Chapter 16: Chapter 16 – Rosewater (3)

Wave told him everything. About her accident, which had taken place at exactly the same place and time as Aki’s suicide. How his voice had appeared in her ear, and how she had first mistaken him for a hacker and then, thanks to Ember, made contact. About the two Akimoto employees, their escape, and the plan with meeting the hacker. Wave could literally see her story light a fire in the Sergeant’s eyes, and after she finished, he seemed to be lost in thought for what felt like an eternity before he spoke again.

"So, he remembers things if they are connected to strong emotions?", Lambert picked up on one of those many pieces of information. "I may not have the equipment to prove that his mind was transferred to your hearing aid, or if that would even be possible, but there are other things I could do to help."

By now they were sitting side by side on two red chairs, which were in fact two camouflaged piles of rubble in the courtyard.

"There’s more to Aki’s story than we thought. You know, someone actually copied his Master Voice Data from CCR’s archives. We assumed that someone wanted to use his popular voice illegally after his death."

"This Fearless guy?" asked Wave.

"Not necessarily. That’s actually a different case, we’ve been chasing for half an eternity now. We overheard your friend Hammer setting up a meeting with him and saw our chance to finally catch him. After you mentioned Aki’s name earlier, I saw a connection that never existed."

"And now it does exist, after all." Wave rubbed her wrists.

Lambert nodded. "The hacker got away from us again and my colleagues at the headquarters are searching for him right now. Until then, I have time to follow up on Aki’s case."

"What are you going to do?"

"We will visit the place of his death and look for traces."

Oh, Yes! Why hadn’t she thought of that herself? "You’re right. If Aki can remember things due to emotional influences, he''ll especially remember them at the place where he died."

"Exactly. If my conclusions are correct, that should trigger at least something. Why he killed himself and perhaps who might be interested in his data."

"What about the other cases of deceased and missing hosts?"

"Those remain idle. If Aki’s case offers any clues and we can find a connection, that may change."

Ember would be happy to hear this. Wave didn’t know what she herself was happier about. That Ember had nothing to do with the Sec’s operation, or that the Sergeant was now helping her instead of arresting her. But one thing still dampened her joy.

"What about Hammer?"

"He set up a meeting with a criminal. I’ll make sure he gets to go home today, but there will still be consequences."

"Fucking Bronto shit!"

"Cheer up, if there is any success with Aki's case, it will befit both of you. Now come on, we’re going to the crime scene."

"In the middle of the night?"

"If crime calls, a Security Corps special investigator can't sleep."

Lambert jutted his chin up toward the moon, dramatically punctuating that statement. That would have looked hilarious on other men, but kind of cool on him. Wave somehow admired his work ethic.

"It sounds quite exciting," she admitted, "exhausting, but exciting."

"Ha, if you think flattery will make any difference to Hammer’s situation, I must disappoint you."

Lambert rose and with his hand wiped away chairs, table, and the tap-proof room as if those things had never existed. Which they hadn't.

The robot that F34RLESS INV3STIG4TR had sent to meet them had disappeared, as had the Secs that had ambushed them here. Only one drone flew up to them out of nowhere, silently hovering beneath the Sergeant’s shoulder.

They went out through the corridor, this time without the caution Wave had arrived with before. Parking in front of the building was an imposing black sports hover car, an XLARTN that would surely have been prohibitively expensive for an ordinary Sec. You were quite a big shot, Wave guessed, being the special investigator of a task force.

The doors flung open upwards and the smell of leather welcomed her. At the same time, she felt that tingle again that told her something was wrong. Not with Lambert or his hover car. She had believed it had been the Secs who had followed her and Hammer as they entered the building earlier, but there had to be someone else watching them.

Wave leaned into the cockpit of the hover car and looked at the sergeant, who was just getting in on the other side. "I think we’re being followed."

"Yeah?" He shrugged. "Nobody’s stupid enough to openly mess with the Security Corps. Rosewater may be no man’s land, but if anything happens to me, both my drone and my car have scanned all the bio-chips within a three-mile radius, recording all their movements."

He sat down and strapped himself in with two shoulder straps.

"What are you waiting for, Wave? Get in the car already."

Wave let her gaze sweep over Rosewater one last time, then climbed into the XLARTN as well. The door lowered, banishing the noise of the night outside. In here, you could truly forget about the world outside and the danger it held.

Displays came to life, in pleasant dull neon colors. "Welcome, Sergeant Lambert," his hover car greeted him in a crooning female voice. "Where do you want to go?"

An interactive onboard computer? What a luxury! A luxury Lambert didn’t seem to appreciate. With a whirring "Manual control!" he took control himself and moved his hover car up to Lane 5, which was reserved for vehicles with the most powerful antigrav engines. She herself was used to bobbing along in Lane 1.

Lambert stepped on the pedal and the force of the acceleration pressed her into her seat, so hard that her battered shoulders started to hurt again. Yes, she was supposed to visit a Med Center, but that had to wait. Now that they were about to learn more about Aki, who cared about her shoulders?

"Will it also be recorded that you take me for a ride?"

"Of course but I’m allowed to. I’m allowed to do anything, actually."

"That sounds … dangerous" Wave knew what unchecked power and force could do.

"That’s the great thing about creating a task force from scratch," he continued. "Until the bureaucracy comes limping along behind you and turns you into an official department, you're only bound by the squishy principles of the Security Corps."

"And when that gets exploited?"

"That’s why they only choose men like me for this job. Men that are straightforward and I that have principles." He smiled. "I’m a man who does the right thing in the short time it’s possible to do so."

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"Like chasing a case that could have originated from an urban legend accompanied by the daughter of two terrorists?"

"Wave, I know your file. It’s marked 'unpredictable.' If you read the reasons for what your parents seem to be capable of, and what you might be capable of, then you can also believe in urban legends while sleeping soundly. I mean, your report is written by people who are so grounded that they’re actually stuck in the ground up to their chin."

Wave had to grin at the thought.

"But I’m not an idiot. I didn’t send my men off earlier just because I wanted to talk to you alone, it was also for their own safety. And now, by taking you with me, I’m merely risking my own life."

He risked nothing. Was she supposed to explain to him that his grounded people were actually all just idiots who were under a misconception?

"Thank you for your honesty."

Wave stared out into the night, watching the lights of the apartment complexes whiz past them like shooting stars and the advertisements blur into an opaque mishmash of colors.

"You don’t have to worry about me, Sergeant Lambert. All I want is to do some good in this city for once, even if it’s just one person I can help." Even if he’s already dead, she added in her mind. She didn’t have to keep rubbing Aki’s nose in that, though.

"That’s very noble, Wave, even if you'd better leave that to the Security Corps."

"You seem like a good person, Sergeant. If there were more of you in the Security Corps or the City Council, there would never have been a need for me to set foot in the city. Then maybe my parents would never have become what ..." Wave fell silent and was annoyed by her own words. What was the point of blaming him for what was going wrong in the city when he was just helping her?

"You have a point, though. It is a cycle. The way the settlers are being dealt with is not right, and it was only a matter of time before someone in their ranks found himself fighting back, too. Someone who could fight back, at all. Which again resulted in retaliatory strikes by the Security Corps. Believe me, I am not the only one who is aware of this but acts of violence cannot be ignored by the Security Corps, no matter the reason. Our job is to protect the people of this city."

Wave remained silent and kept staring out the window. No one could do anything. No one wanted to.

"Someone else has to take new approaches," Lambert continued his monologue. "Someone, like you. I can well imagine the obstacles that will be put in your way but then you’ve also picked one of the toughest places to start fighting injustice, with the Urban Expansion Agency."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if you really wanted to make a difference, you should have applied to one of the corporate groups, joined one of the families, or should have run for a position on the Council right away. At least the first two would have welcomed you with open arms, thanks to your potential danger level."

"Very funny."

"I meant it. Now that you’re also rumored to have contacts with the Underworld, you’ve got one more bonus point for an application."

"You don’t have a particularly high opinion of the city’s mighty, do you?"

"I just know the ropes. If we ever get to know each other better, I’ll tell you about my past and you'll understand."

"Hey Wave," Aki spoke up and Wave pulled up. "It seems you’ve made a new friend."

"Haha, are you sure about that? After all, he is a Sec."

"I can hear you," Lambert replied, completely serious.

Aki had to laugh, and the interior of the XLARTN vibrated. "It’s nice that for once it’s not me who has to say that."

A warning sign appeared on one of the displays and Aki’s laughter died away.

"What’s that?" Wave asked curiously.

"We have to take a detour."

What was so bad that they couldn’t just fly over it? Curious, Wave reached out her finger for the red triangle on the navigation map.

"Keep your ..."

Wave had already touched it.

"... fingers ... great."

The warning sign flared up, filling the entire display once, then it gave way to several miniature videos embedded into the map, connected by pins to several locations. Wave snapped one of these videos with her lens and it filled her entire view. It was a robot strike and they weren’t just striking. They were being held back by Secs in armored tactical gear who had formed a ring around the entrance to one of Akimoto Robotics' offices.

Objects flew toward the Secs and bounced ineffectively off their full-body armor. Then a hover car landed in their ranks, with such force that Wave felt the impact even with audio muted. It had been thrown and somersaulted a few times before coming to rest just inside the entryway.

"You sure you're not needed there?" asked Wave. "Striking robots? Taskforce for robotics? Kind of goes together, doesn’t it?"

"I’m sure this will be on my desk tomorrow. The strange behavior of robots is the real reason our department was formed. Being there in person would be a waste of my time. As long as I have no cure for robots going berserk, I’m not doing any better than any other Sec."

"Robotics and cybercrime?", Wave wondered. "Do you think the hackers have anything to do with the robots' behavior?"

"The robots claim to have souls and feelings. Sounds a lot like a virus, and from there, finding a connection to the hackers is not hard. At least not for the Commander. He sees very obvious connections there."

Lambert wiped the videos off his display.

"So, unless you want to see this battle up close, I’m going to take a little detour."

Wave raised her hands apologetically. "Go ahead."

And so they set a new course for CCR, in perfect silence, accompanied only by the bass notes of Aki humming his song again. The song that would never leave her ears again.

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