Neo Tropolis Police Department
Case File #3:
People Skills
by Justin Swartz
Neo Tropolis Police
Department: Case Files are copyright Justin Swartz 2002. Any reproduction of this document for purposes
of publication, data storage, archiving, or adaptation, without the expressed
consent of the author, is strictly prohibited and subject to proper legal
action. Yes, this means you. And by the way, all rights reserved.
N.T.P.D. Precinct
6:00pm, June 5th
Year 2012
Yuki pointed his soda can at Melanie.
“You might be on to something,” he said.
Melanie folded her hands on the table and smiled at him.
“I had already informed you that I was designed for police operations, Yuki. Did you not believe me?”
Yuki smiled back. “I do now.” He pushed himself away from his desk and leaned against the cubicle wall in his chair. “You were actually supposed to be David’s partner, huh?”
“That is correct,” Melanie said. “He specifically requested for my presence when news of my creation was released to the district attorney’s office.”
“When the news came out, we were just starting this rash of neoroid violence. Maybe he thought you would help him understand where the neoroids were coming from.”
“Neoroids do not come from any place,” Melanie stated. “They do not have deductive capabilities.”
“So you say.” Yuki’s features grew serious. “How would you explain the incident that resulted in David’s death?”
“I cannot explain it,” she said honestly. “Although I have shared with you what I know, I am unable to determine what the solution is.”
“Sometimes facts don’t always tell you the whole picture,” Yuki said. “If you spend your time looking at the evidence and not at the crime, or the reasons behind it, you can miss the right answer and arrest the wrong man.”
“Achim’s Razor,” Melanie said. “I have heard of it.”
“Based on what you told me, I can make an educated guess.” He stood up from his chair and placed four pieces of paper on the desk. “First, we get a tip from what we thought was an anonymous individual, but you traced the origination address of the e-mail and found that it came from a Lightning Burger manager. Second, that particular franchise is on the same street as the Stallion Motel, where the neoroid took Kristen Barnes.
“Third, the girl wasn’t raped as we had previously assumed, following on the thinking that neoroids just can’t be programmed to do that. But according to you and the latest reports from the research and development team, a neoroid can be programmed to do that, and even worse, commit acts of violence.”
“That kind of programming is limited to androids specifically,” Melanie interjected. “Recently it has appeared in a kind of black market that is hard to trace and pinpoint its origin. The advancing neoroid operating systems make it capable of accepting these illegal programs, but based on the data boxes you have retrieved from the previous crime scenes, I determined that the neoroid’s processors had begun to burn out from the strain the programs placed on its resources.”
Yuki nodded. “That leaves us with the fourth thing on the list: the why.”
“A very complex why.”
“I agree with you there. This is the part that you said you couldn’t figure out.”
“Not enough evidence exists to determine a proper solution. The only solutions I would produce now would be mere speculation and based on circumstantial evidence.” She paused. “But you mentioned that you have an answer.”
“Every single one of these crimes have happened on Camp Street,” Yuki said, taking each piece of paper and arranging it as one would look down on a map of the business-oriented street in Neo Tropolis. “First it was Speedy Luigi’s Italian Joint two weeks ago, with two female waitresses and the manager on duty getting a visit from a pair of neoroids that were from the refueling station across the street.
“Second time we got a call right from the refueling station, saying that the neoroid doorman from the Evans Hills Inn had simply walked off the job and attacked a couple moving things into a rented storage vault behind the inn. The refueling station’s manager said the same thing about his neoroids; they just walked off the job.
“The blank spot is the one from last night…the data box hasn’t been analyzed yet, so we can’t tell who owned that neoroid or where it was from.” He leaned against the cubicle wall again. “My answer is that these are hate crimes. The neoroid always goes after the fairer sex first, and one of the waitresses ended up in the hospital because of the frantic way it goes about the assault. In every case we’ve had to kill the thing with some well-placed shots to the sensors in the head and chest, but we’d never had one blow itself up until last night.”
“You are suggesting that someone is hateful towards women and neoroids, and is satisfying his need to unleash this hate in two ways. He knows that the neoroids will need to be killed, and he also hopes that the women will be injured or murdered.”
“Exactly.” He tilted his head to one side. “Doesn’t that strike you as a hate crime?”
“It strikes me as human error,” Melanie said with a hint of a smile. “Respect for women has grown larger in the past years, and neoroids are almost accepted as a part of society. This individual obviously must be living inside of a closed bubble of ignorance, due to his erratic desires to injure the two most influential kinds of beings in this world.”
“I think men are still influential,” Yuki said in hopes of a proper defense.
“Yet another human error,” Melanie said.
“Hey!”
“Men only think that they are influential,” she said, but it was with a sudden softness and pain that Yuki decided to drop the issue…something he said had sent her into a serious mood swing.
“You’re probably right,” he said, trying to lighten the mood. “I think we should head over to Camp Street and just cruise for some kind of clue, anything that may stand out to us. I’ll take Mia and Marcus along, so you can get to know them.”
There was the sound of knuckles against plastic, and Yuki turned his attention away from the honey blonde android in front of him to the golden blonde in a police uniform that had a pink slip in her hands.
Uh-oh,
he thought to himself. She always
had bad timing.
“What’s going on, Mia?” he asked, clearing his throat.
“Your parents called. Your father says that your grandmother is in the hospital again.” Mia’s eyes softened. “Aren’t you the least bit worried about them? They’ve been calling a lot lately.”
“What am I supposed to do, move back there and run their restaurant for them?” he snapped, and instantly regretted it. “Sorry, I’m just on edge about—“
“David? I know.” Her eyes slid down to Melanie, who had not turned away from Yuki since Mia had started talking.
“Who is this, a friend of yours?” Mia asked.
“This is Melanie from the D.A.’s office,” Yuki said. “She’s my new partner. Apparently she would have been David’s partner, but we all know how that turned out.”
Melanie’s pink irises turned and squared on Mia’s blues, but she frowned at the self-assured girl of Yuki’s possible dreams.
“You are wearing tight clothing in order to attract the attention of the male populous,” Melanie observed. “You have also had early augmentation surgery done to two obvious parts of your anatomy.”
Mia crumbled the pink slip in her hand and put her index finger against Melanie’s petite nose.
“Listen here, missy. I don’t know who you are, and we only just met, but what I do with me is my business, you hear? I don’t care what you think of me, so long as we can work together without you letting everyone know what size I wear and what I’ve got on. Are we clear on that?”
“You appear to be trapped in a bubble of ignorance, Officer Mia. Women are not considered to be objects anymore, and are not allowed to display their bodies in pubic or in the media. You should consider dressing more appropriately.”
Yuki managed to scrape his jaw from the carpet and swallow hard as Mia face began to grow red with frustration.
“Besides, you have an interest in Lieutenant Yuki, do you not?”
Yuki
blinked. What the…
“Since when, you…you…” Mia fumed, throwing the paper on the floor.
“I am not blind. During my conversation with the Lieutenant you purposely ‘wandered’ by his cubicle eighteen times and attempted to drop by five times with a snack, coffee, a note that could be considered fabricated, and a dinner invitation.”
Melanie was speaking with such brisk honesty that Yuki was stunned beyond any comprehensible words.
Wish I
had some right now; Mia’s going to blow a fuse.
“How dare you, you little tramp!”
Several phones dropped from hands and several keys were mistyped in the symphony of sound in the office.
“I resent that remark.”
“I resent you accusing me of being afraid of asking the Lieutenant out, and I resent you thinking that I have an interest in the first place!”
“Faces speak louder than actions on occasion. Your deep concern for his parents indicates your possible intentions of marriage.”
“What!” Mia fumed, causing more keys to go sour and more phones to click off. Yuki could feel a storm of ears and eyeballs surround him on all sides, and it was time to break up the possible catfight that would ensue.
“Mia, go back to your desk and keep an eye on Camp Street for me,” Yuki said.
“I think I’ll do just that!” Mia picked up the paper, threw it on Yuki’s desk, and put a finger to his nose. “And you know what? She seems to be real defensive about you, so you can have her! Enjoy your new partner!”
She walked away then, leaving the rich scent of her perfume behind. Yuki sneezed in reaction to it tickling his nose.
Melanie was quiet for a few moments before her head turned back to face Yuki.
“Did I do something incorrectly?” she inquired.
“Come on, we’re going out to cruise Camp Street.”
“You just told Officer Mia to keep an eye on it.”
“That was so she wouldn’t tear you to pieces.” He snagged his windbreaker off the back of his chair and patted Melanie on the shoulder softly. “You and me are going for a night on the town.”
“Are you suggesting that you are interested in me romantically?”
Yuki shook his head. “No way, Melanie. I just met you.”
“Then why?”
He smiled. “We need to work on your people skills.”
