A digital rain is falling in Union Heights. Packets of corrupted data dash themselves against the street, while those without cyber eyes walk by, unseeing. Those brave or foolish enough to open the data receive memory errors, or relive past events. There is, as of yet, no official explanation.
Not much is known about these data packets. However, one thing is clear – they are dangerous. Further investigation has shown erratic code executions – a virus with an unknown purpose that self-deletes after execution. Anyone interacting with this malicious and dangerous code should receive a full diagnostic and clear any potential corrupted data.
If only strange data was the only thing flying through the air of Union Heights. Today, gunfire rang out at the GEB building. One organic accompanied by three synthetics held up the ground floor storefront. All four were killed in the ensuing shoot-out with corporate personnel and CRO operatives, who were present on the scene.
My colleague, Arthur Leywin, was able to catch up with Kenji Bushida, a Shometsu employee and participant in the shootout. Kenji attributed the attempted robbery to “a Mafiosi type family attempting to move into Union Heights and other parts of the city.” He went on to add that “These were likely gangbangers roaming the streets looking for trouble, trying to make a name for themselves.”
Antonio Florentine, the organic who was pronounced dead on the scene, is an employee of the Calcaterra group. The Calcaterra group owns buildings and construction projects across the city, and has often been haunted by allegations of links to organised crime. Damon Calcaterra, head of the family run concern, forcefully rejects such labels, calling them “unfounded accusations by malicious business competitors.” These rumours have never been successfully proven in court.
This wasn’t Mr. Bushida’s first time dealing with Antonio. The synthetics from that very shootout were the same ones he had repaired in his shop that morning. Employees at the Shometsu repair facility allege that they were forced to release them after Antonio and his associates refused to pay their bills. “I was cornered by five of them. They told me, effectively, to ‘Enjoy seeing them around more often’. At that point, they had essentially stolen corporate property.” Kenji told Arthur.
Kenji gathered Shometsu personnel and hired guns to pursue said stolen property. They found them at the GEB building in a tense standoff with Corporate Response Operations negotiator Jereslimah and others. Negotiations, however, ended swiftly.
In the aftermath the alleged mafiosi were dead, with no other casualties at the scene. The remains of the synthetics were seized by Shometsu as corporate property in lieu of the unpaid debts. Some witnesses expressed concern that the corporate response had escalated a dangerous situation too quickly. The Calcaterra group has stated their intent to initiate legal proceedings along these lines. In defending the late Florentine, however, they will find themselves needing to explain his actions in both the GEB and Shometsu facilities.
Our witness, Kenji, did not believe this was the end of the escalation. “Considering some of the fiery words against me, and against Jereslimah and others…I’m certain this won’t be the last of them we see.”
“I’m sure CRO operatives as well as corporate security will be able to handle it and keep things safe up here. As for the rest of the city…we’ll have to look into how deep the parasites go.”
It’s good to hear that none of the public were harmed in the crossfire. Kenji attributes his own survival to a GEB built glass door. “Took plenty of shots – stayed standing, and no breakage.” Quite the endorsement! I don’t think I’ll be testing it on my own front door any time soon.
Between the rain of corrupted data from above, and synthetics being used as cannon fodder in shootouts on our streets; I’m reminded of yesterday’s comment from the Anglers. The world of technology does indeed come with dangers. As the city faces them, will cooler heads prevail, or will we see a shooting war come to our streets? We’ll continue to follow this story right here on Down from the Heights.