Cyberia - chpt. 4

Anna sat down at her new desk and let out a sigh. The city was massive. She was happy about the transfer but the size of this jurisdiction was easily a couple times bigger than what she was in charge of before. Anne couldn’t complain, though. The pay increased as much as the territory she was in charge of had. And she was even recommended. You would have to be a stupid kind of cop to still say no.

Anna had always wanted to move to the big city. So now here she was. And she was even being paid for it. To be honest, the more she thought about working in the city the more nervous she got. Stories of serial killers and crazy people started filling her head when there was a knock on her desk. She looked up to see a man with slim eyeglasses staring down at her with a smirk. Seeing his glasses made her adjust her own.

“The name is Keev.” The man introduced himself as Anna stood up to shake his hand.

“My name is-”

“Anna Beatrice.” Keev finished for her. “We all know about the new country girl.” Anna was taken aback.

“Country girl?” Keev’s smile faulted.

“Oh, I take it you don’t like nicknames. Or at least not that one. It’s just how people warm up to you around here. It’s easier to remember exactly who you are in conversation since people really don’t know your actual name. They refer to people as donut dude or something like that.” Anna slowly nodded. She guessed she understood.

“And what was your nickname?” His smile returned.

“Didn’t get one. Keev was weird enough and easy to remember from the start. There’s too many Annas.” Keev made to walk off when he paused and turned back towards me. “And for my reason to approaching you in the first place besides shaking you out of your culture shock.” Anna narrowed her eyes but Keev either didn’t notice or pretended not to. “You got an assignment already. Seems like something is going down and there’s a high speed chase going on. Only it’s not with us. Goodluck!” With that Keev made his leave. She didn’t know what to make of him but so far he was definitely falling into the “annoying” category.



As Anna drove there was a lot of info coming through her car radio. Reports of robberies, shootings, stabbings, etc. and all within minutes of each other. But there was one specific frequency Anna was focused on. There was a chase involving many pursuers going after a van. Eventually, the van was lost and now the police were following the pursuers. They arrived at a business firm after it was closed and found the van.

It was at this point that the police caught up and intervened. Anna pulled up shortly after the rest of the police did and looked around. Everyone looked important but there was one specific person she was looking for.

There he is. A beefy looking man that stood out from the rest. The way he was barking orders as if he had authority over the police was typical of a man that was used to getting what he wants. She walked up straight to him pulling out her pad and pen.

“Excuse, me.” The man was still yelling at the cop that was handcuffing him. “Excuse me!” Anna said with authority in her voice. The man and cop looked at her in surprise. “Thank you. I’m here to ask you a few questions.”

“What makes you think I’ll say a damn thing to the police?” Anna smiled.

“Oh, you mean besides reckless driving and avoiding arrest? I’m pretty sure while you were on your chase there were sirens going on behind you. So the whole typical gangster,” Anna made air quotes. “‘You ain’t got nothin’ on me.’ routine don't work here. Now, answer the question before you get locked up with the guys that don’t take friendly to guys in expensive suits.” The man was silent for a moment before letting out a sigh.

“My cyborg was stolen. State of the art! One of a kind! A prototype for the future of all cyborgs to come! A breakthr-” Anna held out her hands.

“Slow down there! I get it. It was very special. And was stolen?”

“Yes! Which is why we’ve been chasing the person down. We cornered them to this building. But you all are keeping me from getting what’s mine, back.” The man exclaimed. Obviously, hysterical.

“Well, you have it registered right? So the person who stole it can’t activate it. And cyborgs are pretty heavy to lug around.”

“She’s brand new! I just bought her so I haven’t activated her. If that person that stole it activates it then-” Just then there was the sound of glass shattering from up above. Anna thought a body was going to hit the pavement soon after but she couldn’t spot anything falling. Everyone looked up to see something flying off. Anna quickly took out her phone and recorded the flying person while snapping pictures. The man behind her had entered a whole new level of losing his mind.

“She-She activated my beautiful android! I’m ruined! So much money wasted!” Anna turned towards the man.

“Then it’s up to you to cooperate with us so we can find it. I need info on it, pronto. The sooner you help me the sooner I can help yo-”

“No. I have a reputation to uphold and I already have men on tracking down my cyborg.” Anna cocked an eyebrow.

“I’m sure you are tracking down the cyborg by legal means, correct?” The man smiled. It wasn’t genuine but arrogant.

“I wouldn’t make it a habit of upsetting the police force. It’s inconvenient to have an eye on your back at all times due to misbehavior.” Anna closed her notepad. There was no point in pursuing this further. The man was part of a gang and it would look bad on him to accept police help. The man seemed to calm down now that he got over the shock of seeing his prized possession, literally, fly out the window. Anna nodded her head to the officer, letting him know he could take away the gang member.

Anna was a detective and and a damn good one which was why she was here in the first place. She was, almost, completely sure there was more to his cyborg compared to the average one. First clue to that was the fact that it could fly. The only robots that were capable of flight were security droids and military drones, which weren’t seen in the city unless there was an emergency. So was the cyborg made with military capabilities? If so then the man would be correct in saying that robot would be a breakthrough. You could probably pass a cyborg off as human if you dress them up enough. Their movements matched human’s perfectly but that was normally about it.

Androids weren’t even part of the equation. Androids can only put up with a single task and deal with simple instructions. They are popular in businesses because, unlike droids, androids at least resemble a human. So there’s no way an android could be capable of flight or anything a gang would want. They are a dime a dozen. Cyborgs were expensive. Only the upper class owned them unless one was passed down.

Anna slowly walked back to her vehicle while lost in thought. If that cyborg was activated then it was likely that the owner would hurry to change the identity of it. A factory preset cyborg is easy to find. Anna made an urgent call. It was her superior. The second she heard his voice she wasted no time.

“We have a stolen cyborg with flight capabilities and the thief possesses ownership. The owner will most likely try to alter the appearance of the cyborg as quickly as possible so I need all cyborg cosmetic locations on alert and on the lookout for the stolen property.” Her superior didn’t ask questions. He knew Anna was good and he didn’t want to get in the way of any investigation she was performing. Anna hung up after she briefed him on everything she knew at the moment. The detective looked at the short video she took of the cyborg flying away. She could make out the cyborg carrying someone. The only thing she could see was that whoever was being carried had white or pale blonde hair. She made another call to add the information to be on the lookout of someone with that description being with a cyborg. That shade of color for hair wasn’t exactly common so all Anna had to do was wait.