CR-R-R-A-CK!

The ice broke. Its tiny little pieces flew in all directions, scattered around the dark room, and instantly started melting in the heated environment.

“Ar-r-r! Wo-oh! Yea…” and a whole lot of other incomprehensible sounds rang around, scattering all over like the ice pieces that had already turned into water drops that, in turn, already started to vaporize.

“Oh, o-o-oh! Yeah!” finally something comprehensible could be heard. At the same moment, a bold head appeared above the remaining icy surface in the rectangular-shaped bathtub.

“I absolutely LOVE the sound of ice cracking in the late afternoon!” the bold head produced words in a shrieking manner, spitting out each one with slight distortion, as if adjusting a signal on the radio.

“Br-r-r! Sh-h-h…” Looked like the signal was lost, the head began extracting some bizarre sounds from the depths of the throat once again. It started to shake, sending more ice pieces into the air. Once it got rid of most of them, thin blue lines could be seen all over it, covering the scalp like an intricate metro map of a very large city. They were flashing, and the more the head shook, the more intense the flashing got.

CR-R-R-A-CK!

More ice had been broken and a hand appeared from beneath its remains. A skinny, skeletal looking hand it was. It grabbed the edge of the bathtub with its almost entirely blue fingers.

“Getting chilly now!” The whole body finally emerged, stood up, snatched a robe hanging near the bathtub, wrapped itself in it, and stepped out of the cold water.

The body belonged to a man of an unknown age. Could be quite a young someone who didn’t quite pay attention to exercising, healthy diet, and proper sleep routine. Or quite an old someone who… Well, also didn’t pay much attention to the mentioned useful habits, but somehow managed to keep on living. That type of physique.

The man approached the square of the mirror on the wall, wiped it with his robe sleeve, took a peek.

“Looking good, Vitri!” he said with a hint of a smile on his skull-resembling face, sunken eyes bulging from sockets like a pair of snooker balls rotating in their holes after a cue hit. “A hack worth cracking! A cracking good hack!”

“You’re done boasting?” a woman’s voice appeared, asking the question in a very bored tone. To be clear, it rang in that Vitri person’s head directly, not out loud.

“That’s not boasting,” in his turn, Vitri said that out loud, stating it like a well-known fact. “You have to admit, the hack was superb, impeccable!”

“Seemed ok,” apart from having a touch of mockery in it, the voice’s bored tone didn’t change at all. “I guess.”

“Went as smooth as clean code compiling,” Vitri kept talking with excitement, disregarding the yawn the voice had just produced. He suddenly paused and frowned ever so slightly, as though something had cast a shadow on his perfect day. “If you didn’t pull me out that fast, I’d even manage—”

“You’d manage to fry your brains completely,” the voice interrupted. “I waited till the very last moment…”

“It’d be fine,” Vitri waved it off. “New coolant would do the trick,” he mechanically ran his hand over his shaved head. The maze of thin blue lines kept flashing on it.

“It wouldn’t. Besides, the tubes are leaking… again.”

Vitri looked at his hand, saw some blue liquid on his fingers, rubbed his index over his thumb, then sniffed it.

“Don’t taste it,” the voice warned him.

Vitri tasted it.

“They’ve sold me the wrong one again,” he pursed his lips, then spat into the bathtub. “Need to have a serious talk with bio-kids.”

“It’s not the coolant, Vitri,” the voice said tiredly. “You keep running on the edge of every dive. A few milliseconds longer, and your brain will overheat completely. You reach the throttling phase more often now, haven’t you noticed?”

“Of course I’ve noticed, Riv,” Vitri examined his scalp in the mirror, touched a couple of blue lines once again, sniffed and tasted the liquid once more, spat into the bathtub. “That’s what throttling is for. Reaching it is the point where the real work begins. How else can I push myself further? I need to overclock.”

“And I need to pull you out before you go into the melted gray matter phase. That’s what you pay me for. To not let your brain go all soupy.”

“Yeah-yeah, whatever.” Vitri lost interest in further argumentation and muttered: “Still, a stunning hack…”

“Speaking of stunning things,” Riv said, bringing Vitri back to reality, “my paycheck. And don’t count on me forgetting about the previous job. You owe me double. And this time I won’t be so eager to allow any delayed payments.”

Vitri winced and didn’t reply, as if hoping that the payment demand would go away.

“Which means, you have to send the money now,” Riv insisted. “Like literally now.”

“Fine,” Vitri sighed, rubbed his thumb with his index, then pressed the thumb behind his right ear. “Sent… Now I have to postpone that core replacement upgrade I’ve been planning for weeks already,” he complained.

“At least you’ll be alive to make that upgrade,” Riv said instructively. “Unless you stop paying me and go ice-diving on your own. Anyway, you’ve made some good coin today, so cease your whiny tirade.”

“It’s not just about the money, Riv!” Vitri exclaimed, somewhat irritated. “It’s the potential of extending the dive!”

“You do realize that every millisecond increases the probability of critical failure? The type of failure I won’t be able to reverse, to jumpstart you.”

“Reboot’ll take care of that.”

“It won’t,” Riv sighed. “Not after total overheat. There’ll be nothing to reboot.”

“That’s why I need a new approach to cooling. Need to have a word with bio-kids.”

“Who will keep experimenting on you, as they always do. Because you’re the only dumb enough client asking them for untested products. They guinea-pig the crack outta you, don’t you get it?”

“They provide discounts for that,” Vitri said in a distant voice, clearly not paying much attention to the conversation.

“No, Vitri, you provide them discounts for your life. Actually, no, it’s worse, as you are the one paying them.”

“Complain all you want, I still managed to dive for two and a half millisec longer today.” Vitri’s voice turned all dreamy-like. “You can’t imagine how much time it gives when I’m iced. I’m telling you Riv, one day, peeps’ll be able to live through hundreds of lives in a second. If not more.”

“The day that happens, you’ll be long gone…”

“We’ll see about that.”

“Ok, I will stop trying to put any more sense into you… For today at least,” Riv gave up with another tired sigh, then changed the subject: “Listen, there’s been a request.”

“A request?” Vitri cocked a suspicious eyebrow, finally stopping his scalp examination in the mirror.

“Yeah, CCIs want to have a word.”

“What?” Vitri blinked. “Why?”

“Dunno, they never tell the reasons in advance, as you’re well aware.”

“Can we ignore them?”

“Obviously we can’t. Not after you’ve breached their DB and flooded it with lorem ipsum.”

“I was proving a point,” Vitri shrugged, as though it was the most obvious thing to do. “If they call themselves Cyber Crimes Investigations, their own security is several levels below mediocre.” He thought about it for a moment, then added: “And also, the name is lame.”

“What’s lame is leaving your initials and signature inside the lorem. What were you thinking? You know perfectly well, CCIs have all ice crackers coords and perso deets neatly stored and categorized. The unspoken rule is: you don’t poke them, they’ll keep closing their eyes on the legality aspect of your diving activities. It’s called symbiosis, Vitri.”

“First, I’ve rolled it all back, ok? Everything’s been backed up. I’m not stupid to delete the original database completely. Lorem dummy texts were just temporary. Second, that whole debacle’s boosted their security. They should be grateful.”

“I won’t even try to prove on how many levels your argumentation is wrong,” Riv’s voice clearly indicated she had tried that before with scarce results. “You may think whatever you want of CCIs and their security, that doesn’t change the fact that you’re on a tight leash now. If they want something, the only thing you can do is produce a happy woof-woof of obeisance.”

“Can I bark?”

“If you want a muzzle and your current occupation swapped for a kennel, go ahead. To be clear, by kennel I mean a prison cell.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Of course it’s that bad, Vitri,” for the first time Riv’s voice sounded slightly angry. Explaining to a kid how the world functions type of angry. “Not only you’ve drawn their attention, you’ve also dragged me into that mess.”

“Any phys takes risks while working with us crackers,” Vitri said in a thoughtful voice, like citing some doctrine. “Along with our deets, CCIs have all of your info as well.”

“Thank you so much for this explanation,” the amount of oozing bile in that phrase could not be overstated. “What would I do without you and your infinite wisdom?”

“You’d find another cracker and keep on lecturing?” Vitri noticed indifferently.

“Well…” Riv gave it a momentary thought. “On that you’re actually right.”

“Course I am,” Vitri accepted it like an ordinary fact. “Anyway, what’s with the CCI’s request? When and where?”

“Now and here,” Riv said. “They’ve arrived already.”

“Knew you kept all that whiny talk on purpose,” Vitri shook his head. “Didn’t leave me much of a choice, huh?”

“Obviously I didn’t leave you any choice. You’d find a way to slip out of this and run away. Only making it worse for both of us.” Riv’s voice got slightly calmer, as if she was trying to reason with Vitri. “Let’s not mess with CCIs. At least for some time. We’ve had enough troubles recently. Besides, you can consider this an opportunity to… well, to help them. Only in a different way compared to your DB and lorem ipsum performance the last time.”

“Fine, mom,” Vitri waved his hand vaguely in the air. “Tell them I’m ready.”

The mirror surface next to Vitri's face got blurry for a second, then displayed an image of a woman standing at the front door. She wore a uniform-type of suit with CCI letters proudly displayed on the right side of her chest.

“Can I come in?” she asked without any “Hello” or “Is this thing on” and Vitri heard her voice the same way he heard Riv’s.

“Can I say no?” Vitri replied while opening the door and the woman entered the building, not answering the question.

In a few moments, she was at Vitri’s apartment, looking around all business-like.

“Vitrician, the ice cracker?” she asked in an official tone.

“Just Vitri,” he winced somewhat uncomfortably, hearing the name, then added: “But you can call me Glassbrain.”

“I’ll call you Vitrician,” the woman dispassionately said. “Your dive-physician is going to join us?” It sounded more like an order rather than a question.

“She’s on the call.” Vitri snapped his fingers twice, “I’ve added you.”

“Rivoilia, the dive-physician?” she asked in the same tone she had when confirming Vitri’s name and occupation.

“In my digital flesh,” Riv said. “Need me to generate some visuals?”

“Yes, do that.”

“Are you recording this?” Vitri frowned.

“The recording never stops,” the woman said. “What parts of it will go into the report depends… on how productive our interaction is going to be.”

“Can I object?”

“You can.”

Vitri felt the hanging “but” in the reply. “Will it help?”

“It won’t.” The woman looked aside, seeing a digital projection being generated on the edge of the bathtub. “Can you swap it for something else?” she asked, watching a little yellow rubber duck dancing there.

“I can, but it won’t change what you see there,” Riv said routinely. “I’ve no control over the recipient part. My lovely ice cracker friend overrides any feed I send and swaps it with whatever he wants.” The rubber duck produced a cute little shrug, then kept on dancing.

“Can you just show your real projection?” the woman asked, looking at the duck, then at Vitri, who seemed to be occupied by his own thoughts completely, as if the conversation didn’t involve him at all.

“I can, but I won’t,” Riv said. “CCIs can have all my deets, except for the visuals. As a dive-physician, I exercise my right to keep it private.”

“Had to try…” the woman muttered, then changed the topic: “I’m special investigator Corly. Here to talk about certain services you two can provide our bureau with.”

“Can or must?” Vitri asked while straightening up and wrapping the robe tighter around his bony figure, as though it made him look more portly. A pair of extremely thin and bluish legs sticking out of it like two icicles didn’t really add to the appearance.

“I’m not here to answer stupid questions you already know the answer to,” Corly scanned the room, looking for something. “Anything I can sit on while we talk?”

Vitri sighed, waved his hand at the pile of cloth under a desk nearby. “There, just toss the stuff on the floor.” He lowered himself on the edge of the bathtub. The rubber duck took a cautious step aside, letting him sit.

Corly threw a suspicious glance at the pile of cloth, took it piece by piece with two fingers, sending each to the floor, then stared at the object underneath it.

“You want me to sit on that exercise ball?” she turned to Vitri.

“If you want to sit,” Vitri shrugged. “Good for posture, you know.”

“You never use it yourself,” the rubber duck raised its cute little head, watching Vitri in a somewhat disapproving manner.

“I said it’s good for posture,” he parried matter of factly. “Doesn’t mean I use it.”

“Whatever,” Corly cut the debate off, rolled the exercise ball towards her, tried her best in wiping its dusty surface, then sat on it, keeping her posture surprisingly upright, as if she used that type of furniture on a daily basis. “I will go straight to the point, as we don’t have much time. But before I do that, both of you should keep in mind that everything we’re about to discuss is strictly confidential. The type of confidential that goes…” she paused, looking Vitri in the eye meaningfully, “beyond our bureau official business.”

“Oh,” Riv’s rubber duck didn’t seem to be quite happy about that remark.

“O-o-oh,” Vitri, in his turn, suddenly got much more interested in the upcoming conversation. “You’ve just made my attention span stop spinning, special investigator.” He placed his hands on his knees and leaned forward. “Do tell.”

Corly rolled a little bit backwards on the rubber ball, to keep more distance between her and Vitri’s suddenly eager-to-know-more face.

“I assume you’ve just had a dive?” she nodded at the bathtub full of cold water. “This thing can be used right away or needs some maintenance, cooldown, or whatever?”

“It needs to—”

“Can be used right away,” Vitri cut Riv off, as though getting rid of an annoying insect. “No probs.”

“Alright,” Corly briefly glanced at Riv’s rubber duck who tried to shake its head in objection. “Let’s say, you are requested to access a certain type of… Well, surveillance logs, audio recordings, location data, and so on. That type of info. How difficult can it get?”

“Depends on the status of the individuals in question,” Vitri said, getting completely serious all of sudden. “The individuals that logs and data are related to.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that I can pull all that without even going under the ice.” Vitri then raised a finger, which was still blue in fact, and added: “If that’s about Lower city’s folk scraping its bottom. The higher we go, the more protected the data is. We reach our part of the city’s so called middle class, it may require a quick dive. We reach the rich, the dive takes its, let’s say, regular duration.” His eyes darted to the rubber duck, then back to Corly. “Entering the Upper city levels increases risks significantly. It’s no longer only about the dive duration, it’s about the cracker skills, experience… and luck.”

“Lots of luck,” Riv added.

“Debatable, but somewhat true,” Vitri vaguely said, then stared back at Corly. “What’s our current target?”

She didn’t reply right away, pursed her lips, considering something, then gave up: “CCI chief.”

“No!” the rubber duck produced a protesting shriek.

“Crack yeah!” Vitri’s shriek was much more enthusiastic. “I mean, the dive is certainly required, the duration’ll be kinda longer than usual…”

“Required?” Riv kept shrieking. “Kinda longer? I’ve just pulled you out after a very serious…” she realized Corly didn’t go anywhere, and decided against telling more about what exactly was so serious. “Doesn’t matter. What I mean is that type of data’s not only hard to get, it’s dangerous. Regardless of who’s requesting it.”

“Listen,” Corly said in a tired voice. “I get your concerns. And, to be entirely honest, I’m on your side. Like literally. Almost. It’s not me who’s pulling the strings here. I was given a very specific order to get this done.”

“Specific?” Vitri raised a brow.

“The kind of order that is not official, but that you can’t disobey or report to anyone.”

“This is just getting better and better,” Riv’s voice got as tired as Corly’s. “Don’t tell me the order comes from the chief himself.”

“Ok, I won’t,” Corly gave the rubber duck a bitter grin. “But it comes from him. It’s about his son. That reckless little belly flopper has disappeared and they can’t find him for several days already.”

“How’s that a problem?” Vitri asked. “Far as I know, he’s grown up enough to be left on his own. He’s not a complete kid.”

“The problem is,” Corly slowly replied, “the new chief elections are on the horizon, the current chief’s son is known to be a real troublemaker, and the question of competitors' involvement in the disappearance hangs in the air.”

“Well,” the rubber duck spread its wings in some sort of isn’t-it-obvious gesture, “the CCI chief should be able to get all the data he wants. Especially when it’s his own data.”

“Technically, it’s not his,” Corly shook her head, as though she’d be glad if it was that simple. “He’s divorced. The son stayed with his ex-wife. That stuff is now treated as their personal info. If the chief's caught accessing it, let alone using it to find where his son is, well, under normal circumstances that’d be considered a ‘whatever’ thing, they all do that. But, as I said, there’s an election issue. Any minor speck of dust on the candidate’s highly polished face is considered a major scar. So… You get the idea.”

“I’m gonna ask the obvious question,” Riv said, “but you should understand, I’m trying to not get dragged into this the best I can. So…” she mimicked Corly’s voice. “Couldn’t he just ask his ex-wife for permission to get the data?”

“You do realize that the word divorce usually implicates a certain amount of problems in the family?” Corly chuckled. “And most of the time it’s a synonym of hatred. The wife doesn’t know about the son’s disappearance yet. It was chief’s week with him. He tried to keep the kid close for the election. Show his best side and so on, you know. Now with him disappearing it may turn out quite ugly. Thus, we need to find his son and fast.”

“To sum up, you want me do the dive, hack the chief’s son’s logs, and help you find out where he could be?” Vitri rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“With me assisting in that completely not official and not quite legal type of activity,” Riv added.

“What do we get in return?” Vitri squinted, looking Corly expectantly in the eye.

“Don’t think that I get any pleasure from telling you this,” Corly pinched the bridge of her nose with two fingers, closed her eyes for a second, “but you get nothing. Which is good in your case. Because otherwise you’d both get into trouble after…” she made a pause, letting them process the words.

“Lorem ipsum show?” Riv made a very particular emphasis on each word, staring closely at Vitri who did his best in pretending he didn’t notice anything.

“Yes, that,” Corly confirmed. “But truth be told, we would have found something else to hook you up even without it. You just made it a touch easier.”

“See?” Vitri finally returned Riv’s rubber duck gaze. “Not a big deal in the end! They’d make us do this regardless of my hack.” He turned to Corly and added: “You’re welcome by the way.”

“Great,” Corly ignored the remark. “With the small talk being done, I need to know how fast we can get this done. I don’t have all day.”

“I’m sorry,” the rubber duck raised a wing in question. “When you say we, do you mean you’re going to be involved… directly?”

“I need to see what he’s going to do,” Corly said, as if it was obvious to everyone. “I can’t let him just rummage through the CCI chief’s family data.”

“Not a day without a challenge to overcome!” Vitri exclaimed with his rising enthusiasm, only to be cut off by Riv again.

“You don’t really understand how the dive works, do you?” she asked Corly with a heavy sigh.

“Do I look like a person who wants to do something like that? Obviously, no. Listen… I’ve quite tense relations with my boss at the moment, ok? When I actually do my job and not what he expects me to do, he considers it to be a series of complete screw ups, hence he gets all vengeful and gives me tasks like this. I don’t do it, I’m getting kicked out of the bureau. And in this city there’s never a good moment to look for a job. I don’t know how your dives work, I’m a field person. I talk to folk and crack them, not the ice, like you do. But I know that me doing this is dangerous. If that’s what you’re hinting at.”

The rubber duck and Corly stared at one another for a moment, then Riv angrily muttered something.

“It’s not just the danger aspect,” she then said in a comprehensible voice. “It’s simply not possible.”

“Debatable,” Vitri was now kneeling near the bathtub, typing something on a small screen on its side.

“Don’t listen to him,” Riv waved him off with a wing swing. “Do you know anything about dives?”

“Consider me a completely blank sheet of paper,” Corly said. “Do the enlightenment part already.”

“Just a brief tour, I’ve no patience to go into details.” The rubber duck tapped the edge of the bathtub with its bright orange foot. “This thing is basically both a cooling system and an amplifier with a custom design based on its user physique, body data, and individual preferences. It can’t be used by anyone else. It won’t work.”

“There’s a workaround,” Vitri murmured in a distant voice, still occupied with the bathtub’s screen.

“Don’t listen to him,” Riv raised her voice slightly. “On top of what I’ve just said, there’s simply not enough space for two. Then, there is a problem with the delay.”

“Actually, yeah, ping could be an issue,” Vitri stopped typing for a moment, then carelessly dismissed the argument: “Meh, won’t be too high, all things considered.”

“You’ve lost me on ping,” Corly said. “Care to clarify?”

“Why do I always end up working either with nutters-crackers or amateurs willing to taste the dive and risk their life. Fine, I’ll explain!” Seeing an incoming protest, Riv didn’t let Corly speak and continued: “When crackers dive, their brain systems overclock, the data processing frequency increases significantly, it all begins to function at peak capacities…”

“Current peak capacities, not overall peak capacities,” Vitri threw over his shoulder. “It’s not even close to the overall peak—”

“Don’t listen to—”

“I’m listening to you,” Corly interrupted. “Keep explaining.”

“Fine. The overclock leads to a high-perception state… Too long to explain. Consider it like speeding up time on the cracker’s side. An instant for you here equals to at least several minutes for him there, under the ice. You blink, he has enough time to do the whole hack and have a break in the middle.”

“How’s that related to the delay you’ve mentioned?” Corly asked.

“Even if it was possible to connect both of you, to let you both enter that state simultaneously, we couldn’t sync you completely. The dive works differently for each cracker. It’s not standardized, there is no system that defines the frequency increase. All depends on the cracker’s skills, experience… and luck.” The rubber duck glanced at Corly, raising its little head. “I believe you lack all three of these.”

“What’s your job in all of it then?” Corly gave the rubber duck a suspicious look. “If he goes on his own,” she nodded at Vitri, “and everything happens in an instant, how do you manage to take any part in it?”

“A whole lot of prep work and complete knowledge of the cracker’s vitals, body type, and all its mods and upgrades, for starters. Then, the rig design and adjustment,” Riv tapped the edge of the bathtub again. “It’s all made based on my blueprints. Then, being full on stims, total concentration during the hack duration, quick reaction, and tons of luck to pull him out at the right moment, hoping every time that his brain doesn’t go into a well-done phase.”

“Why reaching the peak? Can you just do it on lower frequencies or whatever it is you’re increasing?”

“No point in that, you have to aim at being faster than the system you’re breaching,” Vitri chimed in. “Or at least at being somewhat equally fast.”

“Can you be faster?”

“Not quite, it’s mostly about finding vulnerabilities and flaws in how the systems are made. If there was a perfect system, humies wouldn’t be able to compete with it. The flesh is weak, you know. But, as long as peeps are involved in the process, there will be areas to exploit. One’s weakness is another one’s opportunity.”

“You sound like a conman.”

“I’m a solutions architect!” there was a clear resentment in Vitri’s exclamation. “I see a problem, I look for a solution, I find it, I solve the problem. That’s my whole motivation for you in one sentence, ok?”

“That’s why you made that lorem ipsum joke?”

“Wasn’t a joke,” Vitri gritted his teeth. “Your bureau security was bad. That was the problem. I did the hack, the security got better. Problem solved. See the logic? Riv’s doing this for money, which comes from me. I’m doing this because I love solving problems and finding solutions. By the way, that’s also the reason why I’m telling you all that and not trying to hide what I do for a living and how.”

“Alright,” the sudden confession took Corly by surprise. “Have you found a solution to my problem then?”

“A workaround, as I said before. There’s an observer mode for the dive. In theory, we could connect you to my feed while I’m diving.”

A significant amount of incomprehensible but very angry sounds came from the rubber duck’s side. It took some time for Riv to calm down, so Vitri could continue.

“It won’t be exactly like a real dive. Well, far from it, in fact. But you might be able to take a peek at a thing or two.”

“You’ve just managed to shove a lot of uncertainty into a couple of sentences,” Corly said. “That observer mode. It’s dangerous, right?”

“Yes!” Riv basically screamed. “You’ve no experience, no idea what to expect. And I barely know your vitals, core parameters, and physique. Your brain might melt, like literally. Or you may get stuck in a loop of some who-knows-what data overflow. Which could be worse than a melted brain, cause you’ll go insane.”

“She’s right actually,” all of a sudden Vitri agreed with Riv. “You should expect all these risks if you decide to do it.”

“Wait,” Corly frowned at the rubber duck with suspicion. “Why did you say you know my vitals and physique?”

“Have you heard the word barely? That’s the most important—”

“Because,” Vitri cut the flow of Riv’s complaints off, “while we were talking, my lovely phys already knew what I’d suggest, and was preparing in advance. Scanning your body, taking measurements, and so on…”

“Have you just…” Corly’s eyes bulged, “hacked me?”

“Obviously. The moment you entered the building,” Vitri said with a casual shrug. “Remember I talked about the so-called status of the individuals I can pull the data from? Well, sorry to disappoint, but yours is not so high, special investigator. I don’t need any ice cracking to breach your systems. And after all, I needed to know who I’m dealing with.”

“I’m trying very hard to pretend that I’m ok with that.”

“Try away, but I thought we’re on the clock, no? You want to do this or not?”

“Can you explain how it’ll look on my side?”

“The observer mode?” Vitri clarified. “Have you ever watched a video while increasing the playback speed?”

“Of course, I do that all the time, doubling it…”

“Have you tried increasing it by a hundred, for starters?”

“What’s the point of doing it?” Corly blinked a few times with a puzzled look.

“That is exactly my question!” Riv let out a cackle, resembling something close to a relief, as though she hoped that would put some sense into Corly. “There is no point!”

“Not exactly,” Vitri said. “You’ve mentioned it yourself, everything is recorded. You can watch the feed later on and try to slow it down. Can’t guarantee it’ll be possible though, never tried it myself,” he grinned before adding: “I’m not an idiot.”

“Yes,” Corly sighed, “I am one… Don’t really see any other option though.”

“You need your job that badly?” Riv sounded a bit curious while asking that.

“I’ve kids, ok?” Corly replied. “And other close ones to take care of.”

“Who’s gonna take care of them if you go flat or psycho?”

“Not who, what. CCI employees insurance, obviously. You think I haven’t thought about that?” Corly shook her head. “If there’s one thing that covers field agents completely, it’s their insurance. My family’ll be taken care of. At least on the same level as when I’m around.”

“That’s some advanced level of desperation.” Vitri rubbed his chin in vague consideration.

“Get yourself a couple of kids to start with, I’ll see how desperate you’ll become.”

“Nah,” he shook his head. “I prefer solving others' problems and limit the amount of my own.”

“Whatever… Fine,” Corly waved him off. “Let’s just get it done. What do I do?”

“You’ve got all you need, Riv?” Vitri asked the rubber duck, as if everything between them had already been discussed and decided.

“What I need is the two of you to have some common sense in your stubborn cracked heads! What I need is—”

“Yes or no, Riv?” Vitri’s voice suddenly got harsh. “We’re past the lecturing phase.”

“Fine, yes!” Riv snapped after a pause. “Do what you want, just make sure you both have this on record: I’m against this and do this not by my own will. You proceed against my recommendations. I’m only assisting as I’ve no other choice. As a dive-physician, I have to do my best in not letting the client die or go off the rails.”

“Yeah-yeah, scroll down and accept,” Vitri barely hid his yawn. “You’re done?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve recorded this?” Vitri asked Corly then.

“Yes.”

“Perfect. Riv, tell her how this goes,” saying that, he took off his robe, like a professional swimmer preparing for a few-miles freestyle, although the body type beneath the robe didn’t really add to the appearance. At least he wore trunks, as Corly noticed to her great relief.

“Should I,” she looked around, “dunno, connect to something?”

“The floor around the tub is a conductor,” Riv replied in a distant voice, like being occupied by something else. “For the observer mode it should suffice. Just don’t touch the tub itself, or the water, or come any close to it. In fact, it’d be nice if you could freeze completely. Any chance you could hold your breath for several minutes?”

“I mean…”

“Forget it, you might still move, we’ll try without it,” Riv’s rubber duck disappeared and Corly now could only hear her voice on the call. “Alright, insurance you’ve mentioned already. Should we alert someone in case you go poof?”

“Not really,” Corly replied absently, staring at Vitri who took out a tube-shaped device from one of the tub’s compartments, put it to his neck, and pressed it against it. “Is this…”

“A stim-shot,” Vitri said without waiting for the full question. “To deal with the freezing issue once I’m under the ice.” He took another similar device and administered one more shot. “And this, to slow down the heart rate. Also, this,” he made a new shot, “to speed up the brain right from the start.” One more shot followed the last phrase.

“And that one?” Corly asked when Vitri didn’t provide any further explanations.

“That one was just for fun,” he grinned and leaned back. “Getting pumped now, Riv. Better hurry.”

“Wait,” things were clearly getting out of Corly’s control and she looked slightly panicked. “I haven’t even explained to you what exactly should be done!”

Her vision got distorted for a moment, then she mechanically blinked, and it became clear again. More than clear, everything around could be seen in every detail, as if she watched a video in a very high resolution.

“Too crispy to be real,” she muttered. “Have you just connected me without even giving a warning?”

“Yeah,” she heard Vitri’s voice. “It’s faster this way. We’re speeding up your brain activity a little to not waste any more time.”

“Do you feel anything different?” Riv asked. “Different than usual, I mean.”

“Well,” Corly pondered, “apart from the fact that I can see myself sitting on that stupid exercise ball and my eyes are rolled as if I’m about to collapse unconscious?"

“Mhm, that’s normal,” Riv didn’t really sound bothered by that skeptical remark. “We’ll switch the feed in a sec. But once we do that, everything will start rolling out very fast for you… Too fast. So, this is just to talk through a few final deets.”

“You need me to clarify what we are looking for exactly?”

“Nah,” Vitri lazily said. “We’ll tell you what we’ll be doing. You can then confirm that’s what you need.” Only his head remained above the water surface now. “Riv?”

“Yeah, so, we already have the chief’s deets,” Riv said. “Recent activity, addresses, financial stuff…”

“Can you at least pretend that you are going to get my permission first,” Corly made an attempt to speak. “How can you even access—”

“Please don’t ask,” Riv interrupted, slightly impatient. “You don’t want to know, we don’t want to share. Deal?”

“Fine,” Corly sighed. “As long as you find the chief's son.”

“Doing our best,” Riv continued. “We are looking for the chief junior now.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t speak please. I’m not asking. I’m telling you what’s happening. The chief has added some extra verification for his son’s data, Vitri. So, you have to dive right away.”

“Fine by me. You do the rest of the introduction, then pull me out as usual.” His head disappeared under the water right after he added: “Wouldn’t mind at all if you take your time and won’t rush like the last time.”

“I’m not rushing!” But it was too late to reply, as Vitri was already under the water. Riv groaned, then got back to talking to Corly: “Alright, special investigator, in a few moments I’ll ice the tub and you’ll get flooded with info. Don’t aim at grasping it, no sudden attempts to comprehend every detail, ok? I’d say, just try to relax and let it all in. Perhaps you’ll manage to get into details later, assuming you are in one piece and still need all that. We won’t be able to communicate for a few instants. If everything goes as planned,” Corly couldn’t help but notice the words hadn’t been pronounced with much confidence, “I’ll pull Vitri out, disconnect you, and we’ll see what’s been dug out and whether it helps with finding our prodigal son. Anything you want to add before we proceed?”

“I’d love to, but I feel like you already know everything you need. Just… try to keep me alive and sane, will you? Can’t say I enjoy every day of my life, but there are moments, you know. So, I’d very much prefer to still have a chance for more of them.”

“Will do my best, investigator,” Riv’s voice was getting more and more distant, as if she walked further into a tunnel. “Just remember, whatever happens, you’ve asked for it…”

Vitri took a deep breath in, plunged into the water, and watched its surface getting flat, calm, and solid above his head.

What a wonderful feeling. The stims were starting to work, spreading a nice sensation all over his body. He didn’t feel cold, nothing was bothering him in that blissful state of deprivation that put everything else on pause. The water enveloped him like a cozy hug from someone close. Though, in fact, that wasn’t really water. Rather a chemical broth precisely tuned for the dive purposes. But who cared what it was, apart from Riv. He took a brief peek at Corly, who was still sitting on the exercise ball. Her eyes were now closed and she was slightly rocking back and forth, like listening to a fine tune while being in a trance.

Amateurs, Vitri thought. Always wanted something, but had no idea how to get it. So they kept looking for the folk like him. Because he was the one who was able to get whatever they needed, however they needed it, and whenever they needed it. The only difference was, this one also wanted to take part in the process. Too bad for her.

He wondered why Corly really wanted to do that. Clearly there was something else behind it, apart from the simple precautions and surveilling Vitri’s actions.

In the next moment, he saw the water surface above him getting completely frozen and smiled, letting go of the useless thoughts.

The best part was about to begin. The dive. The excitement. The feeling of your brain working faster and faster with each passing moment. Pushing the thinking process to the limit. Extending the dive duration, millisecond by millisecond, climbing the insurmountable to reach the unknown. He’d never reach it, but he could get closer. And that was all that mattered.

He blinked, without any hurry, taking his time, knowing he could allow that, to feel the beginning of the dive, to savor the starting instant. Once he opened his eyes, the visuals changed, now he was fully emerged, ready to connect to any network, and begin the data search.

He stood in his own virtual environment, already prepared and tweaked to his own preferences. His own work space, hidden deep inside the net. The interface was simple, as minimal as it was possible to make it. Vitri didn’t like complications, there were too many of them in real life. Make it stupid simple, as the old dudes were saying. Surrounded by several curved virtual desktops that formed a circle around him, he swiped a few times, adjusted some settings, then stared at countless logical chains, access points, database entries, and lots and lots of lines of characters, symbols, and texts. Same old structure beneath the surface. The front part could be as intricate and stylish as you want, but the fundamentals never change. Nothing fancy. Just data, just more code to decipher, to recompile, and to refactor. In fact, that wasn’t really his job. Changing things was something he rarely did. Finding vulnerabilities, possibilities for exploits, errors to use to his advantage, weak points to abuse, that were his areas of expertise. Dive in, find opportunities, get the data, or compromise the system, or both, then dive out, as if you weren’t there at all. And don’t overthink it. The straightforward approach is usually the right one for you.

He briefly checked his vitals. Not that he really needed to know it, was just doing it by habit. Just in case. Riv would take care of it anyway. Take care of him. She always did. Vitri trusted her. She was one of the very few people he really trusted. Despite their disagreements, they worked well together. He knew she loved what she was doing. Could grumble all the time, sure, but it was just her thing. Grumbling and complaining. Like a ritual, a sacred thing to do before any job so it would go well and without any complications. Vitri had his own rituals, so he had nothing against it. Not that it always worked, but in that business you better take all the chances you could get. Anyway, Riv was able to get things done and that was the most important part.

Vitri checked some general data about the CCI chief and his family. Just to warm up. He still had a bit of time before diving deeper. Still could do whatever he wanted. He already knew where and how to look for the information Corly had asked for. Well, she didn’t quite manage to ask properly, all things considered. But Vitri didn’t like wasting time. Especially if that wasting part preceded the dive and could postpone it. He got all her data before she even entered his apartment. He knew about her disagreements with the chief and all their love-hate relationships. She was a good, old-fashioned hard worker. Like really good, the one who tried to do the right thing. The problem was, Clusterpolis wasn’t the right place for the right things. Especially the Lower city. It was made for all kinds of wrong, which was the sole purpose for it to exist. At least, it felt like that. But sometimes, when there was too much wrong, people like Corly appeared. Popped right out of nowhere and tried to do some good. Results were predictably below average, but, little by little, it had a chance to bring a flicker of hope.

Vitri chuckled, thinking all that while scrolling through the data. That didn’t really prevent him from doing the job. In that state of mind he could have dozens of different thoughts, like in some kind of reverse meditation. Instead of letting everything go, he took it all in. And, what’s more, was able to process that.

He extracted the chief’s wife's data, got rid of all the annoying details of their relations. Humans’ interactions and feelings towards each other didn’t really interest him. Vitri always felt like an alien when it came to that, so he just jumped right to the information regarding the chief’s son and his possible whereabouts.

Just a typical spoiled apple that fell not too far from the father’s tree, Vitri thought, checking the logs for the last few weeks. Didn’t even come of age and was already doing all the life wasting activities he could find at hand. The chain of recently visited establishments and met individuals clearly showed the foundations of the path leading to degradation, self-destruction, and the rest of human nature rot. Nothing unusual. Would’ve been a surprise if that’d been something else. Vitri wasn’t really a moral beacon himself, but at least he had a purpose, or rather a vocation, a goal he could work on day after day, grinding his way towards the unreachable, beautifully shining at the end of his life’s tunnel. The chief’s son, in his turn, was just floating in the ocean of garbage, having a chance to do that on his father’s yacht, but not caring one bit where it could bring him, not having any purpose or objective in life. Not even a minor, infinitesimal one.

Philosophizing and reminiscing, Vitri bypassed multiple restrictions for data access, got all the recent camera recordings, audio logs, and transactions lists. He compared the patterns, filling up the empty spaces in his research, recreating the possible activities when the young rebel managed to disappear from all kinds of recording and registering devices that surrounded every one these days. Such moments were rare, but could still happen. Or rather, could still be forced to happen, if you try hard enough.

Piece by piece, Vitri pulled all the data he needed. Now he knew pretty much everything about the chief’s son. In fact, he knew too much, which was the cost of his job, but he didn’t complain. Have to make some sacrifices if you enjoy what you’re doing. He began arranging and summarizing the data, forming up a path that would lead him to the final location of the target, so he could finally bring it to Corly and get rid of her.

And what a typical path that was. Apparently the chief’s son was simply having an extended sleepover at one of his shady friends. The type of friend that was providing all kinds of life-destroying trash and eagerly sharing the contact details of those who could bring more of it, in case he wasn’t able to reach a balance between supply and demand. The question was, why the chief couldn’t find all of that out on his own.

Ah, there it was. An obvious answer, Vitri chuckled to himself once again.

The chief’s son’s friend was one of the competitors. Or, better to say, was hired, bribed, or forced by the competitors to become a friend, so he could do a little bit of spying on occasion, and, when needed, perform some more actions to undermine the current chief's reputation, status, or pretty much anything else.

“You should always pay a very particular attention to those who are eager to become your friends,” Vitri muttered. “The more eager they are, the less friend material hides beneath their dirty surface.”

He for one knew that well enough. Too much past experience, countless mistakes, and endless disappointment. That’s why Riv was so valuable to him. She was very close to becoming Vitri’s friend. In fact, he secretly believed that she was one already.

Getting rid of the sentimental thoughts, he dived further, fishing out more information and additional peculiar and not so much details.

The friend in question was an ordinary type of a shady person with all kinds of dirt stuck to him. The competitors hired him for a reason, so they could either get rid of him quickly when needed, having no direct connection to the individual, or simply keep using him, having a good chunk of leverage in the form of a nasty spot that could be pointed out on the chief of CCI's already not so clean reputation.

Vitri avoided mentioning the competitors' names on purpose. Even in his own thought process. The less he knew about them the better. He only needed to locate the chief’s son, nothing more. Getting tangled in the higher ups relationships was the least amusing thing he could imagine doing.

He just kept thinking about them as a third-party group, not directly related to the current task at hand.

It was better this way. Better for everyone.

Dive in, find the deets, connect all the dots together, figure out the exact location, dive out, give Corly what she needed, say goodbye, and get back to your other, much more enjoyable, activities.

“Vitri, listen to me very carefully.”

“Riv?” If Vitri hadn’t been in the high-perception mental state, he would’ve jumped up in surprise, hearing her voice all of a sudden. “What are you doing here?” Then he quickly realized that his phys could also enter that state during exceptional circumstances and that she had her own special ice tub ready at any moment. The kind of special that, contrary to others, allowed her to join Vitri’s dive.

“What do you think I’m doing?” she said with irritation. “Trying to save the day, as always. Now, listen carefully. It’s about Corly. We must act quickly.”

“Alright,” Vitri knew when he could take his time and waste it on idle talks with Riv and mocking her, and when she was completely serious and needed his full attention. “Tell me what’s happening and what do you need me to do. I’m listening.”

“Corly is getting off the rails right at this very moment. We only have a bit of time here while it's all slowed down over there. So, we're going to try to set it all back on track.”

“Wait a sec,” panicking notes appeared in Vitri’s virtual voice. “Don’t tell me you want me to jump out and…” he realized he only had a bunch of guesses of what she wanted him to do, but he didn’t like any of them at all. “You want me to do something back there? Like literally do? Perform some physical activity that may lead to Corly getting flat or cracked for the rest of her life?”

“I want you to focus, Vitri!” Riv shouted. “I want you to do something to prevent Corly from getting flat or cracked, don’t you understand?”

“Alright, alright! I understand. Continue.”

“I’m going to pull you out in a few,” Riv resumed her instructions. “I’ve already added a stim mixture to your tub to boost you up a little, so you can act quicker than usual on exit. By that time, Corly will most likely be lying on the floor, twitching and jerking.”

“What happened to her?” Vitri asked.

“She tried to process the deets, all of them at once. Not simply let it all in, as was suggested, but actually to process it. Obviously, she couldn’t manage the flow and went into overload. Throttling didn’t really help, so she’s kinda in a fatal error state now. We need to jumpstart her. Hopefully, that’ll do the trick, reboot her, and we can then bring her back.”

“Whoa, slow down a moment,” Vitri said, getting the picture now. “That usually happens when someone not prepared for the dive tries to enter it. Not just observe…”

“Yes, Vitri,” Riv interrupted his flow of thoughts slightly angrily, “for some cracking reason, she decided to not just use the observer mode, but to dive. On top of that, she also tried to join you, not just dive on her own.”

“That’s just nuts, Riv! Who’d do that?”

“Well, she clearly did. Doesn’t matter. We need to deal with this mess right now, otherwise we’ll have a flat CCI agent right under our noses and right after hacking the CCI chief’s data.”

Vitri finally realized what perspective that situation had just revealed in front of him, and got back to business.

“Tell me what to do, Riv. Quick!”

“I am telling you,” she exclaimed with a slight panic in her voice. “Once I pull you out, jump off the tub and check the main compartment. I’ve already opened it. There’ll be an injector there. The red one.”

“Not the red one, Riv…”

“Shut up! Yes, the red one. You’re gonna grab it and stim Corly up.”

“That’ll stim the crack outta her…”

“Shut up, I said! Yes, it will. That’s why once you do that, you need to break her heart rhythm.”

“What?”

“Do you know how CPR works?”

“I mean…”

“Yes or no, Vitri?”

“Yes! One hand on the center of the chest, another one on top of it. Interlock fingers, arms straight, compress at least 5 centimeters deep, about 100 compressions per minute, let the chest fully recoil in-between…”

“I don’t need you to cite the results of a quick search you just did!” Riv exclaimed, then muttered: “Doesn’t matter. You’re gonna do just that except for the rate part. Don’t aim at 100 per minute. You need to slow it down. Aim at about half of it.”

“Why?”

“Cause after the stim shot her heart will start pumping like crazy! We need to break the rhythm, force her system to emergency reboot.”

“You want me to do some sort of reverse CPR on a beating heart? Riv, that’s dangerous!”

“Of course it is! But there’s no other way. We need to jumpstart her. When the rhythm breaks, she’ll go into reset, you’ll feel it. I’ll open another tub compartment, there’s an AED there. You’ll take it, place the strips over her chest, then I’ll do the rest remotely.”

“I don’t know, Riv…”

“There is no time for don’t-knows, Vitri! You wanna deal with a flat CCI agent type of mess or gonna try doing something to prevent it?”

“Fine! What else?”

“No idea. My foreshadowing ends here. I’ve explained the basics, what to do in normal conditions…”

“You call this normal?”

“That’s not what I meant! Forget it. You’ll do all that and keep following my further instructions. We’ll have to adapt based on this crack of a situation further development. No more time, Vitri. I’m pulling you out.”

“Wait!”

The wait was over.

Vitri’s head hit the ice surface above him, breaking it to pieces, sending them all over the room.

With a loud gasp, he jumped out of the freezing water, feeling the stim effects spreading all over his body, forcing him to act, do something.

“Out of the tub, now!” he heard Riv’s voice. It sounded strange, gurgling slightly, as though it was full of water. “Move!”

He grabbed the edge of the bathtub, tried to stand up, slipped, went back into water, instantly pushed himself forward in a second attempt, and finally succeeded to get out, rolling over the edge and falling on the wet floor, sprawling on it like some clueless crab turned upside down.

In the next moment, something hit his shoulder hard. Took him a minute to figure out that it was Corly’s leg. She was lying on the floor, jerking like hell. Vitri didn’t feel any pain after getting out of the cold water and being filled with stim injections. He got on all fours, crawled towards Corly, tried to steady her, didn’t manage at first, made several other unsuccessful attempts, and finally had to sit on top of her, pressing her hands to her sides with his hips.

“Al— Al-l-r-right, s-s-tim s-s-hot first,” he stammered, speaking out loud mostly to himself, trying to calm down. “Then, one heel to the chest, another one on top… Dammit!”

“What?” Riv’s worried voice appeared again. “What’s going on?”

“Hand’s slipped… She’s all wet.”

“Of course she is, you’ve splashed water all over while getting out of the tub.”

“Not helping, Riv!”

“Sorry! Hurry up!”

“I am! One, two…”

“Harder, Vitri! I’m checking her vitals. You aren’t reaching the heart. Two inches deep compressions!”

“I’m from centimeters-part of the world!”

“Argh!” Riv roared in anger. “Five centimeters! At least.”

“That’s a lot. I feel her ribs bending!”

“Forget the ribs! Press harder!”

“Like this? Oh crack… Riv, I think one of the ribs just broke… At least one.”

“Can happen, keep it up like that.”

“What do you mean can happen? I just broke her ribs!”

“It’s either broken ribs or her life. Choose!”

“Fine! Oh my, I don’t like the sound of that…”

“Ok, good, the heart rhythm has been disturbed. She’s resetting. Grab the AED!”

“Should I keep pressing…”

“AED, Vitri!”

“Alright-alright! Strips to the sides of her chest, right? Any particular area?”

“Doesn’t matter, I’ve supplied you with an idiot-proof model. Just attach them to her.”

“Like that?”

“Yeah, should do. Step aside. Don’t touch her.”

“Alright. You want me—”

“I want you to s-s-hut up n-n-now,” Riv’s voice began to stammer, as if her teeth were chattering from the cold. In a moment she managed to steady it. “Let’s see, need to bypass her CCI security protocols, adjust this setting, tweak that, disconnect her for a moment… There!”

Corly instantly stopped twitching and jerking, then her spine arched, pushing her torso upwards like some twisted bridge, and for a moment she froze in that weird, creepy-looking posture.

“I once saw a virus acting like that,” Vitri muttered, watching Corly slowly relaxing and falling back on the floor. “She’s resetting?”

“I…” Riv paused. “I believe so. Yes… Yes, I’ve jumpstarted her. It worked!”

“You had doubts about that?” Vitri’s brows flew up.

“Not anymore!” Riv sounded quite pleased with herself and didn’t pay attention to the skeptical remark. “Phew, Vitri, was a close one.”

“You sure she’s fine?” Vitri peered at Corly’s body that stopped moving completely. “She looks… well, not quite lively.”

“Poke her.”

“What do you mean poke her?”

“What do you think I mean? Punch her shoulder, pinch her nose, I dunno! Ask if she can hear you or whatever. Provoke some sort of a reaction.”

“Fine,” Vitri crawled a little bit forward, carefully approached the body, leaned over it, ever so slowly extended his index finger and moved it towards Corly’s arm. “Erm. Investigator… Corly.” His finger finally touched the arm very gently, as if it was made of some extremely fragile material. “You there?”

“Sh-h-h-h-h,” the loud hissing sound came out of the special investigator’s mouth. At the same moment she opened her eyes wide and stared at the ceiling, as though looking for something there. She gasped for air, instantly shrieked with pain, and grabbed her chest. “Wha…” she couldn’t quite finish the phrase and winced with another surge of suffering. After a few seconds, she mumbled, very quietly, barely moving her lips: “Two ribs are broken…”

“For the record,” Vitri crawled back to the bathtub, leaned against it, then raised one finger, as if asking for permission to speak, “it was Riv’s idea. I was forced to do that.”

“You broke my ribs?” Corly stared at him, then winced again after raising her voice.

“I mean… technically, I’ve saved your life, so… You’re welcome?”

“Whatever,” Corly waved a weak hand at him. “I’ll run a quick diagnostic.” She closed her eyes for a moment and stayed silent. “What have you two clowns done?” she asked at last.

“I have the same kind of question for you,” Riv asked her in return. “What were you thinking? Jumping right into Vitri’s dive? We’ve told you to stick to the observer mode!”

“I admit, it wasn’t my brightest idea, but,” Corly tried to raise her arm and rub her nose without much success, “I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t do anything shady.”

“And look where it brought you!”

“Fine, fine. It’s my fault,” Corly kept trying to reach her nose and sniffed loudly. “Why am I feeling like leaking?”

“Cause your nose is bleeding,” Vitri shrugged, as if it was obvious.

“I can’t really feel it, just some echo-ish sensation or whatever.”

“It’s normal after a full system reset,” Riv said. “Some parameters may get switched to defaults. Need a bit of time to restore the saved settings, pull them from the backup storage, and all that. Vitri, give her a cookie.”

“Here,” he reached the bathtub, opened one more of its endless compartments, took out a small rectangular pack, and tossed it to Corly.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Just eat it,” Riv insisted. “It’s that kind of after-death snack that you shouldn’t refuse.”

Corly slowly opened the pack, grabbed one cookie, and looked at it somewhat skeptically.

“Looks like a cookie.”

“Yeah, the one you better accept,” Vitri chuckled. “You’re gonna like it, special investigator.”

“Anything to stop this pain,” Corly took a careful bite, froze for a moment. “Oh my… That’s actually good,” she ate the entire cookie and immediately took out another one. “I think I feel a bit better.”

“Nothing can beat a good-old cookie after a dive,” Vitri already had his mouth full, talking and chewing loudly.

“You’ve blocked my emergency protocols,” Corly said, munching through the next round piece of sweet happiness. “Damage like that should’ve caused an alert, sending a distress signal. I don’t see any.”

“Well,” Vitri didn’t even try to make it sound like an excuse, “we aren’t the kind of folk that likes to have CCI rapid response teams as uninvited guests. Specially when there’s a chance that their own investigator might be found lying cold with multiple signs of a dive all over her.”

“I’m too tired to argue,” Corly finished her cookies, tossed the pack aside. “Have you got the data?”

“I have, in fact,” Vitri said proudly. “Sure you want to process it right away?”

“Don’t have any other choice. Send it to me already.”

“Alright,” Vitri snapped his fingers, pressed his thumb behind his ear. “I’ve uploaded it chronologically. You can delete the data from the observer mode. After your little performance, it’s probably all corrupted anyway.”

“Got it, thanks,” Corly finally managed to reach her nose, tried to wipe it, smeared blood all over her mouth, spat to the side. “Damn thing just keeps pouring out.”

“The more you rub your nose and sniff, the longer it’ll bleed,” Riv said instructively. “Shouldn’t have entered the dive in the first place. Just saying.”

“She’s always like that?” Corly glanced at Vitri only to see him nodding in silent confirmation. “No matter. Checking the data now.”

“Honestly, I would rather prefer you to…” Vitri looked at Corly, as if evaluating her condition, then finished: “Well, perhaps you should leave now, call your friends at CCI, so they could take care of you, and so on.”

“No time for that. Plus, it’s my special assignment. Can’t let the rumors spread, as I’m kinda not supposed to be here.” She paused for a moment, focused on checking the data Vitri sent her. “Oh no…”

“I really have enough of ‘oh no’s’ for today,” Vitri sighed. “Don’t tell me you haven’t managed to find the Chief’s son.”

“I’ve found him.”

“Good.”

“A group of flip-freaks is approaching his location.”

“Oh no…” Vitri unconsciously mimicked Corly’s tone. “Not the FFs.”

“They were sent by—”

“We don’t need to know,” Riv interrupted her instantly. Same as Vitri, she had no desire to know the CCI competitors' names.

“I’m sending the exo-squad to the location now,” Corly looked at Vitri. “And I need your help.”

“Haven’t you got enough already?” sitting on the floor and chewing a cookie, he moved a bit further away from her, as if hoping that would help somehow.

“My system is all glitchy after the reboot.”

“It’s not glitchy, just in the process of restoring the previous params—”

“I don’t care! Argh,” Corly raised her voice, then groaned with pain, pressing one hand to her ribs. “Point is, I can’t guide the exo-squad,” she said quietly. “I need you to breach my system and do it for me.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Riv shouted. “You want him to pretend to be a CCI investigator?”

“Well, if you put it this way,” Vitri’s enthusiasm came back instantly. “I always wanted to try the combat mode.”

“Vitri, listen…” Riv suddenly stopped talking, as if realizing something. She then sighed. “I won’t talk you out of it, right?”

“Nope.”

“Under my responsibility,” Corly added.

“It doesn’t worth much,” Riv chuckled bitterly. “But do whatever you want, you two. No one is listening to me anyway.”

Corly turned towards Vitri.

“Once you’re in, use the emergency interface for calling the exo-squad, emulate my voice. I know you can do it pretty easily. Tell them the location and that they have around 10 minutes to react. They will add you as an observer, and you’ll see the combat mode. Don’t mess with it, man! I’m warning you. Just watch and guide the squad. We need this nice, quiet, and clean. It’s a flip-freaks area. We go loud, they’ll call reinforcements and the place will be swarming with them. This should be avoided at all costs. Exo-squad should surgically take out the approaching group and extract the chief’s son. You hear me?”

“Sure,” Vitri was staring into the emptiness, no longer focused on anything. “I’m connected to you already. You wanna join?”

“Can you add me?”

“Naturally. I’ve muted your channel, so nobody else could hear it and you can tell me directly what to do in case things go nuts.”

“This definitely won’t go into the report…” Corly muttered.

“Fine by me. Adding Riv as well.”

“Don’t add me! I won’t be a part of—”

“Too late, phys,” Riv’s protesting voice was cut off by Vitri. “You’re gonna watch me play! Let’s do this, ladies!”

“Why do I always end up in such a mess…”

“Corly? That you?” Vitri heard a man’s low voice once he called in the exo-squad. “Your coords are all over the place. Something’s wrong?”

“All’s peachy, Kors,” Vitri got the man’s data already. It was the squad leader. “Just some minor glitches after an update.”

“Didn’t know there was an update,” Kors sounded doubtful. “Haven’t seen any notifications.”

“Never mind that, buddy. We have a child to rescue!”

“Buddy?” More surprised notes appeared in Kors voice. “Are you alright, Corly? You sound kinda too cheerful today.”

“Just having a great afternoon, Kors. Now listen, it’s about the chief’s son…”

Accompanied by the quiet cursing coming from Corly's side, Vitri did his best at explaining the situation at hand. The moment he mentioned the chief’s son, Kors got completely quiet up until all the instructions were given.

“Understood,” he said once Vitri finished talking. “We’re two mins from the location.”

“Wait, what?” Vitri couldn’t hide his astonishment. “Already?”

“Course we’re. I’ve called in the heli. It’s not the kind of situation we want to postpone, right, Corly?”

“Don’t ask him questions like that!” Corly hissed and tried to kick Vitri’s leg. “Just say yes.”

“Yes,” Vitri said.

“Alright,” Kors continued. “We do this with minimal headcount. Gonna be a five-agent op, me included.

“There’s twenty flip-freaks at least…” Vitri wasn’t able to finish as Corly finally reached his leg and kicked it.

“Shut up! Don’t tell him that, he’ll know it’s not me!”

“You’re right, Corly,” Kors suddenly said, “I should’ve made it a four-agent op. But Leskes is a newbie, so, high-time we let him taste some action, aye?”

“Sure…” Vitri said carefully, expecting more kicking. When none came, he added: “So, you’re in positions then?”

“Affirmative. Sharing the feed, adjusting the markings. You’re reading it all right?”

“Oh yeah…” Vitri mused, seeing the combat mode replacing his regular interface. “I mean, yes, all’s good,” he added, trying to sound more serious.

“Later you’re gonna tell me what’s got into you today, Corly. You definitely sound strange.”

Vitri decided that it was in his best interest to not reply.

“Alright,” Kors continued, “the building is surrounded. One agent per each side, with me jumping on top. We go lethal or pacifist? Your call.”

Vitri didn’t reply right away. He blinked to turn off the feed for a moment, immediately saw Corly’s eyes staring right into his.

“Nobody there should know that was us,” she said quietly but firmly, answering Vitri’s silent question. “We need to make it look like a typical local issue.”

Vitri swallowed, then nodded, blinked again, bringing back the combat mode. At that moment he finally realized that he’d just swam out of the paddling pool and no longer felt the bottom under his feet. The safety of his cozy sandbox where he could play around with his funny little toys had been swapped for a shooting range with a completely different type of entertainment.

“Corly?” he heard Kors’ voice. “You’re there?”

“Yeah. Full lethal, man.” Vitri got silent for a moment, absorbing the fact what kind of order he had just approved, then added: “You need to make a mess out of it, like it's a flip-freaks showdown or whatever. Nothing should give any hints at our involvement.”

“Whatever you say, boss. Squad,” Kors addressed the rest of his group, connecting them to the feed at the same time, “we go lethal and dirty. No standard ammo, use the black market one. The new one that causes invasive inner bursts on impact. The bloodier, the better. Don’t be shy about using bio-blades as well, if close combat happens. A smidge of targeted cutting won’t do any harm,” he chuckled. “Questions?”

No questions followed.

“Alright, nice and smooth then, ladies and gents,” Kors grunted somewhat pleased. “I go top. Rimano, take the north entrance. Oila, south is yours. Biro, take west. That leaves east for you, Leskes.”

“Why Leskes always gets the easiest option?” on the interface Vitri saw it was Biro who asked that.

“Cause otherwise he gets higher chances of hitting us,” the interface showed that Rimano was speaking now. “By the way, if you shoot in my direction again, Leskes—”

“If I shoot at you again, I won’t miss this time.”

“Well, look at that!” Biro exclaimed with a burst of laughter. “The hatchling’s finally figured out how to bare his teeth.”

“That’s enough, y’all,” Kors cut further discussion off. “Comms to a minimum. Let’s make some freaks go flat. Corly, the building is shielded, the satellite feed is no more. We go blind. Audio only. Care to guide us?”

“Me? Guiding you?” After another kick from Corly, Vitri cleared his throat and replied in a firmer voice: “The roof is clear, Kors. There’s a single entrance, the one that’s in front of you,” at last leaving his doubts aside, he jumped right into the instructions giving. “Five FFs at the north entrance, six at the south one. The west one has seven of them. All spread in the room next to it.”

“As always, I get all the fun,” Biro grunted. “Leskes, need help with the two of yours?”

“Very funny. When your seven get you cornered, we’ll see who’ll start begging for help.”

“There could be more,” Vitri said in a worried voice, checking the feeds one by one. “Scan showed an approximate number. You never know with FFs. They have individual blockers sometimes that shield them from detection.”

“Aye,” Kors said. “Wouldn’t be fun without a bit of a mystery during the op. We’ll deal with more potential targets based on the situation. Leskes, that relates to you above all. You’re ready, squad?” Hearing four voices confirming that, he added: “Let’s spill some red then. Begin.”

Vitri adjusted the feed, split it into five separate sections, and watched the exo-squad doing their job. His help was barely needed, yet he did his best scanning the area for additional targets. Predictably, there were two more, on the Leskes’ side. Vitri’s warning came at the moment when he’d already dealt with one of them, so it was at least partially useful.

“Appreciate it Corly,” Leskes said while Vitri saw his bio-blade already sliding back into his wrist, sending a few drops of blood to the body at his feet. “Haven’t noticed this one right away.”

“Biro’s getting cornered,” Vitri was now watching another feed. “Might need some help.”

“I’m fine,” she growled angrily, accompanied by the sound of firing.

“Course you’re,” two muffled shots followed Oila’s words. “You’re welcome, girl.”

“Don’t mess with my KPI, woman!” Biro snapped furiously. “I said I’m fine!”

“Don’t be greedy,” Oila sneered. “Everyone has a performance review to fill in.”

The casual talk made it clear to Vitri that for the exo-squad that was just another day on the job. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing fancy. Just an extraction task with twenty-two bodies lying flat as a result.

“I see the boy,” Vitri heard Kors’ voice which brought him back to reality. “He’s off, I think,” he paused for a moment, checking. “Yeah, knocked out. I’ll pack him up. There’s another article with him. Started screaming when I entered. Didn’t look like one of the FFs, so I gently put him to sleep.”

“Yeah,” Vitri said, “it's the chief's son’s friend. The one that’s brought him there.”

“Nice company,” Kors chuckled. “What should we do with him? On or off?”

Vitri suddenly felt Corly’s hand on his shoulder and twitched, then turned off the feed for a moment and looked at her.

“I might use this one,” she whispered, as though fearing the squad could hear her somehow. “Tell them to bring him in. Chief’s rivals’ pawn is a nice bonus. My KPI could also use a boost.”

“Ok,” Vitri nodded, brought back the feed, and addressed Kors again: “Keep this one, take him with you, and bring them both to me.”

“Fine by me,” Kors took out a pair of handcuffs. “I’ll pack your present then. Wanna ribbon?”

“With a postcard, please.”

“Huh,” Kors snorted. “Sense of humour is not something I get from you often, Corly. Looks like you’re having a jolly day.”

“Peachy, as I said,” feeling less pressure, Vitri got his tongue loose again. “Savoring every moment of a perfect afternoon.”

“Huh, I see. Alright then,” Kors finished handling both of the targets. “Solid work, folks. Let’s wrap this up. Check the bodies, apply a touch of interior design to the surroundings. Just to make sure this ain’t look like something CCI would do, aye? We were never here. Just a reminder, but I hope none of you has used the standard ammo. Right, Leskes?”

“Not this time, chief,” the man muttered grudgingly. “All’s good on my side.”

“Outstanding,” the word hardly sounded like praise. “Let’s get back to the heli then. Corly, I’ll see you at the bureau. Need to clear out a few deets, just between the two of us, aye?”

“Phew,” Vitri turned off the feed, blinked a couple of times, and looked around. “Well, that was… entertaining.”

“Dude, you’ve just watched the slaughterhouse live broadcast,” Riv’s irritated voice appeared. “Not only that, you also kinda told the butchers where to cut…”

“Why do you always have to piss directly into my victory cocktail?” Vitri shook his head, then glanced at Corly, as if asking for approval. “I did what you asked… Right?”

“Yeah,” she winced and rubbed her ribs for what looked like the hundredth time. “You did fine. By the way, where did you get all that info about the flip-freaks? Felt like you’ve guided squads before.”

“I rather not say…”

“Simulators,” Riv suddenly decided to reveal Vitri’s secret. “He has several of them installed and regularly plays around with all kinds of activities he’s too afraid to try in real life.”

“Thank you, Riv,” Vitri scowled at no one in particular. “Always appreciate you talking about my personal life and extracurricular activities.” He sighed, then added, changing the topic: “I think Kors suspects something though.”

“Great deductive skills, genius,” Corly chuckled. “Of course he does. He’s not an idiot. You think he mentioned clearing out a few deets with me just out of fun?” She waved her hand at Vitri. “No matter. I’ll talk this through. He’ll understand. We’re kinda…” she paused, as though looking for a proper word.

“Friends?” Vitri made a guess.

“Friends is a bit too much of a word for it,” Corly shook her head. “More like survivors, knowing that it’s not worth it rocking each other’s boat.”

“I see.” Vitri pursed his lips, considering something. “So… You want us to help you get to your bureau, call someone, patch you up?”

“You two have done quite enough,” Corly groaned, getting up. “Enough in every sense, good and bad. But I’ve promised you no trouble if you helped me, which you sort of did. In your own twisted way, but still. Truth be told, I expected something like that. Don’t wait for my gratitude, but I’ll leave you to,” she looked around the room, “your ice breaking activities. For now at least.”

“Sounds good. Sorry for the ribs, investigator.” Vitri suddenly felt bad about the way he performed the jumpstart procedure. “You sure you’ll manage on your own?”

“Not my first walk to the office with twisted bones and cracked brains,” Corly slowly approached the door. “Besides, that insane stim you’ve shot me with will keep me afloat till I reach the infirmary.”

“Alrighty then… I guess this is goodbye?”

“Seems so. Don’t do anything stupid, Glassbrain.” Vitri felt like noticing a hint of a smile on Corly's face when she said the name. “Otherwise it’ll be a menacing ‘till next time’ and not a simple ‘goodbye’.”

“I wouldn’t count on that,” Riv's grudging voice appeared once again. “Take care, investigator.”

“You too, physician. Appreciate the cookies.”

“What a day, Riv!” Having a mouthful of cookies, Vitri spread his arms wide, as if having all the desire to give someone the happiest of hugs. “What a splendid cracking day!”

“Another one to live through,” Riv produced an unenthusiastic comment. “Please, let’s not do anything like this again any time soon. Can we just find some normal gigs for a change?”

“What’s fun in that?” Vitri said joyfully. “Grumble all you want, I know deep inside you enjoy it too.”

“Dude, I’m telling you, one day you’ll push me to the limit and I’ll just leave you, mark my words.” After a brief pause, Riv made some sort of a “br-r-r” sound. “You think it was fun jumping into the tub and freezing it instantly? My left foot wasn’t even fully submerged and got stuck above the ice like some cracking antenna. You’ve ever tried wearing a ring of ice around your ankle? Gives that kind of feeling. Still aches like hell.”

“Should’ve stimmed up first…”

“Oh really? Like I need advice from you? I was full on stims already and didn’t have the time for the additional ones. The ones that keep you warm, you know. It was either jump right in, or have Corly go flat.”

“Ok, fine!” Vitri got slightly angry, but mostly at himself. “I’m sorry, ok? You did great, Riv. As always. I should’ve checked on her as well. Maybe I could’ve noticed that she decided to dive in.”

“I doubt it,” hearing a sudden apology, Riv said in a softer voice. “Still wonder why she did that. I don’t quite believe it was just to make sure you wouldn’t do anything stupid.”

“I’ve run a deeper search on her, you know. Apparently, she had some issues with the law when she was younger. Before she started working for the CCI.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yep, I think she wanted to become an ice cracker.”

“You’re kidding?”

“Not really. I’ve found some logs showing that she paid quite a few visits to bio-kids. Almost made a bunch of upgrades for cooling and other stuff…”

“Huh, well, what do you know… What stopped her?”

“The usual. Family, kids, life, the need for a stable job,” Vitri shrugged. “Things the two of us have only a distant understanding of.”

“I see… Seems like some rebel spirit of the youth still beats within her then.”

“Dunno. Maybe you understand her better,” Vitri grinned and added: “as a lady.”

“Who said I’m a lady?”

“Ah, yes, sorry. Keeps slipping my mind. Wishful thinking I guess.”

“Yeah, right. Keep trying. One day I may tell you.”

“I doubt it, but I definitely will make more attempts to figure out who you really are, Riv.”

“Good luck with that, buddy,” she chuckled. “So, what’s next on the agenda, icy boy?”

“Glad you’ve asked. I’ve just heard the news about another conglo going down and merging with its parent branch… A perfect chance to slip a bit of lorem into their DB!”

“Vitri, no!”

“Yes, Riv, most definitely, yes. The ice won’t crack itself.”