Fuzzy, Kenji and Puppy - Saturday, July 28th, 2074 - Morning - Seattle Metroplex

"Look, don't think I'm your personal tech support," said Kenji, "This is not my thing."

For the last ten minutes on their walk towards the ACHE, Kenji had tried to explain what "the matrix" was to Fuzzy. The matrix, which was the modern successor to the internet, not only allowed someone to be "online" but also included augmented reality, which changed how you saw the world and virtual reality, which allowed someone to jump into a computer simulation.

Almost all of this bounced off Fuzzy who hadn't even owned a commlink until lately. And Kenji, who lived his entire life with one and only knew people who had them, meant that there was a disconnect between his life and Fuzzy's.

He had been able to explain that the commlink he had wasn't his. It had been "Courtney's" and that he hadn't set it up himself. However, by looking at someone for long enough, the commlink Kenji had lent her would automatically let them know about her interest. He'd disabled most of the other apps so something like that wouldn't happen again.

"So if you look at someone for long enough, your commlink thinks you want to date them?" asked Fuzzy.

"The way it was set up, yeah," said Kenji, "Pretty aggressive if you ask me but maybe she was aggressive or at least desperate. I probably should've reset the commlink or got a different one. Oh well. Anyway, it should work now."

"Is it like that for everyone?"

"What even is that question?" asked Kenji, "No. And it's fixed now. You're welcome."

They were slowly approaching the ACHE and were entering its shadow. Kenji had explained that the shadow was cast all over Seattle depending on the day, as if the megastructure was the world's largest sundial. The streetlights were on and it wasn't even ten AM yet.

"It better be," grumbled Fuzzy.

Kenji shot her a cool look.

"You sound like some old zoomer," griped Kenji, "Look, it's fixed. And just because I touch that link for five seconds doesn't mean I fucked it up. You're going to have to learn this shit for yourself. Did they not have the matrix at all where you were?"

"No," she said, "Rat Man had a commlink but I never used it."

Kenji was silent for a few moments as he processed this, but then whistled low as understanding dawned.

"So you've never had..." he said, more to himself, and then added, "Okay...I guess that's why you were asking so many weird questions."

He took time to process this while he walked. A minute later after he figured out what to say he frowned at Fuzzy.

"Look, the school has basically no matrix access," said Kenji, "So you can maybe get away with not knowing about commlinks or the matrix or whatever there, but demanding that I fix shit is kind of obnoxious, just saying. Normally being obnoxious and demanding wouldn't set you apart from the rest of the students but the way that you did it gives you away as not one of them."

"Really?" she asked.

Kenji nodded seriously.

"I just don't know how it works, sorry," said Fuzzy.

"It's fine, whatever," he said, "But you just outed yourself as someone not from...I dunno...The world. Everyone uses the matrix and you need a commlink just to get by."

Fuzzy felt an ugly squirming in her belly.

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh," said Kenji, irritably, "Look, complaining about the matrix or your link or whatever when you know the minimum is one thing. That's normal. People bitch about this shit all the time because it can be seriously annoying. Complaining when you literally don't know anything makes you sound like an alien. Or a really old person. Something."

Though this stung, this was why Fuzzy was spending time with Kenji. She was far from the Puyallup barrens and there were many, many things that she didn't know. Rat Man had tried to tell her things but there had been so much and most of it hadn't made sense.

"Can you teach me?" asked Fuzzy.

Kenji shrugged.

"Not my thing," said Kenji, "I mean I know it, but you just kind of pick it up as a kid. I can't explain it. Maybe play around with it or something, I dunno."

"I need to know things," said Fuzzy, "A lot of things."

"Yeah, me too," said Kenji, "Look, I can probably find some program to get you up to speed on the basics of how the matrix works, but you're probably going to need to learn a lot of shit really quick to blend in. It's cool though, that's why I'm here. I want us all to blend in for as long as possible."

"Thanks."

"Not doing it for you, exactly," said Kenji, honestly, "These super wealthy kids are going to cause problems for us the instant they find out we're not like them. This is about self-preservation. I help you now so you'll help me later. A favor for a favor."

They continued on their way to the ACHE, which had this feeling of unreality about it. The megastructure not only cast everything into shadow but the darkness of its outer shell consumed Fuzzy's entire vision save for what was directly in front of it. She felt like she should be close but there were buildings in front of it that skewed perspective about what objects were what size in comparison. Not just small buildings either, but full skyscrapers were shorter than the ACHE and easier dwarfed in width in comparison. She and Kenji passed these buildings by and the ACHE seemed to keep growing and growing in size. Every time she felt like the entrance was close, the ACHE just continued to grow in her field of vision.

"Oh, can you see the astral?" asked Kenji, after they crossed yet another street.

"No."

"Okay, good," said Kenji, "The astral here is super fucked up. If you get too close and look, you get a splitting headache and throw up and shit. That starts around here. Not great. Get too close with your astral sight open and it gets worse."

"Worse how?" asked Fuzzy.

The feeling of the ACHE was unnerving but not in some obviously supernatural way. Though the megastructure was enough of a blighted area that the neighborhood they traveled through was definitely run down.

"Oh, passing out, seizures, going insane temporarily or permanently or it just straight up kills you," said Kenji, offhandedly, "This bullshit is not meant to be looked at up close with magic."

Fuzzy felt increasingly foolish for having so many questions but there were just so many things that she didn't know.

"And why's that?" asked Fuzzy.

Kenji pointed up at the enormous, black megastructure.

"About ten years ago this was the Renraku arcology," explained Kenji, "Renraku is a big Japanese megacorp. They experimented with some killer artificial intelligence...Uh...Fuck, a really big, really smart computer program. They lost control of it and then it took over the whole arcology. You know, matrix stuff leaking out into the real world real hard. That AI, Deus, sealed up the place on Christmas about a decade ago with something like a hundred-thou people inside. Experimented on them. Killed most of them. Caused the Crash and then it just fucked off somewhere."

Fuzzy understood maybe a quarter of that, but what she did understand disturbed her. She halted where she stood and Puppy, who was feeling anxious, squirmed in her hands until she hid him in her pocket.

"Wait," said Fuzzy, "The Crash started here?"

Kenji stopped as well.

"Second one, yeah," said Kenji, "Crashed the matrix, world economy, bunch of revolutions around the world, that sort of shit. I was too young to remember it. Both of us were probably, but I hear it was nasty. What, you think that the city or the corps are going to make something this big for homeless people out of the goodness of their hearts?"

Like Kenji said, Fuzzy had been too young to remember most of the Crash, but she'd heard that things had been bad back then. Even her part of Puyallup had been effected as Rat Man told her that there'd been starving people ranging for food even as far out as their little corner of the barrens. Even a botched raid or two by desperate people who thought that their isolated little home had food.

Kenji dug in his plastic bag and produced a see-through, plastic mask with air filters for Fuzzy.

"Just a filter mask," said Kenji, "It'll keep out the smell. Got one of those car air fresheners for your pup."

He pulled out a little green tree ornament, the kind that people hang in cars and stuck it in the pocket with Puppy. Then he began to walk again and belatedly, she followed.

"Best I can do," he said, "Also we got water and snacks. High flavor stuff. The smell of the ACHE fucks with your sense of smell and taste so everything without a strong flavor only tastes like the ACHE. Also you shouldn't drink or eat anything inside anyway unless you're used to it. Even then I wouldn't suggest it. The city barely treats the water. Fill up now unless you want to taste garbage in your mouth just from breathing."

Fuzzy was dubious that anything would be that bad, but she rarely said no to the offer of food and water. The snack she opened was some sort of extremely spicy, extremely salty rice cracker snacks. In fact they were so hot and salty that she went for the drink, which was the most cloying, artificial tasting fruit drink she'd ever had, though she hadn't had much. None of it was pleasant.

"Tastes bad, huh?" asked Kenji.

"Wasn't gonna say."

Kenji took the spicy snacks like bottle of fruit drink and drained it in a few swallows before putting it in the bag.

"You want that taste in your mouth," said Kenji, "Sweet, spicy, salty, and uh...Filmy too. It's not just taste. Anything that maxes out taste and sticks in your mouth is a shield against the uh...Bouquet of the ACHE, let's say. Emperor Salty and Spicy Rice Snacks and Crammit Orange Soda together have so much artificial bullshit in them that they make a nice film in your mouth for about two hours in case you take off your mask and breathe deep. Little trick for incoming tourists."

"Doesn't taste nice."

"Nice is relative," said Kenji, "You're getting the snack version of toothpaste and orange juice, but the ACHE is so much fucking worse until you get used to it. And even then it's still awful. We'll get an actual meal later to clean the taste out. Strap on your mask. The smell should be starting soon.

Fuzzy strapped on the mask like a pro, secured it and checked on Puppy, who looked up at her from her pocket. He seemed to be doing okay for the moment. She pet him and kept her hand on him just to be sure.

"Where's your mask?" asked Fuzzy.

"Me?" asked Kenji, "Got the toothpaste and OJ combo so I'm solid. Plus I'm used to the ACHE. Besides, it'll mark me out as a tourist if I wear one. Best that both of us don't do that. Don't want to be seen as a mark."

"Should I wear one then?" asked Fuzzy, warily.

"As long as you stick with me it's fine," said Kenji, "Just stick close to me, don't wander off and don't go anywhere with anyone else. But you're also armed and armored and what's better is that you look you are. That's more than most tourists and it'll make most people go for easier targets. Honestly, if you think you can stomach the smell and just look around at everything, you could blend in if you don't talk much."

Fuzzy thought about this in silence as they headed towards the ACHE. Fuzzy stayed alert, though Kenji seemed fine. The blackness of the megastructure completely filled Fuzzy's vision, save for a single, heavily graffitied grey fence. At first she didn't think the fence was that big, but as she got closer and closer, she realized that the concrete fence wasn't a fence, but a wall that was a full twenty feet high or maybe even higher. Her perspective had just been skewed by the building yet again.

They approached an entrance. This was a large, black gate with a computer terminal that Kenji approached. He tapped at the old, liberally graffitied control panel a few times until it lit up.

"Please scan your system identification number linked commlink," said the computerized voice, "You may also input your name and SIN or you may say it out loud. You may also be subjected to a credit check for exit."

There wasn't a line here as this entrance looked like it was just for pedestrians. It seemed that walking to the ACHE wasn't popular.

"What's a credit check?" asked Fuzzy.

"A check on how much money you have," said Kenji, "You can get in for free, but getting out takes a thousand nuyen."

"I don't have that," said Fuzzy.

"Which is why most people can't get out. The city says they want people to have a place of residence and be "productive members of society", which means having funds," he said, fingers making air quotes, "Which is a bunch of bullshit since there's barely any jobs in the ACHE and most people won't hire if you're from there either. There is The Red and a poverty tourist industry that brings in money plus some other hustles but it can't support everyone."

"So how do I get back out again?"

"For you, you can get out again if you're awakened," said Kenji, "That's linked to your SIN. If you're awakened it's assumed that you can earn. We'll be checking your normal SIN on your crap commlink to get you in and out. It should be able to manage that at least."

"I want to check to see if I can get out again," said Fuzzy.

"Still don't trust me?"

Fuzzy only folded her arms. She needed Kenji, at least for now, but she didn't necessarily trust him. That was why she'd brought her knives and armored hunting leathers.

"Okay," said Kenji, "Follow me."

Getting in took only about five seconds each. They went through a spot in the fence where there was a small area surrounded by walls on all sides. In front of them was a second door. When the first door closed the second one opened. Kenji described it as a kind of airlock, though Fuzzy had no idea what air had to do with the gates at all. He stepped out and while Fuzzy hesitated, she stepped out as well.

The courtyard was fairly small, at least when compared to the ACHE itself. A few people milled about, noticed them and immediately began to move towards them. Fuzzy almost put her hand on her knife, but paused when she saw the absolute raggedness of these people and how thin they all looked. And oddly enough, many of them had the same kind of clothing on them. Grey t-shirt, grey pants made of thin and patchy fabric. A fair number of them didn't have shirts. And though some had shoes, some only wore rags on their feet or had nothing at all. A few that looked better fed had on what looked like homemade black sandals that were made of some fabric she wasn't familiar with.

It was maybe a few hundred feet to the ACHE proper as well. The space between the wall and the ACHE was absolutely filthy with garbage as well, save for their path from the door to what looked like the door to the ACHE beyond that had been kept...Well not clean, just less filthy. And some of the trash that she spotted on the ground looked sharp and a few of the people walking around definitely had no shoes on. There were more paths in the distance when she looked further away and she cars moving in and out of the ACHE which were surrounded by far, far more people than there were here.

"And back outside we go," said Kenji.

Once again they went through the airlock and in just a few seconds they were outside the ACHE.

"You good?" asked Kenji.

"What were they wearing?" asked Kenji, "It all looked the same."

"To you, maybe," said Kenji, "Most of it's flats though."

The word didn't register with Fuzzy and Kenji seemed to recognize this.

"Flats are disposable clothing," said Kenji, "A lot of people try to sell whatever they can to put their hands on for quick creds when they first get inside. There's a market for clothes, especially good clothes, so they can repair and resell them or break them down for scrap cloth for whatever. Flats are what people wear when they don't have anything else. They cost five nuyen a pop in the ACHE."

"Is that a lot?" asked Fuzzy.

She still wasn't sure how far a nuyen went in Seattle.

"When you have to keep buying it over and over, it is," said Kenji, "Flats fall apart pretty quick. Sweat breaks them down so they don't last more than a few days. They definitely don't stand up to being washed. That way you can keep charging people for clothing. Some people cut them apart to make them last longer, but storing stuff for later is a pain too. Unless you got people you know you can trust, you never know if someone is going to fuck with your shit. You trust the wrong person with your shit and suddenly you're out everything you don't have on you. So a lot of people can't cut them up because they don't have a place to store the rest, yeah?"

"So a lot of people carry things on them," said Fuzzy, "And probably in different places too."

Kenji tapped his nose to show that Fuzzy had gotten it. Then he tapped the hell of his pants, just above his shoe with the toe of one foot.

"Got a credstick back here with just a few creds on it back here," said Kenji, "Enough for a local that's dressed like I am. Extra commlink with my SIN on it too."

He pulled back the hem of his pants on one side and revealed not underwear, but a pair of regular shorts underneath his pants.

"Real shit is kept on the inside pair of shorts with a zipped pocket," said Kenji, "No one is reaching past my jeans unless they're stealing everything, though most people won't."

"Why?" asked Fuzzy.

"It mean it means a fight and getting injured is a serious problem in the ACHE," said Kenji, "No doctors, no nurses, no autodocs. Not unless you can pay and pay well. Most of the really violent people burn out real quick. The ACHE just chews them up after a few fights. So if someone tries to rob you and they've been here more than a month, they don't want to fight. They just want your shit."

"So it's about endurance," said Fuzzy.

"Something like that, yeah," said Kenji.

This made sense to Fuzzy. Living out in Puyallup was like that too. Rat Man could do heal spells as was explained to her recently, they only worked for recent wounds and of course, calories were scarce. So it seemed that here, like in Puyallup, you had to carefully measure risk versus reward. Acting needlessly or rashly meant getting wounded or needlessly spending precious calories.

Under Kenji's advisement, Fuzzy went about redistributing what little of her wealth that she had on her.

"Why not just make clothes that hold together?" asked Fuzzy, while she moved her credstick to an inside pocket on her hunting leathers.

"Because then the corps couldn't charge for clothing as a service," explained Kenji.

Fuzzy tilted her head in confusion.

"As a...Service?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Kenji, "Shit isn't made to last here. It's made to fall apart. So you got to keep paying if you want clothes. Corps want to sell everything as a service. Keep you paying them on the regular. They don't want you to own anything. They want to keep you renting forever."

"And...Everyone does that?"

"Naw," said Kenji, "If you got money, you can get shit that'll keep. Look, you'll see. We're going to The Red first to meet my cousin. Seeing is easier than explaining, okay?"

Fuzzy nodded in understanding. That'd been her experience so far. Kenji was proving to be a solid source of good information on how to act so far as well. And if she was honest with herself, she wanted to see the inside of the ACHE because she was curious. She'd been interested in Blake Island because of the nature and the promise of hunting, but she was curious about the ACHE because on a clear day, she'd used it a fixed reference point for navigation. Though she'd never imagined that it was this big. And now that she was finally away from her little patch of Puyallup, she was eager to explore.

"Let's go," said Fuzzy.

They went back in through the gated "airlock" and sure enough, there were still people there. Some had moved away, though a few had just sat down in the trash. It seemed like the ones wearing grey flats looked the worst off. There was a man, at least she thought he was a man, who had his shirt off and his ribs were starker than she'd ever seen on a person before, his eyes sunken, his hair unkempt and patchy. He approached her, hand held out, unspeaking as he shambled closer. Others did so as well, though they were further away. Many didn't move and just begged and pleaded.

"Food, please!" called one man.

"Water!" called a woman.

"A few creds," rasped a man, "That's all I need."

The crowd of beggars tried to converge on them and it'd been a long time since Fuzzy had been surrounded by so much misery. It called back her memories to lean winters while living with Rat Man. It conjured thoughts of hungry children and hard choices and times when she'd gone out hunting for days only to return with nothing and to nothing, save for disappointment on the faces of the other kids.

Their cries hurt to listen to. Kenji wasn't having any of it. He grabbed Fuzzy's hand, as she hadn't realized that she'd stop, pulled her with him and together they left the heavily emaciated people behind.

"Don't linger around them," said Kenji.

"They look harmless."

"They're beggars," said Kenji, "And desperate ones since they're on the shady side of the ACHE and away from car entrances. Don't make eye contact. Don't engage. Definitely don't let them surround you. Even as fucked up as they are, they can get aggressive if they got the numbers. Most times they're harmless, but trust me when I say getting into a fight with them isn't fun. It's just sad. As long as we keep walking and don't let a bunch get close, we'll be fine and way less sad."

They sped quickly towards the ACHE and though a few beggars got close to them, she did just that and left them behind, though Fuzzy's heart hurt. In Puyallup, when times were tough, they'd always had the Petrowskis and their farm and the Petrowskis had always had them. Times got lean, even desperate, but if either of the neighbors had enough to share, no one was truly at risk of starving to death. But here, in this place, there was none of that. At least not that she could see.

Fuzzy and Kenji approached one the large, open entrances of the ACHE. There were ramshackle steps made up of garbage and Fuzzy realized from her time hunting out in the barrens that this was an entrance for loading and unloading for trucks, or at least what had once been trucks, as there were multiple entrances side by side. They passed by the beggars as well as people who didn't look like beggars. Maybe gangers, but not quite, she decided. They looked more interested in those who were starving, which she decided was not better.

Kenji had let her go and as they went through the old loading dock entrance, Fuzzy wasn't sure if she wanted to put her hand on the whimpering Puppy or on her knife, but those thoughts went away as she saw the ACHE. As she passed a throng of people, near a wall that was so tagged over with grafitti that she had no idea what the color was, she had her encounter with the ACHE's most definining feature.

It was garbage. Garbage was everywhere. Boxes, bags, clothing and furniture too rotten to scavenge, piss and shit and other bodily fluids, food waste, old commlinks and credsticks that had been cracked open like crab shells and more. It was piled up everywhere, in every corner, out of every crack and on much of the floor, though it'd been compacted by the feet of others in the ACHE.

Once again, Fuzzy slowed down just to stare at it and was suddenly very glad for her mask, though she worried for Puppy who didn't have one and hadn't eaten the food. She almost pet him, but decided that lifting up her pocket where he currently rested might really open him up to the smells and tastes of the ACHE.

"Yo," said Kenji, "We're almost there. Keep up."

"There's just so much of it," whispered Fuzzy.

Kenji just looked around at the corridor and shrugged.

"Oh, this?" he asked, "Yeah, it fills up on the first few levels. No real place to put it except the atrium. Waste of time to take this all the way up to the atrium so it just stacks up."

"What's that?"

"Big, open air area in the middle of the ACHE," said Kenji, "Heard it used to be pretty as fuck with all of this natural light coming down and plants and art and shit, but now it's where everyone throws their garbage. They stack that shit high too. Probably just shy of the fifteenth floor by now. Though it's way wider than it is tall."

Fuzzy just stared at Kenji as they walked.

"But how do you get rid of it?" she asked.

Kenji only shrugged.

"We burn that shit on garbage day," said Kenji, "As much as we can."

Again, Fuzzy had a hard time wrapping her head around creating that much trash and then burning it all.

"That's a lot of garbage," she said, quietly.

"Yeah," said Kenji, "I guess. Welcome to the ACHE. Home sweet home."

---

The Topps Company, Inc. has sole ownership of the names, logo, artwork, marks, photographs, sounds, audio, video and/or any proprietary material used in connection with the game Shadowrun. The Topps Company, Inc. has granted permission to the Blake Island on Royal Road to use such names, logos, artwork, marks and/or any proprietary materials for promotional and informational purposes on its website but does not endorse, and is not affiliated with Blake Island on Royal Road in any official capacity whatsoever.