The surrounding buildings were hardly lit, despite there being twelve light fixtures by my count. However, upon further inspection, only three worked. That didn’t help the eight security cameras glued beneath some of those non-working lights.

If there was one thing to be thankful for about this alley, the light resonated from the sparkling reflection from broken glass and puddles of water littered here and there, allowing natural light some relief.

“Installation Complete: Homicide Patch installed, initialising Detective Mode,” Nova said.

“Detective mode? What bullshit is this?” I asked, feeling handicapped completely by this new revelation.

A sombre white light exploded around me like a dome, emitting from my cybernetic eye with squares stitched into its as if it were dividing the dome into sections. The dome itself was roughly two meters in diameter, with me being the centrepiece that controlled the circumference of light.

“Detective Mode is an Augmented Reality Simulator that allows detectives to visually display their thoughts,” Nova advised me.

“Hold up…BLED officers have access to ARS Tech?”

“Affirmative, sir.”

“Interesting. SWAT's been using this stuff for training.”

“Yes, Sir, highly likely.”

“This is interesting, really interesting.”

I have toys of my own, though. I thought

“Download the CSI file packet for me, NOVA and see if you can arrange some Scope-Drones to assist. I want to have my files for reference later.”

“Understood, Sir. Initialising camera and recording systems” The AA answered.

I approached the corpse and the scent of death penetrated my nose, making my lips quaff from its staleness. I would’ve puked if I weren’t used to death as it is.

Here she was. Adrianna Smith was laying smack dab in the middle of Kever’s Alley on the ground. She wore a neat fitted beige pants suit with a textile-like design subtly woven into the suit—pretty, but nothing too outlandish.

Droves of blood pooled beneath her back and slowly turned the alleyway into a riverbed as it trailed down into darkness. For whatever reason, only half of the alleyway had been lit, and that was where Adrianna’s body was.

Interesting.

“…horrible,” I said, feeling my stomach churn from within. I then slowly crept up to her, ensuring I didn’t step into any of the blood and knelt down. I zoomed in for a close-up of her face, looking for signs of a struggle. No abrasions on the face, neck or even the hands. She wasn’t strangled or held. This is strange. I poked her cheek with my cybernetic finger; dull, I thought, noting the stiffness, rigour Mortis has set in…she’s been dead for over three hours.

“When was the body discovered, Nova?”

“11:06 p.m. According to the Case File.”

“An hour ago, was that the time dispatch received the call?”

“Affirmative.”

“Alright…”

A cold gust of wind caressed the back of my neck, making my hair stand on end. If poetry was in motion, then that certainly was it because the way I felt after settings eyes on Adrianna’s face I was left confused. The woman’s face was completely void of emotion. How could someone take three gores to the chest? and show no emotion? that's just cold and haunting.

Adrianna’s lips were drawn to a line, whilst her eyes simply stared, making the lack of emotion chilling. It was certainly not what I’d expected for a situation like this.

“You’re way too calm of stature and appearance. Were you even killed here?” I asked her, not expecting an answer. “Nova, how does the ARS work?”

“I record the surrounding areas. You make your hypothesis on what you believed to have happened, here. The ARS processes the information and makes a virtual representation of what happened here.”

“That easy?”

“Affirmative, sir.”

“…So if a detective had a bias against a perp…it’s all jail cells for him then?”

Nova didn’t answer, but that was more than enough for me to know the answer. Yes. Detectives could craft their own narrative. Dangerous, but effective. No doubt.

“Pull up Adrianna’s file.”

Nova pulled up the public file for Adrianna Smith and set the information into my cybernetic eye. The profile interface resonated with a black translucent background and white text before me. At the top right of the file was her picture.

Adrianna Smith

Age: 34

Marital Status: Married

Husband: Timothy Smith

Children: Two

Place of Employment: Lyiez Systems Inc.

Job Description: C Class Data Entry Clerk.

Address: Praetons Avenue, District 5, Lower Estate Drive, Bridge City 69541

“Married to Timothy Smith, with two children. C-Class data entry clerk, whatever that means, but most importantly Lyiez Systems.” I said, tapping the Lyiez Systems name on Adrianna’s profile. It shifted left. Another profile window popped up to its right with the same colour scheme the full information for Lyiez Systems.

Lyiez Systems Inc.

CEO: Stepson Vizare

CFO: Ornan Shilip

Head of HR: Prin Stacy

Head of IT: Igerin Feltin

Director of Marketing: Bildin Renc

Director of Strategic Planning: Aithur Ryej

The Premiere Data Analytics Provider within Bridge City.

“Your Data is Safe with Us.”

“Your data is safe with us? If my data was safe, then the Imbibe never took place,” I said aloud, shaking my head. “Whatever…” I grumbled, staring at Adrianna once more. “No, Cypher…you’ve got work to do; it’s just a job…” I told myself, “Let’s get back at it.”

I knelt down, shifting her legs but found nothing but the scent of cold concrete ground. The scent of the ground struck me in the nose, which left a moist stone taste in my mouth that made me gawk in annoyance. “I’m no detective,” I said aloud. “…but I don’t believe she was killed here. Not for one second.”

I pushed myself back up and studied the surrounding area in depth. I needed to understand what happened here. How did Adrianna find herself in this position?

As I turned to my right, I noticed haphazardly drawn Graffiti caricatures... Wait a minute, isn’t that…Lev Ryan. One of the caricatures was the Antillean Financial Control President.

Public Enemy Number One.

Lev had a diamond-shaped face, but in caricature fashion, it was box-shaped. He was also drawn with a bloated stomach beneath a three-piece suit. The suit was white, and his chest was exposed, showing a credit tattoo. The most ironic thing about the caricature was the golden frames he wore that spelt out GMYFC.

GIVE ME YOUR FUCKING CREDITS.

“Dirtbag,” I said.

There was one eye on each side of Lev Ryan’s caricature. The eyes were swarmed by vector nodes, like bees surrounding beehives. Beneath those were three simple words that I immediately took as a warning.

NEBULA IS WATCHING

…right.

I decided to stroll down the alley to catch my bearings. That did nothing. It was dark, quiet and mostly sombre. I heard the only noise from droplets of water that rolled off from the roofs.

The back of the alley had no rusted doors; in fact, it didn’t even have any doors at all. Breaching the fire safety I mused. All buildings needed such exits, one at the front and the other at the back of the building.

After I strolled up and down the back of the alley, hoping to find signs of burn marks, I quickly realised that no car descended here. “Nothing…nothing here at all.” I complained to myself, “I guess I have to rely on surveillance footage, and we all know how that goes at times.”

I jogged up the alley, passing a purring cat with a litter of three kittens nestled behind a grey garbage can. “One…two…three…four,” I said, coming to a full stop, two meters from Adrianna’s carcass.

I peered in the sky, taking note of the cameras behind me and felt a little bit satisfied that I might be able to make this work, but doubt was still there. “Let’s hope they’re working,” I said, taking my eyes to Adrianna’s haunting gaze.

“Nova, Request surveillance access for Case File: 26-10-01003— Adrianna Smith.”

“Yes, Sir.” The AA complied.

The sound of a thrust, powering down, resonated above me, taking my eyes from Adrianna’s face. Ahh…they’re here. I confirmed.

The Scope-Drones descended from the sky and levelled themselves next to me. “Two? That’s it?” I grumbled under my breath. Not having the patience or diligence to handle my predicament. I snapped open the drone's side panel and typed in my badge number, then passcode.

I waited for the Scope-Drones and my cybernetic arm and eye to sync and waited for the completion ratio to hit 100%. Once it did. I stood above Adrianna, feeling the cold wind steal the warmth from my hands.

“Who did this to you?” I asked, “…and why?”