10 Minute Tales

Feb 13 (Untimed)

He paused as he came to a grand door. Very few people would risk going out there without a filtration mask thanks to the slow, sludgy river of goop rolling lazily between the crystalline spires and down to the tainted earth beneath. The fumes from it alone were enough to cause severe illness. He frowned, fumbling with his suit to bring the facemask over. The respirator within it wouldn't quite be enough to prevent it, but for a quick run it should have been safe. He slammed the door release, striding out quickly. The light he was accustomed to barely reached him, sharing just enough light to highlight the dirt-caked roads they had abandoned twenty years ago. Rubbish coated the streets, rodents he didn't recognise squirming over a patch of freshly discarded food. He walked faster, his footfalls sending the vermin scurrying to safety. A blur in the shadow caught his eye; by the time he focused, though, it had moved on. He frowned; Sentinel was proving to be unhelpful, so he couldn't use his motion tracker. Most of his technology was powered by Sentinel, after all... He had to reach the contact, fast. He hurried his pace. Who knew who was following him?

     Alyssa paced around. She had returned to the office and was trying to piece the clues together.

"Let's see..." she muttered to herself. "Both victims were unaugmented, though the first had a G.A.T.E. chip..."

"Confirmed." Sentinel replied. Alyssa flinched in surprise.

"Oh, Sentinel, you surprised me... okay, well, that's a common link between them. Do we know either victim's opinion of augmentations?"

"Leoric Saivom was opposed to augmentations as a necessity, often engaging in regular, heavy exercise to meet the capabilities of a colleague with augmentations. Doctor Barb, however, appeared to be more neutral, according to his publications."

"He was more for biomods than augmentations, though..." she frowned. "Do we have any other links between them? Both are male, obviously, but I don't feel as though that has much to do with it..."

"It must be considered a possibility, however." Sentinel reminded her. Alyssa frowned, unconvinced.

"Well, I guess... what was it that the murderer stole from Leoric, though?"

"It is unknown. A possibility is that the item in question was the victim's video recorder."

"Wait, what? He didn't use a combitool?"

"He had a developing interest in cinematography, and probably wished to acquire specialist equipment. This was the option he deemed to be most suitable."

"Huh..." she pondered quietly. Was it possible that the camera had caught footage of the event? "Was it in your network?"

"No, it was not, else I would have uploaded it to a device of your choice already."

"Alright, thanks." she nodded, still frowning softly. The camera had to have ended up somewhere. The question was, where?