At first, I didn’t know where I was and what was going on, so I panicked a bit. But then I realized what was happening.

The grav turbines had changed pitch. Only slightly, but the last days had me sleeping very lightly and I was not yet completely beyond the stress, so it was enough to wake me.

A short look at the time told me that we should be in the landing approach. A much longer look at the news told me that the search for Vivian DuClare was going on unabated in Seattle. It was unlikely to bring any real results, but nonetheless, I wished them fun.

Then I reviewed the checklist for New York again.

Lodgings: I would have to pay for a hotel in the beginning. A house or an apartment was priority though, even if I could afford to live in a hotel for quite some time. Contacts: Luckily I had one name to drop that would open some doors for me. And of course access to the deep web. Otherwise, I would have to search long and hard to build up a new network. A place to work out of: I needed an obvious place to work out of. Something that everybody knew about, that there was an obvious reason why I was a bit shy, but nothing really illegal. Of course, illegality was no problem in New York for the last 130 years, but I wanted to avoid overt scrutiny. Paramount for survival in New York, a Benefactor: Since the criminal organizations took over most of the northeastern United States during the big war, anybody who wished to do any business, regardless of light or shadow, had to pay a tribute to the territorial leader. Build up my reputation: The overt one and the deep one. That was at once the easiest part and the hardest. I knew that my idea against CRS worked. But to get it onto the streets would take time. And the other… well, that would take a hideout and resources. I could, for a while, use the cluster I had to leave in Seattle, but that was only a temporary solution. So until I had a place to hide a new cluster, I would be a bit hampered.

After a bit of consideration, I decided to move point 4 to point 1. I would have to get information about the different families and their territories before I would decide which territory to settle in.

And of course, I would loathe paying two benefactors, so the lab/hideout and the new home should if at all possible be in the same territory. I also had to be careful about my ancestry. Unlike Seattle, my type was often not so well-liked on the east coast.

Yep, the idiots back west had damaged our collective reputation. Quite severe in many cases. Bigots beget bigots, racism begets racism. Fortunately, I was at least outwardly a unique exemplar of my race. I looked nearly completely like a Mongrel. So I should be able to keep it under wraps. On the other hand, it would explain many other peculiarities. I would have to burn that bridge when I came to it.

With that, I deactivated the link, and took a Coke out of my backpack. After activating the cool tap, I enjoyed the ice-cold drink, while the ship shuddered a bit. Then the growl of the turbines ebbed, just to fall silent entirely, followed by the ceasing vibrations of the fusactor.

A few minutes later Ernest came from the cockpit and announced that we had reached New York. He followed this with opening the ramp and going down.

The others on the flight began to leave the ship, while I decided I would take my time. So I used the opportunity to arrange short-term warehousing of my equipment. I timed it right so that I was the last to leave the ship, thinking that most of the passengers would already have left the bay.

Well, I was wrong. All the others were still in attendance. In addition to a rather large group of men.

Five each stood at the three exits of the bay, making it clear that they would not let anybody pass.

A dozen more stood in a half-circle in front of the ramp, Mr. Willinger and the other passengers.

All of them were heavily armed and held their various guns ready. Somehow, I managed to escape more than six thousand peacekeepers, twelve thousand rioting gang members, and God knows how many others, just to land in a hold up here on the other side of the continent.

The obvious leader of the strangers was talking to our pilot when he saw me and stopped mid-sentence. He let his eyes roam over me for a few seconds.

“Well, well, well. Another one! And even nicer than the others. You brought us a righteous feast, Ernie. That so does make up for not paying. We still have to take you in of course; you understand that, don’t you?”

The malice in his voice was enough to send it cold down my back. Ernest began to beg.

“I have your money, Frankel. Here, fifty thousand dollars. I can give it to you right here. I would have brought it right to you” he wheedled.

The answer was even colder than before.

“And you got it in Dollars, right? Dream on. Nobody would give you Dollars in Nowhere. And Nowhere Creds are not worth it here. You would have to get what? Twenty thousand creds for that? Only to get 50k good old dollars, without a fee for converting of course. No, my friend. No deal.”

“Not creds. Gold! 75 kbucks in gold. By weight. From what I heard the coins are worth even more. Twice as much. Here! For you!”

By now the desperation was unmistakable. Ernest pulled a handful of some things out of his pocket. I was right in my guess that is where the 10 Gold Eagles I paid for my flight with. Frankel took them and looked at them for a few moments.

“Wow. They seem real. And directly solid. Too bad for you, that you are too late. We’ve already taken you and all you own as compensation. Your rust bucket will be worth a few bucks. You, I will be honest, you will probably end in the arena. And our guests here we have to decide on.”

Great. Ernest had debts, and we had become the collateral. It was of no avail, I had to try to get out of this by myself. How annoying a beginning in a new city.

So I walked slowly down the ramp, and close to Frankel.

“Ok. How much?” Frankel seemed a bit surprised, but he caught on quickly.

“How much what, babe?”

“How much do I have to pay to get me and my freight out of here?”

He rubbed his chin a bit before he answered me.

“Only you? Or for the rest of them too?”

“Only me and my property. The only one of the others I talked more than a single sentence with has gone out of his way to annoy me. So how much?”

Then he began to laugh. It was among the most evil laughs I have ever heard.

“You got brass ones. I like that. Too bad for you that we will take your money anyway. You have nothing to offer.” And then he grinned.

“You may be able to take my cash, and whatever else I carry in direct worth. Correction, no may in it. But most of my money is actually digital. And I won’t release it to you without walking away free.”

“Oh, babe, you are so funny. We have a very good hacker, so we will get your digital money too. You won’t need it anymore. I think I will keep you as a toy. Now, ladies and gentlemen, if you would be so good to drop your bags and your weapons, of course, we will take you to our home. There we will decide what to do with you from now on.”

With that, the rest of his gang came onto us. I saw no possibility to escape, and no reason to get beaten unconscious, so I complied. None of the others struggled either, so it was over fast. Of course, unlike the others, I was relatively sure that I would not be a permanent guest of Frankel.

In no time we had our hands cuffed behind our backs, and we were led out of the bay, the airport, and into a waiting van.

I was able to catch the license plate of the van, and the first thing I did after seating on the floor was activating the link to my cluster. It took me a few seconds to blast through the so-called security of the NYDMV and find out everything about this van, and its owners. Then I piggybacked the navigation and traffic flow apps to get into the vehicle control. Just out of routine I downloaded anything on the onboard computer. I mined the IFF, the garage opener, and the nav system to infect anything they connect with my Trojans.

At the same time, I switched the link on my credled to my tertiary account. Still 3 million Ȼ, but my real fortune was nowhere near my wrist anymore.

Then I began investigating Frankel. The fact that my cluster was in Seattle hampered me here quite a bit, but I had built enough bridges to any bigger city in the world in the past that it was possible. What I found out was disconcerting. Frankel was a slaver. Not only that, he was a slaver with a reputation for extreme sadism. A large percentage of his “merchandise” was broken beyond any comprehension. Of course, he used slave collars. But it seemed that he also used nanotech to modify his victims. I would have to be fast to escape here.

While I was still contemplating my situation, somebody kicked my foot. I looked up and saw Marc glowering at me.

“I am talking to you bitch.”

I let out a deep sigh again.

“Apparently I can’t stop you. So what can I do for you?”

“What did you mean only for you? Don’t you help others?”

So he still didn’t get it.

“Mr. Holt, apart from you the only other name I know from aboard the Owl is that of Ernest Willinger. And neither of you have done much to endear yourself to me. Mr. Willinger tried to swindle me out of 15 thousand credits. You on the other hand worked hard to make me not like you. Congratulations, by the way, you succeeded. I can’t stand you. The others I don’t know from Adam. So why should I pay an, as I would guess not insubstantial amount of money for people I don’t know and whose only interaction with me was to annoy me?”

He grumbled something but kept his mouth shut. The others were a bit affronted, but I could see that at least two of them understood my point of view. The black-haired man cleared his throat before he spoke.

“That is not important now. We have to seek a way to escape these assholes. So anybody has an Idea?”

At least he was halfway focused on the situation. Unfortunately, he was going the wrong way. I had to intervene.

“Even if I had an idea, and unfortunately I don’t, I would not talk about it here. You can bet that they hear anything and everything we say.”

That brought me a handful of blank stares.

“If you have not realized it yet, Mr. Frankel and his friends are slavers. We can expect to be fitted with a slave collar in the next few days. So unless your mutated friend is of a variant with a modified neural structure, we all will be obedient little slaves at the end of the week. Unless of course, you can do something about it.”

That woke them up. The next few minutes were a hail of questions and exclamations, and I concentrated on the cluster again. I had to find something, anything I could do. I had the idea to pay for a raid on Frankel’s group. But the danger to me was higher than I liked, so I kept it in the back of my head.

Then I found the information I needed. Frankel used exclusively Dalgon Tec Mk. IX slave collars. Expensive, robust, somewhat elegant looking, and, for me at least, most importantly with a barely known vulnerability in the central control unit.

I set the cluster to get anything Dalgon Tec had on the system, as well as to have it scour the deep web about the vulnerability. And then I began to build my exploit. I modified the mines in the van to directly connect any system they encounter with my cranial board. And then I waited.