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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.

[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/BeautifulRed-11/BeautifulRed-11.mp3]

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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.

[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/BeautifulRed-10/BeautifulRed-10.mp3]

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.

[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/BeautifulRed-09/BeautifulRed-09.mp3]

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.

[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/BeautifulRed-08/BeautifulRed-08.mp3]

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.

Episode Seven

Jack scanned a news report from the previous day. “Estella Rowan, a 63-year old adult entertainer, was reported missing yesterday by her employer after she failed to log in at work for her shift that evening.” Jack felt a slight chill as she realized that the evening in question was the night of the Brugges robbery. The reports were not connecting the events – surely Brugges had its share of crime and what would a prostitute have to do with a theft of electronic parts? Jack connected the events, though.

The theft had occurred only three quarters of an hour after Rowan’s system had been accessed. Jack had to try and find Rowan, who might be able to lead her to the people who had contacted the missing woman just before the heist.

[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/BeautifulRed-07/BeautifulRed-07.mp3]

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.

Episode Six

Jack started walking back to her apartment, planning her next move. If she could trace the path of the unknown login back from the Bellis system, she may be able to find out where it originated. If she could find where it came from, she might be able to figure out what they were doing. She was pretty confident that whoever it was, and wherever it came from, the Bellis system was not the final destination. There were no flags raised by the security system and, as far as anyone could tell, no damage done aside from the downtime the other day.

[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/BeautifulRed-06/BeautifulRed-06.mp3]

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.

Episode Five

“Well, that was fucking unnerving,” Jack said, sitting at her table in her apartment, nursing a growing headache and a slight case of nausea.

“What happened,” Gilles asked, “are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Jack replied, having a sip of water, “I just felt what it was like to be, I don’t know, deleted, I guess. Weird. Did anything show up at your end?”

“Not really,” he said, “I caught a strange blip on the log but it didn’t get flagged or anything so you’re probably okay.”

“Cool,” Jack said, rolling her neck and working out the kinks of being essentially away from her body for a couple of hours.

[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/BeautifulRed-05/BeautifulRed-05.mp3]

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.

Episode Four

Jack woke again to the chirping birds, each peep sounding a bit like a tiny jackhammer to her aching head. The first morning of the weekend often started this way, though usually a few hours later. She silenced the birds, rubbed her eyes and banged her way through her tiny apartment to the water.

She drank down a couple of glasses and tried to convince herself that she felt better. She grabbed a hot breakfast packet from the box and chucked it in the zapper. She turned on the coffee and while everything was heating up, she found some comfortable clothes.

The zapper dinged and the coffee machine pinged, and Jack took her food and drink to the table. She ate and drank offline, becoming less aware of her headache, more aware of her surroundings and thinking subconsciously about the previous day’s revelations.

[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/BeautifulRed-04/BeautifulRed-04.mp3]

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.

Episode Three

The birds weren’t that bad after all. They really did just chirp, and about three of them flapped benignly over Jack’s bed until she hit the off button on the alarm. “I can live with that,” she said, getting out of bed and padding to the bathroom.

She went through the usual morning paces and was out the door within fifteen minutes. She washed down half her breakfast bar with coffee as she headed for the train stop. The morning was pretty much the same as every other day, maybe a few more streeters than before. It seemed like there were more streeters every day. It was hard to tell if it just seemed that way; if there were any official stats on the number of street people, they were classified and unreported. Most people were thankful for what they had and didn’t like to think about the alternative.

[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/BeautifulRed-03/BeautifulRed-03.mp3]

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.

Episode Two

As Jack left the building, the rain was falling lightly and making the streets shine in the dim late afternoon sun. Without even thinking, she opened up a program called “shades” from her home brew launcher and a dark platinum tinted screen rolled over her field of vision. To any bystander she looked like she had silver eyes – utilitarian but not very fashionable. The trendy look was to have glowing or animalistic prints on the outside of your shades, but Jack couldn’t be bothered.

She started heading directly for the train stop, but was distracted by a sidewalk vendor selling spare electronics. The seller was obviously a scavenger, one of the many street people who eke out an existence on one or other side of the law, but always close to the line. The spare parts gleamed in the wet, and Jack stopped to take a look. She wasn’t working on any particular project, but you never knew when you might need something.

The seller had spread an old rug on the sidewalk and had arranged her wares carefully on top. Jack recognized this as a sign of someone who actually knew what she was dealing with, not just someone who will grab anything that looks like it may fetch a euro or two. Jack looked over the merchandise, waiting for something to catch her eye.

[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/BeautifulRed-02/BeautifulRed-02.mp3]

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.

Episode One

The figure stood beside Jack’s bed and looked down at her sleeping form. Maybe she sensed his presence because she turned ever so slightly.

He leaned toward her, his 5 o’clock shadow nearly scratching against her chin. “Good morning, Jack,” he said, his voice low and gravelly.

“What the fuck!” Jack woke up immediately, terrified and energized by the unexpected presence in her bedroom. She sprang toward the figure, jumping through his body and punching a button on the console sitting on the table at the side of her bed. The image of the intruder flickered once, twice, then disappeared.

[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/BeautifulRed-01/BeautifulRed-01.mp3]

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.