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GreyGabe · 12-02-2011, 05:40 AM

btp Wrote:Blame cloned body parts. Solve case.

Cloned body-parts? In a person? You've never heard of such a thing, and you've been around. Sounds like something out of a sci-fi vid. Besides, human cloning is illegal.

btp Wrote:Alternatively, hit on medical examiner. Ask her about her "gadgets"

You don't think your wife would find that notion terribly amusing.

Dragon Fogel Wrote:Hmm. Maybe he had some kind of cybernetic internal organ that exploded.

>Ask if his head's turned up. If not, maybe you can start by looking for that.

Now there's a disturbing thought. You rather hope it's incorrect. Just thinking about it makes your eyes itch... which is quite a trick, since they're made of metal. You'll keep that to yourself for now.

"Where's the victim's head?" You ask instead.
The medical indicates a smallish lump a few feet away with a tilt of her head.
The reason you probably didn't notice it before is because it rolled partway under a chair. Whatever took it off must have hit pretty hard. The lower jaw is pretty much gone, and he's missing several teeth, too. You pull on a pair of gloves and lean down for a better look. Blonde hair, blue eyes. No jewelry, no headset.

Ixcaliber Wrote:> First up you should try to establish the victim's identity; check his pockets for any belongings that could help with this. Check whatever equivalent to a wallet you have in crazy future times to see whether he is missing any money. Have Evan analyse the position he's lying in, assuming he hasn't been moved. You might be able to work out where he was standing and thus perhaps where the killer was standing. Actually you need to establish a cause of death first before you can assume that this was a homicide. Maybe Evan has some cool functions to do that? Oh and don't forget to check for security cameras.

"Evan, would you do a thorough check of the body? See if you can find out his identity, and if you can figure out where he was standing, and where our killer was. I'm going to see if I can get my hands on some security footage."

Evan nods, and steps back over to the body, and begins talking quietly with the medical examiner. You leave the room to see if you can find any Hport personnel. There is one standing not too far away, smoking nervously and staring at the still-huddled passengers by the exit. Looks like a security guard. You walk over to him and introduce yourself, and segue directly into asking for the security cam footage from the room.

"Uh, yeah... okay. I can... I can get that for you.""

He pulls out his NetCom and spends a few seconds fiddling with it, before looking at you expectantly. You pull back your sleeve from your watch and bring up the haptic display. You link your NetComs and he transfers the video files from today over to you. It'll probably be a good idea to peruse them back at headquarters, where you can view them on a full-size display rather than the small one in your watch, or maybe you can find some displays to use here instead. That can wait for now, though. You thank him and move on.

Iriri Wrote:Got any witnesses ready to give statements? Anyway, it's a prime time to start taking a look at what you've got. Scan the vic's perso-feed, give you a basic readout of his identity and activities if the access chip is intact. If not, take a tissue sample for the geneboys down at the station to do a readup on. Maybe you'll even find something by searching the scene!

The uniforms are taking witness statements. They'll give you the info and let you know if they find anyone who merits further questioning in a while. In the meantime, you go to see how Evan's doing with the body.

As you kneel down next to him, he nods to you and begins to speak.
"We couldn't find a NetCom, which is passing odd, but fingerprint and retinal scans identify our victim as Dirk Anderson, age twenty-seven. He was a repair technician, specializing in prosthetics, especially arms, legs, hands and feet. Specific cause of death is still unknown, but I agree with the ME's theory that it was some sort of explosion. The strange thing is that there's no explosive residue that we can identify. We'll send him back to the lab for a better look, but--"

"Hold up a second," you cut in. "Did he have any implants in his neck or upper chest?"

Evan raises an eyebrow. "One of your... hunches?"

"Maybe."

Evan pulls up his NetCom watch's browser and types something in roughly ten times faster than you ever could.
"Let me just access his medical records... this may take a second."

The medical examiner clears her throat. "I don't see what his implants would have to do with anything. They're designed to be highly stable, since, you know, they're meant to be implanted into a human body. Though, I really shouldn't need to tell you that, detective."

You just give her The Look. You could do this even before your eyes were replaced with these prosthetics, but it works even better now that your eyes are two silver spheres with tiny black dots for pupils. The ME can't handle your gaze long before she has to avert her eyes.

"Ah, here we go." Evan seems to have ignored the by-play entirely. "He did in fact have an implant in his throat, an artificial voice box. Miracle Medical Solutions brand, installed nearly ten years ago. High-end model."

The ME snorts. "This is interesting and all, but I'm telling you, these things don't just blow up!"

"No, they don't. Not on their own." Evan flicks off his watch and looks at you. "Even a catastrophic malfunction would not cause the unit to explode."

You wait a beat. "But?"

"But... theoretically... it is possible that the power source could be detonated, if the unit was reconfigured in such a way as to cause a positive feedback loop, resulting in thermal runaway of the power supply, causing eventual detonation. However, the power source has safeguards to prevent such a situation from arising, and even if it didn't, the changes required to cause the loop would need to be physically implemented."

"How long would it take, after the changes were made, for the detonation to occur?"

"Well, it would depend on the type of power supply and how much output it produced, but I would say no longer than a few minutes, for a device of this type."

You scratch at your eyebrow. Hmm.

Evan shrugs. "This is all conjecture, of course. The explosion may be completely unrelated to his implant."

You nod, but you still can't shake your gut feeling that you're on the right track.

MrGuy Wrote:Search the room for any evidence. Under furniture and cushions, and in the carpeting. For that matter, you might want to give neighboring rooms a cursory glance as well.

"Okay. Let's give the room a good once over. Get some fresh eyes on it." You demonstrate by tapping one of your eyes gently with the tip of a fingernail. One of the uniforms chuckles weakly.

(Your eyes aren't actually much more effective than ordinary organic eyes. You have slightly better vision, perhaps, but anything really snazzy like 20X zoom, or NetCom functionality, or integrated computerized targeting was a little above your paygrade, at the time. Your night vision is excellent, however, as good as Evan's.)

You and Evan begin to aid the other officers hunting for any evidence you can find. You leave no cushion unturned, no chair un-searched-under. Wait... something high up on the wall catches your eye. A red dot, somewhat removed from the rest of the blood splatter, with just a glimmer of metal in the center."

You call Evan over, and he gives you a boost, his android strength easily letting him hold you up. With a pair of tweezers, you pluck out a small piece of metal, which you're willing to bet is part of that implant. You put it in a baggy and step down from Evan's hands.

"Shrapnel, I'd say." You hand the baggy to Evan, who studies it closely before handing it off to a uniform.

"We should check with the paramedics, too, to see if anyone else was hurt in the incident."

That's a pretty good idea. You should also probably check in on the witnesses. You mention this to Evan.

"Good idea. While you're doing that, I'll go find out what hopper our victim was boarding. It should still be docked."

"Right."

You head back out towards the entrance, where you walk over to one of the paramedics giving the witnesses a look over for injury. His crisp white shirt is emblazoned with a red cross, and a number of patches adorn his short sleeves. They seem to be advertising various soft-drinks, restaurants, and pharmaceuticals. What a combination.

"Is anyone hurt?"

The paramedic glances up at you. "Only one was seriously injured. She was apparently standing right next to your victim when he... did I hear that right, now? Did a guy explode?"

You scowl at him.

"Well, crudge, pardon me for wanting to get my facts straight. Anyway, she had a bunch of little wounds all over her face and chest. She was taken to the West Central franchise of Our Lady."

You nod. Mostly known simply as Our Lady, Our Lady of Low Low Prices (formerly Our Lady of Xtreme Refreshment (Wholly Owned Subsidiary of FizzXtreme Soda Company), formerly formerly Our Lady of Infinite Lives (In partnership with Atcon Games), even more formerly than that Our Lady of Infinite Mercy) is the most popular hospital/shopping experience franchised company in the North American Sprawl. There's at least one in every sector of the city.

"Otherwise, there are a few scrapes and bruises from when everyone was in a hurry to get out of there, and I'm not even going to conjecture on these people's mental condition, but overall, nothing too bad."

You consult with the officer in charge of questioning the witnesses. According to him, the witnesses all agree that the man seemed perfectly fine until he suddenly began clawing at his neck and collapsed. The girl who was with him (the same one who is now in the hospital) was leaning over him and trying to find out what was wrong as several others were calling for an ambulance. Before the paramedics could arrive, though, there was a loud boom, the girl was knocked back, and the man's head had seemingly exploded. After that, of course, there was a lot of panic and disorder until the Enforcers arrived.

Hmm. You thank him and let him get back to work. You suppose that if you wanted to, you could talk to some of the witnesses yourself, though somehow you doubt you'd get much more out of them than the uniforms did.

You're so lost in thought that hardly hear Evan approach. "I was right. The victim's hopper was still in the dock. I've procured a full passenger list, destination, and have some officers searching the hopper and retrieving the victim's luggage."

You tell him what you've learned, and advise him to take the girl's luggage, as well. Just in case.
He checks the passenger list, and finds that the girl's name is Marie Whitaker. You show her picture to the paramedic, just to be sure that you have the right girl, before you send for her luggage.
That done, you must decide what to do next.

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