Part 6: The illusion of ease is a lot like actual easiness

The illusion of ease is a lot like actual easiness

The people have spoken, because if there's one thing I'm a sucker for, it's thread participation.



For the record, I haven't taken a programming class since high school.



Meanwhile, the only rating 1 server contract is another one involving activating an I/O node. This time, we're turning on radiation alarms. I don't know if this means that we're setting off a false alarm, or that this company is so incompetent that a Johnson needs to hire an outsider just to make sure that no one kills themselves. I prefer to think it's the latter.



It goes off without a single hitch, and we get a little paydata on the side as well. But let's not stop there, because that would be another short, boring update. So let's pad for length!



Now here's something new and potentially interesting! This is on another rating 1 server, but the difficulty is 10% now. Why is that? Because of that (N) descriptor: we not only have to do the job, but do it without the system "becoming aware of any tampering." What the hell does that mean? It means no red alerts. If the server EVER goes on red alert, the mission is automatically failed. So we must be extra-cautious, and extra-careful...



...or it could be right there in the very first (useful) node we find. Unencrypted. But this time we're not stealing the file, we're editing it! How is that different? Well, you hit the button that looks like a piece of paper with a pencil on it, rather than the piece of paper with the down arrow on it. Otherwise it's identical: select the contract file while making the check to bypass any Guardian IC, wait a certain amount of time based on the file size and your transfer speed, and then it's done.

Not only does it work without a hitch, but there was also a lot of paydata to steal. But since we're penalized for failure on this contract, I left it at that.



And our reward is a big chunk of nuyen, two skill points, AND a bump to our reputation. We're officially a wannabe! Huzzah!



With our rent covered, we can afford to wait around a bit for richer contracts or maybe a rating 2 CPU in the store. But in the meantime we have 3 skill points to spend! Quick, vote for a skill to raise! We might be able to afford to raise two of them!