The Eyes of the Rigger

by Unknown

  He wondered whether GreenWar was really funding the run.

  There were some pointers to this, not least the outfits of Schmidt and the elves who had picked him up in the Surfglider. But maybe there was a policlub behind it. The Klabauterbund pursued similar aims to GreeenWar and there seemed to be secret contacts between them. Both GreenWar and the Klabauterbund were banking on a future which gave priority to the possibilities offered by magic as opposed to environmentally destructive technology. But they were realistic in their thinking, luddism was not an option. Red Cloud, Schmidt and the others, who had worked to prepare the run, were aware of course that there was no way forward with magic alone. The keys to this world lay in the matrix. And when it came down to it, both the GreenWarriors and the Klabauter were canny enough to make use of their adversaries' tools. This was proved by the choice of operatives for this run.

  In Festus they had engaged a rigger who simultaneously operated as a street samurai. Pandur had realized that Festus was a fully-fledged pro when the man with the smooth face had opened his small grip: microtronics spares for everything and anything he had in his body in the way of cyberware, expensive Yashika XM-Volleysnaps well worn by frequent use, high-performance storage batteries to make any part of his range of gadgets even faster when he needed to.

  Pandur noticed that Jessi had studied him surreptitiously. He even felt he saw a trace of womanly interest in her eyes. That surprised him, as most women tended to feel repelled by his withdrawn nature.

  "Let's go through the plan one more time, chummer," Jessi demanded.

  She seemed to be the fighter, motivated by idealism. For her the cause was important. Her reward was satisfaction. Pandur was along for his credstick. Primarily at least. His hope for satisfaction was secondary. Festus didn't let on what he was getting out of the job, but it wasn't nuyen or ecus. Pandur had divined as much from various allusions. He was getting something that possessed greater value for him than a fat margin on his credstick.

  Pandur looked at the young woman without enthusiasm. He remembered Schmidt's remark: "Several times". The man seemed to know the long-haired blond well. Then he shrugged his shoulders with indifference. "Fine by me - because it's the last time."

  With Jessi, Pandur was still not certain whether she met the high standard despite her double talent. A three-man run, without the additional protection of razorclaws or blasters, demanded unconditional commitment. Unquestionably, Jessi had this to a supreme degree. And it demanded a high standard of performance. Whether Jessi possessed this, Pandur didn't know. To his mind, she was too young to have the necessary experience, too small and too fragile to produce that bit extra under strain. But perhaps he was wrong. If he was honest, he distrusted her mainly because she was young and slim, gave the hint of having nicely shaped breasts beneath the sweatshirt and had a pretty face.

  Pretty women are used to others removing difficulties from their path. But in the shadows each person must be prepared to take the strain for the other if it proves necessary and, if the worst comes to the worst for all.

  Jessi had taken her cyberdeck out of the back pocket of her black overalls, connecting it to a free data jack in the submarine and punching in a code.

  Pandur watched and gave her low grades. Her deck was a cheapy from Malaysia or Kenya. And she was too slow. He hoped she had better mastery of her magic. Even so, it still fascinated him that a mage would get mixed up with the matrix at all.

  The map of Hamburg's downtown appeared on the monitor. Jessi altered the detail several times until the operations zone could be seen. The blue areas denoted a water depth of more than ten meters. They marked roughly the contours of the Inner and Outer Alster, the Elb, the canals and the old harbor basin from before the flooding. The yellow shading indicated depths of five to ten meters, where the Delphin could still maneuver comfortably. These zones extended into large parts of the city center and some into St Pauli and Altona. It became risky in the sectors marked in red. There depths were between three and five meters. The boat would have to surface. As they were then bound to be spotted by the security forces, these zones did not come into consideration.

  "We're here," said Jessi, pointing to their position in the Outer Alster. "And that's where we want to get to." She had altered the map section and was pointing to Messberg. "To be more precise: here." She indicated Chilehaus.

  Pandur nodded. This was nothing new to him. Jessi was repeating herself. Pandur had known from the start, without detailed knowledge of the route, that they weren't in for a sightseeing tour. He had had his reasons for demanding a top rigger. Messberg lay in the red sector, Chilehaus just about in the yellow, and all around there were blue zones. They required an expert to negotiate unharmed the footings of the buildings in the flooded streets. It would be a tight squeeze. Not a canal far and wide with safe depths. Of course, they could have approached from the other side via the Customs Canal but that would have been sheer madness. That was where the Border Protection Force's hovercraft cruised. They took soundings below. And if you gave them the slip, you ran straight into the arms of the escort vessels of the Shipowners' Guild - a dead cert.

  "Inner Alster, Alster Canal, Monckedamm Canal, Nicolai Canal," Jessi traced the route with the light pointer. "Then into the yellow zone."

  Originally they had wanted to slip along the former Ballindamm. That would have spared them the security barrage at Rathausmarkt. But the journey in the yellow zone would have been too long, making aerial discovery more likely. There were too many helicopter patrols over this area.

  "When we've reached Chilehaus we'll try to get through the gate into the courtyard, dock there and disembark underwater," she explained further. "If the gate's barred or guarded, we'll have to surface outside and swim. We have diving suits on board. But it's risky, as you know. Festus stays in the Delphin and collects us exactly an hour later. If he can't make it for some reason, we'll have to get through on our own."

  This was the variant that stuck in Pandur's craw. During their deployment there was to be a cover-up assault on Chilehaus. Three MK Sperber combat helicopters would attack the building, fire off a few rockets, cause light to medium damage with their pom-poms and veer off before the security forces of AG Chemie Europe could organize a counter-attack. The whole thing was aimed at setting off so many alarm sirens in the building that a few more would go unnoticed. And so many sararimen would be sent scampering around that the operations center would lose sight of events. The nasty aspect of this was that afterwards Messberg would be literally crawling with hovercraft, MTBs and helicopters. Festus would need all his cyberreflexes to get his ass out of there. They could wave goodbye to any idea that he would manage on top of all this to pick up his partners. What was more, they would be deprived of Festus's cybereyes, his synthmuscles, his reflex boosters and his smartgun link during the operation inside Chilehaus while he cruised around outside in the Delphin.

  But Pandur kept his counsel. They had had this discussion earlier. Hopefully, Jessi would get down to the nitty-gritty. So far she had said nothing that the two men hadn't heard till it was coming out of their ears. It was about time for her to come out with the mission's objective.

  "Inner Alster," Festus mumbled, pointing to the action screen, which was now showing the boat symbol gliding under the Lombardsbrucke - the bridge was still intact but awash with water. "My eyes want to hear what's what at last."

  Pandur pricked his ears. He wondered if it was a slip of the tongue or whether Festus was making some allusion that was incomprehensible to Pandur. He didn't find an answer.

  Jessi seemed to realize that it was time to supply the missing details.

  "So ka," she said. "I know unsecured access points to the building from the courtyard and from outside as well. If we approach close enough, we can also get in. Let's leave it at that. As soon as two, or better three, of us are inside Chilehaus, you shouldn't be surprised. The building has been totally remodelled inside. At least where we're going. The scruffy faca
de is deliberate. They don't want to attract any attention. But, believe me, you'll find more high-tech in there than you can handle."

  Pandur had already suspected as much. Anything else would not have justified these lengths. On paper, Chilehaus housed the Hamburg administration of AG Chemie Europe, which was generally held to be minor-ranking. Apparently this was not quite the case.

  "The aim of our mission is the basement. It hasn't even been pumped dry. Instead, they've put in an airtight underwater tract made of a super-strength aluminum-ceramic compound. Down there are the only unprotected interfaces of AG Chemie's logistics computer accessible in our operations zone. Schmidt is interested in the data covering the coordination of the illegal high-grade waste dumps in the North Sea, the shipping routes, the vehicles and vessels used, the scheduling."

  Why isn't Schmidt interested in data on the type and extent of production, newly developed products, their market readiness and the company's infrastructure?

  Pandur didn't know what had suddenly made him think of this. Then the dream he'd had last night occurred to him. That might explain his thoughts.

  Jessi continued, "The other special aim is to check up on indications that AG Chemie is planning a capital involvement in the cybereyes industry. Why they want to move in there. Information on new developments in the cybereyes field would be equally welcome if anything like that's available."

  "That interests me just as much - and more," Festus declared pointedly. He didn't think it necessary to elucidate. Then he gave his full attention to the passage to the Inner Alster.

  Festus had steered the Delphin to a point directly below a repair vessel of the power company, HEW, and held it there with minute precision. His cybersenses controlled the boat's highly-sensitive guidance mechanism to perfection and could precisely apportion the power needed. The Delphin was only five meters long whereas the supply boat was twice the length. Together with the comparatively cumbersome barge they passed through the underwater gates of the double barrage. The first hurdle was taken.

  Pandur and Jessi had remained silent so as not to distract Festus from the job in hand. As the boat was moving past Rathausmarkt, Jessi activated the radio and transmitted a coded signal.

  "If anything goes wrong and we get separated," she stated, " try to find your way to the ruins of the Alster Arcades. A chummer will be waiting there with a sport boat. He's anchored inside the west wing and he'll carry you to safety - or at least try."

  The vague shapes of quay walls and the outlines of buildings appeared. Doors and window sockets that had once been at ground level before the Great Flood came could be discerned. Festus piloted the submarine along the Alster Canal and had to almost surface because junk and torn down, twisted metal struts rose up from the bed of the canal, threatening to rip open the Delphin's belly. Pandur wondered what it would look like once they were moving through the yellow zone over the roadways and sidewalks of former streets. No one could say how many wrecked cars, the undermined and collapsed footings of buildings and other obstacles would block their route.

  Festus directed the Delphin back into deeper water when he had reached the Monckedamm Canal. It made sense as well. They were passing the administration building of the Shipowners' Guild. A brightly lit pyramid of aluminum and mirror glass whose dimensions could only be guessed at from inside the Delphin. Not even from above the waterline could what went on behind the glass be seen. But the numerous helicopter missions that had been flown from this building in the past allowed of only one interpretation. The con guardsmen were on constant alert in their surveillance posts and scanned the surroundings for any suspicious movements. What the Shipowners' Guild most desired was to have the canal declared their own private domain, making it an exclusion zone for anyone else. But the Border Protection Force would not permit this. The canal was an indispensable waterway for the others adjacent to it.

  The Delphin sailed slowly past the base of the pyramid without triggering any alarm. Festus took it up slowly when he was in the Nicolai Canal. Now they were entering the yellow zone. It wasn't far to Messberg.

  The first attempt to move from the canal into a street failed. A rotting truck was blocking the mouth. Festus stayed south and tried the next street. This time he succeeded. The hull of the submarine bumped the wall of a building as Festus was avoiding a car stuck in the silt, but then forced his way through the gap accompanied by a scraping sound.

  The rest of the street was no problem, although other wrecked vehicles were sticking out of the mud. Festus rounded them elegantly and turned into the next thoroughfare.

  "We're already pottering along Kleine Reichenstrasse," the rigger muttered. "If everything goes smoothly, we'll be at Chilehaus in five minutes."

  "Not Kleine Reichenstrasse!" Jessica exclaimed, but it was already too late.

  From a window in what had been the first floor of a building and which was now just level with the waterline, some belligerent soul sent a burst from a pom-pom into the water. Pandur guessed it to be a Ruhrmetall SF20, as the weapon was not fixed. The Delphin was traveling too close to the surface to escape the firing. The rounds hailed down in a staccato onto the boat's hull, making it resonate like the inside of a bell. They were unable to make much impression on the Delpin's armor-plating, though. It would come off with a few dents at the most.

  "Who the fuck is that?" cursed Festus, hastening to take the Delphin out of the line of fire.

  "A fucking drekhead. NA skins often hang around up there," Jessi explained. "My mistake, Festus, I should've warned you earlier. There's a PNE meeting house in Kleine Reichenstrasse. Skins from National Action go in and out, although the PNE officially distances itself from them."

  "And they bang away at anything that moves?" Pandur asked, pushing his light-blue colored hair back from his forehead uneasily. He still couldn't work out how things stood in Hamburg. "And the Border Protection Force allows that?"

  "They'll be here any minute," Jessi replied. "And this is the kind of attention I was trying to avoid."

  The marksman had withdrawn, no doubt for the reasons Jessi had mentioned.

  Festus rested in his seat, his face straining. His cybersenses were scampering through the vessel's electronics. He was the boat and was doing his best to guide the Delphin past the wrecked cars as fast as possible. Ahead of them they heard the throbbing sound of a hovercraft. They wouldn't have enough time to turn into a side street before the patrol vehicle was onto them.

  The Delphin sank like a feather into the mud without stirring it up, and came to rest right between two wrecked cars. The engine hum fell silent. Up top they would have a hard job locating the submarine.

  Mutely the three shadowrunners listened out. The hovercraft passed the spot where the Delphin lay. It hove to. Either to try to locate them or, more probably, to search for the gunner.

  "I could quite easily fetch the boys down here in the mud with an ultra-torp," Festus whispered. "Want me to?"

  "You damn well won't," Jessi hissed. "We only kill when absolutely necessary. Anyway, all hell really would be let loose if you did."

  Then the hovercraft slowly moved up the street.

  "There's one good thing about this filthy brew," said Pandur. "It's hard to see through."

  "They'll patrol this area for at least a half hour. They don't need to see us to locate us. Drek!" Jessi came to a decision. "We're changing the plan," she announced to the two men. "We'll swim the rest of the way."

  "And what am I supposed to do?" Festus asked. "Wait here twiddling my thumbs?"

  "You come with us, Festus." Before the rigger had a chance to put his amazement into words, Jessi went on. "Take us to the old multi-story garage in Brandstwiete. We'll leave the Delphin there."

  Without demur, Festus steered the submarine back past the meeting house of the PNE, which now lay deserted, and turned left. Straight ahead of them gaped the entrance to the former garage. It was big enough for the Delphin.

  Festus had to draw on the full range of
his expertise to turn the Delphin on the first deck into the ramp to the next level, but he made it without a single bump. The water could be heard lapping against the concrete of the slope to the second story. The Delphin broke surface. Festus dropped anchor and disconnected while Pandur was already busy unlocking the plexdome and tipping it up. Higher up everything was dark and quiet. This part of the building was obviously not used.

  Jessi opened compartments under the seats and passed out the diving suits, masks with attached lamps, and oxygen cartridges. In addition, each received a watertight container for the cyberdecks, weapons and other gear.

  "Why didn't we do this straight away?" Pandur asked, pulling on his suit.

  "Because the risk's higher," Jessi countered. "This is downtown, chummer. This is where the conglomerates sit cheek by jowl. Each of them keeps an eye on the other. You have to be prepared for anything. The Delphin was a good idea and it's brought us deep into the opposition's security zone. But for the time being it's served its purpose."

  She was ready. Only the masks and mouthpieces were missing. Before climbing out, she activated the radio again and entered another code.

  "I don't want to radio from Chilehaus," she explained. " Assault of the GreenWarriors twenty minutes. . . from now!"

  This time she neglected to speak of the "forces of the client", but called a spade a spade. She put on the breathing mask and slipped into the water.

  Pandur and Festus followed right behind. As the last out, Festus closed the plexdome by remote control and sent the Delphin to diving stations. All three then returned the way they had come and, after leaving the garage, swam up Kleine Reichenstrasse. From time to time they heard the sounds of helicopters and ships' engines. Searchlights sent out fingers to penetrate the gloom. Where they touched the water, they swirled apart in a milky cloud, as if someone had tipped a dollop of condensed milk into the brew from a giant can.

  The three runners didn't allow themselves to be distracted. Jessi piloted them unerringly through several streets and then pointed to a huge brick wall that loomed up before them. That had to be Chilehaus. Jessi and Pandur only saw it vaguely in the light of their headlamps, while Festus, with his light-intensifying cybereyes, had a better view.