ELRON AHURA - Space Detective • The Murder of Dr. Roboto - Part 1
Mars has been colonized! Titan of Saturn is also a colony; Jupiter’s moon Enceladus is a holiday resort destination and Pluto a Research & Development Laboratory. Several trading posts are located throughout the Solar System, from Neptune heading towards the outer reaches of the Oort cloud. Our tale begins in the future, many moons from today.
Earth is dead. Decimated from the A.I. Wars of the early 2000s. Only a handful of pocketed areas remain habitable. Yet, Earth is still considered prime real estate and the 139-year-old-clean up project is going well. Tacos, are also far more popular now, than they have ever been before.
The fresh corpse had no visible marks, save a swollen blue face from strangulation. It was quick tho, whoever did this even snapped his neck to make sure the job was done proper. Dr. Roboto's body was carefully placed in his study chair, grasping a THC vape-pipe in his right hand. His eyes were still open, there was an unmistakable fear lingering over his frozen face.
"Ahura! What the bloody blazes are you doing on my crime scene you sorry excuse for a Detective."
Bloody hell, what the fuck is he doing here...? Crypto said Barnaby wouldn't be on this shift. Great, just great.
"Well well, if it isn't Inspector Barnaby, How goes it, fella?"
"How goes it?! You're on my crime scene Ahura, you don't belong here. So why dontcha just drop everything you're doing and exit out the way you came in. Pronto."
Barnaby was a short, fat, pasty police inspector, Mars Division - Horus Unit. He takes care of Robot & A.I. Murders, not human ones. Whether or not a robot was killed or is the killer, Barnaby is pretty good at what he does and closes most of his cases. He hates my guts though. His wife hired me years ago as a private dick to keep eyes on him, afraid he was cheating on her.
After a few weeks, I managed to give an answer, to that age old query, "Is he cheating on me?" He was not. This brought a smile to her face, and she cried such joyful tears. Until I further mentioned, "Not with a human anyway..." It was his AI receptionist, Giboo.
Yup, the great Inspector Barnaby of Horus Unit, was oiling up his robot assistant and pole dancing with it naked. He also used its 3-phase socket loader as a, erm... entry point. Mrs. Barnaby ended up divorcing him. He then sued her, and won.
The inspector has Agalmatophilia, in other words, to have sexual desires for inanimate objects. A robot, is quite the temptation. How he's even in robot crimes division is beyond me!? Kinda like working in a shoe store and having podophilia, a fetish for feet. He must be happy as Larry Being the lead inspector on this case, in the apartment of the famous Dr. Roboto.
"I've got clearance this time Barnaby, straight from the top. Professor Soto is quite important to the science committee, so you're gonna have to put up with me. What happened between us was a long time ago... and you got a hefty payout from the courts. I think we're square."
"Science committee aye? Humph!"
He removed his bowler hat and dusted it off with a few solid pats from his stubby fingers. Barnaby's hair is funny, there's always a think strand popping up out the back pointing to the sky, the rest of the hair is slicked down and deep black.
"You listen to me, y'hear! Do what I say, when I say, or you're out. I don't care how high that letter goes up, your mouth gets smart, I fucking boot you!"
He takes a cigar out from his trench coat pocket and sparks it up. This was a good sign, it means he's ready to get into it. As much as he can't stand to be near me, this time around, he's just gonna have to suck it in for the sake of this case.
"Righto, I can dig that. Let me have some room then Inspector, so I can work over this crime scene."
We were in the basement of Prof Francis Soto, otherwise affectionately known as Dr. Roboto. An experienced robot and AI scientist, also a member of the Senate science committee. This guy was a real smarty pants. Now, he's dead, in his chair, at home, with no family or kids. A real loner, married to his job.
There were two paintings on the wall. A classic from the early NeoGen era of 2050 by the great Adam Pollina, which depicts Batman standing over his dead team-mate Cyborg, and an older Renaissance piece, Glorification of the Eucharist - by Bonaventura Salimbeni in 1600, which was God and Jeezuz touching a silver, metallic orb that looks like the first ever satellite, Sputnik.
The rest of the room was messy, pizza cartons littered a far corner, there was a small coffee table with two mugs, one was full the other empty, a wardrobe was on the other side of the basement and computers were everywhere. A splatter of blood was all over the engineering table. This was weird man, Soto had no visible wounds?
The door to the basement was broken from the outside, as was the back door to the apartment. Nothing was stolen. In the opposite corner of the lab was a humanoid robot. I suppose that's why Barnaby is here. Makes sense. Fucking Crypto, he didn't check the case file the lazy mutt!
Barnaby was giving the strange robot a once over, running his fingers over its smooth faceplate. This was getting a bit awkwaaard.
"You uh, wanna get a room there Inspector?"
"Shut your face Ahura! You wouldn't understand."
No, no I wouldn't, and that's just fine with me.
"Is the robot a suspect?"
"No. Not yet anyway. Doors were all broken from the outside, the intruder probably came over the back wall."
"If that's the case, where are the footprints across the yard?"
"Exactly. I'm wiping the robot's face with my fingers to brush off any Martian dust you dumbass!"
I told ya he was good. Barnaby does suspect the robot. If it had any red dust on its outer shell, then it might've been the one who broke the doors open, to make it look like an intruder and not, it.
∆ "Gentlemen I assure you, the killer was indeed uninvited and not me." the robot tilted its head to towards Barnaby.
"Jeezuz Christ! It speaks?" the inspector pounced backward and knocked over a few computer screens in mid-prance. He's quite fond of ballet.
∆ "Of course I do inspector. It is after all, the year 2369. Even my toaster can speak." replied the cold figure.
The robot uprighted itself from its charge rig and proceeded to walk towards the center of the room. It scanned us, and the other two officers standing by the door. It was a Simian Class robot chassis. Extremely advanced, very strong. But not built for combat. It was more of a, collectors edition for the rich folks.
"Have you been ON the entire time, robot? What is your call sign and field of creation?" said I, lighting my cigarette.
∆ "I am Lazarus. Created by Professor Soto, engaging in the fields of neuroscience and nanotech. I am the lab assistant."
"Are you now? Such an advanced body you have for a lab assistant, don't you think?" I blew smoke into the robot's flat, shiny faceplate. Its yellow eyes glowed thru the wisps like laser beams at a roller disco.
∆ "All the better to... serve you with, Mr. Ahura."
To Be Continued...
Disclaimer - We do not own the pictures, most are from public archives and royalty free public wallpapers. If you own any of these works online, please let me know in the comment section below and let's have a beer together or a nice phat blunt. We would love to credit your amazing work.
Brilliant, I've been busy AF lately, really enjoyed this as I finally have time to enjoy some posts. You have serious talent! Resteemed
Yo thx for the resteem! Yea I read alot of your original posts, youve been busy alright! Keep it up brother.
Just wanna say thanks again for getting me going on creative writing after almost losing me passion, really man. Mucho respect. Hope to deliver a good one for 'Antarctica'.
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like it . Thanks for sharing
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Great Post brother
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