Axe of God, downtown New Milton Keynes, 1:20AM, Wednesday 10th March, 2055.

Axe of God, downtown New Milton Keynes, 1:20AM, Wednesday 10th March, 2055.

This is one joint that can't really be said to be jumping, choombatta. I know the rockerboy on stage, Crash, he's one of our 'group', and I'll tell you one thing; he ain't no Kenny Eurodyne. Not that I ever saw Kenny play live of course. His popularity peaked back in 2020, before I was even born, but I've seen and heard his live sets on data chip, and you can still almost feel the charisma coming off the guy. He made his best music after the split with Silverhand, that slick raw metal, with a wounded sound. Crash just ain't in the same league. He's just starting out though, and like they say, from the bottom, the only way is up!

The rest of our group are just here getting chilled, and making the most of a free night out, courtesy of the tickets Crash got for us. I guess he's probably told everyone that we're his 'groupies', but hey, I don't mind so long as the drinks are free.

We're an odd bunch to find together, but I guess destiny (or fate if we're unlucky) has plans for us. There's me, Louis Cyphre, recently ex-cop, due to a 'misunderstanding' with a corporate exec.

Then there's Yuki Hiro, our own personal Trauma Team. She could be earning big bucks from some corp with her med skills, but that ain't her style. She's chosen to go freelance for the moment.

Shen Ku [bless you, ed.] and Roland are the firepower of the group. Don't try to out draw them unless it's with a stylus and tablet! Sykes is our bag man. It's up to him to sniff out the people and places who can pay us enough to keep us in food, ammo and cyberware.

Thankfully it looks like Crash's finished his set, so we can get out of here. Just as well as things look like they might kick off, starting with those posergang members over by the door. Our vehicle's are in the parking lot across the street. I just hope no one's had a skin full or the drive back to Shen's, where we all currently staying, is going to be interesting.

Hell, the night's aren't getting any warmer, but at least it's not raining like it has been the past week or so. Hey, now this here biker's going some, with some corporate cops on his tail, and Yuki clearly hasn't seen him! "Jesus Yuki, good job I was here to pull you back. If he'd hit you, none of us could have patched you up."

BLAM! BLAM! Screeeeeeech! CRUMP! Frak, those corp cops just shot the guy. That looks like a Biotechnica logo they're wearing. BLAM! BLAM! They must really want to be sure, you could tell the guy was toast, just from the first few shots. "Easy Yuki, there's nothing you can do for him now. Best just to stay out the way of those corporate types as we've no idea what's going on."

Excitement over, we get to our vehicles and make our way back to Shen's place. First thing everyone does is head for the kitchen, to get something to bring 'em down, ready for some sleep. Shen produces a package and places it on the table. He says the guy on the bike threw it to him.

It looks like it's wrapped up in some sort of silver paper. Looks to me like that anti-static stuff some new electronic components come in, but Yuki says it's some kind of medical wrap. We all stand around, not quite knowing what to do with it, and wondering just what is sealed inside.

Not Crash though. He just grabs a sharp knife and cuts through the top of the packaging. Now the seal is broken, and it doesn't seem to have done us any harm yet, Yuki has a closer look. She says it seems that there is some electronics built into the silver wrap. She removes the wrap to find a white styrofoam box, like the ones you might see eyeballs packed in at some back-street organ-legger's. Opening the box, she finds it contains two things. A folded piece of paper with a hand-written, up-state address on it, and a vial containing a bright blue, viscous fluid.

Meanwhile the others have decided that the electronics in the silver wrap are a tracking device. So the wrap is promptly microwaved! That yields a brief, spectacular show of sparks on the inside of the microwave, and the consensus seems to be that that should have finished off the tracking device, if it wasn't already disabled when the wrap was cut open.

Yuki has opened the vial! I just hope that's because she knows what's in it. She doesn't! She runs it through her drug analyser. Roland decides to just sniff it though! He's got a chemical sniffer nasal implant, but you still wouldn't catch me putting my nose any nearer that stuff than it is at the moment. He says he can't tell what it is, and all Yuki can tell us is that it contains nutrients, heavy metals and long string proteins. But she still doesn't know what it is.

I leave them pondering, and check the address on the terminal. It's the address of a small, up-state, family-run hunting lodge. The kind corporate suits like to visit, so they can kill stuff directly for a change. It's about an hour's drive away.

Sykes calls a few of his contacts to see if they know anything about a package that Biotechnica might have 'lost', but he comes up with nothing. I try some of my street informants, but they all claim to know nothing about it.

We're all getting pretty tired now, and it's Crash who's first to retire for what little remains of the night, with the rest of us not far behind. Whatever the blue stuff is, it'll have to wait till morning now.