From: Alan.Kantor@f631.n2605.z1.fidonet.org (Alan Kantor)
Date: 03 Dec 94 06:19:36 -0500
Subject: Xpath

        This was actually a character profile I did for an RPG called
SHADOWRUN by FASA. I like it and would like to share it. Be cruel or be
kind but please BE.


                        CROSSED PATHS
                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Night. The city holds its breath for a moment as the day shift
retires and the people of the dark take the stage. Partiers and
thrill seekers welcome the caress of the neon lights in dives and
bars throughout the Seattle streets. Others take their prey in back
rooms and alleys. Watching over the scene are the corporate
buildings; still, but never silent as those that run the shadows
gather data, destroy data or remove some exec from his position.
     In a bolted apartment in a low rent plex, someone seeks a
different reality. The slim figure sits on the edge of a bed jacked
into a cyberdeck, his stick straight yellow hair sitting like a mop
over his eyes. The flashing signs of the city light one side of his
face at regular intervals; now orange, now green. If not for the
occasional rise and fall of his slight chest, one might think the
young man died in an upright position.
     Like a striking snake his hand snatches the fiber optic
connector cable that leads to his cyberdeck and pulls it out of the
datajack implanted in his head.

     "Slot!" he says aloud, "I HAVE to code a faster attack
program! Guess I'll just get the paydirt somewhere else."

     A noise on the fire escape curtails his self-derision. Sliding
his hand under the bed, he retrieves his Ruger Super Warhawk.
Unlatching the safety he moves beside the weathered, cracked
window.
     Unmoving he waits. If he was the target of a hit, he decides,
they would have taken him already. HE would have taken him already.
A few more heartbeats and he decides the danger, if there was any
in the first place, has passed.
     Risking a peek past the burlap curtain, he scopes the
platform.

     "Hoi, little chummer. Are you back again? Well you might as
well come in. Been in a scrap? What happened to your ear? "

     With a bang on its frame, he forces the window opens and a
large black cat leaps into the apartment. Though it appears to have
injured its ear recently, it shows no signs of distress. The feline
makes itself at home, jumping into the decker's bed and laying atop
the cyberdeck. Quickly the young man is across the room. The cat
jumps from the cyberdeck and onto the floor. The young man half-
heartedly shoves him with his foot.

     "I don't mind you coming in, jandering about like you own the
place, but the deck is MINE. So-Ka? Well I know you didn't come for
the company... I'll see what I have left over from Takuri's."

     Opening the fridge, he rummages around until he finds the
object of his search. Placing the plastic container on the floor he
sits back on the bed. The cat rushes to eat the proffered meal.




     "I see you like Tekka-Maki. Good, cause that's all I have and
since its two days old, I wouldn't touch the stuff. You know
Sphynx, you don't mind me calling you Sphynx do you? Good. You
know, if I don't get my hands on some paydirt data, we BOTH might
be eating two day old sushi pretty soon."
*****************************************************************
     A dark haired elven woman wanders the electric streets of
Seattle by night. She dresses in the manner of the elves of
Sinsearach, favoring buckskins. Her face is adorned with stripes of
red and green. Across her shoulder is a bag decorated with strange
symbols. Concealed under her long suede coat, she carries an Ares
Predator.
     Her steps are deliberate but her face is haunted. She knows
that which she seeks is somewhere in the city. WHERE,is the
question that pains her.
     Many days have passed since the vision that launched her
journey from her homeland to Seattle. The vision quest.
     The peyote she had chewed for so long had brought pictures of
a place unlike her home. Streets of stone and towering buildings of
steel and glass. And through it all was the guide; urging her to
follow, to leave the trees and grass and stalk the streets in the
shadows of the city. To breathe the air that the body rejects in
order to tap into the mysteries it contains. A shadow at first
until she left Sinsearach. As she made her way closer to the
metropolis she caught, in her mind's eye, a glimpse of her spirit
guide's form. A cat! Not a cougar or a lynx but a street cat. A
large black cat with a torn left ear. She could feel it calling her
into the city. She followed.
     She wandered the streets by night, steering clear of the go-
go-go gangs that harassed passers-by. Food was not a problem. She
would not eat until she found her totem. By day she holed up
wherever she could; Abandoned buildings, burned out basements or
the tube. At night she would begin her search again.
      She was asleep in a dark, litter strewn alley when she heard
footsteps approaching. Dizzy from hunger and fatigue she tried to
focus. It was a large human dressed in leather.

     "Awright. Don't move and you won't be sorry when it's over.
Make a sound and it may be your last."

     The human reached for his waist and undid his belt.
Understanding what would follow, the elven woman slowly slid her
hand under her coat.

     "You don't have to take it." She said sweetly, "I'll gladly
give it to you."

         A goofy grin broke across the biker's face.

     "That's a good girl. Very reasonable."




     The Ares Predator was out in a flash and six rounds of
flechette ammo ripped into the biker's flesh. Confused, the human
stumbled and fell into a trash bin upsetting the contents . A large
black cat leapt from the bin and raced from the alley. The elf
leapt over the dying man and pursued the cat into the street.
     On the avenue the cat vanished from sight. Hope turned to
frustration and then to anger. Raising fists into the air the young
seeker let out a wailing cry.

     "Spirits of my being! You who walk in rhythm with my steps, I
call upon you! That which would guide me along the path eludes me!
I call upon you spirits, not to guide but to aid me in my search!
Come you, spirits! Come to my aid!"

     She felt the energy leave her body as the hum of the Seattle
night was invaded by a whooshing sound. A wind, low to the ground
swirled pieces of trash into a maelstrom. Sugar bomb wrappers,
Krakl-snaps boxes, loose pieces of packing material and soda tubes
formed into a barrier of trash in front of the summoner. The elf
swallowed hard, trying to keep her composure. A voice, low and
guttural issued from the trash heap.

     "We are the spirits of the city. We are the spirits of your
being. Command us and we will aid you."

     Spirits of my being! The elven woman was shocked to think that
trash was the stuff of her soul. Still, she DID summon them and
they DID answer.

     "Find for me the location of the black cat with the bent ear."
She commanded, "I must find it to complete my quest."

     "Travel two alleys north of here," said the trash heap, never
leaving its spot, "And you will find your totem, forty feet above
the ground."

     Thanking the city spirit, the woman runs to the described
location. There he is! The black cat crouches on a fire escape.
yellow eyes flashing with the rhythm of a neon sign somewhere in
the vicinity.
     Frustrated and fatigued, she summons her strength from some
deep reserve. Briskly, she moves to the fire escape and climbs the
rungs up to the first platform. The cat holds its position.
Pounding in her head make the climb more difficult but she puts
foot to ladder and continues the ascent. The drain of the summoning
is taking its toll on her body but she resolves to complete her
quest. At the third platform, she falls prostrate.
     A banging sound issues from somewhere but she doesn't have the
strength to lift her head.

     "You feeling better now?", The voice was male and impatient.



     The elf grunted affirmative. She was on a bed in a small
apartment. She did a double-take as she noticed the large black cat
next to her on the bed.

     "Sphynx there wouldn't leave your side. You've been out for
two hours. They call me Hornet. You?"

     The woman hesitated. "Sphynx." she said at last, relief
flooding her features.

     "Coincidence." Hornet remarked dryly. "You know... Sphynx,
climbing on fire escapes in this area can get you geeked real
quick. If you don't mind my saying so, you look awful. I don't have
a lot, but your welcome to some nutrisoy...if you can stomach it."

     "Thanks."

     "Talkative, aren't you? I'll be right back."

     Hornet turned his back and walked the few steps to the food
storage. It was his way of letting the elf know he trusted her for
the time being. She was injured and weak. He knew what he could
expect.  When he turned back, he met a sight he didn't expect.
     Sphynx, the woman was sitting up in bed gesturing towards
Sphynx, the cat. Her features began to change subtly as he watched
this odd exchange. A luminescence extended between the two sphynx
and the woman began to take on a feline appearance. Hornet couldn't
hack it out exactly, but there was no denying she looked like a cat
from his perspective. Then, as if they noticed he was watching, the
link between the two broke.

     "Say, you're one of those spellcasters huh?" He handed her the
paper container of nutrisoy, " Well this is what I'd call a lucky
break for both of us. You look like you need some creds fast,
unless starving is your natural state... and I have a bit of biz
that needs a magic touch."

     "Speak. I will listen to your plan. I am in your debt."

     "If you say so girlie. Way I look at it, I was doing the cat
a favor. He started howling something awful when I was gonna shoot
you and dump you off the fire escape."

     Sphynx stared at him for a moment, her gold elven eyes boring
a hole in his being.

     "I will help you." She said, warily tasting the nutrisoy,
"What does the quest involve?"
*****************************************************************





     Fifth street was not a pleasant place to be anytime but at
night it became downright dangerous. A known Yakuza headquarters,
anyone without the right connections would be riddled with bullets
if they stood in one spot overlong. Fortunately Hornet had
connections.
     Not Yakuza connections but a fixer friend of his had tipped
him off to the evenings the Yakuza bosses would be in conference
with bosses from across town. This was the night. According to Arlo
the fixer, they would take most of their muscle with them.
     He parked his Yamaha Rapier a few blocks away and deck,
strapped to his side and weapons concealed, the pair strolled down
the deserted fifth street.



     "So you see," explained Hornet, "I can use that RTG to get to
the Humanis Policlub LTG with only one SAN to cross. It's the
chance of a lifetime."

     "What good will that do?"

     "I find some dirt on the Policlub and sell it to a fence. HE
sells it either to some awakened society or back to the Policlub.
Happens all the time, So Ka?"

     "You wish me to conjure a spirit in the event we are caught,
yes?" said Sphynx, curtly.

     "You know, it might help if you got into the spirit of the
occasion. Yes. That is what I want you to do."

     "I understand...uh, So Ka!"

     "NOW you're catching on!"

     The terminal was on the side of a stuffer store. The alley
provided decent cover but one could never be sure what boarded up
doors would suddenly fly open, bullets ripping out.
     Hornet set up his deck and jacked into the system. Sphynx
stood beside him, watching the ally's only entrance, Predator in
hand.
     To Sphynx, it seemed that Hornet had gone into a stupor. But
in cyberspace, Hornets Persona software was generating his form.
     Beside a small white pyramid, a chrome hornet appeared. It
scanned the multitude of lines that lay before it and buzzed off
into the matrix.

     The chrome hornet stopped beside the System Access Node.

     "Hello drek-head. Open up!"  | Analyze SAN....Working..| "ICE!
Damn, this was supposed to be a breeze. O.K. It's Grey." |Sleaze
IC| "O.K. Now or never"


     Hornet slipped by the SAN which ignored his presence. In
seconds he stood before the datastores |Browse Datastore| The
program ran and spit out some of the more profitable files from the
decker's perspective.

     "O.K. Prepare to get stung!" |Download DWARFCRUSH|

     The download went slowly but smoothly. Just as the last packet
arrived, he felt himself drawn out of cyberspace.

     "Who...wha?"

      Someone had pulled his fiber optic cable out of the deck.
Sphynx! The sound of gunfire brought him back to his senses and his
own Ruger Warhawk was in his hand in a flash.
     Orks were standing in front of the alley entrance firing heavy
pistols. Sphynx returned fire until she was sure Hornet was
coherent. She then summoned once again the spirits of the city who
had come to her aid before.
     The slugs from Hornet's Ruger found their home in one of the
Ork's neck. The lug toppled over.
     The trash heap arrived and pelted the Orks with garbage. The
aggressors suddenly were spooked and ran off, garbage beaning them
as they went.
     The pair moved quickly from fifth street and found the Rapier
where Hornet had left it parked.

     "You know," Hornet shouted over the revving bike engine "You
handled yourself pretty well back there. After Arlo gets his cut,
you should be in dandelions for months!"

     "Stow it Chummer! That's no way to talk to a partner. So Ka?"

     "Great! I fed her... now I'll NEVER get rid of her!"

     Hornet kicked the Rapier into high gear as they sped away
through the Seattle streets.