Shopping for Clothes

[Taliyah Malik]

Taliyah is out and about on the town. She walks through the little shops and boutique's, trying on outfits and buying a new wardrobe. Summer is coming and she plans on looking her best.

[Narrator]

As Taliyah was passing out of a store, she'd register a rather odd anomaly in her systems. A brief check would show a discrepancy in her visual/cognative relays.

[Taliyah Malik]

Taliyah frowns, running a diagnostic while looking around a bit suspiciously.

[Narrator]

The diagnostic was completed rather quickly, and showed that there was nothing wrong with her processes.

However, as she looked around, she'd register the same anomaly again as she looked up the street.

[Taliyah Malik]

After a moment of hesitation, Taliyah started walking towards the anomaly.

[Narrator]

Whatever the anomaly was, it didn't seem to be stationary. After a few moments of walking in the direction of the anomaly, she wouldn't be getting any discrepancies anymore.

A diagnostic on the discrepancy would show that it was apparently being caused by improper processing of the visual signals her hardware was feeding to her brain as she glanced around. It wouldn't register any corruption of the stored data, though.

[Taliyah Malik]

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Lightshow: Cal, you online?

Taliyah glances around, trying to pin down some sort of pattern to the anomalies.

[Calvin Strong]

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Cyberboy: Yeah, I'm here.  What's up, babe?

[Taliyah Malik]

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Lightshow: Some sort of visual glitch. Are you having any problems?

Taliyah tries pulling up her memory to see what was at the spot where the discrepancy appeared.

[Narrator]

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Cyberboy: No, but now I'm paranoid and running a diagnostic.

The visual records were, as stated, intact, and looking at them after the fact, Taliyah would see a figure she hadn't noticed the first time through. At each of the points where her vision had glitched.

And he created the same odd sense of deja vu as he had the last time he'd seen him, when he was blasting a robot from behind at the laboratory they'd pulled Salma out of.

[Madison West]

Taliyah sends Cal the memory immediately.

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Lightshow: I think we're being watched. Look familiar?

[Calvin Strong]

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Cyberboy: Isn't that that guy from France?

[Taliyah Malik]

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Lightshow: Bingo.

Out of curiosity, Taliyah sends an open query to any cybernetic systems in the immediate area.

[Narrator]

Her broadband was able to project for all of about ten seconds, before she suddenly found herself firewalled into her own head by a signal that only seemed to last long enough to force her to stop.

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DXM:  Do NOT do that right now.

[Taliyah Malik]

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Lightshow: Curious and curiouser.

[Narrator]

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DXM: You know what curiosity did, Kitten.  Don't be stupid.  Up the street, next to that bus that's loading, check the IR spectrum.  Don't use an active scan.

[Taliyah Malik]

Taliyah does what she's told.

[Narrator]

As Taliyah looked, her gaze would pass over two figures who were just wrong. Their bodies were distinctly cooler than the people around them, except for joints and an area in the middle of their abdomens.

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Once they've had you, there's no going back through the looking glass.  Don't do anything to get their attention and know they've found you, because I guarantee you that they know who you are, what you can do, and possibly what your shutoff codes are.

[Taliyah Malik]

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Lightshow: If this ends up with you offering me the red or the blue pill, I gotta say no thanks. Never had a good experience popping.

[Narrator]

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No pills needed.  You're already in, there's no choice for you to make.

Cross the street normally.  Act like you're going to look at the window display on the other side.  You should be out of their passive sensor range there.

[Taliyah Malik]

Taliyah thinks for a moment, then follows their advice, glancing at the window display.

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Lightshow: Cute dresses, not exactly my style.

[Narrator]

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Yeah, too much fabric to be your style.

[Taliyah Malik]

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Lightshow: Exactly.

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Lightshow: So now what? Chase scene?

[Narrator]

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What, in the middle of a busy London street?  Like hell.  Run a query through your systems, Do you have cyberassimilation protocols?

[Taliyah Malik]

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Lightshow: Good question.

Taliyah runs a search.

[Narrator]

And it turned out that she did, although they came up as 'proto-functionality.'

[Taliyah Malik]

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Lighshow: Something of the sort, at least.

[Narrator]

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Close enough.  Sending you a file, just run the program and walk down to the end of the block past them.  If they start to follow you, melt them.  Don't hesitate.

[Taliyah Malik]

Taliyah's implants flicker red for a moment.

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Lightshow: I don't think you're close enough of a friend to start requesting hits.

Nonetheless, she does as she's asked.

[Narrator]

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You're free to not do it, but I'm pretty sure that you won't like the results.

Thankfully, as she passed the units, they remained unaware of her passing, like she were completely invisible to them.

[Taliyah Malik]

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Lightshow: So, do I get an explanation of what's going on or is there a hazing first? It's been a while since I've had a good spanking.

[Narrator]

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Your boyfriend's neglect isn't my fault.

They're always looking for us.  We're a significant investment, and we represent lost assets.  They want us back, or they want us out of the hands of whoever controls us, even if that's just 'ourselves'.  They've been circling Strong for years, he's just too lucky and too well surrounded to take out usually.  And now they know that the rest of you are at the same place, after that little incident in France.  Be happy that they don't have units on every corner watching for you yet.

[Taliyah Malik]

Lightshow: Too bad. I'd love to meet them up close and personally.

[Narrator]

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Famous last words.  Look into the name 'Gerard Jacobson' out of Newport if you really think you want to cross these people.  If you think that you all are the first rogues they've set their eyes on, you're sorely mistaken.

[Taliyah Malik]

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Lightshow: So, now what?

[Narrator]

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Don't draw attention to yourself in public is the best advice.  Beyond that... keep your eyes open.

[Taliyah Malik]

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Lightshow: Oh, I will.

For them and you. Whoever you are.