The uniformed officers still had their disabling stun weapons (stingers) drawn, their arms extended guiding them forward, as they cautiously approached the lifeless body lying in the gutter. Paper, caught in the breeze of passing vehicles gathered around the dead man’s ankles. Detective Sergeant First Class Ulysses Simpson Brill slowly lowered his pulse weapon. He blinked deliberately and then stared at his hands still clutching the device that had, so recently, taken the man’s life. It crackled with residual energy, the glow only now dimming.
Shoving the weapon back into the shoulder holster under his jacket, Brill swallowed hard before yelling to the uniformed officers, “I’m GDF! Keep everybody away from the body and get me the night shift supervisor!”
Panting hard Brill consciously fought to slow his breathing, until he was sucking in deep breaths to calm his spinning head while the uniformed patrolmen scurried around the scene poking at the gathering crowd with their stingers at waist level. Trace cams hissed and sputtered overhead searching for camera angles not covered by the others.
Another uniformed officer arrived, carrying some modicum of authority on his broad shoulders. The average citizen could only afford enough food to carry more than a minimum of weight and muscle on their frame, greater affluence allowed someone to bulk up with either biostimulation (the easiest method) or by old fashioned exercise. Either way, without the addition daily caloric intake it was impossible to increase body size beyond embryonic DNA enhancement (expensive and illegal after the second trimester) or genetic predisposition.
Brill was a bigger man than most through neccessity: he was a Detective Sergeant First Class in the GDF. GDF was the Global Defense Force, the worldwide police agency, while these patrolmen were only local district enforcement, unsure of their authority with a dead body lying in the gutter.
Brill took one more deep gulp of air before holding his ID card, between his right thumb and index finger, to his right eye. Immediately a flat computer generated voice bleated out: “Identified. Brill, Ulysses Simpson. GDF rank Sergeant, access level 6, deadly force authorized…”
The large officer spun quickly barking orders to the others who pressed the crowd to disperse while their stingers snapped and sparked.
A 3D hologram projection of Ully materialized in front of him spinning slowly to insure positive identification.
Every citizen was required to carry their ID card at all times outside their private domicile by order of the world-wide government, Lloyds of London Ltd which now called itself Loyon. On each ID card all manner of information was channeled, through a central information database, to update and display all information requested within seconds.
An ID badge was every citizen’s link to the rest of the world. It contained a small imbedded computer that kept track of a citizen’s bank account, daily errands, security access, health records, in fact, every piece of data connected to that specific individual. To prevent theft the computer in the badge had a triple security system. One was a thumb print reader that sent a random bio-electrical current through the body to determine whether it matched the current received by a second security device: an iris print reader.
All of this was required for the badge to make a positive ID. Then the computer in the badge projected a full size 3D wire model of the person, facial photographs and all pertinent data in a holograph projection further reducing the chances of identity theft. Since the inception of the ID badge fewer than a hundred had ever been successfully stolen and reprogrammed. Blank ID badges could be forged but eventually the main computer system would catch up with the badge holder.
“…any use of such force will be reported…” the disembodied voice continued.
“Computer off…” Brill managed through his labored breathing. All computer systems responded to the address “computer.” Some individuals gave their personal codes for address, often cute names or silly titles, but all systems responded to the word “computer.”
“You okay, sergeant?” Turning back the large patrolman asked Brill when he sat down hard on the curb.
“Yeah,” he puffed heavily before he swatted at a trace cam that darted above his head.
Trace cams were the air-jet powered cameras launched by local and worldwide police agencies. The small plastic cameras relayed data to multiple agencies in real time, each unit was programmed to find an angle not covered by another. Consequently single trace cams whooshed about overhead normally, but anytime an incident triggered the unit’s “spotter” program a swarm would appear quickly. Furtive movements, aggressive motions, or acts that could be interpreted as belligerent would trigger nearby units to dart to the scene each unit jockeying to a new angle whenever another camera was spotted. Many couples engaged in outdoor sexual activities had triggered spotter response finding themselves at the center of a mass of sputtering, hissing trace cams.
People were still needed behind the cameras to determine the true nature of an act—human actions was still too random for a computer to infer motivation—and while law enforcement officials tried to convince the public that nothing escaped the computer’s attention and that all dissolute citizens would be caught eventually, reality was often much different.
“Get a CV in here.” Brill said to the large patrolmen. “And clear this sidewalk.” Brill swept his hand across the crowd milling about, either witnesses to the shooting or curious bystanders alerted by the trace cams speeding to the incident. Several bystanders had their ID cards held high taking pictures of the grisly scene. Brill knew everybody with a sense of the macabre could view this in a matter of minutes. These sorts of incidents sometimes caused flash crowds—crowds that come together rapidly without forethought—and Brill wasn’t ready for that. Not now.
CVs were the coroner vehicles that scurried throughout the city taking away anyone unfortunate enough to die outside the purview of institutional care. The vehicles and accompanying ‘bots removed bodies without complaint at any hour thus maintaining an illusion of perpetual salubrity. But this was the fourth person in a month that could not be taken down with stingers alone.
Only law enforcement agents with the rank of detective or higher even carried lethal force weapons. Stingers had made more powerful weapons impractical, long ago. In the past decade only twenty-three incidents had justified the use of lethal force in the Berlin-Warsaw-Krakow metropolitan area and fifteen of those involved purely psychotic episodes or “de-poles.” De-poles were caused by a sudden and often permanent depolarization of a body’s neurons usually brought about by chemical or electrical stimuli from illegal drugs or from a “wisp.” The only tie between the last four people was each was or had been a street hustler or procurer, known in the street as “wispers” because most were wisp addicts.
*****
Brill had never known a time when ordinary citizen’s access to wisp was common but in his great-great grandfather’s day it was a popular form of recreation. Wisp were the sentient creatures created by an ancient civilization believed long since extinct.
For five centuries humans explored the near galaxy collecting technology left behind by the vanished race. The technology was brought back to earth where companies bid for the right to use the advanced equipment and ideas. The moneys paid to the government covered the costs of further space exploration, until the debacle on M-Pollux 10/1 beta, some three and a half centuries prior. The trip was the most expensive undertaking to date and all the government had to show for it was nearly 25,000 creatures that did nothing more than affect human emotions.
Normally existing within plasma energy envelope, wisp stimulating the emotion centers in the human brain and reaped vital nutrition from the electric impulses carried through the synapse connectors while the human host would receive intensified emotional stimulus as a benefit. The wisp feasted while the host experienced a euphoria beyond any drug The alien creatures were created in the distant past to feed on bio-electrical impulses within the minds of their creators: a recreational stimulant used for relaxation and reward. But for an alien mind.
This self-feeding loop of host and symbiont had prompted some humans to act out antisocial impulses. Because of this, governmental control of the beings that thrived on human emotion was now the rule. High ranking or loyal bureaucrats and those rewarded for community actions could earn time hooked up to a these government controlled creatures with something called wisp time points: or more commonly just “points.” Uncharted or illegally obtained wisp became the milieu of criminals and professional risk takers. In the last couple of decades Lloylon, had dispensed fewer and fewer “whips” (short for wisp points) creating a vacuum in the wake. A vacuum ready to be filled by citizens with nothing to lose and access to an illicit wisp.
The creatures were called wisp because on their home planet the creatures looked like a purple swamp gas in the native noble gas atmosphere and therefore were likened to creatures from the children’s story “Will o’ the Wisp” and called euphemistically “wisp.” Battling against powerful religious leaders, ascetics, and self-proclaimed dervish the government found few licit buyers for the “found technology” causing Loylon, who had insured the near space explorations, to take the government into receivership when bidding was halted amidst the maelstrom of moral and religious controversy.
Loylon became the global administrators after the European Union’s space program lost everything on a mission to M-Pollux 10/1 beta searching for more technology from the mysterious race that left no written records. Their scattered technological devices fueled searches in the near space for any and all remainders. The EU had insured the space flight with Lloyds of London Limited and due to a cascade of fine print, the EU defaulted and Loylon took over the bulk of governmental activities prompting the remaining independent governments to defer their activates to the former insurance company.
Now all executive decisions were handled within a corporate structure, often with the “bottom line” as the overarching imperative. While this reduced international warring and competition between nations it made for lowered expectations in many areas of research and overall enthusiasm amongst the citizens. It was this lack of competition that seemed to breed a general malaise prompting some people to seek excitement outside the established boundaries of societal norms.
That’s when Ully Brill, sergeant Glocal Defence Force, stepped in. Those recruited into GDF were the best law enforcement agents available. In a metropolitan area that covered 140,000 square kilometers and contained over 200 million people, professional procurers could move from place to place or might live on the streets if they could dodge “trace cams.”
Trace cameras constantly hovered above the city streets sputtering and hissing quietly while the bulk of the cameras were at fixed locations, ever vigilant. Trace cams could be directed to the city’s blind spots in the camera network when required, making complete secrecy difficult but not impossible. These mobile cameras were also used to increase the number of supplemental angles crime prevention investigation units could record or monitor in real time.
Sophisticated criminals could alert the computer’s “spotter program” through a stationary camera in a sector far from a planned illegal activity and, before the trace cams and uniformed officers arrived, could disappear into a building or underground while the real crime was taking place elsewhere. By the time the incident was assessed and the spotter program reset itself the culprits could have conducted their illict operation leaving behind only a single video record of their actions.
Given five million live feeds into the central computer and the spotter program’s run and reset time, added to the normal random acts of almost a quarter billion people, a criminal’s chances of not being spotted in a criminal act was about even on any normal day. The ones who did not get caught hedged their bets, and often street hustlers were the people criminals used to engage the computer’s “eye.”
Brill, and those like him, were called in when the regular uniformed officers were stymied because the GDF were recruited from the highest criminal ranks. After a half-dozen close calls with the law Brill was referred to the GDF by a legal aide working for the prosecutor’s office. Evidence against Brill was thin but mounting.
Enter Tatya Chenkovich, Junior Assistant DA.
*****
“We got the whole thing on vid, Ully! You were authorized. Completely authorized!” A shapely young woman maneuvered thought the crowd that stood gawking along the sidewalk despite the unifromed officers. Few citizens had ever witnessed a pulse weapon discharge and fewer had ever seen a dead man lying in the street killed by one.
“Ully, we caught the whole thing. No inquest will be required.” Several uniformed officers started towards the beautiful woman striding confidently onto the scene.
Holding up a badge to her eye a life-size 3D projected picture flashed in front of her accompanied by a flat metallic voice spouting tired legalese.
“Identified. Chenkovich, Tatya Elena. Junior Assistant DA, access level 5, crime scene access authorized…” came the badge’s plaintive computer voice. All eyes turned towards Brill, who was the site commander by virtue of his rank as a GDF Detective.
Nodding, Brill’s gaze never left the body lying in the gutter.
“…. All incidents shall be reported through channels at…”
“Computer off,” the woman spoke in a hurried tone before she slumped onto the curb next to Brill sliding her arm around his shoulders.
“Ully, talk to me,” she begged. “Ully, did you hear me? We caught the whole thing in real time, You were authorized.” Tatya glanced at Brill’s hands. “Ulysses, you’re shaking.” There was concern in her voice.
Still staring at the body Brill drew a deep breath and released it slowly. Turning to face the newcomer he narrowed his eyes.
“You’re a little late to recruit this one unless you have a bent towards necrophilia. He was one of us, ya know, GDF.” Brill nodded towards the dead man.
“Ully, let it go, please! This is exactly why we…” She looked to him pleadingly.
“What are you doing ‘on scene?’ Have you been demoted?” Brill interrupted her.
Cocking her head to one side she replied, “No. I have been assigned to work with you on this incident.”
“Oh, come on. Did they assign you to have sex with me, too?”
Jumping up the woman grabbed at Brill’s elbow trying to pull him to his feet.
“Damn it, Ully…” she growled through clentched teeth.
Jerking his arm away from her grasp he snapped, “Detective First Class Brill…”
“Piss! I knew you when you were just a wisper hustling for a…” Tatya stopped when she noticed Brill staring towards the crowd. She spun her gaze in the same direction. The prying eyes of uniformed officers were staring at the two former lovers as they sparred.
Brill shouted to no one in particular, “Pay attention to you job! Keep those people away from the body.” The uniformed officers turned away from the two and back to the task of herding citizens along the sidewalks.
“Damn! What’s taking that CV so long?” Brill spat.
With his statement a CV slid to a stop on the scene scattering the crowd in the street. A tall smiling man wearing the rank of Captain of the GDF on his shoulder stepped out of vehicle as a forensic trace cam circled the body taking pictures from every possible angle. No provisions were made for humans in the CV, no humans alive anyway, so it was rather odd that the man used it for transportation.
Spotting Brill, the man moved towards him in even strides. Holding up a badge to his eye the computer introduced the man.
“Identified. Smith, Balkan Stephan. GDF rank Captain, Access level 4, deadly force authorized, supervisory level…” A murmer shot through the crowd as few citizens had ever seen an access level 4 on the street.
“Computer stop…” The man spoke quietly with a wide grin affixed as he approached the Brill.
“Detective Brill?”
“Yes sir,” Brill rose unsteadily and their hands met.
Brill returned his gaze to the dead body on the ground. He was responsible to make sure nothing happened to the body “…that might result in any loss of evidence.”
“Call me Smitty. I’m here to relieve you for an inquest.”
Stepping in between the men Tatya spoke, “That won’t be necessary, Captain.”
Smitty’s smile faded slightly. “And, who might you be?”
Holding up her badge to her eye as the computer began, “Identified. Chenkovich,Tatya Ele…”
“Computer off.” Brill interrupted. “Sir, I could use some time to… “
“Smitty, please. I’m here to help you.” The man beamed. “Is this the first time you’ve used lethal force?”
Nodding his head, Brill answered. “Yeah, I… I’m a little shook up…”
“That’s understandable.” Turning towards Tatya the captain continued. “Are you from the Coroner’s office?”
“No, Captain. I’m from the DA,” she answered pointedly. “We caught the incident in real time. Trace cams were on site and the DA’s already cleared Detective Brill of any culpability and would like to see him stay on duty.”
The Coroners’ attendant ‘bot scooped up the dead body slowly.
Smitty, snatched up his badge and spoke into it, “Computer, send a priority message to any 6-3 on duty, request for DA’s response to incident involving Detective Sergeant First Class Brill, this location.”
Smitty had put in a call for someone far up the chain of command. Any person designated as a “6″ was involved in law enforcement and the last number was their access rating. A rating of “3″ was very high. Brill had met only a dozen people with a “3″ access code and only once had he shaken hands in a reception line with a “2″. Smitty was looking for someone of importance.
Lowering his badge he glanced back to Tatya, still maintaining his serene smile. “The DA cleared this awfully fast don’t you think, young lady?”
“You condescending bastard! I have a 5 access and have worked hard to…”
His grin never faded. “Okay, okay. If you’ll allow me to talk with my sergeant I’d appreciate it.”
With a scowl she nodded her assent.
The man turned back towards Brill. “It’s a difficult thing to take a man’s life.” He was staring at Brill but addressing the young assistant DA.
Brill stumbled backward slightly grabbing hold of Smitty’s arm to steady himself.
“Sit down, Brill! Breathe deep, I need a med ‘bot!” The captain pushed Brill to the curb. Brill lowered his head until it was tucked between his knees. Smitty and Tatya spun towards the attendant Coroner’s ‘bot at the same time. The pulse weapon had liquefied a portion of the man’s body and an arm had fallen out of his sleeve, onto the ground. Brill was hit by a wave of nausea by the sight.
“Oh Jesus, Ully. Don’t look at it.,” Tatya whispered.
“Yeah,” Brill panted.
“Where’s that ‘bot!” Smitty yelled above the din.
From a nearby alcove a med ‘bot, shorter than the one from the CV, waddled out into the crowd apologizing with each new human encounter.
“Please, pardon me. A citizen is in need of assistance. Please, pardon me…”
Brill sucked in deep breaths now.
“Get that thing on the CV!” Smitty barked at the nearest patrolman. The uniformed officers did not move, but instead looked to one another wide-eyed instead.
“You,” Smitty barked, pointing to the man closest to the offending arm, “Get that outta here, now!”
With trepidation the man moved forward to the arm and snatched it up quickly, throwing it towards the back of the morgue vehicle quickly as though it were contagious. The arm bounced off a ‘bot and fell to the ground. The med ‘bot took a quick reading of the arm as it passed, finding it had no life readings continued towards Brill.
The Coroner’s ‘bot slowly picked up the limb and placed it inside the coffin shaped carrier.
The med ‘bot stopped at Brill’s side, and began measuring all vital signs from a distance of about half a meter.
“Sir, I’m afraid you’ve experienced a temporary lack of blood to the brain with accompanying dizziness and…”
“Shut up! Computer off!” Brill kicked at the device that hovered near his feet.
“Please, pardon me, while I check for damage to this unit.” The ‘bot was now silent as it ran internal system checks.
“Ully. Come on, look at me,” Tatya knelt down in front of Brill. When he finally stared up at her and focused his eyes she hugged him tightly.
“I’m okay, now,” Brill said hoarsely.
“You still think he should stay on duty, Miss..?”
“…Chenkovich and the DA’s report has…” Tatya stood up quickly to face Smitty.
Holding up his open palm, Smitty signaled Tatya to stop. He looked down at his badge as it flickered with text scrolling across its screen. After a time he looked up. Smiling broadly at Tatya he said, “Miss Chenkovich, Detective Brill is on duty. I’ll take care of the body don’t worry about it.”
Brill struggled to get to his feet while the medical robot advised against it. “Sir, I’m afraid you’ve experienced a temporary lack of blood to the brain…”
“Computer stop!” Brill snapped. The computer voice in the medical robot immediately stopped speaking.
“I have to stay with the body until it’s turned over to the Coroner’s Office.” Brill murmured.
Smitty beamed. “Detective Brill, you have done a valuable service, and you’re under stress. Your duty’s completed, take some time, gather yourself…”
“I can’t hand this off to a ‘bot…”
Pointing to the vehicle, the Captain continued, “I’ll go with the body, okay? Get some rest. That’s an order.” Brill shrugged as Smitty held his smile and turned directly towards Tatya.
“Let the pretty lady take you home,” Smitty nodded at the woman while she scowled back at him. “Take care of him, okay? It’s difficult to take another man’s life.”
Tatya answered softly, “Sure, I’ll see that he gets…”
Smitty finished her sentence, “See that he gets drunk.” The captain turned on his, heel and walked to the Coroners’ vehicle. The door closed behind him and the vehicle silently slid away from the scene scattering the crowd once again.
Brill leaned in on Tatya and began to walk. The medical robot began asking him more questions as he moved. He kicked the robot squarely on the wheel assembly causing it withdraw both wheels inside for another assessment and repair.
“Sir, you may have injured your foot. Allow me to run a scan while I make repairs…”
“Computer, stop!” Brill yelled at the med robot. Snaking his arm around Tatya’s waist he pressed her body close to his and peered into her eyes.
“This is what I need.” Brill’s leer caused her to blush.
The pair stood as one, her arms around his chest supporting him.
“What an ass,” she whispered meaning the GDF captain.
Brill threw his head back so he could take in Tatya’s backside.
“Uh huh.” He replied musically.
“Stop it,” she giggled slapping at him playfully. “Let’s get you home.”
*****
When Brill had been recruited to GDF he underwent a period of evaluation lasting a year. Through the entire time his mentor had been Tatya Chenkovich. During that time they became intimate and Brill found himself deeply in love with her. She was funny, beautiful, and seemed to return his feelings. Two weeks after his evaluation period was over Tatya had moved from her apartment and Brill was instructed by his superiors not to contact her again.
*****
The moment the pair walked through the door to his apartment, Brill asked Tatya if she could stay.
“I’m not supposed to, Ully.”
“Sure, I get it. Your job was done after I agreed to join up, right?” Brill grabbed a bottle from a cabinet in the kitchen and spun the cap off. Then he leaned onto his elbows, resting on the counter while glaring into Tatya’s steely blue eyes, challenging her.
In a measured and controlled voice Tatya began. “I was ordered to break it off with you because I couldn’t be expected to maintain my impartiality in a case like today’s. My job is to decide whether a GDF agent acted in a manner befitting the crime.”
“You didn’t care about that when GDF came to my place and kicked in my door,” he said before he took a long pull on the bottle.
“I didn’t even know you then.”
*****
Before Brill was recruited by the GDF he had been a hardcore wisper.
Possessing the ability to coordinate large numbers of other wispers Brill had made off with several food shipments destined for entire sectors. His brazen ability to confuse the spotter programs and trace cams was legendary. His last great theft involved setting up mirrors inside the hallway of the food bank. When the alarms went off at the sector center, trace cams were immediately dispatched. With the fixed cams blacked out—balloons filled with paint tossed at them had done the job easily—the trace cams arrived.
Trace cams had no pre-programmed routes: this was done in order to eliminate detectable patterns of movement. Additionally, the floating cameras reported their positions only when they detected human activity that triggered their “spotter programs” thus insuring that no one could track the movements of the free flying devices.
Trace cams were programmed to move to a different area if another trace cam was on site. As each trace cam arrived on scene the mirrors created the illusion that another trace cam had arrived to survey the area. By the time the sector police had figured out what was going on Brill and his gang of thieves were long gone. Brill had spent an entire twelve hours connected to a wisp after that job.
One day a wisp dealer gave Brill over to the authorities rather than undergo a wisp police interrogation with a PNICR. A wisp could be trained to access fear or pain centers of the brain as well as pleasure and PNICRs, pronounced pincers, Police Non-cooperative Interrogation Control Regimen were nasty things to be avoided.
*****
“Okay, so what are you doing here now? Is there something I’m being recruited for?” Brill asked downing another swallow.
“Damn it, Ully! I volunteered to work with you on this assignment.”
Stopping the bottle halfway to the counter, Brill snapped, “What assignment?”
Tatya lowered her eyes and shifted her weight. “There was a request from an access level 2 to track down some college students who are suspected wispers.”
“Access level 2. You’re working the big room, huh?”
“Ully, please. I need somebody who knows the lifestyle. Someone they can trust.”
“Someone ‘who’ can trust?”
Looking at the tile on the floor for an answer. Tatya drew a deep breath and said, “‘Flo and Eddie’ and maybe Billy Weed.”
“I knew it,” Brill slammed down the bottle sloshing the contents inside. “What makes you think I would work against my old partners? They know I’m GDF.”
“Let the DA worry about that. My job is get your help.”
“Are you authorized to do whatever needs to be done to get me to work on this?”
“Yes, I am, Ully.” Tatya said plainly
“Including sleep with me?”
“Come on, Ully. That’s not fair! I almost lost my…” She stopped dead.
“Lost your what?”
“Nothing.”
“Answer me or find a new boy,” Brill took another long drink.
Exhaling sharply Tatya shook her head. “I almost lost my 5 access…”
An access rating was paramount to every citizen and losing it could mean losing everything.
Brill stared at Tatya for a long time. God, she is beautiful he thought. Slowly he spoke.
“I’m sorry. I…” he hesitated. “I had no idea. Was it because I was a wisper?”
“No,” Tatya replied quietly. “They wanted you to go underground and find something and I told them I didn’t think it would be wise… You were a new detective and you’d just gotten yourself straight and they told me I had lost my objectivity.”
“What was I supposed to do?”
“Go after that same wisp that made the guy you… um…”
Closing his eyes momentarily, Brill said softly, “… killed?”
“Yes,” Tatya finished. “You were supposed to find that wisp so it could be eliminated. You were supposed to hook up and then when you found it…”
“Wait a minute. That could’ve been me tonight,” Brill pushed himself away from the counter and stood tall. “They wanted me to catch a ‘bad brain?’ This guy de-poled on that wisp.”
A “bad brain” was street language for a wisp that might cause a human to have portions of their brain permanently depolarize. Electronic messages carried in the nervous system travel by a sudden change of the normally positive ions spreading a de-polarizing signal along nerve fibers. To have large number of nerve fibers fail to return to a normal balance could produce brutal behavior changes in humans. A couple of dozen “bad brains” had been seen in the last decade and every street wisper shared tales of these unpredictable wisp that could push a user to anything from manic violence to a catatonic stupor. Some wispers never fully recovered.
Tatya stared at the floor for a moment. Shaking her head sadly she continued. “That was a brand new detective. He was… they wanted you…”
Stepping forward Brill slid his arms around Tatya’s waist and she melted into him.
“Ully, I didn’t want anything to happen to you.” Now she was weeping softly and Brill let out a long sigh of resignation.
“Tea, I’ll do whatever you want.” Brill used his pet name for her.
“You know, that’s the first time you have called me that since you saw me again.” Brill kissed the top of her head just as his badge lit up and vibrated slightly. Sniffing Tatya pulled away from Brill.
“You better get that. You’re still on duty, you know,” she said with a weak smile.
Placing his thumb on the corner of the badge the computer ID’ed him and put the written message on the small screen. Most people of the present day could not read due to the ubiquitous verbal translators that existed in all aspects of everyday life. This created a self-selecting elite: those who could learn to read were often the ones in charge, or the ones to be watched closely.
Tatya had maneuvered into the bathroom to wash her face while Brill read the message. It made no sense to him. He spoke flatly into the card.
“Computer; message in reply: body in the custody of… um,” he struggled to remember the man’s name. “Smith… uh, captain, GDF, introduction on file, my card.” Badges recorded all introductions from other badges for a period of 72 hours internally and all others were logged in a data bank that could last a lifetime or longer.
Glancing up just as Tatya reentered the kitchen Brill spoke. “They’re calling about the body. Smitty must’ve taken a detour or something.”
Tatya’s brow furrowed. She pressed her thumb on the corner of her badge and snapped, “Computer, messages.” Scanning the glowing card briefly she then turned back to Brill. “The DA has no record of Balkan Smith in GDF. They must have ran his ID when he showed up on scene. It says ‘No release authorized.’”
Brill’s card flashed again. Watching as the words scrolled across his screen he slowly looked back at Tatya. “One of the officers on scene tonight, has just been found murdered,” Brill said incredulously. “I’m supposed to investigate.”
Murders were rare given the ubiquitous trace cams and fixed cameras. Violence was kept a minimum and citizens convicted of any previous violent were assisgned trace cams that followed their every move.
“I’m coming too,” Tatya replied.
“Wait a minute, we’re looking at a person who is patently dangerous with the ability to kill another person and…”
Tatya’s eyes searched his as she whispered, “So are you.”
Taking a deep breath Brill replied, “Yeah, I guess that’s true. Okay, stay close. I don’t want anything to happen you.” Brill pulled Tatya close to his side inhaling her scent deeply.
*****
Arriving on scene Brill held up his badge up to his eye, “Identified. Brill, Ulysses Simpson, Detective Sergeant First Class GDF. Access level 6…” droned the computer.
“Computer off. Who found him?” Brill asked without a break.
A uniformed officer pointed to a hovering trace cam. Tatya stepped forward and let the computer ID her and instructed the cam to download to her badge. All camera’s information was the purview of the DA’s office not law enforcement.
Brill peered over Tatya’s shoulder while her badge’s screen replayed the discovery. It held nothing of interest. Brill knelt to look closely at the body. This was only the second dead body he had seen but already he felt he was becoming an expert. Only a hand full of GDF agents had seen two dead bodies in a career. Brill was a hardened veteran with two in a single night.
“Stay with this body until the CV arrives and go to the morgue with it,” Brill barked at a uniformed officer standing nearest him. The officer glanced at the other officers and then back at Brill.
“Why me?”
Brill stepped towards the officer and asked, “What’s your name, officer?”
Confused, the man replied, “Michaels, Officer Second Class.”
With an overly serious expression pasted on his face Brill continued, “Would you like to be in the GDF, Michaels?”
Michaels’ face lit up. GDF were considered the elite law enforcement. “Sure.”
“Do this and I’ll see if I can get an interview for ya.”
Standing tall and throwing his shoulders back, Michaels barked, “You got it, detective.”
Tatya turned away to hide a smirk. Brill had no such power, but now he nodded sharply to the officer and stepped to Tatya’s side.
“Quit smiling.” Brill was fighting to hide his own amusement.
Standing tall and throwing her shoulders back, Tatya replied, “You got it, detective.” Clutching her elbow he spun Tatya away from scene and around the corner. He held her in his arms pressing himself into her pliant body.
“You never change, do you?” Then he leaned into her and kissed her deeply.
“And, neither do you,” she said pushing him away. “What do you think about this guy?”
“Oh yeah, that,” he joked before shifting gears. “Did you see the strap marks on his head?”
Straps with metal conductors were often used by low level or cut rate dealers to allow a wisp’s to enter and exit a human’s mind but always used if trying to retrieve one from a subject unwilling to release it. Most dealers could not afford the elaborate programming Lloylon used to coax a wisp back into a storage device, called a “sink.” In his wisper days Brill was often been called upon by dealers to train wisp to return to whatever sink the dealer might use to house them.
“It looks like the straps marks were tight so whoever did this was hoping to find a wisp, and probably didn’t. The next place I’d look would be in an electronic system. Like a ‘bot maybe.”
Beings that existed as a series of programmed electronic impulses could live inside a circuit providing the current was not too high. That’s where the bulk of the first wisp were found: inside the landing craft electronics systems that returned from Pollux M10/1beta.
“Why would anyone think this guy had a wisp on him?” Tatya asked.
“I don’t know, but that’s what they were looking for. Maybe they thought he got that wisp that de-poled that GDF guy. This is the guy who picked up the arm.” Brill recognized the officer from the crime scene.
Tatya picked up her card to report their discussion but Brill pulled her arm down. “I think we should keep things off line. This Smitty guy could be pulling strings.”
“You think it’s GDF doing this?”
“I don’t know about GDF but Smitty is the most likely suspect. And if he can produce a counterfeit ‘4′ level access badge he’s got friends inside. We need to go to the source to find every ‘bot at that site. Where is the med station closest to that site?”
“Probably, eighteenth sector. But why do you think someone would try to steal a bad brain?”
“It’s still a wisp and some people would do anything to get one.”
“Yeah, but if Smitty found it somewhere else then we’ve got no place to look.”
Brill shrugged. “Then we try something new.”
Looking at a map on her small screen, she pointed to the nearest med station in the sector where the shooting occurred. Brill offered his elbow to Tatya and together they headed down the street, arm in arm.
The med station was busy when they arrived. Tatya winked at Brill. “Let me get this one,” she said with a smile. Stepping forward to the scanner she ID’ed herself and told the desk cam to notify the human on duty. All computerized functions had some human working in the background. Whether they were paying attention or not, some human was responsible. A woman stepped from the back room rubbing sleep out of her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Yeah,” she croaked.
“DA’s office. I have a couple of questions.” The woman’s eyes opened wide. “We’re looking for a specific med ‘bot. Can we count on your discretion?” Now, it was Brill’s turn to hide a smile. The woman nodded. Tatya turned back to Brill questioningly.
Brill stared blankly for several seconds then his expression changed.
“I kicked that one ‘bot. Find out how many med ‘bots did field repairs tonight.”
The woman already was searching the log screen. Images flashed. A computer voice said, “B, two thirty six…”
The woman squinted at the stalls trying to determine the letter “B” and the numbers. Finally she said, “Um… B-236, right here did a field repair” Then the woman pointing to an empty stall. “It should be right there.”
Brill stepped forward, “Who else has been here tonight?”
The woman stared at the screen until a face flashed on it. Her mouth hung open. “Some captain, GDF. It was before I came on duty.”
“Thank you. Would you ‘override erase’ our visit?” Tatya still maintained her serious tone.
The woman nodded. As they left the building they looked at each other. Tatya spoke first. “Smith is the guy we need to talk to.”
“Well, let’s see what the morgue has, first.”
“Oh come on, Ully. You think he missed something there?” Tatya asked.
“We don’t have any other leads?” Brill stared at her as they both paused.
Tatya’s gaze wandered briefly then she gently pushed him backwards and broke into a run, “Race you there…” Several trace cams appeared following the couple briefly before they disappeared as quickly.
The human on duty at the morgue was not happy about being roused at such an late hour.
“Yeah, Smith was here. Told me, a lowly access 8, to call him Smitty,” the man replied caustically shaking his head. Brill asked what Smith had looked at. The man replied, “Why’re you asking me?”
Brill spoke. “This man Smith may be involved in a wisp theft…”
“Hey! I’ve been clean for two years now, I don’t need any trouble, okay?” The man blurted out.
Looking closely Brill noticed several small scars on his forehead: the marks of a long time whisper. A small time whisper could only afford a short time hook up so they had to visit the dealer often, which sometimes led to permanent scaring on the forehead; almost imperceptible, except to an expert… like a former whisper.
Brill rolled up his sleeve. There in blue ink was a tattoo symbol of Brill’s old gang (they often left their calling card with that symbol). It was something Brill refused to have removed when he became a GDF agent. The man’s eyes grew wide.
“Bullshit, that’d make you…” Brill held up his badge to his eye while the computer ID’ed him. Every wisper knew of Brill, at least by reputation.
“No way, Flo and Eddie said…” The man stopped speaking abruptly. Flo and Eddie, Brill’s old partners, were the biggest wisp dealers in the area.
“I’m not after you or Flo and Eddie. I need information on that Smitty guy. He may be carrying a ‘bad brain’ and if he comes back, run, then call GDF, got it?” Brill glared at the man.
“He’s really got a ‘bad brain?’” The man asked quietly.
“Don’t know.” Brill pointed towards Tatya and continued. “But the DA is looking for anybody who has had contact with this Smitty guy.”
The man nervously began, “He just came in and looked around and then took some equipment and left. I didn’t touch him or any metal surface that he did. Honestly.” Wisp could move across metal surfaces or between skin to skin contact.
Brill saw a flash of fear in the man’s eyes. Suspected wispers could be held by the DA for five days without cause. At the end of much time any hardcore wisper would be climbing the walls.
Tatya looked directly at Brill and spoke too loudly, “Detective, I’m here in an unofficial capacity. If you interrogate anyone here I have no knowledge of it.” With that she turned towards the door and took several steps.
Brill turned to look directly at the man and glared. “Interrogation” was a word that every wisper dreaded.
“He took… um,” the man stammered while he stared down at his screen, “…a retrieval ‘bot and… and a transport vehicle.”
“All right. Don’t say your name. I don’t want to know it.” Brill turned to leave but then turned back. “If you see Flo and Eddie, tell ‘em I said ‘hello.’”
“Oh no, Detective, I’m clean…” the man snapped.
Brill broke in, “I know, I know. I said ‘if.’” Brill walked towards the door with Tatya.
“Detective?” the man called out. Turning again Brill faced the man behind the counter. “That Smitty guy took the wrong transport vehicle.” Brill stepped back to the counter quickly.
“How’s that?”
“We recharge a vehicle after every trip but not the ‘bots. He took the right ‘bot but a different carrier. The one that was used is still on the charger.”
“Has it been taking current the whole time?”
The man glanced at his log again, “Yeah, it was really low for some reason.” Wisp, electronic by nature, could not travel against a positive current. That meant that the wisp, if it was in the vehicle, had not gotten into the power gird, where it could hide indefinitely.
Brill reached into his pocket and pulled out fifty food credits and handed it to the man saying, “Forget we were here, disconnect that vehicle and don’t touch it. It might have that a bad brain. And remember: if Smitty comes back, call GDF.” The man nodded in response.
Food credits were expenses not covered by ID cards. Loylon realized long ago that food credits exchanged without processing through the bureaucracy increased entrepreneurial spirit so the practice expanded to a point were it almost rivaled the “official” exchange medium conducted with ID cards.
Brill walked towards the door and stopped again. Turning towards the man Brill pointed at the food credits in his hand, “Don’t give that to Flo and Eddie. Tell ‘em they owe me one for this.”
Then Brill and Tatya disappeared into the night.
Walking along the sidewalk Tatya was obviously upset. “Why did you tell that guy what might be in that vehicle?”
“Who better to take care of a bad brain than Flo and Eddie. It’ll be safe with them and then we’ll know where to get it… if it’s in there. We’ll know for sure if Smitty comes back for that carrier.”
“All right, Sherlock Holmes, what do we do now?” she asked.
Brill smiled lasciviously as he pulled Tatya close pressing her hip to his waist.
She glanced down between them. “Put that thing away before you poke someone’s eye out!”
Brill laughed aloud. Shaking her head in resignation she sighed, “Okay, we’ll get a hotel room.”
They left with their arms entwined.
