On the High Frontier

2. Just One More Thing (part 2/5)

"Ummmm, now?" She's never known James need any thing that can honestly be described as a little favour.

"Unless you have some other star you've already committed to." Damn, she's been looking forward to a bit of quiet time. But she owes James, and he always comes through when she needs him. "I'd like to discuss it face to face, rather than over the public link." That meant a trip to his off the map workshop and place of business.

"Well I'm currently outside the flat in P2 so it may take a little time."

"Outside, does this mean that Mistress Saki is getting pushy again? I really must meet her some day. Anyone who can actually get you to do what they want must have mystical powers."

"Fat chance. She's far too nice to venture into the depths of the station, and do you even remember what it's like outside your little kingdom?"

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Kimiko comes off the elevator at the base of the Prime Two Ring link. The shuttle takes her to the Souk at the hot end of Central, towards the reactor end of the station. Where some of the least savoury talents and resources of Gerard Station are to be found.

It is also home to The House of Virtual Delights. Part bar, part VR club, part house of ill repute, and several parts things it's better not to know. Everyone says it has always been there, but Kimiko's investigations suggest it has existed some 15 years. It extends deep into the surrounding zones. Entire sections don't appear on any official station schematics, due to the attentions of various officials including Kimiko and her predecessors. The managers and security all refer to a mythical management, though attempts to contact them result in a confusing spiral of lawyers and even less savoury types.

Although he doesn't appear on any of the papers, James is more or less the de facto boss of the HoVD. He has claimed to Kimiko to be responsible for the merging of various previous establishments, and the less-than-fully-documented extension into various areas of the station. James has a distinct lack of official footprint generally. There is a secure workshop and related facilities he calls home, so deep in the shadow that it is not safe to visit without an invitation. Kimiko knows of at least two sections of the route that can decompress (slowly or quickly) on the unwary. Just in case she normally visits as Sayoko.

As she comes through the heavy lock, James is his normal cheerful self. "Glad to see you weren't feeling rushed."

"There was a queue at your changing rooms. You should be glad, more chex."

"Chex is not my problem. I need things that chex can't buy. I've a failure on the encryption exchange."

"I told you that mishmash was an accident waiting to happen when you had me certify it for you. Not only are you using mismatched system generations and run schemes, but you even have a terrestrial mesh core in there."

"Not an issue any more, the mesh core has given up the ghost."

Oh, no wonder he looks worried, the mesh core should run the translation and exchange transactions. Without it the system is just an expensive data shredder, ouch. "It was fine when I last checked it, so I'm not sure what I can do to help. Something that big is out of my area, and I happen to know that the station's spare S5 mesh core has just been retasked after one of the balance ring systems was damaged." She saw the alert on her way over. Luckily not her problem, or even this time her fault. "It will take a week to get a replacement, but as a CRIT-0 spare it will be sacrosanct. So at least two more weeks to finesse a credible system failure without arousing suspicion."