“It's really gear”
“Sometimes you just need that 'what the hell!?' edge”
Look, you don't go to Mick's for chips and irons and that workaday crap. The reason I trot down to that poky rat-hole every once in a while is for an edge. Mick's genius, if you wanna call it that, is laying his servo-hands on kit that no scummer nor rent-a-cop nor Mister Johnson ever considered you might have.
"Scanner-proof? That's a dangerous game you're throwing yourself into. Trouble is, y'see, you never know what Mr Johnson has waiting for you, so it's very much a case of contact with the enemy, and you're the proverbial plan. Sure, you can tuck a bioplas gadget into a muscle pocket with synskin to hide the scars, but if you run into a Kurokawa-type tissue analyser at the front door, it's a balls-up situation, and by that I mean you're going to be hanging from your ankles in an interrogation cell.
What you want is to skip the risk of taking your toys through security at all. Walk in clean and give 'em nothing to work with. Well, only what you need to show a bit of respect; a couple of mid-range bugs they can squash, just enough to keep them confident they've got the upper hand.
Now, take a look at this little beauty. Fully functional, nice and obvious. You can hand it in at the welcome desk or wait for them to frisk it off you and sling it in a locker. They're practically doing the recon for you."
Little Chicken 'Oyakodon' Type 4 Clip
This middle-of-the-road auto clip fits neatly into any Type 4-compatible magazine. It can contain standard bullets, but the owner replaces one or more with disguised nanotech reconnaissance tools. When a pre-set internal timer activates, a tiny electrical charge briefly runs through the memory metal casings of these 'bullets', causing them to split open and release the payload before resuming their cylindrical form.
Agglutinator payloads are self-assembling origami robots which cooperate to extract themselves from confinement. They are thin enough to slip through cracks in a typical locker or bag, and light enough to move within a captor's pocket without being noticed. Agglutinators contain one key component each, and combine into a larger form that can function as a full-blown recon device to capture images, signal or other information. They then transmit their data in ultra-slow signals that are virtually impossible to detect, before deliquescing into unidentifiable fluid.
Linnorm payloads, on the other hand, are a mass of nigh-invisible intelligent nanowires that can wriggle their way out of almost any container. Linnorms are programmed to seek out specific targets, but can also receive instructions encoded in apparently harmless transmissions from devices that will typically pass through security. Linnorms can physically tap into corporate surveillance systems, such as CCTV and intranets, to obtain the desired information. Once their job is done, the linnorms work their way back to the origin point for retrieval without the need for any transmission.
Yıldız QBR 'Cassandra' Handset
To the untrained eye, as well as the trained eye and 99.8% of analytic devices, this sleek telecomms handset looks like the typical overpriced, bloatware-ridden corporate-assigned gadget. If the user is forced to operate it under scrutiny, its slow performance and limited functions are unlikely to attract more than eyerolls and sympathetic scorn.
In truth, the Cassandra is a highly sophisticated memory-metal electromagnetic bomb, with circuits that realign into a crude telecomms device when primed. Once the triggering conditions are met (typically timed), it releases a pulse that scrambles unshielded electronics in a significant radius, suppresses communications and creates a perfect opportunity for a second team to follow up.
Of course, once a Cassandra goes off there's always a decent chance its depositor will be asked some meaningful questions. So it's usually best to fob it off on a patsy.
