A week later
"So what am I supposed to do with all this?"
I gaze thoughtfully at my reactor, which turned out to be too good for me. At the moment, it could at best supply the entire camp with extremely cheap energy, thereby reducing our need for expensive fuel. The first working prototypes of the kinetic shield system also turned out to be quite bulky, and it could only be installed on a vehicle, making it something akin to an APC. In a way, I now understand scientists who created something that clearly surpasses the current level of technology by several generations. Such inventions simply cannot be fully utilized, at least at this stage of my technical development.
Besides the problems with implementing the reactor, the agenda also included the issue of my apprenticeship under the world's most elusive hacker. I don't know what specifically could have interested him in me, but the fact that I was hacked so easily is disheartening. Rache Bartmoss appeared before me quite abruptly, dumping so much diverse information on me that I simply couldn't process it properly. Probably, this is also due to my general distrust of this shady character who literally fell out of nowhere into my life. Even though he spoke quite eloquently, a nagging feeling of being conned kept irritating me. Perhaps the hacker really wants to change something, but it's better to keep a closer eye on him.
I can't say anything concrete about this person right now, and it's unlikely that I will be able to in the near future. Rache is a very secretive person, and nothing extraordinary happened during our week of lessons. The hacker taught conscientiously, giving the impression that I was far from his first student. The entire learning process was staged. I was sent data packets that I first needed to hack, and then proceed with the process itself. Each new lesson began with a review of the material covered, demonstrated in the process of hacking protection. I was never given anything that I couldn't handle at the moment. I positively received this approach, as each task not only taught me to repeat what was demonstrated but also to think for myself.
Overall, as a teacher, Rache Bartmoss earned a solid A from me, and even a couple of questionable moments in his words did not tarnish the overall impression. He's not the first to treat me this way, as people primarily see a child in front of them, who is unlikely to understand anything about the adult world. In this respect, the hacker was much more tolerant, but there remained a degree of patronization in him that I was willing to endure, as long as it did not cross certain boundaries.
In conclusion: I can only take a closer look at him and try to figure out whether he's lying, just wanting to use me, or truly sees in me a full-fledged ally...
***
Marco Ramirez
A sixteen-year-old youth of Latin American appearance slowly trudged through the polluted streets of Arroyo. It had been almost two years since the boy decided to leave his charges, whom he occasionally remembered. The decision was hard for the teenager, but Marco just couldn't bring himself to continue being under the care of Alex, who had very quickly adapted to the realities of the new world. To some extent, the Latino was glad about this, only his inner conscience didn't allow him to leave everything as it was. His parents taught Marco to be independent, and to some extent, he decided to follow their advice, leaving the children in the care of Susan. She was a good girl and would definitely not leave the children she had agreed to look after unofficially unattended.
Finding his place in the new living area was not easy at first. Valentino and the Sixths were sorting out their relationships, so the boy had to leave the outskirts where he had settled and head deeper into the district. Living on the street was hard, but compared to Japan-Town, Santo Domingo was something like a kindergarten. The local gang, which ran the district, had thoroughly cleaned their house of other criminal elements that interfered with them for one reason or another, but small-time crooks were inevitable, so it was always better to stay vigilant.
Marco decided not to get involved in the local disputes, preferring to find himself a quiet haven where he could live in peace. His choice fell on the H4 Megabuilding, which was located near the city's elevated metro. Accessible transport was an important aspect for the future mercenary, who did not plan to become a cyberpunk, although many mistakenly confuse these two concepts, considering them to be the same. A mercenary is a person with a broader profile, who tries to carry out missions much cleaner, unlike punks, who act much less delicately.
The boy had a small amount of money. He had saved some himself, and Alex had thrown in a bit more on the day he left. Unbeknownst to him, the boy had slipped chips into the bag, along with a small letter and a notable medallion for "luck." Everything was at the very bottom of the backpack, indicating that Alex had gotten up much earlier than Ramirez, doing everything so that the teenager wouldn't notice anything.
When Marco first opened the bag, he initially found nothing, as he only needed the exchange chip he had once bought from Susan to store his savings. The Latino intended to pay for his modest dinner, consisting of a couple of sandwiches at one of Arroyo's eateries. Local prices didn't hit the wallet as hard as in Westbrook, a more prestigious district of the city. Where there's prestige, everything is correspondingly much more expensive.
Renting an apartment in the Megabuilding was somewhat challenging. No one wanted to make any agreement with another street-roaming teenager. It took Marco three days to find a cooperative person who agreed to make a contract on the condition that the boy paid for three months of rent upfront. Of course, the amount was substantial, as three thousand eddies were practically all his savings, but he had no choice, so he reluctantly agreed. The meager three hundred eddies left strongly suggested that he urgently needed to find a source of income within the week. Otherwise, he risked going hungry in just two weeks.
Fortunately, he knew how to cook, or more accurately, he had been taught, allowing him to spend much less money. Alex was a treasure trove of useful knowledge that helped them save. Sometimes Ramirez even felt that the youngest among them was the eldest in the group, not him. Of course, the boy's age and some naivety made him dismiss this thought, but sometimes the Latino couldn't help but return to it, observing another idea from the young "genius." This somewhat oppressed Marco, leading him to secretly start studying hard and even asking Sue for some chips on the subjects the boy dedicated all his free time to.
It was hard for Marco, but he persevered in delving into knowledge that previously seemed useless to him. The information on them forced him to admit the error of his ways, which was timely, as basic knowledge of electronics allowed him to fix his VR glasses, which served as a replacement for a neck port for chips. The teenager also didn't have a personal cable, but this was common, so fingerprint recognition or an electronic personal card, serving as an alternative form of identification, were also used.