Location: MID Building: ARA Office

Time: Tokino-48 year (2108), Jan. 4 (Wed) 11:19

“Nora, you find the footage?”

After getting back to the ARA office Deputy Chief Kaldsen didn’t waste any more time. She immediately explained the situation to the other members and instructed Ms. Norfolk to search for the raw footage Kalder had been shown.

Despite first impressions, their overall attitudes, and basically everything else about them, it would seem that they’re capable enough when they have to be.

“Um, yes, it’s, I’ve got it.”

“Then you can track them? I doubt that woman would pick a path that avoided cameras.”

“That, ah, um, it won’t work. I tried to, to activate our facial recognition software, but, I’m, it’s being blocked. The surveillance system is keeping me out.”

“Can you get around it?”

“Um, probably, no. It’s internal. I’d have to, um, rewrite the entire system. It’s almost as if. . .”

“We’re being kept out by the government? Baa? I guess it doesn't matter. Can you track them manually? What about if you use your augmentation?”

“I, I could, but, it’s, it would take some time. The footage has been scrambled, and um, our CCTV system wasn’t designed for someone to manually look through it.”

“Could you check what areas had their security footage messed around with and use that as a guide?” Special Agent Alexander spoke for the first time since returning to the ARA office; interrupting the painful conversation between Mr. Norfolk and Deputy Chief Kaldsen.

“Sorry, but, um, no. It’s, it’s all of it. I can’t get proper access to any footage from the entire city. If I were to look, it would take me, um, maybe a few hours to start tracking her. I’m sorry.”

The entire city? That seemed excessive. I couldn’t imagine that a common criminal would go to such extreme lengths. The work involved wouldn’t be worth the payoff. Clearly someone who already had access to those systems was participating as well.

“That isn’t good enough.” Special Agent Oldridge had been pacing the room since we got back. “Nora, I know it’s not on you, but that isn’t fast enough. I can’t sit around for hours waiting for you to track them down.”

“I agree with Oliver. I still want you to do what you can, but we’ll need to move forward with something else. Any ideas?” Deputy Chief Kaldsen was a leader that wasn’t afraid to rely on her subordinates.

“Let me travel around the city and listen for Olivia. If I concentrate hard enough I’ll be able to hear voices, no matter how much soundproofing is in the way. I’ll be able to recognize Olivia’s voice easily.” Special Agent Oldridge immediately stepped forward with a plan of his own.

It made sense that he had something in mind. He was prepared to look for her without any ARA involvement from the start.

“Or all of the ambient noise will scramble your brain. How much would you need to amplify your hearing to recognize one muffled voice that could be anywhere in the city? How loud would that make a car horn sound? I don’t understand that kind of stuff like you do, but I’m willing to bet it would be loud enough to cause some damage.” Deputy Chief Kaldsen seemed to be a leader that cared for her subordinates as well.

“I’d be lying if I said there weren’t risks. Honestly, I might not be able to find her before passing out. It’s better than doing nothing though. I might as well try.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it Olive. That won’t be necessary.”

The lights flickered off as the artificial human, Vier, spoke.

I could tell our faces were physically similar, but I couldn’t imagine anyone would ever say it out loud. Even without trying he was giving off the impression of a predator closing in on its prey. It wouldn't be right to compare him to anyone, no matter how similar they looked.

And Olive?

“Ah!”

Nora let out a screech as her computer was powered off.

“Sorry about that, but I had something to add. And Ren wouldn’t have wanted me talking about it, so I had to unseal.” He didn’t look particularly sorry. I had my doubts that he could even feel regret.

Those feelings of reflecting on the past and hating yourself for what you did, knowing you can never change what happened; only hoping to one day cover it up with your future actions. That’s something only a human would understand.

“I know what you’re going to say, but I’d rather not hear it.” Deputy Chief Kaldsen’s voice took a turn toward childishly dismissive.

“No, you need to hear it. Your pride was going to stop you from making the obvious suggestion, and you’d have regretted it later. Just like always.”

Unlike me, his voice remained clear and unbridled, even when disagreeing with a superior.

“You know, I’m really starting to miss the days when you were perfectly obedient.”

“Really? Aren’t you the one who told me an advisor was more useful than a slave?”

“Can you two save it for later?” Special Agent Oldridge was eager to jump on board with whatever plan the artificial human was alluding to. “Vier, Chief, I don’t care what this plan involves, just get on with it. Do you have a way to find Olivia?”

“Finding her will be easy, we just have to ask someone who knows where she is.”

A simple suggestion came from the artificial human’s mouth. It was the first one that came to mind for me as well. Any organization trying to pull off such a large scale crime isn’t working alone. If the price, or maybe the consequence for noncompliance, is right, you can get someone to talk.

Even though I had that thought, it’s not something I could suggest. Having just arrived I had no idea where we’d even start looking for someone who’d be involved with this kind of incident.

“Is that supposed to be a joke?”

“Jokes are your thing, not mine.”

“Wow, great plan so far Vier. I’m glad we’ve wasted this time talking about it. Honestly, I would’ve never been able to think up something as complex as that. I don’t think there’s a single flaw in the plan. Actually, you know, now that I think about it, there might be a slight problem. Do you happen to know someone who knows exactly where my sister was taken, because I’m racking my brain here, I mean I’m really thinking hard about this one, but I can’t seem to recall ever meeting anyone who has access to this incredibly specific information.”

“I do.”

“Huh?”

“I do happen to know someone who knows where your sister was taken.”

“What? Who? And how?”

“Hmm, your tone changed a good bit, Olive. What happened to all that sarcasm? Use it all up at once?”

“I get it. Sorry. I’ll apologize all you want later, but for now, can we focus on finding Olivia? Who knows where she is?”

“Alexis Albright.” Deputy Chief Kaldsen was the one to answer Special Agent Oldridge’s question. “She’s an information broker. Not one that we usually use, but she’ll help. Allison, the other girl that was taken with your sister, she’s Alexis’s younger sister.”

“Why didn't you bring her up from the start?”

“Ren and Lex are good friends, we’ve all known each other for a long time. Since we were kids.” Despite his words, I had trouble imaging the artificial human as a little kid.

“She’s not my friend!”

“But as you can see, they spend most of their time fighting. Lex is someone that Ren will never ask for help.”

“You can’t trust that woman! But, in this one case, this one very specific situation, she could help you, Oliver. But only in this very rare situation! After this you definitely can’t talk to her again. She will 100% try to convince you to betray me!”

“You two really think she can help?” Special Agent Oldridge ignored most of what Deputy Chief Kaldsen said. “I get that she’ll work with us, she’s in the same situation I am, but she might not know anything.”

“Lex definitely isn’t as worried as you are, actually, she’ll probably charge you. And don’t worry, she’ll know.” The artificial human seemed to think it was amusing that someone would even doubt this Alexis.

“But how can you be so sure? I don’t want to leave something like this up to chance.”

“That’s simple. If the information is worth enough, there’s nothing in this world she doesn't know.”