The Girl and the Pendulum (An Original Story – Part 3)

Part Three

Cattrell stepped away from the window and stood in front of Boone, who was still holding his whiskey. The Himalayan followed him. “So did someone steal the 101, or did it bail out on your family?”

The words seemed to cut Boone, and he spilled a little whiskey on his lap. He recovered with a wipe of his napkin. “I cannot imagine anyone stealing an older model droid. But you never know. We think the chip was infected with a virus that downloaded to 101’s programming when it connected to the Internet for a software update. The chip has been quite vulnerable over the years.”

Cattrell nodded. After the fall of governments during the collapse, the Internet was the last globalized network standing. But it rose in power only to be plagued with viruses. “Was the 101 prone to disappearing?”

“Before, never.” His eyes glazed. “It has never done this before. If it wasn’t stolen, that is.” He blinked. “To the police, it’s only a lost item. There’s not a resource they would spend on something like this during our current bank holiday. Even if we had proof 101 was stolen, I’m sure they would still turn a blind eye.”

Cattrell sighed. Enough was enough. “Do you have anything more for me, Boone?”

Boone looked up, startled. “Oh, are we done?” He tried to stand.

“Almost. Those list of items that I emailed you. Do you have any of them?”

Boone nodded. “Jessica!”

A lithe, wiry blonde stepped through the hallway entrance behind Boone. Cattrell couldn’t tell if she were a 25 year-old or an 18 year-old trying to look 22. Her looks couldn’t just kill: they were fatal.

“Cattrell, my daughter. And in case you were wondering, she’s seventeen.”

Cattrell nodded, averting his eyes.

Boone chortled. “It’s fine, Cattrell. She’s dated men twice your age.”

Cattrell did not respond.

“Jessica, doll, could you get the white box from the pantry?”

Jessica sighed and fetched the box. She stepped over the Himalyan on her way back.

“Just on the table, doll. Now stand over there, out of the way.” Boone turned back to Cattrell. “Are we done?”

“No, again. The deposit?”

Boone’s eyes narrowed for the briefest moment. Most everybody favored a narrow-eyed look about money nowadays. But money was money, and cryptos were, well, the currency.

“Bitcoin or Steem-backed Dollars?”

“Do you really need to ask?”

Boone left the kitchen. Cattrell stood next to the window. Two children, not much older than 6 or 7, were playing in the yard with a dull grey ball. Or perhaps the ball was white, covered in soot. “Your siblings?”

Jessica snapped her gum. “Yes. Steven and Anna.”

“Your Mother?”

Jessica paused. “She died in a warehouse fire in downtown. We owned a textiles company.” The look on Jessica’s face told Cattrell that it was no longer a family business.

“Sorry to hear that.” Cattrell continued watching the children play.

Boone returned and placed a plastic coin on the table. Cattrell could see the digital readout on the top of the coin, under the letters SBD. He flipped it over and saw the three familiar wavy lines of the blockchain imprinted on the back. “This deposit is also the first payment. For finding the droid. The second payment is for bringing it back to you.”

He pocketed the coin.

“Agreed.” Boone said. He frowned. “You don’t want to know anything more about 101?”

Cattrell walked to the white file box that Jessica had set down earlier. He cast the lid aside and rifled through the contents. Papers, contracts, handwritten notes, photos, mini-discs with what he assumed to be home videos of the droid. A user’s guide and old receipts. Typical fare.

“Everything I need to know is right in here.” Cattrell threw the lid back on and picked it up. He walked towards the kitchen’s side door, where his car was parked, giving a respectful nod to Jessica on the way out.

Boone followed him, but stopped at the door.

“When will I hear back from you?”

“When I find the damn thing.”

Read from the beginning:
Part One | Part Two

Read the next chapter:
Part Four

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"The Girl and the Pendulum" is an 18-part future-noir science fiction story about a a private investigator's search for a missing android. How can a man who searches for missing women find lost artificial intelligence? I welcome feedback on this story about a man and his difficult case in a post-war, post collapse world. Stay tuned, as I also will begin publishing my 300,000 word epic novel "The Messiah" on Steemit in 2017.

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