The 217th Performance on Our Voyage to Mars

CHAPTER 1 (7)

The stiff dark blue bureau uniform lent extra imposingness to his tall and stout frame. Danú Pao always kept his head closely shaved.

For eleven years, Pao had been leading Unit 5, the team that would always take the cases that other units passed over, the least important, interesting or solvable ones. There had been a time when he'd resented the situation and worked hard to change it. These days, he was just waiting to retire.

"A severed arm?" Pao asked impassively.

"Yeah," Ronzik said, nodding. "An entire forearm, in a stray dog's mouth."

"This was in District 9?"

"Yes. As I said, I had breakfast, walked out of the diner, and then heard someone yelling, which turned out to be these kids spotting the dog chewing on it. Then I found the rest of her in a nearby dumpster."

"Hmm."

"So I called the city police, and they sent up two officers. But after realizing she was a Weed, they decided to close the case just like that. So I scanned her fingerprints and checked the government android database myself. Her name was Angelica. She was produced two years ago by Futurobo, and listed as a Weed because of a malfunctioning heart. I brought her back and asked Dr. Lorenzo to do an autopsy for me."

"You used the bureau's resources on an unauthorized case," Pao said coldly. "And what's the point of an autopsy on a robot?"

"Angelica was a bio-android, with eighty-five percent of her body being real flesh and bone." Ronzik tapped on her watch computer to show Pao some holographic photos of Angelica's remains. "According to Dr. Lorenzo, the COD wasn't the severed arm. There was a visible head wound...see that? Her Y-Chip was taken."

"Ronzik," Pao sighed. "Where's the crime here?"

"After some research, I found that there had been several cases like this during the past year," Ronzik said. "All the victims were Weeds, all their Y-Chips gone."

"You've already been assigned a case."

"Ugh, that jewelry store robbery in District 6? It was passed to us only because Unit 2 deemed it utterly unsolvable. Besides, the insurance company has already covered their loss, fully!"

Pao didn't bother to interrupt her anymore. He looked down at his desk and began to draw circles on it with a finger.

"So I dug around. And three days ago, a source told me a small gang named the Falcons might have been involved in this atrocity. So I followed them around. And I talked to one of them just now."

"What did he say?"

"Well, he confessed to his gang being responsible for the abductions, but denied the torturing and murdering parts. He said they'd sell the Weeds to a client, who'd return their dead bodies some time later and have the gang dispose of them. And he insisted that only their boss knew the identity of the client."

Pao kept on finger-drawing circles. Slower. Slower and slower.

"So you want my official approval of your investigating this case."

"I want to get these sick bastards, sir."

"You don't have any murder cases here. And since the Weeds aren't anybody's properties, there won't even be any larceny cases," Pao reasoned with her. "Look, they're destined to live miserably. And new ones are being made every day. What are you trying to achieve here?"

Ronzik stared at her boss incredulously, as if he'd said something silly.

"Some basic human decency," she said.