Transference

Frank sat in his seat as he glanced around, just lightly enough to not draw too much attention to himself. Each and every one of the men here were desperate for some sort of success, causing a decent amount of paranoia in each and ever one of them. Luckaly for Frank, his young age, as well as the rather simplistic and unremarkable looks, worked in his favour here, the few guys who glanced at him, just reasoned him to be yet another unlucky bastard like them, on one of his undoubtedly many rides towards 'The Junkyard'.

Eventually the bus reached its destination, a rather decent looking stop, with a properly roofed and well maintained set of stools, filled with men on their way back, some after a rather fruitfull, other, even more dejected, having found nothing of interest for their particular project. Frank reasoned, he should lean a bit more into the inexperienced role that he was clearly poised to play, only his elevated intelect and sharpened mind allowing him to controll himself better, giving him a bit more of a leeway in any situation he encountered now.

So, acting just as akwardly as one would expect, he was one of the last persons to leave the bus, though there was also a part of this all that was natural, he was, after all, the same inexperienced noob that he was supposed to be and acted as. Not like he had transmigrated from future or something. He was himself, barely over twenty years young man trying to find his place in this world while at the same time keeping low profile and finding ways to make his mother have a nice and relaxing later days of her life. All to thank her for her hard work and sacrifices she had made to ensure he grew up a decent person.

Walking along with the rest of the recently arriving men, they all closed in on a rather large building, a large sign 'Requisitions and administration' hangging above the door. As they walked inside, Rex noticed a rather old man sitting on the metalic stool not too far away from the entrance, though far enough that any conversation the man would have with whoever sat next to him would not be heard by the people walking towards the entrance of the building.

"Oh ho ho ho.Do I see young Frank coming by? What has it been, four years, no? Come, sit with this old geezer and exchange a few words." he called out Frank and gestured with one hand for him to aproach. The old man was the Gatekeeper Jack. There were legends told about this old man in most parts of the city. The guy had the uncanny ability to remember vast quantities of peoples faces and names, serving as a natural personal filter. If he saw you once, he could always point you out with your name right on his lips. he had also been among the first group the Sheppard hired to work at this place, or so the rummors went. Of course, not wanting to offend the man, he walked over and stood by the stool Jack was sitting on.

"Mind if I join you?" Frank asked, not wanting to be presumptious and showing the due respect for the legendary man.

"Sure thing kid." Jack agreed, then waited for Frank to sit down , before continiuing "So, what brings you here again? Are you just like the rest of the desperate sods coming here whenever they can, or is there a deeper story?"

"You are quite dirrect sir." Frank replied, a slight smile adorning his face, though there was a slight nervous swet forming on his palms. "Would you mind answering a question of my own, before I answer that one of yours?"

"Hooo? Now this seems a bit interesting. Go ahead, shoot." Jack smiled and replied, his gaze even more focused on Frank.

"Theoretically, If someone happened to know a guy, who might have some rather groundbreaking ideas, could either him, or that friend of his, find anyone trustworty here to serve as the partner that they need to secure both their safety and a reliable partner with the tech and capital to create said groundbreaking ideas, all in order to enrich both sides of said deal, hopefully for years, if not decades to come?"

"Hypothetically speaking," Jack chuckled as he replied, the smile remaining just like he had before, "I would say to that person the same as anyone else who works here would, for believe you me, such men come and go almost every day. Those desperate, or on their last legs, naively hoping that someone might help them out, even if they are well aware their idea is a bust." he then got slightly more serious, lloking straigh into Franks eyes, who, for once, did not flich at the dirrect eye contact, his mind steeled, even if his heart was now pounding with an elevated rate.

"Do you have something concrete to show, schematics or a prototype of sorts? Because unless there is that, well, words cost nothing to be spoken, now do they." His words were as much an example as a question for such a person, his incredibly clear and lucid gaze staring straight into Frank's eyes, as if gazing dirrectly into his soul.

"And, what if said person had exactly that?" Frank asked further, his gaze unwavering, his conviction and belief clear both in the eyes and the voice, though his fast beating heart was not calming down one bit. On the contrary, it was pumping even faster now, his anxiousness quite apparent. With that all combined, it was only natural, a pause in their conversation was born, Jack still looking for any sign of deception or some cracks in the story so far. A minute or so later, when he still found none, his right hand came up to his chin, lightly stroking his beard, as if contemplating something.

"Say kiddo, help and old man out, I need someone to help for a second, do you mind?"

Immediatly understanding the message between the lines, he nodded to the question, replying "The parts I am looking for will not run away somewhere, if I am meant to get them today. Sure, a few minutes here or there will change nothing."

With Franks agreement, Jack slowly raised from his chair, moving in a different dirrection than the main door of the building they had sat nearby. It took around ten minutes of walking in the relatively relaxed pace of Jack, but they finally reached a door that he promptly unlocked, and then lead Frank inside. There, before his eyes stood a rather small table, with a chair on either side, a couple of monitors to the side of one, facing the other.

"Sit down there." Jack pointed to the seat facing the monitors, as he himself took the one on the monitors side, then he asked the most obvious question.

"Say, what prompted you to risk it and speak about this with me? Not many would risk it quite so soon."

"Truthfully sir? With all the legends about you, I reasoned that it was worth a shot. Not like I can actually pull of what I have in mind mind on my own. So, risking it with an urban legend, one who works in the trully neutral zone, for yet another legend, made the only sense. If I could not get a chance and a fair deal, should you be interested, there would be no place I could hope to. Thats all there is to it sir."

"Heh, aint no sir kid, so just drop it. Jack's the name, so adress me as such. So, since we have the privacy that is needed for the conversation that follows, let me ask this straight. So, what is it that you think you can offer us?"

"Where do I begin?" Frank though for a moment, then reached in his backpack and pulled out the schematic he had drawn that he wanted to work on at Bob's today, but do to how things turned out, remained unused. He then placed it on the table, and slided it in Jacks dirrection. "I suppose this could be the start. Something I drew when I headed out today, planning to visit an aquintance of my family who owns his own workshop, but due to some things that put his character under heavy suspicion, I had to change plans, leaving it with me." Frank pulled another page from his notebook, passing it along as well, some more details regarding the previously passed over shematic, as well as its intended use. "The short description and legend."

Jack focused on the second page, not too tech savy, something Frank realized quite quickly, the confused and lost look rather obvious as Jack looked over the schematic. There was no such blank look on said face as he looked over the description and some additional notes.

"Well, I suppose we could work with this, the scale and expenses for a prototype being quite small. Quite the solid opener. You got anything else to offer right now?"

"I have some ideas, but they need to be fleshed out, some of them based on the same ideas as the one in your hands, but much more advanced. I kinda need to see how this one performs in real life scenario, as well as any possible issues that might arise, before I can formulate a proper upgrade, so to speak."

"But there are things in the works then, and supposedly quite possibly at the stages of testing, should this prove feasible and working?"

"I would say so. Oh, and if I may ask, If this little project turns out as a success, do you think I could get a PC that does not have any of the corpo trackers on it? Due to my profession I also have some things I want to test in coding, but cant due to those bugs that exist in anything that is sold in stores, used or new."

"I will have our engineers cook up a prototype, and we will see from there. And dont worry, just live your life as you would ussually. If it turns out fine, we will find a way to contact you discreetly. We will also find a few parts for you to take with you. Gotta make this look like a regular visit. Cant give the voracious and ever snooping corpos anything to latch onto, should this little joint venue turns out to be a little more permanent. That also includes any other visits here for the time being. You should look like the rest of the unfortunates, not being seen here a few weeks at the very least, as if desperately exausting whatever parts we you have aquired."

Frank just nodded along, agreeing with whatever he was told, not doubting Jacks words one bit.

"Another piece of advice kid, free of charge. While 'The Junkyard' has the reputation, do not trust any of the employees you come across, like you did with me. As much as it pains me to say, no one can know for sure how many of the lower ranking jobs are taken by the corpo spies. Yes, I asume you have guessed as much. And while we are aware of more than one, there can always be more, though the loyality of the people at the upper positions in undeniable. We have our ways, expensive as they are. Loyality is not a cheap thing, no matter the currency in which it is bought."

With a much more solemn expression on his face Frank nodded once again, taking the advice to heart. Then he followed Jack out of the room, as the older man once again lead him through the rather confusing maze towards their next destination. Jack did mention that he does a similar think every now and then with some random younger men who come around or second time, thought their conversation ussually is a bit more mundane, with him offering a simple advice or two, so them walking together like this is nothing suspicious or unprecedented. Soon, they were in front of a small office, nof far from the requisitions building. They walked in and Jack spoke to the lone person sitting behind a computer, typing something furiously away.

"Hey Peter, found another freshling today, as headstrong as the rest. Be a dear for me and check if what he is looking for could be found in our junk piles." The man behind the desk, with a rather ordinary face, a week old stubble and dark brwon hair and eyes, looked up, then nodded at Jack.

"Sure thing old man." he replied, then looked at Frank "So, kid, what are you looking for? If you know the manufacturer, or the detail in particular, do tell. Would make my job so much easier."

"Yes, thank you. Would you happen to have any Arakoshi noice cancelation modules, and perhaps the older models of Rimano motherboards, like five to ten years old?" Frank asked, quite sure of what he needed, what with him having done some research in the question during his free time.

"Whould you look at that Jack, the kid actually has done his homework, not something you see often. Ha ha, keep this up kid, and our guys will come to like your visits, which I am noo doubt will happen every now and them in the future." he just shrugged his shoulders "After all, it always follows the same pattern." Even as he was talking, his hands were dancing over the keyboard, typing, and a few moments later he spoke on his findings.

"Got a couple of X- 2099 motherboards in the shelves, not many looking for those these days, and would you like at that, we even have a pair of those modules. Been collecting dust for a couple months now. Not often requested, but nevertheless a going part."

"H-how much would both pairs cost me?" Frank asked in a bit more timid tone, showing a clear hesitation as well as wory.

"Let me check." Peter spoke and quickly tallied everything. "Three hundred and ninety creds kid." before he could continiue, Jack interwened.

"Did you gave a 'Jack special' to him? Gotta keep my rep up you know."

"Ahhh, right, right, sorry Jack. That happens once every other month, slipped my mind, give me a moment." He quickly changed up the calculation, and presented the new total. "Hundred and thirty for one noice cancelation module, and one thirty for the two motherboards. The second module being 'Jack's special'. Dont get used to that kind of treatment kid. Thats a once in a lifetime kind of chance. The rest will be plain old ussual transactions in the big building everyone else goes to."

"Yes sir, understood sir."

"Polite kid, aint he?" Jack laughed, the timid act looking quite solid and believable.

"They dont make them like this anymore, do they?" Peter joined in, chuckling as well, while finalizing the sheet and marking the parts for removal from the warehouse.

"Jack will take you to the warehouse to pick up the parts. Pay the guys there for them." He spoke as he gave a set of pages to Frank. "Stay respectfull kid, and keep your head clean. There is a boatload of shit in this city of ours, always trying to sweep everyone off their feet, and taint them with its own stink."

The following few procedures were rather swift, only taking up another half an hour to get done, with Frank a bit later boarding the bus returning to his part of the town, a few parts richer and two hundred sixty creds lighter, though he would not complain one bit. What he was about to cook up would do wonders for his and his moms health. Yet another dark tech blueprint from 'The Book' flashing in his mind.

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"So, what do you think?" Jack asked Peter as the latter was looking at the schematic in front of him. The two were now in a state of the art workshop, a group of men doing their own at their work stations. Peter went over the rather neatly sketched planns, checking it over a few times.

"Honestly?" he asked and looked at Jack. With the older mans nod, he huumed for a second, then gave his own verdict.

"Its fucking genious. Simple beyond reason, yet looks at our tech from a blindspot perspective, disregarding the dogma of the technologial path. Never in a million years would it occur to me to make such an observation."

"So, you think its leggit and will work?"

"Think? Dude, I guarantee it, unless of course we fuck up in making it. Thats the only way it does not. It would also give us a solid wad of cash, should we release it through our shell company."

"So, where did youu get the prints? I would love to pick the dudes head. Just imagine what could be hiding in that noggin of theirs"

"Thats the other thing I wanted to ask. So, what do you think about the kid I brought over today?"

"Him, hmm, green as they come. Though seemed a bit more composed than the ussual first timer. Nothing else that screams 'monster' or 'savant'. Why ask?" Then both of his brows rose as understanding dawned on him. "No shit, its the kids? Fuuck, now I wanna know why he wanted those parts. Just what kind of fucked up thing lives in that head of his. I think I wanna take my words back. With this in my hand, and that ordinary look of his, I am actually a bit scared Jack. Trembling with anticipation,"

"Why so?"

"You should know. There are only two paths for the kid, if my guess is right. Thats at least how it always goes. He either becomes one of the martyrs, hunted down by the big corpos, his brilliant mind eventually bringing him into their sights and then range of their greedy paws, or he makes his own giga corporation, creating another player to compete for the pie that is our city, and world for that matter."

"And what if he is backed by us? Comes to trust us?"

"Well, shit. Sheppards statue in the inner sanctum might get company."

"Well Peter, why dont we strive for that then. Look into the kids background for me, will you? He spoke of another workshop that did not work out for him, he saw something that gave him the bad vibes. Supposedly an aquintance of his folks. Also, gonna need bug free PC for the kid. Have the guys in the back take care of it, I will speak with the boss to set everything up."