Beautiful Red

Episode Fifteen

After a beer and a contraband cigarette, Jack finally got over the frustration at her inability to do anything, then spent the rest of the night finishing her report for Gilles and Adrian. She would send it out to them before she left. With these new images from Bellis, as well as the information she had been gathering, she had a fairly complete report to send them.

They had both been harassing her for updates, but she was afraid that one or both of them would try to stop her from going if she told them what was going on. She knew her fears about her friends were really her own sense of personal security trying to stop her from doing something foolish, but if she could keep anyone else from voicing those thoughts she would be able to ignore the voices in her head.

Direct download

Music:

• low level format by Bjorn Fogelberg
  some sonics provided by The Freesound Project

If you have feedback, I want to hear it! Leave a comment on the website, send me an email or call me with your comments at 206-984-2976.

Episode Fourteen

Jack spent the evening going over the Brugges theft, comparing it to the incident in the Bellis server room. There was more information about the European crime by now, on the regular news boards as well as the specialized ones Jack has been paging through before. It seemed that the theft had been conducted by a pair of locals who had now gone missing. There didn’t seem to be any link between the two prior to the incident; one was a service worker in a mid range upgrade salon and the other was an entertainment worker.

Rowan, Jack thought. She was an entertainment worker from Brugges. Of course, that made as much sense as anything; more, really. Most of the analysis of the event had pointed out that the logic was quite poor, but only if the thieves cared about getting caught. If you had no thoughts of you own, why would you care about the logs, getting caught or having to disappear?

Direct download

Music:

• low level format by Bjorn Fogelberg
  some sonics provided by The Freesound Project

If you have feedback, I want to hear it! Leave a comment on the website, send me an email or call me with your comments at 206-984-2976.

Episode Thirteen

The next day, Jack arrived a little early, hoping to catch a few minutes with Gilles. She rounded the corner to their shared cube, and smiled broadly when she saw his craggy face. “Morning, Gilles,” she said, throwing her jacket on the rack.

“Hey, yourself,” Gilles said. “How was your weekend?” She could have sworn that he winked at her.

“Pretty interesting,” Jack said, “I’ll be giving you a full written report later.” He laughed, and Jack smiled and lowered her voice. “No, really, I’m not kidding. There have been a lot of developments since our little adventure and I want to fill you in.”

Direct download

Music:

• low level format by Bjorn Fogelberg
  some sonics provided by The Freesound Project

If you have feedback, I want to hear it! Leave a comment on the website, send me an email or call me with your comments at 206-984-2976.

Episode Twelve

Jack rode the ninety minute train home knowing she ought to use the time to get a quick nap, but was too wired to sleep. She really wasn’t sure what to think about the things she had seen and heard. She was convinced that the Red were behind the attack on Estella Rowan, but she was equally convinced that the people she met could not have been involved.

Not necessarily because they were inherently good people – Jack didn’t trust her judgment that much – but because it just wasn’t their style. It would offend their sense of esthetics.

Direct download

Music:

• low level format by Bjorn Fogelberg
  some sonics provided by The Freesound Project

If you have feedback, I want to hear it! Leave a comment on the website, send me an email or call me with your comments at 206-984-2976.

Episode Eleven

Jack felt as if her mind was truly clear for the first time since this ordeal began, though she was not sure that sneaking off for a quickie was the best decision she had made in the past few days. However, what was done was done and she sat with Phoenix, talking about art and the difficulties that people who do not fit into the system of working for a firm have when trying to do their work. Jack discovered that Phoenix was gainfully employed as a writer for a prominent board devoted to performance art. One of the large firms funded the board as well as many exhibitions every year.

“I didn’t know that even existed,” Jack said.

“It’s very uncommon,” Phoenix said, “I was extremely lucky to get the position. Of course, I worked for them to begin with and was active in the community anyway. I knew who to go to and what I had to do to get it.” Phoenix smiled languidly, and Jack understood that there were probably not very many desires that Phoenix didn’t get fulfilled.

Direct download

Music:

• low level format by Bjorn Fogelberg
  some sonics provided by The Freesound Project

If you have feedback, I want to hear it! Leave a comment on the website, send me an email or call me with your comments at 206-984-2976.

Episode Ten

Jack found herself in a small vestibule before a locked metal grating at the bottom of a long, narrow, straight stairwell. A voice crackled from a speaker in the ceiling.

“There’s network here. Upload the map you were given so we can confirm the checksum.”

Jack drew a deep breath and turned her system on. She was, indeed, online, though the signal was weak. She found that an address had been sent to her, and she replied with a copy of the map. The upload seemed to take forever, but almost immediately as soon as it was done a buzzer sounded and the grating in front of her swung open. Jack walked up the stairs, jumping as the grate behind her clanged shut. She checked the monitor to discover the already weak signal getting weaker with each step she took. By the time she reached the top of the staircase, she was offline again.

Direct download

Music:

• low level format by Bjorn Fogelberg

  some sonics provided by The Freesound Project

If you have feedback, I want to hear it! Leave a comment on the website, send me an email or call me with your comments at 206-984-2976.

Episode Nine

It was a ninety minute train ride, and Jack was having trouble filling the time. Her nerves were jangling and every few minutes she would decide to catch a return train as soon as they stopped. But, deep down, she knew that she’d end up following through with her plan. She had gone too far to stop now. And when she thought about it, this was the most exhilarating experience she’d had since she decided to play on the right side of the rules.

Hell, she had never really been much of a cracker anyway; she was always more interested in how things worked than causing problems. Her break and enter career was entirely motivated by a need to see what was on the other side, and she was very good at making sure she wouldn’t be caught. This was probably the most exciting thing she had ever done in her entire life. There was no way she was going to wimp out now.

Direct download

Music:

• low level format by Bjorn Fogelberg

  some sonics provided by The Freesound Project

If you have feedback, I want to hear it! Leave a comment on the website, send me an email or call me with your comments at 206-984-2976.

Episode Eight

Jack woke on her own sometime near noon the next day. She felt like crap, and was sure she looked like it too. She fired up the coffee machine and dug out a breakfast bar. She stirred her coffee with the bar, trying to get some moisture and extra caffeine into the nutrient laden brick.

She cracked her neck and picked up her clothes from where she had dropped them the previous night. She put them on, even though there were clean clothes in the autoclave. She just couldn’t be bothered to open up the hatch and she didn’t think she would be leaving the apartment any time soon.

Direct download

Music:

• low level format by Bjorn Fogelberg
• some sonics provided by The Freesound Project

If you have feedback, I want to hear it! Leave a comment on the website, send me an email or call me with your comments at 206-339-8577.