From: yu-d@cis.ohio-state.edu (Moonrise Programmer)
Subject: A Matter of Timing.
Date: 10 Jul 92 23:09:38 GMT

A Matter of Timing. 1/1


	The night draped itself over Chiba with a laden and expectant feeling.
Something was going to happen tonight.  Jake walked a quarter across his
knuckles, it reflected the light from the neon sign across the street giving it
a greenish sheen.  The sign read CHATSUBO, a biz bar in the hard hearted Chiba
City.  Jake had done biz there before.  This time he was watching not doing.
	"Whatchoo doing mister?"  One of the kids Jake was trying to ignore
took matters into his own hands.  The kid was either stupid or a thief.  Nobody
pried into other peoples business on the street.  He turned to give the kid,
most probably a thief and stupid if he tried to rob Jake, a menacing stare.
Instead he saw a lean thirteen year old dressed in the older punk/chains style.
Jake stared at the smirk on the boy's face, a smirk because his perfect
mimicry of a young five year old had fooled Jake.
	"Look kid, I'm busy, so scram."  Jake didn't give anybody, not anybody
the satisfaction of seeing themselves best Jake.
	"C'mon Jake, yeah I know who you are.  You're the best on the streets
but I've lived my life on'em and I know what and who's on it.  I know my way
around and I think I can help you out."
	"I said I was busy, so cut out of here."
	"Look, I've got ears and my own sources", he continued as if he hadn't
heard Jake, "I know the talk and I can score the bits.  Just let me help out as
an assistant or somethin.  I wanna be as good as you, to end up just like you."
	A couple had just exited the Chatsubo, the woman a U.N. colonel.  Jake
glanced over and saw somebody else in the shadows.  The kid continued to jabber
away in front of him.  He couldn't afford to let them know that he was around,
this job required total discretion, just info, nothing more.  If anything went
down because of his presence that would blow everything.
	"Kid, let me save you the trouble."  Jake took the young annoyance by
the neck and did a half turn to slam him up against the wall.  In a smooth
motion he raised his wrists and two soft whuffs followed.  Gas propelled darts
zipped out cutting through the eyelid and digging into the pupils.  Their
rotational motion acted like wood screws digging into soft wood.  Reaching
brain tissue they left two small blood filled tunnels behind.
	Lowering the body gently to the ground Jake spared a tiny sneer,
"timing's everything kid."  His brisk footsteps fading into the darkness was
the kids only eulogy.





If you have criticisms, my email addresses are above and below.  If you have
flames direct them to gaston@cis.ohio-state.edu, I don't think he has anything
better to do this summer.

Greets to Crimson, maybe next time, eh?


From: timk@tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca (Tim Kuehn)
Subject: A Matter of Timing: Sidebar
Date: 11 Jul 92 21:03:48 GMT

>A Matter of Timing. 1/1
>	Lowering the body gently to the ground Jake spared a tiny sneer,
>"timing's everything kid."  His brisk footsteps fading into the darkness
>was the kids only eulogy.

				*  *  *

The display shimmered once, then switched to an exterior view as Leacock
began her watch. While the assets were out of range of their electronic
or Matrix assets, all they could do was wait and see what happened next.

				*  *  *

A few moments into Leacock's watch,

	"Sir, I have an anomoly to report."

The commander summoned his wandering thoughts to order.

	"Proceed."

Not taking her eyes away from the monitor,

	"There's been a killing," said Leacock briskly. "Thermal
	sensors show that the heat output from one of the subjects
	in the subject area is decreasing rapidly."

The commander looked at the infra-red display. A small human, probably in
their early teens, was sitting on the ground held up by the building's
cold wall. Zooming in on the subject, the commander activated a digital
thermometer and confirmed what the thermal viewer had already told him.
The subject's body heat was indeed decreasing rapidly, which could only
mean one thing.

After he switched over to normal visual, he saw small trails of blood
dribbling from the kid's eyes down his cheeks before disappearing into
the jacket below. Obviously it was someone too young to know better,
too stupid to stay out of the way, and now he was dead. While this
probably wasn't important to their mission, it didn't pay to take
chances, no matter how small.

	"Transmit this to photo-interprepation and then resume
	your your watch Mr. Leacock," said the commander.

	"Yes, sir!"

Then keying into the command net,

	"Photo-interp, this is Brass Hat. Acknowledge."

	"Harris here, sir."

	"We've got a killing on visual here," said the commander. "I
	want you to get me an ID and readout of the person who did it.
	This has FLASH priority. I repeat, this has FLASH priority."

	"Acknowledged sir," said Harris. "We'll get right on it."

	"Brass Hat out," said the commander as he keyed the mike off.

It was back to the waiting game for the commander again. But at least
now he just might be on the trail of a clue as to who was on the other
side of this plot. In this game of espionage and counter-espionage,
just knowing who your enemy was was a big advantage.

Then again, it could just as easily be just another wild goose chase.
In this business you never could tell for certain which was which.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (C) 1992, Timothy D. Kuehn, All Rights Reserved.
The commander and his associated support staff are all mine.
Do not use any of them without running it by me first.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: timk@tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca (Tim Kuehn)
Subject: A matter of timing: Sidebar pt II
Date: 20 Jul 92 00:08:29 GMT

(This takes place from the time Jake terminates the kid,
 then jumps 4 hours forward in time.)

	"Photo-interp, this is Brass Hat. Acknowledge."

Lieutenant Rich Harris, the watch officer for photo-interpretation,
mentally punched a button to connect him into the command net.

	"Harris here, sir."

	"We've got a termination on record here," said the commander.
	"I want you to see if you can get me an ID and readout of
	the person who did it. This has FLASH priority. I repeat,
	this has FLASH priority."

	"Acknowledged sir," said Harris. "We'll get right on it."

	"Brass Hat out," said the commander as he keyed the mike off.

While Harris waited for the transmission data to finish arriving, he
switched over to the local-net.

	"Nelms, Crofts, and Francis, this is the Duty Officer," said
	Harris "I have a FLASH priority. Repeat, FLASH priority.
	Acknowledge."

	"Nelms. Crofts. Francis."

replied the three summoned agents.

	"We have a termination record currently in download," said
	Harris. "You are to determine the identity of the terminating
	agent and report. Nelms..."

	"Yes, sir!" replied Nelms.

	"You are in command," said Harris. "This is a hot one, so let's
	do it by the book."

	"Yes, sir!" replied Nelms.

	"Any questions?" asked Harris.

A brief pause, followed by

	"None at this time, sir." from Nelms.

	"Very well," said Harris. "Harris out."

The download finished, Harris routed the information to the scurrying
photo-interp team. They would be busy for the next little while, but in
the meantime, there were other requests coming in that he had to deal
with. Harris took a deep breath and then plunged back into his work.

				*  *  *

A few hours later...

				*  *  *

	"Photo-interp agent Nelms to duty officer Harris."

	"Harris here."

	"We have a report, sir," said Nelms.

	"Preliminary on screen," said Harris.

	"On screen now," said Nelms. "The terminating agent is a
	private Matrix operative named Jake. No last name on record.
	Runner for hire, he is suspected in a string of commercial
	operations against competing industrial operations, but no
	prior known involvement in government operations, intergovernmental
	spying, or other non-private covert activity."

	"The terminating weapon was a pair of wrist-embedded,
	compressed-air driven, low velocity darts driven through
	the ocular regions into the brain, where a small charge
	detonated, effecting termination of the target subject."

Harris was less than impressed. As a photo-interp officer, he saw more
creative ways for people to die than the average joe on the street could
even imagine. Anyone who used lethal force in a public place when more
suitable and inobtrusive means of threat suppression were available was
obviously small time.

	"Well done Nelms," said Harris. "You may stand down from
	FLASH priority."

	"Stand down from FLASH acknowledged."

	"Harris out."

	"Nelms out."
				*  *  *

The commander had viewed the film, with the photo-interp's assessment
of the action, then stored the information in a low-priority file. Anyone
who would use such excessive force for the small problem that kid was,
and in such a public place was obviously not working for anyone he may
be up against.  It was a 95% probability that was just another wild-goose
chase after all.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl "The Munchkin" Rudke, the commander, Nelms, Lieutenant Rich Harris,
Nelms, Crofts, and Francis are all mine. Touch them without my permission
and you die. :-) Do not use any of them without running it by me first for
comment.

Jake belongs to someone else, but anyone who'd use lethal force on a kid
when it'd make a *lot* more sense to knock them out and leave them with
a bad headache afterwards deserves what they get. :-)

Copyright 1992, Timothy D. Kuehn, All Rights Reserved.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------


From: yu-d@cis.ohio-state.edu (Moonrise Programmer)
Subject: A Matter of Timing continued...
Date: 25 Jul 92 23:03:34 GMT



	The night was young and had already claimed one such to its eternal
bosom.  Jake the instrument of the collection had other matters on his mind.
He had killed already tonight.  He shouldn't have but it had felt good.
The U.N. Colonel and her entourage didn't concern him.  He briefly toyed with
the idea of taking them out but rejected it out of hand.  You didn't take on
the U.N. unless you had a real deep hole to hide in.  Sure they couldn't do
that much to you, but they could make things quite uncomfortable.  Sauntering
down the street to Mushito square he stood at the street corner seemingly
oblivious to the solitary night activity occurring around him.
	During the day Mushito was the frenetic hub of various transportation
medium and individuals making their way hither and thither.  By night a
lethargic sense of movement permeated the ether.  People still hurried to the
safety of their homey little rabbit warrens garishly lit by pricey bulbs or
softly illuminated by strip lights.  Either way, the city streets had its own
illumination, an absorption and collection of bleed over from a multitude of
sources.  Here in the square the strobing Mushito ads scrolled through their
paces, delivering their unending commercial messages of meaningless products
and only incidentally providing the means of sight.
	The third ad interested Jake, only he didn't let on that he was even
looking at the Mushito scroll board.  Flipping the coin through his fingers
he peered at the passerbys while carefully observing the board through the
edges of his vision.

-Wile's Tanning Cream: Too much cyber time?  Brown now without the Sun!-

Cybertime, yeah, it could only mean deckers.  Jake took a minute to recall the
initial contact, were there any additional instructions given?

	Audio only TeleCom, Jake had wondered about that but tossed aside his
	conjectures.  As long as he got paid.  The instructions were brief and
	a payment was made.  Strange there was never an option to refuse but
	the assignment felt too perfect for Jake to refuse.  The initial
	observation was easy enough, then following he was to engage in acts
	of termination against a specified group to be named later.  Incidental
	casualties were not a consideration.

	This fit Jake to a T.  He delighted in the wild abandon of sowing
	havoc and death, the progenitors of anarchy among the rigid structure
	of zone life.  An anarchic sociopath at heart, he lived for those wild
	moments of adrenalized action, the killer high.

Now was the time for the nights expectations to bear fruit.  His assignment
didn't make sense, it could only mean that he was to provide a sideshow, a
distracting display to some hidden viewer.  Then again what was he to worry
about, he had something to do.  The rented locker yielded its inanimate hunks
of plastic and steel, in Jake hands they came alive, writhing with the desire
to inflict death.  The Chatsubo, plenty of deckers hung out there.  Plenty of
deckers.  Jake would be careful though, he liked the Chatsubo, he'd use
anti personnel weaponry only.  It would be a shame to damage the Chat.  Yeah,
still that gave him plenty to work with.  The clicks of weapon safeties echoed
in the street behind Jake.  The familiar and welcome haze of action seemed to
infuse and uplift him.  It was time, just a matter of timing.

	Elsewhere, a man calmly smoked his last cigarette delicately clenched
between his plastic lips.  His thoughts revealed themselves in his features
as he stared with unyielding intesity at the digital timer.  Soon it would
begin, a conflagaration of violence and destruction across Chiba City, not only
on the streets but in the electronic byways as well.  It had taken time to
choose the unstable personnel to institute the chaotic plan.  Yet this was just
a distraction, to draw the attention and resources of those who were watching.
They would have to respond, their interests were at stake, thereby bleeding
them of watchfulness elsewhere.  It was beautiful, the man laughed in that high
pitched bark of his.  His master would be pleased indeed.


Copyright 1992 by David Yu

*****************************************************************************
Jake is mine.  If you want to knock him around a bit let me know first.
I don't know if this is going anywhere but what the hell.  Anyways all
criticisms are welcome and as always all flames are kindly directed to
/dev/hell.
*****************************************************************************