Andy- 'I'll be home for new years' Part 2

<Snip>
"What the…" The former (?) hacker let lose as he stared around the
room. This was impossible. His bed was replaced, yet the frame looked
the same. His TV had an LCD screen yet it clearly was a large, fat
CRP. But the icing on the cake was that his computer.
It… it didn't have his background of a dancing bear on it.
<End snip>
Who: Andy
Where: Replica of Andy's old home
When: December 27th, 5 hours after previous post
With a primal roar fluff flew in all directions.
Andy's arms worked back and forward in a piston motion as he
systematically dismembered the bed. The more he pulled the more the
cleaner leaned into what was left of the former mattress.
However as he saw the end of the fabric shell he realised that it was
a fruitless search.
Andy turned with a sigh and stared at the remnants of the room. At his
feet was a mound of beige coloured stuffing. 'His' computer was torn
apart. The floorboards where all pulled up and poking up at odd
directions. He had looked everywhere for it. In the back of his mind a
mocking chorus chortled at his search was futile. If he was a
reasonable person he would have realised that by now, hell he wouldn't
have even came here in the first place! But let's face it, Andy wasn't
a reasonable person.
So the TV was next.
Andy whipped out his tool and gently padded it in his hand as he
walked over to the hand. To be honest he had always wondered what an
LCD screen would look like if it broke. Guess he was about to find
out. He pulled his hand back and was graced with the knowledge that he
desired.
A small part of his brain wondered why Sydney was in the stone ages
really. He'd imaged the future to have the whole flying cars, humanoid
robots, laser beams and stuff. Hell, they had that on Blue Dwarf
already. The place just seemed to have a new coat of paint and that
was it.
Or maybe it was just because he had spent all of his time in the
backwaters of the place; in other words, home sweet home. With a light
whoosh sound the plunger hooked on the back of the LCD screen and tore
it out of the plastic with ease.
"…Empty…" Andy stood and turned. He was really starting to get the
feeling that it wasn't here.
The Cleaner walked over to the shredded couch and sat down. His time
was quickly ticking down. It had been 5 hours since he had started
this DIY inquisition. Now all he had was an hour to find it and GTFO.
It didn't help the cleaner as he wondered why someone had taken the
time to look after his quarters in such a way… or the whole building
for that matter. Andy tapped his index finger against his forehead as
he desperately attempted to conjure up thought. "Where did I leave it…
where…?"
"Wait a second…" Andy stood.
His eyes homed in on the door he had entered through. Something in a
golden twinge winked at him. Interest piqued, he carefully stepped
over the self-made pot holes to the door that awaited him.
Pulling the door fully closed he noticed a small plaque pinned to the
back of the wall. It was covered with odd layer black soot that seemed
to beg to be wiped away. He pulled up the sleeve of his shirt and
brushed away the offending dust. Andy's eyes widened as he read the back.
The Cleaner immediacy exited the room and out into the hall. The
opposite door stood before him. With a deft, practiced grab he spun
the door knob open.
What stood before was most defiantly not a copy of the room he had
just left. Andy's mouth gapped open and closed as he stood in the loft
of a swanky uptown pent house. Hover-cars did indeed drift by the
balcony of the room. Looking left and right he instantly noticed the
upgraded technology. The whole house itself had chanced in design and
contours. Gone was the decaying, rotting wood, replaced with a baby
blue wall paper and graceful contours.
Andy raced out of the room and to the one just next to it. This door
didn't open. He tried the next one, which did, which looked like a pig
sty and was no bigger than a closet.
One-by-one Andy moved from room to room, each one varied and fantastic
as the next, some huge, some tiny, some 20th but most 21st century.
The bigger ones sometimes took up the other room's sizes but all where
faithfully reproduced to the best of the creator's ability's. At least
if his own room was anything to go by.
Andy's hand ran through his hair as he walked back to his room in a
subdued fashion. He turned back at the plaque and read it once more.
"Andy 'Hal' Roos"
Born – 2027, June 24
Added: Year 2098
Reason for admission: TriOptimum Incident (2048)
The cleaner placed a shaking hand on the metal piece.
This wasn't his room. This was a museum, a museum of hackers and he
was one of them. Andy's past had returned to haunt him. Dammit, it was
just one fling that dragged him down this road. Okay… so he didn't do
much to stop it. Okay… so he was a hacker for a while. Okay… so he
didn't exactly do too much to get out of it either.
Andy just let out a sigh and dragged down on the piece as he turned
away. That's when a soft slick sounded. The Cleaner's head snapped
back to the plaque. The golden plate had shifted down to an obtuse
angle. Just behind it was a shallow empty space filled with a variety
of small objects.
His eyes almost bulged out as he noticed the clips of dollar-pounds
taped to the back and sides of the hidey-hole. In the middle were a
few oddly shaped, technologically complicated-looking objects.
But within a few seconds of ogling he noticed the thing he was
searching for. An agile hand snapped out and snatched it from its
resting place.
"Gotcha…" Andy said under his breath as he cupped the object in his
hands. Beyond it's abilities it held a place in Andy's heart as the
parting gift from his mentor, the hoboess (her words) ASCII.
Solid grey in colour and roughly 3cms tall and 1cm across, it
resembled a stretched out doubled-edged diamond. What set it apart
from an odd-looking piece of Lego was the tiny yet stark dot of blue
light. The speck hovered unnaturally above the object, perfectly
aligned on its axis at all times. This obviously provided for hours of
childish amusement as it often when through entire objects without
casting a light. Only it shone.
No, the real value of this object, what ASCII had dubbed the
'Master-key', was its namesake. It could hack into anything and I mean
anything. From ultra-complex security like supercomputers, to static
devices like key-pad to even condom dispensers; nothing was safe from
the Master-key. As long it had a CPU then it could be sliced into.
Even knowing this Andy never used it. To be honest though he'd
actually forgotten why he didn't use it anymore but the cleaner
trusted his own judgement. For him, it would always be a novelty
nightlight.
Andy looked down at his literal wristwatch. Well, it did tell the time
too! "Thirty minutes…" The janitor stuffed the Masterkey into his
front pocket and charged out, a determined look plastered on his face.
Now, all he had to do was get onboard and somehow convince Seymour to
leave him alone.
The energy was wasted as he realised that he had to call and
subsequently wait for a cab.
~~
Who: Andy, 099
Where: Approaching Blue Dwarf
When: January 1st, trade ship
Andy let out an indignant yell as suddenly felt the needles that were
jammed into his skin. The janitor looked down at the various
implements that indeed been discharged into his skin but were yet to
be actually removed yet!! In a panicked flurry he managed to remove
them and fling them away from him.
099 rolled back as Andy threw her a venous glare. "You're supposed to
take the bloody things OUT after you inject them!! Did you reformat
and install windows ME while I was out!?!" The Skutter dropped its
head in a sheepish apology.
Andy pulled himself up and looked down at his wrist. It was just a few
hours away from the 2nd of the New Year. He sure as hell hoped that
099 had time it right. "Ninety nine strap yourself in. I'm going to
eject the container. Tell me when alright?" The Skutter drove over to
a crate and nestled up against it, giving a few clicks of
acknowledgement.
The janitor hobbled over the monitoring station. He didn't have his
equipment with him so he'd have to use the back up. Andy pulled out
the Masterkey with an agitated expression on his face. Wielding it
like a pen, he directed the small beam into the computer screen.
The object lit up as it had done a thousand times before.
Andy didn't know where it had came from, perhaps he didn't want to,
but he knew that if anyone knew of it's existence then his every life
would be in jeopardy. Even then, that wasn't the reason Andy never
used it.
From the end of the key came a wide, blue, holographic representation
of an elaborate keyboard. A second later a blank screen lit up above
it. Even without the physical feedback Andy's finger effortlessly
danced across its surface. The Hacker unconsciously nodded his head in
respect of the ship's security. It was good, state-of-the-art in fact.
Stuff he'd never even seen before. This only served to make it all the
more satisfying as he cracked it in less than thirty seconds.
Now wide open, Andy simply concentrated as he covered up his tracks.
Within seconds this cargo crate never even existed. The time of its
imminent launch completely vanished. The Janitor even had time left to
leave a mocking image of Alfred E. Newman.
"099! Tell me when!" Even with the request for a warning, 099's urgent
shriek came almost immediately afterwards. With a jolt of surprise
Andy's whole hand dove through the keyboard in an effort to launch it
away from the ship.
A loud crack issued from the back of the crate as it discharged away
from the ship and quickly picked up speed. Andy gripped the sides of
the terminal as the space-borne tin can shook like a 5 year old after
42 cups of red cordal. Now hacking into the computer with his nose, he
re-routed all power to the internal dampeners. There was one flaw in
this plan you see. They had no breaks. "099… hold onto something."
~~
Who: Big-Pat-the-Big-Twat
Where: Flight Deck
When: 10 minutes after killing Severn
Big Pat took to his face with a white rag, wiping away the remains of
his murder victim that had now soaked in with his sweat. Behind him
was the flight deck crew. A variety of groans and worried shouts
slowly began to pick up in intensity.
Big pat didn't worry. He was an enforcer. Never failed a job, never
let it bother him none either. It wasn't to say that his was
heartless, mind. He had feelings too.
Why, his last mark took away most of his hearing. Nasty guy too,
completely deserved it, 'nothin worse than a guy that wouldn't wash
his hands after going to the toilet; Disgusting.
It was because of his unfortunate loss of hearing that he didn't
notice the shouts of the chief engineer's demands to get everyone off
deck. He also didn't notice the flashing red lights of an incoming
craft either while he picked through the man's remains for a proof of
a kill. But what he did actually notice was the sounds of the hanger
doors actually opening.
In through the partially opened hole of the door came Big-Pat's
harbinger of death. The maroon-coloured container screamed through the
tiny at near-terminal velocity. Big-Pat's eyes widened and his jaw
dropped as the crate suddenly felt the effects of the
artificial-gravity and dropped to the floor but barely lost it's
momentum as it skipped and rolled across the floor. With a loud
crunch, the crate flipped up high into the air.
The thug numbly watched in perverse amusement as the shadow that now
engulfed him slowly grew wider and wider. It was then that
mafia-enforcer, Big-Pat-the-Big-Twat, was killed minutes after
committing the crime.
From that point onwards the Flight Deck crew instantly became
Teetotal. Well, until they realised what was written on the side of
the crate...
<Tag anyone!>
OOC: Yes, it contains booze... and overcharged inertial dampeners,
Andy's not dead.