Page 69 of Coldwire
“Then we should get to the apartment as soon as possible and see what’s in the safe before them,” I counter. “We’re not out of moves yet. This is a critical path to pursue.”
“It’s like arguing with a wall.” He gestures up and down his clothes, the ridiculous little outfits we’ve put on that NileCorp supplied. “How are we getting in without Kam doing prep work overnight?”
I make a rapid search through our briefing for Chung’s apartment address. It’s back in the city center, near Norca Road. At the same time, I get a small alert, a new message. This one wasn’t triggered by any coded objects— I recognize Rayna’s custom emoji smiling toothily in the corner.
“Your sister,” I say, speaking before my thoughts have entirely caught up to me. “Last year she hacked your dad’s fingerprint scanner on his computer. She sent that prank blast out to the school.”
Kieren rolls his eyes. “?‘Hacking’ is a generous term for what she does. She browses the dark web for exploits and bothers the creators until they explain them to her.”
“Message her.”
“What?”
I’m already moving for the door. “Kieren. I think we’re onto something. Message her!”
RAYNA: hiiiiiiii i’m in Upsie!
RAYNA: oh, and rattlesnake
LIA: toad, lightly fried
LIA: Norca Road please!!!
RAYNA: huh?
LIA: [Sent a location pin.]
LIA: wear something cute, Hailey’s going to be there
Both Hailey and Rayna are under an hour away by transit in different directions.
Kieren and I reach Norca Road first, parking the truck in an alley and leaving our jumpsuits in the back. A giant hologram of a green fish swims through the air where the street begins, the entire thoroughfare roped off for pedestrians only. Norca Road is Upsie’s tourist hotspot—not to be confused with Norca, Land of the Northern Castle, the capital city of Medaluo. Vehicles aren’t allowed on this road because both the ground-level sidewalks and the elevated glass platforms are already impossible to navigate without being pressed shoulder to shoulder with other people.
Half the faces here are foreign. Visitors in the server on vacation. No one gives Kieren a second glance.
“You know,” Kieren remarks when we push into the crowd, “if NileCorp really wants to step up their cadets, they should open restrictions on avatars. Let us change our faces to blend in where we need to go.”
I give him a dirty look. “Huge ethical issues, Murray.Huge.”
“I’m just musing.”
“You’re too smart to muse on that. Be serious.”
There’s a simple enough reason Atahua doesn’t open the lock on full avatar customization: it doesn’t need to. Atahua has droves of citizens who are ethnically Medan—if the nation runs out of orphan children to use, there are still adults to recruit. Atahua has no shortage of spies who blendin with the enemy nation, but Medaluo doesn’t have the same. Medaluo is made up of Medans to the point that tourists stick out beyond the main cities, and any agent sent into Atahua will possess a Medan face.
No matter how well they speak Atahuan, no matter how much they adopt the mannerisms of Atahuans, a Medan cannot be trusted in Atahuan society, will not receive security clearance in Atahua by law.
So NileCorp won’t code that sort of customization, ever, because if it does and the change goes wide, the one who benefits most is Medaluo.
“Rayna’s twenty minutes away,” I report, watching her location pin. “I think you should go ahead and find somewhere for us to convene. Somewhere our group will look natural, and not, you know, like we’re plotting a home invasion. I can go buy a laptop.”
Kieren pulls a face. He already has plenty of qualms about inviting Rayna and Hailey in to help us, but we’ve argued enough during the drive to Norca Road, and I clearly won.
“Buy a laptop?”
“You’re not going to make your sister squint at her own display to launch an exploit, surely.” I pivot before Kieren can protest. He’s the one holding on to the smart key in his pocket, so it’s more important that he get out of the crowds first in case someone attempts to swipe it.
“Keep me updated!” I shout back. “I’ll join you shortly!”
