexpected opportunity for profit, maybe these shadowrunners might see fit to give me a bonus.  The more I can pay down my debt with the Yak before I leave for Europe, the less drek I'll be facing when I get back.

If I get back...

And anyway, the more useful I make myself, maybe the less murasaki-me akuma will try and reason I'm in over my head. 

Even if I am.

[SgtBoomCloud]

Arc listened intently to the troll as she Saud her piece, not once looking away until she was fiddling with the projector,  the mechanic's eyes drifting over to where Marco and Firefly were sitting.  Girl's Got some stuff to her, but we gotta make sure she sticks around and aint held back...hmm. one at a time... Refocusing herself, the human hopped off the table as the first image came on display.

"I can understand what you mean...these things aren't machines.  They our blood" .While she didn't need her hands to interact with the images, it helped her fine tune and focus her efforts as she pulled the image to the engine, stripping away the unnecessary background and imposing the design over the engine, adjusting the size until it lined up to scale.  With the second image, at a different angle, Arc's magic came to life, introducing a trid model of the bike right. over the engine.

The mechanic wasn't too far off: a custom model reminiscent of a Suzuki Mirage, sized up to fit the trolless' size and balancing the weight by upsizing the forward fender, intake vents on either side of the headlights.  Double layered reactive suspension held up the tires, with the exhaust a four tube system running close to the rear wheel.  Overall, it was sleek, powerful, and in Arc's eyes a work of art.
.by this time her mouth was hanging open as she nodded for the picture of the pieces, using those to visualize each part, pulling each image and tagging it to its place in the finished product.   "I recognize some of these...Hrock sold me some of these parts too.  That will make it easy.  Hell yeah, I'm building this thing...". Grinning, Arc looked up to the troll, seeing her concerned face, her own eyes narrowing as she lowered her voice.

" It will take some time...and there is a good chance I'll be out if town in a few weeks too...a friend of mine is in trouble and may need my help.  Now, call me crazy, but I don't wanna sell this to anyone but the hoop it's designed to seat, ya feel me?  I also can't give it away though, and a job like this is nowhere near cheap...you willing to work somethin' out with me, omae?" she grew quiet, wanting to gauge the other's response.

[Shaman_Yuri]

Several hours, and a brief break for prayers and the ladies' room later, I have managed to commit all the devices to my Erika and much of the contents to my own memory.  Rather than obsess over the material, long experience has taught me to let my mind simmer on what I've absorbed.  My subconscious will often bring things to the fore of my mind later that my conscious was oblivious too.  There are also the programs I have now running to compare phrases and names in the data to whatever can be found on a search of the 'trix.  If there is anything that is useful in any way such as blackmail or the like, or with a little effort can be made useful, I'll find it.


Memory to commit the material I read to my meat brain: 13d6t5: 5 [13d6t5=1, 5, 4, 3, 6, 3, 4, 6, 5, 2, 3, 1, 6]

Assuming an extended test for speed reading to find anything in the material {logic(6)+intuition(5)[Mental (8 )]hard(18),average(1 hour))}
With photographic memory this can happen in my own head after the fact
First hour: 11d6t5: 1 [11d6t5=2, 4, 3, 1, 6, 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3]
Second hour: 10d6t5: 3 [10d6t5=3, 6, 2, 1, 5, 5, 2, 2, 4, 2]
Total so far of FOUR hits after two tests


I carefully rise again to note how crowded the large room has again become.  Although my younger friends and the old ork long since departed, we now have the damnably gorgeous elf, a troll woman, and the human mage I saw three nights ago manifested astrally in this very room now present in the flesh.  Except for the troll, they all seem to know each other and have an ease that I envy.  And ease is an understatement between Marco and Yelena.  The unabashed intimacy the two continue to demonstrate causes my gut to wrench and I feel the need to be elsewhere.  I'm self aware to enough know I'm feeling jealous, but whether of Yelena or Marco I'm not sure.  Either way, it's easier to just be somewhere else.  I'm sure I'll do better at reviewing the data in my head without all the ruckus anyway.

Without Lexi or Bootstrap to show me home, I'm stuck here.  Still, I think I've been given freedom to pray as needed in the bedroom.  While it's not exactly time for mid-afternoon prayers, it's close enough that I will trust Allah not to mind.  With everyone else busy being social, I slip quietly to grab a crust of pizza, all I believe I can handle as yet, and slip back to the bedroom.  With the crust in my still uncertain tummy, I settle down to perform my prayers after which I will lie down quietly atop Arc's little-used bed and continue to review the material in my mind and in my Erika in solitude.


Third hour: 9d6t5: 7 [9d6t5=6, 6, 4, 5, 4, 5, 6, 6, 5]
Fourth hour: 8d6t5: 4 [8d6t5=1, 6, 5, 1, 3, 5, 2, 5]
Total so far of FIFTEEN hits after four tests

[Duck N. Cover]

     The shrewd mechanic was at her side quickly—adjusting the image and stripping the extraneous before putting it over the physical engine.
   
      They matched with fingerprint accuracy.
     
     At the rate Arc's cyber eyes scanned over the construct,  the troll wondered if they were danger of rolling out of their sockets.  She saw a nod.
     “Gimmie the other one too.”
   
     Tuskaloosa uploaded the giant jigsaw puzzle she'd found in the Mangler's pit.  She watched quietly.
   
     The human meanwhile dropped into her own little tank of pistons and nitrous injectors, periodically reaching out to touch this gear or that clutch while muttering quietly to herself.   " ...That will make it easy.  Hell yeah,”  her voice rose with anticipation, and she looked up.  “I'm building this thing--”
   Then she frowned and became serious again.
   
     It dawned on Tuskaloosa that she too had been frowning. I must look like a panicked parent: Tell me Doc...will she pull through?
   
     Arc was now the  professional:  “It will take some time...and there is a good chance I'll be out if town in a few weeks too...a friend of mine is in trouble and may need my help. ”

     Tuskaloosa relaxed a little—it was no longer a matter of if, but of when.
   
     “Now, call me crazy,”  the mechanic continued,  “but I don't wanna sell this to anyone but the hoop it's designed to seat, ya feel me? I also can't give it away though..."

     The racer thought she'd prepared herself for this better.  It made perfect business sense.  Surely there were a dozen or two trolls—orcs too—with the immediate cred to purchase.   Unless Arc was planning to putter away at it for years, there was no way she could repay a rebuild in a timely manner.  The shop back home would be the same way...
   
     “You willing to work with me on this, omae?"

     Tuskaloosa tasted air as her jaw dropped.  “Huh?!”

[ismilealot]

@ Subaru. The most immediate thing to grab Sundays attention from the data is the recipe for the stuff they were cocking. It was exactingly detailed. And with ingredients listed on the trix as rare, though none endangered. It wasa no lessthan thirty two step process and used some very sophisticated equipment. The second thing was that they'dbeen very lucky with their timing. Time and date stamps indicated that the gang had just received a payment. The SIN's were clean. No records of any felonies and listed education's and professions that were squeaky clean. To clean, Coachella didn'tmatch info to actual jobs. And the faces were for people she recognized as gang members. And then, paydirt. Bribery records for week they'd paid for those rare botanicals as well as recorded conversations. A little crocheting was all it took to find out that one of them headed the botanical garden. Another was ministerofagriculturefor the Tir.
 

[ismilealot]

For Blake. Blake's surprise at Marcos message is obvious but he recovers quickly. He has nowhere near Marcos skill level at carrying on a mundane conversation. But, he uses the pizza to cover much ofthat. "Simply put. I need you to impersonate one of the forms partners while he's away and get into their confidential records. As a partner you'll be able to bring in any tech you want. And that'll let a Decker in to hack their system."