By Graham Tunnicliffe (e-mail: g.tunnicliffe@easynet.co.uk)

Kyra Logan scanned the neon-lit streets of Night City as the cab sped towards Little Tokyo. It was the same as it always was, every single bar screamed out their particular brand of entertainment, be it speed and thrash metal or ambient house. Joy Girls paraded on every street corner, tempting Corporate Suits to part with some of their hard earned credits, despite the fact that The Ripper was still active and killing two or three of them a night. Elsewhere, the Booster Gangs had just started to crawl out of their hidey-holes for another night of Gang fights, theft and murder. "The Perfect Holiday Spot", Kyra mumbled to himself as a thin drizzle of rain began to coat the car.

He was heading to the Yellow Dragon Sushi Bar for the meeting with Barnes. He had found the card last night when he returned to his condo after a bout of heavy drinking at The Slamdance. It was a business card from Raven Cybernetics. On the front it read:

On the back was written, in a very neat, precise script:

"I heard about your 'holiday' in South America.

Come to the Yellow Dragon at 22:00 tomorrow."

It was intriguing enough to prompt Kyra to attend. How could they know about the Columbia job? Kyra had been hired by Millitech to break into the compound of the Hernandez Cartel and recover an experimental rail gun and the test team that Millitech had lost down there. No-one was supposed to know. Then again, the Corporations always seemed to know. They obviously had a job which required the particular abilities of a twice decorated Central American Conflict Veteran. One who had been a member of the Elite "Chrome Berets" and knew the business of killing very well.

As he pondered what the meeting might bring, the cab came to a halt. Kyra climbed out, tossed the driver a handful of credits and turned the collar of his jacket up to afford some protection from the now driving rain. He looked up at the cracked neon dragon which stared down at him. The Yellow Dragon had certainly seen better days. He wondered through the pagoda-effect doorway and went straight over to the front desk. A heavily biosculptured geisha girl smiled at him and asked, in heavily accented English, if he had a reservation.

"I'm supposed to be meeting a Mr. Barnes here. At ten O'clock." Kyra said.

The geisha giggled as she replied "Table ten. Your dinner guest is waiting for you Sir."

Kyra wondered how he had amused the girl as he walked into the restaurant, then realised as he walked to table ten, and 'Mr.' Barnes turned to greet him.

Barnes was the most stunningly attractive woman Kyra had ever seen. She was just under six feet tall and had hair the colour of a summer sunset. She was wearing a simple black suit but the tailoring revealed an elegant and refined taste, which made the most of her breathtakingly lithe figure. She stood up and held out a hand and Kyra noticed how long her legs were. He knew he had taken the job before she even spoke.

"Kyra Logan?" she said. "I'm Hayley Barnes. Head of Raven Research and Development. Please sit down. I've already ordered for you."

Kyra shook her hand and allowed himself to be led to the low table. As he sat he felt an involuntary shiver. As a rule, he didn't eat food that had the ability to stare back at him, but the table was full of raw fish. If he didn't eat, he probably wouldn't get the job. The suits did like their prospective employees to be grateful.

As Kyra chewed unenthusiastically on a piece of fish, Barnes started to talk.

"We know a lot about your history, Major Logan", she said - Kyra frowned. He hadn't been called Major since his court martial after the incident in Bolivia. Someone in the government had sold his team out, and out of the six, only Kyra and Ramirez had survived. If you could call what happened to Ramirez surviving. He had lost both legs and suffered permanent brain damage. They had had to switch the life support machine off two years ago. Major was a title he didn't want anymore.

Barnes continued, "We know that you have also assisted C-SWAT in the apprehension of at least seven Cyber-psychosis sufferers, all with a Night City Police threat level of A 1. I could continue to flatter your ego all night, Mr. Logan, but we both know what you're capable of."

"And?" replied Kyra, almost gagging as he swallowed his food.

"And, Mr. Logan, that means that you are exactly the man that we need for a little recovery job."

"Exactly what sort of a recovery are we talking about?" Kyra probed

Barnes smiled. She knew that she had him hooked now. He would definitely take the job. The payment was immaterial - it was the buzz that he desired. She leaned closer to him and spoke:

"As you will no doubt be aware, Kyra, we are a cybernetics and bio-engineering company, most famous for our full body conversions."

She paused and Kyra nodded as he breathed in her perfume and looked into her deep hazel eyes. He'd definitely take the job, he thought. Whatever it was, he was the man for it.

"Our most popular model is the Gemini," she continued, bringing Kyra back to the present.

He nodded again. He had heard of the Gemini. In fact one of the Cyber-psychos that he had iced had been a Gemini. It was a full cybernetic body replacement. The only thing that went from the meat body into the new host was the brain. They were built to be completely indistinguishable from everyday meat people, designed to be used as unobtrusive security operatives, spies, bodyguards or any situation where you needed a tank in a suit.

"Raven has been working on a military version of the Gemini", Barnes said, "we're tentatively calling it the Olympus."

Kyra stared at her in disbelief. "A military version?", he coughed. "what exactly is the one you've got now then?"

Barnes smiled, "the new version will be sold on exclusive military contracts, and only to the US government. It will be the new cyber soldier, filling in the gaps where a dragoon is too unwieldy."

"So where do I come into this?" asked Kyra, fearing that he already knew the answer.

"We have a prototype. The operatives' name is Lukas Bauer. He underwent the conversion four months ago, and was responding well to all of our tests. Unfortunately, four days ago, Lukas broke out of our facility and vanished. We need him back before anyone else finds him. Are you the man I need?"

Kyra smiled. It was exactly what he had anticipated. Some Corporate plan to create a bigger, more aggressive ultimate fighting machine had gone horribly wrong and they needed street samurai like him to pull them out of the crap. This one sounded particularly tough, but would probably have a suitably generous reward package to go with it.

"What does this little job pay then, Ms. Barnes?" he asked.

"Well, we aren't an Arasaka or Millitech, Mr. Logan, but a quick return of our Olympus model, dead or alive is paramount. We will pay you 25 000 credits."

Kyra stood up to leave, he wasn't getting his hide shot up and quite possibly killed for pocket money, pretty employer or not.

Then she played her trump card.

"However, we can also give you something much more valuable than money, Mr. Logan. We can give you information. The strike team you lost in Bolivia. They are still alive, but they are prisoners. Complete this job, and we will fund a recovery operation for you. What do you say, Kyra, will you work under me?"

She smiled and Kyra knew he had been bested.

"When do we begin?" he asked.

"Go home and sleep tonight, someone will call on you tomorrow and bring you to the offices. Then we can get down to business"

Ms. Barnes stood up again and held her hand out:

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Logan. I'll see you tomorrow."

Kyra shook her hand smiled and left the Sushi bar. He walked out into the street and hailed a cab. He had a few things to sleep on. He was being sent to recover a military borg with an attitude, he had discovered his team were still alive, and then there was Ms. Barnes.

Ah, yes, Ms. Barnes. Now there was a thing he would definitely have to sleep on.

He chuckled to himself as a cab pulled up.

"East and 16^th," he said, as he slumped into the rear seat, a wide grin playing across his face.