Complaining about stuff.

((For the record, Leonard has a Dominican accent.))

Leonard shook hands with a firm, but metered grip. He released his grip and clasped his hands behind hsi back before speaking. "Ah yes, tha sword. A beautifolly rendered piece. Almost liek a reploca of some weapon from tha past." He brought his hands back around, and tapped a few keys on the PET he wore on his forearm. "Allow me to bring mahself up to speed." Leonard then stood there for the next several minutes while looking into his PET's display and occasionally tapping a key or two here and there. After a good ten or so minutes, he looked up from his pet, and spoke again. "Well, now. From all accounts, it really does look liek Pianissimo came in to pick up tha blade. Howevah, I do find it straange that he would choose to show up looking as he did, and tha way that he did."

Leonard tapped a few more keys on his PET, and an image of an internetwork gateway appeared in a small holographic window between him and Duke. The gateway itself looked like a ring with a portal filling the space within. As the video began to play, the Netopian man narrated helpfully. "This here is tha net gateway to Electown." A every so often, a beam of light would shoot through the open portal. The man paused the video and highlighted one of three beams interacting with the gateway. It was the one entering the portal. "That was your Navi." He resumed the video, and fast forwarded roughly 7 minutes, if the time stamp in the upper right corner was accurate that is. The video resumed normal speed, and about 12 seconds later, the shadowy doppleganger of Pianissimo stepped through the portal. "And this... Is also your Navi?"

Duke watched the second video, nodding at Pianissimo's departure from the NetSquare with the Bird God. Okay, that part definitely happened he thought as the video returned to real time. Twelve seconds passed, and...Pianissimo reappeared?

"Unless that statue somehow warped time to the point where that entire trip over Electown somehow took less than twelve seconds, no."

"Of course it's not me. I jacked out after the mission," Pianissimo added. And of course, for the amount of time they had spent flying, there was no way he would have walked back.

Leonard nodded. "If that isn't your Navi, then let us find out whose etwas." The man started punching keys on his PET, and the image vanished to be replaced by a list of some sort. A few more key punches, and a light green outline box scrolled down the list at high speed. It occasionally blinked, and displayed the contents of the entry it had blinked on in a second window. By the time the program had finished running, there were 11 names on that list, and Pianissimo was one of them. The security man frowned, and pressed a few more buttons, which cut the list down further. A few more rounds of this, and Leonard sighed. The list had long ago settled on 6 names, and didn't appear to decrease any further. "Well now. I've narrowed it down ta ah few Navis. We have Voltman, Mirage, RedRidingHood, and Void. They are tha only Navis with recorded interaction with your own. HoloBeta also appears here, but thar is no record of prior interaction with your Navi." Leonard did not mention the sixth name, making it more than likely Pianissimo.

"We never actually met Void, that was just Mirage impersonating him. Unless I missed something," Duke corrected. He made a note on his PET that Mirage was still the most likely suspect, even if she hadn't known about the sword at the time.

He noticed the unread sixth name and asked "Is there anyone else?"

"You know that's just going to be my name, right?" Pianissimo remarked.

Duke shrugged. "Might as well. But in that case, what exactly is that list of?"

"Yes, my apologies. Our records are off thanks to her." Leonard said as he punched in a series of commands. He kept punching in commands, but responded to Duke's questions as he did so. "No. Tha last entry is Pianissimo." And a few seconds later: "It is a list of Navis potentially capable of stealing the sword. It is far from perfect, since it is just a simple search of sorts with filters applied." The man smiled at something he saw on his PET screen. "Well now. I think this might interest you."

As Leonard punch a few keys, the holographic screen refreshed and displayed a public BBS message: BBS

Duke nodded in response, then posted a quick reply to the BBS. "I don't suppose I could get a copy of the video data, could I?" he asked.

"No problam." Leonard said as he took a flash card out of his pocket, and inserted it into his PET. A few seconds later, and he took the card back out and handed it to Duke. "I don't have any more info for you at tha moment. If you come back in a few hours, I may be able to help you further."

Duke accepted the flash card, pocketing it. "Thanks for your help," he said, standing up. He looked at his PET, seeing a response to the BBS topic, then left the colosseum to head for the NetCafe.

Returning to the colosseum, Duke wandered up to the front desk and called the receptionist over again. "Hey, I was here earlier about a missing sword program and was told you guys might be able to help me further later. Of course I'm probably talking to the wrong person, so I don't suppose I could speak to Mr. Leonard Korrigan again?"

The receptionist looked up from her console as Duke and Miriya approached. "Can help you?" She then listened attentively to Duke, and once he was finished speaking, replied: "One moment please." A few key strokes later, and she added: "He has been notified, and will be with you shortly, Mr. Rigel."

--------

A few minutes later, and Leonard Korrigan walked out into the lobby. As he walked towards Duke and Miriya, it became apparent that his earlier happy demeanor didn't seem to be present this time. It wasn't until he was standing right in front of the two of them that he began speaking, and in a more hushed tone. "Hello, Mr. Rigel and Miss Takemura. Your timing is excellant. Please follow me to my office." The large Netopian man turned and began walking away.

Miriya's eyebrows flew up. She'd expected Leonard to haze her about the current situation, and had been totally disappointed. She blinked, shook her head, then walked after him.

---------

When the group reached Leonard's office, the security officer opened the door and gestured for them to walk in. Waiting inside was a young Netopian woman in fairly bland casual attire (a pale green shirt and jeans) seated at one of the numerous chairs around a decent sized meeting table. She turned to look up at the new arrivals, and stood to greet them. "Hello there." She was taller than Miriya, but maybe a bit younger as well. "I assume the two of you are Duke Rigel and Miriya Takemura?"

Miriya raised an eyebrow, and began speaking cautiously... "You seem to have the advantage of us, miss...?"

"Oh, good. I do have the right people." The young woman smiled. "I'm Heather. A contractor working on behalf of the GNA. I was hired to handle a case that has now become related to the disappearance of your Navigator, Mirage." She looked over at Duke. "This also concerns you, Mr. Rigel. Perhaps more than it does Ms. Takemura."

"I'd like to think the disappearance of my partner, Mirage, concerns me greatly, thanks." Miriya replied, sounding a bit miffed. "Especially carrying off that particular sword when she vanished."

"I totally understand. And have a bit of good news in that regard, but first..." Heather turned back to Duke. "I'd like to hire you and your Navi to help me and my Navi with our mission, which is to locate and either secure or delete a total of three extremely dangerous programs that have taken the shape of swords. That happens to include the one you had with you, Mr. Rigel."

Duke only managed an "...erm..." as Heather introduced herself. He remained silent as she talked, narrowing his eyes slightly as she referred to the swords as "extremely dangerous programs".

"You obviously know much more about these 'programs' than I do," he said after she finished. "I'll help you, but I'd like you to fill me in on what exactly they are."

"Are you for real?" Miriya said in a clearly surprised manner as Duke admitted to knowing nothing about the sword his Navi had been in possession of. She looked like she wanted to say more, but couldn't decide what to say quick enough, as Heather proceeded to answer Duke's question: "I'm not sure who created them or for what purpose, but from what the GNA has told me so far, I gather they're every bit as capable as an operated Navi packing a full folder of battlechips. It's also my understanding they were created for battle, but against what is anyone's guess."

Once Heather was finished speaking, Miriya waited expecting to hear the younger woman say something more. When it became clear Heather had nothing more to add... "You're kidding me... That's all they told you?"

"Yes."

"And you didn't do any research of your own? Oh come on..."

"Oh, I have that covered." Heather smiled. "I was going to do the smart thing and get an info broker to fill in the blanks for me. Luckily, the broker I'm looking for is sitting in this room."

Miriya stood there quietly for a few seconds, her expression inscrutable. When she finally did speak, her tone was all business. "...Alright, but I have my price."

"Naturally."

"Further, I know who you are, so I'm willing to delay payment until after your mission is complete."

"I'm flattered... How much?"

"Mirage." Miriya said flatly before continuing in her previous business like tone. "Return my Navi to me unharmed and I won't charge you a Zenny. Else, the price for my brokerage starts at the cost of NEMA Tech's recovery service plus 50,000 Zenny."

Heather whistled. The NEMA Tech corporation's world class data recovery service was expensive... expensive to the tune of several million Zenny. "I don't think I can afford you."

"Don't give me that. We both know the GNA can foot the bill as a liability claim. I just want my Navi back. I don't care about the money." Miriya paused for a moment, then added: "Anyway, those are my terms."

"I accept."

"Good." Miriya said as she took a micro recorder out of her pocket and pointedly turned it off before putting it back. Heather didn't seem very surprised to see it. "You were right about one thing, the swords, and their other weaponized brethren, are as capable as Navis. This is true because they are Navis. Rather, they started out as Navigators, and were modified to be what they are now." Miriya walked over to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down. "The individual responsible for this change is unknown, but my theory is that it was one of the old network Administrators. The Administrators being the predecessors of the current network governing body, the GNA. Probably a pair with an aptitude for programming and code splicing. And yes, I'm aware that that would place their time of origin a bit more than a century in the past. There is evidence to support that. Also, as for why they were modified... I'm really not entirely certain. Major networking threats such as the Cybeasts did not exist back then, and the Administrators didn't fight amongst each other. That's common sense if you ask me...." She sighed. "Anyway, the reason they are so dangerous is pretty much what Heather just said... They literally are Navis with their own set of innate abilities and access to a full folder's worth of battlechips without the need for a human operator. It is suspected that they are able to edit their own programming slowly over long periods of time. In other words, they are self evolving."

"That explains the airsword," Pianissimo commented from Duke's PET. Duke nodded in agreement, it also explained the strange and complex readings from the sword objects...though not as much the spike that crashed his scanning software. He wondered for a moment who would be capable of programming something like that and briefly remembered Altair, but dismissed the memory, doubting she even existed on the old network.

Deciding Miriya's explanation was satisfactory for the moment, he gave a nod and turned to Heather, saying "Very well. What do you need me to do?"

"That's good to hear." Heather said. "There are three networks with unusual activity recorded in them. The locations are YumNet, HadesNet, and VegasNet. My Navigator is checking out VegasNet as we speak. I was hoping you'd take one of the other two locations." She reached into a pants pocket, retrieved a flash card from it, and handed it to Duke. "The data for all three locations is on that chip. If you encounter your particular sword, I'd be perfectly fine with you just pacifying it in whatever manner you've managed up until now. They only need to be secured, but deletion is an option if they're not cooperating. And..." She looked at Miriya. "...Try to help Mirage if you run into her. My employers would be very upset at having to compensate Ms. Takemura for the loss of her Navigator."

Miriya sagged in her chair with a sigh relief upon hearing that.

Heather looked back at Duke. "Okay? You will be compensated a portion of my contract's pay, of course...."

Duke nodded, taking the flash card. "I'll do that," he said, giving a nod to Heather before walking out of the office and returning to the lobby.
___

Settling in his old seat from during the irritating Bird God mission, Duke set up his chip folder once again and jacked in.