Putting everything else aside, feet hitting the floor hard as she didn't waste a single second, Cassandra barged into the office that Grunwald had set up for himself. It was close to a series of cubicles if anything, but the lack of any real people had allowed them to rearrange the furniture to be closer to one single office. Not the cleanest of operations, but the woman could understand the desire for a bigger room. Sitting around in the cafeteria wasn't the greatest experience, after all. Professional papers were best drafted when one back actually didn't feel pain after five minutes.
"I… see you are back early, Cass," Grunwald said as the woman entered the room. The man might have taken a second to check the time, just to make sure it had not flown by during work. Cassandra couldn't blame him for the safety check, knowing fully that she had done the same many times before. "Did anything go wrong during the operation?"
"No, I would have contacted you remotely if that was the case," Cass said, getting into the seat opposite of the man. There were a few to choose from, the man seemingly having the vain hope of them ever actually being needed. It's not like there were enough people in total to fill up four. Perhaps a few visitors could help if they really needed it? A thought to consider. "Jules is perfectly able to handle the current tasks, and the robots are showing steady progress. From the analytics, we assume that we will be more than ready for the public to have eyes on it by tonight."
"Thank you for the update on the situation. However, that doesn't truly explain your reasoning for coming here. Or, I must assume there was a reason," Grunwald answered quickly, the man clearly used to the updated arrangement. If anything, he was the one that taught Cassandra to use it, the need for quick updates essential to the workshop format in the small towns. Nobody needed ten-page essays when a ten-word verbal update would be much faster and more efficient. Not that this stopped Cassandra from doing the first during the official reports but whatever.
Efficiency was important and she wanted that cleared up more than anything. If it meant she had to take a few steps beforehand, the woman was perfectly fine with that requirement.
"There was indeed one," Cass stated. A moment was spent in silence as the woman sent over a certain file to the man. It was one that she had been fiddling with not much earlier when she was looking over the details of the initial robbery report. "This report was issued by a few hours ago when the call about the robberies were made. Inside, I noticed that-"
"The reporter’s name isn't present," Grunwald finished before she even had the chance. Ignoring the mild annoyance felt at the man doing so, Cassandra did nod in confirmation of his statement. He was right in the end.
Instead of any name, there was only a blank space, hidden away from any eyes through the power of an impossible-to-break lock. Or well, it was hidden away until Cassandra got her hands on it.
"I believe some errors were made during its creation," Cass started again when Grunwald looked at her for more information. The two were clearly beginning to see the same side of the coin, the problems appear to both. "That blank space was originally restricted to a level higher than any human on the planet has access to. My current theory is that there was some malfunctioning during its creation, creating the classified and deleting what was originally meant to be there. Do you have thoughts on that idea?"
"... I suppose it could be true. We did have some malfunctions last night on the police server. The OS spat out a fix within the minute, so I had no suspicions about any errors being made because of it. Although… this does show that my lack of suspicion might have caused some consequences," Grunwald said after some time. A theory of his own was being created, or maybe just an extension of the one Cassandra had already made. It depended on how one looked at it all.
"Any idea on what might have caused the computer error?" Cass questioned, fishing for the idea of something being at play. Or maybe the head-servers at the centre were being-
"Something random, if I had to hazard a guess. It has happened a few times this past year. We’ve had a brief reprieve of a few months of quiet now, so I imagined that age to be over. But… this shows that it's quite the opposite," Grunwald said, leaning back in his chair. "I would not truly be worried about it. It just happens sometimes."
… Right. Of course, it would be something as banal as that. Police servers malfunctioning being a common thing, the only corruption at the place being that the budget did not allow for a complete replacement of an already century-old system running in place. No amount of patchwork would help it, yet they would just continue building on it, wouldn't they? Yet another thing that Cassandra swore to get fixed when she had the chance.
"I see," Cassandra said, feeling a small bit deflated from all the tension in the air. If it was something of this level, she might just have overreacted a small bit. Nothing that she really worried about. It was a regular occurrence to worry about inconsistencies and there was likely one that would be serious. But… for now, it was nothing to be truly worried about. "Just a common mistake. I feel a bit stupid coming all the way to the station to report it."
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"Ah, there’s no reason to be like that. This is still a large error, even if the reason behind it might not have been of the same calibre. We must surely need to get this fixed as quickly as possible, lest the higher-ups might just send another complaint down our way," Grunwald said, quick to discourage her from feeling down. The man even gave her a smile of acknowledgement, clearly understanding the feelings felt. Cassandra felt a small connection form at that point, even if it was only brief. The two shared common ground on something! "And… the medical room’s automatic systems did notify me of you bringing in Jared. When he wakes up, I am sure he will thank you for the quick help you were able to give him. He’s apparently becoming quite reliant on you, with how this is progressing. I do hope he improves his health."
Cassandra wouldn't have called herself the one that Jard relied on, but she was not the right person to comment on unhealthy behaviours like that… even if there clearly were some serious topics to discuss with the man. One moment shouting and the other asking for them to be beside their bed. Something was going on in that man’s head, be that stress forming something else or just some switch being turned on by accident. Cassandra was sure the pay-out would come soon.
"I am sure he would," Cass said, driving away from the attempted Jared-inclusion. There was no real desire to talk about the man more than she truly needed to. And… there were more important matters to discuss anyway. "This fixing of the report should be fairly easy, however. Maybe check it through for any more minor errors, put in the name, and then ship it off again?"
"That sounds like a good idea, though I would personally add a general sweep of the database for anything that has a higher requirement than what the current leader of the country can look through," Grunwald said with a smug smile. He clearly had some expectations of what they had. Cassandra noted that fact down for later.
"Of course. Have to make sure that the mistake isn't repeated. Would be terrible if it wasn't an isolated incident," Cass stated, starting up the commands on the database. She would have previously needed the higher-up's permission to do so, but Grunwald had happily given her access without needing to be asked. Though, that access did allow her to look at the capacity of the database. She didn't even truly remember how much space that symbol meant. What exactly was a domegemegrottebyte even? "The database is estimating it to take a few hours. In the meantime, I believe we could check over the report itself?"
"It wouldn't take more than a minute, actually," Grunwald corrected her. "The report itself is unchanged except for the missing name. Nothing that we should be in need of correcting."
"That's… great," Cassandra said, unsure of how she felt about the man being able to check through an entire document for any minor errors in the span of the time she needed to make a single command to a system. "Since you already have access to my version of the document, could you put in the name? It would be helpful, and allow me to send it through the proper channels."
Grunwald stared at Cassandra. Cassandra stared back. The woman was waiting for the man to put in the name, yet he was waiting for some reason. Why… Why was it taking this long?
"Excuse me, but why would I put in the name? That seems a small bit silly," Grunwald said with an uncertain laugh to accompany it. The man was clearly confused. And so was the one who sat on the opposite side of him, Cassandra not sure what to make of it.
"Uhm… during breakfast hours, you didn't explicitly say the name of who reported it, so I am not truly able to write it myself… Because I don't know it," Cass stated bluntly.
The silence continued once again, both parties looking at each other with uncertainty.
"... I believe we might not be on the same wavelength here," Grunwald said after a few more seconds. The man was beginning to grow more serious, his eyes gaining the sharpness normally saved for more critical operations. "You were the one to write the report, right?"
What? This wasn't making sense.
"No? You wrote it last night, sir'' Cassandra stated, her mind filled to the brim with possibilities. There was something wrong here. "You said you sent it to the head office while we were in the cafeteria."
"Yes. I sent it. You requested that of me last night due to you needing permission for it that would take time to do, which you then delegated to me due to you needing sleep," Grunwald said in quick succession, not taking a single pause in his speech.
What was he saying? Cassandra had done no such thing last night, her mind only filling with the vivid sight of a construct’s dissection. Nothing else had happened, expected for her staring at her ceiling for a few hours. Certainly nothing that would make her write a report, send it to her boss, and then make a request for him to send it on her behalf. The requirements for sending in reports were less than the requirements to send messages. Just what was her boss thinking?
"No, I did not do that," Cass said. The woman went so far as to send Grunwald a brief shot of what she had been doing. "I was occupied down in the basement overviewing the repair of Jared’s automation. No other work-related tasks were completed during the night.
…
Grunwald looked at Cassandra and Cassandra looked back at Grunwald. Both understood. If she wasn't the one who had sent the message and report, just who had done so.
"Could you have misread the sender’s name? Jared is known for irregular work-times," Cass suggested. It would also allow for the error in the report. That man was not known for checking over his own work. "The medical machines were waking him at regular times, after all. He might have spent that time doing some work."
"No, it doesn't fit his writing style. And, I know who I got the message from," Grunwald said, sending over an image of her name on a letter. Somebody had sent it on her behalf. "Does anybody have remote access to your mail account?"
"Nobody that I know of," Cassandra stated.
"Then we have a problem on our hands."
Cassandra leaned back in the chair, trying to figure out just how they had gotten her. It was all getting messed up quicker than she could even count.