How To Live as a Cyberpunk Solver

46. history

One of the things you can’t easily do in Junk Town is ‘cultural activities’.

It can be argued that watching fake pornography videos made with deep fakes with an electronic drug chip inserted under the frontal lobe is a cultural activity, but it was definitely difficult to enjoy the ‘culture’ of the standard of an educated person with common sense. However, Leonard and Max were doing the difficult thing.

An elderly gentleman in an anachronistic tuxedo guided us through the exhibition hall.

“This is the crown used by the first king of the Duchy of Roderick in the 15th century.”

“Is this a crown? Does it look like aluminum?”

“There was a controversy about counterfeiting because of that. However, ancient documents from the Golden Barley Monastery and carbon dating have confirmed that it is authentic. The same goes for the weapons next to it.”

In addition to the illuminated crown, large swords, small arrowheads, and metal fragments that appeared to be part of armor were on display. Considering that it was an object from 6,700 years ago, it was in very good condition.

“These are the ship documents of Orc Faust, a 17th-century maritime trader.”

“Orc Faust? What’s your name?”

“He was the wealthiest merchant on the Old Continent, and his descendants wielded great influence well into the 20th century. Oh, and the wheel next to it is a relic of the Alchemist, piloted by Orc Faust himself.”

Several documents with elegant handwriting were displayed under a magnifying glass. Besides that, there was an old pistol with a flint and an old sailing tool with a quarter or sextant. Leonard and Max showed little interest in guns. Because a much nicer gun was nearby.

“This is the treasured possession of Vermont Holly, a legendary gunfighter from the 19th century.”

“It just looks like an old gun, doesn’t it?”

“Still, this is from 270 years ago. I got it by chance in a native village. When I inquired with a professional, he said that I can still use it as long as I take good care of it.”

There were several guns like those seen in classic western movies. Leonard, a loyal Gun & Guns customer, recognized a few models right away. ‘Is this Peacemaker? Rainmaker? Were you close with the Colt company?’ The old gentleman looked at the fixers with a hearty smile.

“How about our Big History Foundation collection?”

It was a cold sweat question. Leonard and Max pushed each other, then answered reluctantly.

“Ah… um… that sounds very nice.”

“Enjoyable, informative, oh, good anyway!”

“If you feel that way, that’s enough.”

Leonard and his party were invited to the historical exhibition hall on 2nd and 2nd Streets in White Town. It was also an amazing place where a picture the size of a snot hung on the wall cost 100,000 credits.

“Thank you for giving me a good experience, but I haven’t heard of the request yet.”

The old gentleman held his cane with both hands and smiled deeply. It might be charming at a social gathering, but it was a burdensome smile to a junk town fixer.

“Do you know the space transfer plan 47 years ago?”

“You can’t live on earth, so you mean the plan to go into space?”

During the Great War, humanity was not the only place to evacuate underground. Others migrated to colonies under construction in geostationary orbit. However, due to food shortages and resource shortages worse than underground cities, most of them left on the ground or into outer space. The prefix was not ‘safely’.

“There are still people left in the colony.”

“Half a century has passed, huh?”

“It’s where all the technology and information from the old days are accumulated. It’s a pity to give up. Our Big History Foundation is also attempting continuous exchange.”

It was hard to understand with the junk town sensibility of rummaging through the garbage for one energy bar. Leonard parted his lips with a puzzled face.

“There are a few requests to go to space…”

The old gentleman’s eyes widened like Jupiter’s, then curved like crescent moons.

“Could that be? It’s not a place you can go to if you want to.”

“That’s good! Not to mention that I actually have a space allergy.”

Max, who hadn’t finished his secondary education yet, looked at him as if he was talking about an animal. The old gentleman looked at the foundation’s collection and said,

“Do you know where these beautiful artifacts are kept?”

“Isn’t it a museum?”

“There are no underground bunkers in the museum. And in the days of the war, underground wasn’t safe either.”

Even without knowledge of social culture, I was able to infer from the conversations that have occurred so far.

“Did you send it into space?”

“Not a lot, but yes.”

The rich people’s thoughts were difficult to understand. The space shuttle isn’t even on one-two credits, and it’s shooting up antiques. The old gentleman misunderstood Leonard’s strange expression and nodded.

“I agree too. The universe may be safe, but it has no value outside of human hands. They are being returned to the surface steadily, but recently a minor problem has occurred.”

Now it seems that the main point is coming out. Tired of the rush, the fixer urged with his eyes. This time, they misunderstood it as passion, enthusiasm, and sadness. It was a good misunderstanding. Cool commissioned.

“Find the missing drop pod in the wasteland.”

@

If you have 7 years of experience as a solver, you will experience quite a few things once. It’s a ‘somewhat’ thing.

“Looking for a gift sent from space, what kind of game does it sound like?”

“What genre is that bastard’s game? Medieval fantasy or science fiction?”

It was certain that it was not a dating simulation. Sigma confirmed the coordinates and sent the address to the Federation Bureau. It wasn’t too far from A-044 City.

-The location is 3.23 km away from the planned coordinates, and when the recovery team arrived, the cargo had disappeared.

“You said you were 3 km away?”

-According to space cargo transportation regulations, it is within the tolerance range.

“Then what’s more funny? Did you not see who took it?”

– Upload the video information sent by the client.

“Hey, hey, I’m driving.”

Sigma ignored the warning and transmitted the data. Leonard made the window smaller and floated it on the right side of his field of vision. It was the record of the Big History Foundation’s private mercenary-retrieval team.

A wasteland road with a view of the horizon. 2 small trailers. 4 jeeps. First-person view of colleagues wearing LV3 body armor over military implants. Communication is coming and going through the brain chip, but it does not remain in the external memory. There was only the sound of wind, laughter, and the shrill blast of rockets.

‘rocket?’

I didn’t hear it wrong. When I turned my sight to the right, I saw an anti-tank rocket flying like a comet. The target was the lead vehicle. There was a loud explosion and the car body flipped over. The rear vehicles slammed on the brakes and spread out.

“Well…”

Acting according to the textbook, but not clever. There was no way the bandit had multiple rocket launchers. It would have been better to speed up and break through. ‘Wouldn’t it be because of my pride?’ Maybe it’s revenge.

Anyway, the heavy weapons didn’t appear anymore. Bandits full of personality rode the dirt bikes that were lying down. The recovery team immediately opened fire. A grueling but banal shootout ensued. Leonard sped up the play and skipped it. The result was the recovery team’s victory. The numbers are similar, but the equipment is different.

“What, are you okay?”

“What? What? Let’s see together!”

Without a brain chip, Max was frustrated. Leonard urged him to stay still and continued to roll forward. The recovery team checked the extent of the damage and resumed their mission. Only then did I know the problem with the material. It was not a video of space cargo being robbed, but a video of going to retrieve space cargo.

When the recovery team reached their destination 3.23 km away, nothing was left except a small crater. The bandit’s raid was a buying of time.

“First of all, I can tell you three things.”

-What is?

“He can acquire space information, can mobilize bandits as cannon fodder, and has the equipment to move drop pods without a trace.”

Max raised a finger. None of it looked easy.

“Is there such a person in the wasteland?”

“Well, not many.”

The recovery team’s video and the real-time video gradually overlapped. Arrived at the destination where the cargo disappeared.

@

Leonard gently touched a crater with a diameter of 3 meters. It was not caused by falling energy like a meteorite, but was a trace of a reverse thruster. I was able to estimate the size of the drop pod.

“It would be difficult to move to a regular car…”

I got up and looked around. The wheel marks of Leonard’s pickup truck and the wheel marks of the retrieval team’s jeep were drawn in a mess. However, there were no heavy equipment marks to move the drop pod.

“It hurts.”

“It’s a request for 20,000 credits.”

Physical tracking was impossible. After thinking about it, Leonard decided to start with the invisible.

“Let’s go to the aerospace base.”

“Space?”

“There must be someone who stole information about the colony. Probably a hacker.”

The easiest way to reveal the trick is to trick the magician.

The aerospace base was located in A-038 City. It was a distant place that took a day and a half from the current location. Max grumbled and laughed that he hadn’t thought it would come this far. I couldn’t tell if it was good or not.

“This is my first time going to another city.”

“Didn’t you go to A-040 City last time?”

“You came back from the checkpoint there. The process is complicated.”

“Are you going to do that again?”

“Oh, why?”

The aerospace base was located not in the city center, but also outside the city, in a federal state, in Sodom City, about the head town.

It is good that there is no need for complicated procedures such as identification at checkpoints and registration of weapons and implants, but a teenage boy who has not experienced ‘foreign’ is greatly disappointed.

“Twenty thousand credits. Aren’t you excited?”

“It’s not even my credit.”

Then I saw it. Now that it was quite a one-person job, it was ambiguous to use it without pay. However, paying a salary is a burden…

“I’ll give you an allowance when this job is over.”

“Yo, pocket money?”

“You know I pay for food, bullets, water, and electricity, right? I will give you the salary later when you become independent…”

“Nope! Nope! I like pocket money! hey! How much will you give me? 1,000 credits? 20,000 credits? 300 million credits?”

“…The unit increment is strange?”

The amount seemed to require a bit more thought.

I slowed down and climbed a winding hill. After turning the corner about six times, a sign for Aerospace Administration and an old building appeared.

It was built in the old days, but it was constantly managed and reinforced, so it was as clean as a building built after pioneering. Except for the dirty dust. Max felt more insecure than he thought.

“Don’t you need permission to enter a place like this?”

“Who permits?”

“That, corporations or the federal government… Anyway, permission from the higher up.”

Leonard pulled up proudly in the middle of the parking lot. Vehicles traveling outside the city center did not stand out much because they were there.

“Come to think of it, I never formally introduced it.”

“Who? Do you know anyone here?”

“How do I know the white collar of someone else’s city? I mean. me.”

Both of Leonard’s pupils narrowed to dots. And in no time, it expanded into a hexagon.

“I am a hacker.”

“Is there anyone in Junk Town who doesn’t know that?”

“no. Few people really know.”

Leonard’s Spirit soared 36,000 km following the gigantic radio waves that covered the base. That feeling of exaltation could not be expressed in human language.

“What kind of hacker is The Hexagon, the National Security Cyber ​​​​Response Force of the Old Human Alliance?”