TITLE:A DARK VISION OF THE FUTURE - CHAPTER 1 - By TRID. K. and MOP PALETTE:0333 0889 0b9a 06ac 3 CHAPTER I The future hasn't been written yet. No one's has. If we fuck it up today, it'll be only US, the ones, our grandsons will blame! 2 - MOP of ALCATRAZ The Dark Space, Deadly and Cold. But The Technological Advances lessened the dangerous risks of Space Travels. A Space Colony was drifting around KEID I, a Planet in the KEID System. The First Settlers came here in 2391; that was c.a. 800 years ago. Heavily armoured and loaded with missiles the FORTRESS circulated over 300 years around KEID I. ARES ARMS & CYBER RESEARCH LTD, a HIGHTECH Corporation, made it possible to build this Giant SteelWheel. Some People Called it THE WHEEL, because it looks like a very Large wheel. It's diameter is about 2,5 kilometres, and the tube, where all the people live in, has a diameter of 300 meters. Sven knows nearly all of the Decks, even the Decks with the Highest Security Rating. Sven is one of the modern Wizards called DECKERS. With his Neural Interface he can control his Matrix Operations. The Matrix was installed nearly 1500 years ago. This System allows you to travel through The Grid Shaped Computer Nets. Each Colony has its own Net or MATRIX. The Biggest MATRIX was installed on EARTH. Earth - the Blue Planet; Sven has never seen this World. He knows that his mother came from there, and that she was the reason why he was different from all the others. The others? They look pretty, very pretty. But Sven? He's just a Mutant. The only reason that he still lives here, on FORTRESS, is that he is a very hot DECKER. But he isn't sure about this any more. While running the matrix, Sven discovered a small Black hole. The Station Matrix Construct was built like a HIGHTECH FORTRESS. His Persona Programme walked through the dark corridors and entered the small hole. He was really surprised to find an SPU there. The six sided Tower in front of him was ... no ... that was a CPU; a Central Processing Unit. But to have a proper function for the official Net it was too well hidden. And too less Protected. There was only a Security Rating: Blue. Nothing that would Harm him if he was clever enough. Slowly his Persona walked ahead. The CPU had just one entrance; that was very unusual. He activated the Watcher Code and sneaked inside, happy about the fact that he had improved the In/Out put rate of his Deck. Inside the CPU looked like a mid-aged Castle; Data libraries looked like Weapon and Armour stores. He wondered about the fact that there were no security codes around. This was really interesting, but he didn't want to waste any time with a deep data scan. To start a browse Code would be the best thing to do for now. If there was something Hot it would be downloaded to his built in Memorystore. Suddenly his SECURE EYE programme gave him a warning sound. A few seconds later he noticed that a TrackDown programme was coming out from a door behind him. The TD Code had a wolf-like shape. A Silver wolf; How much would it had cost to get such a nice animated Icon?! Too bad that it will get blown off now! Sven activated his attack Code. He waited till the wolf was near enough for a secure shot. But, the wolf stood motionless, still in that same spot where it had first come in sight. Something must be wrong. Sven turned around, but it was too late! The Samurai Construct was fast and silent, a real mean machine. Before Sven knew what hit him, it was already over. The Image of the Net Exploded into his Head, an unresisting Pain swept throughout his nerves. Time passed, then he slowly opened his eyes and saw the well-known living room where he began his run. A bad taste reached his nose, a strange smell. Plastic. SHIT! That was Grey ICE; this fraggin Drekheads had melted his Cyberdeck. Watching the smoking Deck he thought about what to do now. The data in his brain memory needed to be infiltrated, maybe there was still something worth enough for buying a new Deck. But first of all he had to leave his Flat. It was too risky to stay here. Sven grabbed a bag, credstick and some personal things. A last moment to think about some protection. Out there he would need some Fire power! He remembered the old 357 Magnum from his Mother. He found just two full Clips with Explosive rounds for it. Lucky Boy, that Peacemaker had a build in Smartgun Adapter. That makes Easy Hunting. Wasting no more time, he was out. Meanwhile the Station slowly turned around KEID and once more the nightlife took place at the Freetime Decks. Thousands of citizens rushed through the Gangways from and to the Living quarters. No one noticed the Razorguy walking through the Floor asking for the way to Flat 231 c1. An old man living in that area told him where to go. Looking like the old TERMINATOR ARNIE, the mysterious Razorguy stood before Apartment 231 c1. His right Cybereye glowed red when he took his sawn off Mossberg auto shotgun. Nobody was there to see what was going to happen. With a loud Hammering Noise the door was gone and the shrapnels flew around. The smoke swept around the rest of the door. A small "click" and a heavy "pock" disrupted the silence. The Razorguy rushed around the next corner as a big "BOOOOM" shattered Sven's quarter. Seconds after the explosion the Security Officer received the alarm on Deck 5, Area 5b, Flat 231 c1. The Computer informed the Officer about the Damage. Seven Quarters' were totally destroyed, 15 People were killed or wounded. The Cause was a MAXI Grenade. The Station Security was now on RED ALARM. Sven boarded his hover ship and headed down to FATs, a Nightclub where all the Mutants gathered for some fun after work. Maybe he will find FastJoy down there. But anyway, FATs was the safest place at the moment. Tonight most tunnel ways were jammed with all the traffic, so it was not necessary to make a scan for the shortest possible way. Although Sven didn't want to waste any time, he just had to go by. Meanwhile, he thought that it would be very informative for him to switch on the information channel. Sven was not very happy with this latest news he was listening to! A red alarm was in course and security guardians must now be patrolling all over the area. Fortunately enough he hadn't left anything important behind him, at his flat. But now, the most important thing was to reach FATs, as fast as possible. There he would also be able to get a new Deck and some help. Entering FATs, Sven immediately tried to focus his attention on the people near the bar area. Although he looked carefully, he couldn't see FastJoy. But maybe it was too early for FastJoy to show up for tonight. Sven decided to find a clear place near the bar area, so as he would be able to see everything that was going on. As he settled down and asked for a drink, another mutant moved towards Sven. It was his friend FastJoy. Before Fastjoy could settle down, Sven was telling him everything about the black hole and the red alarm in his area. Fastjoy smiled. Sven was quite astonished by all this, but after all FastJoy was also a mutant Decker, and he had more Cyberware than any other mutant would dare to look at! Because Fastjoy's headware was also equipped with a neural interface, he was able to always get the latest news. "Joy, something really hot is going on! That Tower was too much unprotected, and suddenly, as soon as I went nearby ... my CyberDeck was out of action! And then, moments later, a red alarm bursts out!" "Sure, it really looks as if you've tripped into something you shouldn't, eh! How about jumping to Mock's clinic? I think that it would be the best thing to do now. We must rescue any information your damaged deck might still have!" "I have all my personal stuff in my hover ship, so we should better gather everything from there, and use your hover. If someone or something is after us, we should put him down now, or else we would really get into a lot of extra trouble afterwards..." Joy and Sven left FATs and hurriedly headed to Sven's hover, where they gathered all his stuff, and went away. It took them only a few moments to reach Joy's hover, so they immediately flew off.