Tales from Neon Black - Improvised Interference

Today's story was inspired by a Writer's Emergency Pack card called "What would Indy do?" It's a reference to Indiana Jones and suggests how to think of your hero improvising in a situation. Chasing a tank on horseback, bringing a gun to a sword fight, stuff like that. 

So I thought to myself, what would the equivalent be in a cyberpunk setting? A hacker chasing an autonomous tank through the street. Obviously. 

***

Dina was running late. She threw open the front doors of the Ziggurat Research and Development office just in time to see the rest of her crew in Low Traffic’s shitty van trying to catch up to a big autonomous armored car. The program Dina had installed in Ziggurat’s mainframe was supposed to cripple the autonomous car. Instead it had triggered the vehicle’s fight or flight subroutines, which is why she was watching her friend Low Traffic dodge and weave behind it rather than pretending to be a service vehicle towing away their score.

“What the fuck Dina?” Mouse, the crew's fixer, was in her earpiece. Dina could hear Low swearing next to Mouse in the van and the screech of tires as they tried to catch up to the Ziggurat hardware.

“I.C.E. flagged me, had to get out before security found me.”

“The fuck do we do now, we-- watch it!” Mouse and Low screamed. Dina watched as they banked a corner, bouncing off some sedan that couldn’t get out of their way fast enough before they disappeared around the corner. 

“It can do whatever it can to get away, but it’s still subject to its programming so it can’t endanger human lives. I dunno, try to force it onto the curb or something.”

“I’d throw you in front of it if I could. Shit! It’s making for the freeway up to Five Spires. Low can’t this thing go any--” Mouse ended the call. The nearest turn off to Five Spires would bring the Ziggurat car back towards Dina, across the plaza below her. A flight of concrete steps and a city block’s worth of civilians enjoying the day’s weather divided her from the street leading to the Five Spires exit. She knew the autonomous car could easily outpace the van on those open roads. Dina would never get down there in time to do anything. 

She looked up and down the block. A Hermes Guild corporate courier was unlocking their bicycle nearby. Dina ran towards the courier, hands rummaging in her pockets.

“Hey. Hey! How much for the bike?” 

The courier looked at her through their helmet’s visor, “What?”

“The bike! Here,” Dina shoved two bronze cred chips at them. Each could hold just enough to get a decent coffee. 

“Wha- no, get away from me!” The courier disengage the lock. Dina could hear the roar of the Ziggurat robot’s motor carrying it around the corner below. It would be passing the plaza any minute now. Dina grabbed the bike with one hand. “Hey, stop--” 

Crack!

Dina’s cyberarm struck the courier across the face. They hit the ground as Dina tossed all the cred chips she had next to them.

“Sorry!” She called out behind her as she mounted the bike and took off down the plaza staircase. People dove out of her way and screamed at her as Dina tried to hold on. By the time she got to the bottom she could barely feel her organic arm from the vibrations. Her legs burned as she pushed herself as hard as she could, pedaling across the plaza. The Ziggurat car was close, she could hear Low Traffic’s van sputtering as it came around the corner. Dina closed her eyes as she came up to the edge of the street.

Slam!

The bike’s carbon fibre bent and shattered beneath her as thick armor plates crashed into it. She rolled up onto the car’s windshield, her cybernetic arm scraping across the glass. The car stopped instantly, catapulting Dina onto the street in front of it.

“You have been in an automotive accident!” A hollow, robotic voice emitted from the Ziggurat car above her. Flashing amber lights had deployed from its roof. “Please wait here for City Order Police. They have been notified of the incident.” Low Traffic’s van screeched to a halt behind the automated car. The new paint job the crew had applied the night before was scraped, but it still looked like it belonged to Prime City Traffic Control. 

Mouse leapt from the passenger seat and ran to where Dina was sprawled, “Shit Dina you alright?” 

Dina raised her cyberarm. The servos inside whined in protest as she put her thumb up.

“Great plan Mouse, thanks for the idea. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”