Tunneling
'Fwisssshhhh.'
Ethan loved the sound of his steamer as he made a fresh cappuccino. He took it to the balcony of his penthouse condo to watch the sun break across the skyline in gold and orange. He passed his multi screen workstation, and the wall sized flat panel that made up the dominant features of this corner of the open concept living area. The colour scheme was dominated by brushed copper finishes, ivories and royal blues. A designer picked everything for him and he couldn't complain.
[The New York Exchange is opening in 15 minutes]
"Thank you for the reminder," Ethan said, to no one.
He sat down at his work station, all six screens turned on simultaneously, each showing market charts, news articles, trend lines and more. The flat panels switched on to the business news station, and Ethan opened up the Financial times newspaper. He was in stock trading information overload, absorbing all the data he could ahead of the market opening.
He opened his trading software and account, noticing that he had left a liquid balance of 5 million to trade with this morning. Based on his research last night, he was expecting a strong play at the bell.
[2 minutes to opening bell]
Ethan's fingers flew over the keyboard, and he quickly had 5 limit orders entered ahead of the bell, basically his 5 million trading stash was accounted for in all 5. He expected a sharp rise in price in each of these, and didnt' want to overpay if the pre-market trading eroded the potential gains. While still waiting for the market to open, he set up 5 more limit sell transactions (but didn't execute them since he didn't have the securities yet). He was betting on a 100% return, which didn't happen often, but he had an advantage over most traders. He was relying on computing, synthesis and projection power much greater than any stock broker could dream of.
[Ding]
4 of his limit orders executed immediately. One opened at a price higher than his limit, so he missed it. He then placed 4 of his limit sell orders, making an adjustment on one whose price velocity was a little better than expected.
15 minutes later, and he had nearly 8 million in his trading account. Not exactly his goal, but not a bad day's work.
'Hard to believe I was found naked on the street a few months ago, ripped away from my life a second time', Ethan thought.
He missed Miri, and the sense of adventure he'd had with her and FoRP, it was enough to cover his sadness and confusion about everything that was happening at the time. However, he realized now that he had given up all control of his life then too. Jumping from safehouse to safehouse, training and doing whatever FoRP thought best to keep him safe. It didn't work though, and Miri paid the price.
'Deep breath Ethan, we'll find her, and the people responsible for taking her'. He still hoped she had survived, or was rescued, or something.
His survival was another mystery, but he wasn't exactly the same as he was before the attack either.
Ethan remembered waking up all those months ago, naked, near where he had, pretty sure at least, died a second time in less than a year. Not the best track record for someone who is supposed to be a super powered ninja. The first thing he heard upon waking was:
"[Quantum System, initialized ]"
"Huh, where am I? Quantum what?" Ethan had said, a little groggily. He opened his eyes and could see he was in the middle of a street, or market area. Was it familiar to him? However, more than the street, a transparent overlay seemed to hover in front of his eyes:
[ Quantum being: level 1]
[Class: Laplace ]
[ Skills:
- Calculation level (1)
- Dilation level (1)
- Analysis level (1)
- ????
- ????
- ????
.
.
.
[ Entanglements: Pending.... ]
"[ Welcome to the system, Ethan. You may call me Q. You have a lot to do, but first, you require clothing and a better location to regroup in."]
"Am I schizophrenic? How hard did I... " but Ethan paused, because he remembered dying. Well, remembered almost up to dying.
"[ Yes, you died and have now been reconstituted in the exact location of your passing, but not at the same time. First, stand. Then move, you're drawing attention. We have a lot to solve."]
--------------------
Ethan was in an alley, having found some discarded, but filthy clothes in a dumpster .
'Problem 1 solved... I guess,' he thought. Not sure the filthy pizza delivery shirt and torn cargo shorts was much better than naked.
"[ Indeed. Let's list the rest of your problems:
- You are on the run from dangerous people
- you have died at least twice
- Miri is gone
- Your family thinks you're dead
- You have no food, clothes, money, weapons, contacts, etc...
- You have no plan]" Q said, all in Ethan's head, he hoped.
"All right, I get it. I'm screwed.... I really don't have a plan... shit," Ethan said. He slumped against the alley wall.
Ethan was still reeling from his, well, his resurrection. The last thing he remembered feeling was fear for Miri, as she was taken away, and frustration that he couldn't help her. Now she was gone, dead maybe.
"[ You weren't in control of your powers then, the Quantum System will fix that. Your problems fall into two categories; lack of resources and lack of information. First, we need to establish security and then we can start acquiring information.]"
"How do I establish security? I'm penniless in a foreign land with no contacts.". 'Am I really asking the voice in my head for advice?' Ethan thought.
"[ I can hear your thoughts, we are closely linked. To establish security, you need money.]"
"I agree. Don't know where I'll find it, but you're right. Maybe I can find some at the end of a rainbow, or rob a bank."
"[ You cannot rob a bank ]"
"I know, it's against the law," Ethan said, his voice a little exasperated, like he couldn't believe the voice took his joke seriously.
"[ You misunderstand. Robbery is a valid solution, but you lack the appropriate resources for a bank robbery. You need to think smaller...]"
"... You're serious Q?"
"[ As serious as life and death. Let's find your first mark]"
--------------------
Looking back, it seemed crazy, especially as Ethan looked around his penthouse now. Q helped him become an ok thief, at least enough to get away with some break ins and sell the property without getting caught. He was living on the streets for a few nights, but gathering cash. Then he had enough for a no tell motel, rented by the day.
Pretty soon he had enough stolen equipment and resources to get an apartment with security, and internet.
As far as Q was concerned, that was when the real robbery started, because they could steal from the market using Q's calculation and analysis abilities. They only had a few hundred in prepaid credit cards, and had to register on some shady Cayman islands trading platforms, but they established a wealth creation process.
As Ethan and Q realized, information, of the kind they were looking for wasn't cheap. Trading profits went into information gathering in the dark web.. Pretty soon they were brokering information there too, as Q's analysis ability let them make connections that were valuable in the underworld.
Now Ethan has cash, the most secure penthouse be could imagine, and information that was getting him closer to FoRP, as well as a massive amount of info on the kind of groups that were hunting him.
"I'm coming Miri," he said, starlight and hearts shooting from his movie star glare.... or that is how he pictured himself.
Time stopped as the scuff of a foot carried from behind him.
Ethan dropped boneless to the floor, twisting around as he hit bottom. He couldn't see the assailant from behind this couch, but knew someone was there.
[One man, 5'11", approximately 185 lbs, dark clothes, silenced pistol]
[Time dilation in effect, factor of 10]
'How do you know he has a silenced pistol?'
[He already fired into the couch as you dropped down, I registered the decibel level as being from a silenced 9mm.]
[2 seconds before he has firing position. 20 dilated seconds]
'What is the highest probability of counter attack: vault cover towards him, fall back further, or use the couch as a shield?'
[ Flip the couch towards him, grapple for the weapon]
Ethan prepared himself mentally for the manoeuvre, his fingers moving to grip the under side of the couch... moving sooooo slowly.
[10 seconds of dilated time remaining. Cancelling Dilation.]
Air seemed to rush into Ethan's ears as he suddenly rose and heaved the small loveseat towards the gunman. Only one second passed before they used the dilation skill, but it allowed enough time to assess and strategize in the middle of battle. Ethan could sometimes do this before, but erratically, and inefficiently.
'Whuff,' the man said in a low tone, as the seat hit him mid mass. Ethan was close behind, jumping forward in a tackle, one arm wrapping around the gun hand.
The attacker focused on regaining control of the gun as they tumbled backwards to the ground. Ethan focused on making sure his other elbow was pointed at the man's throat.
It made a dull crunching sound when they both hit the floor. He wasn't dead yet, and he didn't ease his grip on the gun, so he followed up with a few more elbow strikes until the gun hand went limp.
"[This safe house is burned. Gather data from the body and then dispose of it with the chemicals and tub.... then call the real estate agent]"
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