The Birth Mark - NaNoWriMo 2013

Five

© 2013 Laura Crean

Chaser finished writing up the report he was entering into his vid and hit the send button.    Then he hacked into the case queue to see what cases were waiting to be assigned to agents.  He scanned down the list.  There were the usual petty crimes registered on the Street Guard Databases – assault, simmy dealing, food theft, and a couple of suspicious deaths in the Skivs.  He moved onto the GMAPT transfer queue and scanned the list, not really sure what he was looking for  when a very familiar face flashed up as case #3202 – A Murder in Community 1.

He sat back hard in his chair in shock for a moment, not quite able to take in what he was seeing; his hand had automatically gone up to his mouth to stifle a moan.  He looked around him at all the other agents, taking breaks, chatting, checking their own vids and writing reports.  Nobody had seen his reaction – that was good, he was known for keeping his composure at all times. 

Chaser quickly got up and headed for his case supervisor, sure this case would be waiting for him in his job vid at his work station and a little perplexed as to why it hadn’t been automatically shunted straight to his personal vid, after all, everyone knew how close a relationship he had with the victim.  As he walked he checked his official case files again to see if case #3202 had come up yet.  There were no new case files pending - he was officially finished for the day, in fact for the week.  He had cleared all of his cases and the message in the file read “All cases cleared – your case cache is empty – enjoy your day Agent Pennington.”

He tried to stay calm and appear as everything was as it should be as he walked into his unit.  He saluted the other agents as they were connecting their vids to their base units at their work stations to download their case files and receive new orders.  He took out his vid and discretely pushed the button on the back of the unit that hid his modification program and then he too pushed his vid into its base unit, fully expecting case file #3202 to flash onto the unit screen.  It didn’t.  The message read “Thank you for registering your case reports so promptly Agent Pennington.  You have been issued with extra credit for your exemplary work.  You have no new case files at this time and are now registered as ‘off duty’ – enjoy your day Agent Pennington.”

Chaser couldn’t believe this was happening.  He couldn’t approach his supervisor about this case – she would want to know how he had found out about the death so soon.  He had no choice but to go home and wait until he saw it on the public news vids – then he could demand he be given the case.  Or maybe he could just casually go for a visit, as he often did on a Friday and run into the agents who are working the case and get involved that way.  He looked towards his supervisor’s office.  He really wanted to go in guns blazing but he knew if he did that he would be in trouble for his file hacking.  It was all well and good other agents knowing about his modifications and using him as an unofficial lead finder, it was quite another altogether if his superiors found out.  It would mean immediate re-aligning and he didn’t want to have to go through with such an intrusive psyche procedure.

His supervisor looked up from her vid and saw Chaser looking her way.  She smiled and beckoned him to come in.  He was sure this was it – she was going to tell him the news.  Maybe they were trying to spare his feelings.  He crossed the threshold of her office and the security beam automatically scanned him for a weapon and deactivated it.

    “Charles!  Finished so soon?  You really are our most efficient agent.  Anything planned for the rest of the day?”  Here it comes he thought but he was cautious.  He shrugged noncommittally,

    “No not really.  I thought I might head over to Community 1 and visit Philips.  I haven’t seen him for a couple of weeks and he was looking a bit more aware last time I saw him.  I think those memory enhancers are starting to bring him back to his old self again.”  He cringed inwardly as he lied, sure she’d notice and glad he wasn’t being interrogated with a lie detecting beam on.  If she noticed, she hid it well.