[SquirrelDude]

Slobbertooth pauses at the request. I'm sorry, Krestov, I said you'd be the one talking, but there is nothing to negotiate now. He stands up and speaks.

"Nope.

"I'm not going into suspended animation for a biotech engineer so that I can be taken to a top secret facility in the middle of the ocean that's run by a dragon. Not for Nuyen. Not for all the Nuyen in the world.

"I'm out."

[Volker]

bnc was just about asking questions, again, when her favourite ork declares his being out.
For a moment she's puzzled, then a frown rises on her brows.

"Wait. Wait a tick. You knew the biotech engineer part, the top secret facility part the dragon part before. You didn't look happy as a kid in a candy store but you were definitely considering. So if it's the suspended animation part that makes you quit, hear me out first.

"While I'm not a doctor, I do have a idea about medicine as not only Wasteland lives to witness. I know more about chemical processes as most chemicists do and I know some things about both hardware and software. If we (she takes a glance at Krestov) decide to go there, I will not only vet the programming of the pods, I will examine them thouroughly. And while you don't know me for a long time you know me well enough to know what a thourough bnc examination looks like. Furthermore I will apply some tricks that will ensure that, in case something unpleasant would happen to us, Dr. Schmitt would regret this incident for the rest of his life-"
She quickly turns over to Dr. Schmitt, showing her palms. "No threat intended here-"
before turning back to Slobbertooth. "thus insuring it is not only in our motivation that this particular part of the run doesn't go amiss.

Lastly, we need you, Slobbertooth. If we go down there, we might need you direly before the end."

bnc tries to look both professional and in need of protection at the same time. She's not quite sure whether she does the trick, never having been particularly good with people. She has always preferred zeros and ones. They do as they're told and if they don't you didn't tell them right.

[Jack_Spade]

Schmitt nodded to bnc: "There would be an option to improve your stay. If you insist, you could spend your waiting time within a virtual reality construct. Your access would be limited to within the Jonas Host, but you'd have full access to your biomonitors and the autodocs programs. If you are as skilled a hacker as I presume, you could probably leave the host, but I'd ask you not to do so without my express permission as it would likely compromise your position.

Of course, you'd have to find a way to amuse yourself through all this time. Especially since you perceive time in cyberspace roughly four times as long."

[Sabato Kuroi]

This thing is going to hell.

Torrent quickly types  a message to Krestov, keeping his commlink under the table and hoping the Troll has turned  on the image link in his cybereyes.

We have revealed far too much of ourselves in a single cast of the dice.I trust you to fix this.Maybe we should ask for time?

[SquirrelDude]

Slobbertooth looks up to the ceiling and audibly sighs, mumbles "And there goes any leverage we could have got from that." (Or'zet) and then turns back around. He makes no attempt to hide the frustration on his face. "I'll keep listening."

"But only because I forgot to pack up my leftover stew."

[Volker]

bnc gives a very small sigh of relief, before she turns back to Dr. Schmitt, still showing an unsecure face.
Our team performance could definitely better. Still, if Krestov is clever this might be a perfect basis for a push and pull negotiation. Johnson is already coming towards us, we got the step in the door. Let's hope Krestov is a better actor than Slobbertooth is. If he grasps the situation quickly we can use both cognitive dissonance and an almost perfect role set to our ends.

To Slobbertooth and Torrent she sends a short message, not to Krestov though. They can't afford him wasting concentration on reading texts.

<<@Slobbertooth><@Torrent>>
[bnc, 00:17]Trust me. I'm playing my role in the game, stick to yours.

[Jack_Spade]

"Well, I'm glad to hear, that it is not the proposed salary that causes your rejection.

I do understand, how uncomfortable the thought must be for you. I would hesitate as well to undergo such a procedure from someone I've just met.

Let me assure you, that I have nothing to gain by betraying you. On the contrary: Once we are down there, we'll depend on each other. The transport might seem frightening, but since our destination is the bottom of the sea, you have to ask yourself: What could you do differently if you are smuggled fully conscious? You'd still be at the mercy of who ever transports you. It's not as if you could just leave a submarine. And what would you do once you have arrived? There is not much room to hide. Would you want to be stored in a 4 cubic meter wide container with nothing more than a chemical toilet and a two month ration of super nutri bars?

If you agree to my proposal, you won't suffer boredom, inconvenience or any risk of discovery. Your tech expert will be able to guarantee your safety, as far as it is humanly possible. If the young lady is willing, she'd even be able to stay conscious in VR and oversee your continued well being herself.

Who knows, my Autodoc program and a few weeks of rest could even cure a lingering ailment. It certainly will keep you in peak performance, by periodically stimulating your muscles - something you'd sorely miss while hiding for weeks in a container"
finished Schmitt with an apologetic smile.

[SgtBoomCloud]

Krestov had his hands closed in front and covering his mouth, leaning forward a bit in his chair, his half-finished food forgotten as the rest of his team reacted to the situation and he read the messages to him.  This is tricky...but not impossible.  There are no weapons drawn, no innocents at risk...no pressure.  Ivan, you have this..  Instinctively, he activated his tailored pheromones, letting them acclimate into the air before taking a deep breath, sitting up to his full height over the others, brushing a stray golden lock from his face before speaking.

"Your offer is generous, and including terms with team in mind shows you are interest in our success and want investing in such.  It is admirable quality, Dr. Schmitt.  However.."  He glanced towards Slobbertooth for a brief moment.   "As reputation does seem precede us, so too does reputation come before you.  You say you connected with S-K, and that you work Johnson before.  Then you aware of rule 4 of the shadows: Never deal with dragon.  Despite reassurance of our comfort and safety in mind, you asking much of this team in trusting you on word."  He leaned forward, a small smile on his face as he let his arms come down, revealing his full face.

"I feel that you are smart man, Dr. Schmitt, and that you want us to trusting you.  The terms of allowing our expert to control stasis system, and inclusion of gear and specialized equipment are proving of that.   I asking you to see things from shadow perspective, and what you are asking us still.  For us to do what you ask, and to ensure we cooperate and are able to act professionally and successful on terms provided, I offer you terms of our own.  The salary you offer, while quite good, still measures lacking for both time invested and potential risk and cost required to commit to safety and extraction if need.  It will be required to increase, and further, as a show of your good faith, in addition to equipment promised which we will acquire and inspect before run, an up front portion of payment will show you want our cooperation."

He lifted a hand briefly before any protest could be made.  "There is...one more thing which will need from you.  A display of your faith, and earnest desire to ensure our genuine safety.  A token of collatoral, I believe that is word.  Something dear to you that would cause you much harm to lose: your information regarding defection of 20kMUS and work against Ares.  Should things not go on plan, our expert will release this information to the public.  Now, Dr. Schmitt, I understand these are tough terms, but you are smart man, and know you asking for tough terms as well.  Perhaps we both require a moment?"

[Volker]

bnc still has some questions on her mind, but it's not the time for them to be asked. So she takes up her spoon again and starts attacking her lassi. Yummy.

After two spoonful - as you know, two spoonful of sugared lassi qualify as half a meal for the skinny girl - she leans back and enjoys the show.

[Jack_Spade]

Schmitt's face relaxed visibly, now that they finally had arrived at talking business:
"I understand, but you are not working for S-K. You are working for me personally. And as far as I know, I am neither a dragon, nor any other kind of lizard. Contrary to popular believe, the owner does not micro-manage every aspect of his corporation. And unlike many other Johnsons, I'll share the frontline with you - so to speak.

Leaving the renumeration aspect for the moment alone, I want to address your last demand first:

No. Fucking. Way.

First and foremost, I don't plan to betray Ares or 20kMUS. These measures are purely defensive in nature, especially since I won't take hostile action if no one else takes hostile action. So even if I made such a statement, it would not be true. Secondly, there is a rule: Never give away blackmail material on yourself. I am pretty allergic to blackmail and I'll rather decline a visit to the facility than to open myself up for such an attack.

The collateral you demand will have to be a safety deposit. Trust me when I say, corporations hate nothing more than to lose money unnecessarily. If I wanted some meta-human guinea pigs, it would be a lot cheaper to just deliver the pods to a street doc and take my pick from there. You will have the pods and the diving gear should the need arise for evac. You'll see once you have inspected the gear.

But I am not unreasonable. You'll receive the hardware up front, as well as 10.000 Nuyen each as an advance to your base salary. That should take care of your affairs for two months of absence.

I am also prepared to increase your bonus to 25% bringing your total cash gain to a full quarter of a million.

You'll have two days to inspect and verify the equipment."

[Sabato Kuroi]

Torrent sends another message to Krestov.

I will need a list of all the security measures of the facility.I'm not going down there unless I'm sure I brought the right b&e equipment.

[SquirrelDude]

Slobbertooth does not verbally respond to the Dr.'s assurances, or Krestov's negotiations. He simply continues packing up and inspecting the remainders of this troll-sized northern pike stew. He figures there isn't much of a point in him saying anything, anyway.

He rolls his eyes at the doctor assurances that he wouldn't want them as specimens.
Yeah doc, what could you possibly want with 2 awakened metahumans.

[Volker]

bnc opens a game of Tetris in the left upper part of her field of vision. She just loves the 90 year old title melody.

[SgtBoomCloud]

Krestov once again brought his hands up to his face, closing them and leaning forward as he listened to the Dr. say his piece.  He gave a smile, closing his eyes and nodding his head briefly.  The denial of hard collatoral is unfortunate, but not unexpected.

"Your offer is much generous, Dr. Schmitt, and shows us that you are indeed willing to make business work for us.  Your terms are more agreeable, but I would like ask one more favorable.  This I ask is not anything important, or secret: The location.  For us to be able to responding in alert, we will need have access or know how to access much if not all of facility.  While codes and keys are favorable, yes, I do not expect you will just give them.  Rather, the nature of the security measures this facility uses would be key information for our work, and knowing such will make for better preparedness for when you will need us to go into action."

"Lastly, much of us would feel more at ease if we were not bound at conclusion of this wonderful meal.  Therefore, I ask of one final request: should at the end of two days decline, we may do so, and all advance deposits and equipment will be returned as they were."  He opened his eyes, glancing at the others, looking for protest or additional input.  "We understand your situation, Doctor, do not mistake us.  Please respecting that this is to ensure our confidence and better ready us to serve as your protection."

[Volker]

Dee didadoo dididi dididoo deedee dee didididee...

It was a trick. From childhood one she experienced, when other people's minds were pedestrians, hers was not an athlete, but a race horse. An unlucky childhood prevented her from being found by the right-wrong people but it were note Bianca's teachers who found out about her brilliancy first. Although they probably suffered the most. Being in the same class with these dim-witted cunts and dicks freaked her out, and quite soon outsmarting her maths teacher proved no fun, either.

Last year in German class they had read this book (the thought, that last year she still went to school in Austria and nothing extraordinary had happened still was shocking to bnc). She forgot about the title, but she distinctly remembered the main character. Dieter Heinrich. It was some classic from the forties or so. Dieter Heinrich was a fictional German marine whose submarine sunk. By some incident Bianca couldn't remember all of his comrades died, and only he was left, with nothing but a machine that converted sea water into drinking water and oxygen, a never-ending supply of nutrition bars and two telecoms, as the commlinks were called back then. In order to escape madness he started to play Knight Ride against himself. He became so brilliant that he managed to split his mind and outsmart himself. When he was rescued months later, he was the best Knight Ride player on Earth. He didn't succeed in protect his sanity, though.

bnc did something similar. There was this game called Wizards on the Move, which could be controlled by Agents or semi-AIs. She loved programming an AI, then getting high on Golden Mirror and thus forgetting about the strategies she used, to code another AI, and then have them compete. It was a highly complex game, and it would keep her mind busy. This was the kind of thing she would do to entertain herself.

But there were other times. She hated school. Not because she didn't like to learn. Quite the opposite: she always loved it. But the time spent in school was practically lost. Fortunately, Austrians (especially Austrian technician) aren't very strict about attendancy rates, and a dose of Whoom here and there made things easier to bear. But still, she couldn't be absent or stoned all the time, so when torturing her teachers became boring she started playing games like Tetris. Not to distract herself, mind you, but the opposite: to prevent her from drifting off entirely. With her mind being bound in the here and there, she sometimes managed to actually follow the lesson, acting as a kind of anchor of her consciousness.
It still works. Listening time is over, bnc can speak now. She turns off Tetris.

When Krestov is finished she starts giving her own questions:
"Only two days? Why? I'm sure you didn't prepare this for weeks and then leave your team no time at all to prepare?
How long do the autobots need to freeze or unfreeze us? Where exactly will we be? Where is this platform at all? I'm quite positive you intend to let us know more details about the security there."