Man and Machine (TWS)

What are all the ways he knows to make an implant explode.

The ask about possible suspects - if he recognizes your mystery assailant and if he can think of anyone that would want to harm the vic.

You want more details on the checkup procedure. If there's a chance somewhere in there for one of the doctors to hide something from the other, you want to know about it, even if it's unlikely.
You want to know about possible enemies; maybe somebody here was jealous of him, for instance, or maybe he had a patient who was particularly dissatisfied.
And you want to know if there was anything special about his implant in particular.

"What, precisely, is involved in the diagnostic procedure?"

"Well, it's fairly simple. We have a diagnostic program on our computers. We simply interface with the device, and the computer runs a small battery of tests. To be honest, Doctor Anderson probably could have done it himself. He was a methodical man, though. Liked to be thorough. Besides, I run tests like that one all the time, and could spot any abnormalities faster than he could."

You stop him. "You work with many voice-boxes?"

"Hmm? Oh, no. Internal implants, though. The process is pretty similar for all of them. The tests and results are slightly different, but I've been doing this for many years, now. I know how to do it by rote."

"And he was privy to everything you were doing during the test."

"Yes... Are you implying that you suspect me of... sabotaging him?"

Evan breaks in gently, "Right now, we have to cover every possible angle, Doctor. We have to view everyone as a suspect."

"I suppose. Well, I didn't know the boy well, but I liked him well enough. I certainly didn't wish him ill."

"Do you know of anyone who did?"

The doctor furrows his brow and thinks for a moment. "Not that I know of."

"No disagreements with one of the other doctors here? No dissatisfied patients?"

"I'm sorry, but if there were I didn't know about it. He was a pleasant enough fellow, but he tended to keep to himself. We chatted occasionally if we were on break together, but beyond that..."

You nod. Marie did say that he wasn't close friends with anyone at the clinic.

"Was there anything special about Doctor Anderson's implant? Rare make, manufacturing abnormality, anything like that?"

Paine shakes his head. "No. It was a high-end model, yes, but not uncommon. Diagnostics always returned results well within the ordinary specs."

What are all the ways he knows to make an implant explode.

The ask about possible suspects - if he recognizes your mystery assailant and if he can think of anyone that would want to harm the vic.

"Do you know of anything that could cause an implant like his to... explode?"

You should probably have waited until Doctor Paine wasn't taking a sip of his coffee to say that. He begins sputtering and coughing. Evan walks around the table and slaps him on the back a couple of times.

"Explode!? Are you saying his implant exploded!?"

"That... seems to be the case."

"I've never heard of such a thing... I suppose it might be possible though. If the implant was reconfigured so that its power supply was caught in a feedback loop, the supply could--"

You butt in, stifling a sigh. "The power supply could be affected with thermal runaway resulting in heat buildup and an explosion."

"Precisely, yes. But the changes would require physical modification of the device, both to cause the feedback loop and bypass the safety features of the system."

"Is there no way that it could be modified so that it could be triggered at a later time?"

"Possibly, but the implant would be non-functioning in the intervening time. Anderson would have noticed something wrong."

"And there's no way else that the implant could have been detonated from a distance?"

"Not that I know of, and I've been working with implants for almost as long as I can remember."

Well, that was helpful.

"Just one last question for you." You expose your watch and pull up the picture of the suspect from hopper port surveillance.
"Have you seen this man before?"

Doctor Paine leans forward and looks at the man closely.

"...I'm sorry. I don't believe so."

The receptionist pokes her head in the door.

"Detectives? Doctor Munroe said that you can have Doctor Anderson's client list." You let her transfer the file to you. "And she'd like to talk to you, when you have time."

You decide that you've gotten pretty much everything useful out of Doctor Paine that you can, and bid him good day. If you think of anything else, you can probably find him again after talking to Doctor Munroe.


You knock on the door to Doctor Munroe's office, and are told to come in.

The Doctor's office is rather spartan. There are no decorations, no holograms of friends or family, no drawings from a favorite niece or nephew, there isn't even one of those "Hang In There" posters with the kitten hanging from a piece of rope. A few diplomas hang from the wall behind her desk, which is itself devoid of ornamentation. It's a plain, particle-board desk, with nothing resting upon it but a console, and the Doctor's elbows.

Doctor Munroe is probably someone who is often referred to as 'severe', though presumably not to her face. Her steel grey hair is pulled back in a tight bun, and her posture is ramrod-straight. Her thin lips are set into a frown as she peers at you over her tented hands.

"Please, Detectives, take a seat. I am Doctor Gail Munroe."

You and Evan both do as you're told.

You start to introduce yourself, but she waves a hand at you to silence you.

"I know who you are." She sighs. "And I know why you're here. Doctor Anderson was our best prosthetic limb specialist at the clinic, and his loss is going to be deeply felt. If there is anything I can do to aid in your investigation, let me know."

You ask her some basic questions; If she knew Anderson well, if she knew of any disagreements he might have had with coworkers or patients, if he had been acting strangely recently.
She answers every question in the negative. You ask her about the possibility of an implant exploding. She doesn't tell you anything you don't already know.
Finally, you show her the picture of the suspect from the hopper port. She doesn't remember seeing him anywhere.

Looks like this lead isn't panning out so well. Do you have any more questions for Doctor Munroe or Doctor Paine? You probably won't turn up much questioning the other doctors at the clinic, but you're welcome to try. Otherwise, you'll need to figure out what to do next.


Possible leads to follow up on:

Netcom found in Victim's Luggage, (Saved to your pocket.)

Review the victim's recent activities for any sign of unusual behavior or spending.

The lab techs at HQ will perform a more in-depth autopsy and scan of the body. Maybe they'll turn up some new material for you.

The lab techs at HQ will perform a more thorough check of the luggage belonging to the Victim and Whitaker. Maybe they'll turn up some new material for you.

Check with the lab techs to see if any info can be extracted from the voice box.

Track down the unknown suspect from the surveillance footage.

The details of this case might have some effect on the Bitoticists. Check with Det. Walden Olivera for details.

Review the list of patients received from the clinic.


Possible Witnesses/Suspects to interview:

Marie Whitaker (Witness, Victim's Girlfriend), currently in West Central franchise of Our Lady. Unknown if she'll have any more useful information.

Doctor Chase (Suspect), Inquire about him at South Sector franchise of Our Lady.

King (Real name unknown, Suspect), Must find real location by cross-referencing with Simulacrum address (or you could just log on and talk to him, you guess).

Unknown Suspect (Suspect), Location and identity unknown. HQ is working on finding out his identity.

Victim's Coworkers, At Bol Munroe Cybernetics Clinic in North Central. Unknown if they'll have any more useful information.

SpoilerShow

Fun Fact: Besides being the online handle of one of your suspects, King is common slang roughly equivalent to cool, neat, or awesome. This usage of the word was popularized by the Old Royale cigarette company, as part of a massively successful ad campaign.

Check up with Detective Walden Olivera about the implications of this case on the Bioticists before reviewing the list of patients.

Sounds to me like changing tacks might be helpful; the How Do You Make a Voicebox Explode tack seems dead for now. I like the idea of either:

1. checking on his activities and purchases, along with checking in on whether the mysterious stranger has been found yet
2. investigating his Netcom and looking into whether King has been found yet.

Sounds to me like changing tacks might be helpful; the How Do You Make a Voicebox Explode tack seems dead for now. I like the idea of either:

1. checking on his activities and purchases, along with checking in on whether the mysterious stranger has been found yet
2. investigating his Netcom and looking into whether King has been found yet.

Check up with Detective Walden Olivera about the implications of this case on the Bioticists before reviewing the list of patients.

You decide to head back to HQ, to see the lab workers and check on a few leads. It’s obvious that this part of the investigation is going nowhere fast. Maybe having some more angles to work with will bring some new light to the facts you’ve gathered thus far.
You bid Doctor Munroe goodbye and head out the back way, avoiding the protesters out front.

---

NASBELB Headquarters is, to be honest, a rather unimpressive building, considering it coordinates law enforcement for the entire city. It’s a tall, drab skyscraper, unornamented but for the vast holo-signs identifying it, and for the ads that float about it, vying for the attention of passing drivers. The Bureau’s insignia is two crossed swords, overlaid with a circular shield, the shield being engraved with the Bureau’s initials. The badges assigned to officers, however, only incorporate the shield itself, which you always thought was a little odd.

You park on one of the middle levels and walk over to the elevators.

You turn to Evan. “I’m going to talk to Olivera, if he’s here. Would you mind running down to the lab, and seeing what they’ve got for us?”

Evan nods. “Sounds good.”

“Oh, before I forget…” You pull out the victim’s NetCom and hand it over to Evan. “See if there’s anything useful on there. It’s from the victim’s luggage.”

Evan looks at it curiously, then puts it into a coat pocket. He moves off to another elevator.

You do the same, taking the elevator up several floors to the Civil Protection Unit’s offices.

You flash your badge at the officer on duty at the front desk, and he nods you on through. You walk down a short hallway to the main office space, where a number of desks are arrayed across the room. A few people glance up at you curiously before going back to what they were doing. You look around for Olivera’s office, and see it on the opposite wall, a windowed door with Olivera’s name on it. You walk on over, and are just about to knock on the door when you hear a gravelly voice from within.

“Come on in!”

Shrugging, you do so.

He looks up at you, smiling, from his desk. Olivera is a few years older than you, you’d guess, but still quite fit. Short and, for lack of a better word, stout, he’s built like a bulldog. His dark hair has only a few traces of silver in it, and his face is clean shaven, and almost fatherly looking. He furrows his brow for a second before snapping his fingers and saying, “Detective… Case, right?” When you nod, he continues, “Hah! Never forget a face. What can I do for you, Detective?”
You take the seat he gestures to.

You decide to plunge on in. “The reason I’m here concerns a murder down at the hopper port in East Central, that happened this morning.”

He frowns, an expression that doesn’t really seem to fit his genial face. “I’ve only heard a little bit about that. Sounded bad, though.”

“You could say that. Our victim’s throat exploded.”

Olivera’s eyes widen. “What.”

“Tell me about it. It looks like he had an implant, a voice box, that was somehow sabotaged.”

“And it exploded? That’s just about the damndest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Hmph. I came to you because I suspect that there’s a chance this could have been intended to rile up the bioticists.”

Olivera’s frown returns, deeper this time. “Ugh. Well, if that’s the intent, then it would certainly do the job. How much do you know about the bioticists?”

You shrug. “Just what I’ve heard on the news and around HQ.”

Olivera nods. “Then you’ve probably just heard about the small timers, the protesters, those types. And they’re a problem. But the biggest worry is the core of the group, the inner circle. Whereas the underlings support them for any number of reasons, the inner circle has an almost cult-like feeling to it. We haven’t been able to get a whole lot on them, but what we’ve seen and heard isn’t good. They’re very well organized, very paranoid, and zealously devoted to their cause, which is the removal of cybernetics from our society, in its entirety.”

“I hear you’ve had trouble infiltrating the inner circle.”

“Yes. They’re damn suspicious, and far too clever. I don’t know how they do it, but they always seem to spot our agents a mile away, no matter how careful we are.” He shakes his head. “But back to your question, it’s hard to say how they’ll react when news gets out. Oh, the inner circle will no doubt make a bunch of noise about it, and there may be some staged protesting and such that they openly organize, but we should probably be more worried about the street level members in this case. As I said, they join for a variety of reasons, but they’re very devoted to their cause, and they aren’t as disciplined or organized as the inner circle. I doubt there’ll be any violence so long as this is an isolated incident, but if it isn’t… we could face riots, belligerent protest in front around the major cybernetics companies buildings, or maybe even targeted violence against those with implants, in the most extreme case. And the inner circle would make a big deal out of asking their followers to be calm and comply with the authorities… while they no doubt fan the flames in secret.”

“Then I suppose we’d better make sure it remains an isolated case.”

Olivear smiles without a whole lot of humor. “Please do. Just in case, I’ll put in some calls to the higher ups to see if we can put extra surveillance on known members, and on any place where they’re likely to target. Maybe we can keep it from getting out of hand if it does get that far.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Oh, here.” Olivera flicks on his NetCom and sends you something. “My personal contact info. If you need any more info on the bioticists, just give me a call. Or, if you have anything that might help me…”

“Will do.”

You both stand up and shake hands.

“Thank you for your time.”

Olivera nods. “Any time, Detective. Any time.”

As you leave, your watch vibrates. You open it up, and find Evan has sent you a message.

Get down to the lab ASAP. You’ll want to see this.

Well, that sounds promising.

You head on down to the homicide lab. Evan is waiting for you as you get off of the elevator. He wordlessly gestures for you to follow. You tail him to one of the examination rooms, where most of your victim’s cadaver is lying on an autopsy table. You see the tell-tale wavering of a clean field around it. The medical examiner and her younger assistant are here, looking at a holodisplay on the wall. It shows… well, a bunch of funny circley, squiggly things, in red and black. You assume they came out of the victim. You… weren’t a biology major, obviously.

“Ah, Detective.” The medical examiner beckons you over, and points at the display. “I think you’ll find this interesting.”

You look at the display for a moment. “Yes, interesting. Very. What is it?”

Evan smiles softly and says, “Our murder weapon.”

“What?”

He points at one of the black circles. “Nanomachines. They must have been used to reconfigure the victim’s implant and force it to detonate.”

“What!?” You can’t hide your shock. “But I thought nanotechnology wasn’t in production!”

“It isn’t.” The medical examiner sounds mildly annoyed, which in your experience seems to be the tone she reverts to when she doesn’t understand something immediately. “There are only a few companies that even experiment with nanotechnology. They’ve gotten some interesting results, but nothing to warrant mass production or widespread use. And these… these are highly advanced.”

“The doctor has checked them against every resource we have. They don’t match any manufacturer’s known hallmarks, they don’t have any kind of identification, nothing we can trace.”

“I’ve been looking through patent files and any documentation I could get my hands on for hours.” The medical examiner shakes her head. “I haven’t found anything.”

“We do know how the nanites got into the victim’s system, though.” Evan walks over to the body, and turns over the left hand.

You lean closer, the clean field’s wavering membrane making it difficult for your eyes to adjust. You don’t see anything.

“Here.” The medical examiner’s assistant brings over a magnifying glass, and holds it over the body’s left palm.

There, in the very center, you can just make out the most minute of pinpricks.

“So that’s how the nanomachines got into the victim’s body?”

Evan nods. “And, I think you’ll recall Miss Whitaker saying our mystery suspect ran into him and then helped him up. How much do you care to wager that he used his left hand? Unfortunately, there weren’t any fingerprints to recover. That would have made things much easier…”

Interesting. So, it looks like your unknown suspect somehow injected you victim with nanites while “helping” him up at the hopper port. Which means that he must have access to some very high-tech resources. You don’t exactly find this comforting.

“And it was definitely his implant.” The medical examiner sounds unhappy with her discovery. “The voice box was mangled, and there were burns in the tissue around the epicenter that happened before our victim’s death. The concentration of nanites in the area is much higher than anywhere else in the body, too.”


“What else have we got?”

“Well,” Evan begins, “I checked the victim’s NetCom. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to find. His bank account hasn’t shown any unusual spending outside of the tickets for his trip and a few things that turned out to be luxury items and new clothes, presumably for said trip. There weren’t any unusual phone calls, in fact the only ones in the last three weeks were to Miss Whitaker, the clinic, and the hopper port. His NetMail was mostly filled with advertisements. All in all, it didn’t look like he used the Com very much, which is probably why he left it in his luggage.”

“That’s somewhat disappointing.”

“Yes.”

“What about our mystery suspect? And that King guy Whitaker mentioned?”

“King was easy. He’s actually one of the lead programmers for the Simulacrum. Donovan Bolton is his real name. Apparently he’s quite good. He’s only twenty-seven and he already runs an entire unit.”

You grunt.

“Our mystery suspect has been less easy. There was nothing last I checked.”

You decide to go check how the researchers are faring. You leave the examination room and walk to a nearby tech room. There are several researchers here, bent forward with their noses almost touching their displays, flipping through information far faster than you can follow. Researchers are almost universally pale, a fact that isn’t helped any by their sterile white uniforms. All of them have cranial implants of some type, and their heads are shaved to make them easier to keep clean. Their eyes are augmented as well, meaning they, among other things, can look in two directions at once. To be honest, ‘searchers always gave you the creeps. As you watch, two of them begin subvocalizing to each other across the room, their silent conversation not distracting them from their work for even a second. Evan walks over to one young woman sitting in the corner and gently touches her on the shoulder. One eye swivels to regard him for a second before going back to her work.

“Detective E5-715. It is a pleasure. I see Detective William Case is accompanying you. I assume this concerns the violent decapitation of Dirk Anderson at East Central Hopper Port Number Three Three Four Seven.” Her voice is flat and almost uninterested, and not for even a second does she cease typing or reading.

“Yes.” If Evan finds this as weird as you do, he gives no indication. Neither do you, for that matter. Professional conduct and all. But still…

“You have already been given all information regarding Donovan Bolton also known as King. Unknown subject remains elusive. Appearance matches no known criminal on file, I must search commercial facial recognition databases. It is… tiring. Please wait.”

Evan steps back to stand next to you. You both watch as the researcher does her work. After a few minutes, she holds up one hand and beckons you over. As you look over her shoulder, she pulls up a picture or your mystery suspect.

“Toby Rayt. Age thirty two. Currently unemployed. Last known residence, West District, 3742 Procyon Square.”

That far west? Not a nice part of town.

“No criminal record. No known family members. No known associates. The lack of information leads me to believe that this identity is engineered. I will attempt to uncover more intel. It may take some time.”

You nod, but Evan gestures for you to wait.

He turns back to her. “We received a list of patients from the clinic where the victim worked. Could you go over it for us.”

“Send it to me.”

Evan does so. She pulls it up in a smaller window to the side, scans it quickly, and begins opening several other windows and beginning more searches.

“If you find anything, let us know.”

She swivels an eye to look at you. “Of course.”

You sensed, perhaps, just a tinge of sarcasm, there.

Well, you’ve gotten a couple of breakthroughs, anyway. Now, you just have to decide what to do next. Obviously you’ll want to check out Rayt’s place before long, but you could also track down Bolton and talk to him. And there may be things you want to check on here before you go.

SpoilerShow

it's a good thing you guys like to read because
WORDS WORDS WORDS

ALL OF THE WORDS

But on the plus side, plot development!

Fun Fact: Evan and Case often split up when Case is going to talk to/interview someone, because Evan feels like he makes people nervous. Which is true, in some cases. Being scrutinized by a person who sits perfectly still, and doesn't need to blink or breathe, can make a body just a smidge nervous. Evan finds this somewhat embarrassing (except when he is using it to wring information out of a suspect), so Case usually asks him to go take care of something else.

>Since nanotech's rare, it makes sense to start investigating the places you know about that are looking into it. Maybe one of the companies has a security leak... or maybe one of the companies would stand to benefit from biotech losing market share.

Well if we're dealing with crazy tech, look into examining the video records of our mystery suspect for tampering. Maybe nanites messed with the cam records.

Track down Bolton, I guess.

There is other stuff you can do, but I think that the longer you wait before busting Rayt's place the less chance you have of finding anything useful there. I say go there now with all haste -- and bring as much security as you need to potentially take on a man who might be able to make your eyes explode by tapping you on the cheek.

Once you're there you might be able to find people who've seen him or more footage of his comings and goings.

Ask about a way to detect active nanites in someone's system, or even remotely. This could be pretty valuable later - if just to protect yourself. Also how specific would the nanites have to be to cause another implant explosion? Do they need to be custom made?

I agree with investigating the guys home first though. But interviewing king is a top priority as well. At least to try and find out why this particular implant doctor was targeted.

>Since nanotech's rare, it makes sense to start investigating the places you know about that are looking into it. Maybe one of the companies has a security leak... or maybe one of the companies would stand to benefit from biotech losing market share

Always one to think ahead, Evan made sure to take a list of all of the companies that are known to experiment with nanotechnology (which is not to say that there aren’t others that keep their testing under wraps). He does note that most of the companies that are experimenting with it also produce biotech of one kind or another, since there’s a lot of crossover with the applications of the two.
Evan says that he’s made some requests upstairs to get the information. You’re almost certainly going to need some official-looking documentation to get any of the bigger companies to divulge anything about their more secretive projects. You were surprised the medical examiner and her team found as much as they did.

Well if we're dealing with crazy tech, look into examining the video records of our mystery suspect for tampering. Maybe nanites messed with the cam records.

Track down Bolton, I guess.

You submit the surveillance footage for further scrutiny, in case it’s been tampered with. Evan expresses doubts, saying that the nanites seemed to be optimized for use in the human body, but agrees that it’s still best to be sure.

Ask about a way to detect active nanites in someone's system, or even remotely. This could be pretty valuable later - if just to protect yourself. Also how specific would the nanites have to be to cause another implant explosion? Do they need to be custom made?

I agree with investigating the guys home first though. But interviewing king is a top priority as well. At least to try and find out why this particular implant doctor was targeted.

“Evan. Do you know if it’s possible to detect the nanites in someone’s body from far away?”

“An interesting thought. It’s possible… the nanites have to communicate with each other in order to work together to achieve their goal… whether we can detect their communications from any useful distance is difficult to say. I’ll ask the lab techs to take a look at some of the nanites from our victim.”

“One more thing. These nanites… do they need to be specifically designed on an implant-by-implant basis?”

“The nanites themselves would not have to be redesigned, but I would theorize that their programming would have to be modified for different implants. The lab techs should hopefully be able to confirm this for me.”

There is other stuff you can do, but I think that the longer you wait before busting Rayt's place the less chance you have of finding anything useful there. I say go there now with all haste -- and bring as much security as you need to potentially take on a man who might be able to make your eyes explode by tapping you on the cheek.

Once you're there you might be able to find people who've seen him or more footage of his comings and goings.

Talking to Bolton is important, but not as important as apprehending Rayt.

---

You take your position to the left of Rayt’s door, feeling tense. Several enforcers are with you, silent and grim, pulse-guns drawn and set to stun. You double check that yours is, too. The advance surveillance team that had staked out the place haven’t seen Rayt enter or leave, so you and the rest of the team are going in. If he’s here, he won’t know what hit him. The surrounding area is under surveillance, so Rayt won’t get away if he is here, or he’ll be spotted well before he arrives if he tries to come back. Everyone has been advised that the subject may be considered extremely dangerous.

You’re currently wearing a light set of armor that will reduce the effect of pulse weapons fire on you. It isn’t complete protection, but it will keep an otherwise lethal shot from killing you, usually. Your pulse-gun has three settings; stun, kill, and overcharge. You’ve never had to use the last one before, but it’s mostly for use against heavily armored targets. In your ear there’s an earpiece that you’re using to keep in touch with the surveillance teams and the squad with you.

You give Evan a nod. He holsters his gun, takes a grip on the sliding door to Rayt’s apartment, and wrenches it open violently. You slide in checking your corners, sensing the others following close behind. You go left, through a doorway, and find yourself in a small hallway, you advance, pushing open doors and checking each room in turn, reporting when each is clear. Two bedrooms and a bathroom, in all, all of them spartan and almost sterile. There’s no sign of Rayt, though. You head back to the living room.

“Guess the guy isn’t a great appreciator of the arts, huh?” You gesture around the room. There is a single, forlorn chair, made of AlmostWood, and a single display, presumably to watch EnterNet vid-feeds. The walls are unadorned, and painted white. The carpet is gray. Both are extremely clean.

“Hmm. Forensics will be here shortly. We’ll see what we can turn--”

Suddenly a voice crackles in over your earpiece.

“Suspect spotted one level down from you, to the east! He must be onto us, he just started running!”

You curse and head out the doors, telling most of the enforcers to keep the apartment secured. Evan speaks continually as you move, telling the surveillance squads to keep you up to date and to try and box in the suspect.

You’re not too far away from a set of stairs, which is fortunate. You, Evan, and two other enforcers run down them, yelling at pedestrians to get out of the way. As you hit the next level, you can just barely make out the suspect, rushing away, pushing people aside. Fortunately, he’s quite tall, making him easy to pick out. You begin running after him, people moving aside as you run through. Even though he’s quite a ways ahead, you’re definitely gaining.

He notices this fact too. He ducks down a side path and out of sight. Once you’ve arrived, you can no longer see him, but surveillance reports him heading west now. You begin moving that way, and before long you’re catching up with him again.

He reaches a less densely populated area, and a clear shot at him presents itself. You level your weapon… aim… fire! The energy bolt zips forward, and you score a direct hit on his left shoulder. He stumbles, and shakes it off, barely breaking his stride.

“He must be shielded!” Evan shouts, not sounding even slightly out of breath (which makes sense, when you think about it). “We’re going to have to box him in!”

You nod, and Evan breaks off down a side walk, rapidly gaining speed. People throw themselves out of the way as he blasts past, faster than any normal human could move. You keep running after Rayt, doggedly keeping up with him.

He glances back, and snarls at you, which means his attention is focused in the wrong direction when Evan steps around the corner and plants his feet.

Rayt turns back just in time to see him, and instead of trying to stop jumps forward and slams into Evan, sending them both sprawling across the ground… which shouldn’t have happened. Evan’s heavy enough to bring most people to a standstill, and strong enough that that shouldn’t have taken him off of his feet. He’s up in about a second flat, and so is Rayt, who’s loudly cursing, now. Evan reaches out to grab him, but he drives a fist into Evan’s gut so hard it lifts him off the ground. Evan’s reaction is one of pure surprise.

You yell for him to put his hands in the air, but Rayt spins unneringly fast, delivering a surgically precise kick to Evan’s head. Evan is sent tumbling and skidding along the ground. You quickly realize what’s going on.

“He’s an android! Increase pulse gun power!”

There are a series of clicks as the enforcers accompanying you do just that, and you open fire.

Again, he looks like he is jolted, but it doesn’t seem to do much other than that. He advances on you, snarling with rage. With a swift backhand he slaps your weapon away, and a flash of pain flies up your arms. You kick at him, but he contemptuously catches your leg, spins you around and tosses you at Evan, who was advancing on him from behind.

You hear him dealing with the other enforcers much as he did you. You push yourself up just in time to see him walking over to the canopy which covers the walkway. He hops easily over the handrail, walks right up to the canopy, and puts his fist through it, grunting with the effort.
You can’t help but gape. The canopy is made of a special synthetic crystal weave, made to be almost impossible for someone to break (to prevent suicides). Not even Evan could break through it.

He breaks a hole big enough for him to fit through, then looks back at you once more before jumping out into traffic. You rush over, but you can no longer see him among the myriad hover cars outside.

You think one of the enforcers sums it up perfectly when she says, from her place laying on the ground, “What the fuck just happened?”

---
The enforcers have cordoned off the area, and are keeping passing gawkers at bay. Despite the fact that he obviously could have done away with you with little effort, he left you and your team bruised, battered, but relatively alright. Evan’s physically fine, but shocked at what happened.

“This shouldn’t be possible. He had military-grade combat strength and response times. That’s the only thing that could make any sense.”
“I thought they didn’t make military-grade androids anymore,” You point out, flexing your hands and trying to get them to stop tingling. Your leg is kind of sore too, but the pain reliever the medics gave you should help with that shortly. You checked yourself thoroughly for any puncture marks, and let one of the medics take a blood sample and run it, which showed that you are still nanite free.

“They don’t. That’s just it. There are civilian-grade, industrial-grade, and then there are enforcement-grade, like me. Military-grade androids stopped being made many years ago. The advent of free will in androids made them too dangerous.”

“Could he just be an old one that somehow is still around after all these years?”

“No. He was very obviously emoting and acting on his own initiative. In addition, he looked too… human. The old models could not achieve that level of detail.”

“Huh. Are you sure he’s not enforcement-grade or industrial-grade?”

Evan frowns. “I’m sure. He far exceeded me in strength, and industrial-grade androids don’t have that kind of reaction time. His pulse-fire resistance was also far too high.”

“So we have an unregistered, possibly military-grade android on our hands, who didn’t kill us when the opportunity arose, I might add! An android that’s passing for human and… he kills an innocent man with a nanotechnology-induced implant explosion? What kind of sense does that make?”

“Seemingly none at all.” Evan shakes his head and stares at the gaping, jagged hole in the canopy. “This case gets more and more complicated the deeper we dig.”

Teams are scouring the district for any sign of Rayt, but so far they haven’t found anything. You get the sinking feeling that they’re not going to, either.

By the time the excitement’s died down and you’ve regained feeling in your hands, it’s begun to get rather late. Did you have any leads you wanted to follow up on before finishing up for the day and heading home? Bolton may still be at work if you wanted to talk to him, but he’d probably keep till tomorrow if you wanted to wait. Otherwise, you can look around Rayt's apartment or talk to forensics, if you want.

SpoilerShow

Fun Fact: The E in E-class android does not stand for "enforcement." It was just a happy coincidence. E-class androids were just the fifth design variation produced by Vita Mechanica. E-classes are typically employed in law enforcement or security work, since those are the vocations in which they excel. They are allowed to take other types of jobs, of course, but they have to submit themselves to special modifications that limit their strength and reaction speed and such (Also, they have to pay for it. Vita Mechanica would once more like to assure you that this is in no way an attempt to subtly discourage the idea of downgrading and assimilating into civilian-grade life.).

Yes this would have been posted sooner but Skyrim and Batman: AC.
Also I probably won't be updating for the next week or so, we're going to go visit some family. I may be on the forums occasionally, but I probably won't have the time to do a full update. I'll come back to this once my visit is over, though!

Shouldn't federal law enforcement be notified of this? This seems like a big deal.
Talk to forensics and check out the apartment. Try to figure out how long the android's been there, and check for traces of humans being in the apartment.

All right, crazy-ish android theories.

1) He had a specific reason to kill Anderson. Perhaps he, and the nanites, were part of some off-the-grid project Anderson was involved in? The android escaped with some stolen nanites and is now trying to kill everyone involved in the project.
2) The android takes orders from somebody else, and has some kind of safety precaution that doesn't let him kill unless he has a direct order. (Or maybe not at all? He didn't directly kill Dr. Anderson, technically the preprogrammed nanites did that.)
3) He has nothing to do with the killings. Instead, the actual culprits found this android who had set himself up with an obviously fake human identity, and made their own android designed to look just like him (or otherwise copied his appearance). Then on the offchance police got a description of their killer, they'd chase down Rayt because his fake identity would throw up all kinds of red flags.

Not sure how to go about actually investigating any of these theories right now, other than the first by looking into Anderson's past activities.

For the moment, checking the apartment for possible clues would be good, maybe we can find out if he contacted anyone. And ask the neighbors some questions.

When we've done what we can here, I think we want to take a look at Bolton next.

Make sure to put out an alert for that android - you want to know the moment someone spots him.

Investigation of the apartment, apartment manager, and neighbors would be good - specifically if anyone noticed anything about his activities leading up to the crime, when he first moved in, and if he had been seen with anyone at all.

Check which companies have the potential to dabble in military grade androids - cross reference that list with the list of companies interested in nanites, possibly further cross-reference it to include companies that Dr. Anderson would have potentially been involved with.

Also does it have to be a company? Is it possible that an individual or small group of individuals augmented an android to the degree you just saw?

It may be worth looking into past reports of excessively strong and capable androids - maybe this isn't the first time this guy has made a scene.

Shouldn't federal law enforcement be notified of this? This seems like a big deal.

Haha, federal law enforcement. Like that is a thing. What a hilarious notion.
In all seriousness, the Bureau covers pretty much any and all criminal activity that takes place within the confines of the sprawl. In case of widespread civil unrest or terrorism, the federal government might authorize the use of military forces, but other than that the Bureau is expected to take care of things.

That said, you probably should inform the military that there’s an android matching the capabilities of their older, supposedly non-sentient androids on the loose and committing felonies. Well, you’ll inform your higher-ups and they’ll inform the military’s higher-ups. Protocol and whatnot.

Make sure to put out an alert for that android - you want to know the moment someone spots him.

Investigation of the apartment, apartment manager, and neighbors would be good - specifically if anyone noticed anything about his activities leading up to the crime, when he first moved in, and if he had been seen with anyone at all.

Check which companies have the potential to dabble in military grade androids - cross reference that list with the list of companies interested in nanites, possibly further cross-reference it to include companies that Dr. Anderson would have potentially been involved with.

Also does it have to be a company? Is it possible that an individual or small group of individuals augmented an android to the degree you just saw?

It may be worth looking into past reports of excessively strong and capable androids - maybe this isn't the first time this guy has made a scene.

The alert is already out! Hopefully someone will spot him and call in a tip, though you’re not holding your breath. This guy is obviously resourceful, to have hidden himself this long.


You and Evan put your heads together to work on this.

Currently, even “dabbling” in manufacture of military grade androids is what is known as, in legal terms, really really illegal. There are plenty of companies that have the capability to manufacture them, of course, but actually doing so would violate innumerable laws and expose the company involved to the wrath of the Corporate Overwatch Committee. Basically, such a flagrant and severe violation of the law would result in the offending company being dismantled and liquidated. The corporations don’t mess around with that kind of thing.


As far as the connection with the nanites, the companies that are confirmed to be experimenting with them are mostly medical corporations. Anderson didn’t seem to be intimately involved with any of them. Oh, he’s worked and interned at various clinics and hospitals that are subsidiaries of some of those companies, but there’s nothing that suggests he was ever anything but a technician. He did go to school at the Vita Mechanica Institute for Cybernetics And Design, but so did thousands of other people.

Vita Mechanica does produce androids; however, it is not one of the ones that is known to be working with nanotech (this doesn’t necessarily mean that VM isn’t, just that you don’t know it if it is).


It doesn’t have to necessarily be a corporation behind the android. However, the costs would be high, and the expertise necessary difficult to come by. Building an android from scratch is next to impossible outside of one of the major manufacturers, there are too many safeguards in place to prevent people from getting the necessary parts and equipment. Modifying an existing android would be possible, maybe, but incredibly difficult. He would need new parts, and programming to allow him access to any new functionality included with those parts. The parts would still be very difficult to requisition, and finding a programmer wouldn’t be easy either… seeing as it’s illegal to mess with an android’s programming, except in very specific situations. Assembly would be somewhat easier, needing only a technician with experience in android repair. Or prosthetic repair.

Hmm.

You’ll be sure to look for any past reports of unusual androids, though you don’t know what will turn up. This is the kind of thing that gets the Bureau’s attention.

Talk to forensics and check out the apartment. Try to figure out how long the android's been there, and check for traces of humans being in the apartment.

All right, crazy-ish android theories.

1) He had a specific reason to kill Anderson. Perhaps he, and the nanites, were part of some off-the-grid project Anderson was involved in? The android escaped with some stolen nanites and is now trying to kill everyone involved in the project.
2) The android takes orders from somebody else, and has some kind of safety precaution that doesn't let him kill unless he has a direct order. (Or maybe not at all? He didn't directly kill Dr. Anderson, technically the preprogrammed nanites did that.)
3) He has nothing to do with the killings. Instead, the actual culprits found this android who had set himself up with an obviously fake human identity, and made their own android designed to look just like him (or otherwise copied his appearance). Then on the offchance police got a description of their killer, they'd chase down Rayt because his fake identity would throw up all kinds of red flags.

Not sure how to go about actually investigating any of these theories right now, other than the first by looking into Anderson's past activities.

For the moment, checking the apartment for possible clues would be good, maybe we can find out if he contacted anyone. And ask the neighbors some questions.

When we've done what we can here, I think we want to take a look at Bolton next.

You head back into the apartment. Forensics has swept it thoroughly. Twice. Which is to say, they searched it. Not that they tidied up the floors (which would be unnecessary, since the place was kept meticulously clean).

They report that they found… nothing. No personal items. No traces of organic material. No signed and notarized confessions reading, “I, Toby Rayt, do confess to the unpleasant and uncalled-for murder of Dirk Anderson, et cetera, et cetera. Here are the details of why I did it and also a list of my various hideouts and aliases...”
They didn’t even find any suspicious dust bunnies.

The display didn’t have stored any information on Rayt that you didn’t already know, except that he has an almost deviant love of soap operas, which were pretty much the only thing he watched. Other than that, his NetBrowser’s history was clean.

According to the records you found, Rayt has been renting this apartment for around three years.

You have uniformed enforcers canvassing the area, but you don’t know what they’ll turn up. This isn’t a full-on slum, but it isn’t exactly a classy neighborhood, either. People here tend to keep their eyes and ears to themselves, if only in self defense.


The head of the forensics team is visibly frustrated, and wants to go over the apartment one more time. There are some stifled groans from a few of the other technicians. You decide to leave them to it for now. They’ll let you know if they find anything.

It’s getting late, now. A quick call to Bolton’s office finds that he’s heading home for the night. You decide to head straight to his home, which is in North Central.

You end up waiting outside Bolton’s apartment for around fifteen minutes before he shows up.

He doesn’t match the image you had in your head for a Simulacrum programmer. He’s tall, well groomed, and in pretty good shape. He has a carry-all looped across his chest, and is carrying a cup of Moon+Star Coffee in one hand. He’s also wearing pince-nez. You have never seen anyone in real life actually wearing pince-nez.

He raises his eyebrows and glances around. “Ah… I hope you’re not here to rob me. Because if you are, you should know that this place has cameras all over the building.”

You show him your badge.

“Mister Bolton? I’m Detective William Case, this is Detective Evan 5-715. If you have a few moments, we’d like to talk to you.”

He looks slightly embarrassed. “Oh! Of course, of course, just let me unlock the door…” He does so and leads you in.

You knew this was an expensive building to live in, and you’ve seen places like this before, but it always surprises you to see an apartment this big and spacious. And, in this case, elegantly decorated. The furniture is sleek and minimalist, the decorations are ultra, ultra modern, and huge windows look out onto the city. Bolton puts down his things on a table near the door and leads you to his sitting room. He sits down on a chair, and invites you to sit on the sofa across from him.

“So what is this all about?” He takes a sip of his coffee.

“We’re investigating the murder of Dirk Anderson.”

Bolton’s eyes widen, and he stares at you in apparent disbelief.

“This… that’s… Oh god…” He slouches down a bit, and takes off his glasses. “I… I just talked to him last week.”

“How did you know Mister Anderson?”

“We went to college together. We were roommates. Got along. We haven’t actually seen each other much since, real-body. We just talk through the Sim sometimes. Who… who would want to kill him?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”

“I’ll help however I can.”

You ask him all of the basic questions. He can’t think of anyone who might have had a grudge against Anderson, whether he had been acting strangely, etc. You don’t uncover anything new. You ask what he knows about implants, to which he replies, “Almost nothing.” You ask if he knows Rayt, or has ever seen him. Nope.

You’re undecided on whether or not you should broach the subject of nanites. On the one hand, Bolton is still a suspect, even if he wasn’t directly involved in the murder, and if he’s responsible you don’t want to tip your hand too soon. On the other hand, from what you understand he is quite knowledgeable about computers and programming, and might have some insight regarding the nanites. Might being the key word. At any rate, you need to figure out what else you’re going to ask him.

SpoilerShow

I'm back, baby! Also, I'm working on fixing the messed up punctuation in the older posts. It'll probably take me a bit.

Fun Fact: The Corporate Overwatch Committee was formed to help the corporations uphold the status quo. It receives funding from every major corporation on the planet, but maintains operational independence. Any time a new patent or innovation is introduced, it must go through the COC. The Committee also makes sure that corporate espionage and violation of international treaties stays within acceptable limits. So far, the COC has remained miraculously free of rampant corruption. How long that will continue to be true is uncertain.

Hmm...

Try warming up to Bolton, he's just heard that his friend has died and if he's innocent may be at a vulnerable emotional state right now.

Get him to share some stories about college with Anderson, pay attention to other names and contacts he mentions, see if the story leads into any talk about androids or nanites.

If it doesn't, ask him if they ever worked on android programming/modification. If that still doesn't lead anywhere, show him the picture of Rayt again and inform him that he was the murder, and that he was an android, a particularly strong one. Gauge his reaction, see what your gut tells you if it looks like he's hiding anything.

Make a point to not mention the direct cause of death (the nanites), maybe it would be even best to act like you haven't found any. Instead, try and press Bolton about his programming experience. Maybe hint that you're looking for a connection to someone who could reprogram an android, while he's busy wanting to avoid that connection, get him to talk about areas he's worked or dabbled in. He may mention nanites, if so capitalize on it. If not, ask about programming for a dynamic archtecture, as well as shared programming (basically ask about nanites without saying "nanites").

I assume Evan is making his own observations.