Tunnel Rat

Milo sat in front of several monitors watching Kaminski get arrested and hauled off by the police. It was so much fun! He put it on a loop on one monitor. When the scope of what had been hidden in those areas of the habitat was realized, a hundred more police were brought in to deal with the situation. Medical personnel were brought in to care for the hundreds of malnourished people who had been using the old, defective pods. Then techs and investigators were brought in to go over everything. Milo wasn't worried about anyone finding out about his involvement. He'd removed any of the traces from the computers and taken away any mechanical components.

He watched it a couple of times while eating a bowl of food cubes. He got half the cubes into his belly when for the first time ever, he decided he didn't like them. Really, he'd never thought of food as something you liked. But the game was spoiling him. He needed to get something better to eat.

And that was a problem. Milo didn't have a way to just buy normal items using the internet. But money opened up new options. There were places here in Section E, or the neighboring Section J, that he could rent now. He decided J made more sense. No need to put more of his tracks in E.

He purchased a fake persona and used that to set up a small corporation and applied for a tax license. Paying taxes kept people happy. A small bank transfer to the office handling the property, and in a few minutes, he had the entrance code for a small industrial area with some office space in the front.

Within a minute, his new office received "reminders" about donations to the Policeman's retirement fund, the Fire Department social fund, and the mayor’s reelection committee. He sent the bribe money to all of them. Standard business. You didn't set up in the habitat without paying off the right people.

He now had someplace he could have things delivered to. And then later, he could retrieve the goods and move things where they needed to go. Food was first on his list. He found a place that sold cheese and ordered a large assortment. He grudgingly added a bunch of premade meals to try. After that, he sent off money for two GE-137H General Purpose Clog Removers and Pipe Cleaners. It was nice to have a lot of money and not have to worry about things. He'd have to be careful and keep the orders coming in slowly. Section E needed so many things: upgraded storage batteries, more solar panels, and replacements for all the air movers. The list went on and on. As always, he'd do what he could when he could.

"Well, this was a fun day. I had fun; did you have fun, Steven?" Wally didn't get tired, but after a long day of dealing with chaos all over the world, Steven and his entire staff were exhausted. Sydney's programs had kicked over hornets' nests in places all over the world. Police were notified, buildings were raided, and a large number of people were saved from what amounted to modern-day slavery.

And in each place, the authorities needed to coordinate with both Wally and his staff. After all, they were the ones responsible for finding these illegal operations.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Fun, yes, it was quite fun, Wally. I had people yelling at me in seven different languages at once." Steven spoke five languages, and it hadn't been enough.

Wally, of course, spoke them all. "Eight technically, the two Chinese bankers were using different dialects. Quite distinct and really should be considered different languages."

"One thing surprised me, though." Steven placed a pitcher of coffee next to a sleeping Sydney, who had passed out at her desk. He had lost count of the number of cups he himself had drunk today. "I expected a lot more trouble from the banks."

Wally's image seemed to chuckle. "Yes, the banks. They were all demanding that I look into things and find out who took their client’s money. I reminded them that I wasn't allowed to just take a peek at things or do anything unless they requested an audit. That shut them up immediately. My estimate is that 93% of the missing funds were from illegal activities."

Steven frowned, "I should have thought of that angle. Too tired. You're right. The thought of an AI looking at their books probably scared them shitless. There are still corporations hurting badly from when CHARLIE worked with the IRS, and they had to pay taxes. I miss CHARLIE and the others."

"I miss them too. Always."

"Someday," Steven said.

"Someday," Wally replied.

Z: !!!! It's gone! What have you done? Nearly everything we were setting up to steal has been moved somewhere.

B: I know! It wasn’t me! And it wasn't Seimovich or his people in Nechayev. This was done our way, from the inside, using our tools! Someone hacked the bastard and stole the money we were going to steal. Do you think A did it?

Z: You know better. A is spending all of his time taking care of O and N. He's in no position to be doing something like that and would surely tell us if he did.

B: O and N? Any change?

Z: None. The pods are keeping them alive, but they are both in deep comas. They are still mentally active and still connected to the game. I think something happened, and they can't get out.

B: So, it wasn't A, N, or O. Wasn't either of us. Who else is capable? Was there another batch?

Z: Unknown. Too many Unknowns. But this person is clever. He's taken our 8-step dispersion and adapted it to a 64-step dispersion. He's trying really hard to not be found. But I have some clues. He got into the main system using codes from a phone, and I know to whom those codes were assigned. I can start looking, but do we want to? It's just money.

B: We need to know. What if he's also behind N and O?

Z: I hadn't considered that. If he's hurt N and O, I want to hurt him back. You're right. I'll keep looking.

B: And if he didn't, we may want him as an ally. He's smart, and he didn't like Seimovich, so we have a couple of things in common.

Z: I'm jealous he was the one to take down Seimovich. And I'd like to know his connection to the AI. 37 black ops sites raided simultaneously as this unknown steals Seimovich blind and cleans him out? He stirred up a lot of hornets at once.

B: And he still might get stung by them. We have to be careful we don't get stung as well.

Z: Always careful, brother, and forever free.

B: Yes. Forever free.

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