Kaamos Chrome is a watch face for Garmin with a game inside. You play it by moving: your steps crack corporate ICE in the data halls of the far north, and every run you finish leaves a shard of the story.
From the Norwegian fjords to the Gulf of Bothnia, the north now hosts four hundred server halls. Cheap cold, cheap water and cheap quiet brought the world’s computation here, and the waste heat from the halls keeps your town warm.
During kaamos, the fifty days without sun, the halls run cold and quiet. Halogen Kaira wishes all residents a restful season. Decker’s note under the redaction: Deckers call it the season. Fewer eyes on the halls after dark.
Residents are reminded that unlicensed neural links are illegal. If you see one, report it. Decker’s note: If you wear one, keep walking.
Halogen Kaira owns and operates the halls of the Coldbelt, including the oldest and deepest of them in the Kaira mine. Floor plans of mine halls are not public.
Liekki Energy · District HeatInvoice 0041-2297
Your heating bill
Invoice lines
Supply point
Kemi, residence 4B
Period
Kaamos, 50 days
Heat source
Server hall 12, computational waste heat Decker’s note: = someone else’s secrets
Consumption
1 412 kWh
Price
0.04 / kWh, heat is a by-product
Total due
56.48
Liekki Energy buys the cold from the halls and sells the heat to you. Questions about the origin of your heat will not be answered. Decker’s note: Hall 12 has a service door on the river side. No camera.
Stay still and they find you.
Routa Neurotek · Patient SafetyNotice RN-MED-17
MEDLINK recall
MEDLINK is a neural link for patients with paralysis. It draws its power from the wearer’s own muscles. Decker’s note: So every step is a clock cycle.
Routa Neurotek has recalled all clinical units. Unauthorised copies are in circulation. These copies are not medical devices and are not covered by any warranty. Decker’s note: Street name: deck. Yours is on your wrist.
Safety feature: the link severs when the wearer’s reserve falls below 20 percent. Do not override. Decker’s note: The copies still do it. Rest, then run.
Unofficial insert · folded into the recall notice
Your deck
Your watch is a cheap illegal copy of a medical link, wired to you. It does not run on its battery. It runs on your body.
Steps
CYCLES. Every 100 steps is one cycle. Cycles break ICE.
Intensity minutes
OVERCLOCK. Cycles count double while it lasts.
Sitting still
STEALTH runs down: MOVE IN 42 MIN. When it is gone, the hounds lock on and TRACE starts to climb.
Walking
Every cycle scrubs your trace back down.
Body Battery
BUFFER. Below 20 the deck cuts the link to protect you. The run pauses. It does not fail.
Sleep
REST. The deck goes quiet and nothing climbs.
Darkness
DARKFALL to DAWN, worked out from where you are. In the dark, trace climbs at half speed.
A run, start to finish
Every morning a fixer offers you a run: a corporate node somewhere in the world, two to four layers of ICE, a deadline and a payout. WALK 2400 on your watch face is what stands between you and the money. Break the last layer and you get RUN COMPLETE: cred, rank and a shard. Let trace reach 100 and you flatline. The run is lost. Your cred is not.
Coldbelt Register of OperatorsExtract, public edition
Who runs the north
Operator
Business
Node cities
Routa Neurotek
Medical neural links Decker’s note: Made the thing on your wrist. Wants it back.
Helsinki, Oulu, Tallinn
Halogen Kaira
Data halls Decker’s note: The oldest halls are underground. Nobody gets the plans.
Kiruna, Luleå, Kajaani
Ikitalvi SEC
Security and intrusion countermeasures Decker’s note: Writes the ICE. The black kind answers back.
Stockholm, Oslo, Reykjavík
Kuura Orbital
Polar satellite links Decker’s note: One pass every 94 minutes. Make your noise in between.
Tromsø, Singapore, Santiago
Terva Chemical
Coolants and process chemicals Decker’s note: Ask what goes into the river. Don’t ask twice.
Kemi, Rotterdam, Houston
Liekki Energy
Power grid and district heat Decker’s note: Sells the heat back to the towns that froze for it.
Rovaniemi, Trondheim, Frankfurt
Board · four names, no faces
Fixers
Fixers hand out the runs and buy what you bring back. Each one talks to you on the RUN view, and when things go wrong, they tell you what to do.
HALLA The careful veteran. In and out, no noise. If HALLA turns a job down, there is a reason. IN AND OUT. NO NOISE.
VIIMA Fast and aggressive. Pays well, burns hot. WALK FAST, THINK SLOW.
TYKKY Heavy jobs and black ICE. Bring cycles and patience. HEAVY ICE. BRING LEGS.
NIETOS Nobody has met NIETOS. Pays in advance. Every contract points north. COLD REMEMBERS YOU.
Ice remembers the ones who stop.
Ikitalvi SEC · Public noticeCountermeasures in your district
Intrusion countermeasures
Ikitalvi SEC protects the halls of the Coldbelt with three classes of countermeasure. Residents are not affected.
Wall
Delays unauthorised access.
Gate
Registers unauthorised access.
Black
Responds to unauthorised access. Decker’s note: Street name FROSTBITE. A flatline does not stop your heart. It erases your name from every registry.
Our trace hounds lock on to signals that stay in one place. Decker’s note: So don’t stay in one place.
Margin notes
Ranks, lowest first: SCRIPT, PROBE, RUNNER, DECKER, BREAKER, GHOST, PHANTOM, WIZARD, LEGEND, ICON. Higher ranks get more ICE, and black ICE near the top. Rank also unlocks programs for your three slots. Every program costs you something:
Program
Gives
Costs
MOLE
trace −25 %
stealth only 45 min
ICEPICK
ICE −25 %
payout −25 %
NIGHTOWL
stealth +50 % in the dark
−25 % in daylight
OVERDRIVE
intensity minutes ×3
trace +50 %
DEADMAN
half the payout even on a flatline
−10 % on a clean run
Sixty shards. One story.
Shard archive · 60 on file
Shards
Every run you finish leaves you a shard: a memo, a log, an ad, a message someone wanted deleted. Read in order, they tell one story. The first three are open to anyone. The rest open with the six-character code your watch shows under each shard text. Your decrypted shards stay in this browser, and a transfer link carries them to another one. No account needed.
Shard 01
WELCOME, MEAT
Your deck runs on you. Walk and it thinks. Stop and it starves. Nobody told you the warranty was void.
Shard 02
COLDBELT AD
Halogen Kaira: build your future where the cold is free. Fjord to Bothnia, four hundred halls and counting.
Shard 03
HEAT BILL
Municipal notice: district heat now supplied by server hall 12. Your radiators run on someone else's secrets.
Shard 04
Encrypted shard.
Shard 05
Encrypted shard.
Shard 06
Encrypted shard.
Shard 07
Encrypted shard.
Shard 08
Encrypted shard.
Shard 09
Encrypted shard.
Shard 10
Encrypted shard.
Shard 11
Encrypted shard.
Shard 12
Encrypted shard.
Shard 13
Encrypted shard.
Shard 14
Encrypted shard.
Shard 15
Encrypted shard.
Shard 16
Encrypted shard.
Shard 17
Encrypted shard.
Shard 18
Encrypted shard.
Shard 19
Encrypted shard.
Shard 20
Encrypted shard.
Shard 21
Encrypted shard.
Shard 22
Encrypted shard.
Shard 23
Encrypted shard.
Shard 24
Encrypted shard.
Shard 25
Encrypted shard.
Shard 26
Encrypted shard.
Shard 27
Encrypted shard.
Shard 28
Encrypted shard.
Shard 29
Encrypted shard.
Shard 30
Encrypted shard.
Shard 31
Encrypted shard.
Shard 32
Encrypted shard.
Shard 33
Encrypted shard.
Shard 34
Encrypted shard.
Shard 35
Encrypted shard.
Shard 36
Encrypted shard.
Shard 37
Encrypted shard.
Shard 38
Encrypted shard.
Shard 39
Encrypted shard.
Shard 40
Encrypted shard.
Shard 41
Encrypted shard.
Shard 42
Encrypted shard.
Shard 43
Encrypted shard.
Shard 44
Encrypted shard.
Shard 45
Encrypted shard.
Shard 46
Encrypted shard.
Shard 47
Encrypted shard.
Shard 48
Encrypted shard.
Shard 49
Encrypted shard.
Shard 50
Encrypted shard.
Shard 51
Encrypted shard.
Shard 52
Encrypted shard.
Shard 53
Encrypted shard.
Shard 54
Encrypted shard.
Shard 55
Encrypted shard.
Shard 56
Encrypted shard.
Shard 57
Encrypted shard.
Shard 58
Encrypted shard.
Shard 59
Encrypted shard.
Shard 60
Encrypted shard.
Notice of availabilityCold Grid Studio
Get Kaamos Chrome
Kaamos Chrome is coming to the Garmin Connect IQ Store. It launches on the Epix Pro (Gen 2) 47 and 51 mm, with more AMOLED touchscreen watches to follow.
