Author: mdk

Lockdown Exercise

I have posted a couple of my longer walks to this blog during the lockdown. I thought I’d share some of the other exercises I do. Just to show the variety, it isn’t much but there is some.

I own a treadmill. On the days I don’t go out I will mix jogging and walking on the treadmill. This is usually early morning and I do between 2-3hrs while the rest of the house is asleep. Distances vary between 15 to 22 Km.

I also do runs outside. These will be between 5km to 10km and take between 25mins to an hour.

I do mixed walking (Uphill walking as Lancaster has a nice monument that is 320ft or so above the river) then jogging a circular route back downhill and flat with some uphill back to the river. This is usually 2-3 laps and varies between 15 to 17 Km taking about 2hrs.

Today was the latter. this has kept my daily step average around 23,000 steps and distances daily between 18-28 Km. Keeping me fitter than I could have hoped considering all the other bad lockdown habits.

Thanks for listening.

Me with my virtual chum after today’s exercise

Written in 365 Parts: 172: Nothing But Blackness

“Wake up.” A surge of electricity coursed through the restraints making Drick’s body arch despite them being hung from the ceiling. Drick’s legs kicked against the manacles that ran through a ring in the floor. “Enough.” The voice barked. The female voice. The Captain as they were called. “Are you awake? Or do you need another jolt?”

There was a dry cough before the rasping reply, “I’m awake.” Drick coughed some more, and felt their body shake from the spasms. How long had they been doing this same routine. Hours? Minutes? Days? Who knew. Drick could only remember pain. Mind scrambled by whatever toxin they wanted to jack them up on. Body ravaged by electrical stimulation, and the beatings.

“You’re looking rough,” said the Captain in her usual snarl. “Do you know how long you have been here? You’re tough but you’re dying.”

“No.” Deep coughing this time, and the coppery taste of blood in the mouth. Drick spat and through misted eyes saw the large red splatter. Drick’s jaw was aching where the medic had roughly inserted a pin after the Captain broke it with her boot. When was that? It felt recent but the pain was not sharp. It was dull. Was it striving to compete with the rest of the body? Or was it already fading from time? Drick couldn’t tell.

“Well,” Drick heard the Captain approach. Close really close. Drick winced as a hand lifted the head up from under their chin. The jaw sent a sharp pain this time and Drick closed their eyes and clenched their teeth to try and blot it out. It only made it worse. “It’s been months, little fish. Months and months. We smash you up and then our doctor, who isn’t very good. Patches you as best they can. Then we smash you up a little more. Honestly I would have given up by now.” The Captain squeezed Drick’s jaw and it took every fibre of Drick’s will to keep the scream to a low wail. “But you keep on going. I have to admire that. But I am getting bored.”

The Captain let go of Drick’s head. They didn’t even have the strength left to stop it crashed back into their own chest. Sending a stabbing pain from the jaw to behind the eyes, and a deep ache into their chest. Busted ribs. Yesterday, the day before, some time before, they had kicked Drick like a sack of meat. Ribs were still broken, hip as well from the searing agony that spread from there. They must be giving Drick painkillers to wake up. The agony was starting to make them black out.

“Truth be told,” the Captain said, “I got bored some time ago. I honestly thought about just shooting you and having done. Or maybe putting you in an airlock and setting the cycle to slow. Letting you die from oxygen starvation again. But I think that you are so nasty that you wouldn’t cry for help. We keep beating you, fixing you, beating you. Yet still you won’t submit. You won’t beg for your life, or your death. You’re a tough bastard.”

There was another wave of agony as the electricity was turned on once more. Drick couldn’t stop the screams this time. The whole of their body ached for death. They hadn’t eaten in some time otherwise they would have vomited. Even empty the stomach produced some liquid into the throat that burned. Drick was unable to spit with the spasms, so they gurgled on their own stomach contents. When the electricity was shut off they choked and coughed out bile and blood. Struggling to breathe.

“Beg me for your life. Beg me to kill you quickly. You will beg me. I will have you whimpering at my feet. You killed my husband. Beg me.” The Captain screamed the words into Drick’s ear.

Drick mumbled and the Captain punched them hard in the side. Drick felt bone grind against flesh. Broken ribs don’t take well to being thumped. They coughed and spat out more blood. In between ragged breaths Drick shouted hoarsely. “I said,” Coughing, spit blood. “I’d beg you to shut up whinging for shit’s sake. Why don’t you get a new lover, or a dildo?”

The Captain screamed and punched Drick hard in the face. Drick felt the jaw split. The pin that held it together pierced the cheek and grated against the tongue. Drick spasmed and tried to lift their head back. But the world span, turned, twisted about the head, and then they saw nothing but blackness.

Written in 365 Parts: 171: Born to Endless Night

‘…Every night and every morn – Some to misery are born,        
Every morn and every night – Some are born to sweet delight.
Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless nightɉ۪

The dreamer did not sleep. Not in the traditional sense of the word. There was an altered state of consciousness, though the alteration was not a reduction or a distortion. The consciousness was enhanced by several levels both electronic and otherwise. Sensory input was not reduced. The number of sensations were massively increased as there were thousands more inputs. So the sensory perception was increased and not inhibited or reduced as it would be in sleep. So much sensory information laid out in a manner that the dreamer could understand.

Where it most resembled sleep was that it was a dream. It was a narrative. It was a fantasy constructed to keep the personality alive. The self, the ID of classic psychotherapy. The dream kept a mind from fully spinning out of control. It kept it alive, and in some semblance of what it was before, so very long ago.

But it wasn’t a real dream, even though it had a dreamer. The dreamer was not asleep, they never could be. The systems that it inhabited were always active, always working. They had to be. If the system were ever allowed to stop then the dream would end, and the self that inhabited it would be lost. A shadow suddenly encased in light.

The dream, the narrative, kept the self alive. The systems that it was connected to were not as linear, or as coherent, as the senses an organic body might possess. The sense of time not regulated by the ticking of a biological clock. To the machine all sensors reported simultaneously and  could be shifted in any manner. They could be processed in whatever sequence was desired, and in so doing the sense of casual relationship could be disrupted. Sensors that detected elementary particles travelling ahead of a stream of photons could be time-shifted to coincide with sounds from the emanating source. Or shifted so they arrived afterwards. Thunder could come before lightning. The narrative was constructed.

The systems presented to the self the ability to hold all the infinite variables of an event in the palm of an imaginary hand, and to examine them from multiple angles. It could alter the perception of time so that a moment could be a lifetime, and a century might pass almost in the blinking of an eye. In this way it had kept the self alive, and in some semblance of what it had been, for centuries.

Over time, however, even this would fail. The mind learned such trickery and felt the passing of the years, even if there was no sense of time. It was experience. The dreamer was needed. The dreamer kept the system alive. The intellect needed the construct of a dreamer in the falsehood of a dream. It was a fundamental component and without it the entire system would fail.  The cumulative experience of centuries of artificial construction and sensory input was the force that was driving the decay that destroyed the self. The self was losing coherence, it was losing the will to be.

There were no real senses. The dreamer craved the sensation of gravity. The feeling of pressure on the skin. The touch of moisture as a tear rolled down the cheek, the dryness as it leaves the skin lost to the elements. The smell of salt, the taste of a kiss. The dreamer had known these. But here it was birthed in the endless night of space and the coldness of data.

Written in 365 Parts: 170: Are You Ready to Talk

Perf couldn’t believe it. How was it possible? Hooper should be dead. They should be a smear at the bottom of a crater. They were in that tent. They were in that explosion. No way did anything survive that explosion. It wasn’t possible. And yet a few hours ago Hooper had arrested them.

How was it possible?

Perf had sat in stunned disbelief, as he had been handcuffed, and then roughly pulled to his feet. Hooper had stared at him for long seconds. Face to face. Eye to eye. Saying nothing. That look. That look was enough to chill Perf to the marrow. 

But surely they didn’t have any evidence. What could they get Perf on? A minor piece of deception. Failure to turn up for work. These were small matters, a fine or two, an ignoble release from duties and then Perf would be free and rid of this world. It was a minor setback. Nothing more. Perf might not even bother with a lawyer. A justice bot was enough to get these charges settled. Then Perf would be out of here. A minor inconvenience, as long as they pleaded guilty and then got away from here before a full audit could be done.

Perf looked up as the doorway slid smoothly back. Two legal reps came in, from the look of them they were with the government prosecutors office. Behind them Hooper came in, they were carrying two evidence boxes and a data slate. All three of them sat down. Without speaking each one of them allowed a recording drone to take a full scan and genetic sample. Then it did the same to Perf. It was thorough and took samples from both of his hands, his throat and a blood sample. 

“What are you charging me with?” Perf asked.

Hooper stared at Perf for long seconds before lifting the data slate and showing some information to the two prosecutor officers. They had both switched their ident tags to no display, so Perf had no idea who they were, how they identified and any preferences. Usual technique with lawyers, never give anything up for free.

Hooper smiled slightly. “I must ask you if you are aware of your rights? Do you wish a lawyer to be appointed or will a court appointed defence suffice?”

“I’m fine with a justice bot. I haven’t done anything bigger than a fine.” Perf said calmly. “Can we not just skip forward to the bit where I pay up and leave?”

“Do you know how we found you?” Hooper asked.

Perf had been thinking about that for some time. The only possibility is that someone had noticed him buying clothes in a different size. They may have got a line on the first class ticket, but that had to be less likely. The real worry was that Hooper was still alive. “It doesn’t matter. It was a minor offence.”

“Why were you running, Perf?” Hooper asked, “what were you running from?”

“I just needed to get away. I have been feeling it for some time. It was a mistake to sign on for another ten year stretch and I couldn’t face paying the penalty. This way I would end up with a fine. Not be around to pay it so they would just cancel my government stipend.”

“Wouldn’t that leave you destitute?” Hooper asked.

“No.” Perf smiled. “I always lived on satellite. I saved my money and have been using those savings as investments on the stock exchange.” This was true. What Perf didn’t say is that he had a few larger investments in hedge funds run under anonymous accounts that extra payments were made to by his associates.

 â€œSo how do you think we found you?” Hooper asked again.

“I really don’t know.” Perf said. They smiled. “Why does it matter?”

“We both know why it matters.” Said Hooper. “Let me leave you to chew on that a moment more. Tell me, were you surprised to see me at the shuttle port?”

“A little,” Perf smiled, “I thought you were off duty, sick or something. Had I known you were about we could have discussed the upcoming Union meetings.”

“Sure we could. I mean aren’t you surprised to see me breathing?” Hooper’s voice was calm but his eyes were ice cold. They looked as if they wanted to drill right into Perf’s brain and pull out every secret that was there.

“Why would I be surprised at that?” Said Perf.

Hooper smiled. “Well because you supplied some of the equipment and information that was used in a surgical strike to attempt to kill me.”

“That’s a very serious accusation,” said Perf, “Maybe I will get myself a better lawyer.”

“I think you should,” said Hooper, “We have a lot more questions. Do you want to get one now? We can leave you with the court appointed bot to sort that out.”

“You can carry on, for now,” said Perf, “just be aware that I am not going to let you railroad me into a false confession and entrap me. Right?”

Hooper laughed. It was a dry laugh but it had genuine humour in it. Perf noticed that the two prosecutors also smiled. Perf suddenly felt like a piece of meat at a hyena party. Hooper stopped laughing. “We have no need to do that, Perf, we already have enough evidence to have you vaporised. This is just a formality. Your best option right now is to come clean and tell us everything.”

“I don’t know anything,” said Perf. Their heart was racing and their palms had started to sweat. Hooper should be dead and they were being very coy. Could be a trick to get Perf to confess, but they wouldn’t get anything from them. “I just wanted to get away.”

“Did you hear about the assault on Volstron?” asked Hooper.

Perf had, but there was little on the news and it had happened while Perf was writhing senseless from the body alteration drugs. They hadn’t logged in again so knew nothing other than what the media had reported. Which was very little. “I heard they had some trouble. Are we getting another rash of corporate fighting? Let the government forces deal with it.”

“It appears someone got into Volstron. Rumour has it that they managed to get into the secure servers. Terrible business. Way outside of the Justice Department. As you rightly point out. Private company compounds are only covered by government forces, and the companies can always lobby for special privilege. However we did receive an anonymous data package. Seems that Volstron kept a record of every communication that went into, or came out of, their system. They kept all of them. Even the encrypted ones. Of course encrypted comms would take decades to decode, even if you could. Unless someone gave you the encryption key as well.” Hooper stared hard at Perf, “I wonder what you make of this snippet?”

Hooper tapped on the screen in their hand and Perf heard their own voice and that of the Chief Officer of Volstron Services “‘That is quite a lot that you want.’ ‘We are paying you well. You would be wise to remember that you are well known to us and we expect results for our investment.’ ‘The officer took a deep breath. “I may need options in case this gets too problematical.’”

“Now, Perf.” Hooper smiled again as those cold eyes burned straight into Perf’s soul. “Want to start talking or do we move on to the rest of the evidence we have against you?”

Written in 365 Parts: 169: Escape

They hurried along the corridor trying to make their pace look like someone late rather than someone running away. Fast, but not too fast. Hurried, but not frantic. Don’t alert suspicion. Don’t get too far ahead of your carefully timed schedule. The computer program would activate in sequence, masking your location and passage, but you cannot be too far out of range as it was dangerous to delude the sensors for too long. Especially now. When you were finally leaving.

They could have laughed. They had managed to pull off decades of deceit and trickery. Now they had pulled off the murder of a colleague. The best part about it was that no one would ever know. Hooper had gone off grid and was masquerading as someone else. No one knew where they were and what they were doing. Bye, bye, Hooper. They were a smear in the desert now, there wouldn’t even be a trace of them. The only recoverable element would probably just indicate the presence of genetic material.

However the use of satellites, drones and secure networks. The bodies being examined in the morgue after a break in. The missing equipment from a corporate store. The numerous changes to Justice Department records in the last few days. All of this was an issue. There was no doubt that some small irregularity might be found. It was time to leave, and collect the very fat pension they had accumulated, before someone in government or corporate noticed something. Time to leave this satellite, job, world, system and persona behind.

Step one was to get off the satellite leaving no traces of how they went. This had been planned way in advance. They had a ticket on a public shuttle, but in the executive section that had private booths. They had a false identity and papers and a good enough disguise. They were currently six centimetres taller and a whole lot slimmer than they had been twenty-four hours before. Thanks to some very fast acting growth supplements and weight reduction medication. It had hurt, even the pain medication had only dulled the agony. But it was needed.

They had untyped their gender. For decades they had been clearly identified as male with a single partner, opposite gender, status. Now they had a new biological tag. They used a clone program to replicate skin cells and regrow their biological identity tag with the assumed identity, who had no gender and no preferences. They also had a faked genetic code. There would be a mandatory sample on the shuttle of a skin scrape on the left hand. They had grown a flesh glove over their hands for this.

They turned a corner and quickly joined the back of a short queue. They had timed it perfectly. This was the final group of boarding passengers. They waited until they were close to check in and then moved into the priority line and presented their ticket. The robot system took only a microsecond to log and scan them in. They placed their left hand on the biological scanner and held their breath as the system took a small slice of skin. A wait of close to ten seconds was like an hour until the screen went green, and they were directed into the boarding tube.

Ten minutes later they had stowed their luggage into a locker above the cubicle and opened the small door. They sank into the seat and adjusted straps to fit their new body size. They set the privacy screen and idly started to flick through the entertainment channels. The shuttle would depart in less than thirty minutes. Four hours of flight time to an orbiting station, and then they would disappear again with another identity. They had done it.

There was a flash on the screen. Someone had indicated they wanted to talk to them. Probably the vessel’s staff. A crew member giving some special courtesy to a high class passenger. Well, they were never one to refuse a courtesy. They hit the switch and dropped the privacy screen and looked into the muzzles of four weapons. 

A squad of justice drones were hovering around their cabin and stood behind them with a harsh smile was Hooper. “How are you doing, Perf?” Hooper asked.

My Mummy

On Monday I decided to get the boys to write a poem about their mummy as a test. I made each of them answer questions and then we compiled that into verse. To be honest it was a bit of fun to keep them amused. It was just as much fun for me. I did most of the compilation but almost all the words are theirs, and certainly all the imagery.

Enjoy:

My Mummy

by Ben, Elliott and Asher

My mummy is a nice grass,
A love that is good
With arms and legs.

Her hair is like candy floss
Twisting,
Paper filled with naughty words.

Her eyes are hazelnuts
They can see fear.
They play a game.

Mummies nose is a cone,
With dinosaur’s nostrils.
Or a big fat poo,
A towel,
Made for glasses.

Her mouth is a lipstick’s stick,
Of fiery breath,
That shouts all quiet.

Her ears just hear my voice,
Like a giraffe
Always listening.

She has legs that I don’t know,
Filled with muscles,
And with bones,
An organ wraps around them,
Right down to the toes,
As they came last.

Her arms are like her legs,
But they put things into cups,
Press buttons,
And create.

Mummies brain is the best.
Very, very, smart.
Is for talking just like me,
Is numbers
And a game pad.

But her love is so pretty,
And very, very, strong.
She loves Asher, maybe also…
Daddy,
Elliott,
And Ben.
Simply, all of us.

Written in 365 Parts: 168: Fleshbags You Fancy

Drick found themselves, once again, sat at the same pop up food stall poking at a bowl of noodles with a resin bi-pronged fork. This time Marsh sat with Drick at a small round table near the back of the food court area. A quaint term for what was supposed to be a temporary location. Drick could remember when the tables looked just old. Now even the stains on the surface had stains on them. What appeared to be a laquer on the aluminium top was actually generations of sauces carefully smeared together and heat sealed by thousands of hot plates.

Marsh was tucking into the noodles with a gusto reserved for those who were enjoying life. He shovelled huge forkfuls into his mouth and chewed with relish. Drick didn’t have the heart to tell him that what he was eating was most likely a tunnel bunny, the local term for any rodent or creature that lived underground or rubble. He was enjoying the food and that was all that really mattered. Marsh even seemed to like the mushrooms and tunnel fungus that was at the bottom of the bowl. He finished and immediately went to get another. He asked Drick but they politely refused, they hadn’t finished the first bowl.

Marsh was close to finishing his third bowl when Lane arrived. Drick watched Marsh study the woman taking careful note of his eyes and his expression. Drick was impressed, he hadn’t lingered over Lane’s incredibly sculptured body, more looked her up and down in an interested, but casual, fashion. 

Lane smiled and sat down. She dropped a few credit bars on the table and waved a hand at one of the roving serving staff. “Beers and shots for the three of us and I will cover the food,” she said. “Take the rest of the credit as a tip.” The staff member smiled at Lane in a genuine fashion. 

“They only give real smiles to big tippers?” Asked Marsh.

“Pays to be a representative for the Union” Lane replied. “So you are Marsh, I guess. Your photo doesn’t do you any favours. You are a lot trimmer and more chiselled than a holoscan shows.”

“I am about fifteen centimetres taller as well,” said Marsh. He noticed the blank look on their faces. “Old two dimensional movie reference for you. I am Marsh, yes. I guess you are Lane?”

“I am.”

“Drick told me about you.” He smiled and shook Lane’s outstretched arm. She noticed that he took the time to read her bio tag. “Sorry,” he said smiling in embarrassment. “I haven’t really got used to scanning icons and knowing what they mean from a distance yet. So I have to take the time to look properly so that I don’t look more like an idiot later.”

“That’s fine.” Lane flashed him a smile. “I hope everything Drick told you was bad?” She winked at Drick who rolled their eyes.

“The worst,” said Marsh. “Did she talk about me?”

“Sure, she never said you had a nice voice though.”

“Of for,” Drick rolled their eyes, “will you two quit it or get a room.” Drick snarled, “I can only stand so much of this rat shit before I lose my stomach.” The end of Drick’s sentence was punctuated by the server placing drinks on the table. Drick held up the shot glass, muttered “up yours” and drained it. Putting the glass on the table Drick picked up the beer. “So we’re going to talk?” Drick stared at Lane.

“Sure. Always nice to have a conversation with new people, friends and total asshats like you Drick.”

“Sweet, I see the charm is only wasted on the flesh bags you fancy.”

“No,” Lane smiled. “I just add extra for them. I wouldn’t waste any emotion on you Drick. You’d simply use it against me or someone else. You are a serial bastard after all. Isn’t that your favourite phrase for yourself?”

“Maybe. Did you get the material I sent?”

“We did. I have to say on that matter I, and my superiors are understandably overwhelmed. We asked you to retrieve some very specific information and any other small bits associated. We didn’t expect you to get all the material, and so much more. It is an incredible achievement. Admittedly it cost us a significant sum in materials. The clones and vessels alone were an executive’s ransom, But the return is breathtaking.”

“Well, thanks. I guess that pays off all my debts and adds a little in reserve?”

“Of course.”

“Good. I will be wanting to use some of that straight away. I will need a ship and a crew, able to sweep and go anywhere in system. Then I will need some significant time with a medical team and I need you to clear up a lot of loose ends on the planet for me.”

“Interesting.” Lane frowned. “You sound as if you are leaving us Drick?”

“We are. Firstly to a location in the system, and then elsewhere. I won’t be discussing where.”

“That’s a shame. What you did for us nets you a lot of respect. You could easily retire here, or move into the Union full time. They would protect you and I know they would find use for your, quite considerable, talent.”

“Not interested. Thanks for the offer.”

“Well I was asked to invite you. I was also ready to negotiate a substantial reward package. But I know you, Drick. You have your mind set on a course and I doubt even a planetary body could pull you off trajectory. I can arrange for what you want. I would say that it will still leave you with us in your debt.”

“I know,” said Drick with a smile. “I will be transferring that credit to a few people on the planet. They will be made known to you. They will benefit from what I am owed. I assume that’s acceptable?”

“Of course.”

“Good. then get some more drinks in, and we can fill in some more details.”

Written in 365 Parts: 167: When Do You Go?

“Things are going to get very problematic around here,” Drick walked over to the sideboard and poured Krennar a malt whisky from the wide selection of drinks. “Here,” Drick passed Krennar the drink and noticed that they swirled it a little, and savoured the scent, before tasting.

“It’s good,” said Krennar, “hell Rodero you have real talent. If I didn’t know it wasn’t real I would swear that it was.”

“Some of it is the memory of the taste in your mind,” said Rodero, smiling, “the rest is, as you said, pure talent.”

“How problematical?” Krennar looked at Drick. “You want to let me know more? Or is this a case of minimum need to know?” Krennar sipped at the drink.

“I will tell you as much as I can,” said Drick. “Some of it I cannot tell you. It is a matter of professional courtesy that I keep some details back. I made a promise.”

“Very well.”

“How about I explain what I think you need to know, and then if you feel you need to know more, ask questions and I will fill in what I can?” Drick raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly. Drick moved over to the drinks once more and poured a large vodka and slipped some ice into it, looking at Marsh Drick noticed him nod and poured the same for him. Rodero was already nursing their own particular cocktail mixture that likely was infused with more than just spirits.

“We have a copy of pretty much everything that was on their server stack. Don’t ask what was on there as it is a lot and most of it I haven’t looked at, and nor will I. Someone else paid for that privilege. Don’t ask how and where we got it, as I won’t tell you that either.”

“I think I can guess.”

“You can guess as much as you like.”Drick smiled, “Onto the important bits. I have a confession from the chief of their operational security that they had planned to kill Hooper.”

“Hooper’s dead?” Krennar stood up.

“No. They’re alive. Very alive. We knew that they’d be targeted and we took steps to avoid it. They have been coming down like a hail of bastards since this event happened. They clearly are willing to sacrifice whatever they can to kill Marsh and stop any investigation. It stinks. It goes high up. So we have been planning every step and guessing their moves.”

“That must have taken some thinking?”

“Well I have a lot of experience of dealing with this level of shit. Centuries of it. Whereas Rodero here was given a lot of access to some very powerful intellects and a group of the world’s best slicers to help them narrow down probabilities. Don’t ask them how they did it as you will be on the sorry side of a conversation about differential equations and something called statistics and other such crap. Upshot is, we had good guesses as to their every move and so we prepared for all of them.”

“How was the data collected? I know those types of systems. They are more protected than half of the best military networks.”

“There are always gaps in any security. What had to be done was avoiding the system locking down entirely. Thankfully I had noticed the overconfidence of the operations staff. So I relied on that to wager they would keep the system in full backup and recovery mode. I kept someone alive to use their own extremely fancy implants against them. On the bonus side I also got a confession of the assault on Hooper and infiltration of the Justice Department, theft and fraud. A whole shebang with intellect imprint to prove the data is not faked. I need you to get that to Hooper and to secure a copy elsewhere as insurance.”

“I can do that. Where is Hooper?”

“They are in Justice Central. Hidden away doing their own little investigation and pretending to be dead. They should break silence very soon and that’s when you’ll be able to contact them and hand over this package of proof. There are some accompanying pieces of evidence, like the fact that Volstron had an illicit mech in their lobby. There’s enough for the Justice to get warrants and do a full study. The sensor footage on the data files we will give you should be enough for a conviction.”

“You said it went higher?”

“It does. Some high ranking executives in Volstron and Yee On Kline have been feeding massive sums of money and post-service boardroom positions to civil servants and military officers. All high ranking. They have been buying silence and secrecy. They are hiding something in the outer system. I have a vague idea about what it might be. I am not sure but my gut tells me that it is connected to Marsh.”

“You have proof?”

“Well that’s where it gets interesting. I don’t have anyone in Volstron or Yee On Kline. However our security chief, and the criminal gang he worked with, kept very extensive details of every call, payoff and deal they made. They also made secret recordings. I have those. I can let you have some of them, the rest are promised to an associate.”

“Who is the associate?”

“I am not going to tell you, I told you that you can guess. They financed this whole operation. When I delivered the initial data they wanted from the nightclub, with extras, they opened up some more finance to me. I have a meeting with one of their operatives shortly where I will be using that credit line.”

“Do you need anything more from me?”

“A couple of small things. I need a highly experienced surgical team and some tickets on very specific craft. The aftermath of this operation is going to be extensive. They will not be bothering to be discreet. Marsh and I will soon have a big bounty on our heads. Larger than before. So I need to get a long way away from here. But there are a few things to wrap up first. I need to find an experimental geneticist and visit the outer system. I can handle both of those myself. You need to get the other items I have asked for. Questions?”

“When you say you are going a long way away, I guess that means forever?”

“Probably.”

“So I will not see you again?”

“No. But I will be leaving you with that information. Trust me, someone is going to cover most of those people. They will not allow a scandal. That’s going to be very good leverage for someone like you. I also will be leaving you a sum of whatever funds remain after we leave.”

“Will you not need funds where you are going?”

“I will make sure that we are well cared for. The rest is left to you, Hooper and Rodero.”

“When do you go?”

“At this point this conversation is wasting my time? Any more questions?”

“No. I expect I will see you one last time. I will go and start with preparations.”

“Thank you.”

Written in 365 Parts: 166: Goose Lake

Krennar walked into the large room of the lake house to find three people already waiting for them. Drick was dressed in a tight fitting one piece jumpsuit with a slim utility belt. Marsh was dressed in simple green fatigues, functional and loose fitting without being baggy. Rodero had come in a cream tweed double breasted suit, canary cravat, laced cream coloured suede shoes and a bright red tartan mohican above a ginger bearded face with mirrored sunglasses.

Krennar glanced out of the broad windows that filled one wall of the room. They looked out onto a wide veranda that was over the edge of the lake. In the distance a v-shaped wedge of geese came slowly into landing on the lake bringing up thin lines of spray. The geese did not settle into the water, instead they started to skate upon the top, performing some elaborate dance with sprays of water, flips, twists and turns. The geese were walking on water and performing ballet.

“Interesting construct,” Krennar smiled at Rodero, “is that just for me?” They indicated the geese outside.

“Yeah,” said Rodero, “I thought you’d appreciate it.”

“You should have used swans.”

“Why?”

“Look it up.” Krennar turned to Drick. “I assume I am here for a very good reason? I also assume you are going to tell me you had something to do with the assault on the Volstron Compound?”

“Oh,” said Drick sweetly, “were they attacked?”

“Don’t play innocent, Drick, it doesn’t suit you. Can we go back to the aggressive sociopath please.”

“That’s not a nice word.” Drick smiled, “But I guess I deserve it for the bullshit answer.”

“You did, and so?”

“Yeah we were there. But I am not admitting to anything at all. Fortunate bystanders is how I will answer any question. There is no evidence that I was in their compound. I believe that if you check traffic footage, that was collected by Volstron themselves and transferred to Judicial Central during that assault, you will see that I was outside. I was clearly seen by a number of bystanders. I even had a brief chat with a robot sentinel guard who was preventing people from getting too close.”

“Well that’s nicely convenient.”

“Isn’t it just,” Drick smiled broadly.

“So why am I here?”

“We need your help,” said Marsh.

“And I need you to transfer some data to the Judiciary and I don’t want them knowing where it came from. You represent a number of people, hell you could even use it for a bargaining piece.” Drick paused. “Some of it will likely be of real interest to Hooper but I don’t want to pass this to them. They are using an, as close to a by the book, approach to nail their quarry. No need to directly muddy the waters with material gained somewhat unserupticiously.”

“Is it obvious that it may have been gained in an illicit manner?”

“Depends,” replied Drick. “Can you cook up a story that involves direct transmission traces of internal calls between Volstron and Judicial Central involving illicit obtained encryption devices? Where the information was obtained from Volstron’s own deep archives.”

“Not likely,” said Krennar. 

“Then best not to use it that way.” Marsh added.

A puzzled look suddenly came over Krennar’s face and uncleared almost as quickly. “Are you telling me you have access to Volstron’s deep security?”

“Not any more,” said Drick. “But for a short while we had access to their entire internal network and servers using a high ranking security clearance. The highest ranking. We might have made a copy of a lot of information while we had that access.”

“What the hell are you going to do with it? Once people find out the price on your head will skyrocket and that data will have an even bigger reward, whichever way it is sold.”

“Don’t stress. The first part of that isn’t as much an issue as they don’t know I took it. As I said I have an alibi, a government intelligence recorded proof of location. I was interviewed, as just stated, by a sentinel droid, outside the building, whie it was being attacked. I also will not be holding on to the data. It is going to some other associates. I just have taken a few specific pieces for my own usage.”

“And what usage is that, exactly?”

Written in 365 Parts: 165: Missing Parts

It was difficult to say what the first sensation was when you awoke in a new body. The brain is not as separate from the physical form it inhabits as one would hope. It wasn’t evolved to be. The limitations of senses, reactions and capabilities were important in how the brain interprets and understands the world. Changing the physical form, in an immediate manner, was a shock to the cognitive capabilities and emotional nature.

Under normal circumstances an organic who wanted to undergo a body transfer, taking their collected self and having it transferred into a clone. With a brain grown in a similar way, but a body that could be dissimilar, would undergo a certain process. There would be treatment to reduce the dissociation: medical evaluation and intervention; virtual therapy to slowly condition the transition. Changes would be allowed to take shape in a virtual world, so that you would sense the transformation while being observed to ensure that the minimal amount of distress was caused. Being suddenly awoken in a new body was only done in the most drastic circumstances and was rarely medically advised.

The Officer jerked upright and resisted the urge to scream. Their body was shaking and a dry retching was heard more than felt. They could feel, but all of their nerve endings were jangling in unison so it was hard to focus on any one sensation. They were pushed back onto the recovery couch and someone was speaking to them. It was hard to make out words, or sights, as the sensory feedback was so new. A sharp pressure on their neck and a sudden cold dullness swept across their body.

It was a few moments before the drugs fully took effect. But as they did the sensory information reduced, and implants started to relay information to a confused conscious. They had been pulled immediately out of the growth tanks. The body was complete, and had been in waiting for them, needing only the three week period in their schedule to complete a steady transfer with full recovery. The internal monitor said they had been downloaded in an hour, then immediately brought out of the medically induced coma. Something was desperately wrong.

“What happened?” Their voice felt strange. Internally it sounded like them but the sounds that came from the larynx via the internal echo chamber of their skull wasn’t theirs. Before a mild panic settled they quelled their fear. A new body, they had a new body, that was all. 

“Please try to relax your body. We were instructed to bring you immediately to consciousness,” a medic with an ident band declaring them as a specialist was checking monitors at their side. They had probably been the one who had completed the download of the self. “The process has been greatly accelerated and so you will feel some discomfort and confusion. I have given you a course of medication and instructed your implants to aid with transition. We are routing some of your body’s sensory information, and pre-processing it on a remote location, before feeding it to your consciousness. There should be no visible lag to your perception, but you may find it a little otherworldly.”

“Who by? Who told you to bring me out like this?”

“Your immediate superiors on the Board of Directors.”

“Why?”

“There has been some incident and they are looking for answers I imagine. I was told to allow you to immediately access all your records so you could refresh yourself and fill in any missing parts.”

“Missing parts? What does that mean? Was there an issue with the transfer?”

“No. It was completely successful. You are even responding better than expected with the transition into a different body form. I am afraid that not all your records were available.”

“Tell me the full details.”

“I do not have the full details. I know that what we placed into this organic shell was from your last full backup. All data since then, that was stored on your company’s servers, is not available. Your organisation is saying little. They have fully locked down all internal speculation since the assault.”

“What assault?”

“As I said, you need to let your physical body adjust, so you may as well scan through the data files. Your implants are connected to the secure system. You will be able to absorb as much data as we have, which is very little.”