Momoko Tsuki's Questionnaire

While I have a paid for and reserved apartment in Dubai, stocked with more gear than I carry, I don't use it. Using it would put me in debt to Alexander Savant, who wants my exclusive services. I still do freelance work for his organization when it suits me, mostly to keep him off my back but also because he pays well.

Instead, I live out of an old delivery van with all my primary gear in it (or on myself), plus my motorcycle. I don't like to stay in one place, and rarely return to any city where I've recently done anything the law might care about, not til the heat should have died down. It's a lonely life, but it's mine.

Other than freelancing for Savant like I mentioned, most of my money comes from side jobs, not all of which are legal. The few legal jobs are mostly in IT or security testing, with the occasional well paying programming job. The other stuff? Whatever theft I feel I can get away with. I might end up on an FBI list one day, but I'm assured that hasn't happened quite yet.

I spend too much of my money travelling, paying for gas and food on the road. The rest goes into replacing whatever gear I've recently trashed, and also an overseas savings. Once it gets a bit bigger I can be pickier about my employment because I could live on the interest alone. Not well, but I can.

I tell people that I mean to invent something to reverse climate change, but that's not the whole story. I can't reverse it while the worst polluters are still actively trashing the planet. It's not just corporations either, it's that electricity is still tied to fossil fuels. These asshats have the public believing that car exhaust and thrown out plastic are the problem, when that's far from the truth. So I need to improve renewable energy sources and also energy storage, and also somehow defeat capitalism. This is gonna be rough, but I'll do what I can do.

Killing people? I don't want to kill anyone who isn't actively causing harm, but those people could die for all I care. I'd rather not have to do it myself, since that's illegal and all, but I will if I have to. As for dying, if I know my death will make a big enough impact on protecting humanity's future, I'll sacrifice myself without hesitation.

Do you mean what led me to a life of crime? Something that left me homeless, desperate for money, willing to do anything? Nope, that's not it. I grew up in a pretty well off family in the suburbs, we moved occasionally to keep the money flowing, both my parents worked in tech and corporations hate letting people work from home.

What really changed things was near the end of college (paid for by my folks of course), when I met my fence. I was browsing at his pawn shop, speculating out loud like a fool, and said exactly the right thing. Or was it the wrong thing? Anyhow, he approached me and made hints and eventually we started discussing me selling him things that don't belong to me. While I can't always sell stuff to him while on the road, he's tied in well enough to keep me in touch with the right people. I didn't intend to go into this life, and I do mean to go back and finish my degree someday, but that's where I ended up. I don't mind it, it's exciting and I get to see new places. Maybe I'll switch to something legal eventually, even work in espionage or something, but I doubt it. That stuff is less fun.

I already mentioned two of them, my fence and Mr Savant.

I don't really know the fence's name, and that's a good thing. He changes nicknames and such occasionally, and tries to maintain contacts who don't need to know anything but how to contact him. He's an excellent contact for me as well, great with networking. Not so great at getting the heat off my back, but that's not his specialty anyway.

Savant is all debonair and junk in person, but underneath he's smarmy and skeevy. He claims to treat all his employees well, and maybe he does, but some of those employees are traffickers. He knows that too, just as much as he knows I despise that. He's promised to get me free if I ever need him to, but made sure I know I'd owe him if I do. Mobsters of past eras liked to get people so far in debt to them that the other person couldn't afford to work for anyone but them. While I know he'd still pay me well and let me have a degree of freedom, I don't ever want that.

The guy I haven't mentioned? Woman really, she works a desk job in the FBI. She has access to all sorts of records, even those of other agencies and the police. I know she won't cover for me if the shit hit the fan, but in the meantime she keeps an eye on things so I know who's going to come after me as well as where and when. How did I get her as a friend? Well, we were in college together, both studying computers and engineering (she majored in comp sci, me in gadgets). We were also roommates, whatever that means to you.

I was once, in college. We're still friends, we used to be roommates, but we went different ways in life. We both wanted to change the world, we both still think science and technology can improve things how we want to, but we have very different ways we want to pursue. What I really mean is that she's in the FBI now. Working in the government but not politics should hopefully (eventually) help her learn what the government is and isn't doing about the environment, and what they Can do.

Honestly, I still love her and I think she loves me too, but she swore to keep government secrets and made me swear not to tell her anything illicit I might or might not do. She's keeping an eye out for me, the best she can, and I appreciate that. If things change, maybe we'll be together again, but we both gave each other permission to find someone else in the meantime. I haven't yet.

Basically? The end of the world. I do think climate change is the most likely to do that right now, though certain people also want to make the world suck by discarding social progress and shoving us back into a hellscape of repression and denial. Nuclear winter is also a bad idea, but the awful people seem less interested in slaughter these days. It was really just a deterrent once at least two sides had them.

Anyway, no matter what sucks in the world, I think eventually we'll get to somewhere good. If we don't die first. That's the problem, really, human extinction. In most cases there will still be animals and plants and all, but not necessarily humans. If any survive, it's unlikely there will be enough to rebuild, even after a climate disaster.

So, if I can't stop it in time, and can't reverse it, wtf do I do? I guess I should plan for that. Just a bomb shelter wouldn't be enough, no matter how large. The biggest problem is air. I guess self sustaining farming needs to be efficient enough to cover for any oxygen reclamation device, maybe with a backup of water electrolysis. People have tried all that, but it didn't work. I think the biggest failing (other than the mistake with concrete) is doing it for show and publicity. The marketing money could have made it work.

So, yeah, the end of the world terrifies me. Even if I'm not around, I want things to keep getting better for those who haven't been born yet.

I don't really have any singular item that stands out so much, but I know I'd be lost without a bike. It doesn't have to be my current motorcycle, but it has to be a good one. Also a multi-tool, those things are so useful I would be lost without one of those too.

Without a motorcycle, I feel trapped. It doesn't matter how I try to get around otherwise, nothing is as freeing as driving on two wheels. High speed, offroad, any more than three wheels just ruins it.

As for tools, you could have an entire box of them and still be missing something, but if you have a multi-tool you almost always have that missing piece. Even if it doesn't do the job, it makes improvised tools so much easier. I wouldn't trust myself to replace an oil filter with just a screwdriver and a zip tie, the pliers on any multi-tool helps make it better.