Chapter 3: refrigerator and vodka
Reich Bartmoss. A genius who created a
manual that became the Bible for all netrunners. A madman who released Datacrash
and changed the world into "before" and "after". A man who showed everyone what a loner can do
and how fragile the world really is. A real legend.Maybe for many he was
a legendary personality, but for me he became that pain in the ass. Here is the
bitch Blue-Eyed, he arranged a surprise for me, such a surprise. It would be better if he shit on me in
the morning porridge than pass this Sheldon from non-hacking. If the big corpos find out
about what is in my hands now, then I am a complete asshole. In the past, in order to get rid of him,
they did not
regret a blow with an electromagnetic gun from orbit, and now, in order to get to the
knowledge and secrets in his head, they will not regret sending a whole army. They say that
you don't look a gift horse in the mouth... and I should have hired a horse dentist
before I came here. I had only one word in mind that
would describe the charm of the situation. Asshole.Out of barely suppressed panic,
I smoked half of the pack and am already thinking about getting another one out of my
back pocket. But Kowalski distracted me from this thought."Skipper?" Skipper? Au? The Earth
summons Skipper."I'm Kowalski here. I am here. I'm
there. I'm always."What? Skipper, have you gone back into some
wilds of your mind?""yes. I ask myself eternal questions
like: Who is to blame? What to do? So far, only one thing comes to mind. We
need to smuggle this frozen fish as discreetly as possible, and then take it out of the
country. But how to do it is something that does not come to mind. I let out a
long stream of smoke, looking at the cryo-chamber that Manfredi and Johnson are working on.Then suddenly a clichéd chain of images
forms in my head. Frost. Russians. Russia. And what can
work."Manfredi, Johnson, a report on
our intruder from the past."Skipper. The guy is in a very shitty
state. It will take a long and difficult rehabilitation. And I'm afraid to even imagine what is going on in his
head." Manfredi was the first to answer."That's just half the problem. We still need to
deal with his implants, they weren't designed for that kind of condition.
Plus, I have no idea how to get him out of this cryo pod. Roughly speaking
, we'll have to carry him around until we find a way, otherwise he'll die within
five minutes." Johnson's answer made me gnash my teeth, because
something in my plan would need to be changed."Okay, guys. I have a
wild idea of how we can get out of this situation. We're going to your homeland."What the fuck?" Both stood with
their eyes out.— Yes. We are going to Russia. Vodka. KGB. Snow.
Everything is like in a cliché. Now for the important thing. Can you replace the face and hide its
genocode? We will need to take him across the border, and then send him to a private clinic, where we will already carry out rehabilitation,
or at least we can just bring him to consciousness
. I ask them and point to the sleeping freak."There are no problems with the face and other biometrics
. But here's the gene code. Here you have to tinker with the life support system that would mask his gene code, well,
or just give it away, someone else's. How much time do
we have?" Manfredi began to search for something in his tablet."Consider it less than 24 hours.
Remember we had a special invitation from the USSR about new weapons and
stuff? Under the cover of this invitation, we're getting out of Night City, and there, with
the help of Jörg and your connections from your studies, and a lot of money for bribes, we'll
try to hide this asshole. I'll settle all the issues with my superiors. And we'll hide him in
a special cargo box with Mort, who will keep an eye on him and eliminate him if
necessary."We'll make it, skipper. But it won't be
easy."And when was it easy? It's good to whine.
You'd better think about going home to rest for free."Uh-huh. We need to look for advantages even in
such a situation.It took half an hour to
call the cargo aerodine and get back to the office. The conversation with Jeremiah and
Ron about such an urgent flight to the USSR was very difficult. More precisely, about the reason for
such an unexpected turn of events."Marcus, why the hell are you
suddenly breaking down and taking the whole team with you? We had plans, and now you
want to it up. What's stopping you from flying off and sorting it out on your own. Last
time you did it, you flew yourself and got the guns you needed yourself." Jeremiah
asked.Deuce. How I don't want to
involve them in this case. The more people know what is really happening
, the higher the risk that there will be a leak that we most likely will not survive."I'll be honest with you, Jeremiah.
This is due to the fact that I wanted to improve the hacking and non-runner abilities of the Archangels,
and TT. generally. But I'll say, when I got what I wanted, I got into
some shit that a lot of people would want to rip my head off for. Not you, not even
Yerinobu, won't be able to protect me if the truth comes out. If something happens, everything will look
like it, so I did it myself, and it was only my initiative, and you're
just victims of circumstances."Marcus! Stop dodging the
answer. I realized that you were taking a very big risk for something very valuable.
But you still didn't tell me what it was. What can be so important and valuable that
you're willing to stick your head in the dragon's mouth yourself." Ron slammed his fist against the table, and
Jeremiah supported him."Ehh. Okay. I can only give you
a hint. Just one word. But you must be silent and generally erase all recordings
from cameras and bugs. Believe it. After lighting a cigarette and waiting for the nodding of an irritated Jeremiah
and Ron, he wrote one word on a small piece of paper.Datacrash.At first, their faces showed
incompetence and anger. But gradually it was replaced by disbelief, and then by a slight shock.
Jeremiah was the first to come to his senses, who abruptly crumpled up the paper, and then snatched a lit cigarette right
from my mouth and began to set fire to the paper. He did not succeed,
I had to give him a lighter and he was finally able to get rid of the dangerous evidence.Ron brazenly made his way to the
minibar in Jeremiah's office and took out a bottle of expensive whiskey, from which he took
a long sip. Picking up three glasses, he returned to us and poured the whiskey.Stress made us almost insensitive
to alcohol because we emptied our glasses without batting an eyelid. This
happened a couple of times until the cold grip of fear in our hearts weakened."Marcus. Within 12 hours, you and
your squad must leave Night City. After that, TT will not provide you
with any help or support officially. It will all be only your
initiative. Consider yourself in a long autonomous raid. The only help from
TT will be the contacts of some trusted fixers and a few
chips with a lot of money. You are not limited in time until you make sure that all
the threads leading to you and us are not destroyed. With a guarantee. Jeremiah said in a dry tone and visibly aged,
and then grabbed a bottle of whiskey and emptied it in one gulp."Yes, Marcus. You're practically a shadow operative now
. I'm going to settle everything about your
trip and stuff." Ron stood at the window and watched the sunset, but in the reflection you could
see how difficult it was for him to control himself.And I understand them perfectly. Jeremiah,
as a more experienced corporator, was the first to realize everything. Everything related to Datacrash
always arouses the interest of the powerful of this world. And knowing me, he realized that I
had stumbled upon something really important, and not just some note or
invaluable information. It didn't take long for Ron to understand
what all this threatens them with. Although from the fact that they are ready to give me a lot of money and
provide at least some help, they are not ready to disown me. Apparently, they also
realize that the higher the risk, the more valuable the prize."Okay. I'll go and make the guys happy and
solve my personal problems." I extinguished my cigarette and went to the hangar where my
guys guarded the cursed treasure."There is good and bad news.
Which one should I start with?" I turn to them after I have closed and checked the hangar for
surveillance."Let's go with the bad one, then. I don't think
there can be anything worse than this ice cream surprise." Private is the first to reply,
nervously polishing his shield with a rag and nodding his head at the sleeping Bartmoss."Bad. TT will actually put us
in the shadow mode. A minimum of help, although it can be said that there will be none
at all." "My answer made everyone feel a little disheartened, but still they
did not start to panic or rage."The good news is that unofficially
we'll be given a lot of money, plus the contacts of a couple of fixers who might be useful
there. And we're not limited in time. So consider it such a
vacation option. We have less than twelve hours before departure. We're leaving in pairs
to settle our issues. Everyone will be given a maximum of two hours. Me and Kowalski will
eat first. Then the rest. Tighten security. That's it, the report has gone.
The Kowalskis are off. We don't have much time. Without giving them a chance to ask questions, I leave the
hangar, urging Kowalski on."Okay, David. You have two hours
to say goodbye to your mom and contact Main and his Pokémon gang.
You'll get them to work as your mom's nanny bodyguards. When you need
money, call me. Now run!" I almost kick him in the
direction of Delamain's taxi, which I called in advance. One
of the employees of the finance department was waiting for me next to the taxi, who brought Vja.I grabbed the cat and went to Yerinobu.
We arrived quite quickly, to my luck he was at some kind of meeting, which
should end soon. Less than half an hour passed until we found ourselves in
a special office protected from wiretapping."And now my dear winged
friend. Can you tell me why you demanded a meeting with me so urgently that
you had to end an important meeting and practically run here?" Yerinobu
asked sarcastically, glancing at me and then at the cat. "Just don't say that you want me
to be your fat boy's guardian again.""That's right, Yerinobu. I
urgently need to leave Night City on very important business. Don't ask me what. They smell
so much blood that it's enough to wash the entire hotel." My stern tone made Yerinobu
stop fooling around."Are you getting into some
trouble? Who's behind this? Corpo?" Government? Individuals?"Let's put it this way. This time, I
was kind of forced to step on some shit. And the reason for this was
new artificial friends and acquaintances. They're going to talk to you, by the way." "To
confirm that Yerinobu had at least some idea who exactly I was talking about,
I'm making the word AI out of the wool of ViJa.Yerinobu did not particularly like such news,
judging by his stern eyes."Well, well. Won't it happen
that your situation won't happen to me again?" As I can see, the greeting gifts
turned out to be gifts from the Danaans."I don't know. Everything happened
somehow too quickly and unexpectedly. More reminiscent of the situation with Jin and the importance of
the exact formulation of the wish. I got what I wanted, but the gift turned out to be
too expensive and valuable to safely hold on to and use. Therefore,
in order to lose the gift and my head, I will have to leave Night City before others find out about
this gift."Hmm. Ok. Thank you for
warning. As for ViJa. I think there's enough room in my apartment for
another bachelor. But Marcus. You never said what kind of gift it was, which was so
valuable and dangerous at the same time."He's the one who created the
modern network. Or rather, he was the cause of the current state." Without naming names, I
pointed Yerinobu clearly to Bartmoss.Unlike the numb Ron and
Jeremiah, Yerinobu was able to maintain control over his emotions except
for his tightly clenched fists."Yes. A
very expensive and dangerous gift. It's like giving the philosopher's stone."You could say that. Okay,
Yerinobu, I've got to go. Thank you for agreeing to keep an eye on VJM."Good luck, Marcus. This time, it
won't hurt you. And thank you for warning me about such 'friends.'" Yerinobu
stood up, and we hugged goodbye."Where are you going?"- Russia. Well, you know, where there is sleep,
cold and tanks instead of cars."Hah. I hope you bring me
some interesting souvenirs.""yes. I'll bring some vodka. I'm just
taking a big fridge with me. I think after a tour like this, I'll
go drinking with you for a couple of weeks until all the booze I've brought is gone.
Or until Night City burns down after our revelry. And you, ViJ, listen to
Yerinobu and don't miss me." He patted ViJa at the end, who was sad, but knew
it was necessary.18 hours later.Pulkovo Airport. Leningrad.
USSR."Skipper, it's
cold here. Maybe we should him up and eat somewhere further south?" Kowalski remarked, shaking from the cold,
and Rico and Private nodded, supporting him."Kowalski! It's not cold yet.
It's not winter at all, it's just a protracted autumn. We'll
spend a few days here until we are taken to a special research institute. And it is located beyond the Urals, in the
heart of cold Siberia. But judging by the reports of meteorologists, this year we are lucky,
and the winter will be mild. "I answer them with a smile, at the same time I see how Manfredi and Johnson can
barely hold back their laughter when I said about the mild winter."Cool! That is, it will be like here,
but a couple of degrees lower?" Private asked with a twinkle of hope in his eyes."Well, almost. It can be as low as 7
°C here, and the place where we are going will be only 30°C lower." I answer with
a bright smile on my face."We're going to die in this
cold!" The Private, who almost
had a heart attack when it dawned on how cold it can be there, did not share my joy and optimism."Fear God, Private! It's still
a mild winter! It could fuck up to -40 ° C! You're still glad that we don't go to Yakutia
, that's where we definitely don't have an ass."The skipper is right. I served not far
from such a paradise as Oymyakon. The average temperature there is 45, and once
it was almost 60. So we were lucky, guys." Manfredi said impudently, grinning, and
Johnson opened his jacket, hinting that this was still a resort compared to what
awaited them in Siberia."Smile and wave, guys! At the same time
, you'll find out what real winter is! Come on, you're Penguin Commandos. Who else but
us is afraid of the cold." With a laugh, he finished the motivation-demotivation, driving his guys into
a state of horror and fear.Eh. I breathe in the cold air there,
but it's a long way from the true breath of the north that I enjoyed so much in my
past life. And then I glanced at our valuable cargo. Well, there's some
twisted logic here. It's easier to hide a tree in the woods. So I guess
hiding Reich Bartmoss who is in hibernation in one of the medical research institutes
studying cryostasis wouldn't be a bad idea.And it will not be superfluous to test new toys
in truly harsh climatic conditions. Although the
winter this year is mild, so if you still have to go to Oymyakon, at the same time
one of the brothers will remember all the charms of a conscript in the North.