Chapter 44: Grieselda

Grieselda glanced up at her destination. The BioWear tower. The headquarters of BioWear’s Gau City branch but more importantly, it was the tallest and pointiest building in the city.

Her mentor and the lieutenant had her looking into past AoF cases for possible leads. The cases were all unsolved mysteries but none more so than the BioWear heist which made the least sense.

She would’ve preferred to keep her eyes on the captain but she had to make a bit of an effort to placate her superiors.

‘Plus the sooner I clear this the quicker I can get back to the assignment.’

The glass doors sliced open as she approached. She was embraced by the flowery scent of lavender and ambushed by a virtual pop up.

“Welcome to BioWear, the leaders in bio-engineering and bio-cosmetics,” said the virtual projection beside her, materialized in the face of some handsome model she was vaguely interested in but she knew it was a salesmage in disguise from all the consumer yearn subliminals he was broadcasting her way.

“If you’d allow me the time to tell you about some of our latest products.”

The projection didn’t wait for her reply and continued with the sales pitch.

“Our new DD breast augmentation with free installation—”

Grieselda swiped at the projection, immediately dismissing it and made for reception.

She walked up to front desk. There was a trio of receptionists. All wearing black helmets with dark tinted eye shields.

“Hi,” Grieselda greeted.

“Hello, how may I help you?” The receptionist replied with a warm smile.

“Two o’ clock with Glenn Savage.”

His eye shield flashed a few times.

“194th floor. Corner office on your right.” The receptionist motioned a hand to the security glass doors separating the lobby between reception area and the elevators. A pair of heavily augmented guards stationed on either side of the doors. The security guards had an arrogance to them, an unmistakable aura she knew well.

‘Using cybermages as the first layer of defence.’

Such was the League of Five’s extravagance. The inventors of the cybermage class.

Security let her through without any hassle and she took an elevator to the 194th floor.

“I really don’t see why I have to do this again,” Glenn said in his glittering Symani suit. She knew because he had mentioned it for some reason when they made their introductions.

“The case has been unresolved for too long,” Grieselda said. “So they brought me on to provide a fresh perspective.”

He sighed. “Go on then. What do you wish to know?”

Grieselda placed her communicator on the table tapping the record icon.

“Firstly what exactly was stolen from the lunar labs?”

“Just like I told the other mage. One moulding pod and a synthetic droid.”

“Your sure nothing else was taken. Like something from your weapons development divisions.”

“No, all our weapons development divisions are dedicated to supplying the federation. We’re liable to inform them of any inconveniences we face. So the elder council and/or the city councils would know if any of their investments were harmed.”

“I see. This synthetic droid what kind of abilities does it have.”

Glenn made a face. “Abilities? It’s just an oversized doll with a simple operating unit so that it can be remotely controlled even with a standard citizen chip.”

Grieselda wasn’t satisfied. She was sure the AoF had stolen this thing for a reason.

“So you’re saying it can’t be weaponized?”

Glenn eyed her, clearly baffled by the line of questioning. His finger tapped on the smart desk. This continued for some time until Grieselda asked.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m thinking.”

The room fell silent. He was hesitant and she didn’t rush him.

She flunked advanced interrogation tactics but thanks to that she adopted her own unique style which was to be patient and sincere.

So she wasn’t one to try and force information out of people. She wouldn’t pressure him for better or worse. She only smiled showing her sincerity.

“I think its better I show you one of our prototypes,” he finally said. “I think you might have the wrong idea about what our vision for it is.”

“You have one here?” Grieselda said hurried, unable to hide her eagerness.

BioWear had previously refused to share any details concerning these synthetic droids. She shook her head inwardly.

‘Knowing the captain he’d probably messed up his chance by been callous and intimidating.’

Glenn reached underneath his desk. She heard a click. And from the seemingly solid alloy wall on her right, a hidden door slid open.

“A few of us senior members received the prototypes to test,” Glenn said, rising to his feet. “The owners are keeping a tight lid on this project until it’s ready for public distribution.”

The balding young man took long strides drawing attention to his suede shoes. Grieselda spared them a look as she followed. Unfortunately her gaze hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“Sarvand.”

“Excuse me?”

“The shoes,” Glenn said extending a foot. “They’re Sarvand.”

“Ah.” She nodded with a friendly smile. Not really sure how to reply to that.

“They make some great heels as well,” Glenn said as they entered the hidden room. “I could get you a few pairs. If you’d like.”

Her hazel eyes sparkled but quickly lost their lustre as her intuition kicked in. Glenn seemed like the quid pro quo kind of man. Hence it wasn’t wise to take gifts from scum like this.

“We can discuss the matter after we’ve concluded our discussion on the synthetic droid.”

“Indeed, business first.”

He nodded, suppressing a grin. He seemed emboldened by her response for some reason. The only reason she hadn’t outright refused was because she didn’t want anything to hamper the results of her investigation.

The room was dimly lit, with crimson lighting. Couches were haphazardly placed around the room. A mini bar in the corner.

‘A lounging area.’

In the centre of the room, standing on a charging pedestal was a lady dressed in a red skirt suit. She had blonde hair and pale snow skin like she’d never seen the Gau City sun.

They stopped before her.

“Wifey,” Glenn called out prompting her to open her eyelids. Revealing cold blue eyes, too cold but her brows quickly relaxed and she smiled disarmingly.

‘Not her but it.’

“This is the synthetic droid.”

“Impressed.” Glenn grinned victoriously. “Try touching her.”

Grieselda raised her hand, touched and placed a palm on its cheek. It felt like skin, like real skin.

‘Maybe it is real skin.’

She couldn’t tell the difference. It felt warm. She could even feel a faint pulse.

The doll moved. Gently sandwiching it's hand over her own on it’s cheek. The synthetic droid closed it’s eyes as if trying to feel her hand’s warmth.

Grieselda shivered. She had the urge to yank back her hand but resisted. As if feeling her tremble the doll opened it’s eyes, held her gaze with an innocent expression.

She stared back, a little longer than what was appropriate.

‘It’s not human,’ she had to remind herself. ‘However it can perfectly mimic human emotions and expression. No it’s more than that it’s reacting to me then performing appropriate responses. Artificial intelligence?’

She was about to com-link the department, to have them raid and purge BioWear of the intelligent machine when she recalled Glenn’s words.

It’s just an oversized doll with a simple operating unit so that it can be remotely controlled even with a citizen chip.

‘He’s controlling it.’

Life-size dolls weren’t new concept but one that appropriated the function of droid controls so even citizen chips could remotely control its movements and emotions was new concept. True, it was nowhere near as complex as controlling a combat droids because of the synthetic droid’s basic operating system that limited its capabilities to match a regular human without any upgrades.

Even she who’d flunked droid controls could probably operate Wifey with great proficiency.

As far as regular civilians go she could see its appeal. Not to mention the realistic expressions and real feel it exuded.

‘Honestly had I not known it was a synthetic droid beforehand I might not have realized?’

Grieselda moved her hand prompting the droid to let go. She motioned her hand to its eye and it flinched them closed.

Grieselda glared at Glenn. He grinned and the doll opened it’s eyes.

‘Why is he so pleased with himself?’

Her thumb rubbed the doll’s eye as gently as she could. Whatever an eye felt, it felt like that. Her thumb felt moist and warm. After she was done it blinked profusely the corners of its eyes tearing up.

The eyes were one of the hardest parts to replicate.

“It seems more like clone than a droid.”

“That’s the aim.” Glenn puffed his chest out. “We want them to be indiscernible from real humans. They can mimic any emotion and they have an amp box that is loaded with variety of responses.”

‘So the controller can speak to himself? Why go so far?’

She didn’t retract her hand. She moved a finger tracing it’s nose only stopped at it’s lips. They were luscious, full. It’s mouth went slightly agape at her touch.

“Feel free to touch it all over,” Glenn said motioning to its clothed areas.

She felt his strong gaze on her.

Grieselda rolled her eyes.

‘Why the hell are you so excited for?’

Only now did she notice the blushed expression on the doll's face. As if captivated by her. It looked at her with an expectant gaze. It’s lips still slightly parted.

Her expression stiffened.

‘This room, this doll.’

Only now did she fully comprehend its purpose. She flinched back her hand, retrieved a small tube of hand sanitizer from her pocket and sanitized her hands with a frown.

“I’ve seen enough.”

She immediately swirled to leave. She didn’t want to be in the room any longer. She spared the doll a final look as she exited the room. Part of her felt bad for leaving it here to be molested by Glenn and his friends. The fact that she could even feel this way was testament to how well-made it was.

‘At least now I know how the AoF knew about this secret product. One of the high level executives who received a prototype must’ve shown it off to AoF spies. However it doesn’t explain how they got in and out of the BioWear lunar labs without being caught. True the AoF specializes in cyber espionage but BioWear like the council has several countermeasures. Not to mention the labs are on the moon. To succeed they would need some kind of insider access.’

“Glenn, you haven’t said how the agents managed to slip through your security undetected.”

The pair returned to their respective seats by the smart desk. Glenn had this sullen, disappointed expression on him.

‘What the hell did this sicko think was going to happen in there?’

Well, whatever he felt he didn’t dare express his dissatisfaction. After all she was an officer of the law.

“I can’t say,” Glenn said.

‘You weren’t supposed to show me that doll either but you did.’

Grieselda could’ve used coercion to force his hand. However that wasn’t her style. She believed such forceful techniques were gateway drugs to the heavier ways she could compromise herself as an officer of the law.

“Please, I would really appreciate it.” She manufactured a smile.

Because of the way she said it, she strongly suspected they would have varying interpretations of appreciate but it wasn’t her fault if he misunderstood. In any case she was never quite the charmer so she didn’t get her hopes up.

‘Not that it would take much to impress this lump of flesh.’

Glenn wore a struggling expression. As if he suspected they weren’t on the same page.

Glenn rubbed his balding head. “You didn’t hear this from me okay.”

She bobbed her head, more enthusiastically than she meant to.

“We suspect they planted a Trojan into our systems to give themselves access to breach the lunar labs. As for transport we believe they might’ve paid off one of our pilots to smuggle it down from the moon during a supply run.”

Glenn tapped on the desk a few times. Projecting a virtual list over the table.

“We can’t be sure but we suspect it was one of these upstart companies who planted the Trojan.”

“Why them?” She asked retrieving her communicator to snap a photo.

“You’ve heard of the Tech Market?”

“Hmm once every decade or so the league will hold an event for aspiring tech companies and/or inventors. They compete with their various concepts or inventions for a chance to receive funding from you guys.”

Glenn nodded. Pointing at the list. “These are the proposals we accepted from this year’s market and not long after their portfolios were loaded into our database the theft occurred. I doubt this is a coincidence.”

“I concur,” she said scanning the names of the companies. Could one of them lead her back to the AoF?

“Unfortunately we can’t pinpoint from which one of them the Trojan originated.”

“You’ve given me plenty. I’ll take it from here.”

Grieselda stepped onto the elevator.

“1st floor,” she said.

The elevator doors sliced shut and some BioWear ads loaded, projected on the doors. Displayed a large array of cybernetic implants, bio-cosmetics and other services.

She could already envision the ads to come when they launched the synthetic droids.

Feeling lonely? Get yourself a Wifey who will satisfy your every desire.

Or

Tired of being played. Need a loyal man? Get yourself a Hubby who will please your every need.

It would be a hit amongst the populace and the red light districts.

This begged the question.

“What the hell does the AoF want with this thing?”