I was glad I left the net to do its thing.
In the end, it took four hours to get through that last percent. When it finally had, I could enter to find a blank box. Because of the model, it didn’t have a restriction on the number of nodes it could connect to, so I spent the time to separate everything out as much as possible. Like putting the turrets into different nodes, same with the cameras and sensors.
I couldn’t put each one in its own node; it started to hog a bit too much power, at least for the moment, but I 100% would be doing that in the future.
I had spent days changing it to my liking and likely would for years to come. Even without changing anything, the data walls surrounding the fortress were the strongest I had ever come across, to the point where my termite ICE wouldn’t have scratched them, let alone breached them.
They weren't perfect of course, and I'd been strengthening them where I could. Be that patching out conflicts or removing the backdoors into the system, all of which created weak points in the wall.
Unsurprisingly, there were a good number of backdoors, although less than expected. But I suppose if someone was paying this much, it would be expected for them to know what they were doing. Ignoring the backdoors they left in, the documentation that came with the mainframe was incredibly valuable.
Not just in the setup and structure of my net, but all manner of useful tips and tricks. I'd taken inspiration from the port net with its gothic citadel appearance and maze-like corridors.
I'd made it my own of course, firstly I changed the aesthetics. While I liked the stone and castle style, the gargoyles and gothic nature were just depressing. I had enough of that in the real world; I didn’t need that in my net as well. So by the time I was done, I'd ended up with a cross between a castle and a slick modern-looking fortress. And in my not-so-humble opinion, the best of both worlds.
I'd also made sure the nodes shifted at random, so unlike at the port, as soon as the netrunner left my net, the nodes would move. Hopefully stopping the hacker from mapping out my architecture. I was convinced there was a way to have them shift even when the runner was exploring my net, but I hadn't quite worked out how to do it yet.
But I would. I already had several other ideas to try, even if my first few didn’t work. I also wanted to find a way to make sure the valuable nodes started furthest away from the runner.
One thing I made sure of was to have ICE roaming the data pathways. I'd also tweaked the nodes, hiding what was in them unless they were fully entered. No peeking into the room like I had. It wasn’t perfect yet and there were ways around it; still, it was a good addition.
Demons were perfect for this role.
The corpo manual, in combination with my own docs, helped me fix the most egregious gaps in my defences. Which pointed me to other gaps or weaknesses that, when fixed, revealed something new and so I then had to go back to the start. It was amazing.
I had quickly learned net architecture was less of a science and more of an art form. There was no one perfect way to create it. Superior methods to be sure, but no one-size-fits-all perfect solution.
Apart from the inherent weaknesses, I had to resolve conflicts between nodes and ICE. If they were left, they would create weaknesses in the data wall and the nodes themselves, allowing netrunners to breach. Not something I had been able to do, or even realised was an option.
But as I fixed them, I learned what to look out for and was looking forward to exploiting them in the next net I was in.
Or if not, actual weaknesses might reveal more information about the net when a pathfinder program was used.
The nodes then conflicted with other variables like the ICE within them. If not optimised, it could allow runners to sneak past or reduce the effectiveness of the programme. It was a constant dance that I loved. It was incredibly fun and it had opened my eyes to a whole world of possibilities.
Not to mention it helped me with my coding for ICE in general.
While the ICE I had for my net wasn’t compatible with my deck, too different. The wrong format, with the wrong compression and file types. So it would brick your deck if you tried to use it anyway. Maybe not the first time, but each time you rezzed it, you ran that risk.
Regardless, they were near enough that I could learn and backwards engineer from them. I hadn't actually made anything with them yet, but even breaking them apart had been a huge help, which had fed back into the net architecture, improving it. This once again fed back into a greater understanding of ICE and what could be done with them.
They were both intrinsically linked, as were most things in cyberspace and pushed my understanding further and further.
Damons had been especially interesting.
I had never been able to study one; there was no way in hell I would have stumbled upon their creation. It was almost like they were in a completely different language from the other ICE.
One thing I did learn quickly was that while ICE and Black ICE could be stacked in a node, Demons could not. There could only ever be one demon in a node at a time. I couldn't work out if this was a hard restriction or just a matter of my skill. I was erring on the side that it should be possible; I just hadn't worked it out quite yet.
They also weren't always assigned a node and could move throughout the net when a breach was detected. Although if they were assigned a node they could control it, for example if it was a turret the demon could take control over it providing a far more sophisticated firing solution rather than the turret's base algorithms.
It was what made them so dangerous.
In their normal configuration they move throughout the architecture and attack on their own or in conjunction with whatever ICE were challenging the intruders at that moment. I'd restricted a few to stay in the same location so they could complement the several Black ICE, making what I affectionately started calling a kill room. With their express purpose to do just that.
With a shake, I focused back on the ICE I was creating. I was connected to the net chair and in cyberspace. I'd found it was much easier to code in there. I wasn’t 100% sure why, but programmes just came together better when I did. I could code faster, better and therefore create stronger ICE faster and better than ever before. Although I still needed to write everything out using a virtual keyboard. The ICE would be a [Gardian Angel] an with the entire purpose to protect me.
I scowled at the mistake. The third mistake in the last line. My wondering mind had distracted me and I was paying for it. The last few lines were shite. Without conscious thought, I reached out and ripped them from the file.
Then froze.
How had I done that?
Somehow, the buggy parts of the code were gone. Nothing should have happened; after all, it wasn’t the thought of the mind making the changes but commands from the cyber deck.
And yet…
Stunned, I sat there for a few minutes before trying to replicate it, to little success.
After longer than I cared to admit, I was able to do it again, in much the same way as before. I got frustrated and just… did it. But this time I felt what I had done and it only took me a few more attempts to get consistent.
Now for something different.
Instead of removing my code, I tried to… think something in, for want of a better word.
The function I created was a mess, and yet, I couldn’t be happier. I had thought up some code!
It was a mess of course. But I removed it and tried again, this time trying to focus on a clearer picture of what I wanted.
It was still rubbish: clunky, inefficient and bloated. But better than before.
By the 4th attempt I was getting the hang of it and started to make code I actually wanted.
I was distracted from further experimentation by a loud shout that echoed through the corridor, followed by a scream and something being smashed. I disconnected from the netrunning chair, sorted out my wedgy and wandered down the corridor.
While I had been having a grand old time the last week, others, less so.
I reached the gym and training room, still mostly empty, to find Jess hammering at a boxing bag. All finesse and skill gone and just screaming rage.
"Jess. Jess? Jess!" I said, carefully approaching and then taking her hand to pull her away from the punching bag.
"Wha- oh, uh. Aden. Sorry, sorry it just- oh I don’t know." She allowed me to pull her into a hug.
"Come on." I said, leading her to a bench, one of the few bits of furniture in the room.
As we sat, the fight seemed to leave her and she started to weep, quietly into my shoulder. I pulled her in tighter, shifting her as I did, so she was resting on my lap, just holding her.
"I've got you. I've got you. Come on. Tell me what's wrong." Clearly the wrong thing to say as it just made Jess cry harder, so with no idea what to say, I sat hugging her in silence. All the while my mind furiously working through solutions.
Anything that might fix this or cheer Jess up.
Short of stopping our lockdown and letting us out again, something I would not allow, I didn’t know what there was. Maybe I could build something to keep her distracted?
Only a few minutes later, Nat bustled in, having heard the commotion. "What— Jess?" She hurried over and sat next to us, pulling Jess so she was sandwiched between us. "Shh, shh. It's okay, you don’t have to explain anything—just breathe. That’s it, breathe with me."
Over the next few minutes, Nat managed to coax the story from her. It was more or less as I expected. She was going through movements and just couldn’t land the final one. Normally something she would laugh off, but she had not taken well to being trapped here and it just broke the camel's back.
When Jess had calmed down, Nat stood. "Come on, let's do some sparring." That seemed to brighten Jess up, so I allowed myself to be led to the ring. Where I sparred with them. Otherwise known as proceeding to get the shit knocked out of me.
Nat and Jess were significantly better than me, and even if they weren't, I still wasn’t fully used to my shitty cyber arm. It still didn't move as smoothly as my old one. Battered and bruised, I sat to one side and admired the girls as they went at it.
They were still evenly matched, although with completely different styles. They showed no signs of stopping by dinner several hours later, so I pulled them apart and we headed up.
As we stood in the lift, Nat hesitated before turning to me. "I meant to ask, but with Lilly here can we see them?" she asked hopefully.
"Sorry Nat." I said, already shaking my head. "I still don’t think enough time has passed. I really want to wait at least another week. To make sure things have blown over."
"But we know the gang has been destroyed." Nat said, her face falling.
"But you know that doesn't mean they have stopped looking."
"He's right Nat. As much as it sucks." Jess said.
"I know, I know. It's just…" She shrugged. "It's just I was really hoping to see her.
"Come here." I said, wrapping her in a large hug. One Jess joined moments later. "Although. Actually, yeah, maybe we can organise a house moving party?"
"Really…" Nat said, perking up.
"Yeah. It won't be long, so next time maybe we can invite them here?" I said. Liking the idea more and more. We could use the sub-basement as the car park, although if we did that, we would need to upgrade the doors and security. It wouldn’t go amiss to throw some of the spare turrets down there as well. Both inside and out.
"That would be preem!" Nat said, smiling. "Let me ask her." her eyes already flashing gold.
With a crisis averted, at least for now and food in my belly, I headed back to my netrunning chair and dived in once more.
---
Even I was starting to get stir crazy by the end of the second week and as much as I wanted to wait it out a bit longer. There was really no reason too. If they had anything they would have moved on us by now.
Another reason we couldn’t hide any longer was our rep. We had already turned down several gigs from Darrel. Any more and it might start to affect our standing with him, not something we could afford to slip.
So the four of us had some scouting to do. The polluted air had never been so appealing.
We were just traipsing across the lawn when Daryl called me over. "Aden, Aden. You got a sec?"
I left the girls just before the door and jogged over. "Sup." I said, clasping his outstretched hand.
"I just wanted to let you know the sub-basement is now wired up and the electronics are installed. The turrets will go in tonight and the new door will arrive tomorrow."
"Ace." I said. "That’s quicker than expected?"
"Yeah." He paused before he shrugged at me. "I finally have another project lined up. So I want this one wrapped up ASAP."
"Hell yeah. That’s preem." I said, grinning and slapped him on the shoulder. I was genuinely pleased for him. He had done such a solid by us.
"Who by, if you don’t mind me asking?"
"A fixer named Still got in touch."
I nodded, pleased but not showing any of the smugness I was actually feeling. I recognised the name. Still was a fixer who had some connections to Darrel. In very different fields and walks of life, but we had spread Daryl's name around as much as possible and how they did such a preem job.
When I say we, I obviously meant Kate, but the point stood.
It was the least we could do. We also wanted to give him a solid bonus at the end, but Jess and Nat both thought it unlikely he would accept that.
We would try, but I kind of hoped he didn’t. We were hardly flush with cash right now. In fact I was worried about how low we were. If something came up… No, we would pull through, we had before.
"What does that mean for us?" I asked.
"Me and the team are putting in extra hours to get you finished. So I'm hoping to get the scaffolding down by Friday. Although I hazard a guess that it will be Saturday or Sunday at the latest that it comes down. I'll send the final bill then."
"Ace. Yeah, unless there is anything else added, we should be able to pay that instantly."
"Naa, nothing extra, apart from that security door; otherwise it should be the same as the quotes."
I was about to leave when I remembered. "What about the outside and landscaping?"
"I included that. The exterior will be scuffed up and secured Wednesday. Then it is just the paths. The tarmac around back and the walls are already done."
"Cheers Daryl." I said, shaking his hand again. "Get the deets over to Kate and we will get you paid."
I jogged back to the girls and fell into step as we carried on walking to the exit to our plastic exterior.
"Did you get all that?"
"Yeah. I'll check them when we get them." Kate offered.
"Thanks." I said, pulling her into a quick side hug. Letting go, my hand drifted to the pistol in the small of my back and adjusted it to sit more comfortably in its holster.
"Is it far Nat?" Jess asked.
"Naa, the warehouse is near Battersea Power Station."
Moving a few steps ahead, I opened the door and shut it behind us. As I did, I took one last look at our home… Our home. That never got old. It was still unbelievable that we owned it all and it was so nearly finished.
He would also be installing the last of the bars to stop squatters. Although if there were any, we would see them off, but we hoped it wouldn’t be too big a deal round here.
There weren't that many homeless that we had seen.
They really had done a preem job on the place. I didn’t envy them if they were going to be pulling longer shifts to get it done.
At least the last of the landscaping would be easy. Around the back of the house, facing the park was a tarmacked car park. Ringing it was a reinforced metre-high wall, with a large barbed fence on top of it. The fence was brand new, even if it looked suitably rusty.
At its only entrance leading to the small road going to the left of our plot, there were 3 raisable bollards which could lock the car park down. I couldn’t see a reason to ever lower them, at least in the short term. The last thing around back were a set of stairs leading to the veranda encircling the 1st floor.
Originally, there were dense bushes and trees right at the edge of our property on the part. But those had been cleared out, so there was a couple of dozen metres until cover in the park, hopefully allowing the sensors and cameras to do their jobs.
Which reminded me I needed to link up the bollards to our net.
Out front, the concrete path led to our front door and another set of stairs to the veranda. All that was left after that was seeding the lawn in the hopes some grass would grow. Probably a waste of time as I certainly wasn’t going to look after it, but maybe it would survive.
---