Episode Eight: After Magnus watched Miss Del Mar/Radlem for several hours he needed to get home and recharge. After a brief “ghost in the machine” moment, he remembers that Ms. Del Mar said the words For my father shortly before she shot him in a few days back. This proves the link between Miss Del Mar and Mister Radlem in prison along with photos in the Radlem’s residence, however Miss Radlem was already in the morgue. After a brief visit with Mister Radlem in prison, he somehow disables Magnus’ hearing and is pulled away stating that his girls will get him out. As Magnus required repairs, he headed the doctor at the police station, and paid the morgue a visit. Miss Del Mar was definitely laying on the table, but who was at the house? Also, why did this corpse have a wireless transmitter in her skull? Onward, to Episode Nine! (or back to Episode One or Episode Eight)

I hurried from the police station and flagged down the first cab I saw. A girl with a wireless transmitter, a girl looking exactly like her; one dead on a slab, one sitting in the house of her father. As these thoughts raced through my head I began to see a small war echoing the problems of a much larger one looming. Mister Radlem said his girls would get him out of prison. Girls. Why didn’t I think about that before? They must be twins! As we pulled up in front of the Radlem residence I leapt from the car tossing probably more money at the cabbie than I should have. Gun drawn, I advanced up the steps to the front door and rang the doorbell. “Miss Radlem, are you home today?” I leaned forward and tried the knob. Locked. Of course what kind of robot detective would I be if I didn’t have some nifty tools tucked inside this metallic shell? As I felt excitement rising, it was an odd sensation. To be a robot, and to feel emotion… that would mess with someone’s mind. As I readied the lockpick I heard a click on the other side of the door. I stood to the side of the door and waited a moment. Nothing. I felt the door and it seemed slightly ajar. Without bursting in, I pushed the door ever so slightly, gun ready for action.

As the door creaked slowly open, I felt the urge to dive in guns blazing. But I resisted the urge and thank the gods I did. An explosion rocked the door straight out and down the stairs. Wooden shrapnel bounced off my metallic shell as I dove away from the blast, landing hard on the wooden deck. As I turned I half expected to see Miss Radlem standing there with a shotgun. No one was there. I rose up and peered into the house and noticed a shotgun mounted to a table. It seemed as though I almost fell for the old shotgun trap on the door trick. Sadly, my suit mostly had. I called the police and also asked if they could bring me a pair of pants and a shirt. No use standing around with my nuts and bolts hanging out with a human face. As I made the call I watched my car peel off and turn down a side street. Goddamnit, she had seen what happened. Well, now that the cat was out of the bag I wasn’t feeling too safe. Lucky for me the police arrived in minutes and began surveying the scene.

After a gruelling hour long discussion about why I was at the Radlem’s house, and how a robot wandering around his house looked, I found myself standing with some of the investigator droids. It was always awkward standing with robots. They always knew somehow I wasn’t one of them, and people always judge you by how you look anyway so I get classified as a robot. A very poor middle ground if you ask me. One of the droids ushered me into the house to have a look around. He was aware I was on the case involving the Judge and Radlem and thought maybe I could spot something he may have missed. I thanked the nice robot and began my own investigation.

As I looked through drawers I found photos of Mister Radlem and only one of his daughters. In fact, every picture only had one. But he did say girls, I know it. As I sat down on the couch something shiny beneath a nearby chair caught my eye. As I stooped to pick it up, I found a bunch of broken glass and a ripped photo. Something strange was going on, as in this one photo, there were two identical girls. Perhaps she was the lesser of identical twins? Another thought also entered my mind. Where was their mother? In all these pictures she never once made an appearance. I flipped the picture over and suddenly everything made sense. In a single line, I began to understand what was going on with the Radlem’s a whole lot more.

Veronica, Age 12, R0N-N13, Upgrade 12.

Hope everyone enjoyed today’s episode, sorry it was a day late! We weren’t sure if we were heading out for the weekend so I didn’t cram this in after The Creator post. Feel free to leave your comments below or email me!