The warehouses on Pier 73 is part of the independent commercial district. The pier itself is an example, like many things on the Island, of top notch material research and spans out almost four miles into the ocean. Not any different to any of the multitude of piers on the island, it fits nicely into general idea of how a futuristic pier should look. Most warehouses that ran along both sides of the pier were a synthetic plastic that was stronger then concrete and that could be tinted with the appropriate zing of an electric pulse at the right frequency.
The Piers technically fell to us security units to police for smugglers and contraband but in actuality, the coastal interceptor units are the ones who go up and down the pier at night pinging the warehouses and doing visual inspections in addition to the ever present eye in the sky that TAI is. Being in our jurisdiction, is why we are here today for the first homicide in years. Catching refugees and smugglers is fully in the interceptor wheelhouse, but a dead bod with no leads is a little too much for their dumbed down brains.
About 2 miles into the pier was the target warehouse, 73-15. It's glass facade was tinted to avoid curious looky-loos and the front of it was a circus of vans, cruisers and even one coastal unit hover cart if you can believe it. I guess they wanted to make sure to ensure this was pushed into our laps all proper like. As such, I added my cruiser to the collection in front of the warehouse. A police line was drawn using holo tech which drew the lines from one leg to another keeping a classing "Do not enter" tape hovering in the air between the two. I crossed the line, the legs automatically checking my credentials upon entering, and walked over to where the commotion was.
The left side of the warehouse was stacked with cellophane-wrapped boats, the largest a sleek 42-foot cruiser. Not a bad collection, all things considered. The middle of the warehouse, toward the back, was a cut out into the ocean where the ships could be docked and/or released into the ocean. It was cool for a maritime setup, and nothing illegal about it with the right permits, which we would most definitely check up on. The right side of the warehouse was shelves upon shelves of organized boxes and retrieval robots. Pretty standard stuff to be honest and would look suspect if they were there actually.
Near the back of the shelves was where the star of the show was, laying on her back, crumpled to the floor, staring at the ceiling. She showed to be a braided haired doll with a bit of a Brazilian look to her face. Green eyes looked up at us as we surrounded her, looking down at the beauty. Dressed in a fashionable business suit, and silk blouse. Her large bosom and fit body proudly pushed against the fabric of her clothes not overly exposing anything but perfectly implying what was there. Fresh make up was painted on her face like a fresh coat of paint on the side of a refurnished house. Her lips proudly protruded in a cute smile like resting pose. Her left green eye was the only hint of what did her in—an electrical fire had torn through from eye socket to skull, exposing what should’ve been brain matter, but was instead a modified AG2-2 AI processing unit. Not Homicide - but an android being subjected to forced immolation.
"Richard. Good of you to join us." I heard from behind me and immediately I rolled my eyes. Remember how I said being a noir detective wasn't the worse I could've evolved into? Well there was always Frank Parker, technically my partner for this case, who took on the distinct characterization of a 1960's G man. Bureaucratic instinct for sweeping things under the rug included.
"Frank. What have we got here?"
"Not homicide. Just a droid that short-circuited. Wrap it up, Richard. We’ve got better things to do."
"Sounds good Frank. But first did you notice that this AI unit is old, yet the body is of a current generation and even that isn't quite up to snuff. This android isn't like us Frank. Subpar and a homemade feel to her."
"'It' Richard, not a 'she'."
I was crouching by her head looking at the bootleg CPU and looked up to Frank who was simply staring at the ocean while he said this. "Frank, regardless of how black and white you want to make things, this here is a person, regardless of who built her, and deserves that much respect at least, and since we don't know her personal pronouns, we sure as hell know she's a 'she' not an 'it'."
"Semantics Dick. Just semantics"
I let that go and continued to the back of her neck to examine the body's interface link. Every android has one which allows us to dock into our medical bay when we get upgrades and such. An Island's android's body is modeled after human skin tissue, and as such can grow given enough blueprints installed in it. When I get an upgrade to my body, it's going to basically be an injection full of nano machines that deliver a blueprint change and then the body will install it over time, the tech itself was inspired by modern day vaccines in humans. Problem with our Jane Doe here was she didn't have an interface. For all intents and purposes her body was just as flawless as an organic's.
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"Well Frank, I'd love to rubber stamp this as destruction of property"
"Great, I'l just start the paperwork..."
"But, there is one problem. Just a small one. This android here has a two generation old AI unit, a current-gen neural network and no decipherable interface link Frank. Still want to close this case Frank? I'm sure it's not a big deal right big guy?!"
Frank slowly looked away from the ocean at me in a stupor and simply said "We need to escalate this to AG".
I nodded to him. Frank was a pig in a fashion show, but he was also a good cop, a really good cop. He knew what this represented for the Island, let alone for the world. Someone on the Island was bootlegging our proprietary technology and god knows what they were doing with it. But I was going to find out.
"Before we report it up, let's talk to the witness. Fill me in Frank."
Frank seemed to clear his head at this and took out his notepad, with actual notes on it. Obviously in cosplay since you know, we have a computer in our head, but if he could forgive me my Cuban's and coffee habit then I could forgive him his bad aftershave, dark glasses and dark suits. The habit of wearing fedora's was just good taste I guess.
"Warehouse owner came by to inspect an alarm he said. His statement said that he's rarely here and otherwise would never come by. He's by the front with the rookies who are doing the usual checks. Seems he's already going to get 3 fines for various things we found against the building code."
I looked over at the large boat on the lower chassis and walked over to it. I noticed that the cellophane on this one wasn't equipped, seemed ready to be craned over to the hole in the floor for usage at a moments notice.
"Seems this one gets used often." I said I as I climb the ladder up into the aft section where fishing and who knows what else goes on.
"I take no liability for anything that you break up there officer" came from below where Frank was now standing with one of the newer officers and a dumpy looking fellow with a balding spot that I could see from my vantage point. He stood up to Franks and Newbie's shoulder and looking up at me like an angry little chick.
"Mr Hernandez I presume." I said as I let myself down from he ladder. "This boat seems to be used fairly often. Care to shed some light on what it's used for? While your at it can you tell me how you came about to finding the body."
The topic change threw the penguin-looking man off track. His eyes darted around, searching for something to anchor himself to. Finally he seemed to remember himself and got to spilling the beans.
"I dunno, the boats one of my clients, I just rent out the facility to some small companies and individuals for storage and some packaging stuff they may need. It's all on the up and up. Got my licenses and everything in order for that. As for the broad, I got a CO2 alarm on my phone and came by to check it out. I thought one of the boats may have been activated or something. But instead I got a burned up lady in a corp suit. I called it in immediately -- you can check the video feeds to confirm."
"Interesting. Do you get CO2 alarms frequently Mr Hernandez?"
He shrugged and kicked the floor a bit in nervousness. "You never know with these genius independents. Their inventions tend to blow up in there face. Literally."
And there I realized without needing to look it up that Mr. Hernandez was one of the natives of the Island before it was this new nation of ours. The Natives always seemed to carry a grudge even if being part of this nation pumped their quality of living beyond all others in the world. They still had an us vs them mentality that bled through. Humans and their tribalism I guess.
"Any other questions?" I asked to Frank, only for the Newbie to pipe up "I think Mr Hernandez should be detained for further questioning until the crime scene has been processed just in case we have further questions."
Frank and I both looked at the Newbie, which I didn't bother to catch the name of - one newbie fresh out of the lab is exactly like the next after all.
"And, why per se, do we need to hold him here? Can't we just call him on the phone if needed or ask him to come back?"
"Sir procedure specifically gives us the option to detain any witnesses for..."
"Son, I practically helped write those procedures 25 years ago, and I can assure you they are not meant to bother upstanding citizens like Mr. Hernandez for such frivolous purposes. Sir you're free to go, we may have further questions." Frank said and followed up to the Newbie "A note has been placed with TAI about your behavior."
"Yes sir, sorry sir. I'll just umm, go help with the clean up" the embarrassed recruit said while walking back to the body.
"Kids these days" Frank mumbled to him self. "To AG?" He asked me.
"Yea, but first, I found this on the inside of her jacket." Showing him a picture on my phone. "It's the label of a pretty famous tailor located in the inner market section. Maybe we go talk to him first before taking it to the big wigs." I said to Frank.
"TAI, thoughts?"
"This case has been upgraded to Code Platinum. AG is awaiting your report—after you speak with Sir Wallace Mellon. He also sends his regards… to his tailor." TAI said to them both in their head.
"I hate when she does that. We have phones. We have speakers in our phones. Rude."