The Dark Underbelly of Corvek's Circuitry and Crafts.

[Kayto Styles]

The day was a murky and bleak as the night in Funky City's red light district. Sure the prostitutes and drug addicts were out on the street light or night, but the thick air that always seemed to fill Neplealia due to the heavily industrialized surface wasn't comforting either, thought you kinda get used to it after awhile.

Voices could individually be picked out by a keen ear that's if you wanted to hear some of the filth that was passed off as social talk or deals being struck. Sometimes a jittery druggie would walk up on you and try and offer to do anything for a few credits. This was defiantly one of the more nastier parts of Funky City. Street fights held in some of the passing alleys not only filled the air with blood but burning flesh of cauterized wounds to help keep the fights going long.

Makter just kept his eyes ahead not giving any leeway to druggies and whores looking to get into his pocket. He had know the routine around parts like this and the more eye contacted they noticed the more they pressured themselves onto you which could in-turn lead to unwanted violence. He had his mind set on a location he's visited often in his younger years for odd jobs yet he walked with an imposing look besides the child like smile that seemed to never leave his lips.

Deep blue cotton shirt and khaki pants seemed to hide his figure well, yet the dark black trench coat hid it the most. With the large amount of extra space under the coat there could easily be a concealed weapon of some sort which also kept some of the un-wanted away. Pulling and patting at the side of his coat though he didn't have a weapon he played it off as such just to keep up the show.

Although it was the middle of the day the radiant flashing signs and neon outlined words never seemed to shut off. He was coming to his stop the area had seemed to have started clearing up as more respectable shops sprang up here and there. Finally a dimly lit neon blue sign that read, "Corvek's Circuity and Crafts" came into sight. This was his first stop of the day. He had come into a bit of money and was finally tiring of life around Funky City. It was about time he started packing up things and getting a move on to see what other interesting things he could find.

A small buzz announced his arrival one the steel door was pushed open. Most of the windows were tinted darkly or painted signs like "Sale" or "20% Off" which only allowed the light from a few neon lights that hadn't blown by the checkout area. The place smelled heavily of cigars and other smokes some that could be registered as illegal drugs. A bald filth covered man stood behind the check out his side turned away from him as he talked to a man, maybe another customer most likely of the shady kind.

Walking out of view of the checkout counter he guided himself to a section he needed. Once he was in power supplies and recharge jacks he slowed and looked around. Picking up two battery packs 1 foot tall 2 inches thick and 6 inches wide he checked the to make sure there weight wasn't to much. The both of them weighed about 10 kilos together this wasn't to bad for the amount of juice they'd supply. They were a little pricey for 150 ks but it would have to do for now anyways.

Walking up to the counter the bald man turned and finally saw Makter this lit his face up some.

"Well if it isn't my favorite street punk. Here on business or pleasure?" Corvek leaned over the counter closer to Makter so the other man couldn't here what they said.

"I've got a deal on some altered neko's that will give you one hell of a ride my boy. For a small fee that is." The bald man's grin spread wider as he watched Makter's eyes cast away and clearer his throat.

"Still shy as always I see. Well what you got there?"

"Just these two power cell packs and," he cleared his throat before lowering his voice some. "Have anything of interest in the back room today?"

Corvek's eyes seemed to light up at the mention of this and his smile turned to that of a vulture spying fresh meat.

"Why certainly my boy. I wouldn't be in much business if I hadn't. Come come lets go take a look see of what technical marvels I have in store for you."

 

[Kayto Styles]

The back room was better lit then what was provided for in the check out area and almost twice as big. There were large storage crates against the far wall and a small group of Nep's sitting around a smaller one using it as a table for their game of cards. Makter could recognize those men but never bothered to ask or even remember their names since he didn't plan on getting associated with this type of crowd to often.

Mak's smile had come back as they started passing some familiar things that often made him wish he had the money to get. Advanced computer hardware and upgrades for a laptop, some body enhancements to strengthen your physical attributes, and even some of the smaller parts to power armors that more often or not were stored in the larger crates against the far wall with the men. Finally pulling his eyes off what looked to be power transformer for a mecha he called out.

"Hold on right here. I need a gun..." Mak had stopped moving and was scanning over a rifles rack. He didn't know much about guns... yet but he was a quick study.

Corvek looked to be somewhat shocked at the thought of Makter with a gun.

"What do you need a gun for? All these years I've seen you scrambling around without anything but your wits and all of a sudden you want yourself a gun? What have you gotten yourself into boy what have you gotten yourself into..." He was shaking his head the whole time but was moving to the gun rack and picking out a small energy pistol. "Here try a GP-13 it's easy to conceal got a good punch to it and I can part with it for 450 ks."

Mak didn't even giving the thing a second glance. His eyes were focused on a rifle of a different design then the others. The galaxy was getting dangerous now days and he wasn't always planning on staying on just this rock, so he might as well prepare today for what will come in the future.

"No hand me that one the dark gray rifle." Mak finger flicked to the middle of the rack where a miniature collapsible rifle was propped.

"Ah I see you've got a fine eye in concealment and power." Corvek was starting to turn into his normal self again treating Makter like a costumer rather then a associate. "The GP-12B1 a nice assortment of features and even collapsible."

Corvek went into a little show of how to handle the weapon and included a short tutorial of all the different settings and the battery supply life gave it 50 clean shots. Makter ended up asking a few questions about the workings of the inside and battery distribution system that Corvek couldn't answer but waved them off as non-important.

"Yeah well I can't let this thing go for nothing less then 850 ks since I just got this group in today." Corvek eyed Makter to see if he was phased by the price or not trying to size him up for the next sale maybe to increase his price more if he didn't flinch.

Mak neither flinched nor missed a beat. "That's fine do you have any armor of types? Nothing to fancy just something to get by with." Mak was pulling the shoulder strap out of the butt of the rifle and pulling it on under his coat on his left side. Stuffing his arm back down the sleeve he made a few left handed practice draws snagging the rifle tip on the over sized trench coat a few times. He'd have plenty of time to work on his quick drawing later and looked up toward Corvek to see his eyes on him still slightly curious.

"Sure we do it's just right this way." He pointed back near the way they came and to the left. Mesh armor and flack jackets hung on the wall or were laid out on top of boxes. "We've got a few of these old models that might help stop a few bullets and maybe absorb enough damage from a pulse weapon not to kill you on the first shot. But there are always more expensive and better things. I mean if you gave me a price range you were looking for...."

Mak knew Corvek was only trying to see how deep his wallet went and didn't give him the satisfaction of knowing. Looking at one of the flack jackets on a elongated crate part of the words on the box caught his eye.

"What's in here?" Before Corvek could answer Makter was already moving the jacket to another box and prying the top open. Inside covered in packing material was part of a metal casing for an arm. "What's this? It looks old."

"Yeah you don't want something like that it's a bit out dated armor muscle enhancement. Now days you can just get an implant for something like this and it would be more effective. The things bulky and...

"How much is it?" Mak had cut him off and was picking the first layer out to see the other 2 below.

"And it's a titanium alloy armor that skin can't beat. I mean this thing is a piece of work you can't find now days. It strong durable and powerful too. It'll make your arm ten times strong guaranteed! It's a steal at 600 KS." Corveks eyes were bearing down on the product Mak held in his hands with a wide eyed grin for the lust of money and profit.

"Two of the power couplers are busted I'll need to repair them to keep the arm closed. i can fix it right here with some spare parts and I'll take it off your hands for 450 KS."

"450 ks! Your stealing from me!" His face was in a bit of faked shook he had obviously known the couplers were busted but that would only reduce the price a little.

"Like you said it's old tech and bulky I'm sure your still turning a nice profit since this things obviously just been sitting here for a long while." Make kicked the base of the crate the arm was stored in and the wood fell off brittlely most likely from water rot. "And that is if the thing still works with your shady storing system. Electronics like this should be stored in a metal box with moisture absorption padding."

Korvek only grumbled his agreement to the price and watched Mak start plugging in some spare parts to the arm and using a tiny screwdriver to fix them in place. After a few moments Mak's trench coat was off on his right side and he rolled up his short sleeve. Placing his bottom portion of his arm in first he let out a his of air as the thing pinched him to attach the bio-electronics to his nerve impulse areas. He folded the top part over and felt the pinch again on his upper arm. Snapping the power couplers into place locking the encasement over his arm he popped in the should protector and battery pack. A few more pinches and then a light hum came as his right arm came to life. Looking at the battery life on the upper shoulder it was at half full.

"Throw in the recharge adapter and i won't knock off another 25 ks for not being fully charged." Mak flexed the new arm and worked the fingers. The wedge like tips almost looked like blades when held out straight. Working the arm back into the trench coat which wasn't all to hard since the coat was already to big but now it seemed to house the arm's new mass nicely.

Corvek gave a sigh like a beaten dog that knew he hadn't gotten away with anything. "Fine take it. so that's 450 ks more so lets see your total so far comes to 1600ks with the 2 battery's you got sitting on the front desk."

"I'm not done. What were you planning on showing me before?"

Corveks smile came back and he nodded back the way they came. "Come your gonna like this I can tell. I know how you are when it comes to electronic thinking enhancers."

Leading them past the weapons rack and into a boxed off area Corvek opened a metal case which inside lay a small half dollar size neural net processing chip.

"Where did you get one of these? I thought they only gave things like this out to armed forces or skilled technicians." Mac looked down at in amazement and started reaching for it.

Corvek snapped the box lid shut in front of Maks fingers and cleared his throat. "Lets just say a friend happened to find one for me and was willing to part with it for 2000 ks, but for you I'll make you a special offer of 1800 ks."

Mak shook his head at the price. "No can do I don't have the money for that kinda price. Isn't something as hot as this product going to be under watch for anyways? I mean whoever lost this is going to be pretty pissed off."

Corvek looked a little nervous but spoke in his defense. "No need to worry about that. The person that lost this isn't going to be looking for it anytime soon."

He didn't like the sound of that at all and took one last glance at the metal box and shook his head. "Maybe after I come into some more money I'll swing by and pick it up but for now no thanks. I wouldn't want to be caught walking around with something like that in my pocket that would be a sure way to get life or even the death penalty. Let's just pay get what I got paid up for I've still got places to go."

And with that both Corvek and Makter made there way back to the front to pay for the gear at hand.

 

[Kayto Styles]

At the front desk the man that had been off to the side when Makter had spoken with Corvek was still in the room pacing not really looking at anything. Now that he could take the time to look at the man while Corvek punched in the numbers it was obvious that he was another stationed guard of Corveks.

Clearing his throat then voicing the prices of each product tallying them up slowly so Makter could hear that the correct price was in fact 1600 KS he held out his hand.

"Will this be KS or transfer?" Corveks greasy smile set in on Maks light hearted one that still gave him that childish look of a kid getting ready to get a candy bar.

"Transfer, just let me find that card..."

Mak knew where his card was but made a show of getting it. He had prepared for this ahead of time running all the risks of what would happen if the black marketeer would do to him if he was caught even if they had known each other for awhile. Yet this was the time, the do or die time...

Fishing around his pocket for a moment he pulled out his blank transfer/charge card and held it out to Corvek. The real one was clipped inside of his left sleeve but this is the one he wanted to give him first.

Corvek took the card without even a thought of it being fake. Swiping it through a data pad he began entering his transaction code out of sight of Makters eyes. A beep and an error light picked up and Corvek grumbled. He had thought it was his own error that might have caused this. Again he swiped the card and punched in his transfer access code. And again the error light came on with a beep.

"What are you trying to pull here Makter? This card is faulty it's not reading right."

The guard was moving toward the back of Makter just out of sight but he could hear him coming. This was the time to act this is where it all came down to. His heart skipped a beat and he reached over the counter for his card and plucked it from Corveks hand.

"You're just swiping it too fast I have this trouble with it all the time. Is all here let me swipe it."

When his voice directed Corveks eyes to meet his own is when it happen. The brief glimpse away from the card and Mak had used his slight of hand to replace the fake card with the original and slowly swiped it over the data pad and pulled back so Corvek could punch in his access number again. Neither the guard nor Corvek had picked up on his slight of hand and the green go ahead popped on Corveks data pad.

"It's clear." Corvek said more directed to the guard behind Mak then at Mak himself. "Here just punch in your pass code and amount transferring and you can be on your way."

Makter did what he was instructed as the guard stepped away to get back to his patrolling of the aisle. Everything range up clear as Corvek smiled happily to the increase in his funds and pocketed the data pad in his large filthy off white mechanics coat.

"A pleasure doing business with you my boy. You be sure I don't get these things back with blood stains on them from some of my other customers you hear? If your gonna bleed try and keep it off the merchandise for me no one likes blood stained electronics."

Mak only shook his head with that smile of his and Corvek let out a bellowed laugh as he waved Makter off and headed back to the back room to do god knows what.

Taking his back pack off he packed up his two new batteries which he would work with later after he got the rest of the gear he needed. Pulling the straps back on and shouldering the 10 kilos (a little over 22lbs) and flexing and stretching his new arm which was an additional 25 lbs he could start to feel the bit of strain in his step. This would have to be something he'd get used to after awhile that's all. Pulling the front metal door open he stepped back into the brightly lit streets of Funky City's red light district and made his way away from the slums. He had 1150 KS left and maybe more later once he got to that little swipe card exchange worked out. But for now he needed to get a real computer of his own and he knew just the place to get it.

Pulling out a slim piece of paper and looking down on it with a grin he held it tight and stuffed it back into his pocket. It had been a coupon for half off any lap top computer at Comp Corp & More. And with this he'd even have a little KS left over for food....

END