Almost Human

Chapter 1

2152 CE

Andrew slammed the door of his cop car closed.

The radios of several other cars and hushed chatter hummed in his ears.  Even though they were sent out to talk to one person, the chief of police had ordered three separate teams to go.  Two teams were pairs of everyday cops, wearing their stark, dark blue uniforms and carefully concealed voltares, electric shock guns that could do anything from stun to kill a perpetrator.  The third team was just Andrew.

The house before him was decidedly outside the norm.  Even though every house on the street was well kept and clearly expensive to own and maintain, this one seemed to ooze pristine.  Every bit of material that wasn’t glass was a white so blaringly clean that Andrew wondered if somehow the owner had put a field around the house to shield it from rain.  The massive, expansive walls of glass that made up most of the face of the house was exceedingly clear.  Even the passing reflections on its surface were sharp and defined as if it was a single panel of mirror; even at the faint seams, there was no warping. 

Whoever lived here was very well endowed. 

And judging by the number of police officers sent here just to talk, very dangerous too.

Without waiting for any of the senior officers to move first, Andrew headed up the front walk.  The concrete below his feet was flat and smooth – textureless but not slippery.  The front door looming before him was glass, framed by thin, white metal hinges on one side and a barely perceptible catch on the other.  The handle appeared to be missing.

Andrew stopped before the door, perplexed.  The four other officers bunched up behind him, swelling into a miniature mob like fish before a dam.  They all fidgeted and twitched in their shoes, watching the door closely as if it was bound to shatter into a million pieces or leap forward and swallow them. 

“Anyone have any ideas?” Andrew asked peevishly.

“Watch it, kid,” one of the older officers snorted back.  “You’re still new to –“

“Only one comes in,” an ethereal voice echoed over their heads.  Each of the men turned to look at the others, confusion bordering on fear swirling in their eyes.  “It’s an intercom, officers,” the voice returned.

The officers sighed in relief.  Andrew tilted his head back to look around the door for the speaker.  Failing to find one, he stared straight forward instead.

“We came to ask you a few questions about a missing person’s case,” Andrew said in his most official voice.  “My name is Detective Andrew Breaker.  I’d appreciate it if you let me in.”

“Confirmed.  Only Detective Breaker will be allowed to enter,” the voice on the intercom responded.  The sound of a lock unlatching came from the door. 

Andrew looked over his shoulder at the four officers, members of this town’s force for years longer than he, and smirked cockily at them.

“Catch you later, old men.”

The four snorted their complicit annoyance and stepped back.  Andrew thought they almost seemed relived at being denied access to the house.  He stepped through the door as it smoothly opened inward of its own accord.  He figured it was mechanized, more for show than any practical reason.  Just because there are machines for everything doesn’t mean opening a door is any more difficult than it was before. 

“Hello?” Andrew called out into the empty house he walked into.  The inside was as white as the outside.  The few walls that there were were painted crisp white.  Glass decorated as much of the interior as it did the exterior.  It looked as though no one lived there.