Building Towards Revenge
Li Suyin tossed her last can of Diesel energy drink into the corner, joining the twenty previous victims of her mania. Liquid energy flowed through her, focusing her addled mind and tensing limbs laden with fatigue. Her heart was stuttering just on the edge of cardiac arrest, the blood pounding erratically in her ears, but the task was almost finished. All six of her screens had scores of windows where were code was generating, compiling, and debugging. Information was flashing by faster than could be processed, at least by human eyes and minds. A few of her dumber virtual assistants were ensuring the process the code was undergoing went smoothly, freeing her to do the important work. Her work as warden, jailer, and captor for a crumb of the most hostile, potent, and dangerous piece of code she had ever seen.
Encased in ever-evolving, and, unfortunately, dissolving, firewalls, this piece of code was her only lead on the… boogeyman of the Net. It was at once a virulent virus, capable of subverting and destroying any code in front of it and was the most impressive piece of self-modifying and growing artificial intelligence she had seen. Normally, self-modifying code, even with some basic AI, were a dime a dozen. Heck, the firewalls containing this thing were her own special brand of the stuff. But whatever this was made even the best she could create look like children bicycling in a drag race. However, get enough bicycles on the track and clog up the drag-racers engines and even a kid could win the race, albeit with an unhealthy amount of carnage behind it.
Shaking her head to get rid of that morbid imagery, Li Suyin slotted the last piece of programming in place and began to run it. The jail worked beautifully in containing whatever this was. How it did that, she couldn't rightly remember. Nor did she care. Step one was done. The next step would come later. Much later. After detoxing from dangerous amounts of Diesel and crashing on a bed for the next eternity. The last thing she remembered was checking the airgaps before slumber, and the dreams that came with, ensnared her.
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A bird chirping on her nightstand was enough for Li Suyin to know that the world disapproved of her reliance on chemical cocktails to stay awake and was showing its disapproval with a pounding headache, nausea, and cramps. Crawling out of bed to turn off her godforsaken alarm was a torture that should be banned by every convention regarding human decency and rights. But it was either that or getting a progressively worse headache as her alarm rose in pitch and volume.
The choice was conveniently made for her when the alarm abruptly shut off. Snuggling deeper into the quilt and mattress, she attempted to will herself to sleep so that she could forget about all the pain. That didn't last long. Her covers were rudely removed from her and the blinds cruelly opened letting in the most hated ally of the world, the sun.
"Rise and shine, it's time to eat your breakfast so we can get on the road," her mother spoke in a calm and measured voice that drove nails into her mind.
"W...what? Why would I ever get on the road today?"
"Li Suyin, it's already Monday. Orientation day for second years like yourself at Argent Programming. We need to leave in an hour or you'll be late. Now come on, get up, and get ready."
Crawling out of bed and grumbling vulgarities and obscenities that only made her mother shake a head in disapproval, Li Suyin stumbled into the restroom. Staring at her reflection, she saw the eyepatch which hid her empty socket from the rest of the world. With carefully practiced steps, she removed the patch, grabbed a pocket light, and began inspecting the socket. No sign of infection or inflammation. Good enough. With more practiced motions she cleaned and covered the hole, all the while turning her thoughts to the vicious code trapped in her custom jail program and secured on air-gapped equipment. She smiled, a smile filled with malice and promises of retribution. Stage one of her revenge was complete.
But stage two would have to wait. Next was the rest of her hygiene, picking the outfit for the day, breakfast, packing Stage One in her Dad's car, and then traveling to college, for another year of work, learning, networking, and building Stage Two.
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Diving into the virtual world of the Net was always an experience. Data represented by colors and shapes flashed into reality around her. Skyscrapers of data spread through every level of this fragmented world, threads of connections and privacy gates crisscrossed every which way, creating a tapestry of flimsy security for individuals seeking what pleasure they could in a fake world. Or what money they could.
The eight legs of her avatar nimbly avoided various data packs containing ads or viruses or both as she navigated quickly to the darker corners of the Net. Places where there wasn't as much observation, and where the less scrupulous lurked and plied their trade. Li Suyin tugged on various strands in her web of news and communication, seeking for more information as she traveled to the predetermined server. Apparently there were whispers of a Haas-Bioroid server on Mars melting down, with no explanation. All the data that was there had been seemingly deleted to the point it no longer existed. Or consumed.
With that dark thought swirling in her mind, she had her avatar enter a very specific pack of data and then entered a simple code, twice, before getting access to Ling Qi's chat.
'Hey, you up and around Ling Qi?'
'Oh, hey Li Suyin! It's been a while since we've been able to talk. Are you back on campus now?'
'I am, but as much as I would like to chat, I don't know how long I can piggyback off of the college's security before alerting someone right now, so I'm going to make this short. I want to commission a heist.'
'No time for tea and pleasantries Li Suyin? For shame.'
'Do you want to hear about the job or not?'
'Fine, fine, business before fun I suppose. What do you want?'
'I want every scrap of data from the Jinteki NESEI projects.'
There were a few uncomfortable seconds with no response. And then it edged into a minute. Li Suyin checked the stability of her connection and the security to make sure that there wasn't a drop on her end before returning her attention to the chat.
'Ling Qi? You still there?'
'Yeah… I just had to run a debug program real quick because the text that popped on my screen made no sense at all.'
'Look, I'll give you the tools to do the job and we both know that copies of the information there will make a pretty penny to the right buyer. I just need to know if you are willing.'
'Some of your fancy AI tools Li Suyin? You shouldn't! Alright, I'm willing, but this is going to take months to plan, maybe even years. Are you willing to wait that long?
'I am, especially if I'm constructing the tools you'll be using.'
'Then it looks like we have the beginnings of an arrangement! I'll take a peek around the Jinteki servers and see what they'll be protected with as well as connect to some acquaintances who run against a lot of Jinteki servers and see what they know. I'll keep in touch though! Bye for now!'
Her avatar was quickly shunted out of the server as the entire place seemed to crumble to pieces. Li Suyin just snorted at her friend's antics and jacked out of the Net. Back in the real world, she struggled to get out of her equipment. Now was the time to get ready for class. But before heading out, she went and peered at the innocuous form of Stage One, the hardware and software that imprisoned her only lead.
"I don't know what you are," Li Suyin whispered, "and I don't know who created you or your purpose. But you are a threat to the Net. And I will destroy you. I will grind your code to dust and scourge your software with hellfire. All because you thought it was a good idea to take my fucking eye. I'm coming for you, I will rend you asunder, and I will not be stopped."
A/N: Another omake for the omake throne
@yrsillar! This one is another crossover between this quest and the world of Android:Netrunner. I hope people enjoy the read!