Iron Stars - anderobi

Anderobi Neon-Flow is sitting at his desk on Gudrun, enjoying the rain outside as a reminder of his far away home of Terezinho. Crime is low here, and he is bored. It means the city streets are safe, but it also means there is little for him to do. The television plays gently in the background as another night of meaningless paperwork passes, the news repeating over and over again as Galnet discusses the comings and goings of the sector. The dull rain patter is broken suddenly, by the slam of a large paper file on your desk, so thick it is bound with three rubber bands

2

The slam of the file snaps Anderobi out of the trance the rain and paperwork had put him in. He runs his left eye while running his thumb through the file. "Scared me a bit there!" he says with a grin. "The rain's a bit too relaxing sometimes." He looks down at the file and then back up. "Awful big file here, isn't it? Must be something exciting that happened, yeah?"

"Something to that effect. You remember Saul Harcrow, the old First Marshal back before this CIS, UNW, letters and names nonsense? You may not, but probably at least remember the name. This is an older case log of his. He's gone missing. We're trying to figure out what happened to him

The word 'case' makes his ears perk up, as well as cause his breathing to speed up. A small grin crescents across his face before he takes a cough to try and regain his composure. "I recall seeing his name pop up in my paperwork and in the news occasionally." he says with a small crack in his voice. "Someone of his standing, hopefully he's simply gone off radar."

"Still begs the question of why. We need to look into it, even if the answer ends up being pretty innocent. So what do you think. You up for it?"

Several of his favorite detective novels rush through his mind, as well as his days playing detective back home. The nostalgia of it all forces a huge smile through his attempt at a serious demeanor, as he hops to his feet and inadvertently shouts "YES! YES! YES! Yes I will!" His cheeks flush an almost neon red and his eyes look ready to pop out of his head as his own reaction hits him. He takes a deep breath, saying "I... I mean I would be glad to look into Mr. Harcrow's disappearance."

"Very good. We checked his house already. His bike is gone, but thats hardly unusual, he loved the thing so much. Maybe take a look around his home, see what you can come up with, or see if we can at least strike some possibilities off our list

He nods. "I'll check out his home, and if nothing sticks out there, I'll speak with some of his friends and acquaintances."

"Alright. Patrol car is out back. Got a new cell in it and everything, don't even need to tip me. Call if you need backup, we've got a few other units in the area on patrol

"Much appreciated. I'll keep you in the loop on anything I find." He picks the case file up off his desk and hurries to the patrol car. He finds a spot out of sight in the car to put the file, and then takes off for Harcrow's house.

Saul's home is a modest two floor colonial style home in one of the wealthier areas of central. His bike is gone, but his patrol buggy, and his personal trivedi roadster are still parked in the detached carport. a pair of maintainer eyebots hover around, buffing the car's immaculate wax coats, trimming vegetation on the edge of the property, and keeping pests away from the beds of vegetation near the house.

Anderobi parks the patrol car in front of Harcrow's house on the street and hops out. He walks up to Saul's buggy and looks over the outside for anything odd.

(notice/wis)

(11)

The grove compartment of the buggy has been broken open. The lock is bent out of alignment even though the hatch itself was closed after

He pulls out his compad and takes a picture of the compartment as well as the bent lock. He returns his compad to his pocket and then looks through the compartment, checking for anything out of place or something that appears missing.

All the repair records have been taken, along with the technical specs. The marshal's holdout weapon has also been taken from the glovebox

14:03

(you'd see the little molded holster for it, but no gun anymore)

He snaps a picture of where the gun should be, as well as a picture of the whole buggy. He makes a mental note to check for any recent crimes involving Harcrow's style of pistol when hes back at the station. He closes up the glovebox and the buggy, then takes a closer look at the Roadster for anything out of place.

(Would I know what style weapon he had?)

(he had a ton of guns but he was favoring revolvers)

The roadster otherwise seems fine, the windows are not broken but it’s impossible to tell from visual inspection how they got in

He pulls out his compad and jots in his notes Nothing noticeably off on the outside of the Roadster. May need to check with a Trivedi rep, see if it sent any notices on their end regarding recent access to it. He puts his pad away and walks over to the eyebrows and tries to get their attention.

The eyebots stop as you enter their area, unable to complete their programmed commands with you in their environment

"Uhh... Hello! I don't know if you take verbal commands, but I'm looking for your owner, Mr. Saul Harcrow. Can you take me inside to where your recordings and backups are so I can check them out?" (edited)

One of the bots bobs gently, and flashes its lights. Two small green guide lights follow behind it on trailing wires as it olpens the front door of the house and allows you inside. It is every bit a Mcmansion, the furnishings are cheap, but made to look elegant, and the place is sitting under a thick blanket of dust

"Oh cool! That worked!" he thinks as the bot heads into the house. As they proceed into and thru the house, he adds to his notes the large amount of dust inside, and wonders to himself how long Sarcrow has been missing.

A small office, to the right of the entryway has its wooden and glass doors open. Cobwebs infest the corners, and a large 3D cutaway of his beloved grav bike is framed on the wall, behind his giant plush Lope leather armchair. A computer is on the desk, mounted there, along with the former marshal's encryption block, and a few loose 10mm shell casings

(The shells are intact. Not fired. Just loose)

(Would I have any sort of evidence bags with me? Otherwise can I Sense The Need and commit effort to have some?)

(Youd have come prepared for your job )

"Thank you, eyebot! I'll stay out of your hair now!" He waves to the bot as he steps into the office. The grav bike cutout catches his attention first, followed by the computer and loose shells. He takes a picture of the desk, and then pulls out a pair of tweezers and drops a couple of the shells into an evidence bag. "Now what do we have here..." He sits in front of the computer and looks over the encryption block before turning on the computer.

The computer boots up, showing a normal start screen, and then a blank desktop. The encryption block growls, blocking most of what would be showing up on the screen

"Uhh... Sherlock didn't have to deal with damned encryption..."

23:19

(Is the encryption block that's mounted his decryption code?)

(Or is it just what encrypts his computer?)

(its what encrypts and decrypts his computer)

02:33

(basically to keep people from casually fiddling through his stuff like you're about to do)

He looks over the keyboard, checking if any of the keys appear more worn than others.

It does not look like he used the computer much, most of the keys look essentially pristine (but a program,/int , or your gift, could probably help)_

Anderobi weaves the MES in and around him around his fingertips. As his fingers touch the computer, he changes the focus to the computers past, searching for an important or emotional event tied to it. As he searches, he tries to bring Saul Harcrow into the postcognitive vision.

Saul is sitting at the computer, the screen is black and he is about to shut it down for the night when it suddenly ignites again. simple green letters scroll across the screen. There is work for you to do still, Mr. Harcrow