Ghost in the City Chapter 226

Back ho I flopped on the couch to get so programming done. First step was to go over the obvious.

Programming 15 had co with a perk choice.

Considering the power of so of the programming perks I’d already taken I was going to need to go through the list.

What was my Programming toolbox really missing? It certainly wasn’t versatility. Between Debug, and Inspired Programr, I was able to do pretty much anything I could think up, but I still hoped for sothing more.

Programming was so powerful, forging weapons for the net. What sort of weapon did I want?

I could find a perk to improve Daemons. I could find a perk to improve Quick Hacks.

What was I looking for? I blinked. It didn’t sound good at first, but then the more I thought about it…

Stress Testing: The more you use your code, the more its weakness stands out to you.

It was an interesting Perk. How useful would it actually be? I’m not really sure, but hell, even if it only gives a few ideas for how to improve code that I’ve already maxed out as far as I know, then it’s kinda neat.

Plus there wasn’t a lot else that was standing out to .

I selected it, and the rush of knowledge made wince, a hiss escaped my mouth as I curled up a little.

I’d just done two programming levels back to back. I should know better than to overwhelm myself.

Idiot.

Leaning back I covered my eyes and let myself just decompress for a minute. Should I sleep? Ugh.

No, Five minutes, then ten, twenty. I finally felt a good bit better, as the Perk knowledge dump stopped frying my brain.

Huh.

That’s what it ant. All of my programs had run into issues over ti. Bandwidth, or upload problems.

I pulled up Ping first. The program was unloaded, and I started digging through my code, even with my previous programming skills, and my Debug perk. A bunch more levels of Programming had opened up new options, and Stress Test showed even more.

There was a balance between function and efficiency.

What if I overloaded part of the program, making it do too much, when other parts were less balanced, suddenly I had tis where while uploading it slowed down, or caused system traffic that it was never designed to do.

If the upload rate was faster than the installation speed, then… That was just wasted power.

And I knew all of that, because Stress test. It flashed in my head, every ti I used ping. And while it wasn’t perfect knowledge, or mory. I had logs to back that up.

I could pull those apart, see every ti there was a halt, and figure out why.

Stress Test…

It was a good choice. Maybe not the absolute most optimal one, but it was good.

I was okay with good.

Ping had so issues with its spread speed, it would sotis Ping the next node in the system before the connection was complete.

So instead of pinging once, connecting and uploading the Daemon, which would upload to . It would bounce to soone multiple tis, sotis even dozens of tis if there were multiple people in the network that it could bounce too.

Causing disruption.

No one had noticed yet, but… It was honestly a minor issue. The disruption would be so small, there were only a few people that could notice it in the act, maybe afterwards if they were checking logs they’d be able to track the Daemons spread…

But I bet I could make it even more stealthy.

A few lines of code rewritten, a bit stronger limiter.

Ping would take maybe a half second more per jump, a million years for a computer, but for ? I doubt I’d even notice.

Yet it was even more stealthy now.

With that done, I installed the Program back into my Cyberdeck, and worked through the upload schedule partitioning RAM from my other cyberware to run the program when needed.

I’d set up a thod while in combat, but this was all about streamlining it.

To give an analogy, if my programs were throwing knives. Originally they’d just been a bunch of knives in my off hand, I’d thrown one at a ti.

Then I’d realized I should slide a few into my pocket, or through a belt.

But what I was doing now was morizing the position of every knife, and giving them their own holsters…

I pointedly didn’t think about the extra knives I carried around that were just stolen and only the first one that Jun had given actually had a sheath.

Whistle away the fact Motoko! You have programming to do!

Next was my Optic Reboot.

Ah I still loved this Program. It was just so evil. Looking through the code I wanted to wince, when had I programd this again? Five levels ago? I’d tinkered with it a bit as I leveled, but not really a full check up.

No, an update. Again Stress Test showed , or at least brought it to my mind, the points where Optics Reboot had floundered.

Adjusting upload rate I went through the code humming a bit quite pleased with how little I really had to change.

This ti I focused less on stealth, since if I was hitting soone with Optics Reboot they were going to know about it.

I felt a smile spread across my face as I gently tapped my foot to a silent beat.

Updates were aweso!

I went through all my hacks in the sa way. Cleaning up and adjusting. Until I was completely done. Then I had a choice.

I opened up a file I hadn’t ssed with much. A few tis I’d looked at it, but had never quite managed to get it to work.

It was an Ultimate Quick Hack. At least that’s what they’d been called in the ga. This one?

Cyberpsychosis.

Considering I’d already accidentally done sothing similar to a person. I think it was ti to break this one out, and get it functional. The hack was a kludged together, incredibly RAM and size heavy program.

First step was to once more go through it. This ti, its structure didn’t give any real trouble.

This part affected Bio-cyberware, adrenaline, and worse would be pumped into the target. This one affected IFF through optics. This one caused a pseudo white noise, that cut out most noises from reaching their ear, and instead would help them think they were under attack.

It was multiple programs all integrated into one, but it wasn’t clean or even all that functional. I dreaded the idea of trying to upload this hack, it would probably take more than twenty seconds just to upload, and even longer to install.

There was more of course. A control software that would try to force the user to shoot whenever the IFF lined up.

Accidently barrel sweep an ally? Well they’re going to end up getting shot at, which would only make it more likely they fire back.

So many different ideas to try and cause issues. There was even a Daemon that would try to make everyone look the sa to the user. Cutting out chances for the victim to recognize friend from foe.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

That part was neat, even if my Onryo was better.

But I could integrate that into my own version of Cyberpsychosis.

That made smile as I considered.

I could give everyone a little shoulder devil urging them on, if I went that way.

I shrugged the idea off for now, and basically started rewriting the code right from the start. It needed a cleaner cycle or else this hack was never going to be fast enough for my tastes.

—--

I was still tinkering with my programs when I got a text.

*Alice: Got so news. Reached out to a contact at a club. You in for a gig this weekend?*

I looked over the text, and part of instantly wanted to refuse, but I pushed that down. A gig… Was probably a good idea.

*Motoko: Contact Hiromi, but sounds fine.*

*Alice: Preem, already done. Practice sesh this week? I want to rock.*

*Motoko: Yeah sounds preem. I have sothing tomorrow, but otherwise, sounds good.*

I sighed and rolled up onto my feet.

Cyberpsychosis wasn’t going to be needed for my Netrunner contest with Sasha. What I needed was more skills.

I moved my head around a bit, and still felt a bit too full to want to grab another skill, so instead I got up.

I’d done a good once over on all my programs, and cleared and settled them into my system. I felt like wiggling in delight at how wonderful having so much more RAM for my netrunning felt.

It made feel like…

I got up and grabbed my guitar. As much as I’d been playing with Alice and the band, I hadn’t really felt like I had any ti for so rocking out myself.

Adjusting my guitar I considered what I should play. I’d had a few ideas for things. So songs I’d been wanting to make had fallen to the back burners because of the amount of ti it would take to make them.

So… Sothing simple? I didn’t need to make sothing new, just sothing…

I looked up and flicked on the radio, and a mont later smiled, as I played along with the sound of Black Dog.

There we go. I didn’t need to play sothing new every ti. I could just… Play. Enjoy the music.

I played until Jun got ho late, and I glanced at him as I continued to play along with the radio. Thankful for my chro hands that didn’t get tired.

Jun took his ti, throwing his jacket on the jacket table, slipping out of his shoes, and coming to walk over to . He took a mont to listen as I played along, and he smiled at , just enjoying it for a few monts, before reaching out and dropping a heavy hand on my head.

“Go to sleep Motoko. It’s late.”

I stopped playing and stuck my tongue out at him, but I did put my guitar away and turn off the radio with a glance.

“You sleep too Jun.”

“I will.”

—--

“Yaaaay!” I was nearly tackled by an over enthusiastic cat as Sasha leaped at , even as I fended her off a little.

“Personal space Sasha!”

“I will right after I give my cute Kohai-Chan a Hug!” She cheered and I continued to bat away her grabbing hands.

“Well isn’t this…Enthusiastic.” The voice had a light synthetic lilt, but still mature. I looked around Sasha who seed a little irritated that I was still fending off her grasping hands, with my Martial arts talents, to see the pair I’d sort of been looking forward to eting.

Kiwi, and Lucy.

The two of them were sitting on a couch in Maine’s little safehouse. There had been a mont of confusion as to why they were still using the safe house if it was ant to be a safehouse, but a little line from the Solo’s Manual had flashed into my head.

A safehouse wasn’t safe if you’d used it before. After the first ti it was either a burned hole in the ground, or a house. Pick one.

Maine probably had a new safehouse sowhere in the city, just in case sothing went hot and they needed to hide, but this was still a nice enough place to have etings, or live out of for a while.

Blackhand would have preferred a cardboard box in an alleyway. But that guy was insane, so I disregarded that ‘advice.’

I took the chance, taking a step back as Sasha took her own to fortify her assault for another hug, and just leapt.

Easily flipping over her head until I landed behind her almost gently and just walked over to the couches that were set up.

“I’m Motoko. Nice to et you… Kiwi right? And hey it’s Moongazer. Enjoy the beer?” I offered with a teasing smile as I looked over the two won.

Jesus Kiwi was fucking tall! I had either not rembered, or sothing but she sat on the couch and then half again off it.

Lucy on the other hand looked more awkward. A cigarette hung from both wons mouths, although Kiwi’s was just stuck through her jaw mask.

“Wait… You!?” Lucy called out pointing. “The crazy woman that jumped off the side of the building!”

“It wasn’t that high. Easy.” I offered, sliding my hand flatly to show how smooth it was. “Nice to et you for real.”

“Right… I’m Lucy.” She offered, and I nodded.

“Sha you didn’t co down. We were partying, you’d have been welco. Anyways. I hear the Cat is bothering you, and you’re trying to see who is better?” I asked, having been pointedly ignoring how Sasha was standing directly behind making faces at .

“Yep.” Kiwi offered with a cool humor. “You really the Mangy fleabags apprentice?”

“I think of it more as a-”

“Nooo!” Sasha whined in my ear beating on my back, so I rolled my eyes.

“Yeah. She’s super annoying-”

“Noooo!”

“But, she knows her shit. I go by Ghost in the Shell on the net. I don’t really do much though, so I doubt you’ve heard of .”

“Hmm. I have actually.” Kiwi spoke up as Lucy gave an apologetic smile, before shifting to Kiwi.

“Wait, really?”

“The kids got The Foxes' attention. Rumor is she’s a programr wunderkind. You need a circ clipped, or data ss cleaned up. The kid can do it clean.”

“I’ve done so gigs for Yoko, yeah. She’s… Well, I think I’m cursed since I have Sasha and Yoko both breathing down my neck.” I offered with a bit of a stilted smile.

There was a breathy note from Kiwi after a second, and Lucy was just looking a bit confused.

“You probably got that right kid.” Kiwi agreed, holding back her laughter.

“Nyyyaaaaaaa.” Sasha whined at , and I just flashed her a smile.

“But Sasha is Sasha, just her quirks. How about you two? I hear you’re trying to work with Maines crew? Sothing about the client wanting you as the netrunner?”

“Fixer. I do so work with him, and he thinks I’m reliable. Knows I can get the gig done.”

“So can Sasha.” I pointed out. “Bit weird for him to try and disrupt a crew like that.”

“He just wants what he wants. He’s like that.”

“Sounds like an asshole. Why does Maine want this guys work again? Why not go to Wakako, or Padre?”

“Faraday is a difficult fixer, but he offers bonuses for jobs completed to his satisfaction.” Sasha offered, and I could see Kiwi’s eyebrows clench up a bit in irritation.

“We’re supposed to keep deets under wraps.” She offered, and Sasha just laughed.

“Kitten-Chan would have found out eventually. Better to just tell her.”

“Whatever.” I comnted interrupting. “Anyways. So… We’re going to be competing for so data?”

Kiwi looked over at Sasha. “The kid know anything?”

“She’s special! Kitten-Chan is all wide eyed and bright about the world, but her claws are super sharp nyan!”

“Lovely. Can we be more clear now?” I interrupted again.

“Standard rules. We both jump in, goal is the data, so no rezzing each other. We don’t work together, unless sothing goes crazy. It’s just a ga, the data is the gig.”

“Ah I see. So while we’re personally competing, the goal is more important.” I asked, looking at Sasha who nodded smugly.

“Yep! And when we get the data first, this evil spider will have to call the greatest!”

“The greatest pain, maybe.” Kiwi added, and I had to nod along at that.

“Hey!”

“Are you even able to do this?” Lucy asked, interrupting. She was looking at . “No offense, but, if you don’t know about Runner Competitions, or anything, and I’ve never heard of you. This is tight ICE. High security. This isn’t just programming.”

I noticed Kiwi glance from Lucy to , and then to Sasha, and Sasha was halfway to starting to rant when I interrupted.

“My speciality is combat hacks more than actually diving, but I can keep up.”

“Mou! Leave Kitten-Chan alone! She’s skilled! My little Kohai-student.” Sasha argued huffily.

“Neither of those things.” I added instantly to Sasha’s pouting.

“If the Stray says she’s good, then I’ll trust her judgent. It’s just all of our lives at stake.” Kiwi, said flatly, and I couldn’t help but snort a bit at the sarcasm.

“Kitten can do it!”

“Is there any point in this?” I asked cutting Sasha off from embarrassing anymore. “Either I can, or I can’t, and nothing I say is going to change that.”

“True.” Kiwi agreed, and Lucy looked hesitant like she wanted to argue more but let it go.

“Then shall we all get started?” I asked, and the four of us all looked each other over.

“Yes. Let’s get ready to dive. We have everything set up here.”

“Here?” I asked suddenly when I realized what was going on.

“Yes! C’mon Kitten!” Sasha cried out happily and dragged out of the living room down into the basent.

The mont we set foot down stairs I realized the situation. But stopped for a mont to raise a hand.

“Hey Becca.”

“Strings.” She greeted back with a smirk. “Welco to the Ice Cave.” She cackled as she waved her hand over the four ‘bathtubs’ full of ice all with open ports for netrunning.

“Beeeecccccca!” Sasha cried out and charged forward, wrapping Becca in a massive hug. “Thank you!”

“Yeah yeah, You’re good Cat.” She grumped a bit but was smiling.

“Who's the kid?”

“I’m not a kid bitch.” Becca responded to Kiwi’s question with a hiss and an upraised finger.

“Sure, shorty.”

“I-”

“Rebecca is actually older than I am.” I cut in, and Lucy and Kiwi both had a mont to process that. “She’s Pilar’s sister, and a mber of Maine's crew… And mine.” I held out a fist and Becca didn’t hesitate to tap her own fist against mine.

“Okay great.”

“I’m your eyes while you’re in the net. Dorio would have been here, but she’s got stuff going on, and none of you wanted Pilar covering your bodies.”

“Yeah.” Sasha agreed with a nod, the most direct and not crazy thing I think I’d ever heard her say.

“Fine. C’mon Luce.” Kiwi offered,and before my eyes the older woman instantly pulled open her coat!

Oh my!

Spiderwebs everywhere!?

Lucy!?

Shit. The sexyness of this room was crazy!

I turned away, only to see Sasha already half undressed too!

W-why were all netrunners so hot!?

“No.” Rebecca suddenly said and I turned away from everyone to her, for a mont's peace, but her eyes were locked on . “I refuse to believe what I’m seeing.”

“W-what?”

“You?”

“What?”

“You. Strings. The girl that… You’re shy!?”

“W-What? No! I’m confident and badass! Not shy!” I denied while struggling not to look at all the flesh.

“You’re a fucking tomato! You fucking… Oh my god. I thought it was just Crush, but… Oh my god.”

“I-I’m not shy!”

“You fucking are!” Rebecca said pointing, and I noticed all the other won in the room were looking at , Lucy and Kiwi were just about to slip into the ice baths, which was just unfair!

Too much!

“I’m not shy!” I demanded glaring at Rebecca, and before she could say shit. I started undressing. Pulling free of my boots while I grumbled, I tossed my jacket onto a chair, and then pulled down my pants.

Stupid pants! They were getting tighter and tighter. I really needed to go clothes shopping so more.

With that I grabbed the zipper in my leotard and pulled it down, the hidden zipper letting breathe and it was actually a pretty nice relief. Stupid slightly tight leotard. I’d been really needing to get them all adjusted after my Body 10 achievent, but I’d been so busy!

Grumbled, I peeled the leotard off and then glared at Rebecca who wasn’t making fun of anymore thankfully!

I’m not shy! I’m a badass super kickass killer assassin woman!

Then I hesitated for a second at the icebath... Ugh! I hated the idea of these! I sighed and slipped inside, instantly feeling shivery as I grabbed the cords and accessed in.

“That’s just bullshi-” I heard Rebecca say cut off as I dropped into the net.