Episode Fourteen: As Magnus witnessed the murder, albeit in his defence, of the acting commissioner, he found himself an unlikely ally in Veronica. However the lady may giveth and may also taketh away as she frames him for the murder, thus slowing him down in his investigation. Magnus then learns more about the looming robot war from an old friend in his short stint in a holding cell. As he is escorted to an interrogation room, he finds himself looking down the barrel of yet another gun, only this time he’s ready. Will he win the struggle? Find out below! (or head back to Episode One or Episode Fourteen)!

As the sound of two clunky robots fighting across a table for a gun sounds much like a factory floor, no one outside the room seems to notice. I struggle to wrestle the gun from his hand, but it’s useless. We are robots, equal in strength and stamina. I attempt to put my intellect to good use, and look for a weak spot in his joints. I note a potential weak spot in his wrist and as our hands are locked around the gun, I slide my forearm up to our hands. I give him a little flex room with the gun and he noticeably relaxes a moment, just the moment I need. I slam my forearm hard onto his hand, landing his wrist on the edge of the table. Both hands come off much to my surprise, and apparently his as well. He looks at me and only gets a chance to say a few words, “Shoddy workmanship here” before I blow his metal head off his shoulders.

I step into the hallway and look around, the guards don’t spot me so I begin to sneak past and around the corner. I turn to look back one last time before continuing on. The path to the door is straight and I can easily make it, but something catches my eye. A janitorial robot with a limp. A limp. My mind flashes back to the Acting Commissioner and my Interrogator. Damn, not much time to think, he’s heading straight for more droids. I rush into the nearby bathroom and look for some sort of escape. Lucky for me, the main windows seem to lead into the alley and seem to be open. I turn to look behind me, being ever so cautious and then bolt for the window. Hmm, not as open as I’d hoped. As the window shatters around me, I land on the ground and keep running. I run until my energy meter tells me I’m low again. I run until I am back at my office.

I hurriedly grab all I need plus another gun not used in a crime and rush outside. I look around and I see my car parked conveniently nearby. As I look around confused by seeing it there, I hear the familiar hum of police sirens. Without a second thought, I run to my car. As I open the door, Veronica looks at me and I look at her legs. Human, she framed me, but do I have a choice? As I hop in, we peel away, leaving the police to investigate my office. They don’t pursue us at all. I turn to Veronica and she giggles. “Fun day at the office?” I feel rage well up inside my metal frame as if my cooling system just died. “You set me up!” I pull out my gun and point it at her. She does the same and pulls into an alleyway. As we sit, guns pointing at each other I feel the need to question her. “Why should I trust you?” She smiles. “Because I like you?” I stifle back a sarcastic laugh and shake my head. “You are beautiful, but I know you’re just a robot in a human body. You’re a thief.” The smile drains from her face and she scowls. “I am not a thief. I’m just as good as she is, and isn’t that the tin kettle calling the human pot black?” Her analogy makes little to no sense, but I understand what she means. As a human in a robot body, robots call people like me a driver, a human steering a machine.

The next few minutes are tense and then we both begin to lower our guns. She makes the first move. “I’m sorry. But what if someone told you that you could be human again, legally?” I think about that for a moment. Would I go back? I’m not exactly sure, if I was entirely human I’d have died this week. But in all reality, I wouldn’t have made it this far. “I don’t know, they both have their advantages.” She grabs my robot hand and puts it firmly on her breast. “I can feel that, it’s taken some getting used to, but I can feel everything. It’s incredible!” I stare at her breasts, so perfect, and my metal hand feels nothing. I pull my hand back and reflect on that for a minute. She looks over to me and sighs. “I’m sorry, I know you wish you could now for sure, but being a robot has it’s benefits for sure.” She puts her hand on my leg to reassure me. “The first time I stubbed my toe, I thought I was dying. Never feeling pain before made that seem so much worse than it really was.” As we sat there chatting suddenly a knock came on the window to the car. As Veronica rolled the window down, a gun slid in pointed directly in her face. At the other end was the other Veronica, and she seemed pissed.

Both Veronicas finally in the same place, and the only thing between them is Magnus. Will he be able to stop them from killing each other? Or will he get caught in the crossfire! Another Episode, in another Two Days!

Episode Thirteen: Magnus started off our last episode with a gun pointed in his face and ended off in the same way. Only difference was the person holding the gun. As our detective unravels the mysteries behind the Radlem sisters, he is now pinned between a robot posing as a human, and a woman stuck as an organ donor robot. When he turns to the police for help he finds that there is more than meets the eye to the current acting commissioner, as episode thirteen seemed unlucky for our robot protagonist, will episode fourteen be any better? Please enjoy today’s episode (or head back to Episode One or Episode Thirteen)!

The sound of metal tearing apart shattered all that was silent. I froze, as if to fall over dead once again. Suddenly I realized I was still standing. “Hey, stupid robot, we’ve got to move!” The voice was sweet but the message wasn’t as I turned to see Veronica standing behind me. Shock turned to surprise as I turned to see the commissioner had been “deactivated”. I spun back to her and headed for the door. This was my worst case in years. Note to self: Never take a high profile case ever again. I’d rather find Miss “TooManyCats” lost kitten. As I rushed past Veronica I realized someone must have heard the shot. Strangely, it seemed no one was paying attention. I turned to see Veronica putting something in her bag. “What are you doing?” She looked up at me. “It’s a silencer, disables all robot hearing for the moment the shot goes off.” I nod. That is actually not a bad idea, however I heard the shot. As we close the door behind us, we make our ever so slight escape.

As we arrive at the front door Veronica turns to me with a concerned look on her face. “Oh you dropped this by the way.” She hands me my gun and I look down at it. Strange, I don’t remember it falling. When I look up Veronica is talking to a police officer a few paces away, and he raises his gun at me. “Halt! You are under arrest for the murder of the Commissioner!” As I stand there shocked, the gun literally slides from my hands. I stare at Veronica as she runs down the steps. She is insane. It wasn’t until that moment I notice her exceptionally sexy human legs. Damn it all to hell, I just got played. As the metallic officer scans me for anything else I watch her jump into my car and drive off. Son of a bitch, I’m going to get my car back when this blows over.

As the officer places me into custody and throws me in a cell, I take a look around. Delinquent robot holding cell, very nice. One of the robots in the cell looks extremely familiar, so I decide to seat myself beside it. “What did you do to get thrown in here?” I ask politely, hoping I wasn’t responsible for putting the robot in here. As he looks up at me, he sits up straight. “Magnus? Why the hell are you in here? I thought you were solving the problems, not creating more?” It was Farley, a cabbie I had met a few days back, after I got shot at the beginning of this investigation. “Yeah, well you can’t bake a cake without cracking a few eggs. Or in this case, opening some tin cans.” We shared a laugh and then he looked back to me. “I was hoping you could solve my case as purely self defence. Some crazy robot tried to harvest my parts while I was using them! I took one swing and it must not have had a great connection, because its head fell right off.” I grinned. “Wow, that sounds nuts. I heard robot on robot crime was on the rise, but that’s ridiculous.” As we both stared straight forward, Farley had to ask. “So why are you in here detective?” I share a laugh with no one but myself. “I killed the Acting Commissioner. Or so it may seem.”

Farley sat as still as a statue. I couldn’t tell if he was out of juice, or just that shocked. “Well I don’t think you’d do that.” I nodded and then looked away in thought. “Actually I would have. I think the Commissioner wasn’t the Commissioner at all. Much like some robot wanted your parts, robots have been hijacking robots and now it seems people as well.” Farley leaned back against the wall, shaking his head in disbelief. “What the hell is going on out there?” I pat him on the shoulder. “I don’t know, I’d love to find out though.” Suddenly a robot bursts into the room and looks into the cell. “Magnus, you are coming with me.” The cell door opens and two officers are standing on either side. “Good luck out there Farley.” He nods to me. “Same to you buddy, seems the world is going crazy.”

As the three of us march down the hallway, I am lead to a small room with only a desk and a chair. The officer droids force me into my seat and then they leave. Another robot enters the room and he has an oh so familiar limp. As he sits down in front of me, I can’t help but think I have some new problems. He stares me right in the eyes. “So. You may have been saved last time, but Magnus, you know too much. I am sorry but I will have to disable you.” I decide enough is enough. “Well, if you must, first tell me who you are.” The robot laughs. “Or not.” He raises a pistol to my face and pulls the trigger, lucky for me I have my speedy moments. Today, I dodged a bullet. Marking that on the calendar. As our hands both wrestle for control of the gun, I pray that no one else can see the struggle going on in this room.

Will Magnus prevail? Or will he fall victim to yet another bullet? And who is this mysterious robot with a limp? Only Episode Fifteen can tell you! Thanks for reading!

Episode Twelve: Gun in his face, Magnus was left last time staring at Veronica’s “declared dead, but no so dead” twin. After speaking with the Doctor about the corpse, he is now thrown for a loop into all he knew. Which one is the girl, which one is the robot? Only time will tell! Hope you enjoy the thirteenth episode of Unbiased Law (or back to Episode One or Episode Twelve)!

“Sit robot. We need to talk.” The gun stayed aimed directly at my head. I love these girls, both as gorgeous as they are deadly. Someone make a movie about this pair already! As I sat across from her, she shifted in her seat and crossed her legs the opposite way. “So you’re the one she killed. Seems you’re not the only human who has trouble dying.” I looked around. Me, human? Well that was a compliment. “So, you think I’m human?” I asked, looking back and forth between the gun and the beautiful girl. “Of course you are,” she replied matter of factly, “How else can you think outside the tin box you’re trapped inside?” If I could have smiled, I would have. She somehow read that I was smiling anyway. “I’ve got a case for you, my crazy sister R0N-N13, tried to kill me and left me in this terrible body. I went into shock and they actually thought I died.” I nodded at her. “Actually, you were declared dead.” She shot me a glare that could melt steel to paste. “It doesn’t matter. What this is, is a case of body swapping.”

“Body swapping is…” I chose my next words carefully as the gun stared me down. “Highly unlikely, but I guess since you’re here, it’s happened?” Veronica let the gun lay on the table, allowing me to trust in her a little bit. “You’re right you know, it was highly unlikely. After Dad cooked up this crazy scheme to frame robots and retake the job market for humans, my sister came for me. She’s been working with the Discards on starting this war from inside the bodies of people.” My mind was actually blown by this concept and I interrupted. “So you mean to say, that the Discard army is real?” She nodded. “The army is extremely real. In fact, many of the discards down at the dumping grounds are actually humans now. They struggle to survive and are piecing themselves back together.” I looked around in shock, my head was reeling from all this information. “So, the actual robots have possessed people?” She shook her head, “No, not possessed, swapped. Using wireless transmitters they perform an upload of their mind overwriting a human mind while the human mind is overwriting their own robot mind back in their body. Therefore, they gain control of human bodies. They have integrated into society now. They were looking for high ranking officials and officers.”

I sat back and stared at Veronica. Well, if this was her. Hell, if I was me? What is it to be anyone any more? Are we all just data now, over written and copied like regular old files in Windows? I noticed her waving her hand in my face. “You ok? I thought you shut down on me!” I shook my head. “I just don’t know what to say. Discards have become humans, and humans are stuck in discards. I’ve got to go to the acting commissioner.” As I got up to leave Veronica grabbed my arm. “Be careful, these robots are dangerous.” I nodded and told her to go to my office and wait. Today was already a long day, and it was about to get longer.

As I got to the Police Station, I looked around. The area was desolate. I walked in and was immediately hassled by a robot guard. “Halt, identification please sir.” Sir? I reached up and touched my face. I was still wearing my nanite mask. Well that explained how my emotions were showing through. I looked to the robot and requested to show him my ID in private. After exposing my robot face to him and my real ID, he let me pass. He told me that the acting commissioner was actually awaiting my presence. That didn’t sound good. As I marched to his office, I swung open the door and saw him across the desk. I nodded and he held up his hand for me to wait. He was on the phone and all I caught was, “Yes, Magnus is here, bye.” That uneasy feeling was coming back, stupid memories replicating reality. “Hello Sir, I understand you’ve been expecting me?”

The Commissioner rose from his desk and had a strange limp. “Are you ok Commissioner? It seems your right leg isn’t working all that well.” He looked down at the leg and shook it. “Old wounds. Anyway, what is your status on the case?” I thought to myself to hold back, but I decided to hell with it and told him. “I have found out that the dead girl who escaped from the morgue is the human who had her body stolen by her robot sister. Both of these two are the daughters of Mister Radlem, our favourite prison inmate who had his daughter tamper with a judge aside from his conspiracy to start a war between humans and robots.” The Commissioner leaned back and nodded. “Sounds like quite the predicament.” I shrugged in response, but suddenly he spun with a gun aimed at me. “You know Magnus, it was you who inspired me. The story of a human transmitting and surviving in a robot body. I thought to myself, if I could get access to your logs, I could replicate that effect but in the opposite direction.” I watched as he paced back and forth. “It took awhile for us to infiltrate society and I’m not about to let you ruin all of our work Magnus. But in thanks for your inspiration, I’ll grant you a quick departure from the robot body you are not worthy of having.”

The muzzle of the gun rose from his side and aimed directly at me. I closed my eyes and hoped I would end up back in my office when everything passed. The click of the trigger, the bang of the gun and the deafening silence were all that guided me as I waited for the bullet to tear me apart.

Hope everyone enjoyed today’s episode, it has been fun writing these and even more fun rereading them. I would love to hear feedback on how the story is going and favourite moments now that we’ve reached ten episodes! Thanks!

Episode Eleven: Magnus had managed to once again find himself on the receiving end of a trigger, however no bullet was involved this time. As Veronica made it clear she didn’t want to be followed, she got to know our detective a little better. After she leaves Magnus tied to a chair, he struggles to escape but eventually manages to break free. Upon inspection of his office, he finds some nanites that have been drained leading him to more suspicion. As he makes a call to the morgue to make an appointment, he is informed the doctor is under investigation as the body of the other Miss Radlem has apparently up and walked away. Hope you enjoy the twelfth episode of Unbiased Law (or back to Episode One or Episode Eleven)!

I arrived at the police station and not a moment too soon. Everyone was crowded out front, from protesters to reporters. How does a dead human end up getting up and walking away? As I entered through the back door, I found the doctor leaning against a wall. “Doc, what the hell’s going on? Dead girls don’t walk, do they?” The doctor looked up relieved to see me, but he couldn’t help but shake his head. “Definitely the first corpse I’ve ever misdiagnosed. It seems the odds are stacking against us droids. As we make more mistakes the humans make more protests. Soon I’ll be lucky if I can manage to get a job waiting tables.” I definitely knew what he was feeling. Luckily my past as a human meant I would get careful consideration should things fall through with public servant robots.

“So Doc, what happened, I need all the details.” As I listened quietly to what the Doc had to say he painted a very interesting picture. Apparently he was in the morgue when he heard some movement, upon closer inspection the drawer where they had Miss Radlem was where it had come from. When he opened it up, he found her motionless and thought he was losing his mind. When he went to close the drawer however, she thrust her arm out and stopped the drawer from closing. For the first time ever, the Doctor understood the human emotion of fear. She knocked him over and rushed from the morgue, toe tag dangling along behind her. The Doctor has been unnerved by the whole thing, if a robot could be such a thing.

After leaving the Doc to reflect upon his experience, I walked back out the back door. I was also unnerved. What could this mean? She was declared as a human when the Doctor had done his investigation. But when I met Veronica, she was very much human. However human’s don’t come back to life, so the one who escaped the morgue must have been the robot, but the doctor couldn’t have misdiagnosed. My mind was extremely tangled in this mysterious web of ridiculousness. Maybe the Veronica I met was the robot, which would explain the nanites. Oh man, now I  know what Alice felt like going down the rabbit hole. Suddenly a call comes through over my wireless capabilities. “Yes, Magnus here, who has this code?” The line was silent. A loud crackling came across and then silence again. “Hello, is anyone there? Hello!” A voice came across so sweet sounding it took me back to the first day I met Veronica. “I heard you’re the man to talk to about solving crimes. Meet me at Swinger’s Cafe across town. Far back booth, be there by five or I won’t be.”

I flagged down a cab, wishing Veronica would have been nice enough to leave me my car, but I suppose she left me with my life. Can’t get too greedy now. The cab ride over to Swinger’s Cafe is long and riddled with traffic. I grip the edge of my seat hoping I’ll make it in time. Finally the cab pulls up and I rush into the cafe, one minute to five, and I can see a figure in a rather wide brimmed hat getting up to leave from the back booth. I rush up and introduce myself, not giving her a chance to disagree. “Look, I’m really sorry, there was traffic, my cab driver was ninety years old and he didn’t know where it was. I’m Magnus by the way.” The lady looked me up and down. “I don’t know who you are, but I don’t care either. She turned up her nose and walked past, leaving me confused and leaning against a table. Suddenly the sweet sounding voice came from behind me. “Hey hot shot, not that booth, this one. As I turned to see the girl who called me, I noticed two things that were all too familiar and one that was different. I saw a shiny new set of robot legs beneath a long skirt, and then I saw a match to Veronica’s face and also a hand cannon to match. Nice to see those guns run in the family.

Hope everyone enjoyed today’s episode, it has been fun writing these and even more fun rereading them. I would love to hear feedback on how the story is going and favourite moments now that we’ve reached ten episodes! Thanks!

Episode Ten: When we left Magnus last time he had returned to his office after investigating the Radlem Residence. As he arrived, he found that his car was parked in the alley out back, meaning one of two things: Veronica had returned it, or she was in his office while he was in her house. After entering, he didn’t find her anywhere inside the office. She found him however, and stunned him. Magnus woke up tied to a chair with a familiar hand cannon in his face once again and began trying to talk to Veronica. Lucky for Magnus his detective skills have kept him alive longer than he expected, and long enough to uncover the truth about Veronica’s mother. (or back to Episode One or Episode Ten)

The hand cannon quivered as Veronica squeezed the trigger. I knew this outcome was a possibility, but I guess I was hopeful. Then I realized that I wasn’t dead. Veronica looked at me, and then at the gun. “It seems I’m out of bullets, fate just seems to be on your side.” I sat anxiously awaiting what would happen next. “So I get to live?” She looked at her gun with disgust. “For today.” Veronica pulled a chair up in front of me. “You really think my father would do such a thing?” I nodded in agreement, knowing I was pushing my luck here. “It’s the only way you could have been completely cured.” She leaned back on the chair, and her beauty almost made me forget what she had done to me already. Almost.

We sat staring at each other for a little while and suddenly she smiled. It was a gorgeous smile, yet it frightened the hell out of me. “Tell me about yourself Inspector Gadget.” I looked around, obviously confused by the reference. “Well, I used to be on the police force, I trained and programmed many of the droids still working there today.” I suddenly felt like I couldn’t stop the words from coming out, maybe it was her beauty, or maybe I just wanted to talk to someone. Either way, I told her everything. From me originally being human to my issues adapting to becoming a robot and beyond, just everything. As we sat there she looked me up and down. “I’m impressed Magnus. You’ve done pretty well for yourself.” She looked down at the gun in her hands. “Sorry about that, it wasn’t personal.” Suddenly I felt like things were turning around between Veronica and I. “I know you had your reasons. But I’m on the case against the judge now, hopefully I can clear him as he was…” My mind flashes back to the video of her walking past the judge. “…in desperate need of an upgrade.”

Veronica looks at me almost knowing what I was about to say. “Well I should probably go then. You live today, but know something. I’m tracking you, so now I can find you and kill you whenever I want. So if you end up near my house again, I will hunt you down.” As she stood up, she leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Maybe in another life, we could have been friends… or better.” As I watch her leave I realize I’m falling for the girl. She’s already killed me, and I’m falling for her. What a ridiculous emotion love is, why couldn’t that be something my brain just forgot about? As the door slams shut behind her, I realize she has left me tied to a chair. How to get out of this one? The knot on my hands is just below my grease valve, I could always open that. But I’d ruin the carpet. Some days I wish this place wasn’t mine at all.

After a lengthy fight with some rather frustrating knots I manage to get free and get myself off the floor and out from under the table. I’ll spare the details in saying, that was not my most graceful of moments. As I survey the damage, my desk is on it’s side, a bookshelf has been tipped over and I’ve broken pretty much anything that was glass in my main office. Not too shabby. However while I’m still looking around something catches my eye. A small pile of drained nanites lays on the floor, close to the chair where Veronica was sitting. I scoop them up and toss them into a nanite reader. As they begin to recharge the data within them shows they have been formatted to rebuild tissue. Nothing I didn’t know already. As I scan the rest of the data nothing really important jumps out at me. Only strange thing is why these nanites are here if she is completely human? Maybe she’s still not completely cured, but drained nanites only come from robots. Maybe they were from her sister?

Suddenly I get the feeling that these nanites have a much larger story to tell and so does Veronica’s organ donor sister. I call the police station and get them to re-examine the body. Something isn’t adding up. I had never heard of nanites jumping host before, but where the sisters were so connected I suppose it would be possible that some could have transferred during a surgery. Doctors are normally extremely careful in those cases, but if her father was the one administering the surgery then it is again a distinct possibility. Finally the police station picks up and I ask for the morgue. They patch me through and I realize I’m talking with a regular officer. “Hi, Magnus here. Where’s the doctor?” The droid on the other end says something I couldn’t have predicted in years. “The doctor is under investigation, Radlem’s daughter’s body has apparently up and walked away.”

Hope everyone enjoyed today’s episode, it has been fun writing these and even more fun rereading them. I would love to hear feedback on how the story is going and favourite moments now that we’ve reached ten episodes! Thanks!

Episode Nine: After his narrow escape from a shotgun trap, Magnus finds himself outed as he watches his stolen vehicle drive away from the scene. After a lengthy statement to the police, he is allowed entry into the home to begin his own investigation. Magnus had trouble finding any pictures with two girls, however one hidden under a chair held more answers than he could have ever hoped for. Veronica was the girl, and her twin, had a robot serial number. Could she have been a cyborg? Episode Ten awaits! (or back to Episode One or Episode Nine)

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

That line stuck in my head like it had been etched in. A girl and a robot? Was the Veronica I dealt with a robot? So many unanswered questions. As I rode the cab from the Radlem residence I couldn’t help but think. I remembered using a wireless transmitter to get used to connecting to networks before I became a robot. They wanted me to get used to it, especially as my body declined. I began to consider that perhaps Veronica had undergone the same treatment I had. But she looked so real! As the cab pulled up in front of my office, I could see the tail lights of my car sticking out from the back alley. Had she come to find me? Only time would tell. I needed to make a backup so I logged in to my computer remotely. Although my computer wouldn’t be very secure considering she’d be there too. I made it look like I was fumbling for my money as if I was drunk and logged into my old server still up and running at the police station. The upload didn’t take half as long as I thought and I paid the cabbie. As I stared at the front door to my office, even as a robot I got chills up and down my imaginary spine.

I walked calmly up to the door and drew my gun, I glanced in through the window to see that the back office light was on. Maybe while I was rooting around in her house, she decided to come to mine. I eased my way into the front door, closing it softly behind me. Even I was impressed at the amount of stealth I was performing. As I got to the back office door, I stopped for only a moment. I could hear my pulse racing, despite not having one. I guess the brain fills in the gaps. Spinning around I aim the gun directly into the room and find no one there. Hmm, that’s strange. Why was my car-

“Hello sleepy head. Sleep Mode is over.” As I focus on the person before me only one word comes to mind. Shit. I stare death in the face once again as Veronica sits in front of me, face to face. “You’re not like the others. The robot police officers are morons, but not you. You’re crafty, smart, and very inconvenient.” She points a familiar hand cannon in my face and I feel my every circuit tingle. “Look Veronica, I just got this face, so I’d like to keep it.” She stares me in the eyes. “I can see you got some upgrades, probably to avoid being seen by me. Whoops, not so good on that front. I was beginning to wonder what human was following me.” I find her speech interesting, what human was following her? I must be talking to R0N-N13. “Look, I understand you’ve been through some strange times being a robot and all.” Her reaction isn’t quite what I had expected. “A robot?” She leans over and kisses my cheek. “I’m no robot, I’m one hundred percent human. But I assume you met my sister.” I stared at her and switched to my heat sensors. I always forget I have other damn lenses, so useless sometimes. Her body heat registers just as a human’s and she has no cybernetic implants.

“Hmm, interesting. But I had found a picture marked Veronica and R0N-N13, how do you explain the serial number?” I watch for her reaction and she plays it cool. “She was my organ donor. My father had taken an interest in nanite robotics when he was very young. After he realized his only daughter would succumb to some disease I don’t even remember, he built a robot and gave me the ability to back up my mind to her. We were then raised as sisters and he used nanite technologies to give her tissue to replicate my own.” I sat deep in thought and suddenly it made sense as to why I never saw her mother in any pictures. “Veronica, did your father ever tell you what happened to your mother?” Veronica gave me a sharp look and pressed the hand cannon against my forehead. “That bitch left shortly after I was born. She didn’t want to give me up for adoption but she didn’t want to support me like my father did.” If I could, I’d have swallowed hard as my next words would be either my demise or I could gain an ally.

“Veronica. To repair your tissue and make organs to match, they couldn’t have used your already diseased tissues. They’d have needed fresh ones. I believe your mother never left you at all, but she supported you with her life, perhaps even against her will.” Veronica looked me straight in the eye and I could see the fires of rage fuelled by my words. As she began to squeeze the trigger, I grew thankful I had a backup somewhere out there.

Hope everyone enjoyed today’s episode, it has been fun writing these and even more fun rereading them. I would love to hear feedback on how the story is going and favourite moments now that we’ve reached ten episodes! Thanks!

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!

Today is Episode Seven 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!

With no police commissioner, the police force would report to another robot who didn’t like humans very much. This particular robot had been recommended for the same award I was but even the commissioner believed that he couldn’t leave the force. He was too much of a danger to humans as it was, but at least on the force there were guidelines and accountability. I know I would have to find Ms. Del Mar and fast. I decided the fastest way would be to talk to the man behind bars to see if he was linked in anyway shape or form, and tonight I would camp outside the discard graveyard to see if I could tail her. I just hoped it wouldn’t be dangerous for me in my current state.

As I made my way to the man at the core of this whole issue, I realized I didn’t even know his name. After explaining myself at the prison, the guard made me sign a whole tree worth of forms, and then let me in to see him. As I looked at the man at the center of it all, I didn’t feel sorry for him. No. I realized that this man was behind the whole thing. As I looked down at the sheet with his name on it, I tried to think about what to ask first. “So, Mister Radlem. It seems you’ve been wrongfully accused however you’re still in prison. Why do you think that is?” The blond haired man beyond the bullet proof glass scoffed. “It’s because no one can trust robots. Every day a robot is burrowing its way into your life. Taking jobs, lives, and running our society. It is high time we take back what is rightfully ours, before they just say that they’re in charge now and we can’t do anything about it.” I looked around cautiously and leaned in. “I know what you mean, there are probably robots in this very room. In fact how do I know you’re not a robot?” Mister Radlem looked confused but proud of my response. “You’re probably right, there could be robots here.” He motioned for me to come closer and he began whispering to me. “But what no one knows, is I still have family on the outside. They’re helping to get me free.”

They’re helping to get me free. The last words Mister Radlem was allowed to speak to me. Apparently we got too close, so his time was cut short for the day. As I thought about it more, I contemplated my decision to wait at the discard graveyard tonight. I needed to investigate this guy’s situation first. Who was his daughter. Where was she now? I decided to do a little old school investigating. To Radlem’s house under the cloak of darkness, that is how I’d get my information.

After some quick searches I found his house no problem. It was a dark and dingy hut of a house. But it’s not the building, but what’s inside of it that makes it a home. As I snuck around the back, I found a window partially open and decided to let myself in. No broken windows? This night was looking up. I hopped on through and into the home, seeing many photos of Radlem and what looked to be Ms. Del Mar. Hmm, Del Mar… Radlem… If I was human, maybe I would have seen that earlier. As I looked around I found so much evidence that Del Mar was actually Radlem’s daughter it wasn’t funny. Case closed. As I left, I shut the window behind me and continued on my way. That seemed easy, too easy.

As I waited in the bushes for what felt like forever, I could only be too grateful that I was a robot now and didn’t have to worry about bathroom breaks. Finally a car rolled up, looking extremely familiar. As I reached for my gun, I realized something. I was such a worthless robot, who has ever heard of a robot with no memory? I forgot my gun in my office. Of all the stupid… oh, she’s really close. As I focused on her face, I realized it was her. The media proclaimed “Serial Number Killer”. How stupid. Just because she is killing robots doesn’t mean they had to say serial number. The media gets less and less creative every year. As I watched her enter the house, I knew I would have to wait. No gun, and she had already killed me once. I wasn’t about to let that happen again.

Today was going a bit too smoothly, so I would have to have something throw a wrench into the works. No gun means no glory for me, but I could still report her. As I called it into the station they gave me some trouble. “What do you mean Radlem’s daughter is the Serial Number Killer?” I knew I would shock them with that news. “I have video evidence of her murdering a robot and leaving another one at the discard graveyard.” The voice on the other end of the line sounded even more shocked. “That’s impossible sir. We filed her death certificate over a week ago. The woman you are accusing has been dead for over a week.” Now it was my turn to be shocked. As I hung up with the police, I thought about who could be in the house and who had been visiting her father in prison?

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!

Today is Episode Six 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!

The courthouse corridors were wrought with quiet robots and angry lawyers trying to prove their client’s innocence. I couldn’t be bothered to eavesdrop on any of their conversations. I needed to get into the security office. After finding out the Judge had been tampered with he allowed me to copy his logs from the day of the alteration. I ran the log transparent yet in my view to see where he had gone that day. As I retraced his steps I had found myself just outside another judge’s office where a camera was actually just down the hall. With the time stamp and the location all I needed was the actual video footage.

As I arrived before the door to the security office, two rather large robots moved between me and the door. “Sorry sir, no access.” I paused and looked to the two of them. “I’m on a case investigating the modification of a judge in the wrongful imprisonment of a human. I need access to the logs that are in that room.” The robots looked at each other and then back to me. “Sorry sir, no access.” Now as an ex human I had some thought processes that other robots don’t, like learning programming languages so I could hack into other robots wirelessly. Just as I turned the corner and loaded up one of such programs, suddenly there was a huge group of people making their way into the courthouse. I watched as the Mayor marched into the hall, completely surrounded by news reporters. The robots burst into action, rushing to aid the Mayor in his fight, like watching a salmon swim upstream… or more like a waterfall. I decided to make my entry into the office.

As I entered the small room, a small robot was positioned with many arms and cameras focused on many keyboards and television screens. “You are unauthorized human. You… wait. You’re not human. I detect nanites?” I had loaded a disabling program just in case, but decided to roll with his questions. “Yeah, the face is entirely nanites. I’m a robot in disguise hiding from a killer.” The tiny bot shifted and focused multiple of his cameras on me. “Robot in disguise?” I laughed, “Yeah, but I’m no Transformer.” The robot stared blankly at me, his cameras focusing and refocusing in some sort of confusion. A public service robot would have gotten that. “Alright, so I need access to the camera log dated…” Before I finish my sentence, the robot has the information on screen and a prompt for upload to my data banks appears in my view. “I know, I just read your memory. You’ve had an interesting life, and now you’re potentially the only thing that can help robots remain in their position of power.” I nodded and thanked him, but then my human curiosity got the best of me. “Help the robots? I’m trying to keep a war from starting to save everyone.” The robot made some sort of laughing sound and waved me off. “Sure thing ex-meatbag.”

As I left the security office I loaded the footage of the judge walking down the hall. It seemed that he was followed by a familiar looking blonde walking with a cane. As she approached his backside she raised the cane for only a moment and passed straight by. It was subtle enough to be overlooked by a security droid, but for me it was definitely a clue. Especially knowing what I know about that lady. My thought process loads the image of Ms. Del Mar with the gun to my face and I know she’s at least committed one other crime, two if I count the random email I received. It would be almost impossible to find her, especially if she keeps dumping bodies at the discard graveyard. Where would I begin looking for her, where would she turn up and should I risk waiting for her at her dumping zone?

As I left the courthouse I found the Mayor standing at the top of the large staircase making a speech to the news crews and public who had gathered before him. As he stood staring at the microphone, I wondered what he could possibly be reporting about. As the crowd watched on, he cleared his throat and began. “Today my fellow citizens is an ill omen in the relations between ourselves and the robots who govern our laws and risk their existence every day for our well being. It appears a recent robot murderer has finally made their presence known and has been upgraded to serial killer. For some out there, you believe ending a robot’s existence is not the same as ending a human’s. You would be wrong. The penalties are treated exactly the same and you will be punished as if they were humans. As of four fifty three pm today, our beloved police chief was found dismantled and stripped of his electronics. Luckily for us, his final act was to erase his memory banks and we found the blank memory core left in a ditch not far from his remains. If anyone has any information at all on this or any of the other robot related violence as of late, I encourage you to call the police station or even our government hotline. We don’t need your name, just your information. Thank you for your attention in this matter.”

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!