The Art of Taking
Cipher sat on the rusted hull of an old cargo drone, watching the neon skyline of New Avalon flicker in the distance. The city glowed like a jewel, its smooth, polished towers reflecting the dreams of people who had never set foot outside its walls. A fortress of wealth, intelligence, and encrypted secrets.
Too bad they still hadn’t figured out how to keep people like her out.
She pulled her tattered coat tighter around her shoulders and grinned. The night air smelled like burnt plastic and desperation—home. People in the Commons didn’t talk about “high-value activities” or “jurisdictions competing for talent.” They talked about food. About who got shot last night. About how to find work that wasn’t just a slow death in disguise.
But Cipher had never been good at honest work.
The Science of Survival
She wasn’t born with the right kind of intelligence, the kind that got you sponsorship in New Avalon or a job designing algorithms to control other people’s lives. No, her genius was of a different kind—the kind that let her break into encrypted financial networks while eating a stolen protein bar.
The trick was simple: encryption gave people a false sense of security. The city elites thought they were untouchable, wrapped in their digital armor, trading trust like currency. But trust was just another vulnerability.
Take Elias Vance, for example. A very Sovereign Individual. Had the right kind of intelligence, had the right kind of connections. Probably never thought twice about a kid from the Commons. Definitely never expected that kid to be smarter than him.
She flicked her wrist, and her worn-out terminal projected the numbers in the air. His accounts, cleaned out. His privileges revoked. And the best part? It wasn’t even personal. Just business.
No Gods, No Masters
The first rule of survival was knowing where you stood. Cipher knew exactly where she stood—outside. And people like her weren’t getting inside anytime soon.
New Avalon’s walls weren’t just physical. They were coded into the economy, built into the very structure of existence. Police? Private guards now. Laws? Only for those who could afford them. Bulk goods? Taxed to hell, because why waste resources on people who weren’t profitable?
Even knowledge had a price tag. Once, in a different world, she might have been a programmer, a researcher, someone who built things instead of breaking them. But who needed her when an AI legal system could do the work of a hundred lawyers, when a predictive model could run a hedge fund better than any human?
So she learned what was left: crime, survival, and the art of taking.
An Offer You Can’t Refuse
Tonight, the Merchant Guilds were offering a job. Not the kind that came with a salary—those were for people inside the walls. This was a contract, a task. That was the new economy now: no positions, no lifetime employment. Just work, piecemeal, for those sharp enough to grab it.
“Got something special for you, girl,” said a voice in her earpiece. One of the Guild’s fixers. “A certain ex-Sovereign Individual needs a way back in.”
Cipher smirked.
Elias Vance.
Funny how fast people changed sides when they lost everything.
She stood up, stretching. The city still glowed in the distance, untouchable as ever. But that didn’t matter. New Avalon thought it controlled the game, but people like her?
They were the game.
inspired by the book "The sovereign Individual"
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