Contents
4. Clocking In
Overview
Turner arrives with Conroy at a derelict offshore rig serving as the extraction staging site. He meets the tech crew, learns Hosaka has cutting-edge Maas decks, and arms himself. Conroy reveals Mitchell will escape on his own from a heavily surveilled Arizona arcology. Turner tests a biosoft dossier likely authored by an AI, experiencing disturbing intimacy that underscores the mission’s stakes and Mitchell’s importance.
Summary
Before dawn, Turner and Conroy land by Honda on a derelict oil rig marked with a faded biohazard trefoil. Conroy frames the rig as a former data haven and rejects earlier plans to route Mitchell through it, preferring the Mexico City compound. Armed sentries and a busy crew underscore the operation’s secrecy and urgency.
Inside, Turner notes the professional, silent technicians. Oakey, a bearded tech who once worked a Marrakech job with Turner, offers bourbon and drugs, hinting at tense nerves. Conroy leads Turner to a smaller room outfitted with covered consoles and gear.
Conroy reveals two ultra-fast Maas-Neotek cyberspace decks supplied by Hosaka to support their hackers, Jaylene Slide and her understudy, Ramirez. Turner opens a case from his agent: an S&W .408 Tactical revolver with xenon projector and explosive handloads. Testing Conroy’s confidence and the psychological profiling behind his recruitment, Turner dry-fires the weapon at Conroy; Conroy holds firm, insisting it’s Turner’s show.
Conroy outlines the target: Christopher Mitchell is inside a heavily surveilled Maas Biolabs mesa-top arcology in Arizona. They won’t infiltrate; instead, they will wait for Mitchell’s own breakout and extract him. Conroy hands Turner a biosoft module Mitchell sent. After jacking it, Turner endures a vertiginous, AI-structured dossier that induces disturbing emotional transference, confirming Mitchell’s significance and the AI’s involvement. He composes himself as Oakey calls him to inspect the team and prepare to depart.
Who Appears
- TurnerMercenary lead; arrives at rig, arms himself, challenges Conroy, and jacks Mitchell’s AI-built biosoft dossier.
- ConroyHandler; organizes the rig operation, confirms wait-and-intercept plan, and presents Mitchell’s biosoft.
- OakeyTech from a past job; offers bourbon, assists on-site, and summons Turner to inspect the crew.
- Jaylene SlideLead console cowboy; previously jacked the biosoft and flagged it as likely AI output.
- Christopher MitchellTarget Maas scientist; offstage but central via AI-compiled dossier and planned self-extraction.
- RamirezUnderstudy hacker from LA; supports Jaylene on the Hosaka-supplied Maas decks.