Black Out

5:13 PM - Pookie - The Snake Pit

- by A.J. Anderson

The Snake Pit was a labor exchange for shadowrunners, where the anonymous hired the amoral to do the illegal. It operated efficiently and reliably. Runners looking for work could find jobs to pick from 24/7/365. Johnsons looking for 'runners always had plenty of options. Business in the Pit was safe, anonymous, and ironclad.

So when Pookie logged in at 17:13, she was surprised to find herself hanging in darkness with a green-screen interface and text.

SYSOP TICKTOCK: ... as quickly as possible. Thank you.

SYSOP TICKTOCK: Repeat: Due to unusual bandwidth pressures beyond our control, we are limiting data transmission to autotranslate text only. Users experiencing problems with Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, or Russian characters please contact me privately. As compensation for the inconvenience, the Pit is revoking all commission charges on agreements made during this system slowdown. All verification is still in order. We are working to have this situation resolved as quickly as possible. Thank you.

POOKIE:WTF?

GLITTERNIGHT: Dunno -- the whole board went pear-shaped a couple of minutes ago.

TOM-TOM:TickTock, tell me this board hasn't been running on WinXP.

SPOOK:Can we cut the comedy and do business?

TOM-TOM:Be kewl, man. I'm interested.

SPOOK:Good. Private Channel.

SPOOK has left the channel
TOM-TOM has left the channel

CASHMERE:

I have a retrieval operation: 13 day time-frame, SCAS location, minimal violence. Takers?

POOKIE:Cash, I'lll take a reserve on that if time's not of the essence. Would prefer to wait discussions until the board is back.

CASHMERE:Pookie! I was hoping you'd come along. TIme's tight...can only hold 24 hours max.

POOKIE:Arrange alternate channel? Sorry, TickTock, but some of my partners need to turtle in.

RINPOCHE:Seeking decker for one-off subcontract...Finnish proficiency vital, either via chip or natural.

LUGNUT:Need door gunner for wetwork assignment.

TINKER:Extraction for team of 4 or less: no orks.

POOKIE:What's the problem with orks?

TINKER:Pookie, I just follow the client. Nothing personal.

CASHMERE:Pookie, if you're shopping around, I can't hold this.

POOKIE:Not shopping, Cash. Just questioning. I hat*&^%$^&#&%$&^%

"Huh?" Pookie thought to herself as she hung over the blank node. "Open client terminal.

System time 17:17:10
64 MP RAM
512 MP DISK
Device A: Nominal
Device B: Nominal
Device C: Nominal

Suddenly the node flashed back into life under her, green text on black background.

POOKIE: Was that an outage?
SYSOP TICKTOCK:I don't want to talk about it.

CASHMERE:Tick, I think that's the first time ever.

LUGNUT:Ticktock screwed up! Ticktock screwed up! Ticktock screwed u

LUGNUT has left the channel
TINKER has left the channel
RINPOCHE has left the channel

POOKIE:You made your point, TickTock. We won't talk about it.

SYSOP TICKTOCK:I didn't bounce them: the connection died at their end.

CASHMERE:Trace and Burn?

SYSOP TICKTOCK:Maybe. Get off the board, everyone. NOW!!

CASHMERE:Pookie, Bottle of red/bottle of white, 2200?

SYSOP TICKTOCK:GET OUT OF HERE!!

POOKIE:Yes. Go Cash

CASHMERE has left the channel

POOKIE:Tick, how can I help

SYSOP TICKTOCK:O frag...

POOKIE:Tick, what's the matt

And then everything went black as Pookie's consciousness shot screaming out of the Matrix, slamming back into her head like an overstretched rubber band. All she could see was the status display of her deck flaring apocalyptic red in front of her.

CONNECTION TERMINATED
SOCKET POWER TERMINATED
BATTERY BACKUP ENGAGED 17:19:59
UPTIME REMAINS 5:59:59...
UPTIME REMAINS 5:59:58....
UPTIME REMAINS 5:59:57...


Copyright 2002 - A.J. Anderson.

5:15 Jess Miller
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