They reached Twin Mesas in the afternoon. In the distance, V spotted the facility's arcology: an enormous pyramid of latticed solar-glass, caked in a fresh layer of dust from the recent sandstorm. Their convoy was driving down a bumpy track, like something carved into the desert's trashscape by a giant knife, while the Basilisk rode alongside them, its cannons and missile-launchers on a permanent swivel.
It took thirty minutes of following that track before they arrived at the facility itself. The arcology was hemmed in by a huge, sandblasted concrete wall, rolls of razor-wire strung along and around it. The Technomancer on the gate was a thin woman in a ratty hoodie, same emblem as Bogeyman's stamped between her shoulders, and jeans worn thin around the knees. She was accompanied by a pair of hulking, repurposed Minotaur robots, each one emblazoned with a bright red pentagram, their chassis painted vantablack.
The woman motioned for Panam to lower her window. "Once you're through the gate, find Yuji Ikeda. He's in charge around here."
"What happened to Fiona McKinnon?" asked Ayako, from the passenger seat. "I thought she was in charge."
"Rattlesnakes," said the Technomancer. Then, "Remember. Yuji Ikeda."
"Just like that, you're gonna let us in?" asked V.
"If we'd wanted you gone, our plasma cannons would've vaporized you the moment you turned onto the track," said the woman, as though she were discussing the weather. She motioned toward the enormous guns—high-powered Militech AAs the Technomancers had salvaged and repurposed—mounted on the walls of Twin Mesas. "Our camodrones could have bombed you while you were sleeping at the Old Saguaro, too. We've been watching your group since you left Phoenix." She tapped something out on the microdeck clipped to her hip. Some unseen mechanism beeped and released, magnetic bolts loudly thudding out of position, and behind her, the gate rattled open. "Get in here."
The Technomancer encampment was a sprawl of trailers: mobile laboratories, Net-suites, hydroponic farms, homes. Mobile sat-dishes dotted the camp and, according to Ayako, siphoned Net-connection from orbiting corpo-satellites, and portable fission generators provided the camp with the necessary power for its power-intensive facilities.
"Why ain't they livin' inside the arcology?" asked V, as they stepped out of the truck.
"Biotechnica was workin' on a virus here," answered Ayako. "Water's tainted. Long story short, they were modifyin' a Pepper mild mottle virus to weaponize for military use, and it got into the hydroponics system. Caused a buncha the researchers to develop a fatal gastrointestinal disease. Literally shit themselves to death. Hundred fifty people died, so the company shut down the facility."
V stared at Ayako, trying to gauge if she was serious or not.
"I'm serious," said Ayako. "Shit 'emselves to death. Nasty case of dehydration."
Panam shook her head at their conversation, then turned her attention to the camp, hands on her hips. "Guess we should ask where this Yuji Ikeda is."
Carol came up behind her and said, "I know who he is. Come on."
"Mitch and Cassidy comin'?" asked Judy.
"No," said Carol. "They're staying with the Basilisk."
"Like the Technomancers would want to part out that hunk of junk," said Panam, rolling her eyes.
"So how do y'know this guy? Yuji, I mean," said V to Carol.
"He approached me with a job offer, years ago," said Carol. "Not long after I finished my tour with the military."
Judy made a face. "'Saka?"
"You got it," said Carol.
After a pat-down and 'ware-scan (the Technomancers, V was informed, wanted to ensure they weren't carrying any malware) at the security post outside the arcology, they were escorted inside by two Minotaurs, and three Technomancers in hooded nylon windbreakers. The lobby was all marble and glass, done up in some sleek corpo-style that had been popular a decade ago, and seemed to have been converted into a datacenter by the Technomancers, its machines tended to by silent techies in black coveralls and red-tinted infovisors, so many shards plugged into their skulls that they looked as if they'd been shoved headfirst into stained glass. It was cold inside the lobby too, like someone had cranked down the industrial air-conditioning to the lowest possible degree, and the air was so hazy with tech-coolant that it made everything look like a dream-sequence.
Yuji Ikeda was ninety-years-old, but with the benefit of Technomancer voodoo, barely looked a day over fifty. He wore a neat salt-and-pepper beard, his hair carefully coiffed and swept to one side, graying at the temples. Deep lines were etched at the corners of his eyes, which were dark pools of calm, glassy water. He smiled with white teeth, making a small adjustment to the cuffs of his black Jinguji suit.
"Ayako-sama, it's good to see you again. And you, Carol-san."
Ayako stared at the man, her face unreadable. But V could see her fingers tightening around the handle of the cash-case. "Never met you in my life," she said.
"You wouldn't remember," said Yuji mildly, making his way toward them. "And it doesn't matter anyway."
"Whoah," said V, stepping between Yuji and Ayako, "y'can't just say somethin' like that and expect us to trust you."
Yuji halted, regarding her evenly. "I suppose you have a point," he conceded. He didn't speak for several moments, the silence backfilling with the ambient electronoise of the building's hardware: the stuttering chug-whine of servers and Net-consoles, the high-pitched whir of industrial cooling fans. Then, "I was the architect of the Yomi isolate, and the co-architect of the onryō engram series. I worked closely with Alt Cunningham on the Soulkiller project when she was employed at ITS. Arasaka planted me there to gather intelligence on Cunningham's work. I was also the one who told Arasaka where to find her that fateful night in 2013, and now, so many years later, Arasaka wants me dead." He paused, glancing between them. "Is that honest enough for you?"
Judy exchanged a look with V, then said, "Ain't nobody can get more honest than that, babe."
"Look, Yuji, buddy," interrupted Ayako, stepping forward and raising the cash-case, "I got your eddies right here. Ain't in the mood for cryptic shit. Just want what I came for. Can we talk biz?"
"Of course, Ayako-sama," said Yuji, gesturing for her to follow him. "Your friends can wait in the camp."
"We ain't just lettin' y'take her somewhere."
Yuji looked at V. "Ayako-sama won't be harmed, V-san. We'll speak more once I've concluded my clan's business with Ayako-sama."
Ayako looked at them. "Don't worry. I'll be fine," she said, and smiled. Then she turned and walked off with Yuji.
Outside, V said to Carol, "You failed t'mention he worked with Cunningham."
"I didn't know," Carol told her.
Hours passed, and as dusk started to settle over the Sonoran, they found themselves huddled around a bonfire, killing time. The Technomancers were passing beers around, but V couldn't relax enough to join them, feeling weird and anxious about everything. She didn't think Yuji wanted to do anything bad to Ayako; the gate-guard already told them the 'Mancers could've obliterated them from the moment they'd hauled their asses out of Phoenix and across the Trash Pan, so why would they let them into their camp if they were already planning to flatline them. V figured all her tension came from the fact that Yuji had had something to do with the onryō engrams, that he'd been a former 'Saka corpo-spy. He'd been the guy who'd engineered Oiwa, or at least, he'd been the guy who'd laid the foundation for the person who'd engineered Oiwa, and that really bugged the shit out of her, knowing that without the comfort of uncertainty.
"Y'don't think 'Sakas got him here spyin' on the Technomancers, do ya?" V asked Carol.
Carol shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Technomancers are too smart for corpo-espionage bullshit."
Judy frowned, crossing her arms. "How do ya think he knows Ayako?"
Panam, mid-sip of her beer, answered, "They used to both be 'Saka. Could—"
"Y'think everyone in 'Saka knows each other, or is it just 'cause I'm Japanese and so's he?"
Panam looked at Ayako, blinking. "I didn't mean—"
"I'm just fuckin' with you, Panam." Ayako chuckled and sat down, accepting a beer from a 'Mancer in a tattered racer-jacket.
"How'd negotiations go?" asked V.
"Got my ICEbreaker."
"And the shuttle?"
Ayako sucked in a breath. "Problem."
V stared at her. Then, "God, what now ?"
"So the Rattlesnakes kinda stole it."
"What?" said Judy. "How the fuck do ya steal a fuckin' shuttle ?"
"Modular shuttle," said Panam. "They stole the trailers it was packed away in, I bet."
"Bingo," said Ayako. "My program bought the shuttle, sure, but now we gotta get the shuttle back from Painted Springs. Rattlesnakes managed to pull a fast one on the 'Mancers."
"How the fuck do a buncha desert-dogs get the drop on the fuckin' 'Mancers?" demanded V.
"By gettin' inside-help and commandeerin' a Militech hypersonic nuke," said Ayako. "Too fast for their guns to shoot down, and hackin' them can be real tricky since they gotta buncha failsafes and ICE built into the onboard computers."
"But they can be hacked," said V.
"Sure, given you gotta 'nough time," said Ayako, shrugging. "But by the time a Netrunner, even a good one, got access to the computer's core, it'd be too late. These fuckin' things are fuckin' fast. It's in the name. And these missiles, they got redundancies built into 'em. So even if you manage to shut down the onboard, there's a backup system ready to deploy. Maybe several."
"So you're tellin' me even you couldn't hack the fuckin' thing," said Judy, looking at Ayako.
"Got wax in your ears, Judy?" asked Ayako.
Judy sighed in frustration. "God, why can't anything be fuckin' easy?"