Kuro: A Land in Eternal Night

Chapter 8.2: The Utter Darkness

"The lady and I would each like a glass of the house brew." Drake smiled and casually passed the man a twenty GEU paper note.

The bartender's eyes lit up. "Why, yes sir, coming right up," he then stopped for a moment and furrowed his brow. "You're not from around here, are you? We don't want trouble here. I know the Upper Plates' got rules 'gainst serving alcohol to minors, but we're not so strict here, lad, so long as you keep quiet, you'll have a place to stay if ya know what I mean."

Drake smiled. "No worries, sir. We came for the company and uh..." He paused, casually passing the bartender another twenty. "A bit of information would help."

The bartender quickly took and pocketed the bill, took two cold glasses and filled them full of an amber-colored brew and handed it to each of them, the top still frothy and fresh, and then nodded at Drake. "Right then. And what sorta information would you be looking to obtain?"

Drake motioned for the bartender to come closer. "We're in need of the services of a talented hacker. Do you know any of your regulars who would be interested?"

The bartender paused again, as if thinking. "We get hackers aplenty in here all the time." He leaned closer to Drake. "What kinda job is it? Depends how dangerous the job and how legitimate it is, if ya know what I mean." He nodded at Drake with a hint of satisfaction.

Drake thought for a moment and then looked at the man again. "The name's Daven, the lady is Wilhelmina. With whom do we have the pleasure of speaking to?"

The bartender shook his head. "Names aren't any good around these parts. Everyone's got something to hide in the Utter Darkness. If you must call me by something, I'm known around here as Fox."

"Well, Fox," Drake began, "I'm not sure exactly how hard this job is. It could be dangerous, but the premise is rather simple. I have something that's encrypted in a cipher of some sort. It might be a cipher from the Utter Darkness. Thing is, I can't figure out how to decrypt it."

Fox nodded. "Mind if I take a look?"

Drake took his communicator and showed Fox. Fox looked at the communicator screen for a moment. "That's an Utter Darkness cipher all right. No well-educated Upper Plater would be smart enough to break that," Fox stopped himself. "No offense meant, sir," he then hastily added, putting up his hands apologetically.

"None taken." Drake turned to Fox. "Who would be able to break something like this?"

"Deke!" Fox called out to someone in the crowd.

A tall, skinny looking man approached. His head was shaven on either side, his hair running like a skunk stripe in the middle where it had been made to stand up, further elongating his already long face. He looked young, probably in his mid-twenties. He sported a brown leather jacket that was well past its prime, the leather cracked and torn in several places.

"Hey, Fox, whatcha got for me?"

Fox motioned to Drake and Ava. "These two have something for you to look at. Fox turned to Drake. "Go ahead and show him."

Drake handed the communicator to Deke, who proceeded to stare at the screen for a long time. His brow furrowed, he looked deep in thought. "I've seen many ciphers in my lifetime. Once in a while I come across a couple of pretty good ones. None quite like this. This one's top-caliber. No repeating lines, no patterns to key onto. I can't even tell the bit-depth of the encryption, which means I'm not even sure how it's going to be possible to decode." Deke turned to Drake, a little more cautious now. "Who sent you this, Upper Plater?"

"The Goddess," came Drake's curt reply.

Deke put his hands up. "Now, now, I meant no offense, sir. I don't mean to pry into your affairs. It's just that one can't be too cautious here in the Utter Darkness. Marauders'll come after us for so much as dropping a bottle on the floor."

Deke paused. "A cipher this advanced, we'll need Okira to give it a proper look."

Drake was now interested. "Where might we find this Okira?"

"Okira and his crowd hang around the local cybernet cafes around here. 'Round this time though, he's usually at the Union Jack."

"Can we get directions to the Union Jack?"

Deke shook his head. "Not that easy, kid." He smiled. "If you Upper Platers walked into the Union Jack, you'd leave in pieces. Not many residents in the Utter Darkness care very much for your kind."

"I need to talk to this Okira," Drake insisted. "I can make it worth your while."

Deke nodded. "Follow me, be discreet, and most of all don't do anything stupid that would get us all killed."

Deke walked out slowly, Drake and Ava following closely behind. Ava elbowed Drake sharply on his side. "Wilhelmina?" she whispered. Drake snorted, stifling a laugh. "I was improvising, what do you want?"

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