The metal support of the table came into view, blurry at first, only the rough form could be made out, then, after a minute, it came into focus, the elaborate patterns of light reflected danced all over in a pallette of white, greys and silvers. Eicha blinked, her eyes stung as her eye lids rubbed dried blood against her eyeballs. She sat up and leant against the table leg. Carefully she wiped the blood away from her eyes, she could feel more dried blood on her philtrum and lips. Twelve hours hooked into The Network, twelve hours absorbing information. Eicha had always said she`d be cutting back. She laughed to herself, she had made that promise after her first seizure when she`d been hooked in for two hours. Her implants allowed much higher capacity access to most people, who usually would experience The Network through slower and more controlled VR goggles or regulated implants. Eicha`s implant had nothing regular about it, it was a custom built set from Achiharaba in Japan, the finest underground techies had put it together from her specifications, two hours max they said, dangerous exposure, two hours at those speeds was like an eternity in netspace, but she always needed more. After seeing The Network through her implants, she couldn`t go back to standard equipment, nobody she knew who had a similar rig ever could, the Netcops would use the performance drop to put her mind out of business for good. Anyway, there was nothing worse for reputation than going online with obsolete or substandard equipment and in The Network, reputation was everything.. But it had been getting harder, her reason for being inside The Network was forcing her to netdive for longer and longer without a break, hardly any water or food and rarely sleep, after three weeks of living on the edge, logged in for ten hours minimum, sometimes as long as twenty, she was at breaking point. But the work had to go on, that was no question, no doubt. Her body screamed, but the mind was as focused as ever. Eicha rose to her feet, she ran her hand through her long, greasy brown hair, her fingers caught in twisted knots, forcing her to cry out in surprise and sudden pain, she glanced down at her sweat covered body and sighed as she took note of her own body's stench. Careful steps followed as she shuffled towards the bathroom. Slowly the world around her began to seem more coherant as her brain allowed itself the pleasure of real stimulation from the senses rather than the simulated ones of The Network. Eicha's palms slid as she rested against the dull grimy, grey wall, she pushed firmer to anchor herself as she tried to recover her composure, her eyes glanced at her reflection, she was exhausted, in pain, she needed sleep, netdiving would have to wait a few hours, there was too much risk of a fatal mistake. --- Follow-up to Eicha's Hack #1 available from my gallery. Platypus3d and Moebius87's decotech once again used to great effect, sink from some site on the web I found ages ago, don't remember where or who, but thanks anyway.