The Crystal Muse

Chapter 4

Despite the twenty-first century being twenty percent completed, certain modes of archaic human behavior like gender discrimination were still in effect on some level. Stanley Schmidt theorized that human gender roles had been defined in the early caveman days, where perpetuation of the species was paramount and viable ovaries were considered too valuable to risk in dangerous activities like hunting. Even in the wake of advances in medical science that led to the extension of the human lifespan and made conceiving over twenty children in the hopes that three at most would live to adulthood unnecessary, it was nearly impossible to completely override centuries-old evolutionary holdover programming.

Detectives Garland and Powell had dealt with the sexism in some manner or another during their State Police careers. It was only until the Riot and the abject need for able-bodied personnel that nobody really cared how many X chromosomes the person next to you in the firefight had, so long as they could aim and shoot a laser rifle accurately. Unfortunately, that attitude wasn't completely shared by the MFA's security guards. "I'm just sayin' that it seems a little dangerous for you ladies to be in this line of work," one of the four guards in the monitor room said, looking like he was trying to mentally undress them as he lounged in his chair by the monitor console.

Body armor does wonders at minimizing a woman's figure. "Just rewind the tape back to the point where the Zoners came in and started roughing everyone up," Garland said. Tape was such an archaic word, as audio and video recording were now exclusively done on digital storage media. But like paper and voice-only phones, some antiques refused to leave quietly.

"I'm not so sure when it began specifically," the guard replied, turning to the console and calling up the stored footage from the system hard drive.

Powell picked up the Playboy from where it fell on the floor, still open to show one of the bottle-blonde American Pie bimbos fondling herself while straddling a schoolyard seesaw, and tossed it on top of the console. "Maybe if these articles weren't so engrossing, you would have been able to pay attention to your job."

Another security guard with food stains across his shirt and pants stood up from his chair. "Hey, it wasn't our end that dropped the ball tonight."

"That implies you four are ever allowed on the field," Garland stated before turning back to the guard at the console. "The robbery footage, please."

"Ya know, I could've been a State cop," Food Stains said with a grin, "but then they found out my parents were married."

"But not to each other, I'll bet," Garland commented.

Food Stains' grin disappeared. "You two got a warrant?"

"Robbery and murder were committed here tonight," Powell explained. "It's enough probable cause for a Fourth Amendment exemption."

"And we could always bring all of you up on obstruction charges if we don't see that surveillance footage soon," Garland added.

Food Stains leaned in closer in an attempt to intimidate her. "I'd like to see you try."

Garland deliberately placed a hand on the grip of her belt-holstered M-2016. "Sir, Detective Powell and I just came from a situation where we were forced to kill several people who were significantly tougher than you could ever hope to pretend to be. And we're Riot veterans. So you're completely mistaken if we're going to kowtow to a bunch of losers who couldn't pass the civil service exam and become mailmen, much less actual police officers." She looked at the guard at the console again, this time with barely concealed annoyance. "The footage now."

He complied. A four-pane split-screen view of the first floor came up on a monitor, the time index showing the footage had been taken around 9:28 PM, with the Huntington Avenue entrance in the upper left pane, the Crystal Muse's West Wing display case in the upper right, the West Wing entrance in the lower left, and the arm of the Evans Wing separating the Calderwood Courtyard and Fraser Garden Court in the lower right. "This is just the default view we were using tonight," the guard explained politely. "All the cameras record everything at once, so we can switch views at any time and not lose anything. It's kinda like the eye-in-the-sky setups at major casinos."