I always was a pretty good athlete. All Conference track and field, All Zone wrestler. That was the shit I was good at. Learning was all right but I liked the more physical side of life. From a very young age I trained at a Dojo in Highland Park . Old geezer there really opened up my mind to my potential. He was into all that voodoo arts Buddhist philosophy crap, but man, he sure did open some doors for me. Showed me there's another side to this thing we call life. Sometimes dark and almost always unpredictable.

Anyway, after I left high school, I needed to make some money so I ran with a gang of go-go'ers and pulled off some minor farm league jobs. Nothing to be proud of cept maybe that time we broke into Ares and ran off with some of their delta ware. Think those bastards are still after me for that. Did some work for the big-man corp in town, NeoNet. Still have a good working relationship with them, and do some freelancing every so often. If they got the credits, I just might be their man, knowhatimean?

Decided I needed a little structure in my life, needed Nuyen , New York , needed something new. Sick of the East Coast, I power punched my way across the plains. Making a stop in Chicago for a few months. Let me tell you, if you've never been, you ain't missing shit. That whole drekking place is a wreck. Alien bugs, Yakuza, Democrats. They got lots of strange shit in that megalopolis. Stay clear if ya get my drift.

I was involved in an underground (literally) fight league (Battle League 3.0) in Denver for a time , and won my share of fights. Underground fighting is the wiz, yo! It has everything you need: scantily clad women, punches to the face, ridiculously large amounts of credits to be won or lost. Damn, everything, I'm telling you. Nothing's as exciting as that. Just watch out for the blood splatter if you ever go.

This journey eventually led me to Seattle . Walked into town and knew no one. Not a single runner, acquaintance, or friend. Met this strange looking Ork type name Begby. Was on a team with him for some job or other and we figured we worked well together. I put down some cash and we used his engineering capabilities to open up a repair shop. Nothing special but it's nice to have a place to hang your holsters. I'll be in town for the next week for sure. After that, well, it's hard to say. Your past has a way of not catching up to you if you move around often enough. Sit still for a while, and you never know.

Well, it's been nice chatting and all, but I got this thing to see to, so I'll see ya around…

Artwork by Tim Keller