That morning he had been living on rice crackers and krill paste. This was a bit much, all at once, and he stood there a little slack-jawed taking it all in. I hope you have no trouble locating a team. “We’ll pay the taxes on this property for one year. It now belongs to you, pending your contract.” This warehouse was one of their meeting places. You needn’t worry yourself about the previous team. He financed a special team once and according to his contract, needs to keep a team active prior to his retirement. To do so, he has certain obligations that need to be met. “The circumstances that lead to our meeting are these: my employer is in a position to retire. You’ve been … carefully chosen … by my employer.” He paused to let that sink in. He held his hand out in the ancient custom. He grabbed the handle of his red leather briefcase in one hand and threw the stub of his cheroot away with the other. He obviously wanted to hide who he worked for. Seeing William, he moved forward revealing a LogoBlock on the trunk. He saw the tail lights of a car inside the slip E property and a man in a dark suit smoking in the darkness, leaning on the trunk. The smell coming off Elliott Bay tonight was a bit ripe, but it didn’t bother him much. Probably for unloading container vessels, though you’d be mad to try that on a pier in this shape. An old rail spur ran the length of the pier and ended in a giant crane. C and D seemed to have taken some damage from something as the buildings had partially collapsed and the dock was missing in a couple of places. There were old beat up cars and trucks and a number of trailers and shanties. Slips A and B seemed to be some kind of transient trailer park or something. William had brought a little courage with him and got it loose in the sheath in case of any trouble. A tall map showed that slip E was at the farthest end. There was heat from bodies sprawled around behind other hulks and against fences.Īs he came up to the dock he noticed the big sign proclaiming this to be Pier 90. Thermograph showed he had a healthy temperature. An Orc was passed out in an old topless car, a bottle of Mescal in one hand, SimSense deck in the other. Coming up on it from the yard, he saw derelict metas all over. A quick cab ride to the train yards and he finished walking the rest of the way. He finished the shower, had another can of coffee and left. He nearly killed himself getting to it just as the 5th ring began. William had gotten sick of staring at it and was having a shower when it went off. It took nearly 3 hours for the phone to ring. He wondered who could know who he was or where to find him. He had no idea of his past beyond the last two months and this could be a clue. This was a legit Zurich Orbital credstik. He opened a can of coffee from the fridge, sat down and tipped the contents of the envelope onto his table: a disposable phone (1 minute, local, incoming only), a green key card (no logo), and a black credstick. The level of suspense was pretty high at this point, but he wanted to take his time to digest every facet of this. He applied his thumb to the seal on the back and a quick chemical burn happened along the marked end. William closed the door and locked it again. He was either paid in advance or knew not to expect a tip in that neighbourhood. He handed over a red fiber envelope from his SecurBag, touched his hat and left. The courier, a hip young guy with a bit of stubble, confirmed the delivery ident by having him thumb the scanner. William was pretty sure that nobody would go to such elaborate lengths to get his meagre belongings, so he didn’t even check before opening the door. This was a Quann rental and all of his belongings would fit neatly into two carry boxes. There was nothing to clean up even if the courier came in. Mashing the entry key on the wall he croaked, “Fourth floor. He wondered what the drek could this be about. He quickly ticked off the bills in his headlist to make sure they were all paid. A bonded courier van was parked outside and a young man in brown coveralls reached for the buzzer. Wiping his eyes hard to lube them up a bit he opened the window to see who it was. He’d been up all night combing the net on a borrowed line in the back of a laundromat, trying to find work. The creds just weren’t there to get it fixed yet. He automatically checked his retinal clock and subtracted 8 hours to get the local time. The door chime sounded, waking him from a dreamless sleep.
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