The Mechified in Question

The Subject is Moses, a Labor unit modified for extreme conditions. You might have heard of him, actually. A delver. He's actually opened up at least one significant vein of Blackrock in a sector we thought was too hostile to tunnel in cheaply.

He's the second child of Hessia and Hammerhand. They lived in Sector 121 before the big collapse. Moses was 8, and he lived down there for days before a salvage crew found him. You might find some archived newsprints about it, actually. Most of the family is dead now - just a brother and maybe a couple cousins.

Caught the attention of one Namie Amuro - yes, the very same. She's his youngest daughter, and spoiled. She decided she wanted this Mech-kid as a friend - felt bad for him, or something. So they purchased his family debt and he moved in.

In retrospect, they should've gotten her a different fucking pet. But anyway.

He had the chance to learn more than they usually do, growing up in that family. He decided that he was a survivor, so he had to put that to use. He became a deep-delver, modifying himself in the usual ways. Made something of a name for himself, as I told you. Word is, he's pretty simple. Does his job but isn't deep, you know? Not a talker.

The key here is that, at some point, a certain artifact went missing from the Amuro family vaults. We're still subpoenaing the records, but we believe it was a First Mind artifact of unknown capacity. We've...interrogated some of the security staff, and one mentioned the words "Difference Engine". Mean anything to you? Yeah, me neither. But the last person, we think, to access the vault before it went missing was...you guessed it - Namie.

So the smart money is that Moses has this Difference Engine, and a few weeks later we have the incident with Assistant Director Ichiro Jun. Coincidence? We don't think so.

Whatever it is, it's a threat to us. Maybe something happened, maybe the AD got close. Who knows? The thing is - we need this artifact, and the easiest way is to cut it out of his corpse. Before this whole thing gets out of hand. You know how it goes.

Here's the file to look over. You'll probably have to go down there, and its quite a warren. Probably hire a guide - but not a Mech. Like I said, he was known. Too bad you have to (he looks her up and down) get your nice clothes dirty.

She smiles and rises to take the file.

"If blood washes out, dirt shouldn't be a problem."

6 comments:

Aric Clark said...

Ooohhh. mysterious. We'll have to talk about what you imagine the First Mind artifact is or does.

Paul Wise said...

Out of curiosity, is the person receiving the briefing intended to be Rei, or is just a random being sent to retrieve the First Mind artifact?

Douglas Underhill said...

Aric: gotcha - I'm actually thinking that the artifact will be Moses' Kata Kariana and a plot hook - or not

Paul: either :)

Aric Clark said...

The artifact will definitely make a good plot hook. And could be a suitable vehicle for the Kata Kariana as well, depending. It's a cool twist, because the Allskin will want to know why it apparently works for you when it should only work for an Allskin. Or maybe it ISN'T working properly... who knows.

Douglas Underhill said...

I was also thinking it would be interesting if it wasn't actually true that First Mind artifacts only worked for Allskin - that's just what they always said when they were in power :)

What I imagine is an analog AI, essentially, like in The Difference Engine by William Gibson or the one in the junkyard in Perdido Street Station (or not analog - I'm not perfectly clear on what technologies the Cheldrun have)

This analog AI will fill the position of "YHVH" to this particular bastardization of Moses - speaking to him, protecting him (his KK will be mostly in the blue/protective/spirit range I'm thinking) and maybe even create "plagues"...

Aric Clark said...

Ha! Okay I like the engine as YHVH! :p

But no - the First Mind Artifacts do not work for non-Allskins. The Biomades have been trying for centuries. Even believing they could fool the artifacts by making the right genetic changes. However, the Artifacts have stubbornly resisted being used by anyone but Allskins (as far as anyone knows). The oldest Allskin families have refused to say why this is, or perhaps they don't know either.

In anycase it would definitely be extraordinary that an artifact would work for Moses. I think that's a great plot hook, mind you. It's going to draw all sorts of unwanted attention.


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