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Authors: James Swallow
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out alive.
He listened intently as Pritchard laid out the whole sorry story. Jensen wasn’t surprised to learn that Sarif had got away aboard a private mini-sub, but as the hacker explained, it wasn’t without cost. “His submersible was damaged getting to the surface, and by the time the UN rescue ships got him on board, he was suffering from severe nitrogen narcosis. He was in a coma, you see? And so he slept through most of everything that came after.”
A coma
. Jensen felt a strange flicker of recognition.
Sarif and me both, dead to the world while everything we knew unraveled.
Pritchard went on. “In the weeks that followed, people were desperate for someone, anyone, to hold responsible for the incident. There were attacks on every augmentation manufacturer worldwide, on tech labs and research centers… They burned down the LIMB clinics.”
Jensen nodded grimly. Liberty in Mind and Body International, also known as LIMB, were the world’s largest network of cyberware clinics, and for many they were the modern face of human augmentation. They would have been the most immediate, most visible targets for any angry retaliation. There was a kind of horrible irony in that, as it had been covert agents working through LIMB who laid the groundwork for the incident’s night of chaos, by implanting biochip controls during a mass firmware upgrade that let Darrow’s signal do its work.
“One by one, all the major human enhancement corporations have gone under. Isolay was the first to declare bankruptcy, then Kusanagi, Caidin Global…” Pritchard trailed off. “A couple of the little fish are still swimming, but they won’t last beyond the end of the year. The only one of the majors that is holding together is Tai Yong Medical.”
Jensen scowled. “Figures. They just roll right on, like nothing has happened.” Both men knew that Tai Yong was backed not just by the Chinese government, but also by the powerbase of the Illuminati. With such forces behind them, TYM was the one corporation that would be able to weather the storm.
“When the stocks of every other augmentation company crashed, Tai Yong was there to swallow them up,” said Pritchard. “And with Sarif on ice, the board of directors at SI folded.” He pointed toward the darkened towers of the distant office building. “So now, everything that matters has either been bought by the Chinese or burned out by people who wanted some revenge…” He looked away and sighed. “I was one of the last to leave. I was there on the day they formally shut the place down and boarded it up.” A note of helpless anger entered his voice. “I don’t know, I thought I could do something… try to keep things going! But when Sarif woke up, when he finally came back… I think it broke something inside him, to see his dream torn apart like that. He couldn’t stay and watch it die by inches.”
Jensen nodded. “I can believe that. I never figured David Sarif for the kind of man who handles failure well.”
“I don’t know where he is now,” Pritchard concluded. “I reached out to him through some back channels, but so far… nothing.”
“Maybe that’s for the best.”
The other man scowled. “Easy for you to say. While you dropped off the face of the Earth, I’ve been hanging on by my fingertips.” He looked away. “In order to keep my head above water, I’ve had to… go back to using some of my older skill sets, if you catch my meaning.”
Jensen could imagine what that meant. Prior to his gainful employment as head of digital security at Sarif Industries, Frank Pritchard had moonlighted as a black-hat hacker. The poacher had turned gamekeeper – and now back to poacher again, if Jensen understood correctly. “We do what we have to.”
“You don’t
have
to be here.” Pritchard gestured toward the window of the carriage, as the monorail curved around the side of a tall, crumbling brownstone and into the downtown sector. “The world already
He listened intently as Pritchard laid out the whole sorry story. Jensen wasn’t surprised to learn that Sarif had got away aboard a private mini-sub, but as the hacker explained, it wasn’t without cost. “His submersible was damaged getting to the surface, and by the time the UN rescue ships got him on board, he was suffering from severe nitrogen narcosis. He was in a coma, you see? And so he slept through most of everything that came after.”
A coma
. Jensen felt a strange flicker of recognition.
Sarif and me both, dead to the world while everything we knew unraveled.
Pritchard went on. “In the weeks that followed, people were desperate for someone, anyone, to hold responsible for the incident. There were attacks on every augmentation manufacturer worldwide, on tech labs and research centers… They burned down the LIMB clinics.”
Jensen nodded grimly. Liberty in Mind and Body International, also known as LIMB, were the world’s largest network of cyberware clinics, and for many they were the modern face of human augmentation. They would have been the most immediate, most visible targets for any angry retaliation. There was a kind of horrible irony in that, as it had been covert agents working through LIMB who laid the groundwork for the incident’s night of chaos, by implanting biochip controls during a mass firmware upgrade that let Darrow’s signal do its work.
“One by one, all the major human enhancement corporations have gone under. Isolay was the first to declare bankruptcy, then Kusanagi, Caidin Global…” Pritchard trailed off. “A couple of the little fish are still swimming, but they won’t last beyond the end of the year. The only one of the majors that is holding together is Tai Yong Medical.”
Jensen scowled. “Figures. They just roll right on, like nothing has happened.” Both men knew that Tai Yong was backed not just by the Chinese government, but also by the powerbase of the Illuminati. With such forces behind them, TYM was the one corporation that would be able to weather the storm.
“When the stocks of every other augmentation company crashed, Tai Yong was there to swallow them up,” said Pritchard. “And with Sarif on ice, the board of directors at SI folded.” He pointed toward the darkened towers of the distant office building. “So now, everything that matters has either been bought by the Chinese or burned out by people who wanted some revenge…” He looked away and sighed. “I was one of the last to leave. I was there on the day they formally shut the place down and boarded it up.” A note of helpless anger entered his voice. “I don’t know, I thought I could do something… try to keep things going! But when Sarif woke up, when he finally came back… I think it broke something inside him, to see his dream torn apart like that. He couldn’t stay and watch it die by inches.”
Jensen nodded. “I can believe that. I never figured David Sarif for the kind of man who handles failure well.”
“I don’t know where he is now,” Pritchard concluded. “I reached out to him through some back channels, but so far… nothing.”
“Maybe that’s for the best.”
The other man scowled. “Easy for you to say. While you dropped off the face of the Earth, I’ve been hanging on by my fingertips.” He looked away. “In order to keep my head above water, I’ve had to… go back to using some of my older skill sets, if you catch my meaning.”
Jensen could imagine what that meant. Prior to his gainful employment as head of digital security at Sarif Industries, Frank Pritchard had moonlighted as a black-hat hacker. The poacher had turned gamekeeper – and now back to poacher again, if Jensen understood correctly. “We do what we have to.”
“You don’t
have
to be here.” Pritchard gestured toward the window of the carriage, as the monorail curved around the side of a tall, crumbling brownstone and into the downtown sector. “The world already
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