Stray Cat Strut

Chapter Thirty-Nine - Long Odds

“There are all sorts of systems to determine the worth of a Samurai. The internet has many of these, from ranks based on popularity, to scales of theoretical power.

Most corporations have adopted a much simpler ‘Phase’ system that goes from A to C, with the occasional ‘D.’”

--Excerpt from ‘Understanding the Unknowable,’ A 2049 textbook.

***

The door had a great big ‘Employees Only’ sign across it. That part was easy to ignore. What wasn’t was the heavy lock holding the door shut. I sighed and pulled my Trench Maker out from its holster, then backed up a couple of steps.

I pinched my tongue between my lips and aimed down the sights atop the gun until it was nice and lined up. The .45 round tore a dollar-coin sized hole in the lock, a hole that glowed red and started to melt around the edges.

A quick kick shoved the door open. “Man, I love these bullets,” I said as I looked into the next room over.

There are plenty of interesting types of ammunition that might interest you. I’ll earmark a few for future testing.

“Cool,” I said. I was actually looking forward to it. “And maybe... maybe I could use an arm.”

I’m surprised it took you this long to ask. Your missing arm and eye are something of a hindrance.

“Yeah well, whatever,” I said.

We’ll find you a good one. Though I think that, in this case, you might want to invest in something of decently high quality. Perhaps a Class II prosthetic once you obtain the points and tokens to unlock that kind of catalogue.

“Tokens?” that was new.

Unlocking a Class I catalogue is simple, and a Vanguard can go very far just by unlocking a number of these. But Class II and onwards have technologies that are beyond humanity’s current capability to reproduce. They are commensurately more expensive, and each catalogue requires a number of tokens to be unlocked. Think of them as signs that you’ve saved enough humans to earn technologies that could potentially endanger your entire race.

That sounded like a shitty gimmick, and at the same time made some sense. Giving the crazies nukes was never a good idea. “Class I is good for smaller things, right?”

It’s more than sufficient, I think, for most of the challenges you’ll face. I would suggest aiming for Class II equipment in any field you truly want to specialize in. A new arm, for example, will not need to be replaced as frequently if the first one you purchase is of high enough quality.

“Right, right,” I said. The ‘employee only’ area was a bit of a crapshoot. There were boxes lining the sides of the corridor, probably with stuff for the museum, and I passed a little warehouse area with large industrial shelves packed with crap that I didn’t think was terribly important.

And then I found another locked door. This one was thicker, with a whole lot more warning signs on it. And in its centre, next to a symbol that warned that anyone passing the door without authorization would be fined, was a large logo.

“Longbow Industrial Weapons Technologies,” I read. “That sounds promising.”

The security around the door is Vanguard built.

I looked to the side where a flat stainless-steel panel rested next to the door. “Think you can break in for me?”

I’m afraid not. But I can knock.

“Knock?” I asked

The system is linked to a distant server, which is in turn linked to one of my siblings. I cannot ask them to open the door, but I can establish a connection to their Vanguard. If they want it.

“Alright?” I said.

Establishing! And done!

“Now what?” I asked before looking around. “Can I shoot the door off its hinges yet?”

“That’d be a bit rude.”

I snapped around to stare at where the voice came from. The panel next to the door had shifted, revealing an image of a man sitting in a darkened room filled with yellow-orange lights that shone down on a mixture of huge computers and shelves with little figurines.

The man himself was, without a doubt, a samurai. Every part of his face from the nose up was hidden behind a visor that looked like a flat steel plate with inset lights. He was leaning back into one of those ‘gamer’ seats, one hand out of the screen, but the other was fiddling with a lit cigarette.

“The fuck are you?” I asked.

The man grinned. “Calm your tits, sis, I’m big bro Longbow.” He gestured in my direction with his cigarette. “You’re the one who knocked. What’s up? I don’t recognize you. Also, what happened to your face?”

“I’m.. Cat,” I said. Then I glared for good measure. “And my face got blown up a bit. Took my eye and arm.”

“Nah. There’s like, three cats already” he said. “Sorry little sis, that one’s taken.” He pulled something from the side and a large keyboard slid into view atop a sort of gantry. He stuffed his cigarette in his mouth, then his hands burst apart into a panoply of smaller mechanized fingers that stabbed into the board faster than I could see. “Hrm, middle of an incursion huh? Oh, you’re not a cat, you’re a kitten. That name’s not taken if you want. Also, check out class one bio sculpting. You’ll look better in no time.”

“Fuck no,” I said to both.

“Right, well, find something before the trolls give you a name is my advice. So, why’d you call? I am a bit busy you know?”

“I’m...” I shook my head. This was beyond strange. Samurai were supposed to be... big. Like celebrities. Above the normal masses. And this skinny guy sitting god knows where was just... chill. “I’m new. Really new,” I said. “I’m trying to get my friends out of this building, we wanted to turn on the AA on the roof, use it as a distraction to get out of here.”

“Huh,” Longbow said. “Right, right, I can see. You know, that AA system is like, thirty-kay points.”

My heart sank.

“You owe me a drink one of these days, alright.”

“What?”

He tilted his head a little. “What what?”

“You’ll turn it on?” I asked.

“I mean, it’s that or let ya die or whatever, so yeah. It’ll make a few points before the bugs get to it and munch it up, I’m sure. Damn thing has been a point sink anyway.”

I swallowed. That was... generous. “Thanks?” I tried.

“No problem sis. Oh, how about Stray Cat? It’s free.”

“What?”

“Your name. I mean, you could go with your birth name, but that’s uncool.”

“I guess?” I tried.

He grinned while a third arm moved from off screen and pulled his cigarette out of his mouth. “I’m running a quick diagnostic to mak-- ah, fuck me sideways.” He shook his head, and I had the impression he would have been frowning if he could. “Right, bit of a problem, sis.”

“What?” I asked. Was this the other shoe? “You can’t turn it on?”

“Oh, sure I can. But the doors above it aren’t opening. Give me a sec, I’m looking for a camera around the city that has a view... and... there’s a hovercar parked on the roof? What a dipshit. There’s yellow-tape an’ all. For fuck’s sake.”

“Seriously?” I asked.

“Yeah. Lemme see if I can take remote control of it, move it off the top.” Longbow shifted to the side and a fourth arm brought a drink closer to his mouth, a fancy thing, with a little straw and a no-shit umbrella in it. “Hrm, car’s fucked.” He looked by towards the screen. “Think you can get up there and boot it out of the way?”

“And then you’ll activate it?” I asked.

“Sure thing, sis. Uh, you got a way to fly back down to your buddies?”

I shook my head.

“Well, looks like you’ll be stuck on the roof. No problem. I’m going to pop the door open. There’s a door to another roof access. You go over, chuck the car off the side, blow it up, whatever, and I’ll turn on the AA. Then you get your ass into cover and wait for the cavalry, alright?”

“And my friends?” I asked.

Longbow smiled. “Nothing to worry about, sis. Big bro Longbow will take care of everything.”