Remote users. We called them Howlers. We never trusted them. Few of us had ever seen one, but we were assured they were human.

I was on my way to meet a new one in Lupo's, down on Wolf Street. That bar's always so cold. Even in summer the condensation runs down the outside of the windows, and the lighting looks green, like the strip lighting inside a cheap meat locker.

Her surname was Rusvector, as she tucked into a very rare steak, she told me to call her Vi. She also told me she had to work directly with our systems and she showed me a directive from our FD, Pete Silva, that left me nowhere to hide. I was trapped like a sheep in a pen.

"Well?" Her green eyes bored into my soul, searching and hungry. I felt my blood chill, even though I was already frozen. Our systems, our secrets, my future. All in the hands of this weird dame with the bright eyes.

Reluctantly I handed over access codes and passwords. She told me she would go live at the next full moon. I thought that was odd, but it gave me time...