In the Shadow of the Starships

Chapter 5 How Not to Exit a Casino

The door opened with a squeal as I entered the dimly lit casino lobby that stunk of tar-weed and substances better left unnamed. Despite lingering at the water fountain display for longer than anticipated—Toby had been enthralled by it—this place only had a handful of people inside. Far fewer than should be here this late in the afternoon.

As I wandered over to the token exchanger, I asked Toby, "Where's a good spot for me? I don't see any network ports from here."

"No idea. Their camera network is all run on an internal server that doesn't touch the spaceweb. No pictures in the reviews section either."

I'd just have to do this the old-fashioned way. With a small basket of tokens, I wandered around the small establishment. The handful of staff kept an eye on me, and I was getting unwelcome vibes already, so something here was shady. That alone was unusual since most money laundering joints liked having hordes of naïve foot traffic covering up whatever they were doing.

I inserted a couple of tokens while cringing internally. It felt like such a waste when I knew how badly the odds were stacked against me. As I pushed the start button, I openly looked around and examined the other slot machines, just like most gamblers would.

The tokens I'd inserted were almost all gone before I finally spotted an older slot machine to the side. A section of tape at knee height seemed promising for something that age. When the machine proclaimed it wanted more tokens, I wandered down the row and looked at the various machines again.

I meandered back before approaching my target. Adding quite a few more tokens, I started the slow process of losing them as I surreptitiously peeled back a corner of the tape. Bingo. An old update port.

They would have installed remote access in the years since then, but unless they were smart enough to cut wires inside, a good tech—or a rambunctious AI—could bypass the securities and switches that turned the port "off". Five-factor authentication guarded the machine's software, but only a firewall stood between the port and the building's internal network.

I fished through my pockets to find a connection cable with the proper end. I subtly hooked up my bracelet, suddenly very glad the lighting in here was so poor.

"Cool, I'm in!"

Each press of the spin button watched the money slip away, with just enough small wins to try and make the user think they were getting somewhere. I was already getting bored and more than a bit uncomfortable with how much I was spending. I hoped Toby got what he needed soon.

A man with an extraordinarily clean serving apron came over. "Can I get you anything to drink?"

Instead of the polite offer I'd expected, his tone was like listening to someone using a rock on a cheese grater. Definitely unwelcome vibes. A drink might give me a reason to linger at this machine though...

"This is my first time here. What do you have on tap?"

"Not much," came the terse reply before he listed five drinks.

"I'll have the soda, please."

A casino with only five options? One of which was soda? I could see a dozen colorful bottles behind the bar counter, most of which had a faint haze of dust on them. Two had condensation inside, likely having been filled with water.

"That does seem strange," Toby piped up. "I'll keep an eye on him."

"Thanks."

Barely a minute later, Toby had an update. "He cracked a can of soda in the back and dumped it into a glass."