GHOSTS

“Where did you really find this shit, Deck?” Hyousuke groaned into his hands. He was stretched out on the couch in his pale empty living room. Glowing and cascading all around him were the projections from his vee-deck array. Jojo stood speechless, bathed in the aquamarine and amber, staring into the glow. Deck couldn’t make sense of the towering lines of code and text.

Deck couldn’t help but feel agitated. “It’s like I told you when I dropped it off. I snagged it off some broad on Market. Now what the hell am I looking at?” He took the sniffer from his pocket and tossed into the table with rack of vee-deck consoles. Hyousuke shot up with the clattering the little device made against the table.

“A goddamn nightmare is what it is!” Hyousuke shouted, throwing his hands up wildly at the projections. “That, that is a heavily coded fucking shipping manifest. Biggest one I’ve ever seen, Deck. It took me an entire day throwing every cracker and jammer I could think of at it. I don’t even know what clicked through the wall. I left some force attack program cycling and nodded off last night. When I woke up, it was wide open. Dock locations, fake drop times, embellished container manifests. This is huge, man.” He sighed and massaged his temples.

The cascade of numbers and words washed over one another like a digital waterfall. Deck still couldn’t make sense of all it together.

“So what’s in it, Hyousuke?” Deck grumbled impatiently.

“Yeah, Yo-yo. I don’t get it either,” Jojo said, full of confusion, finally breaking her slack-jawed silence.

The skinny data whiz glared at Deck with sleepless, bloodshot eyes.

“I’ll show you,” he muttered cryptically.

His shoulders drooped under some unseen weight as he dragged himself over to the vee-deck table and scooped up his hap-set. After tugging on the gloves and the headset, Hyousuke began to wave through the lines of code swiftly until there were five walls of glowing data hovering in front of him like windows with the curtains drawn. Reaching out to each one, he tapped individual strings of code. Like cards being flipped over on a poker table, three-dimensional renderings appeared on each frame.

Deck knew what was on the manifest as soon as Hyousuke turned around to address him.

“They’re augmentation packages. Military grade. Weapons, Deck.”

The first schematic was for a set of complete prosthetic arms, all the way up the shoulders. Like Silas has. From the rendering, they were thick with nano-fiber musculature. The skeletal structure looked just like the biological bones it was modeled after. The image of the right arm flickered and flexed, and when the wrist folded over back onto the forearm, a large flat blade emerged from the socket underneath. When it stopped, the blade depicted was almost longer than forearm itself.

Deck stepped closer to the display as the left arm split in half, like a crab’s pincer and formed a wicked looking claw from the opened forearm. It looked as though it could tear a man in half.

The second was a pair of legs, built in the same fashion, chiseled with nano-fiber muscles, as though to conjure the image of a man in perfect physical form. These legs too had long flat blades buried in the lower leg.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Deck. What in the hell did you steal?” Jojo gasped, turning to Deck with her hand over her mouth. The lithe bartender had always maintained a gruff and standoffish air about her, but now Deck saw genuine worry in her pale face.

“I…I have no idea,” Deck mumbled. He felt defeated and foolish. She was just a girl. Just some hipster girl in the Market. What have I gotten myself into — gotten us into?

“You see this torso replacement here?” Hyousuke said, pointing at the rendering directly above him.

At first glance, it looked like armor in the shape of a cagefighter’s build. It had broad shoulders and wide, flat muscles across the chest plating. Hyousuke tapped the center of the image and the torso split open, revealing the interior components.

“Is…is that an — are those organs?” Deck stammered in disbelief.

“Artificial ones, but yes. Best I can tell, non-essentials aren’t there. Just a synthetic heart, and…those,” Hyousuke said, somewhat defeatedly.

Nestled beside the bulbous, translucent fist which was the heart, were two identically-shaped lungs. They looked just like the real thing, but seemed to be suspended in a sort of gelatinous substance, turquoise in color, radiating a cool glow. When they heaved and expanded, tons of tiny little bubbles filled the clear substance around them, and when they contracted, all of the bubbles disappeared. Deck was mystified and uneasy. He could feel his stomach turning, but could not look away.

“I’ve never seen anything like this, Hyo. The fuck’s going on?” Deck said.

Hyousuke tore off his hap-set and stood beneath the glowing images, hanging his head.

“I really don’t know, man. This just shouldn’t be here. We shouldn’t have this. We need to tell the boss,” he said, motioning to Deck for a cigarette. Deck pulled one from his jacket pocket, lit it, and handed it to him.

“Good luck with that. We’ve been trying to get a hold of Silas all night. No answer,” Jojo interjected as she trotted over to them. “Besides, what’s he gonna do except ream you?” she said gesturing toward Deck.

“He’ll probably know what better to do with it than we do,” Deck muttered, lighting a cigarette for himself. “Is there any way to tell who this might belong to, Hyo?” he asked.

Hyousuke looked up at him from the floor with his hopeless eyes.

“I haven’t wanted to know that. All this is bad enough, Deck. Once this thing has a name on it, I just know we’re fucked good and proper,” the thin techhead said forlornly.

“Look, man. I’m just as freaked out by all this hardware as you, but if we know who it belongs to, we might be able…”

“Be able to what, Deck?! Return it?!” Hyousuke shot up and lunged at Deck. “I can see it now: ‘Sorry about the mix-up, Mystery Syndicate Man! Here’s your secret goddamn weapons shipment info back!’ Are you fucking zeroed right now?!” Hyousuke shouted at him. Spittle and smoke blew against Deck’s face as he chastised him.

“Back off, dick,” Deck grimaced and then took another drag. He turned away from the display, unable to look at it anymore. “I know this probably tops the list of my screw ups, but I’m trying to help clean this mess up too, you know? A little credit would be nice.”

“I’m not finding out who that belongs to. It ain’t worth it. End. Of. Story,” Hyousuke said angrily. A trail of smoke whipped behind him as he disappeared into the kitchen. Deck heard the refrigerator open and the sound of glasses clinking together. Hyousuke reemerged with a glass nearly full of whiskey. Deck glared at him.

“What? After all this I need a drink,” Hyousuke said. He gulped down most of the glass and didn’t so much as wince. Then, he plopped back down onto his couch, nestled the drink between his legs, and returned his hands to his face.

“Look, Hyo. I’m sorry for bringing this on you. I didn’t know what it was. Can we all just calm down and put our heads together on this one?” Deck pleaded with him. He fell onto the couch beside Hyousuke and threw an arm around him. Jojo came to stand over them both.

“More importantly, do you think you could help track down the boss?” Jojo asked, leaning down to face them.

Hyousuke’s hands slid down from his face and he stared at her quietly for a moment. Meekly, he mustered, “I have a few things I could try. What happened last time you called him?”

“Voicemail,” Deck and Jojo blurted out in stereo.

“Shit,” Hyousuke said with visible frustration. “That means his phone is off or dead. Either way, no tracking him that way.” He stood up and started toward his vee-decks, then stopped abruptly. “Wait a minute? What the hell’s going on? How are you so sure he’s missing and not just off somewhere he doesn’t want to be bothered?”

Jojo chuckled. “You know for the smartest guy in the room, you pay attention for shit, Yo-Yo. Have you not heard all the rumors going around?” she asked.

Hyousuke was visibly confused. “No? Nobody tells me shit. What’s going on?” he replied.

Deck sighed. “Word on the street is there’s a push for downtown. Silas’ businesses in specific. Someone’s trying to orchestrate a takeover. Roland’s involved somehow. A couple of his thugs were putting the squeeze on Hasan a couple of days ago. Real fucking ballsy move,” he told the nervous looking boy.

Hyousuke turned away from him. “Fuck,” he mumbled quietly under his breath. After he slipped on the hap-set again, he said firmly, “I’ll find him.”

The grim display of augmentation schematics melted away and a map of the city started to construct itself in its place. Small likenesses of towering skyscrapers began to rise from the lower skyline. Hyosuke flipped the map upside down and stretched himself out on the floor.

“I have to start by pinging all the cell towers and wireless hubs in the city, so I’m going to be here a while,” he said hoarsely from the floor as locations on the map began to blink and glow.

Deck took the hint. “We’ll head back to my place. Call me when you’ve got something on him.”

“Sure thing, Deck.” Hyousuke waved his hand behind him and pulsating synthstep burst over his sound system at full volume.

Deck beckoned Jojo to follow him and they stepped out into the hallway. Once the door had sealed behind them and all was quiet, Deck asked Jojo to try Enora again.

“She didn’t answer when you called her the first ten times. What makes you so sure that she’ll answer me?”

Deck scratched his head. “She and I had a disagreement over some business earlier. I really popped off at her. I think she’s still steaming over it,” he lied.

The mohawked girl didn’t seem to by it, but conceded. “Whatever you say, man,” she said, pulling her phone out to make the call.

They started down the hallway toward the elevators.

Deck watched Jojo with a serious intent he couldn’t help. Something really fucking strange is going on. Why are both of them suddenly off the face of the Earth? he worried. She cut her eyes at him while the phone rang over and over.

Deck swiped the call button and leaned up against the wall. Jojo pulled the phone away from her ear.

“She’s answering, Deck. I don’t know what else I can do,” Jojo said firmly.

Just then, a meek voice came over the phone.

“Hello?”

Enora!

Deck snatched Jojo’s phone from her.

“Enora! Where are you?!” he quickly barked.

“What the fu — ?” Jojo said, startled. Deck held up his finger and begged her quiet. She threw her hands up and they both paced the floor.

“…Deck? What in God’s name do you want? Why is Jojo with you at this hour?” Enora asked.

“We were looking for you. And Silas. No one could get a hold of either of you,” he growled then repeated himself. “Where are you?!”

Enora fell silent save for her breath against the receiver.

Anger welled up in him and Deck shouted at her. “ENORA! Answer me!”

The muffled sounds of a struggle filled the silence. He heard Enora’s voice pleading with someone, wherever she was.

“Please! They know…”

“Enora!” Deck shouted again. His hands were trembling and the thin phone rattled against his ear.

“What the hell’s going on, Deck?” Jojo tried to interject. Deck waved her off again angrily.

He tried desperately to make out more of what she was saying.

“He’s…to hel — ” was the last thing Deck heard before the line went dead. He stared at the phone in disbelief as it flashed that call had been disconnected.

“What happened?!” Jojo screamed at him.

The elevator chimed at its arrival and the doors parted open.

He thought quickly. “We have to get Hyousuke tracing that call now!”

Deck bounded back to Hyousuke’s door and pounded on it. Jojo followed closely behind him.

“Hyo! Open up! It’s an emergency!” he barked through the plasteel door. “Open up!”

Deck heard the dull bass rumble of the synthstep cut short and heavy footsteps grow louder as they neared the door. It hissed open and Hyousuke stood there, winded, with his hap-set resting on top of his head.

“What happened? I told you this was — Ugh!”

Deck pushed past him. “There’s no time! Can you trace the origin of the last call? Here, on Jojo’s phone?” he asked frantically as he shoved the phone into Hyousuke’s gloved hands.

Jojo slipped in behind them and shut the door.

“Deck! What happened? Did you talk to her?!” she demanded.

“Yes! That was her, but someone cut her off.” He turned back to Hyousuke, gripping the confused datasmith’s shoulders tightly. “Can you find out where that call was coming from?”

“Yes, yes. Can we all calm the fuck down for a moment?” Hyousuke pleaded.

Deck was unmoved. “Find her,” he said tersely. He let go of the younger man and dropped himself onto the couch with a deep, frustrated sigh. Hyousuke grumbled and returned to his vee-decks.

“I wasn’t having any luck pinging Silas’ last phone call, anyhow,” he said, placing the phone in an input cradle. “Now…wait. The last call was to Mrs. Carrow?” he asked worriedly.

“Yes. She answered but she was cut off before she could say where she was,” Deck responded. “We have to find her.”

I have to find her.

Hyousuke slipped his headset back on and toying with the map overlay again. Tower locations pulsed to life all over the city like stars in the night sky. A crackling came over the speaker system and a recording of the call started to play.

Enora’s soft voice filled the room.

“Hello?”

“Enora! Where are you?”

Hyousuke spoke over the call. “The search radius just narrowed by a couple of blocks. We should get a hit soon.”

Deck could feel Jojo’s eyes upon him. She stood in the middle of the room, tattooed arms folded across her breast, moving up and down with deep, heavy breaths. Her pale grey eyes stared at him intensely beneath her furrowed brow. He shifted on the couch and fumbled for a cigarette in his coat, trying to avoid her eyes.

“Please! They know…” the recording continued, with the pops and grunts of the phone being fought over.

Jojo slumped down next to Deck. He lit the cigarette but did not turn to face her. She leaned into him and whispered in his ear.

“What’s going on with you? With her?” she asked bluntly.

Deck stayed silent and puffed away at his cigarette.

Jojo grabbed his chin and pressed him further. “Something’s up and you’re not talking. What’s going on?” she asked. Her face appeared to be more worried now than angry.

Deck sighed. “We’ve…been getting zeroed together. Regularly,” he lied, doing his best to look the pink-haired bartender in her eyes. “We both got pretty fucked up the other night and it was laced or something…” he trailed off and turned away from her.

Jojo laid her hand warmly on his back and rubbed it up and down his spine.

“Jesus, Deck. I didn’t even know Eno — the missus — liked that Lume shit you do,” she said, genuinely shocked. “H-how long has this been going on? Does Silas know?”

Deck locked eyes with her again. “No. Please, you can’t. He’d — ” Deck started to plead but Jojo cut him off.

“I’m not gonna say anything, Deck. But you have to stop that shit. Both of you. You’ll turn your fucking lungs to ash with that shit.” She placed her hand on his cheek. “Have you seen what kind of damage it does to people’s veins?”

Deck stared forlornly into his trembling hands.

Trust me, I know, he thought.