Today is Episode Three of Unbiased Law, a robot drama set in 2111. As humans are phased out of the system of law, robots replace them becoming purely black and white in their dealings with the public. Crime is down, and almost eliminated completely due to the accuracy rate of the droids. However, after one man in prison is found innocent, the law system is thrown into question. If one robot can make these errors, how do they know more won’t… or already have?
If you’re just tuning in, Episode One is here feel free to catch up and then return to this Episode! Enjoy!
As I leave the police station I find myself trying to piece everything together. Was my own shooting connected to the sudden surge of distrust in robot officers? As I near the door, I am suddenly brought back to the fact it is a downpour outside. I ask the receptionist if she can call me a cab, I need to get back to my office to start focusing on this new case I’ve been assigned. Waiting by the door, I can feel the moisture in my joints and gears. The rain always bugs me mostly because it reminds me I’m getting old. Most detective droids have short life expectancies, sometimes a gun shot will tear a droid beyond repair. I managed to survive over ten fatal gunshots while in service, well… now it was eleven. I was granted exemplary service for thinking outside the tin can around our memory banks. More so, I was actually being rewarded for being a self-preservationist. Suddenly I hear a honking and I am brought out of my deep thought processes. It seems my cab has arrived.
As I rush into the cab, the cab driver greets me with a wave. I look at his license, F4R-13Y, Transportation Droid. He looks at me in his rear view mirror and nods. “So, where to Mac?” I meet his gaze in the mirror. “Do I look like a Mac to you? I’m more PC.” I hear the driver snicker a little and he nods. “Well played. You’re not like those other officer droids, they can’t download a sense of humor. You public sector?” I shrug, “In a sense, take me to one thirty seven fifty ninth ave.” I look out the window at the downpour. “I don’t remember it ever raining this much.” I catch the driver looking back in his rear view. “I don’t think it ever has, probably an ill omen for us droids. By the way, some people call me Farley instead of that code on my license.” I nod in acknowledgement, then lean forward to introduce myself. “I’m Magnus, nice to meet you Farley. Isn’t it strange how some droids actually develop through social stimulation while others seem to just remain constant?” Farley snickers again as he makes a left hand turn. “Yeah, it’s kind of sad that we managed to develop a taste for humour and manage to hold a conversation. So many droids can’t. Makes us lucky I guess.” I lean back in my seat and stare out at the rain. “Yeah. Lucky.”
I transfer Farley the fare and I bid him farewell. As I stand in the rain watching the cab drive away, I get half my fare transferred back to me. If I could smile, I would. It’s always great to meet another personable robot, makes me feel like we still have hope out there. I rush into my office and take off my wet clothes, tossing them over the waiting room seats. I don’t have to wear them, it just helps to fit in. As I sit at my desk I find three new emails. The first one is fantastic, Enhance my manhood. Well, I’d love to. The second one is even less important to me, make up and designer brands at fifty percent off. Incredible. Internet’s been around over a hundred years and this garbage still exists. The third one just has a video file and only one thing in the body of the email: from a concerned passerby.
As I stare at the email, every ounce of it reeks of virus but I can’t help but open it. The video is exceptionally grainy and very low quality, but the audio seems intact. I can hear the rain but the street is almost too dark to notice the rain falling. As I watch I see my car tail lights pull up, suddenly there’s a large flash and the door opens with Ms. Del Mar pushing me onto the side walk. I look closer. I zoom in on the body on the side walk and then replay the video. As the body slides out, I realize that isn’t my body. It’s another robot! As she pulls away, I watch as other robots rush up and dismantle the victim on the ground. As they rush away nothing is left of the victim. I pause for a moment, pretty confident I know where that place is. It’s a graveyard for old robots, discards as we call them. The discards are robots who have no further use in society, so they are shut down and if they’re too old to be recycled, well… they go here. It was rumoured that a robot had himself shut down, but only to reactivate later. This robot was supposedly a human hater, and he wanted to reactivate some of the robots there and start an army. It seems everyone is trying to start a war these days… good place to hide a body though.
End of Episode Three! I’d love to hear any feed back on today’s story and feel free to be brutally honest. Email me, or comment, either one is fine! I hope that everyone enjoyed today’s episode, I’ve been trying to keep them short so I can go over them and ensure their quality. Also, the next episode will happen once again in two days and it’ll mark the start of Magnus’ investigation! For now thanks for reading!