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Part 0.3: "Prologue: A Class Act"

Article: 1717 of alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo
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From: rzex60@email.mot.com (Jason Magnus)
Subject: Silk and Steel 0.3
Message-ID: <rzex60-290893225524@192.1.249.19>
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Organization: The Polyhedron Group
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1993 04:00:51 GMT
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Silk and Steel, Part 0.3: "Prologue: A Class Act"
Copyright August 1993 by Jay B. Brandt, all rights reserved
First Posting
 
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Kimberly returned to the Sony-VidTech arcology and resumed her duties. She
received several more visits from corporate security, as they continued to
look for clues regarding the whereabouts of Moritani Misako. After a while
they seemed satisfied that she could provide no information for them and
they stopped coming to see her. In spite of their visits, she soon began to
wonder if any of the bizarre things that had occurred at the martial arts
competition were for real.
 
A month later, Kimberly noticed a familiar name in an article in the
business section on the newsfeed. The top brass at Noritaki Cyberworks were
announcing the appointment of Moritani Misako as their new VP in charge of
interface research. The article didn't mention her former work at
Sony-VidTech, but did speak of her pioneering work in cyberware interfaces.
They also announced the fact that she had already been issued a new patent,
even though she had only been on the job for one week. She looked happy and
in good health at the press conference. It appeared that Argus had been
good to his word, but Kimberly wondered when or if she would hear from
Argus again.
 
Time passed, and Kimberly got caught up again in her work. Her team was
designing a set of AI's for agent software that would be used in editing
simstim recordings. Her assignment was perfecting a recognition module for
providing cosmetic enhancements to the participant's images. Like most of
her team, she was working 60 and 70 hour weeks at a minimum. Still, she
found it preferable to spending time at home, where her parents were
continually pressuring her to fit even better into the mold of corporate
expectations.
 
By late August, Kimberly had given up hope of Argus returning to rescue
her. She had completed work on training the editing AI, and had been
assigned to a local field production test team as a junior editor. Most of
the time they did their work within the Arcology domes, but on occasion
they did get to do a location shoot at nearby outdoor locations. Time
passed, and her skills steadily improved.
 
On September 23rd Kimberly took a full day off work, the first break she'd
had since the martial arts competition. It was her 21st birthday, and that
morning she spent the first half of the day in her lawyer's offices,
filling out the seemingly endless paperwork and procedural nuances required
for her to take sole responsibility for her trust fund. It seemed like at
least half of the process was convincing her lawyers that she really did
-not- want to continue to leave the management of her funds to their
experienced brokers. There were over thirty procedures to go through, from
a retinal scan to assure her identity, to release forms for what seemed
like each and every one of their employees certifying that they were no
longer financially responsible for the account. For each procedure they had
a different electronic form. Each one required Kimberly to enter her full
employee ID number and provide assorted verifying information. To add to
the delays, they actually made her go through the anachronistic ritual of
signing celutext hardcopy versions of each of the forms with a -pen-. Her
hands were beginning to cramp with the unfamiliar exercise.
 
At last the head of the law firm, Sawada Ippei, bowed to her and offered a
new, gold-capped credstick. "Shishi-Sama, you are now a very well-to-do
young lady. I urge you to be most careful in the management of your funds.
If you should ever require financial advice, we will be only too happy to
serve you again."
 
Kimberly slotted the credstick in her Cyberdeck, and was quite pleased with
the almost 750,000 nuYen figure displayed. "Your firm has indeed done well
in managing my fund Sawada-Sama. The balance is 50,000 nuYen higher than I
had anticipated. However, I wish to see how well I can do managing my
investments on my own for a while. I shall be careful, I assure you." After
a few more formalities she took her leave of them and set off into the maze
of the Arcology.
 
The Sony-VidTech Arcology was one of the largest in Chiba, and was built on
an incredible scale. Each of the three huge domes was two kilometers in
diameter and a kilometer high, connected in a triangle by straight
structures a kilometer long, half a kilometer wide at the base, and half a
kilometer high. The straight sections housed most of the heavy industrial
or hazardous operations. Within the triangular core of the complex, a VTOL
airport and a ground transport center provided a hub of import, export and
travel activity. 
 
In a sense, an Arcology was the ultimate evolution of the company town. The
huge structures provided everything their citizens required. Housing,
industry, agriculture, recreation, merchants, all were enclosed within
these human ant-hills. Everything was owned by a single corporation, which
was also the sole legal employer, aside from subcontracted merchants and
service organizations which the corp hired as well. Self-sufficient
city-states, each operated virtually autonomously from any civil
governmental authority. The Arcologies traded with each other and with the
rest of the world. But virtually all income earned by their employees was
spent again in company-owned businesses.
 
It was estimated that 375,000 men, women and children lived within the SVT
Arcology. Many of its citizens would be born, educated, develop careers and
families, and die in the Arcology, without ever once having stepped outside
its boundaries. They had little reason to leave. The climate in the many
levels under the domes was always comfortable. Unless the recirculation
system failed, the air was always pure and clear. That certainly couldn't
be said for most traditional urban areas. Personal security was relatively
well assured. A citizen of the Arcology never truly wanted for anything,
except personal freedom. Each week their debit account was credited by the
corp with an amount that allowed them to purchase food, clothing and
personal items, in keeping with their rank and position. Whatever went
unspent at the end of each week was transferred to their savings account,
for luxury purchases or to pay off their contracts a bit earlier. These
funds could be accessed from any financial terminal with their credsticks
and access code.
 
As a degreed apprentice in a skilled technical field, Kimberly could
normally afford to eat in any of the cafeterias, and could eat at one of
the fancier nightclubs on her level maybe once a week. But now she could
afford many luxuries that had been beyond her means scant days before. She
decided to treat herself to lunch at the Skydome restaurant in dome two,
where she had heard the senior managers from her section usually took VIP
clients. She had never eaten there before, as it's A-1 rating assured that
it was far more expensive than the credit limit on her old corp debit card
would allow. Well, that had changed now, and she felt like celebrating. 
 
She rode the pedway to the central core. There she boarded an express
elevator, which took her from the 5th level service mall to the rooftop
park on the 43rd level. She could just make out the play area that she and
Valarie used to favor, out near the dome wall, almost half a kilometer
away. Here in the center of the park, a sturdy shaft 40 meters in diameter
reached upwards to the very top of the dome, 150 meters above her head. At
the top was a two-level observation deck, with one layer overlooking the
park, and a second layer actually above the skin of the dome, looking out
over the arcology. Capping it all off was the magnificent Skydome
restaurant itself. She'd heard it slowly rotated, so that during the course
of a meal the patrons could see an ever-changing panorama spread out before
them.
 
She had to pay 50 nuYen just to take the elevator up to the observation
level. That alone was more than she was used to spending on a meal. She
bought her ticket and boarded the elevator. On the first observation level,
she looked around a bit before going up. People were crowded near the rim,
enjoying the view. In addition to the elevator core, the hub of the
observation deck housed a variety of vendors selling film, souvenirs,
snacks and personal services, all of which were over-priced. 
 
A group of schoolchildren giddy with excitement were being herded back into
the elevator banks, returning to class after a field trip. Where they had
apparently been standing, there was a space at the windows. Kimberly went
over there and looked out. The park stretched out below her, the children
and adults playing below looking like ants. An elderly man in a wheelchair
took a place next to her. "Why the sad face child?" he asked in Japanese. 
 
"They live in an ant-hill, and don't even know it." she said sadly. She
shook her head and walked around the ring. On the far side, a private
elevator was marked with the logo of the Skydome restaurant. A sign next to
it indicated the rating, and a menu with no prices on it was posted nearby.
She boarded the elevator and rode the rest of the way up. When the elevator
opened, she patted the new credstick tucked securely in a hidden pocket in
her sash, walked in, and took a seat in the waiting area.
 
The elegantly dressed young man at the entrance refused to even recognize
that she was there. Kimberly waited patiently. He ignored her. Kimberly's
patience evaporated when several well-dressed managers entered and were
immediately seated by him. Finally she confronted the young man. "Hey! I
was here first! Just -what- does it take to get seated for lunch!"
 
The host looked at her as if a cockroach had just walked across his podium.
He spoke with a sneer in his voice. "There is no need to raise your voice
young lady. You are not -going- to eat here. This is -not- a worker's
cafeteria, and this establishment is clearly well beyond your means. I
highly recommend the Mall food court on level eight. You should find it
more to your liking."
 
"WHAT!" shouted Kimberly. She could barely believe her ears. "Why you
simpering little bastard! I can too afford a meal here. What in hell gives
you the right to talk to me like that!" Inside the restaurant, several
patrons were looking at the scene of the commotion. Kimberly shoved her
credstick at the annoying man. "Dammit, slot -this- and tell me I can't
afford a meal here!"
 
The young man waived off the offered credstick negligently, and pressed a
red button on his podium. "A crude forgery, no doubt. I really can't be
bothered. I'm afraid you are disturbing the paying customers, and will have
to leave. Even if you -can- afford to eat here, which I severely doubt, you
are improperly dressed. We do not cater to the lower classes here, and no
one who dresses like one of them will be seated here, no matter how much
money you have." 
 
Kimberly stood there with her mouth open, completely at a loss for words.
She looked at herself in a mirrored wall panel. Her hair was clean and tied
back in a pony tail. Her jumpsuit was this year's issue, standard uniform
for her division, and was clean and neatly pressed. Even her supervisor's
boss usually wore no better to work each day. Then she looked past the
snobbish young man at the patrons seated within. All of them -were- dressed
far better than she was. The men mostly wore finely tailored suits or
traditional silk kimonos, and the women either equally well tailored suits
or elegant designer outfits. She suddenly felt like a commoner looking into
the imperial court.
 
A large-muscled man with one cybernetic eye stepped up next to the host,
blocking her view. "Michael, remove her." said the host to the bouncer.
Michael grinned and took a step towards Kimberly. She took one look at him
and ran into the elevator on her own. No one followed her.
 
When Kimberly got back to the observation deck, she stared out the window
again, trying to determine what to do next. An elderly male voice spoke to
her quietly in Japanese. "They weren't very polite, were they?"
 
"Huh?" she said, looking around. The old man in the wheelchair was next to
her. "Your pardon, honorable grandfather. Did you speak to me?"
 
"Yes, Kimiko-chan, I did." he said. "I said, they weren't very polite, were
they?"
 
"But, how did you know what happened? Hey! How did you even know my name?
Who are you? Should I know you?"
 
The man in the chair chuckled, but said nothing. He looked once again out
the window.
 
Kimberly's head-phone indicated an incoming call with a pulsating warmth
behind her left ear. She sighed and answered it. She touched the spot in
her mind that activated the communications link. With the link active and
her concentrating on an intent to transmit, her brain's signals to her
vocal cords would be intercepted, transmitting a synthesized version of her
own voice programmed into the head-phone's voice chip, rather than
resulting in audible speech. <<Moshi moshi. Kimiko.>> she transmitted.
 
A slightly familiar male voice, strong and youthful, replied quietly in
English. She heard the voice via the head-phone's transducer in her left
inner ear, audible only to herself. <<I know a great deal about you,
Kimberly Lyons. I have many eyes, and I've been observing your actions
closely. You know me as Argus. This is not the best place to talk. Come,
accompany a frail old man for a stroll in the park below. We can talk
freely there.>> <click> The call ended, terminated at the other end.
 
Before Kimberly could react, the old man looked at her, winked a decidedly
non-Asian eye, and then wheeled away and entered an elevator. She stood
there a minute, then followed on the next available elevator. She found him
several minutes later in the park, apparently napping next to an artificial
stream. She walked over to him and spoke quietly in Japanese. "Grandfather?
That was you? I didn't recognize you. It's been so long. Would you like to
come with me through the park?"
 
Her head-phone pulsed again. <<Moshi moshi. Kimiko.>>
 
<<Very good, you're catching on. We can talk openly when we get over by the
Kirin fountain. Offer to take me there.>> <click>
 
"Um, Grandfather? Please don't be angry with me because I didn't recognize
you. I know a lovely fountain near here, with a very pretty statue of a
Kirin. Would you come with me?"
 
"Yes Kimiko-chan, I will follow. Show me your pretty fountain." replied
Argus.
 
They arrived at the fountain a few minutes later. It was a quiet place,
with a bubbling fountain and several benches surrounded by an arbor.
Kimberly sat on a bench and looked at the old man carefully. She could see
now that he was wearing makeup to change his apparent age, but would not
have noticed if she wasn't looking for it.
 
He smiled and spoke in a normal voice, in English. "Very good. I couldn't
risk talking to you for very long by phone or in a public area like that
observation lounge. Too much chance of someone listening in. But I've
planted a few anti-eavesdropping devices here, which should help. Several
of my remotes are hidden in the brush here, and will warn me if anyone
comes too close. Now then, as to your questions. First, Yes, I've been
following you, either in person or with remotes. I knew that today was your
birthday, and that you would be likely to get access to your trust fund
today. That makes this a good day for you to start making some changes in
your lifestyle, without raising too many suspicions. When you headed for
the park, I disguised myself and waited to see what you would do. When you
took the elevator to the observation deck, I followed."
 
"And what about the restaurant? How'd you know what happened in there. Was
that your influence too?" asked Kimberly.
 
Argus laughed. "Welcome to the class struggle Kimberly. It was this society
that kept you out of there, not me. As to how I knew, I could have guessed
the results from where I saw you go, and the look on your face when you
came back so quickly. But when you stood near me at the window, I planted a
small transmitter in the fold on the back of your sash, so I could listen
in." Argus held out his hand. "It would be wise to give it back to me, as
it's sure to set off alarms if you tried to take it into your office."
 
Kimberly felt around in the small of her back, and located a small black
disc, no larger than her fingernail. "This? I didn't even feel it." She
handed it back to him.
 
Argus looked at her seriously. "Would you like to have the last laugh on
them? You can get in there and be waited on hand and foot. No extra charge
from me. Just consider it part of your preparation for entering the real
world. That cretin upstairs sized you up and dismissed you the instant you
walked into his domain. You had already lost before you spoke a word.
Understand this - people believe what they see, and what their biases and
prejudices make them expect to see. If you are going to survive outside the
arcology, you need to learn how to blend in at -any- level of society, from
the slums to the corp boardrooms. To get past class barriers, you gotta
have a class act. Look and act the part, and people will believe what you
want them to believe. You did OK in your theatrical classes in college. Now
it's time to make the world your stage. So let's start your act from the
top." 
 
He handed her three business cards. "The first one of these cards is a
woman in the mall on deck 20 who specializes in 'beauty makeovers'. Go
there and ask her for a 'boardroom special'. Tell her you have a hot date
with a fast-rising exec. She'll do your makeup and hair in the latest
fashion for a top exec. Pay close attention to the tricks she uses. They
may be useful later on. Pay her whatever she asks. The second card is a
fashion designer on level 29. Buy yourself a designer outfit. Price no
object. Tell him it's for a dinner at the Skydome, and he'll know what to
show you."
 
Kimberly looked at the cards and shook her head. "That makes sense. But
what about this third card? A tech shop? I'm not interested in any new
cyberware. No way."
 
"No, but you are interested in putting an end to a series of obscene calls
you received today on your head-phone. You already got two of them, from
me, and there will be a dozen more before five PM. The rest will really be
obscene. Sorry about that, but it's necessary. The chummer who will be
placing the calls is harmless. He gets his kicks by roving around making
calls with a jazzed up pocket phone spliced to a frequency scanner, and he
just got your number. Report the fourth call to corp security, and complain
again after the seventh. The corp will record the next few that come in.
That specialist on the card can reprogram your head-phone for a new number,
and ostensibly that's what you will ask him to do. You will then report the
new number he gives you to your office. However, he's also been paid to
render one other service. He will activate a second, scrambled line to you,
which I will have the number for. My return number will be hardcoded as a
speed-dial for you as well. It's a completely non-invasive procedure,
programmed through your Cyberlink. Call me when it's done, and I'll
instruct you in what to do next. Go on Cinderella, get on you way, or
you'll be late for the ball!"
 
Kimberly got up and walked out of the arbor, saying "And what about you?
Will I see you again soon?" When he didn't reply, she turned to look for
him. He was gone. She walked back towards the bank of elevators to begin
her makeover. She didn't even look twice at the pony-tailed young ice-cream
vendor on his tri-wheeled cart who rode past her a few minutes later. Argus
just smiled to himself and rode on to the service elevators.
 
Kimberly got the first four obscene calls while the beautician was doing
the makeover, and vocally complained to her when each one happened. The
corp security office called back to state that they were unable to trace
the calls, because the caller always hung up just as their equipment began
to get a lock on him. They recommended she change her number, and she
agreed that it might be a wise course.
 
Three calls later, she really -was- getting sick of the calls. The pervert
Argus had turned loose on her apparently had a split personality, with a
different kink for each one and a different personality for each call. The
last one was into a snuff-porn fantasy. Kimberly all but ran to the tech
shop, and begged for an appointment when she got there. The session only
took half an hour, and the obscene calls ceased. The tech gave her a small
card with her official new number, and assured her that -all- the work was
done. While his gear was still jacked in, he demonstrated the response she
would get for each line. A regular call would pulse evenly and slowly, as
before, where the new line would be fast, close-spaced bursts of three
pulses. It was quite easy to tell the difference between incoming signals.
He didn't tell her the new number for the second line, and she didn't ask.,
but he did train her how to activate the new speed dial feature. She paid
him, thanked him with obviously genuine relief, and left.
 
That afternoon at the dress designer's shop, Kimberly looked at herself in
the mirror, and didn't recognize the woman she saw looking back at her.
"Wow." was all she could say. Her long brown hair was now permed into a
mass of tight ringlets, drawn up through a diffraction grating covered cone
on top of her head, and fanned out behind her in a wild cascade, Her hair
was interwoven with hair-fine strands of fiber-optics. A flick of a hidden
switch on the cone activated a shimmering pattern of subtle lights in her
hair, which changed color randomly. Her makeup was sultry and exotic, with
colors picked to emphasize her Western ancestry, while making her look
dusky and mysterious. Her golden gown was skintight from her hips to her
wrists, decorated with silver embroidery mimicking the shapes and forms of
cyberware implants or robotic replacements, and highlighted with thousands
of shimmering, color-changing points of light from fiber-optic threads
woven into the fabric. The dress was belted at the hips, and had a
transparent gossamer silk floor-length skirt, that showed off every inch of
her legs. High heels, dusky stockings with fine traceries of light woven
in, and a gold French-cut bikini brief that was not -quite- opaque
heightened the effect. She was very glad that she was not a modest person
when it came to wearing revealing clothing.
 
"My dear, you are absolutely ravishing!" gushed the male designer. "I mean,
you are just -too- cute for words. Why I would even make a date with you
myself, and I simply don't -do- women you know. You are just absolutely
delicious. That young man of yours is one lucky fellow. Why, I've simply
outdone myself! Really, I have. You -must- come back and tell me how it
went dearie. And if they ask about the gown, you just send them right here.
Why, if they mention your dress, I'll give you, oh, let's say five percent
off on your next gown for every referral I get on it this month. Oh you
simply -must- come back. You are just too much fun to dress up."
 
Kimberly smiled and handed him her credstick. She almost lost her smile
completely when he slotted a charge for 10,000 nuYen as the bill for the
dress. She kept telling herself "It's all right. I can afford it now.
Really I can." The designer assisted her in placing the dress in a carrying
box, after she changed back to street clothes.
 
In the mall outside the dress designer's shop, Kimberly sat on a bench and
touched the speed-dial for Argus in her mind. A Japanese woman's voice
answered. <<Moshi moshi. Hardess Exports. How may I direct your call?>>
 
Kimberly wondered if something had gone wrong. <<Er, so sorry. I was trying
to reach Argus-San. I must have the wrong number.>>
 
<<We have a Mr. Argus as one of our export agents. I'll connect you. One
moment please.>>
 
<<Argus>> spoke a mans voice in English. <<What can I do for you>>
 
Kimberly was confused. She spoke rapidly, hardly stopping to breathe. <<Oh!
I think I have the wrong person. I'm terribly sorry. My name is Kimiko. And
a man I met said to call him, and this was the number he gave me, but he
didn't say it was a business. I mean, I thought it was a private line. Oh,
I'm sorry for wasting your time Argus-Sama.>>
 
The man on the other end chuckled. <<You have the right number Miss Lyons.
Just a simple security screen, in case the tech who did the work on your
phone was less than discreet. This will be a direct line once we are
certain it is secure. You have been to the places I sent you to, I take
it?>>
 
Kimberly took a deep breath and replied somewhat shakily. <<Well, yes. But
do you know how much that dress cost? That was three month's salary for me!
And that lady who did the makeover? She charged 500 nuYen for that!>>
 
<<I'm sure the results were satisfactory. All three had impeccable
references, and should have done excellent work. Is there a problem?>>
 
<<No, The dress is gorgeous, and I look like a fashion model. It's just
costing me a lot more than I thought, that's all. What do I do next?>>
 
<<You go have dinner, of course. Make a reservation for 2100 hours, for
two, in your name. Then go to your bank and obtain ten blank unpersonalized
credsticks, and one certified for 2000 nuYen. Slot the uncertified ones in
your 'deck and transfer 50 nuYen to each of them. You'll need them for
tips, and the larger one is to pay for your meal. Leave your gold credstick
in a safe-deposit box. Most people with money are -not- in the habit of
carrying it all with them at once. Call a limo service to take you to the
restaurant. They will take you to the -main- entrance for the restaurant,
on level 40. There's an express elevator from there directly to the
restaurant. When you get there, give one 50-nuYen credstick to the limo
driver, and tell him to keep the change. Give another to the host when he
asks for the name on the reservation, and ask for a window seat. Wait 30
minutes for your non-existent date to arrive, then order the most expensive
meal you like, and a full bottle of wine or sake. If any of the men, or
women for that matter, should approach you socially, be friendly and get
their numbers, but don't give your own name or number. Hmmmm. Tell them
your name is Catherine, if they insist on a name.>>
 
<<But what about you? Will you be there?>>
 
<<I'll be watching, but you probably won't see me. Enjoy your meal. We'll
talk later.>>
 
--------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------
Text, all characters (especially Argus and Shadowcat), and
the Virtually There chain of simstim/VR clubs,
all Copyright August 1993 by Jay B. Brandt, all rights reserved. 
Please use them only with my permission. 
 
Comments, criticisms, and suggestions are requested.
Please send them to me via e-mail at
<rzex60@email.mot.com>
--------------------------------------------------------------
 
Jason Magnus