<strong><span class="bbc_u">Switch and Rave's Lair, 2:30 pm, 23/11/2078</span></strong><br/><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Dance Club knowledge</div><div class="spoiler_body">Rave was certainly aware of Club Vertex, and had danced there once or twice. It had been converted from an old Catholic church, that had been abandoned in the thirties as a result of the religion's global downturn. The dance scene of that decade had started using it for raves even before it had legally changed hands, and when developers took an interest in the building, a rather savvy investor, Raymond Archer, stepped in and managed to seize financial control of it while keeping its new dance culture intact, giving her a nice new income stream. Raymond's son Desmond now owns the club, but leaves its day-to-day running to the MC and lead DJ, Ludmilla Gorbunova. The DJ's booth is built into the spire of the old church, overlooking the dance floor rather than on a level with it, hence the club's name.<br/><br/>Riverton was a lower-to-middle class neighbourhood, with a middling amount of crime. Certainly, Club Vertex had not struck Rave as particularly sleazy or dangerous, not compared to Club Steam. It had its share of drug peddlers and sexual predators, and it wasn't a good place to leave one's drink unattended, but it was really nothing out of the ordinary. The house DJs were quite skilled, and they managed to attract well-known guest DJs from time to time. The guests were mostly drawn from the wealthier SINless and from wage slaves with a bit more free time than most. It also, oddly enough, was a popular refuge for the EvoCulture furry set - people who used biosculpting and implants to give themselves animal features. Dancers with fur and tails were not out of the ordinary there, and every month there was an EvoCulture night which always proved quite spectacular.<br/></div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Matrix Search</div><div class="spoiler_body">The virtual sun shone down on Rave's face as she leafed through books representing news reports, public information records, social media posts, and archived sensor feeds. There were noise citations from nights hosted by particularly irresponsible DJs, police reports from drunken assaults taking place outside the club late at night, and notes on the club's liquor licensing, all normal things for a dance club. There were plenty of photos and trideo recordings from inside the club, which matched Rave's own experiences of the place, and some recorded highlights from the EvoCulture nights.<br/><br/>Rave was able to sift several shots of Alicia Fitzwilliam out of the data, although none of them were from the previous night. She was definitely a regular at the club, favouring a dress style that harkened to the 2020s, with long flowing skirts and sleeves, a bare neck and a deep neckline. The pictures matched the ones contained in the Boss's data packet, which showed her entering the club last night in a similar outfit.<br/><br/>A stray piece of data struck her like a lightning bolt out of the blue. Literally - it manifested as a small bolt of lightning arcing from the blue sky to strike her, and the jolt of pain reminded Rave of the dangers of hot-sim VR. Still, it drew her attention to a series of social media posts on Horizon Outreach, the free social media service provided by Horizon for the SINless. The account belonged to one Grace Havercroft, SINless factory worker by day, raver girl by night. The posts contained videos from many nights at Club Vertex, and photos of her with lots of smiling friends. Her last post was of her arriving at the club at 8pm on the 19th of October, 2078. Comments on her account since that date have been increasingly frantic variations of "where are you?" from her friends and family.<br/></div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Professor Bone</div><div class="spoiler_body">As Rave was compiling her data search results, a message from Professor Bone reached her. "Rave, dear girl!" he greeted her, talking into the camera of a manifestly cheap commlink. "Think nothing of it. I've been spending my time in Bellevue of late, and it's been most pleasant!" It was unlikely that the Professor had actually been in the wealthy gated communities of Bellevue, but Rave knew better than to call attention to his potentially delusionary moments.<br/><br/>"Disappearances from a club in Riverton, you say? Can't say that I've heard anything out of the ordinary. But that is odd, don't you think? People disappearing from outside a club, that's one thing - walk into the wrong alley in Redmond and you're a ghoul's dinner. But if people are going in and not coming out, then either they're still in there, or there's some secret way out of the place that nobody's monitoring. Or there's a secret cosmetic surgery workshop underneath the club, which reminds me of a place in Everett I heard about once..."<br/></div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">The Circle of Light</div><div class="spoiler_body">At 4pm, Rave received a commcall from an unknown persona, but one that bore the Circle's insignia in its iconography. The call resolved into a full trid display, of a girl of no more than seventeen, clad in nothing but a spiked leather collar. "Mistress Jacey bids you merry met, honoured daughter of the Goddess," she greeted Rave in reverential tones, kneeling before the trideo cameras. "She has information for you that she prays will be of value."<br/><br/>The cameras swivelled to focus on Jacey, who was sitting on an elaborate wooden throne, dressed in green robes that, Rave remembered, were woven from real cotton. "Rave, darling!" she said. "I got your message, and I do know Club Vertex. It's a good place to score some novacoke - not that you should ever do that, pet," she said hurriedly to the girl, who was kneeling at Jacey's feet and stroking her leg reverentially. "I meet so many delicious girls there, and let me tell you, the EvoCulture nights are just one big furpile once the booze starts flowing. Sure, I get way too many guys trying to grope me on the dance floor, but I get that just walking down the street anyway.<br/><br/>"You should check out the place's aura when you get a chance. It's just pumping with music and sex and good feelings. I mean, I'm not saying I can't believe anyone went missing from there, but I sure didn't get the feeling that anyone was trawling it for victims."<br/><br/>Jacey stroked the girl's hair absent-mindedly as she spoke. "Hey, I'm gonna send you all of my videos from the club. I don't know what you'll find in there, but maybe there's something you can use. And don't be a stranger, okay? I miss my sexy little glowstick."<br/></div></div>