Session 1: Above, Mountain; Below, Water - kaseido/NeoTokyo GitHub Wiki

304 Rand 1 Wood (2 days after New Years)

Before Bruce left for Romulus with Cydonia, he informed Lane that Tardis Oh had a mission for the remaining team, something high priority/high payout, but with a ticking clock.

But Bruce is gone and Kimi and Brax are off on a job for Acid Phantom. Knowing she’ll need more hands for this one, Lane discreetly puts out word that she’s recruiting a new team.

Rina was recommended by a contact at RFID, but she’s under orders from the kitty hivemind: they’ve gotten word that this might involve a missing AI. She doesn’t disclose her affiliations. Fennec has heard of the investigative reporter, and his curiosity is piqued. Lane meets him at a club, Ruin Island, for the interview – and the owner, The Vole, deals himself in.

Team assembled, they rendezvous at the Jade Dragonfly, the Triad bar where Lane first met her previous team. Rina’s well aware she’s being watched as she makes her way down the rain-soaked streets of Little Harbin, while the rest just have a vague sense of unease. But they do know they’re going to meet with a Triad representative, so a bit of cautious surveillance is to be expected.

In the Bar, Tardis Oh greets the new arrivals effusively, and offers drinks from the bartender, Zhai Be, another veteran of their previous meeting. Rina orders a whole milk and sets it right at the edge of the table. Lane gets a martini, but barely touches it. Fennec gets the house special cocktail, a Meiloorun Sunset, which Zhai Be performatively builds at the table, topping it with a paper umbrella. The Vole gets a Romulan Ale: Tardis informs him they’ve come into a good supply recently.

Tardis explains the job: “For reasons too complex to go into (meaning I have no idea), the Wo Shing Wo was given custody of a tremendously illegal full AI, whose netrunner handle was Digit Alice, and known by her cyber-dragonfly icon. She was stolen early last year, and the thieves left no trace at all. Her substrate is built into a standard titanium briefcase, but with extensive security measures built in.

“This bar was designed as a lure, to pull in anyone who might know about it – her. The cyber-dragonfly on the door is a piece of weirdly advanced cybernetics that they believe is the key to the briefcase: they were actually hoping someone would steal it off the door so they could track them. “Nobody took the bait until Captain Bootup, which wasn’t exactly helpful. But now sentient AI is not illegal, and things are going to start changing rapidly.

“The Mountain Master, head of all the triad organizations on NeoTokyo, hadn’t been terribly concerned until now. With the AI ban lifted, she’s made it clear that if we don’t find and return Alice before other Ais start flexing power, the Wo Shing Wo will be eradicated. She’s given us 10 days – which is immensely generous, considering what Ais could get up to…

“We’ve turned up nothing in a year, which means that Alice either has disappeared entirely and we’re all dead, or she’s somewhere the Triad can’t reach. “Your mission is to find Alice’s substrate and return her here. I can offer 100,000 NB, 10% up front. Of course, if you find it and sell it, every Triad soldier on the planet will be gunning for you, so don’t do that.”

Lane reassures him they’re more sensible than that, and he agrees, noting that the fee is high enough to encourage sense to triumph over opportunism. Tardis sets on the table the dragonfly key off the door, and hands to Lane his personal marker: a disc about the size of a large coin. As she brushes her thumb across it, it generates a vertical holographic banner: the Triad – well, Triad – Wo Shing Wo, for Tardis’s rank: White Paper Fan, and his name, all in Chinese characters. “I’m not that high up, but it does mark you as being on Triad business, and should clear most people out of your way.” Lane slips the marker in her bosom.

Rina examines the dragonfly: it's really advanced cybertech. Not alien or bizarre, just well beyond cutting edge. What it does isn’t clear. She snaps a photo to send home, just “Isn’t this cool?” She doesn’t trust the Triad security in the bar.

Lane does a library search, but doesn’t generate anything useful. She asks Tardis to set up a contact with the Dragon Head: he says to expect a meeting tonight or tomorrow. He suggests the universities that were doing gray AI research: Shimizu, which was wiped out in the Breen attack, and the Machine Intelligence Research Unit at Ishikawa U. here in town. Triad enforcers have done some interrogations, but turned up nothing. Any remaining Netwatch might know something too.

Lane gets reassurances that they won’t be tripping over other Triad investigations: he says there are people out trying to turn up leads, as all their asses are on the line, but the marker will clear up any difficulties.

The new team decides to head to Ruin Island to discuss the job in a more secure environment.