Killer Bay

Uncivil Rights

"Hey, Adalet. I heard about your last case... Are the rumours true? The killer was a robot?!" Frank asked.

"Oh yes!" Adalet confirmed, "Dante ordered the robot's chip to be wiped, it was strange, to say the least..."

"I can't believe it! There are thinking robots in Innovation Valley, and they can kill people! This is insane! I'm getting suspicious of my coffee machine!" he exclaimed, side-eyeing the machine in question.

"There's a difference between robots and machines, Frank! Some people around here are even talking about giving the sentient robots rights, just like humans!" Hannah argues, "the Mayor of Innovation Valley, Annette Arbor, even based her recent campaign on robot rights! She got re-elected, and she's now planning a law that would recognize the most evolved robots as members of society!"

"The Mayor wants to give civil rights to machines?! Great. Next thing you know, they'll be taking our jobs!" Frank spat.

"It's already happening, Frank. A lot of people are accusing robots of stealing jobs from human workers," Andrea sighed, "there's a lot of unrest because of that proposed Robot Act. And that's why I want you to patrol the Android Graveyard, Adalet. It's the perfect place for people to plan trouble!"

Adalet blinked, "robots have graveyards?"

"What, do they conduct robot funerals, sing robotic hymns, that kind of thing?!" Frank inquired, throwing his hands up.

Andrea pinched the bridge of her nose, "... Adalet, take Frank with you to the graveyard. And while you're at it, try and find a robot to replace him!"

"I'll see if I can find one that runs on whiskey!" Adalet replied, grabbing Frank's wrist and tugging the still ranting man along behind her.

Heading to the scrap yard Andrea had directed them to, Adalet and Frank arrived after a quick drive. The scrapyard was rather large so Adalet set Hunter loose to investigate the area for anything that smelled strange. Meanwhile, she and Frank followed at a slower pace, looking around as they walked.

Reaching the compacting area, Hunter seemed to be interested in an object crushed into a cube, so Frank approached the dog to see what it was. As the detective did that, Adalet looked around and noticed someone had locked the control panel of the crane, and a torn poster on the ground in front of the cube.

"What the..." Frank stopped as he got a good look at the cube, "please tell me this isn't what I think it is, Adalet? It's not a body crushed like a used car, right?"

Adalet came over, "alright, I won't tell you."

"I think I'm going to be sick," he gagged, "Adalet, what's the deal with the sash on its... I don't even know what that bit is supposed to be, everything's squashed together!"

"It's a mayoral sash!" she gasped, recognizing the red, white, and blue stripes.

"Which means this... this is Annette Arbor, the Mayor of Innovation Valley!" he concluded, "Adalet, these are dangerous waters! A politician found boxed into a cube-like an old Chevy? Someone's trying to send a message! And they must have used the graveyard's car crusher to turn her into such a perfect cube! That's our murder weapon!"

"Then they took the body out using that crane..." she continued, walking over to remove the crane's control panel, "which means we should examine the crane's control panel!"

"I'm more doubtful as to why you picked up those bits of paper," he nods to the pile of torn paper Hunter was guarding, "but you're the genius, not me. Let's piece it back together!"

While Frank called in the murder, Adalet took a closer look at the control panel. It had a keypad on the touch screen, and she noticed faint smudges of grease or something else on some of the buttons. She pressed those buttons, and it took a couple of tries to select the correct order, but soon the control panel flashes green and unlocked.