Stephanie Steele

Cyber Corp was a large grey stone building with stone pillars either side of a tall glass door. The outer building was nearly three hundred years old but the interior was extremely modern. A slow drizzle with droplets so small they floated on the breeze hung in the late afternoon air and the sky had greyed more than usual.

Steele had made an appointment to see Noel Chandler posing as an investor named Anderson who was looking to put some money into an expanding company. It was the only way she could think of to get a face to face with him besides kicking his front door down. Noel chandler had a personal army of body guards who never left his side so this was a smart move. She wasn’t here to take him out. She needed to see what kind of man he was. Whether he was the type who could harm a child. And how many more were there? She couldn’t go wading in all blasters blazing this time. This time she needed to use her head.

She landed Freddy’s cruiser in the area of the cruiser park reserved for guests, stepped out and brushed her suit trousers and matching jacket, making sure all the creases were smoothed. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and she’d added a small pair of glasses to her outfit. It created a more intelligent look Freddy had told her. She’d gone for flat sensible shoes. If she needed to run, for whatever reason, then flat shoes were best. She felt uncomfortable in this get up but at least she looked the part of the business woman she was trying to portray.

This plan was just designed to get her into the building and in front of Chandler. If he was behind everything then he was sure as shit going to know who she was, which, given his recent infiltration, because that was what it was, into the PD with his Frankenstein droids, then she was putting herself in extreme danger.

She announced her arrival on the vid screen at the entrance door and was buzzed in by the receptionist who was surprisingly human. Two of the Frankenstein droids were stood either side of the entrance door. Security guards for a powerful man trying to protect a billion dollar business or great secret? Both guards stared rigidly into space, ignoring her as she entered, brushing off rain from her crisp suit.

Steele was surprised there was no reception desk and no receptionist to greet her. Across from her was a couch which she assumed was where she was meant to wait. She walked towards the couch with the intention of sitting, ignoring the holo screen on the wall which played the vid ad for Cyber Dolls she had seen a thousand times on vid screens around the city buildings. As she passed it the screen changed and the receptionist’s face appeared and spoke to her.

“Mister Chandler is ready to see you Miss Anderson. Please take the elevator to level five.” The dark skinned receptionist said with a painted on smile. The screen returned to the vid ad advocating sex with child androids and Steele turned towards the elevator and spoke into the holo screen by the side of the elevator door.

“Level five.”

The doors opened and Steele entered. As all the walls were made of glass she could see the elevator shaft rushing by as it climbed the building. Stone, ingrained with three centuries of dirt didn’t look that bad. The ancient mixing with the modern. Steele calculated the elevator took two hundredths of a millisecond short of fifteen seconds to reach level five. The receptionist was waiting for her outside the glass doors. She gave a little wave as the elevator glided to a stop.

Steele noted her height, body weight, age, bust size, eye and hair colour, concluded she was left handed, conservative judging by her dress sense, and had failing eye sight because of the spectacles she pushed up her nose after her little wave, in 0.05 seconds of seeing her. Her skin was the colour of black coffee, her eyes the deepest brown. Steele felt a tingle in her neutral circuits. This girl was cute if only in a plain way. Pleasant to the eyes but not someone she’d want to have a permanent relationship with. Not that she was on the market. This girl’s market stall was closed for business for the foreseeable future.

The doors opened and the receptionist indicated which way to go with her hand. “If you’ll follow me.”

Steele had a nice view of the receptionist’s tight ass as they made their way along the corridor, but she didn’t take but a fleeting interest. She passed photo after photo of Noel Chandler lining the corridor. Each one with someone of high status. Governors, police officials, bankers, actors and other celebrities, most scarily he was pictured with lots of school children having visited many schools, colleges and universities where he apparently talked about business and his success story. Was this where he found his victims? And were any of these other high standing pillars of the community fully paid up members of the fucked up club that was the Order of the Temple of the East?

At the end of the corridor Steele was required to walk through a scanner manned by two of the metal droids which had become a regular sight on the streets lately. These two weren’t cops, just part of Chandler’s protection squad, but otherwise identical. Steele wasn’t able to refuse. It was required or she wouldn’t get to see him, possibly the man she’d been hunting for two years.

“It will scan you for weapons.” The receptionist stated, her beguiling smile now replaced with a killer stare.

Does she know who I am, or is she always this frosty? Steele thought. She hesitated a second to look from the receptionist to the two droids who were armed to the teeth. This thing was going to light up like a Christmas tree on a bonfire as soon as she stepped through with her metal chassis. Walking away was not an option. For one, these two tin cans would probably pump her full of lead and Freddy, while loving every opportunity to get his hands on her body, would flip if he had to spend another dime on fixing her, and two, walk away now and she may never get this close to Chandler again. She stepped through the scanner.

No alarms went off, no guards came running to drag her away, and frosty knickers now wore a warm smile. She’d decided to leave her blaster in the cruiser. I wise decision she was pleased she made.

“This way.” The receptionist said, and led the way.

Steele followed her down a glass walled corridor which allowed views into the droid factory. Below were machines begetting machines, production lines working at an exponential rate putting together an army of Frankenstein droids. Steele paused to take it in.

“Sometimes our clients like to see the process for themselves.” Frosty said and carried on, expecting Steele to follow. She did.

They reached a door at the end of another corridor. On the door was a brass plate with Noel Chandler C.E.O. etched on it. The receptionist put her hand up to a holo recognition plate and the door opened automatically, before she walked back down the corridor leaving Steele alone.

As the door drew back it revealed a female decked in black wearing a mask similar to the Frankenstein droid heads. She was armed with a blaster in a hip holster similar to the one Steele was wishing she had right now. She also had a tattoo of the all seeing eye and triangle on her lower arm. Steele scanned her and deduced she was a droid, probably the same one which attacked her and Freddy in the alley the day before. The female’s hand twitched as if she wanted to go for her blaster. It occurred to Steele that her cover had been blown, but with little choice she continued as if nothing was unusual.

“She won’t harm you unless you try to harm me.” Noel Chandler was stood by a window with his back to Steele looking out onto the factory floor, his hand playing with a pendent hanging round his neck.

Steel didn’t look at him but kept her eyes on the female who was staring back at her from behind the helmet as she walked forward. She assumed the windows were sound proofed as she couldn’t hear the busy machines below.

“Pleased to meet you Miss Anderson.” He came over and shook her hand. She gave a warm smile just as someone pleased to meet him would. “Please, take a seat.”

“Thank you for agreeing to see me Mister Chandler. I’ve heard so many good things about you and your company.”

She sat opposite him at his glass desk. A desk which was also a touch screen computer where images and documents could be moved around at your finger tips. She had already calculated his age, height and weight before he’d taken his seat. She’d also ascertained from his hand shake that his blood pressure was slightly up and his heart rate slightly above normal. He was nervous, which showed by the way he was fiddling with the silver pendent. His age she already knew from reading his profile online, forty five. He was well groomed and quite a handsome man. Normal looking. Not at all like a psychotic killer.

“So you’re an investor looking to purchase stock in a company like Cyber Corp? Why didn’t you just buy some shares online like everyone else?”

“I like to meet the person behind the company before I hand over my money. You can understand that can’t you Mister Chandler?”

He smiled. “You’re careful. I can appreciate that. But with Cyber Corp your money is in safe hands. Our shares are about to go through the roof soon.” He smoothed the side of his dark hair which was slightly greying around his ears.

“And why’s that? Are you about to secure another contract I haven’t heard about?”

He studied her a second and let go of the pendent. “It’s no secret Miss Anderson. Cyber Corp is on the verge of landing its biggest contract yet. We’re in talks with high ranking officials in the U.S government to supply one hundred thousand combat droids for deployment in the war in Australia. Cyber Corp has developed a programme that no other country’s droids have. They’re faster, stronger, more intelligent and most importantly, more deadly. We will win this war, and we will win it because of our androids.” He sat back in his chair to take in her reaction, his hand automatically going up to fondle the silver necklace again.

“Yes, I’d heard on the news. Congratulations.”

“It will make any shareholders millionaires over night. How’s that for an investment Miss Anderson?”

“Of course I’d need to know more before I commit but this all sounds like the right investment for me.”

“Tell me Miss Anderson.” His tone changed a little. Slightly abrupt. “How does an android made in this factory come by the amount of money you’re proposing? Half a million was it?” He leaned further back in his chair. “The scanner you passed through sent me an x-ray image of your metal chassis.” He tapped his desk and slid a virtual picture of her x-ray across the desktop. It landed in front of her. It clearly showed her inner metal workings.

She looked up and confidently said, “I had a rich benefactor.” Adding a smile.

Noel looked at the female droid stood at the edge of the room. It was a signal the female had been waiting for. She drew her blaster on Steele.

Steele knew that the blaster in itself wouldn’t cause much damage to her. But after the skirmish in the alley she knew that this droid was stronger than her so a fight may result in a defeat. There were also the guards in the corridor outside as well as the two on the front door. How many others were there she didn’t know about? She was in a tricky situation but at least he had shown his hand. Steele remained calm and kept her gaze on Chandler to see what his next move was going to be.

“Why don’t you drop the charade and tell me why you’re really here, Detective Steele.”

Her cover was well and truly blown. At least she knew one thing. Him knowing who she was meant that he had an interest in her, and that interest she determined must be because he was someone she was looking for.

“I knew who you were the minute you walked in.” He said, still relaxed in his chair. “Do cops still hold their rank when they’re wanted for murder? I’m curious.” He moved forward a little, adjusting his position. “I wonder what your boss would have to say about you coming here? Oh wait, you killed him.” He laughed like this was some game he was playing.

Steele on the other hand was not laughing. “He tried to kill me. I didn’t know why but I’m beginning to get the picture.”

“And you think I can help you with that?”

Steele turned to the female for the first time. “You want to go again? Mess up this nice office?” She turned back to Noel. “I’m sure the cost wouldn’t matter to you, but the inconvenience and the clean up I’m imaging would seriously piss you off.”

Noel motioned to the female to lower her blaster. She obeyed and holstered her weapon. He went back to rolling his pendent between his long fingers.

Steele’s eyes dropped to it. It was quite bulky, cylindrical in shape. She saw that it had a joint and deduced it came apart. Maybe he kept a lock of hair of a loved one in it. Whatever it contained it was obviously important as he hadn’t left it alone since she’d entered the room. He saw her looking at it and immediately stopped.

“Cyber Corp made six large payments to the mayor over the last two years. Each time it was after a multimillion dollar contract was awarded to your company. Awards that were made by the mayor.”

Noel seemed amused by this. He gave a chuckle, leant forward and threaded his fingers together, resting his hands on the desk top. “Oh, I see. You’re accusing me of corruption. You do know that the mayor was a share holder in this company and that those payments were simply dividends, which, if you’d looked closely enough were also made to the other share holders. I’m an honest businessman Detective Steele. I’m not even sure I should be answering your questions given the fact that you’re a wanted fugitive.” He paused for breath then continued. “We won those contracts because we submitted the best tenders which were agreed upon by a committee of seven people. The mayor could not have given us those contracts alone, even if he wanted to.”

Steele could see he had this worked out. This wasn’t going to stick. He wasn’t a stupid man. Of course he’d taken steps to cover his ass. The committee was obviously on his payroll, or more than likely members of his sick and depraved circle of friends. But corruption, bribery or fraud wasn’t why she was here.

“Our products are reliable and affordable.” He sat back again, assured in his apparent innocence of all allegations. “So, anything else I can help you with?”

She was on the ropes here. She had hoped to rattle him with what she knew but he’d defended well. Maybe she could still rattle him.

“How well did you know the mayor? I mean actually know him?” Steele probed.

His eyes narrowed a little. “Very well. We were often at the same functions, dinner parties and such.”

“Did you know about his sexual proclivities?”

He shuffled uncomfortably, his hand going up to the pendent. He realised what he was doing and lowered his hand again.

“Take a walk with me.” He said finally.

Noel showed Steele around the bowels of his empire. The factory floor which was alive with precision timed robots assembling androids which moved along on conveyors, connected together one piece at a time in mind numbing speed and efficiency, was surprisingly noise free. The huge articulated arms which could swing around in every direction emitted only tiny whirring noises as their machine parts turned, twisted and pivoted. Most of the noise came from the welders and riveters as they built the metal men who would be sent off to war to be blown to pieces.

Steele walked side by side with Noel as he gave her the exclusive tour of where life was created. The female android guard stayed close behind them at all times, constantly alert to any attack on her master. There was more than one factory floor. There were three. One, the largest, which was where they had been first, was churning out army droids for the military and police forces. The second, where they currently were, churned out male and female adult droids for domestic and work use and Cyber Dolls for the sex industry. The third was where they made the child Cyber Dolls. As these were smaller in size the machines which built them had to be programmed differently so their manufacture was kept separate Noel told her.

“Here at Cyber Corp we provide all kinds of product to satisfy every dream and fantasy.”

“For some people your products aren’t enough.” She said accusingly as she watched arms being fitted to a brown skinned female.

Uma came back to her and it reminded her of who she was talking to. This was probably the man who had deprived her of the love of her life. Who had forced her to do things against her will, who had hurt her and finally choked the life out of her and left her battered body for the rats to feed on.

“I’m not responsible for the tastes and behaviour of people. I simply provide an alternative. An alternative which has helped bring down sex crimes in this city may I remind you.” He picked up a hand from a conveyor which had a finger missing and dropped it in a waste container. “I simply provide an outlet. A legal one.”

They stopped by a rack of completed female androids individually wrapped in what looked like body bags. A small opaque window was at the top of each one so you could see the faces of each droid. All of them had their eyes closed, yet to be activated and assigned. The Cyber Corp logo was etched onto each body bag. Steele stared through the plastic window at an oriental female.

“Tell me Mister Chandler, do you use your own products or do you prefer the real thing?”

Noel was quick to reply. “If I didn’t use my own products what does that say about my own products?” He carried on walking. Steele kept up with him. “I’ve had human girlfriends sure, but why settle for one when you can have several and none of them complain about it?” He seemed pleased with himself. “You never have to be rejected again. That’s one of the reasons why our products are so popular.”

“I can’t see you ever being rejected Mister Chandler.” She said with a somewhat accusing tone. More accusing than the last time. He laughed it off and kept on walking. “May be you can tell Leon that. He doesn’t seem to care for your products.”

He stopped and turned to her. “A man with a twisted mind. He must be insane, deranged. I hope he’s caught soon.”

“Oh, I’ll catch him alright. However long it takes.”

Noel chuckled, seemingly amused. “Never give up huh?”

“For a while I thought the mayor was Leon. He’d kidnapped a thirteen year old girl and used her for his warped pleasure. That’s why I killed him. Of course it was covered up. But can you imagine if people found out, and him being a shareholder and good friend of yours, what it would do to your company? That big military contract you’re on the verge of getting could disappear overnight. It’d significantly affect those shares and would put pay to those dividends to the shareholders wouldn’t it?”

Noel thought about that a moment. “And you can prove this of course? That the mayor did what you said? There are witnesses?”

Steele said nothing. Of course there were no witnesses. Mia was dead and she was accused of killing her and the mayor.

“So case closed then?” He said, satisfied he’d bettered her.

They walked on a few more paces. He showed her the section where hair was added to the synth skins of the droids and pointed out that he made her, so that she should be grateful he’d given her life. He was after all, her father of sorts. Steele wasn’t buying it. Father’s only deserved their children’s love and loyalty if they treated their offspring with kindness and respect. Mia’s father hadn’t done that. Why should she owe a complete stranger any favours?

“I believe Leon isn’t one man alone.” Steele told him.

This surprised Noel. He hadn’t expected her to say that. It showed in his face. A face she was reading very well. She saw a look of panic. Of course he recovered well, as one might expect from a confident man such as he was, but it had been there and she’d seen it.

“Interesting theory.” He glanced behind to see if the female was still there. “Have you told anyone else?”

“Did you know that Leon spelled backwards is Noel?” She starred him in the eyes, watching his grey pupils for any give-aways. Those eyes flicked to the female who drew her blaster, bringing it up towards Steele.

Steele was expecting it and reacted just as quick, swiping the blaster out of her hand and turning it on Noel. Both of them were surprised.

“You’ve had an upgrade.” He looked at the female guard who had failed him. “Our detective friend here doesn’t obey the law she’s supposed to enforce. But you were always a law unto yourself weren’t you?”

Steele snatched the pendent from around his neck, snapping the chain, his hand flapping pathetically to try and stop her. She unscrewed it and found a stamp inside. She patted it against her skin and it left a mark. A red heart with the name Leon inscribed inside it. Steele screwed her face in anger. She wanted to put her fist right through his face, to destroy him right here and now. But she knew she couldn’t. The PD already thought she’d killed four people. She wasn’t adding to it. She needed him alive. She turned to the female.

“Take off the mask!” She ordered. She shouted louder when the female didn’t obey. “Take off the mask!”

The female looked to Noel who nodded for her to comply. The female slowly removed the mask. A cascade of golden hair fell away from under it. Steele’s neural receptors lit up. The face she saw was one she last saw on the road outside her apartment. A face that had been lying in her bed the night before that. Her lover, Rachel Nixon!

“I thought you were dead.” Steele’s voice faltered.

“Looks like we both have a tech geek to put us back together.” Her voice was sharp and cutting.

This was an entirely different Nixon to the one she had held in her arms and made love to. This was not her Rachel.

“Were you just playing me the whole time?”

“It didn’t take much to make you forget about your dead girlfriend did it? Just a few beers and a flash of cleavage.”

Steele felt betrayed. The hurt she had been dealing with and which was beginning to heal came back in one angry lump. She threw herself at Nixon, bringing a fist back which was aimed at her pretty face. But the fist was never launched. Didn’t find its target. A chorus of police sirens blared out in the background. She stopped to listen.

“The cavalry has arrived.” Said Noel, backing away.

She brought the blaster up to his head and he stopped.

“Ordo Templi Orientis.” She yelled.

“What’s that, some cop code?” He said, taking another step away.

“You’re going to tell me all about it.” She bellowed and took a step nearer to him, the blaster barrel pointed at his forehead. They could hear heavy footsteps running towards them.

“Go!” Noel shouted to Nixon.

Steele kept the blaster on Noel and looked at Nixon who was already backing away. “Stay here!” Nixon turned and ran. “Damn it!”

A dozen metal droid cops surrounded them, pistol blasters all pointed at her. He’d probably called them as soon as she’d entered the building. He had just been keeping her talking until they arrived and now she was trapped. She could make a run for it, but would she make it? She calculated possible escape routes. She’d have to scale a number of conveyors and negotiate her way through many fast moving robot arms but there was a chance.

That chance faded before it could be put into action. Several armed police officers and droids had their blasters aimed at her and Noel.

“Thank God you’re here. I called you as soon as my security realised who she was. She’s threatened to kill me like she killed the mayor and the chief of police.” Noel cried.

His act was convincing. They were buying it as he was inching away from her. She couldn’t let this happen. She saw Frank pushing his way to the front.

“Detective Frank, I want you to arrest this man. He’s Leon. You need to find Nixon, inside her is . . .” Steele didn’t finish her sentence.

Her frame rattled and shook violently. Her circuits weren’t responding. Her drive was beginning to fail. She barely had time to register what was happening. Frank had come charging up to her and fired a high powered taser at her which had attached itself to her neck sending 50,000 volts of electric current flashing through her, scrambling her neural network and causing her to shut down. The last thing she remembered was Frank arresting her.

“Stephanie Steele, I’m arresting you for the murders of Damien and Gustav Leonard, Robert Edwards, Philip Quentin, Archibald Graves, William Ortega, Brendon O’Malley, Thomas Herring, Philip Craven, Stephen Osmond and Vernon and Mia Kalarjian . . .”

Her system failed.