I plugged into my laptop with my personal link, and opened up the program for Ping.
I was going to start at the beginning.
Instantly I felt literal revulsion.
Whoever had put this program together should be shot
Okay I had been shot before so Ill give myself a pass here.
It was a ss. My own work wasnt good. But it wasnt just my work I was critiquing. Such a simple program bloated and twisted.
I could fix this.
But why bother?
Instead I started a new program, and started typing, my ntal interface helping adjust settings without needing to stop typing as my hands blurred over the keyboard.
There were a few lines in the old program I carried over. A few that had acceptable coding.
But I still fixed them. I altered them, smoothed them out.
Removed fluff.
Despite being a large enough program my Cyberdeck registered sothing as simple as Ping as actually taking up space on the Cyberdecks slots.
It didnt need to be.
It could be tiny, a small efficient program that did exactly what it should do.
Hell. The way the program worked at a base level could be completely altered. Right now it connected with the foreign system, and basically blasted the system with requests for everything it was connected to.
It was like walking into a server and ringing a bell. Sure you would get the information, but anyone watching would now know.
So I did sothing different.
A little trick I had picked up thanks to Ghost Touch, and with the tiny size Ping now was, and the fact system connectivity was by definition less secured data than nearly anything else.
I looked up as Jun pushed my screen down. Jun? He ignored my question for the mont. Plopping a burrito in front of with a look.
Eat.
Im in the middle of sothing. I grumbled instantly especially at the sight of the burrito.
Motoko, you've been on that laptop all day. Eat.
I blinked looking out the window.
I had thought the dim light ant the sun was still coming up, but no.
The sun was going down.
Oh.
Oh she says. Jun grumbled at , but I had decided to be a better Imouto. So I reached out despite my fingers desperate to go back to the keyboard and peeled the disgusting not burrito.
It was horrible, but it did fill up.
--
Hiromi is here! The voice calling out as our front door opened nearly sent on the floor, only the fact I was holding my laptop full of wonders ant I didnt end up tossing it to reach for a gun.
Hiromi! I snapped at her once again surprise entrance. I really needed to teach that girl to knock.
Motoko! She called back, instantly leaping over the side of the couch to land on .
My quick reaction to save the laptop the only thing saving it from fat Hiromi ass destroying it.
Hiromi! Watch it! You almost broke my laptop!
Nah you were gonna move it. Now whats this I hear from Jun about you going all nerdy hermit? She asked and I scoffed looking around the apartnt for my brother, but I did vageuly rember him leaving a while back after making eat again. What ti is it?
Jun is a narc. Im fine. Ive been programming!
Ooh! Let see? Hiromi demanded sitting sideways in my lap, as she kicked her boots up on the couch.
Hiromi, take your boots off. I like this couch. I told her firmly, and she blinked before looking a little sheepish and did as I asked, although she then flopped back on top of demanding attention.
Personal space?
Dont need it! She replied instantly to my comnt and I rolled my eyes at her, as I reached over her and grabbed my laptop.
Ive been fixing my Ping Quickhack. I told her as I opened the laptop showing the code. Literally just lines of code all organized together.
I knew what was going to happen the mont I did so of course.
I have no idea what this is. She tells after a minute of making understanding noises and looking over the code.
Gonk. I told her as I closed the laptop that wasnt any use to my choom. So Jun called you to co check on ? I asked adjusting myself a bit as Hiromi continued to lay on top of .
Basically! He told you were acting weird and to make sure you were okay. So Want to go party? Im still mad that last ti you went with Malcolm and Ichi without .
You had school!
I hate that you actually care about that. She told , as she sighed and slumped over even more. Motokoooo. She whined at as she flopped against .
Fine, we can go out for the night.
Great! I want to ride around all night! Ive been stuck in a classroom forever! Motokoooo! Lets goooo. She whined at , and I couldnt help but laugh at my lap full of squirmy demanding best choom.
Alright, let get dressed and we will go for a drive.
Great! Im dri-
No.
Ugh! I want to take my bike!
Im not letting you drive again. Thats dangerous.
Hiromi scoffed at , before smirking, Fine! You drive my bike. She reached out and poked my nose and I snorted.
Your bike is so
Hey! Dont badmouth my ride! If you dont like it get your own Kusanagi!
Maybe I will! I offered back and then Hiromi smirked at . Ah.
She tricked .
Cool, I want to be there when you buy it and I demand the first ride. She said looking proud of herself.
I just rolled my eyes. I dont have the eddies for a new bike right now Hiromi. But Ill put it on the list. I do want a Kusanagi, but just a normal one. I said finger pointed at her.
She just laughed at , and slipped off letting stand to get ready.
Finally dressed I followed Hiromi out of the apartnt as she skipped towards the elevator which I climbed in with. Like normal her bike was parked outside the apartnts on the sidewalk. Normally I would worry about it being stolen, but in this one instance her choice of bike had an advantage.
This was a TC neighborhood, and no one lifted a TC styled bike. I an Hiromi still had plenty of TC decals on her bike too, so it really was protected.
If only it wasnt so stupid looking! Massive swoop back seats? On a crotch rocket!?
My eyes glaring at the stupid back seat that just ruined the lines of a beautiful bike.
Pfft. You are so picky. Cmon hop on! she demanded as she jumped on and made room for to drive, patting the seat in front of her.
I did as demanded, this was Hiromi ti, she did deserve so ti away from school, so if she wanted to drive around the city for a while, that was no problem for .
She quickly grabbed hold of tightly, like she expected to just floor it out of the sidewalk. Which I of course didnt, waiting for a break in traffic I pulled the bike into the street and headed out onto the town. Hiromi's moans complaining of driving like a gonk in my ear.
--
We drove around the city for hours, just enjoying the view and feel of the road.
It wasnt sothing I would normally do, I liked having a goal whenever I went out driving, but in this case Hiromi just wanted so freedom, to escape the cage of school.
In this case I could understand, and so I didnt mind that every ti I started thinking about driving ho Hiromi would notice and ask to go sowhere else.
We ended up driving all over. Checking out the sites, we even drove past the old Shinto Shrine out by North Oak.
We didnt stop to go inside, just driving past it along the windy mountain road.
It was just a tourist trap anyways.
But the sights of the city from up on the mountains was nice.
Eventually Hiromi finally signaled to let drive ho and we did, but not before I stopped to surprise her with so food.
I had heard her belly rumbling as we drove, and so we found a nice little restaurant, and spent the next hour laughing with each other as she shared stories about what it was like going to Arasaka academy.
It was nice.
--
After Hiromi dropped off at ho, it was getting pretty late, but neither of us cared. It was the weekend tomorrow so she didnt have school, and my life literally had no set schedule. Unfortunately Hiromi couldnt stay over, she had a thing with her parents in the morning.
So free of any choom shaped obligations I hurried back into the apartnt.
Of course the mont I went inside, I flopped on the couch and grabbed my laptop.
Ti to finish this!
Ping, even the version I was writing was still a big program, taking hours to go through every line and ensure it would be as compact, and efficient as I could make it.
Even when I finished writing the last line of code, that wasnt the end, instead I went back through it, combing over the entire program, finding a few minor errors here and there that I hadnt caught while I was programming, but now that I was fully focused on it, debugs experience coming in clutch to catch the tiniest of errors.
Finally I stopped. Staring at the program as it compiled.
As my work over the last two days flowed into a single efficient effective program.
Ping. No Ping 2.0!
I unloaded the old version from my cyberware and installed the new one. Laughing that it took up so little space compared to the bloated inefficient program I had before that it not only didnt take up a slot of my Cyberwares programming, it would use practically no RAM to activate.
I looked at the TV and pinged it. Watching in fascination as the program instantly got a return, as lines appeared on my vision showing the few pieces of tech the TV was connected to. And then more. The light flowed to the transmitter the TV used to pick up stations, and actually flowed through that. My new design for Ping, completely uncaring about the ICE the system might use, as it flowed through and kept pinging off more and more equipnt. Every TV in the building was highlighted showing the connection, and when it reached the roof transmitter that connected outward it started gathering data from that, before I stopped the program.
Okay I might need to add a tiny bit more code to actually limit the spread, that might be too much data return.
Well that wouldnt take more than a minute just to tell it to stop pinging after a certain amount of system jumps.
Of course I would still want the option to go further, so a simple yes no, would solve that.
And done, recompile and reinstalled.
This is what Ping should have been.
--
An hour later despite it being so late at night. I traveled to my netrunner basent. I had to admit I was so proud of my Ping 2.0 that I wanted to show it off.
So I hurried over to Dewdrop Inn after logging into the net and raced around to find Yoko. The Inn was unsurprisingly super active despite it being so late.
Whats that? Hackers staying up all night and sleeping during the day? Or not sleeping at all?
Color shocked.
I stepped into the riot of color that was the Dewdrop Inn lobby, and looked around for my target, but I didnt see any big Kitsune hanging around. So I took a seat in a quiet corner and sent a ssage to Yoko.
I got an instant response, telling Yoko was in a eting and would reach out to once she was done.
I groaned. My desire to show off my program made impatient, but nothing else I could do. So instead I decided to people watch.
Hackers were an interesting bunch. So gathered in groups, so were on the dancefloor showing off their purchased or made dance routines.
I knew they were emotes though I dont think any of them were showing their actual dance ability.
But that was what the net was like. It didnt matter how you were at sothing physically, if you could hack, or program yourself with the skill you could be a master.
It was certainly interesting to watch.
In the end it was soone sliding into my booth that broke out of my people watching. I guess I should have marked the booth private or sothing, if I didnt want to be bothered.
If I knew how to do that. I had seen a few of the booths with the ssage floating over them.
Hey, I dont recognize you. Nas E>
Thankfully.
I looked over his face, the only part of his avatar I could see just like everyone in the server, and was doubly glad. He had to be in his twenties at the youngest.
Not my first ti, but I dont usually hang out here. Just waiting for a contact. I offered, and unfortunately he didnt take the hint that I wanted to be left alone.
Well its always nice to see a new face! Hows hacking been? Run into any trouble? I know a lot of people with a lot of connections. If you need so info, or backup. He offered with a smile and I shook my head.
Im good, thanks.
Ah listen, Im trying to help you out kid. Youre obviously new. Im part of a Netrunner collective, we help out newbies, give them gigs that can put their skills to use, you should-
Ex? Thanks but Im good. I denied cutting him off. I wasnt really looking for netrunner gigs. I would make my own gigs here on the net.
Ex sighed and stood up. Well good luck then kid. But dont think itll be as easy to join up in the future if you end up needing help.
I doubt that will be an issue. A third voice intruded, and I didnt sigh only because I was too annoyed with Ex, at the sight of Yoko standing at the end of the booth.
Yoko. How goes? I greeted her, sounding relieved at her appearance.
Fine, Motoko? You wanted to chat?
Ignoring the other hacker I nodded, now smiling from ear to ear.
I got sothing I think is pretty preem, I wanted to show it off a bit. I told her as I twirled a finger pulling a copy of Ping 2.0 into a visual dium showing it as a glowing shard over my finger I offered it to Yoko.
I could see the interest in Ex as he looked like he was trying to peek, but Yokos own ICE slamd up a mont before my own.
Yoko was quick! That was a pretty insane processing speed!
Made wonder what her cyberdeck actually was.
But a mont later Yoko had touched the shard file and accessed it. I couldnt follow along because I couldnt see the screens she was no doubt seeing visually infront of her face, but I could tell that she was impressed because she went from her normal sensual smirk to a flatter more focused look as she looked it over.
Where did you get this? No wait, dont answer that. She demanded suddenly and waved a hand. I got a transfer request and accepted leaving the booth and Yoko and I both appeared in her private lobby instantly this ti.
Last ti Yoko had always used a gate to let access it myself. It was a weird feeling to be moved like that.
Motoko, where did you get this?
I made it. I told her with a fox-like grin of my own.
Her neck jerking towards as she focused on told everything I needed to know about Ping 2.0.
It was good.
Way better than sothing a fourteen year old should be capable of.
I kept my smirk as Yoko seed to consider whether she would believe or not before seemingly deciding not to argue.
Ive been working on my programming for a while, but in the end Ping was just too ssy for . So I rewrote my own basically from scratch. Its more of a stealth hack than the original. I offered and Yoko nodded.
Ive had a chance to see the best of what Ping can beco, and while you dont hit everything that it is capable of, this is Different. Its not the sa program at all! Yoko offered, sounding delighted.
Like I said, I wasnt happy with the original so I wrote my own.
Id like to trade for it. The ability to trade copies as well. She said suddenly and I blinked.
What?
She gave a smirk this ti. I work as a trader Motoko. New programs, hacks, and information are all things I trade in. Sothing like this has real value.
I nodded at that. It was true, but did I want to go down that route? Right now Ping 2.0 was completely unknown, no one could develop a counter to its stealth nature because no one knew it existed.
But in the end I shrugged.
Alright, but it wont be free. I offered and instantly Yoko scoffed.
Of course not! Ill open up my stores for you. Lets see if I cant find sothing that catches your interest. She offers with a smirk and I couldnt help but feel a little excited. It would be nice to see what sort of things Yoko had collected. What valuable programs she had found over the years.
Excellent Now before that, I have to ask about the coding here. She said, causing a screen to pop up and show the lines of code on the program.
Oh! I grinned as Yoko asked code questions! Was I going to geek out about my code with Yoko?
Yes. Yes I was!
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