{"data":{"id":12881,"title":"The Lost Generation: Issue #4","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/comm-link\/spectrum-dispatch\/12881-The-Lost-Generation-Issue-4","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-links\/12881","api_public_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/comm-links\/12881","channel":"Undefined","category":"Undefined","series":"The Lost Generation","images":[{"id":248,"name":"TonyaOrielSerial_FI_1_Crop.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/f2lyrm83u0tc8r\/source\/TonyaOrielSerial_FI_1_Crop.jpg","alt":"","size":680902,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2013-07-19T05:26:08+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/248","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/248\/similar"}],"images_count":1,"translations":{"en_EN":"Tonya took Melvin Hartley Jr. out to lunch. The old man looked like he needed it. In return, he was more than happy to share all he knew about the bank. One of the older institutions in the UEE, the Nebula Bank, gave Hartley\u2019s great-grandmother her first loan to open the museum. Since then, they swelled into a financial behemoth, becoming more and more ruthless as the decades passed. Now, it seemed, the Nebula technically owned the collection of defaulted Artemis relics acquired by the Hartley Museum.\n\n\u201cTrust me, the representative was not thrilled about my loan application,\u201d Melvin said as he cooled down a cup of tea. \u201cBut since the museum is a legacy client, his hands were tied. That\u2019s why they were intractable, utterly intractable when I missed a payment. One payment.\u201d\n\nTonya nodded as she listened. It was hard not to feel bad for the man. Maybe he had a penchant for theatrics, but even she could tell that he genuinely loved the museum. It\u2019s hard not to pick up on that level of desperation. She wished she knew what to tell him. In all likelihood, he was going to lose the museum. Expressing condolences seemed trivial and pointless to her. Hartley didn\u2019t know her, why would he care that she was sorry? It\u2019s not like their communal sorrow would mystically summon a financial solution. Again, what was the point?\n\nSo she left it alone. Hartley sat in silence, blowing on his tea, before finally taking a sip.\n\n\n* * * *\n\n\nHartley thanked her for the lunch and drifted back toward the museum. Tonya watched him shuffle down the street and turn a corner. Then she set her sights on Nebula.\n\nThe bank was an obelisk of metal and glass. Just on the way into the lobby, she picked out sixteen counter-intrusion devices for the building. There were cameras, motion sensors, thermal imaging, microphone-tendrils in the floor, and charge-boxes of nanodrones embedded in each of the panes. That was just the lobby. Her head hurt to think about what they had in mind for the vault.\n\nThe center of the lobby was filled with open cubicles and booths. Podiums for simple transactions or account info rose from the marble floor. All of the bank employees were dressed in the same dark blue uniforms. They all had the pallor of wax, with their hair either slicked or pulled back. They were very much human but conditioned to act like robots. It was disconcerting.\n\n\u201cGood afternoon, Miss Oriel,\u201d a young man in his early twenties said as he approached. They must have Ret-scanners here too. \u201cCan I interest you in a modest-rate savings account?\u201d\n\n\u201cSure.\u201d Tonya smiled. The bank employee led her through the maze of cubicles to his tiny office and sat down. He started his sales pitch, comparing and contrasting the various savings and transaction accounts the bank offered, the number of branches Nebula currently offered, etc. Tonya tuned most of it out, although she did notice that their service charges were ridiculously high. She was more focused on collecting data of her own. Based on the bank employee\u2019s screen, the bank was on a Kraken Network \u2014 a fairly complicated system with a wide array of security plug-ins but mostly open source. They didn\u2019t have fingerprint or retina access panels on their employee systems.\n\n\u201cSo can we sign you up?\u201d He smiled blankly.\n\n\u201cThis is a really big financial decision. It\u2019s my future, you know?\u201d Tonya stood and offered her best thoughtful and considerate look. \u201cI\u2019m going to have to really think this over.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut \u2013\u201c\n\nTonya left. She was a bit premature in assuming that she could break into the bank. The more she saw, the less she liked her odds.\n\nOutside, she contacted one of Gavin Arlington\u2019s legion of assistants and pled her case for acquiring the artifacts from the bank directly. The assistant was curt but polite. He said he would relay her message to Arlington and contact her when he heard back.\n\nBack on the Beacon II, Tonya started looking into Nebula\u2019s networks. Nothing serious, just a couple pokes and prods to test its reaction time. It did little to assuage her apprehensions. But she did find something of interest while sifting through the public shareholders\u2019 updates:\n\nNebula Bank owned a controlling interest in a company called Public Reclamations, a local storage facility. It was an interesting lead made better when she found that their corporate services listed repossession and estate holdings as their specialization.\n\nTheir security was crap too. It took less than an hour for Tonya to access their internal network. She ran a search using Hartley\u2019s case number with Nebula and got a hit. Six crates were being stored in their Kensington warehouse. Fifth floor. Lot #45ZB.\n\nSuddenly, Tonya\u2019s plan seemed viable again.\n\n\n* * * *\n\n\nUnfortunately, the security at Public Reclamations\u2019 warehouse was not as flimsy as their network. Studying the architecture from a rooftop across the street, there were roving security guards, visible cameras, and wired windows. The building itself was a massive cube, isolated in the middle of the block. Not the easiest approach, especially for a self-professed \u2018recreational justified burglar\u2019 like Tonya.\n\nOn the plus side, someone in charge clearly had trust issues, because Tonya found remote access to a separate dedicated security feed that seemed to focus on the employees. She transferred the network\u2019s access from her MobiGlas to the HUD in her linked glasses. Now she could switch between the guards on patrol, in the security center, even the staff lounge. Although she still couldn\u2019t affect the building\u2019s security systems, it was better than nothing.\n\nTonya left the warehouse to get her props.\n\nAn hour later, she set the Beacon II down in the private landing bay. A sales rep greeted her while the engines were still cycling down.\n\n\u201cHi, can I help you?\u201d This rep was even cheerier than the last one.\n\n\u201cYeah, I need some storage space.\u201d Tonya looked around the lot, as if surveying it for the first time. She was doing her best to channel this old hauler she used to overhear at the Torchlight Express. \u201cYou guys do that, right?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what the sign says,\u201d the rep laughed nervously. Tonya didn\u2019t crack a smile. He smothered any further chuckling. \u201cYes, you are correct.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood. I\u2019ve got four-point-seven-eight metric tonnes of unspecified cargo that I need to offload. You got that kind of space?\u201d\n\n\u201cSure, the facility is outfitted to \u2013\u201c\n\n\u201cYeah, I don\u2019t know. I\u2019ll have to have a look first.\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course. Follow me.\u201d The rep led her inside.\n\n\u201cGot anything on the fifth floor?\u201d Tonya scoped out the security cameras. The rep stammered for a second then checked his Glas.\n\n\u201cUm. We do, but there are available units on lower floors.\u201d\n\n\u201cYeah, well, in my experience when people break into a place, they\u2019re gonna hit the lower levels first.\u201d\n\n\u201cI assure you, we\u2019re quite secure.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, I\u2019m sure you are. Humor me.\u201d\n\nThe rep took her up to the fifth floor, giving his sales pitch the whole time. He led her through the narrow halls, all lit with the same flat lighting bars. They passed a massive set of rolling doors. A screen beside it listed a span of lot numbers, including Hartley\u2019s. It must be Nebula\u2019s store.\n\nTonya stopped at the small storage bay next door. The locking mechanism wasn\u2019t activated. She glanced up and down the hall. There were two cameras aimed at Nebula\u2019s storage space and they weren\u2019t even overlapping coverage. She could stand underneath one without being seen by the other.\n\n\u201cThis one available?\u201d She tapped the screen. The gate rolled up. The rep was a few steps ahead of her.\n\n\u201cYes, ma\u2019am,\u201d he said as he hurried back. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019ll be large enough based on your size requirements.\u201d\n\nTonya stepped inside the small dusty room and looked around.\n\n\u201cThis\u2019ll be fine.\u201d\n\n\u201cI \u2013\u201c\n\n\u201cI know how you guys work, try to up-sell me on space I don\u2019t need.\u201d The rep was about to argue but wilted under the threat of losing the sale. Tonya felt like she was getting the hang of this social manipulation thing.\n\nA month\u2019s rent up-front and a fake name was all it took for the rep to thank her repeatedly and disappear from sight.\n\nTonya went back to her ship. She loaded a pair of crates onto her anti-grav mover and headed inside. In her storage space, she opened the crates. They were empty except for some entry-tools and her MobiGlas.\n\nShe checked on the feed from the security center. The guards were busy talking to the sales rep, who was posturing like he\u2019d made the sale of the century.\n\nBack outside, she fixed her MobiGlas to an extendable baton and snapped a pic of the closer camera\u2019s angle on the storage bay. She flipped the picture to a small portable screen. Double-checking to make sure the guards were still distracted, she brazenly placed the photo inches in front of the camera. The feed on the monitor went dark as the auto-exposure recalibrated, but eventually it balanced itself.\n\nThe guards were none the wiser. Tonya repeated the procedure for the second camera. She ran a bypass of the locking mechanism and within ten minutes the gate rolled open.\n\nNebula\u2019s storage bay occupied the rest of the floor. It was a labyrinth of repossessed antiquity and furniture.\n\nTonya maneuvered the anti-grav mover through the narrow passages as she scanned the lot numbers. Finally she found Hartley\u2019s collection of Artemis relics stacked and wrapped in a weave.\n\nShe checked on the guards. They were silently laughing about something with the rep. She slashed the weave, loaded the boxes onto the mover, and sealed them inside her cargo crates.\n\nAs she crossed the landing bay to the Beacon II, the sales rep came running.\n\n\u201cIs everything all right?\u201d he yelled.\n\n\u201cYeah, you were right, my stuff wouldn\u2019t fit.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you want a different \u2013\u201c\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s okay. I\u2019ll find another spot.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut \u2026\u201d\n\nTonya closed the cargo doors and moved up to the cockpit. The engines heated up and she took off, leaving a very confused rep on the landing bay.\n\nWith Earth quickly receding in her six, Tonya set her course and went to see what Hartley had acquired. She carefully opened the boxes; she would catalogue everything more thoroughly when she had a chance, but it seemed to be mostly launch transcripts and preliminary designs before she got to it \u2026\n\nJudging simply by appearance, it was an obsolete drive suspended inside a shock-resistant airtight archive case. But she knew \u2014 it was Janus. An original copy of the Artemis\u2019 piloting AI.\n\nTonya basked in the moment. It didn\u2019t last long, as the intense curiosity that fueled her flared up once again.\n\nShe dusted off an old system that could accept the Janus drive. Before she would even think about activating Janus, she went through, making sure that the host system wasn\u2019t directly connected to her ship for anything other than power. Last thing she needed was an AI running rampant through her flight computer.\n\nSatisfied, Tonya took a long deep breath. She cracked open the archive case with the Janus drive. It didn\u2019t appear to have aged a day since it was packed. Tonya sorted out the cables and plugged it into the system.\n\nFor the third time, she went through and triple-checked the connections.\n\nHer finger hovered over the power button on the Janus drive.\n\n\u201cHere we go,\u201d she murmured \u2026\n\n\u2026 and pressed it.\n\n. . . to be continued","de_DE":"Tonya f\u00fchrte Melvin Hartley Jr. zum Mittagessen aus. Der alte Mann sah aus, als w\u00fcrde er es brauchen. Im Gegenzug war er mehr als gl\u00fccklich, alles, was er \u00fcber die Bank wusste, mitzuteilen. Eine der \u00e4lteren Institutionen in der UEE, die Nebula Bank, gab Hartleys Urgro\u00dfmutter ihre erste Leihgabe zur Er\u00f6ffnung des Museums. Seitdem wuchsen sie zu einem Finanzriesen heran und wurden im Laufe der Jahrzehnte immer r\u00fccksichtsloser. Nun schien es, dass der Nebel technisch im Besitz der Sammlung von ausgefallenen Artemis-Relikten war, die vom Hartley Museum erworben wurde.\n\n\"Vertrau mir, der Vertreter war nicht begeistert von meinem Kreditantrag\", sagte Melvin, als er eine Tasse Tee herunterk\u00fchlte. \"Aber da das Museum ein veralteter Kunde ist, waren ihm die H\u00e4nde gebunden. Deshalb waren sie unnachgiebig, v\u00f6llig unnachgiebig, als ich eine Zahlung verpasste. Eine Zahlung.\"\n\nTonya nickte, als sie zuh\u00f6rte. Es war schwer, sich nicht schlecht f\u00fcr den Mann zu f\u00fchlen. Vielleicht hatte er eine Vorliebe f\u00fcr Theater, aber selbst sie konnte erkennen, dass er das Museum wirklich liebte. Es ist schwer, nicht an diese Verzweiflung anzukn\u00fcpfen. Sie w\u00fcnschte, sie w\u00fcsste, was sie ihm sagen sollte. Aller Wahrscheinlichkeit nach w\u00fcrde er das Museum verlieren. Das Ausdr\u00fccken von Beileid erschien ihr trivial und sinnlos. Hartley kannte sie nicht, warum sollte es ihn interessieren, dass es ihr leid tut? Es ist ja nicht so, dass ihre gemeinsame Trauer mystisch eine finanzielle L\u00f6sung herbeirufen w\u00fcrde. Nochmals, was war der Punkt?\n\nAlso lie\u00df sie es in Ruhe. Hartley sa\u00df schweigend da und blies auf seinen Tee, bevor er schlie\u00dflich einen Schluck trank.\n\n\n* * * *\n\n\nHartley dankte ihr f\u00fcr das Mittagessen und trieb zur\u00fcck zum Museum. Tonya beobachtete, wie er die Stra\u00dfe hinunter schlurfte und um eine Ecke ging. Dann setzte sie ihr Ziel auf Nebel.\n\nDie Bank war ein Obelisk aus Metall und Glas. Auf dem Weg in die Lobby suchte sie sich sechzehn Einbruchmelder f\u00fcr das Geb\u00e4ude aus. Es gab Kameras, Bewegungssensoren, W\u00e4rmebildtechnik, Mikrophonranken im Boden und Ladeboxen von Nanodronen, die in jede der Scheiben eingebettet waren. Das war nur die Lobby. Ihr Kopf tat weh, um dar\u00fcber nachzudenken, was sie f\u00fcr den Tresorraum im Sinn hatten.\n\nDie Mitte der Lobby war mit offenen Kabinen und Kabinen gef\u00fcllt. Aus dem Marmorboden ragten Podeste f\u00fcr einfache Transaktionen oder Kontoinformationen heraus. Alle Mitarbeiter der Bank waren in die gleichen dunkelblauen Uniformen gekleidet. Sie alle hatten die Bl\u00e4sse aus Wachs, die Haare entweder geschliffen oder zur\u00fcckgezogen. Sie waren sehr menschlich, aber konditioniert, um sich wie Roboter zu verhalten. Es war beunruhigend.\n\n\"Guten Tag, Miss Oriel\", sagte ein junger Mann Anfang zwanzig, als er sich n\u00e4herte. Sie m\u00fcssen hier auch Ret-Scanner haben. \"Kann ich dich f\u00fcr ein moderates Sparkonto interessieren?\"\n\n\" Sicher.\" Tonya l\u00e4chelte. Der Bankmitarbeiter f\u00fchrte sie durch das Labyrinth der Kabinen zu seinem winzigen B\u00fcro und setzte sich. Er begann sein Verkaufsgespr\u00e4ch und verglich und kontrastierte die verschiedenen Spar- und Transaktionskonten der Bank, die Anzahl der derzeit angebotenen Filialen Nebula, etc. Tonya stimmte das meiste davon ab, obwohl sie bemerkte, dass ihre Nebenkosten l\u00e4cherlich hoch waren. Sie konzentrierte sich mehr darauf, eigene Daten zu sammeln. Basierend auf dem Bildschirm des Bankmitarbeiters befand sich die Bank in einem Kraken-Netzwerk - einem ziemlich komplizierten System mit einer Vielzahl von Sicherheits-Plugins, aber meist Open Source. Sie hatten keinen Fingerabdruck oder Netzhaut-Zugangspanels auf ihren Mitarbeitersystemen.\n\n\"K\u00f6nnen wir dich also anmelden?\" Er l\u00e4chelte blank.\n\n\"Das ist eine wirklich gro\u00dfe finanzielle Entscheidung. Es ist meine Zukunft, wei\u00dft du?\" Tonya stand auf und bot ihren besten nachdenklichen und r\u00fccksichtsvollen Blick an. \"Ich muss das wirklich \u00fcberdenken.\"\n\n\" Aber -\"\n\nTonya ist gegangen. Sie war etwas verfr\u00fcht, als sie annahm, dass sie in die Bank einbrechen k\u00f6nnte. Je mehr sie sah, desto weniger gefielen ihr ihre Chancen.\n\nDrau\u00dfen kontaktierte sie einen von Gavin Arlingtons Assistentenlegion und pl\u00e4dierte f\u00fcr ihren Fall, weil sie die Artefakte direkt von der Bank erworben hatte. Die Assistentin war schroff, aber h\u00f6flich. Er sagte, er w\u00fcrde ihre Nachricht an Arlington weiterleiten und sie kontaktieren, wenn er zur\u00fcckkommt.\n\nZur\u00fcck auf dem Leuchtfeuer II begann Tonya, sich mit den Netzwerken des Nebels zu befassen. Nichts Ernstes, nur ein paar St\u00f6\u00dfe und St\u00f6\u00dfe, um die Reaktionszeit zu testen. Es tat wenig, um ihre Bef\u00fcrchtungen zu zerstreuen. Aber sie fand etwas Interessantes, w\u00e4hrend sie die Updates der Aktion\u00e4re durchst\u00f6berte:\n\nDie Nebula Bank besa\u00df eine Mehrheitsbeteiligung an einem Unternehmen namens Public Reclamations, einem lokalen Speicher. Es war eine interessante F\u00fchrung, die besser gemacht wurde, als sie herausfand, dass ihre Unternehmensdienste Wiederinbesitznahme und Nachlassbesitz als ihre Spezialisierung auff\u00fchrten.\n\nIhre Sicherheit war auch schei\u00dfe. Es dauerte weniger als eine Stunde, bis Tonya auf ihr internes Netzwerk zugreifen konnte. Sie f\u00fchrte eine Suche nach Hartleys Fallnummer mit Nebel durch und bekam einen Treffer. Sechs Kisten wurden in ihrem Lager in Kensington gelagert. F\u00fcnfter Stock. Los #45ZB.\n\nPl\u00f6tzlich schien Tonyas Plan wieder realisierbar.\n\n\n* * * *\n\n\nLeider war die Sicherheit im Lagerhaus von Public Reclamations nicht so schwach wie das Netzwerk. Von einem Dach auf der anderen Stra\u00dfenseite aus wurde die Architektur studiert, es gab umherziehende Sicherheitskr\u00e4fte, sichtbare Kameras und verdrahtete Fenster. Das Geb\u00e4ude selbst war ein massiver Kubus, der in der Mitte des Blocks isoliert war. Nicht der einfachste Ansatz, besonders f\u00fcr einen selbsternannten \"Freizeit-Einbrecher\" wie Tonya.\n\nAuf der anderen Seite hatte ein Verantwortlicher eindeutig Vertrauensprobleme, denn Tonya fand Fernzugriff auf einen separaten, dedizierten Sicherheitsfeed, der sich auf die Mitarbeiter zu konzentrieren schien. Sie \u00fcbertrug den Zugang des Netzwerks von ihrem MobiGlas auf das HUD in ihrer verbundenen Brille. Jetzt konnte sie zwischen den Wachen auf Streife, im Sicherheitszentrum und sogar in der Personallounge wechseln. Obwohl sie die Sicherheitssysteme des Geb\u00e4udes immer noch nicht beeinflussen konnte, war es besser als nichts.\n\nTonya verlie\u00df das Lagerhaus, um ihre Requisiten zu holen.\n\nEine Stunde sp\u00e4ter setzte sie die Beacon II in der privaten Landebucht ab. Ein Handelsvertreter begr\u00fc\u00dfte sie, w\u00e4hrend die Motoren noch im Stillstand waren.\n\n\"Hi, kann ich dir helfen?\" Dieser Repr\u00e4sentant war noch fr\u00f6hlicher als der letzte.\n\n\"Ja, ich brauche etwas Stauraum.\" Tonya schaute sich auf dem Gel\u00e4nde um, als ob sie es zum ersten Mal besichtigen w\u00fcrde. Sie tat ihr Bestes, um diesen alten Schlepper zu kanalisieren, den sie beim Torchlight Express belauscht hatte. \"Ihr macht das, oder?\"\n\n\"Das ist es, was das Schild sagt\", lachte der Vertreter nerv\u00f6s. Tonya hat kein L\u00e4cheln gebrochen. Er erstickte jedes weitere Kichern. \"Ja, du hast Recht.\"\n\n\"Gut. Ich habe vier, sieben, acht, acht Tonnen nicht spezifizierte Ladung, die ich entladen muss. Hast du so viel Platz?\"\n\n\"Sicher, die Anlage ist ausgestattet f\u00fcr -\"\n\n\"Ja, ich wei\u00df nicht. Ich muss es mir erst ansehen.\"\n\n\"Nat\u00fcrlich. Folgt mir.\" Der Repr\u00e4sentant f\u00fchrte sie hinein.\n\n\"Hast du etwas im f\u00fcnften Stock?\" Tonya hat die \u00dcberwachungskameras \u00fcberpr\u00fcft. Der Repr\u00e4sentant stammelte f\u00fcr eine Sekunde und \u00fcberpr\u00fcfte dann sein Glas.\n\n\"\u00c4hm. Das tun wir, aber es gibt verf\u00fcgbare Einheiten in den unteren Stockwerken.\"\n\n\"Ja, nun, nach meiner Erfahrung, wenn Leute in einen Ort einbrechen, werden sie zuerst die unteren Ebenen erreichen.\"\n\n\"Ich versichere dir, wir sind ziemlich sicher.\"\n\n\"Oh, da bin ich mir sicher. Stimm mir zu.\"\n\nDer Vertreter brachte sie in den f\u00fcnften Stock und gab ihr die ganze Zeit sein Verkaufsgespr\u00e4ch. Er f\u00fchrte sie durch die engen Hallen, die alle mit den gleichen flachen Lichtleisten beleuchtet wurden. Sie passierten einen massiven Satz Rolltore. Ein Bildschirm daneben listete eine Spanne von Chargennummern auf, einschlie\u00dflich Hartleys. Es muss Nebels Laden sein.\n\nTonya hielt an der kleinen Lagerhalle nebenan. Der Verriegelungsmechanismus wurde nicht aktiviert. Sie blickte den Flur hinauf und hinunter. Es gab zwei Kameras, die auf den Speicherplatz des Nebels gerichtet waren, und sie waren nicht einmal \u00fcberlappend. Sie konnte unter einem stehen, ohne von dem anderen gesehen zu werden.\n\n\"Ist das hier noch frei?\" Sie klopfte auf den Bildschirm. Das Tor rollte auf. Der Repr\u00e4sentant war ihr ein paar Schritte voraus.\n\n\"Ja, Ma'am\", sagte er, als er zur\u00fcck eilte. \"Ich glaube nicht, dass er gro\u00df genug sein wird, basierend auf deinen Gr\u00f6\u00dfenanforderungen.\"\n\nTonya trat in den kleinen, staubigen Raum und sah sich um.\n\n\"Das wird schon wieder.\"\n\n\"\u201cI \u2013\u201c\n\n\"Ich wei\u00df, wie ihr arbeitet, versucht, mich im Weltraum zu verkaufen, den ich nicht brauche.\" Der Repr\u00e4sentant war im Begriff zu argumentieren, wilted aber unter der Drohung des Verlierens des Verkaufs. Tonya f\u00fchlte sich, als w\u00fcrde sie den Dreh rausfinden, was diese soziale Manipulation ist.\n\nEine Monatsmiete im Voraus und ein falscher Name waren alles, was der Vertreter brauchte, um sich wiederholt bei ihr zu bedanken und aus den Augen zu verlieren.\n\nTonya ging zur\u00fcck zu ihrem Schiff. Sie lud ein Paar Kisten auf ihren Antigravurheber und ging hinein. In ihrem Lagerraum \u00f6ffnete sie die Kisten. Sie waren bis auf einige Einstiegswerkzeuge und ihr MobiGlas leer.\n\nSie hat die \u00dcbertragung vom Sicherheitszentrum \u00fcberpr\u00fcft. Die Wachen waren damit besch\u00e4ftigt, mit dem Handelsvertreter zu sprechen, der so posierte, als h\u00e4tte er den Verkauf des Jahrhunderts gemacht.\n\nWieder drau\u00dfen fixierte sie ihr MobiGlas an einem ausziehbaren Schlagstock und machte ein Bild vom Winkel der n\u00e4heren Kamera auf dem Stauraum. Sie drehte das Bild auf einen kleinen tragbaren Bildschirm. Um sicherzustellen, dass die Wachen noch abgelenkt waren, legte sie das Foto dreist vor die Kamera. Die Einspeisung auf dem Monitor wurde dunkel, als die automatische Belichtung neu kalibriert wurde, aber schlie\u00dflich balancierte sie sich selbst.\n\nDie Wachen waren nicht kl\u00fcger. Tonya wiederholte den Vorgang f\u00fcr die zweite Kamera. Sie lie\u00df einen Bypass des Verriegelungsmechanismus laufen und innerhalb von zehn Minuten rollte das Tor auf.\n\nDie Lagerbucht des Nebels belegte den Rest des Stockwerks. Es war ein Labyrinth aus wieder in Besitz genommener Antike und M\u00f6beln.\n\nTonya man\u00f6vrierte den Antigravuristen durch die engen G\u00e4nge, als sie die Chargennummern scannte. Schlie\u00dflich fand sie Hartleys Sammlung von Artemis-Relikten gestapelt und in eine Webart verpackt.\n\nSie hat die Wachen \u00fcberpr\u00fcft. Sie lachten schweigend \u00fcber etwas mit dem Repr\u00e4sentanten. Sie schlitzte das Gewebe auf, lud die Kisten auf den Mover und versiegelte sie in ihren Frachtkisten.\n\nAls sie die Landebucht zum Beacon II \u00fcberquerte, kam der Au\u00dfendienstmitarbeiter zum Einsatz.\n\n\"Ist alles in Ordnung?\", schrie er.\n\n\"Ja, du hattest Recht, meine Sachen w\u00fcrden nicht passen.\"\n\n\"Willst du eine andere -\"\n\n\"Das ist in Ordnung. Ich werde einen anderen Platz finden.\"\n\n\"Aber...\"\n\nTonya schloss die Frachtt\u00fcren und ging zum Cockpit. Die Triebwerke heizten sich auf und sie hob ab und lie\u00df einen sehr verwirrten Vertreter auf der Landebucht zur\u00fcck.\n\nAls die Erde sich schnell in ihren Sechs zur\u00fcckzog, setzte Tonya ihren Kurs und ging zu Hartleys Erwerb. Sie \u00f6ffnete vorsichtig die Schachteln; sie w\u00fcrde alles gr\u00fcndlicher katalogisieren, wenn sie eine Chance hatte, aber es schien haupts\u00e4chlich Abschriften und Vorentw\u00fcrfe zu sein, bevor sie dazu kam.....\n\nNach dem Aussehen zu urteilen, war es ein veraltetes Laufwerk, das in einem sto\u00dffesten, luftdichten Archivgeh\u00e4use aufgeh\u00e4ngt war. Aber sie wusste es - es war Janus. Eine Originalkopie der pilotierenden KI der Artemis.\n\nTonya sonnte sich im Moment. Es dauerte nicht lange, denn die intensive Neugier, die sie befl\u00fcgelte, flammte wieder auf.\n\nSie staubte ein altes System ab, das den Janus-Antrieb akzeptieren konnte. Bevor sie \u00fcberhaupt dar\u00fcber nachdachte, Janus zu aktivieren, ging sie durch und stellte sicher, dass das Hostsystem nicht direkt mit ihrem Schiff verbunden war, um etwas anderes als Strom zu erhalten. Das Letzte, was sie brauchte, war eine KI, die durch ihren Flugcomputer rennt.\n\nZufrieden holte Tonya einen langen, tiefen Atemzug. Sie knackte den Archivkasten mit dem Janus-Laufwerk auf. Es schien nicht einen Tag gealtert zu sein, seit es gepackt war. Tonya sortierte die Kabel aus und steckte sie in das System.\n\nZum dritten Mal ging sie durch und \u00fcberpr\u00fcfte die Verbindungen dreifach.\n\nIhr Finger schwebte \u00fcber den Netzschalter auf dem Janus-Laufwerk.\n\n\"Los geht's\", murmelte sie....\n\n.... und dr\u00fcckte sie.\n\n\n\n\n. ... wird fortgesetzt","zh_CN":"Tonya took Melvin Hartley Jr. out to lunch. The old man looked like he needed it. In return, he was more than happy to share all he knew about the bank. One of the older institutions in the UEE, the Nebula Bank, gave Hartley\u2019s great-grandmother her first loan to open the museum. Since then, they swelled into a financial behemoth, becoming more and more ruthless as the decades passed. Now, it seemed, the Nebula technically owned the collection of defaulted Artemis relics acquired by the Hartley Museum.\n\n\u201cTrust me, the representative was not thrilled about my loan application,\u201d Melvin said as he cooled down a cup of tea. \u201cBut since the museum is a legacy client, his hands were tied. That\u2019s why they were intractable, utterly intractable when I missed a payment. One payment.\u201d\n\nTonya nodded as she listened. It was hard not to feel bad for the man. Maybe he had a penchant for theatrics, but even she could tell that he genuinely loved the museum. It\u2019s hard not to pick up on that level of desperation. She wished she knew what to tell him. In all likelihood, he was going to lose the museum. Expressing condolences seemed trivial and pointless to her. Hartley didn\u2019t know her, why would he care that she was sorry? It\u2019s not like their communal sorrow would mystically summon a financial solution. Again, what was the point?\n\nSo she left it alone. Hartley sat in silence, blowing on his tea, before finally taking a sip.\n\n\n* * * *\n\n\nHartley thanked her for the lunch and drifted back toward the museum. Tonya watched him shuffle down the street and turn a corner. Then she set her sights on Nebula.\n\nThe bank was an obelisk of metal and glass. Just on the way into the lobby, she picked out sixteen counter-intrusion devices for the building. There were cameras, motion sensors, thermal imaging, microphone-tendrils in the floor, and charge-boxes of nanodrones embedded in each of the panes. That was just the lobby. Her head hurt to think about what they had in mind for the vault.\n\nThe center of the lobby was filled with open cubicles and booths. Podiums for simple transactions or account info rose from the marble floor. All of the bank employees were dressed in the same dark blue uniforms. They all had the pallor of wax, with their hair either slicked or pulled back. They were very much human but conditioned to act like robots. It was disconcerting.\n\n\u201cGood afternoon, Miss Oriel,\u201d a young man in his early twenties said as he approached. They must have Ret-scanners here too. \u201cCan I interest you in a modest-rate savings account?\u201d\n\n\u201cSure.\u201d Tonya smiled. The bank employee led her through the maze of cubicles to his tiny office and sat down. He started his sales pitch, comparing and contrasting the various savings and transaction accounts the bank offered, the number of branches Nebula currently offered, etc. Tonya tuned most of it out, although she did notice that their service charges were ridiculously high. She was more focused on collecting data of her own. Based on the bank employee\u2019s screen, the bank was on a Kraken Network \u2014 a fairly complicated system with a wide array of security plug-ins but mostly open source. They didn\u2019t have fingerprint or retina access panels on their employee systems.\n\n\u201cSo can we sign you up?\u201d He smiled blankly.\n\n\u201cThis is a really big financial decision. It\u2019s my future, you know?\u201d Tonya stood and offered her best thoughtful and considerate look. \u201cI\u2019m going to have to really think this over.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut \u2013\u201c\n\nTonya left. She was a bit premature in assuming that she could break into the bank. The more she saw, the less she liked her odds.\n\nOutside, she contacted one of Gavin Arlington\u2019s legion of assistants and pled her case for acquiring the artifacts from the bank directly. The assistant was curt but polite. He said he would relay her message to Arlington and contact her when he heard back.\n\nBack on the Beacon II, Tonya started looking into Nebula\u2019s networks. Nothing serious, just a couple pokes and prods to test its reaction time. It did little to assuage her apprehensions. But she did find something of interest while sifting through the public shareholders\u2019 updates:\n\nNebula Bank owned a controlling interest in a company called Public Reclamations, a local storage facility. It was an interesting lead made better when she found that their corporate services listed repossession and estate holdings as their specialization.\n\nTheir security was crap too. It took less than an hour for Tonya to access their internal network. She ran a search using Hartley\u2019s case number with Nebula and got a hit. Six crates were being stored in their Kensington warehouse. Fifth floor. Lot #45ZB.\n\nSuddenly, Tonya\u2019s plan seemed viable again.\n\n\n* * * *\n\n\nUnfortunately, the security at Public Reclamations\u2019 warehouse was not as flimsy as their network. Studying the architecture from a rooftop across the street, there were roving security guards, visible cameras, and wired windows. The building itself was a massive cube, isolated in the middle of the block. Not the easiest approach, especially for a self-professed \u2018recreational justified burglar\u2019 like Tonya.\n\nOn the plus side, someone in charge clearly had trust issues, because Tonya found remote access to a separate dedicated security feed that seemed to focus on the employees. She transferred the network\u2019s access from her MobiGlas to the HUD in her linked glasses. Now she could switch between the guards on patrol, in the security center, even the staff lounge. Although she still couldn\u2019t affect the building\u2019s security systems, it was better than nothing.\n\nTonya left the warehouse to get her props.\n\nAn hour later, she set the Beacon II down in the private landing bay. A sales rep greeted her while the engines were still cycling down.\n\n\u201cHi, can I help you?\u201d This rep was even cheerier than the last one.\n\n\u201cYeah, I need some storage space.\u201d Tonya looked around the lot, as if surveying it for the first time. She was doing her best to channel this old hauler she used to overhear at the Torchlight Express. \u201cYou guys do that, right?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what the sign says,\u201d the rep laughed nervously. Tonya didn\u2019t crack a smile. He smothered any further chuckling. \u201cYes, you are correct.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood. I\u2019ve got four-point-seven-eight metric tonnes of unspecified cargo that I need to offload. You got that kind of space?\u201d\n\n\u201cSure, the facility is outfitted to \u2013\u201c\n\n\u201cYeah, I don\u2019t know. I\u2019ll have to have a look first.\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course. Follow me.\u201d The rep led her inside.\n\n\u201cGot anything on the fifth floor?\u201d Tonya scoped out the security cameras. The rep stammered for a second then checked his Glas.\n\n\u201cUm. We do, but there are available units on lower floors.\u201d\n\n\u201cYeah, well, in my experience when people break into a place, they\u2019re gonna hit the lower levels first.\u201d\n\n\u201cI assure you, we\u2019re quite secure.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, I\u2019m sure you are. Humor me.\u201d\n\nThe rep took her up to the fifth floor, giving his sales pitch the whole time. He led her through the narrow halls, all lit with the same flat lighting bars. They passed a massive set of rolling doors. A screen beside it listed a span of lot numbers, including Hartley\u2019s. It must be Nebula\u2019s store.\n\nTonya stopped at the small storage bay next door. The locking mechanism wasn\u2019t activated. She glanced up and down the hall. There were two cameras aimed at Nebula\u2019s storage space and they weren\u2019t even overlapping coverage. She could stand underneath one without being seen by the other.\n\n\u201cThis one available?\u201d She tapped the screen. The gate rolled up. The rep was a few steps ahead of her.\n\n\u201cYes, ma\u2019am,\u201d he said as he hurried back. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019ll be large enough based on your size requirements.\u201d\n\nTonya stepped inside the small dusty room and looked around.\n\n\u201cThis\u2019ll be fine.\u201d\n\n\u201cI \u2013\u201c\n\n\u201cI know how you guys work, try to up-sell me on space I don\u2019t need.\u201d The rep was about to argue but wilted under the threat of losing the sale. Tonya felt like she was getting the hang of this social manipulation thing.\n\nA month\u2019s rent up-front and a fake name was all it took for the rep to thank her repeatedly and disappear from sight.\n\nTonya went back to her ship. She loaded a pair of crates onto her anti-grav mover and headed inside. In her storage space, she opened the crates. They were empty except for some entry-tools and her MobiGlas.\n\nShe checked on the feed from the security center. The guards were busy talking to the sales rep, who was posturing like he\u2019d made the sale of the century.\n\nBack outside, she fixed her MobiGlas to an extendable baton and snapped a pic of the closer camera\u2019s angle on the storage bay. She flipped the picture to a small portable screen. Double-checking to make sure the guards were still distracted, she brazenly placed the photo inches in front of the camera. The feed on the monitor went dark as the auto-exposure recalibrated, but eventually it balanced itself.\n\nThe guards were none the wiser. Tonya repeated the procedure for the second camera. She ran a bypass of the locking mechanism and within ten minutes the gate rolled open.\n\nNebula\u2019s storage bay occupied the rest of the floor. It was a labyrinth of repossessed antiquity and furniture.\n\nTonya maneuvered the anti-grav mover through the narrow passages as she scanned the lot numbers. Finally she found Hartley\u2019s collection of Artemis relics stacked and wrapped in a weave.\n\nShe checked on the guards. They were silently laughing about something with the rep. She slashed the weave, loaded the boxes onto the mover, and sealed them inside her cargo crates.\n\nAs she crossed the landing bay to the Beacon II, the sales rep came running.\n\n\u201cIs everything all right?\u201d he yelled.\n\n\u201cYeah, you were right, my stuff wouldn\u2019t fit.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you want a different \u2013\u201c\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s okay. I\u2019ll find another spot.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut \u2026\u201d\n\nTonya closed the cargo doors and moved up to the cockpit. The engines heated up and she took off, leaving a very confused rep on the landing bay.\n\nWith Earth quickly receding in her six, Tonya set her course and went to see what Hartley had acquired. She carefully opened the boxes; she would catalogue everything more thoroughly when she had a chance, but it seemed to be mostly launch transcripts and preliminary designs before she got to it \u2026\n\nJudging simply by appearance, it was an obsolete drive suspended inside a shock-resistant airtight archive case. But she knew \u2014 it was Janus. An original copy of the Artemis\u2019 piloting AI.\n\nTonya basked in the moment. It didn\u2019t last long, as the intense curiosity that fueled her flared up once again.\n\nShe dusted off an old system that could accept the Janus drive. Before she would even think about activating Janus, she went through, making sure that the host system wasn\u2019t directly connected to her ship for anything other than power. Last thing she needed was an AI running rampant through her flight computer.\n\nSatisfied, Tonya took a long deep breath. She cracked open the archive case with the Janus drive. It didn\u2019t appear to have aged a day since it was packed. Tonya sorted out the cables and plugged it into the system.\n\nFor the third time, she went through and triple-checked the connections.\n\nHer finger hovered over the power button on the Janus drive.\n\n\u201cHere we go,\u201d she murmured \u2026\n\n\u2026 and pressed it.\n\n. . . to be continued"},"links_count":0,"comment_count":54,"created_at":"2013-02-07T00:00:00+00:00","created_at_human":"13 years ago"},"meta":{"processed_at":"2026-04-30 11:50:46","valid_relations":["images","links","translations"],"prev_id":12880,"next_id":12882}}