Making Contact

Chapter Ten

At around 10:30 a.m. Evrin and Argyle pulled up to a small house on the East Side of Andromeda. Other than Evrin mumbling, “don't say a word,” before they even got to her hover-cruiser, they were quiet the whole way there. Rock of Ages was coming to a close on the radio as they scanned the premises.

“Nice area,” Evrin whispered to herself. Argyle nodded his silent agreement while looking around. It was an older neighborhood, mostly filled with houses without much width to them, pressed close to each other to conserve space. Some of the homes were attached like conjoined twins. They made Argyle feel like it's what you would get if you pressed a house against a giant mirror. The homes that weren't squished against each other like pb&j had thin alleys separating them. Even with the sun high above them, the thin spaces  between homes were hardly touched by the light. A thermal scan showed the large dip in temperature in those shadowed spaces. Argyle couldn't imagine that they would be a good place to escape pursuit through, but they were the perfect sort of crevices for a stalker, or a killer waiting for the right moment to creep out of the shadows and strike down their prey.

Argyle could also picture the corpse of a woman nailed against the side of one of the surrounding buildings, wearing only the satanic markings of a ritualistic psycho trying to conjure some form of the devil.

“Thanks for the help,” Evrin said. Argyle turned to face her, wondering if he really was losing his A.I. mind and hearing things now. “For catching Christina.”

Argyle nodded, touching the rim of his hat in the way he's seen men do in classic film.

“I'm not saying I couldn't have done it without you,” Evrin grumbled while fishing around her inner coat pocket, “or that I trust you. But, thanks.” She pulled out a cigarette and lit it, cracked open the window and took in a deep drag before letting the smoke slowly stream out from slightly parted lips. “So, mister F.B.I. bot.”

“Argyle, please,” he tipped his hat slightly. Evrin gave a little nod then continued.

“You really think one of these women could be the next victim?”

“Using all of the data available to me, it seems to be the most likely, hypothesis. They all happened to stop at the drive within the few days that it was open and they have matching blood types to the previous victims. They are also all likely to have come into contact with our first suspect, based on the times in which she spent working the drive, and when the women were in the vicinity of the drive.”

“And what if that Satan lover’s just fucking with us?” She took another long drag then blew out smoke rings, which brought images of baby Godzilla to mind.

“What else do we have to go by?”

“We could look at the other Satanists on our other list.”

“Mot-,” Argyle quickly twitched his head to the side, acting as if he noticed something from the corner of the eyes. He wondered at how was it that he could almost slip up and mention Mother. Even if he accidentally said something about her and covered things up, telling Evrin that Mother was the name of some simple face tracking algorithm the F.B.I. had, instead of the greatly intelligent artificial organism that she was, it wouldn't do to have someone looking into her. Not even the president was aware of the A.I. living just under his nose in a shroud of secrecy created by the F.B.I. “I am keeping an eye on Andromeda’s streets using a facial recognition program, along with a few fellow agents back at the Bureau. If any of the cultists pop up, I'll know about it.” Argyle thanked Mother for not including sweat glands in his design. He saw Evrin nod from the corner of his eye.

“This is still ridiculous,” Evrin muttered. “Spreading the force out like this, to keep tabs on a handful of women. We're not gonna have enough manpower for anything else. It would have been nice of the feds to send us some more men, instead of just a talking heap of metal.”

“It is a shame that we do not have any more information to go by,” Argyle said, ignoring the jibe, “or at least more resources at our disposal.”

“Why did the feds send you? I mean, other than to try and restore public faith in robots so the wealthy can line their own pockets with the sale of androids again. Andromeda is just like any other city. You could have easily been sent to New York or Detroit. And why is it that no one even knew about your existence until the Captain got a phone call about your being sent our way? Did they forget to program you with a decent courtesy drive?” Evrin held her cigarette between her fingers, rolling it back and forth just outside her window.

“I’m not sure that bringing more money to the wealthy is the purpose of me being dispatched here, although I am sure that the top one-percent have more of an affect on the Federal Government and the Bureau than they should.” Evrin raised an eyebrow at Argyle. He smiled and went on. “I was sent because there is a peculiar case that the higher ups decided was worth their attention, or at least would benefit greatly from my helping hand. Of course, I'm here as a means to ease the tension between humans and machine.”

“What reason would they have for doing that, other than to fuel some money-hoarding A.I. firm? There's been a silent agreement worldwide that thinking machines would remain in the past. Every time someone came up with the bright idea of making a robot that can think on its own, to fix one problem or another, the government has stepped in to squash that dream. But here you are, in the fake-flesh, moving and thinking on your own, sent by the same people that’ve been keeping A.I. out of the minds and hearts of all.”

“Maybe it's the realization that a thinking-machine can be better suited for some tasks than a human being. Built to be more resilient in body, with minds that can be designed in ways that would allow the thinking machine to pursue answers to life's questions much more quickly and efficiently than a biological organism could.” Argyle shrugged. “In any case, it's obvious why I was sent to work here in Andromeda, with you, when there are plenty of other cities and people out there. You're well known for what happened to you, your views on thinking machines as a result of that awful incident, and your strong personality and great work on the force. If you could be convinced that having someone like me around is helpful, then bringing everyone else back into the android-loving mentality will be a piece of cake.”

Evrin scratched at her metallic arm, where flexible metallic tendons were interwoven and fused with flesh, and grimaced. Argyle traced the rim of his hat with his fingertips.

“We are not the same as those machines that turned on you and your family, detective Evrin.”

“Enough,” Evrin grumbled. She took a big puff of her cigarette then opened her door and blew out a cloud of smoke. She tossed the cig on the ground and stomped it out. “Let's scout the perimeter.”

“Sounds good to me,” Argyle replied.