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!

Today is Episode Eight 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 peered into the window of the house I noticed Ms. Del Mar, rather Ms. Radlem, was sitting exceptionally still in the main room. I watched her for a few hours before my energy reserves showed they were getting low. I made my retreat to a nearby street and called a cab. I needed to get to my office and fast. As the cab driver blathered on about something no human or robot would care about, I felt compelled to just grab my gun and rush back. No energy meant the possibility of a shut down while attempting to apprehend the suspect, which never ever went over well. I can still remember the first time it happened.

As police officers we didn’t always have dependable backup. Some police were on the payroll of the guys we were trying to apprehend and sometimes they just didn’t feel the need to call in. That was one of many reasons we began employing droids against crime. As I trained and programmed a fair number of droids, I felt that we should take them for a test run one day against a rather large organized crime bust. As we pulled up, I remember we needed to have them surrounded so I sent the droids to surround the place. As we made our move the droids dropped into position, however one robot collapsed to the ground as dead weight. As the criminals and the police both paused for a moment to survey the situation, suddenly one of the other droids dropped his gun and his arms swung to it’s sides. The criminals watched as the droids dropped one by one, all because I had forgotten they needed charging every night. Then a shootout began, which cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of droids and two police officers. It was a tough lesson to learn but I immediately programmed into every droid to calculate out how far away they were to their normal charging station and warn them when they were getting low.

The cabbie pulled up to the alley behind my office and I transferred him credit without thinking. I ran into the office and rushed to my charge station, barely making it with five percent to spare. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to needing to recharge, I miss recharging using food most of all. As I lay in my bed, I stared at the ceiling with thoughts of the days events racing through my head. In the morning I would need to go to the morgue and check out the body of Ms. Radlem. If it indeed proved to be her, then I would need to figure out who this other blond lady would be. Suddenly I have a ghost in the machine moment. These moments are memories that are not on file, but a retelling of a moment in a very brief  manner. Almost like emptying out the cache, but not quite. My mind takes me back to sitting in my car with Ms. Del Mar. She mouths something but no audio to go with it. As I try and read her lips, I can make out a few words. For my Father… As suddenly as the moment began it stops and I’m brought back to the world. If that was a true ghost in the machine moment, then she said that to me right before she shot me. But that would mean that she is the daughter of Radlem in prison… but that girl is dead. So many unanswered questions, so little time. As sleep takes me I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

The charge goes quick and when I wake up I realize my nanite face has gone into standby mode. Nothing like having a head like a brick of lead in the morning. As my gears sputter and cough to get my head off the pillow, the nanites kick back in. I look at myself in the mirror. A man in a robot suit wearing a man’s face. Jesus, I feel like those Dutch nesting babushka dolls; a thing, inside a thing, inside another thing. As I get my things together before leaving, I grab my gun. I’m not going to forget that again. I grab my wallet and some cash from my desk. Hopefully I can get some answers today.

As I return to the bullet proof class cage for Radlem, he appears looking a bit grim and shaken. I fear he may have heard about the death of his daughter. “Is everything alright Mister Radlem?” He looks up at me and stares me direct in the eye. “There are probably robots in this very room.” I remember saying that to him the last time we met. He leans in and presses his forehead on the glass. “In fact how do I know you’re not a robot?” He looks so menacing I believe he could kill, at this point just with a glance. “You can’t ever be sure-” He cuts me off. “Yes I can.” From his jump suit he produces what looks like a spoon, however when he hits it on the table I realize what it is. A high pitched frequency, designed solely to deafen and destroy robot audio receivers. As I hear the rather loud hissing and cut off of my audio I watch as Mister Radlem begins speaking again. As I watch his lips I see him mouth the words, My girls will get me out of here, you can count on that.

As I leave the room, I realize immediately how much I relied on my hearing. I decide to head to the morgue and subsequently the doctor to see if he can fix these audio receivers. The cab ride over is actually pretty relaxing as I cannot hear a thing the cabbie says. I feel like people who ride in cabs are supposed to be the acting shrinks for these human drivers. As we pull up I just finish writing a note to the doctor explaining the situation. When I find him, he’s bent over a table examining the remains of a robot. He sees me and starts to speak when I hand him the note. He smiles and turns me around. In moments my hearing is back on, but everything seems so loud. “Well thanks for bailing me out again Doc.” The Doctor looks at me. “You pay taxes nowadays, don’t thank me.”

I ask him about Radlem’s daughter and he takes me over to her. She is just as beautiful as the woman who shot me, but definitely not as alive. “I swear this is the woman that shot me, but I saw her identical twin at the old Radlem house.” The doctor doesn’t seem all that surprised. “This girl got here with nanites in her body. It seems as though a lot of her was rebuilt too, just like you.” I stare down at the girl laying on the cold table. Beautiful and we had something in common, of course she had to die. The doctor continues on, “But something wasn’t right, I found a wireless transmitter in her skull, connected to her brain. I don’t know what a human would or could use it for, but it was there nonetheless.” I stared blankly, seemingly straight through the table. I know what she could use it for.

That’s it for today’s episode, I hope everyone enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoy writing it! Also, I was wondering what everyone has been thinking of the episodic content and if they think I should continue on with more stories perhaps once either of my two features here end! let me know in the comments or email me! Thanks!