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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: "Paul J. Adam" <shadowtk@********.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: I Hate This Job
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 1997 23:59:37 +0000
*****PRIVATE: W. Schmidt
>>>>>[You didn't answer my mail, bro. That's rude. Price just went up to
an extra fifty per cent, for me to try tagging War and Pestilence when I
find them.

Otherwise, when I find them I get real helpful about the asshole who
hired me, fed me shit info, dropped me in the drek and then went real
quiet when I pointed out that this called for renegotiation. You
dig?]<<<<<
-- Harley <23:29:48/11-12-58>

*****INTERNAL: Camera Footage
>>>>>[+++++include recorded video
"Is this piece of Indonesian junk working?" Harley's voice, as she peers
into the lens of a camera. "Guess so." It appears that Harley is from
the CAS, female, in her late twenties or early thirties, and
unexceptional in appearance, before she puts the camera down.

"I hate this freaking job." In the longer shot, Harley's wearing jeans
and a leather jacket, with a denim cutoff over it: the cutoff proclaims
her to be a senior member of the Renegades, a Puyallup go-gang long
since scattered to the four winds. She's loading brass cartridges into
the magazone for an old pistol: like many Barrens-dwellers, cased ammo
is a valuable resource that can be reused, and the elderly Colt M1911A1
looks worn but serviceable. "Schmidt's heading for a third strike.
First, he sends me to the wrong place and nearly gets my ass lynched.
Then he doesn't answer my mail. Now I'm checking out concentration
champs and churches, and while I don't mind the churches on account
they're kind of peaceful I _hate_ the camps."

She slides the magazine into the .45, chambers the first round, snaps
the safety on and shoves the handgun into the waistband of her jeans.
"Dust and old buildings and ghosts screaming. And that room full of
eyeglasses. I mean, what sort of asshole says, hey, let's kill six
million people, but we got to save their eyeglasses? Were there so many
short-sighted Aryans, deprived of eyeglasses by the international
Zionist freaking conspiracy?"

She picks up the camera, still grousing. "And the pictures. Not the
bodies, I mean, hell, stiffs are stiffs, you've seen one dead guy you've
seen them all. The guards. Every damn camp's got the mugshots of the
camp staff that the war crimes guys tried, and they all look the
fragging same. Stupid. They've all got these dead stupid-guy eyes, like
looking a sheep in the face, like 'hey dude, what did I do wrong, I only
did what I was told'. That _scares_ me. How the fuck can you kill so
many people and not think, hey, man, this is some weird shit here? How
can you just sit there looking at the camera with that what-did-I-do
dopey shit look on your face? I mean, get angry, look guilty, be afraid,
be proud if ya gotta, but feel _some_ freaking thing about it, don't
just look like a surprised sheep."

She's left the small motel room by now - the motel is a depressing,
anonymous ferroconcrete structure not a hundred yards from the autobahn
- and is walking briskly towards a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that seems
to dwarf the Volkswagen compact beside it.

"Let's see. Where are we today? Oh, great. Bergen freaking Belsen. At
least all the tourists wandering around saying 'this is a good idea, we
should try this at home' are tourists. I was worried about a country
that keeps these places as museums. Germans, huh? Keep them to remind
everyone what _not_ to do. Go fracking figure. Okay, Belsen. Then
churches. Churches are good. Nice and calm and quiet."

The Harley-Davidson's engine catches easily, and its rider turns off the
camcorder.
+++++end trideo]<<<<<
-- Harley <23:51:26/11-12-58>
Message no. 2
From: Mike Goldberg <michael.goldberg@*******.COM>
Subject: Re: I Hate This Job
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 1997 17:25:10 MST
***** Private: Harley
>>>>>[ It's my duty to inform you that W. Schmidt was almost
compromised recently by an unknown decker, and had to be shifted to
other duties so as to not jeopardize your chances of success.

I am aware of what you were hired to do, but I will need to be given
a full status dump of what has been happening since you accepted the
job, in order to be able to get even part of the additional money you
request.

It's a sad life, isn't it? However, I will assure you this, your
salary renegotiation will be taken out of W. Schmidt's paycheck.
Please accept my apologies for the lack of communication in the
transition. Its been ... chaotic here. ]<<<<<
-- J. von Slevstein <00:21:30/11-13-58>

***** Private: Haze
>>>>>[ It is my duty to inform you that W. Schmidt has been recently
reassigned to other duties due to almost blowing your secrecy. I
have been asked to take over what he was overseeing. I apologize for
the change in mid-flight.

We are still committed to the job, rest assured, and my employer
wishes to be made aware of the current status of the job. Again, my
apologies for the change, and I hope that you will find working for
me satisfactory. ]<<<<<
-- J. von Slevstein <00:24:31/11-13-58>
Message no. 3
From: "Paul J. Adam" <shadowtk@********.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: I Hate This Job
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 01:32:03 +0000
*****PRIVATE: J. von Slevstein
>>>>>[Oh, just God-damned marvellous. I haul my butt all the way to
Germany, my employer screws the pooch seven ways from Sunday, and now I
find he's been replaced. Out-fucking-standing, I do _not_ think.

Status dump? Real simple. I followed Mr Schmidt's first information and
damn near got killed. He said 'sorry'. Great.

He then said "try concentration camps". So I am. Three so far, I just
got out of Bergen-Belsen and I'm on my fourth church in the area. Nada,
nothing, zip, null contact, zero targets, amigo. Lots of people
wondering why I'm showing these grainy mugshots around, nobody who's
seen anything worth a damn. I got one, count'em, one priest who thinks
he saw War maybe four or five months ago but he can't be sure. Real hot
lead, buddy.

These guys are either fucking invisible, or else they know where I am -
meaning you have a leak - or else they ain't where Schmidt, W. said
they'd be. Or maybe that lynch mob Mr Schmidt steered me into dropped a
dime and warned him about Miss Confederated Biker Woman.

At best I'm chasing ghosts. At worst I could get killed any minute.

Better decide whether you're paying up or not soon. This job sucks big-
time so far.]<<<<<
-- Harley <01:31:46/11-13-58>
Message no. 4
From: Mike Goldberg <michael.goldberg@*******.COM>
Subject: Re[2]: I Hate This Job
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 1997 19:19:34 MST
***** Private: Harley
>>>>>[ The only pattern that I definitely am aware of is the
following: They visited that first concentration camp after studying
it for a few days from a distance. The locals weren't that
talkative, but as some friends of mine convinced them to cooperate.
If they are indeed visiting concentration camps and studying them
from afar for a few days beforehand, then it seems to fit that they
are not moving fast, and being quiet about it.

Based on the Wanderer's and DragonEyes reputations, I'm not surprised
they are a hard bunch to follow. If it is any consolation, if you
nail the Wanderer, you will have done something that a bunch of other
runners tried to do and failed.

Be patient, and here is the original renegotiation fee you asked for
plus a ten percent late fee.

+++++ include: payment.

I cannot make any promises on the rest of the money you asked for,
but I will see what I can do. If you haven't heard from me, take my
silence for the fact that I'm busy throttling Herr Schmidt. ]<<<<<
-- J. von Slevstein <02:18:44/11-13-58>

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These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.