Hello below is a story set in a cyberpunk world I?m trying to get off the ground. It?s set on a Terraformed Mars where high tech and low lives intersect. The start of the story just offers some back ground into the world then it?s about two cops arriving at an apartment building where a dead body has been found and their take on what happened.
Anyway I hope you enjoy it and if you?d like to be a part of the RP please check us out here. roleplay/midnight-run/
Old Fashioned Police Work- A Midnight Run Story.
It was 2101 and I was 21 years old and a beat officer in the Martian Security Service, I had been putting the uniform on for just under two year when Luis Campo died. Two years meant I was coming up to the end of my probation period when I?d finally get to hand in the badge that said ?Probationary Officer? and get the shield that said ?Officer?. A proud day for most I guess but things between the family and me were pretty strained. Dad had wanted me to go business school but I knew it wasn?t for me so I took the Academy exam, got in and never really looked back. Sure I missed my mum and sister but Dad made it impossible to go home. The Japanese trait of disappointment in one?s children turned out to be a stereotype my Father lived up to.
Obviously the Assault Course at the Academy was a joke, the amount of Augments the recruits had made it a walk in the park. Back then I just had Nanofibre in my legs and the basic Neural implant package with limited net connectivity, I never understand the people who get the Pro rigs. I guess I just don?t fancy sticking a 10 centimetre long spike into my head just to experience the ?Immersive Net?.
With my first pay check I got Auged up, I think everyone did. The credits went on more Nanofibre muscle grafted directly on to my existing muscle. I always just get Augments never replacements. I remember a lecture we got from a Hero cop called Richard Deckard who had a fully synthetic right arm, he explained his rationale for getting it was for use in crowd control situations. He reckoned it worked well, it could pick a grape without destroying it or throw a grown man clear across a room. That sound like all Deckard wanted some grapes and violence. I thought it sounded really clique but then he told us about the Disruptor.
Disruptors fire a focused blast of EMP, most Synths have some kind of shielding these days but back in 2078 it was only available with the highest spec Replacements. The kind of Replacement Deckard didn?t have. He was responding to a domestic dispute when his Synth arm abruptly went dead. Totally dead. He wasn?t even getting feedback, the arm had just become an inert lump of Carbon fibre and nanofibre. That?s when the guy slugged him.
Worst fight of his life he called it he didn?t even have one hand tied behind his back he just had one hand. His partner was restraining the Guy?s wife while Deckard took the mother of all beatings. Couldn?t even reach for his pistol because his draw hand was his right. He got desperate and more than a little lucky when he kicked out and caught the guy in the groin which quickly brought the big man down. Turned out the wife had fired the disruptor, she didn?t know what it did but knew her husband kept it in the sock drawer.
Moral of the story is Synth Limbs have an off switch while natural beef don?t quit. That story stuck with me I guess, I used to have nightmares about someone turning off my eyes or my legs turning to into immobile lumps. That?s why I always augment never replace. They can do allsorts with Nanofiber grafts, gives you the strength when you need it and if someone does get creative with a disruptor you still got whatever your God gave you.
#
The Contacts are probably my most invasive procedure, but compared to other things I?ve seen they?re not too bad. They are lenses that are bonded to the surface of your eye. They?ve got all the standard Augmented Reality stuff but mine are MSS spec, so they work in conjunction with the MSS central database while also offering some protection from shrapnel that would have otherwise turned you into a Cyclops. The Nanofibre muscles are there mainly if someone cuts up rough but these days I try to avoid that happening as I don?t really want to go toe to toe with a muscle boy, Neo-Ninja or someone in contraband replacements. If it does happen that?s what I have the service pistol and the Hoke SMG for.
#
The call from dispatch was patched straight through to my contacts and a plump woman in a small screen appeared in the bottom left corner of my field of view.
?Foxtrot- 12 this is dispatch we have a 419 in Dunstead building over on Eighty-Ninth street.?
The address was superfluous as my contacts were already displaying the route to the 419 superimposed over the city beneath us.
?We got it dispatch.? Phelps said aloud, the microphone implanted in his throat picked up the words.
Phelps waited for the connection to dispatch to end before continuing.
?Pop quiz what's a 419??
?Someone found a human body.?
Phelps nodded it was as close I?d seen him come to saying ?well done? or ?Atta Boy?.
Phelps was my senior officer, a good man who worked the streets of Kaiser for nearly twenty years. In it for the people not the excitement, if you become a cop for excitement odds are you?re going to be disappointed.
I felt the knot for apprehension grow in my stomach Eighty-Ninth street was a bad street in a bad town. Kaiser was the kind of place where you?d see a homeless, strung out, junkie down an alley begging for solo and in the next street to see a Executive of one of the big three Corporations getting out of a stretch limo with something glamorous on their arm. Eighty-ninth up to Hundred and second street was different though, the wealthy stayed away.
It was the ghetto, filled with the poor, the addicts and the gangs. I was scared, not for my physical safety, in any city the cops are always the biggest gang. It?s the code everyone understands, you fuck with a cop odds are its gonna catch up to you, and probably catch up anyone involved with you as well.
The Ghetto is all about face or respect, without it you may as well have nothing. Phelps had it but he?d earned it through years of working there. People liked Officer Phelps he knew when to enforce the rules and when to bend them. He always said discretion is the most important thing in a cop?s tool kit. I see that now but at the timeI craved the respect he had. I was just a young face in a uniform and to get respect first I had to get them to fear me, the respect would come after that.
It?s just the way humans are wired, same way with any animal all about hierarchies. The nervousness came because I knew any loss of face would be remembered and to lose face was to expose weakness. In the Ghetto that could be deadly.
#
Phelps parked on the roof of the apartment block, the VTOL was emblazoned with the standard MSS logo and stuck out like a sore thumb beside the junkers on the lot. I remember looking at the dark blue sky above, the atmosphere was thin here and the solar wind was blowing it completly away and into space just a couple of hundred metres above my head. I looked at the glinting Atmo ring that went around the diameter of the crater. It was keeping me and everyone in the city alive by constantly pumping atmosphere into the crater where it had some protection.
It smelled clean.
#
The Dunstead building did not.
Twenty four floors plus the parking lot filled with train wrecks of lives. Bloodshot eyes peered from behind chained doors that quickly slammed shut as we made our way across dirty carpets, littered with broken glass, empty syringes and dark mystery stains. The contacts told me we were going to the fourteenth floor room 1419.
?That?s a friendlier part of the building, troublemakers tend to lurk down in the lower parts of the building or in the stairwells. Always watch yourself in the stairwells.? Phelps said as we made our way to the stairs. It felt like he was speaking from experience. It was unwise to get in the elevator especially with just two cops on the scene all it took was one joker to ruin your day.
Phelps seemed calm and I suppose he was, he?d done this a thousand times. I was eyeballing everything like a trouble could be anywhere while trying to exude the relaxed authority Phelps had but I felt like a lost child. The place was buzzing with a kind of kinetic energy and air of malice, like a Wasp?s nest. Muffled voices and all the other human noises you hear when people are stacked on top of eachother filled the air.
#
Room 1419 was open when arrived. Phelps raised his fist, the signal for me to wait. His muscles flexed and popped making his shirt tighter. It told me he?d just active his muscle Augs. I did the same and my skin felt a little tighter for a few moments. Phelps? pistol was in his large hands, again I did the same. The gun was loaded with tungsten rounds, enough to force punch through the ballistic gel inside some Synths if needed while it would turn organic material into hamburger.
The door was slightly ajar so Phelps gently pushed it open, kicking it would just cause it swing back into his face as he tried to enter the room, a thing I?d learned at the academy assault course for the price of a broken nose.
?MSS! We?re coming in!?
He strode into the room like he owned it and I followed after covering the rear.
A tall thin man stood beside a pale man. Instantly I knew the pale man was a Synth. Beside them on a sofa was Luis Campo. He had a red hole in his forehead and his brains were splattered on the wall behind. The blood looked dark and dry. It reminded me of the stains on the carpet I?d noticed coming in.
?Woah Officers! I?m the building Super. This is my boy Timo.? The thin man said. I hated it when people called Synths ?their boy? it was degrading to them, made it sound like they were a slave. Then again it was only 2101 less than two years since Synths got personhood.
?We found Campo like this. He?s late on his rent.? The thin man said stammering slightly.
?Ok ok, hold up what?s your name??
?Marvin Hannah.?
?Ok Mr Hannah you?re the super and this is your associate Timo??
Phelps had the same outlook as me on Synths, if they could think and feel emotion they were people. He never spoke like they were property.
The thin man nodded.
?Ok I?m Officer Phelps and this is Probationary Officer Kojima I want both of you to know I?m going to record this conversation alright??
?That?s fine.?
Timo just nodded.
Phelps? muscles lost their definition as he deactivated the muscle Augs. I did the same and holstered my weapon while Phelps ran through the legal stuff for the recording. I activated my own recorder as I looked around the scene. It was the first responders duty to being the investigation and record everything as it cut down on the length of time offenders had to get their story straight or clean up a scene. The recordings would then be passed on to the Detectives.
?Ok so you and Timo came up here to get the rent money from Mr Campo??
Marvin Hannah nodded.
?So I?m guessing that?s your bat then?? Phelps said pointing at a bat resting beside the wall. Again I noticed dark stains.
Marvin looked ashen and then nodded slowly.
The place had two rooms. The larger of the two was a kitchen bedroom combo I guessed the couch folded out into a bed. The place was pretty tidy considering the building, the carpet looked clean and the kitchen area was in good order. The smaller room was a bathroom and it looked like you could have crap, shower and brush your teeth at the same time. The building was a shithole but he kept his space well, told me something about the man.
I returned to the larger room where Phelps continued his questioning.
?How late is Mr Campo?s rent??
?Three weeks.?
?You bring a bat for three weeks? Only break out the shotgun after a month, eh??
I looked at Campo. He was fat and old, obviously he didn?t have enough cash get a doctor to cut the years off his face. I guessed he was in his middle fifties. He was wearing a string vest and a pair of black shorts that looked pretty grubby. On his left foot was a cheap flip flop while his right was bare, the flip flop obviously came off when he was shot.
The gun was a small revolver made from scratched black metal and chipped wood. I figured it was probably older than Campo had been.
?We didn?t bring the bat to harm Mr Campo. I returned to the super?s officer and brought it up in case any of the other residents were looting and thereby tampering with evidence.? Timo explained with measured words in that newsreader accent all Synths have.
?He killed himself, you see the note.? Hannah said pointing at me.
On the table in front of Campo was a bowl of mush that had been cereal, a stack of magazines, pair of scissors, a stack of coupons obviously cut from the magazines and the note.
I didn?t touch anything but the note was facing up so I read it. The recording my contacts were taking would act as my testimony should anything ever go to court. I was a literal eye witness this was a two way street though as the recording could also be used to build a case of sloppy police practices.
To Whom it may concern,I?m can?t do it any more living here like a piece of garbage, I?m tired and old. I just don?t understand anymore and finding reasons to get up in the morning is becoming harder.
I?m just so tired.
Luis Campo.
In the top right corner he had written the date and time. It had been written about four hours before our arrival.
?Everyone in a uniform can stop trying to think right now and get outta my crime scene.?
A thick man wearing an ill fitting suit had entered the room he was followed by a blonde woman. The gree ID on his hip clearly identified him as a Detective. The frown on his face melted away into a smile when he saw Phelps.
?Phelps I didn?t know you were here.?
?Yeah they told me a detective was coming, did you see one on your way over??
The thick man laughed and ran a hand through his messy hair.
?Ok, ok, we're all real funny guys, whadda we got here??
Phelps briefed the thick Detective on the case while I stood around like a goon.
The female detective told Timo and Marvin to go to the Super?s office and wait there. I was glad as the tiny apartment had reached maximum occupancy when Phelps and I?d arrived. I?d thought my apartment small but this place was a small step up from the Pod Hotels.
?What?s your take, Probie??
She called me by the catchall terms for Probationary Officers.
?Don?t know haven?t really been here long enough to draw a conclusion.?
?Good answer, a cop answer. Never commit to anything.? She said with a smile.
Phelps returned with the thick detective.
?That?s my partner, Joanna Bates.? The Detective said to Phelps gesturing to the woman I?d just been speaking to.
?You have my sympathy.? Phelps to Joanna said with a smile.
?I see you?re breaking in a newbie.? She said jabbing a thumb in my direction.
?He?s not a bad kid, are you, Dave??
?Nope.? I replied.
?Only problem is he talks too much. Ain?t that right Dave??
?Yep.?
?Good way to be, the MSS is more like the Mafia than people like to think!? The thick Detective laughed.
?Don?t mind Altano, he?s a dying breed.?Phelps said with a smile.
?What a straight cop?? Altano asked.
"Corrupt Italian.?
?Right enough fucking gags. This guy pop his own cherry or what?? Altano said gesturing to the explosion of gore on the wall that had once been Campo?s brain.
?Looks that way but I was talking to the Synth and the Super.? Phelps said.
?I don?t know if it was.? I said.
Altano looked a little shocked.
?Enlighten me Probie.? Altano said.
?Just some things seem off to me. Like if you?re going to kill yourself you don?t wear flip flops, dirty shorts and a wife beater. Is that how you?d want to be found.?
?This place is a shit hole most likely those are his best clothes.? Altano said with a shrug.
?The gun then. It?s an ancient revolver, possibly an antique, if this place is such a shit hole that would have been pawned a long time ago, especially considering Mr Campo?s money troubles.?
?Maybe it had sentimental value. I keep paying my wife alimony for the same reason.? Altano was enjoying the theories game. He was smarter than he looked.
?What about the gunshot? That thing would have been loud so why?d nobody call it in? If the time on the note is accurate he?s been dead for four hours, lots of time to call the cops.?
?I refer you back to the shithole argument. I guarantee you if we kicked open a door at random you?re going to see something illegal here. These people don?t want any more attention than absolutely necessary.?
?Alright what about the coupons??
?Coupons??
I pointed at the coupons sitting on the table beside the scissors.
?He was cutting them out of magazines. It doesn?t make sense to me that someone would sit here cutting out coupons they?ll never use.?
Altano was silent for a beat. ?Coupons in a magazine, I didn?t even know those were still a thing.?
?It?s for people like Campo, he?s got little augmentation maybe not even a Neural implant. No way to use the net to transfer digital coupons so he used physical ones.?
Altano stared for a long moment at the coffee table and Campo, his eyes darted quickly between the two. Whatever features his contacts had he was using them now.
?Good work Probie.? He said finally.
#
We were there for another five hours manning the cordon and keeping the rubber Necker?s away. The Nerds eventually showed up with their purple lights, lasers and spray bottles of chemicals. They were there about two hours until they left with the body.
Altano and Bates wrapped up the scene by placing some tape on the door but it was a useless gesture the second we left the door would be kicked in and the apartment stripped. Like Campo was never there, like eco system of the Dunstead Building had purged its self of him and his memory.
?The techs say it was murder but of course they needed a science lab to work that out, unlike Probie Kojima here.?
?Who do you like for it?? Phelps said.
?To begin with my gut said the Supervisor you know the bat was misdirection or something but we?ll see. Like I said in a place like this the suspect list could run on forever.?
?So are we good to go??
?Yeah that?s us Phelps. You hitting Mulligan?s ??
?Working a double.?
?Ouch.?
We left the fourteenth floor as a group and started up the stairs in silence, everyone was lost in their own world of thought.
It was night when we emerged and Kaiser City?s lights twinkled below.
?See you around Phelps.? Altano said as we parted ways to go our VTOLS. ?Kojima hold on a second.?
I turned and regarded Altano. He had a brutish face that matched his sense of humour but his eyes looked cunning, intelligent or maybe that was just the Augs.
?When you get your full badge you give me a call.?
I heard a ping telling me I?d just received Detective Marco Altano?s contact details.
?We might have a job for you.?
He punched me in the shoulder in what I assume was intended to be a playful gesture but I don?t think Altano knew his own strength.
Back in VTOL Phelps charged up the engines and we lifted off from the Parking lot.
?Good work in there Dave. Some good old fashioned police work.?
I just nodded and looked out the tinted window at the clouds pouring out of the Atmo ring into the twinkling city contained in a Martian carter.
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