Man and Machine (TWS)

>An exploding implant is the sort of thing that could stir up the Bioticists. Which might have been the whole point of the murder.

I don't think questioning them is going to get you very far, but you might want someone keeping an eye on them. If the goal is to stir them up, then somebody's got to start talking about it, after all.

Okay yeah, you kinda put those under the wrong category. Mental category. You shift the bioticists, (Mentally!) to the Possible Leads to Follow Up On category. In your head.

You should check with HQ to see if you already have someone watching them. It's possible.

You call it in...
...
Apparently, they are under surveillance, as much as possible. The bioticists, though not outright violent, do like to cause disturbances, and they are well organized at the top level (though most of the protesters and troublemakers are just people who have bought into their ideology). More than a few of your higher-ups think that it's just a matter of time before they begin acting out in more disruptive fashions, perhaps to the point of violence.

There have been a few attempts to infiltrate their inner circle, but so far to no avail. They're apparently rather crafty, and after the first couple of attempts have become very paranoid when evaluating key members. However, most of their known gathering places are under constant surveillance. Not that it's done much good. The B.E.L.B hasn't had a whole lot of luck tracking down the members of their inner circle, except for a couple of fairly minor players. However, if anything turns up that may be relevant to your case, you will be informed. The lead on the investigation into bioticist activites is Detective Walden Olivera. You know him, slightly. He's fairly well liked around the Bureau for his easy-going nature and his good sense of humor. Maybe you should find him and talk to him later, to get some insight into how the bioticists might react to the incident you're investigating.

> Have the lab guys find out King's real name and address. If he's a good programmer, that may give him the means to have rigged the implant to explode. Interviewing him could be worthwhile.

Also, what exactly is Simulacrum? Could you take a look at the victims most recent chat logs on it?

You also send in a request to find the real identity of the man known as King. This probably won't take too long, since you have to provide credit information and such to access the Simulacrum.

The Simulacrum is an advanced virtual world, encompassing everything from magical forests to ancient cities, to the depths of the sea. You create your avatar, customize it, and use it to explore, talk to people, etc. You need a visor to log in, but once you have that it's apparently very life like. You have trouble using it, because of your eyes, but your son is a fan, even if he's only allowed to log in on weekends. And only allowed on the general audience servers. And only allowed to buy anything with explicit parental permission.
As far as you know, the Simulacrum doesn't record conversations, which are vocalized rather than exchanges of text. HQ confirms this for you.

Once you've alerted the department, head over to the victim's former place of employment. His co-workers might be willing to share some information that only those close to him would know.

That done, you decide to head down to the clinic, to see the vic's coworkers. Maybe they'll have some information that will help you out.

---

Well. There sure are a lot of people with signs down there. You are trying to figure out how to get down there without flattening someone. Unfortunately, they're all over the walkway, and several are standing close enough to the charger docks to make you nervous. Eventually, you decide to park one level up and just walk down.

You briefly consider the elevator, but decide the stairs are probably safer. It'll be easier to retreat if they decide to be stupid in addition to unruly today. Evan agrees with your reasoning.

At the bottom of the stairs, you are met with a large cluster of people. They seem to come from all different walks of life, richer and poorer, blue collar and white collar, men and women, all united in their hate for people different than them. It's kind of inspiring... in that it inspires you to want to hit all of them around the head and shoulders with a riot baton for a while.
Some of them have spotted you and Evan, and are headed your way with snarls on their faces.

The one in the lead is holding a sign which reads, "Assimilate This!" with a rather crude (in both meanings of the word) drawing beneath it. Another is wearing a shirt that says, "100% Grade A Human: Accept No Substitute." Several others have shirts with slogans or signs or both. Most of their attention is focused on you, since you're more obviously "different" than Evan, at least at a distance. Maybe you should have worn some sunglasses or something.

"Hey, asshole!"

Ahh, the old classics never go out of style, do they?

"Maybe you're having trouble seeing, but you're not getting anywhere near that crudge-hole! You wanna get a tune-up, maybe you oughta go to a mechanic! And take the robot with you!"

This is met with a general shouting of approval. You're not so impressed. Quite frankly, his rhetoric needs work. And you love how they assume that you just happened to decide, one day, that you were tired of your old eyes and wanted to get some new ones. It doesn't seem to occur to them that it wasn't an entirely voluntary act.

You and Evan glance at each other, Evan smiling slightly. You both reach into your coats and pull out your badges.

"B.E.L.B!" You shout. "Make a path, or we will not hesitate to take you all in for Disturbance of the Peace and Obstruction of Justice!"

"And anything else we can think of on the drive back!" Evan adds.

Several faces blanch in the audience as they realize exactly who they were yelling expletives at. Several... but not all. You walk in, your badge extended before you like a holy talisman, Evan right beside you. The bioticist protesters pull away as you advance. You are surrounded by a mass of sneers and muttered complaints as you make your way through. A few look like they are close to breaking away from the group to do something phenomenally stupid, but none do, for now. You're not particularly worried about this eventuality. You're no slouch in a fight, and you've seen Evan break through a three-inch thick ultiplast door. Bare handed. You would not want to be on the wrong side of that punch.

You make it to the door and walk in, and are confronted by two uniformed enforcers. Seeing your badges, they relax slightly. The more senior of the two looks out past you and shakes her head.

"You guys are lucky those sligs didn't decide to swarm you! Are you crazy?"

Evan quirks an eyebrow. "Have they done anything violent thus far?"

"Well... no," she concedes. "But they look like they might. They've been getting wound up ever since this stoop protest started a couple of weeks ago. If it weren't for me and Lorenzo, here," she gestures at her partner, who nods, "who knows what they'd do? As it is, they yell at anyone nearby, and block the entrance, and spit and throw things at anyone who gets too close. We've had to start sneaking the docs and patients in through the back way."

"...There's a back way?"

You can feel Evan giving you a look. You ignore him.

"Yes sir."Lorenzo points vaguely towards the back of the building. "There were some protesters sneaking around there, too, but I uh... persuaded them to back off."

Evan looks around. "Why don't you have any backup?"

The first officer sighs. "There are a couple of other enforcers out back, keeping it secure, but otherwise..." she shrugs. "We didn't think it would get this bad. The last couple of days have been getting worse. We put in a call to HQ for more people, but they said they couldn't spare it right now."

Which probably means that HQ considers this place small and unimportant enough not to warrant a larger contingent of enforcers.

"Well," you say quietly, "If they do start acting violent, round up the doctors and the patients and get the hell out. This place isn't worth getting killed over."

Lorenzo snorts. "Preaching to the preacher, sir."

> It may also be worth checking out the Dr.'s client list, and ask around if there's anyone who would have reason to want him dead.

You take the time to look around. The clinic looks like... well, a clinic. Off-white walls, light grey carpet, some beaten up chairs and tables. There are a couple of Net consoles on the tables, probably so people can surf the net while they wait if they don't have a NetCom. A few people sit around the room, one or two watching you curiously. A receptionist sits behind the desk up ahead, shifting nervously and trying not to stare.

You walk over and introduce yourself, and break the news to her, that her coworker is dead. You leave out the details, though. She opens her mouth, closes it. Opens it again.

"Doctor Anderson is... he... how...?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out. Will you help us?"

She nods, still trying to compose herself.

"We'd like to talk to everyone here, see if they have any information that can help us in the investigation. And, I'd like a list of his patients, too."

"I... um, I don't know if I can just give you... I'll have to clear it with Doctor Munroe."

"That's fine. In the meantime..."

"Oh, yes. Let me just... I think Doctor Paine is on break right now... He'll be in the break room, just follow me."

She leads you down a hallway and gestures towards a door, before continuing on and knocking at an office door. You enter the break room.

It's not much of a break room. There are a few chairs here, and a table, all even more beat up than the ones out front. A small counter and sink line one wall, where there's a coffee maker, some cups, and a small fridge. There's a small, older man in a white coat sitting at the table, sipping at a cup of coffee and reading something on his NetCom. He glances up as you enter, and clears his throat.

"I believe you have the wrong door, son. Try down the hall a bit, on your left. Unless you're looking for a bathroom, that's--"

You hold up a hand and stop him.
"Doctor Paine? I'm Detective William Case, this is my partner Evan 5-715. We need to ask you some questions."

The doctor blinks. "Oh, my apologies. What do you need to know?"

You explain the situation, still omitting the details. His face falls as you deliver the news.

"...That's... that's very unfortunate. Young Doctor Anderson was a clever boy, one of the better limb specialists I've met. How is his girl, Molly, was it? How is she taking it?"

"It's Marie. And she's not taking it well. She was there when it happened."

The doctor grimaces. "The poor girl. How did it happen?"

"We're not entirely sure. We think it may have had something to do with his artificial voice box."

"His voice box...? I don't see how! We just ran a diagnostic a few weeks ago!"

You and Evan glance at each other. "We?" You prompt.

"Yes, we. Aside from Doctor Munroe, I'm the top specialist in internal implants we have, especially in ear, nose, and throat. I'd help him administer his diagnostics once every three months or so, and take care of any problems we found. Which were few. The MMS Choir-2200 was a very well-built device."

"And were there any problems during his last diagnostic?" You ask, levelly.

"No. Everything was fine. As I said, the Choir was an excellent model."

Hmm.

Well, Doctor Paine seems to be an expert in implants of the type your victim had. Do you think you can trust him? He said Doctor Munroe was a specialist, too, if you'd prefer to wait. Otherwise, there's also a doctor who works directly for the Bureau back at HQ you could talk to.

For now though, is there anything else you want to ask Doctor Paine?

SpoilerShow

This would have been updated yesterday, but my power was out for several hours last night...

Fun Fact: The Simulacrum is (loosely) based on The Metaverse from Snow Crash. Which is a good book! You should read it, if you haven't. Or if you have.