>From: 00djchmielew@bsu-ucs.uucp
Subject: The Run
Date: 8 Oct 91 20:57:26 GMT





                              The AI Run
            				by,
					  Daniel J. Chmielewski

       I heard that the corp. was looking for me. I didn't know that they would
track me down to my favorite watering hole. Two muscular guys came in first,
followed by a scrawny man with glasses. Well, he was scrawny compared to most
of the people in the bar. This was a frequent oasis for people out of jobs and
out of luck. The scrawny guy tapped my shoulder, I knew he wanted to talk to
me. I had heard it on the streets, or actually, my contact at the voice-phone
corp. told me.
       "I heard you need a job. I got one. Pays $250,000, no questions asked."
My eyes bulged at the quarter million figure. He must have noticed it.
       "All you have to do is go to Summit Farms. When you get there, find out
what's going on. Then report back to us." Sounded to simple for that kind of
dough. I had to ask.
       "What's the catch?"
       "No catch. Just a simple case of corporate intelligence. We want to know
what the enemy is doing. For this, we're willing to shell out some money."
       "Why me?" He seemed to have been briefed very well. His answer sounded
very convincing.
       "Simple, you don't have a rep. You also need the money. We like
spreading our contracts to give us better flexibility in case of a ahem..
emergency." At that his eye twinkled like those evil Santa Claus' in that late
night movie.
       "I'll take it." I couldn't believe I just said that. The job probably
has more hassles that it's worth.
       He gave me his card, with the electronic number for the account on back.
And he was gone. I walked back to my office in a numbed state of mind. As I
went past the old sign that said: Sam Phoenix, PI, I thought of all the
problems I had when I used to work for the corps. They used to call me a
trouble-shooter. I called myself an assasin. Used to track and hunt my prey.
That is, until I found the prey was me. Soon after, I resigned voluntarily and
founded my own detective job. Soon after I started I found I was black-balled
by the corps. That left me with crappy jobs in a shitty business.
       "Hello, Sam. No messages. Whatsa' matter?" Typical Carla, always taking
the cynical side. To her there was always something wrong.
       "Nothin' much, just gotta' job." I left out the money part. It seemed
that I hardly ever payed Carla enough for her to live on. Subsistence wages, is
what she called it. It was half of what I made on my jobs. Still not much.
       Carla was an angel. She was a little old lady that used to have an
apartment above me. She was living on her much abused savings when I gave her
the job. She was fairly proficient on the computer that I had. She could brew a
mean cup of coffee. And she could put up with me. That being the most
important aspect of her job.
       "Get Mighty Matt and Leroy. Tell them to come down. Oh, and look up
Summit Farms on the database. I want to know who owns it. What goes on there
and where in the hell it is." The good thing about computers, maybe one of the
few, is that you can find out in minutes what used to take days. I personelly
don't like computers. Ever since the Information Crash of '42, I haven't even
touched one. Then they had this Information Explosion thing, people hooking up
to computers. Didn't like it. I like my mind on solid ground.
       "Mighty Matt and Leroy are on their way." Great, I knew it wouldn't take
long to get them. All you had to do was call the local bars. They'd be
together, they have been ever since Matt got kicked out at Firply. He was the
hot decker of the corp. Then he had to get hooked to Somnaform. They gave him
several chances. Didn't help, when you're hooked to Somna, you can't get off of
it. Leroy was Matt's connection to the Somna. He kept Matt around because Matt
could deck. Leroy used to rent Matt out to local hoodlums. Leroy's always been
like that. He came from the streets and will never leave it. You could tell
that it was in his blood.
                    End Chapter One

             The AI run and the characters of Mighty Matt, Leroy, Carla, Sam
Phoenix and anything else I've made up here is copywrited by me. 10/8/91

	P.S. If you have any CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM, please mail it to me. Even
if you just want to talk to someone who likes to write, or you think it's a
good story. MAIL ME


From amethyst!noao!asuvax!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!news.cs.indiana.edu!bsu-cs!bsu-ucs.uucp!00djchmielew Tue Oct  8 19:13:18 MST 1991
Article 628 of alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo:
Path: amethyst!noao!asuvax!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!news.cs.indiana.edu!bsu-cs!bsu-ucs.uucp!00djchmielew
>From: 00djchmielew@bsu-ucs.uucp
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo
Subject: THE RUN II
Message-ID: <1991Oct8.190404.1787@bsu-ucs.uucp>
Date: 9 Oct 91 00:04:03 GMT
Lines: 77




        			The AI Run
                       		Chapter Two
				Dan Chmielewski

	As the two figures entered my outer office, I noticed the outward
appearences. Who could have guessed that Matt used to be with a corp. He was
dressed in drek. While Leroy dressed as if he was always ready to get into
some action.
	"Hey, Sam, what 'ya want."
	"I got a job. Pay is straight. $20,000 each. No questions asked."
	Leroy smirked,"Where in da' hell did you get dough like dat."
        "Let's just say I'll give it to you as soon as you get the job done."
        "Okay, what da' ya want done?" Just then Carla came in with a batch
file from our outdated computer and flipped it down on the desk. I gave her my
famous smile. I hoped she didn't hear too much of what I said. Can't get her
hopes up for a raise. I opened up the first page and started skimming.
        "I want Matt to find out what's goin' on at Summit Farms. Let's see,
it's owned by MARRSTECH. Says it's some type of AI research center. Been closed
down the past couple of months."
        "Does it say why?"
  	"No, that's what I want you to find out."
        "No problem. You know Mighty Matt will get in there."
        With that said, Matt popped open a briefcase and took out a portable
PC. He took the jacks and plugged two into the computer and two into his temple
area. He stuck the other ends into a plate in his forehead. It always amazed me
how those people could do it. Lose reality, at least ours, and gain another.
        His eyes clouded over in a faraway gaze. He was prepping for his run.
His fingers running over the keyboard to give his mind control over what he
wished to see.
        CONNECT:NEW YORK NET AARPHAP
     	CONNECT:NEW YORK STATE NET AARPHAP DIRECTORY
 	SET VIRTUAL PROGRAM COUNTDOWN
	10..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1..
	ACHIEVED
	What we couldn't see was Matt's persona. In his mind he had taken the
shape of Brer Rabbit. He was hopping down the path when he saw Brer Fox coming
towards him. His persona jumped in excitement as he knew what to do. Easy as
pie.
	"Brer Fox, why don't you come into these bushes with me?"
	"Brer Rabbit, you know I'll be hurt with those thorns."
	Then, as the old story goes. Brer Fox jumped into the bushes and hurt
himself. Only, when you were dealing with ICE, you didn't just hurt it. You
removed it.
        Mighty Matt, aka Brer Rabbit, went hopping down his lane until he got
to the node that he wished for. He turned here to get into a databank. The
information he needed was here someplace. Only so much time, though...
	It had been thirty minutes when Matt came through. He appeared
disoriented. Leroy went over to him make sure his goods weren't destroyed.
Meaning Matt's brain wasn't fried. It took another five minutes until Matt
could speak again.
	"What did you find?"
	"It seems Summit Farms has a govt. lock on it. It's almost impossible
to get in. I tried everything that I could. Including sleazing it. Just didn't
work. The ICE on it is sculpted. It's almost killed me, or rather, my persona.
The only thing I got out of it was that it had something to do with
anthropology."
	"Anthro-what?"
	"Anthropology, study of ancient man and his society. Don't know much
about it personelly, but it's very closely guarded."
	I studied Matt while he said this. His face looked old and tired. He
had sweat dripping from his forehead. I was having second thoughts about this
case. Well, maybe the same doubts I had in the beginning. Why would the govt.
get involved with a corp with a project. I knew the govt. had been hurting for
cash, but this was ridiculous. You never know what the corps might do to steal
something that was partially theirs. I thanked Leroy and Matt. Gave them their
money and told them not to say a word about this. One thing I knew about these
two. They wouldn't squeal. That is, unless Matt needs a fix of his Somnaform.
 	The two shadowy figures left as soon as Carla gave them their money. I
started to look at the file again. Wait... Maybe, yeah, it's worth a try.
 	"Carla, get me a run down on who's involved in AI research for the
govt."
	I decided to sleep on that thought. In the morning I would have to take
a trip to Summit Farms.
                      END CHAPTER TWO