Shells

In the future, the rights of man and machines are one in the same, or so we like to think. Its a brutal murder in a brutal city, but its just another day at the office for Detective Card and Belleck.

Shells

 

1

 

Blood.

Red red red blood.

It is all over, splashed against the white walls and wood panel floors. It soaks into the expensive Persian rugs and seeps into fine leather couches. Lights cast red shadows as they illuminate blood on their lampshades and mirrors reflect the specs of gore back. It is everywhere.

Blood.

Blood.

He�"it, for he knew not if he was worthy of having a gender anymore�"never realized humans had so much blood inside them. Six pints looked like a lot more than it was. It nudged the body with his foot and nothing happened, for her lifeblood had been drained as thoroughly as if it had pumped her dry. Its fingers twitched endlessly as it hunkered down over her, touching her hair and face, before removing her from her ragged garments.

It drew a knife from its concealed sheath and went to work, quickly but carefully removing each of her vital organs and setting them in a small cooler it had brought with itself. It was fast, bloody work, but it was not the squeamish type. It stood once its work was done, collecting the cooler and moving towards the door.

And yet for a moment it paused to gaze out the window, to overlook a dreary city. Light gleamed off its chrome body. Its hands began to shake again, clicking together like rattling ice, until he turned away from the view, and left the hotel forever.

 

2

 

The two figures lingered under an awning to get out of the rain and cold, the inviting warmth of the hotel to their backs as they watched the city wander by them.

One of them was Detective Arnold Card, a grizzly old man who had been on the force pushing thirty years now, and more often than not this thoughts wandered to retirement, especially on s****y nights like this one. Damn city was always too cold, and while that hadn't been a problem in his youth, now the cold seeped into his battered joints like uninvited guests, and it seemed like he ached all the damn time. Retirement whispered of warm climates, cool drinks, and scantily clad women. No doubt his wife wouldn't approve of the women. The thought made him smile slightly, making his world-weary face even more wrinkled, as he wrapped his coat tighter around himself.

The figure standing with him handed him a steaming cup of coffee that he had acquired from god knows where. It was dark and bitter�"obviously s****y hotel coffee�"but Card welcomed its warmth.

"Thanks, man." He said honestly.

His partner was also pushing retirement age, but you'd never know at a glance. Almost a foot taller than Card (who was more than six feet himself) and impossibly slim, Detective Belleck was an android that had been Card's partner for almost as long as he had been a detective. His face was a blank mask, from a time before designers thought it was important for androids to have facial expressions. His eyes were two cool blue orbs that seemed to watch everything, and glowed faintly with their own inner light. Despite the fact that he could not feel the cold, Belleck wore a well-tailored three-piece suit, with a long black overcoat and gray fedora. He was a strange mix of the past and present.

 

While many androids embraced their machine origins, Belleck was one of those who attempted to blend into a crowd and not alarm those around him. Of course, there were always those who cried that androids like Belleck were trying to pass as human and debase human society with their subtle mockery.

But f**k 'em, thought Card, they didn't know Belleck, who had saved his life on more occasions then he could count, and the detective had never shown any aggression towards humanity. Even now, he held a second cup of coffee, which struck Card as a touchingly human gesture.

"The crime scene…" Belleck began carefully.

"Its bad, isn't it? One of the younger guys�"Carry or something�"threw up when we came in. Damn fool did it in the middle of the crime scene." Card shook his head, "The CSI team were pitching a fit about it."

Belleck made a light clicking noise from deep inside him�"his way of chuckling. Though the scene was gruesome, the detectives had seen the worst this city could throw at them, and this was just another day at the office�"albeit a gory one.

"It's a machine." Belleck said after a long pause.

Card quirked an eyebrow, "How do you figure? Seemed pretty human to me. Careless, splattered, some guy glanded-up on tellec or some sadistic f****r who gets off on blood."

Belleck peered down into his coffee cup, "I thought the same thing at first. But I got a closer look at the… cavity."

"Sick f**k, eh? Took all that girl's organs. My guess its black market work�""

"Indeed." Belleck interjected, "But did you take a good look at them though? The site of removal? Unless our suspect is a doctor…"

"What are you saying?" Card turned to look at his tall partner, "That it’s too precise?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying detective. And it was done fast. I estimate between one and two minutes."

Card whistled, "But androids usually aren't so… messy about their murders. In fact, they're usually pretty clean…"

Belleck nodded, "I wondered the same thing myself… I suspect that whoever murdered our woman is trying to hide the fact that he's synthetic."

"Jesus… any guesses why?"

"Not a clue." Belleck admitted.

"Damn… well, lets go take another look at the crime scene." Card threw his coffee into a waste bin, "This coffee really tastes like s**t, you know that?"

"Sorry. I don't have taste buds, as I'm sure you're aware."

"Be glad you don't."

 

3

 

The woman was positively identified as a Mary Ringo, a British girl who had been visiting the city on business. It made the detective's investigation even harder, as there were now no friends or family to ask, no usual haunts to investigate or boyfriends to suspect.

Card reflected that the young lady would have been almost painfully beautiful in life, but a brutal end had left her ashen and deflated, little more than a meat sack now. They watched as the mortician poked around the dead girl, speaking to them and his microphone on occasion, confirming what Belleck had suspected: This was not a human murder.

"What I don't understand is, why would an android want human organs?" Belleck mused out loud.

"Cash is my guess." Card replied with a shrug, "I mean, like I said before, some guy up to his eyeballs in debt, cuts open some girl with good organs, and runs away with them. I don't think motivation is an mystery here."

Belleck ran this over in his mind a few times, then shook his head, "No… I'm not saying that us synthetics don't get into debt, but we can live on very little if we need to, beyond shelter and the occasional recharge."

"Then what would an android need with human organs? That's the question, ain't it?"

"Mm." Belleck replied, but if he had any theories, he wouldn't share them with Card.

 

4

 

Card carefully approached the subject once more over lunch (Well, he was eating lunch anyways, Belleck was reading the news on his PDA). They were at an outside table, and enjoying a very rare sunny day in the city, so Card almost hated having to talk about work in this small respite. Still, he had to know what was on Belleck's mind.

"Belleck, with the case…" He began.

Belleck set down his PDA and gazed steadily at his partner, "I'm getting old, Card."

"What?" The old detective blinked, thrown off guard, "You're an android, Belleck, you don't get old." He said this with a hint of a smile.

"I wish that were true…" Belleck sighed low, "but just like any living creatures, we androids begin to deteriorate, not just physically but also mentally. When those links between mind and body become weak, we suffer from something called the crypt. You've heard of it?"

"Sure, that's robo-slang for ahh… dissociative extension disorder… or something. Why are you bringing this up, Belleck?" Card frowned, "Are you retiring early or something?"

Another one of those clicking sounds came from is partner, "Wouldn't that be nice? No, my friend, I believe our suspect may be suffering from it."

"So… what? He's stealing organs now to pay for treatment?" Card rubbed his chin.

Belleck shook his head, "Despite what the media says otherwise, there have been no breakthroughs in crypt treatments. There's little you can do for it beyond…" He trailed off.

"Beyond what, man? Come on, don't trail off and give me the movie detective treatment!" Card knew Belleck had a bit of a taste for theatrics, but the old cop was not in the mood for it right now, especially when his partner seemed to have figured something out.

"Finish your lunch." Belleck said by way of answer, as he rose to his feet.

Card got to his feet, taking a bite of his sandwich, "Why?"

"We're going to a zap-shop."

 

5

 

Zap-shop.

The very term made Card's balls pull up into his stomach. He wasn't a racist guy, believed in equal rights for both humans and synthetics (after all, his partner was an android, no?), but there was just something eerie and unnerving about so many androids gathered together getting… high. Maybe not high in the same way humans do, but it essentially had the same outcome. Belleck had given Card the general gist of zapping several years ago when they were part of a team coming down on a zap-shop that had exceeded regulation voltage and was drug-trafficking on the side to boot.

Essentially, an android goes in and hooks themselves up to a system similar to something you'd see in an engine. One clamp goes right under the back of their skulls, with the other tucked against their core unit�"usually in the region of where a human's stomach would be. They give themselves a little zap, and it's off to whatever robots hallucinate about. The zap-shop owner then charges based on how many volts the android used.

"Do you think our suspect could have ran up a debt from juicing?" Card asked on the ride over.

"I haven't ruled it out." Belleck admitted, as he eased the unmarked police sedan around a cargo-hauler.

"You don't sound convinced."

"I'm not. It would take someone several months of near-continuous zapping before they'd even get close enough to reach the kind of debt that harvesting human organs would pay off." Belleck spoke slowly, as he was hesitant to reveal this information.

"It's not unheard of."

"I know. Which is why I haven't ruled it out."

Before Card could ask his partner more about it though, they were at the zap-shop. A place called The Lightning, it was well lit like most zap-shop, showing off great bolts of neon lightning, flickering every few seconds. A sign next to the entrance gave prices of wattage, and other deals. Despite its illumination, the place still had a gloomy look about it, as if it was the kind of place lost souls came to rest.

The two detectives approached the entrance, where a bulky and slightly rusty android stood guard. His yellow eyes move to Card. He could feel the suspicious oozing off the synthetic like a bad odor. The android ignored Belleck completely.

"No humans," said a grating, grainy voice.

Card clenched his jaw, "The Equal Rights Act goes both ways, bouncer. Step out of my way, I have a right to be here."

"Card…" Belleck cautioned.

The android bouncer stared at the human detective, "No. Humans."

Card was fuming now. If there was one thing he hated more than pretty much anything, it was a bigot. They existed on both sides, synthetic and human, and abused the Equal Rights Act in the process, hiding behind it when convenient, then ignoring it the rest of the time. He would have loved to have taken a swing at the synthetic, but that would probably break his hand, so instead he flipped out his badge.

"Detective Card with the city police force. We'd like to come in, if you don't mind… sir."

The synthetic reeled and stepped back out of the way, "My apologizes, detectives, please come in. Welcome to The Lightning. I'm sure the manager would like to know you're here."

"Don't worry, we won't be here long." Card flicked a glance at Belleck, who nodded in agreement.

"You're not very good at making friends." Belleck commented lightly.

Card glanced over his shoulder to see the bouncer watching him before responding, "We ought to bring the CAER down on this whole establishment… what's the point of an Equ�""

Belleck let out a long sigh, "Relax, Detective Card, its only one android."

"Hrmph."

Card looked about the zap-shop. It had been several years since he'd been in one, and yet the setting really hadn't changed, even if this was a totally different establishment. Light was scarce, with only walkways illuminated by soft lighting that weaved its way through clusters of zap-nodes. Eyes of different colors glowed out from several of the stations, most staring off into the distance to sights unseen, but a handful watched Card suspiciously.

The strangest thing about the whole facility is how much it stank. Card always imagined androids as a rather scentless sort of people, and while in most cases it was true, those who didn't care for their chassis would be begin to secrete oily fluids and other various unpleasant liquids. In that way, they were very much like humans.

"Right." Belleck spoke softly, "Let's get to work."

It was a frustrating and fruitless endeavor for Card. Most of the androids that they talked to were zapped out of their minds, making conversation an agonizingly slow process, and even then it yielded few results. Others had to be "persuaded" to speak to the police, withdrawing into themselves until the badge was flashed.

Belleck did most of the talking, of course. Asking after any sizable debts a patron might have accumulated, and something called "synchronization". When Card asked him about it, Belleck was very tight-lipped about on the subject. Whether he didn't know anything about it or it was an underground android secret, the human detective knew not.

They came across an incredibly thin, rusty android named�"ironically enough�"Rusty that was sitting in a corner alone, carefully scrapping at patches of rust with a long knife. Belleck and Card stood before him, hands in their coat pockets.

"Rusty." Belleck said by way of greeting.

The robot looked up in a snap. A dark hole where one of his red eyes was supposed to be stared back at them, and Card wondered briefly how he had lost it.

"B-Belleck, what a p-p-PLEASURE to see you here." Gears screeched as Rusty's synthetic face pulled up in the semblance of a smile, "Y-you know I'm out of that b-b-b-b-BUSINESS though."

"Just looking for information, Rusty, and there might be something in it for you if you cooperate." Belleck replied smoothly, holding up a credit chip for the degenerate android to see.

Rusty eyed it carefully, then looked between the two detectives, "Okay… w-w-what do you want to k-know?"

"I want to know about synchronization. I know you know someone can do it so don't attempt to give me the runaround."

"T-T-That is… ah… well…" Rusty's eye started darting back and forth, and Card tensed up. The rusty robot screeched suddenly, and his scrapping knife was thrown at Belleck. The detective deflected it easily, but Rusty was already on his feet running. Card took off after him, cursing the whole time.

"Card!" Belleck called after his partner, then he was out of sight as Card ran into the back rooms in pursuit.

The area beyond the zap-shop looked more like a mechanic's bay than anything else. Various zap-nodes were lying about in different states of repair, with an assortment of parts and tools scattered about. An oil-stained android looked up as the two figures barreled through the bay, knocking over carts with painfully loud crashes.

Rusty threw a wrench back at Card, who took it in the shoulder with a grunt. Ignoring the pain there (though he mused that he would have a nasty bruise later), he continued his pursuit, as Rusty hopped over a broken down zapper and slammed through the thin metal door in the back of the bay.

If Rusty had been a newer android without all the rust, Card had no doubt that the b*****d would have gotten away from him by now, but as it were, he was able to keep up with the robot, despite his protesting muscles. The synthetic ran down a trashy alleyway, and Card followed as fast as his feet would carry him, hopping over a trashcan Rusty had knocked aside, and followed him out into the street.

With no regard for his safety, Rusty ran out into the street, ignoring the horns and screech of tires as vehicles attempted to avoid him. However, a large luxury sedan sped into view, and whether the driver wasn't paying attention, or simply had no regard for androids, the vehicle barely slowed down as it slammed into the rusty android.

There was a screech of tearing metal, and suddenly bits of steel, wire, and rust was thrown up into the air. Card slowed his pace to a jog and watched the sedan, as it didn't bother to stop despite the small dent on its hood. As he approached Rusty, another vehicle pulled up to the sidewalk, and Belleck climbed out.

"Ah! I was afraid this would happen. Help me get him out of the road."

Together, Card and Belleck dragged the wailing Rusty up onto the sidewalk, and knelt down by the damaged android. The accident had torn off both the old synthetic's legs, leaving only a tangle of wires and bent metal where his lower half should be.

"D-d-d-damn p-p-p-p-p-PIGS. You k-k-k-killed me." He clutched at their coats and hissed.

"Not yet," Belleck replied carefully, tugging Rusty's hand from his coat and wiped away the rust, "We can get you repaired, but you have to help us first."

"S-s-s-s-s…"

"Synchronization, yeah Rusty."

"Tell us who does it, Rusty." Card added.

"O-okay… a g-g-g-guy called C-c-c-Capricorn… works out of a-a-a-a-F**K-house! A programmer… ah ah… can I g-g-g-get fixed now?"

"Soon." Card growled, giving the android a shake, "Where? Where is he?"

"S-s-s-s-second Street! Corner of second and Summer Avenue. G-g-g-g-green house. Ahhhh…. H-h-h-help me…" Rusty whispered, as his eye's light began to fade. He slowed down, words become slurred, and then he was gone.

Belleck stood up with a sigh.

"What happened?" Card asked as he rose to his feet.

"Cracked his core most likely. Didn't kill him outright but… he was more or less a goner. Nothing we could do from here." Belleck shrugged, but Card got the feeling that this death struck close to home for his partner.

They looked down in silence at the dead android for a few silent moments, until Belleck broke it with: "Let's go check out this Capricorn programmer."

6

 

"Charming looking place, eh? Do you think he actually lives here? Or just uses it at a work space?"

"Both, is my guess."

Card and Belleck were standing outside a dilapidated house in one of the worst parts of the city. Run down and forgotten, it smelled like farts because of the paper mill, and garbage cause of well… the garbage. It was everywhere it seemed, clogging the gutters and fluttering about in the wind. For once, Card wished for some rain to wash away the smell, if nothing else. Haggard adults, sickly-thin children, and androids that made Rusty look factory-new watched them from steps and the sidewalk, quietly judging them.

The whole place gave Card the creeps, and he had to resist looking over his shoulder every five minutes like a nervous tourist. They went up the stairs, and knocked on the door, waiting patiently while sounds of movement and groaning came from deep inside. The door was thrown open, and Card resisted the urge to flinch back from the sight and smell.

A morbidly obese man glared at them from behind small black-framed glasses, brushing his long greasy hair from his face to get a better look at the pair, before grunting out: "Whaddya want? I'm busy."

He eyed the android careful, before his eyes wandered over to Card.

Card flashed his badge, "I'm Detective Card, and this is Detective Belleck, are you Capricorn?"

The man straightened up and cleared his throat, "Yeah… yeah, what is this? I got my permits and s**t, okay? I can run 'droid maintenance out of my house. So I'd like�""

Card was suddenly moving, grabbing Capricorn by the dirty scruff of his shirt and dragging him inside. Belleck followed quietly and shut the door behind them. Once inside, Card threw the programmer into an old recliner that groaned in protest, and stood over him threateningly.

"We don't give a s**t about your permits, alright? We're here cause a woman is dead because some m**********r wants you to synchronize him." Card still didn't know what exactly there were referring to, but it got the reaction he wanted. Capricorn went wide-eyed and rigid, with beads of sweat breaking out across his brow.

"Murdered? But�""

"You don't believe me? Take a look!" Card shoved a crime scene photo of Mary Ringo into Capricorn's face. He cringed back from it.

"I dunno! I dunno who could have done it! I don't even synchronize anymore! No one does!" Capricorn whimpered out, trying to sink down further in the chair to get away from the disturbing photo.

Card and Belleck exchanged a look. Belleck took a few steps forward, gently brushing Card aside, and helped the programmer to his feet

"Surely someone still does it?" Belleck asked gently.

"No way man…" Capricorn shook like a leaf all over, "What's this all about anyways?"

"It doesn't matter," Card growled.

Belleck shot a glance at Card, then turned his blue eyes back to Capricorn, "Why not? Five years ago it seemed you couldn't walk down the street without someone offering an android a syncing."

Capricorn licked his lips, looking nervously at Card before turning his attention back to Belleck, "It got too dangerous, yannno?"

“Wait a second…" Card spoke, holding up his hands, "Before we go any further, what the hell is synchronization?"

Capricorn blinked at the detective, "Have you been living under a rock, old man?"

"Just answer the goddam question."

"I'm sorry Card, I should have told you sooner." Belleck said with a sigh, "It's not known very well outside of the androids, but as you know, we grow older just like everyone else. When our physical bodies begin to fail, there's little we can do besides some maintenance. We're designed like so, so that we have a life span comparable to humans, even if we do not suffer a childhood like you.

"

Capricorn decided to interject, since he was more familiar with the process, and he even seemed pleased to explain his old craft to an audience, "Androids are a lot like humans though, they wanna longer life span just like anyone else, so they're always trying to figure ways to cheat the system." He grinned with a mouth full of bad teeth, "Syncing is just another step in that road. We basically attempt to copy an androids conscious to another body. But they got all sorts of locks and safety measures to prevent that sorta thing, so more likely than not, it tends to fail miserable. And when it does, both the host and the new body are damaged. You might end up with a 'droid half in, half out, one mind and two bodies, all sorts of crazy s**t."

Belleck nodded, "Rusty was one such fellow who did not have a successful synchronization. And you saw the kind of condition he was in. The mention of syncing sent him screaming…" Belleck trailed off into his own thoughts.

Capricorn tolerated this interruption, then continued, "Anyways, to answer your question as to why no one does it anymore, a couple of things: One, companies are advancing their lockdown programs more and more with each generation. There's even rumors that some of 'em have rigged their 'droid minds to auto-erase if it senses any tampering. But there's too much risk involved too man, when you fail a sync, and leave some 'droid retarded, it tends to piss 'em off. Programmers get stabbed, torn apart, bludgeoned. S**t, you name it. So like, we've slowly stopped offering that service. It just ain't profitable anymore."

"So what the hell do they do then?" Card asked, shooting a glance at his introspective partner.

Capricorn shook his head, "I'll be damned if I know. I'm out of the loop these days."

Card opened his mouth to say something, when his phone rung. He answered it, and his eyes widened. Belleck looked up and tilted his head in question as the human detective hung up his phone.

"Ah…" Card licked his lips, "Another murder, more organs harvested."

Belleck nodded, "Should we got to the crime scene?"

"No." A slow smile spread across Card's face, "They caught the b*****d."

 

7

 

They were taking no chances with the android. He was chained to the table as the two detectives watched through the one sided glass. Blood was still splattered across his hands and eerily human face. This synthetic couldn't have been that old? At least it didn't seem so. However, the android shook all over with the crypt, so, like Belleck, looks were deceiving.

"Maybe I should talk to him alone." Belleck said suddenly.

"Why?" Card asked.

Belleck shook his head, "He might react better to another android, rather than a human… after all, he can't have a very high opinion of them if he's stealing their organs for… whatever reason."

Card stared but said nothing. Belleck nodded, "Don't worry, you can listen in."

"Fine." Card didn't like it, but he wasn't going to stop his partner if he was going to be this insistent about it. So Card watched as his partner and old friend entered alone, and turned on the room's microphone to listen in.

"The humans are going to decommission you for this." Belleck said softly as he sat down opposite of the android.

"It doesn't matter anymore." A high-pitched, childlike voice responded, "I'm dead anyways."

The synthetic detective looked down at the file in his hands, "You're named is Hendrix, yes? Model X-O-Z-four-seven. Registration eight-two-one-nine-nine-K-one-one-N-three. You worked as a baker until two months ago, when you quit your job, disappeared, and now, here you are."

The android stared at him.

"What I want to know is… why? Why would you kill two innocent people and steal their organs?" Belleck leaned closer.

Hendrix tilted his (or her? Card wasn't sure what gender it was supposed to represent) head and frowned his features, "Two humans? Who else did I kill? Sure, I murdered that maid, 'cause the fat b***h looked just bursting with healthy organs, but that's it."

Belleck sat back as if he had taken a slap in the face, and he glanced at the one-sided mirror. Card leaned against the glass, wondering about this android's words. Hendrix had just admitted to the murder of Diana White, then why not Mary Ringo? You couldn't be decommissioned more. Dead was dead. Card wished he was in there, to talk to Belleck about this revelation, but the detective had a feeling his partner was on the same train of thought. Hendrix's voice was so carefree and cool and sure of itself. Card was forced to wonder for a moment if the android wasn't glad it had been caught.

It turns out Belleck had been having the same thoughts, and they discussed it for a few moments in a short recess before Belleck went back into the interrogation room, as Card looked on, wondering who might have killed Mary Ringo.

"Alright, let’s back up." Belleck said as he sat back down, "We're going to assume for the sake of consistency that you didn't murder Mary Ringo as well as the maid."

"That's good, 'cause I'd hate for them to get the record wrong when they send me to the slag heap," Hendrix replied with a wry smile.

Belleck didn't respond to the comment, going on to ask: "Why then, were you harvesting human organs? Credits? Religious reasons?"

Hendrix made had the same low clicking noise that Belleck made when he found something amusing, "Do you believe I am in some kind cult, detective?"

"Just covering all our bases. Answer the question."

"Nope!" Hendrix replied gleefully, "I did it for not money or cults."

The detective shifted around in his seat, obviously agitated, "Then why?"

"Immortality, of course!"

"Jesus, he's bat-s**t insane." Card muttered to no one in particular.

To his credit though, Belleck was patient with the obviously mad android, "You've been suffering the crypt, haven't you? My guess you're in late stage three. Shaking, losing cognitive function, probably can't even remember your given name half the time, mm?"

Hendrix strained against his chain and started screaming as Belleck hit a nerve, "What the f**k do you know about the crypt, you f*****g pig? I'm dying! I'm f*****g dying and all these f*****g humans just stand around with their hands around their f*****g dicks and I'M F*****G DYING!"

"The humans are dying too, Hendrix. We're all dying." Belleck replied calmly.

The deranged robot let out a piercing screech, before he slumped back down into his chair, whimpering quietly, "They can save us but they don't."

"Why are you harvesting human organs?" The detective asked again, sitting back in his chair, "I can't see it being simple murder."

"It'll extend our life." The machine said quietly, slumping his shoulders in defeat, "He promised that he can replace our insides with life, and that we'll see more and more years. All we need to do for him is collect organs."

"We? How many of you are there?"

"Three? Four? I dunno, none of us know for certain how many of us there are, only that we're all following the directions of one guys… and he'll save us, you know. Maybe the whole android race?"

"Yeah… yeah, maybe he will. What's his name?"

"Hogan. Doctor Albert Hogan."

 

8

 

Albert Erickson Hogan; age 49; balding; heavy-set; mustache; glasses; employed at Miracle Trust Hospital.

After the long chase it felt almost anti-climactic as Belleck and Card walked in to the hospital to arrest Doctor Albert Hogan for murder. They simply asked a nurse where the "good" doctor was, and followed her until they found him, visiting a patient. They slapped cuffs around his wrists, read him his rights, and dragged him off, despite his protests to his innocence.

Through multiple interrogations they found out that Hogan had been running a black market operation from his home. Organs, generally fresh, were sold to the highest bidder then sent off the furthest regions of the world for transplant, and Hogan pocketed the money.

He spilled the name of the five "employees" that gathered the organs for him. The remaining four were rounded up in various places, all androids suffering from the crypt and promised to have an extended life if they helped Hogan. Since he was a doctor, they felt no reason not to trust his words, even if they had issues with what they were asked to do.

It turned out it was an android named Canterbury that had taken Mary Ringo's life (and her organs) from her. He was quiet and withdrawn, seemingly harmless at a glance, if you didn't know what he had done to the British girl. Like the others, he was put on trial and decommissioned soon after, despite the efforts of multiple groups to let the accused die of natural causes. Card watched the execution. Belleck did not.

Hogan would spend the rest of his life behind bars.

 

9

 

Detective Card found himself under another awning, this time in front of the police station, waiting for the rain to let up so he could run to his car. He wrapped his coat tight around him, trying not to shiver as the rain sucked the warm from every nook and cranny of the world. He could see his breath coming out in little puffs of vapor, and promised to get himself a heavier coat with his next paycheck.

He heard the door open up behind him, and footsteps clapping on the stone. A hot cup of coffee came into view, steaming in the cold evening. Card took it gratefully.

"Will we ever be equal?" Belleck asked quietly.

Card carefully sipped his hot drink, "No. As long as people exist, they'll look for ways to feel superior to each other." He smiled at his partner, "But are you and I equal? Of course man. You're a helluva lot better at this job than I am anyways."

Belleck paused for a long time before saying: "I'm resigning, Arnold."

"What?" Card turned to look at the tall android, whose glowing blue eyes looked out into the rain, "Why?"

"I need a change of pace. I simply… cannot do this anymore." Belleck's hand trembled slightly. Card tried not to notice it.

"I understand. Look, take as much time as you need, okay? I'll… be here if you need a friend, though." Card finished lamely, unable to express his feelings towards the old android, and how grateful he was for the years they worked together.

Belleck looked down at his coffee cup, then threw it into the waste bin, "And a good friend you've been, Card. Goodbye." The android tugged his coat tighter around himself, then wandered into the rain.

Detective Card watched until his old partner disappeared into the misty evening. He glanced up at the sky and, seeing that the rain had let up, ran to his car.

Author's Note

When I set out to do this story, I wanted something different than the bang-bang shoot 'em up that I usually wrote. Its a little unpolished compared to some of my other short stories, but I feel it still stands on its own merits. How do you feel?