The Ba Gua Etuis Box
Episode 4
Charles Davis
INTRO/COMMERCIAL
(Sound fades in of a busy police station. Sound of Veronica Yap walking into the station. Her footsteps stop).
Veronica: Excuse me, I need help.
Vicki: Ok, what’s going on?
Veronica: My husband has gone missing. I think something may have happened to him.
Vicki: Right. Ok, come with me, I’ll get your information. (sound of them walking to a room, opening the door, walking in and the door closing behind them. They walk into the room a few steps) Here, have a seat. (Sound of both of them pulling up chairs and sitting down. Vicki pulls out a pad and pen and starts writing things down). So, what’s you’re name?
Veronica: Veronica Yap.
Vicki: Ok, and what’s the name of your husband?
Veronica: Chen Yap.
Vicki: What happened?
Veronica: Chen never came home last night. He works at the Chinese Education Center. I called him as he was walking home and he said he was only 30 minutes away. But I waited up all night and he never came back. I’ve tried calling him over and over again but he never picks up.
Vicki: Mrs. Yap, I’m sorry to hear that and I’ll make sure to log this information, but we can’t start investigating a missing persons case until they have been gone for at least 48 hours.
Veronica: No, no, no, you can’t do that. If he’s been kidnapped they could have done something to him by then! No, you have to look into this! He’s my husband!
Vicki: Mrs. Yap, again, I’m sorry. I do understand. But we just can’t investigate until 48 hours has passed. What I’ll do is I’ll log this information, and as soon as the 48 hours time frame is up, I’ll send someone out to investigate. But unfortunately that’s all I can do right now.
Veronica: Well what am I supposed to do! Just sit around until then and hope that he doesn’t get killed?!
Vicki: No… you certainly can’t do that. Here is my advice. If you can afford it, hire a private investigator to start looking into the case until the 48 hour time frame is up. When the 48 hours is up, you can drop the private investigator and tell them to surrender any evidence or information they found to police department. By law they’ll have to do it. Then we’ll be able to start looking into it, but we’ll have the 48 hours worth of information the investigator was able to collect as well. Also, if the investigator is able to find any evidence of immediate danger, he’ll be able to call us and we can come onto the scene immediately.
Veronica: (lets out a long breath) Ok…
Vicki: Good. I have a list of PIs that I’ve worked with before. Stay here, I’ll go get it for you.
Veronica: Thanks…
(Sound of Vicki getting up from the chair and walking to the door. Opens the door and walks out. Shuts door behind him. There is a man yelling down the hallway).
Vicki: Huh? (Sound of him walking up to the situation).
Yelling Man: (struggling with police) Uuuh! No! I have to go! I have to prepare! Don’t take me in! You can’t! No!
Police Man 1: Hold him down, he’s going crazy!
Yelling Man: No!
Vicki: (sound of man struggling with police is in the background) What’s going on?
Police Man 1: Some crazy drug head we picked up. He was trying to kidnap a node from a department store.
Yelling Man: I have to get away! I have to go there! No! You can’t! You can’t keep me! It’s near! It’s near!
Police Man 1: See, told you, he’s nuts.
Vicki: Sir! What are you talking about? We can’t help you if we don’t understand what you’re trying to say.
Yelling Man: The place! Let me go! I have to get to the place! It’s soon! I have a meeting!
Vicki: Geez… Sir, what do you want? Tell me clearly what you want.
Yelling Man: (Suddenly calmed down but still intense) Want? Want? I want?! Yes, I want! I want… I want… Dad. Do you have dad? Do you have him? I want him! I want him to see me. I want him to seeeeee me.
Vicki: Wow. Ok, get him into the tank. Maybe when he comes down he’ll be able to speak more.
Police man 1: Alright buddy, let’s go. (sound of Police man dragging the screaming man off).
Yelling Man: No! Nooooo… (his voice fades away).
Vicki: Geez…
(Sound of police station fades out)
(Sound fades in of Patricia and Otto driving in the car)
Patricia: (After a moment of silence) …You sure you don’t need me to turn on the gps?
Otto: Nah, I know how to get to the library.
Patricia: …Ok… I still think we should just give everything to Bates and let him take care of it.
Otto: I know you do.
Patricia: If he finds out we continued to hide information from him, it will come back to bite us on the ass.
Otto: I told you, I’m not going turn her in. I said I’d drop the case and I will. But I’m giving the drug evidence to Barbara. I’m dropping her case which is bad enough, I’m not going to be responsible for losing her money at the same time.
Patricia: …Fine…You’re just lucky Bates is wrapped up in getting BIT swept over. Other wise you wouldn’t have a chance to talk to her before he does.
(They drive in silence for an extended amount of time. The sound of the car coming to a stop and turns off).
Otto: Ok, I’ll be back.
Patricia: Ok.
(Sound of Otto opening the car door and getting out. Street noises can be heard. Walking up to the library entrance. Opening the door and walking in, door closes behind him. Street noises stop, start of noise inside library. People walking around, some quietly talking. Sound of Otto walking up to the desk).
Otto: Hi.
Theresa: Hi, can I help you?
Otto: Yes, I’m looking for Barbara Diya, I need to speak with her.
Theresa: Barbara?
Otto: Yes.
Theresa: Um, well I think you’re at the wrong place.
Otto: What do you mean? She works here right?
Theresa: Well, she used to. But she quit months ago.
Otto: What? Are you sure?
Theresa: Yeah. She left really abruptly too. She just shot off an email to our manager stating that she was leaving, never even came in. It was really annoying too because I had to end up covering for her for a month until they could hire a replacement.
Otto: Really… excuse me.
(Sound of Otto walking away. Walking stops. Sound of Otto taking out his cell phone and dials a number).
Voice on the phone: This number has been disconnected, please check you’re number and dial again… (sound of Otto hanging up the phone).
Otto: What the hell?… (sound of Otto walking back to the desk. Walking stops). Excuse me, uh?
Theresa: Theresa.
Otto: Theresa. I’m actually with the police department. I’m in need to get in contact with Barbara for legal reasons.
Theresa: Uh oh, sounds like someone got in trouble. Uhh, well I don’t really know if I can help you at all, I don’t talk to her ever. Management may still have her address on file if that helps?
Otto: Nah, I already have that on record at the police station. Um… could you lead me to where she worked then? I’d like to look at her old working space.
Theresa: Well… I mean, this is a library. We don’t really have set offices. The entire library is our office. Besides, when she left we threw all of her stuff out, I don’t think there’s anything here of hers anymore…
Otto: I see… Do you know exactly how long ago she quit?
Theresa: Uhhh, let me think. …July, August… I would say like 5 and a half months ago or something like that.
Otto: Thank you for your help. (sound of Otto walking, opening the door, walking out of the building, closing door behind him. Background noise of street. Sound of Otto walking back to the car, opening the car door, getting in and closing door behind him. Sound of street stops).
Patricia: How did it go?
Otto: Were you able to successfully charge Barbara for the time we’ve put into the case so far?
Patricia: Yeah, I sent the charges through on the computer at the station last night. Why?
Otto: Strange…
Patricia: What is it? What happened?
Otto: Barbara Diya quit the library via email 5 and a half months ago. The phone number she gave us has been disconnected too.
Patricia: Huh?
Otto: …I think she might be in trouble… Maybe when she came to talk to us she wasn’t trying to hire us to find her brother. What if she was trying to get a message to us that she was in trouble. Trying to get us on the trail?
Patricia: Otto…
Otto: I know, I know. I’m saying I’m staying on… It’s just… something to tell Bates… Something to tell him when we give him ALL of the information.
Patricia: So you’re going to give him the drugs and the videos now?
Otto: Yeah… We have to. I mean, this changes the game. If she’s in trouble the duty moves from her being a client to her being a victim. So her money be damned, our job… er… what the polices job will be… is to save her… Right?
Patricia: I’ll just be glad when someone else is dealing with this.
Otto: Right. (sound of Otto starting up the car and driving off).
(Sound of Patricia and Otto driving fades out.)
(Fade in sound of Zippy at the police station. Background sound of police officers working can be heard. Sound of Vicki walking up to her. Sound of walking stops.)
Zippy: Hey. Did you find anything?
Vicki: Some stuff, nothing ground breaking though. The battery that Otto found was a standard battery that is manufactured by a company called ‘Nu-Tech.’
Zippy: Yeah, I’ve heard of them.
Vicki: Well, the battery can be used for a multitude of equipment including laser saws, electric drills and electric multi-tools. The manufacturer sells these all over the world and the moon but they don’t attach unique codes to each of the battery units as they’re normally part of a larger tool which does have a unique code. Unless we have some other clue there’s nothing that can really lead us to the point of purchase.
Zippy: Oh, too bad.
Vicki: Well, at least we can more or less confirm Otto’s suspicions that the murder weapon was a laser saw.
Zippy: Yeah. Speaking of which, do you know when Otto and Patricia are getting back? I kind of want to talk to Patricia.
Vicki: I don’t know. She went over to see him at the hospital. It could be a while. What did you need to talk to her about?
Zippy: Oh… I just… I don’t know. With all of these near death experiences going on, it sort of makes you think you know? Like about what’s really important, and where you’re going in life and stuff… I guess I just wanted to let her know that we’re still friends even though she dragged me into this… This experience hasn’t really been as bad as I assumed it would be.
Vicki: Well how about that. (Tubby makes a beeping noise) What’s up with him?
Zippy: Oh, he’s found something. Ok Tubby, I’m pulling it up on my screen. (sound of her typing) I made it so that each product has a multitude of codes and features logged in the system, as each lock is unique. What that means is that when you find the actual lock that matches the product features list, there’s pretty much a 100% chance that you found the correct one.
However, in return it’s really difficult to filter through all of the locks that are sold to find a specific one, as I sell a pretty large volume of them. I’ve been working on developing a system to sort everything better, but I’ve gotten bogged down the last couple months and haven’t been able to complete the program yet.
Anyway, I was going nuts trying to manually sort through my records trying to find who the lock on the etuis box was sold to. Then I remembered that the threat assessment code in Tubby is basically an advanced form of an unstructured data sorting program. So I wired him up to my customer data extranet and I’m having him do the work for me. (sound of clicking) And.. it looks like… he found it. (sound of a click) There we go.
Vicki: Which field do I look at here?
Zippy: This one… Huh…
Vicki: Ha… How do you like that? Homer Diya. He bought it himself.
Zippy: Huh… So what does that mean?
Vicki: (blows some air) I don’t know. I guess it means that he was aware that the bomb was in there too.
Zippy: He was an engineer… Do you think he put the bomb in the box himself? It would make sense. Assuming that he was particularly smart, he would have had the know how to make and install the bomb. He would also be able to code it so that it would only go off when someone else opened it up.
Vicki: Yeah… The question is, why did he go through so much trouble… and hey, expense. Wow, look at that price tag. You sell a high volume of these locks? You must be loaded!
Zippy: …I do ok.
Vicki: I’ll say… Anyway, the question is why did he go through so much trouble for a bunch of useless pebbles?
Zippy: Maybe the pebbles aren’t as useless as we think.
Vicki: Hmmm. Do you have the box?
Zippy: Yeah, it’s right here (sound of her handing Vicki the box).
Vicki: Let’s see here. (Sound of Vicki shacking the box and looking at it). It looks like there are what? 7 pebbles in here. One is red, one is green, one is yellow, one is white, a blue, a gray and a brown.
Zippy: Do you think the number of pebbles or the colors have anything to do with it?
Vicki: Hell if I know. Hmm. Well, I’m going to send this to the lab guys. Maybe they can tell us what the pebbles are made out of.
Zippy: Good idea. And while you’re down there can you ask them how much longer until I can look at ADAM?
Vicki: They still haven’t let you look at him yet?
Zippy: Nah. Bates demanded that his own team got to look at it before I was able to see him. They also won’t let me look at any of the stuff they found at BIT yet either. He said he didn’t want me finding anything before his team did. I bet you money they won’t be able to get anything out of ADAM without me though.
Vicki: Why’s that?
Zippy: It’s like Otto said. They don’t know how to talk to, or handle, robots. Dealing with nodes is a lot different than dealing with inanimate objects which is what police labs typically deal with.
Vicki: Ha. Fair enough. Ok, I’ll see you later. (Sound of him starting to walk away. He stops suddenly and turns around). Hey.
Zippy: Yeah?
Vicki: Why don’t you come with me and Maggie to Hugo Bernard’s place?
Zippy: What?
Vicki: Well, you’re just sitting around not doing anything now. After I drop this off at the lab, me and Maggie are going to go interrogate him. You were really good when it came to dealing with ADAM, you should come talk to Hugo with us too.
Zippy: I threw up and cried when we interrogated ADAM.
Vicki: But we got the information out of him. When it comes to interrogation generally the form doesn’t matter as long as the function works.
Zippy: I don’t know… Isn’t that unorthodox? Taking a civilian to an interrogation.
Vicki: Psh! Tell me one thing that is orthodox about this case! Besides, I told you, it’s my job to lead you into danger.
Zippy: Hmm…Ok…Yeah, yeah ok. I’ll come.
Vicki: Alright then.
Zippy: Tubby, stay here on lock down mode (Tubby beeps in understanding).
(Sound of Zippy getting up and her and Vicki walking away).
COMMERCIAL
(Sound fades in of Zippy, Vicki and Maggie all driving in the car together).
Zippy: (after a moment of driving) Hey guys, I just realized. All of our names end with “Y.”
Maggie: …You’re friends are weird Vicki.
Vicki: Quiet down you two, we’re here. (sound of car coming to a stop and turning off). Ok, now Zippy, just stay behind me and Maggie. We’re going to be handling the talking. I just want you to listen incase he tries to throw any techno-babble at us that we don’t understand. Got it?
Zippy: Got it.
Maggie: Yeah, and if it gets dangerous in here, just bolt for the door and call for back up on the radio in the car.
Zippy: Will do.
(sound of them opening car doors and getting out. Closing car doors behind them. Sound of the outside in the background (not city sounds, they are in the suburbs). Sound of them walking to the house).
Maggie: Suburbs with lots of trees…
Vicki: Yeah, I noticed that.
Zippy: What’s so special about that?
Maggie: At the precinct we have this running thing that all of the really crazy stuff is always happening in a suburb with lots of trees around. For some reason this is where all of the nut jobs like to live.
Zippy: Yikes.
(Sound of the walking up the steps and stopping at the front door. Knock on the door. No answer. Another knock.)
Vicki: Is this guy here?
Maggie: Let’s just go in.
Vicki: (sound of him opening the door slowly) Hello? Hello? Hugo Bernard are you there? This is the police. (sound of the three of them walking in slowly).
Maggie: (whispering) Look at all of this stuff.
Zippy: (whispering) It’s all robotic equipment. It’s everywhere.
Vicki: (calling out) Hugo?
Maggie: (whispering) what do you think he’s doing in here?
Zippy: (whispering) I guess he’s building something.
Maggie: (whispering) I sure hope we don’t run into whatever it is.
Hugo: Hey!
All three: Gah!
Hugo: What are you doing here? … You can’t… You can’t be here. (Makes a wild psychotic noise)
Vicki: Hugo, we’re here from the police department. You need to calm down.
Hugo: Don’t tell me to calm down! The needle. The needle, it’s everywhere. I have made it. I’ve gotta put in the needle.
Maggie: (whispering) Zippy get back to the car.
Hugo: I can’t! I can’t think! I need it! I have to know! I have to! We were working! You interrupted our work! We must work!
Vicki: Hugo, listen to me. It’s fine. You’re fine. Just sit down.
Zippy: (whispering) ….ok (sound of Zippy running away).
Hugo: Aaaa!! My head!!!! AAAAA!!
Maggie: Vicki, he’s going nuts, bring him down with the taser.
Hugo: No! (sound of Hugo running away).
Vicki: He’s running, go after him! (sound of them pulling out their guns and running).
Hugo: (in another room. Sound is in the distance getting closer) Martin! People are here! We must defend!
Martin: (Sound is in the distance getting closer) No Hugo! Not that!
Hugo: (close by, sound coming forward) Die!
Maggie: Vicki, look out!
Vicki: (sound of Vicki getting stabbed with something) Ah!
(Sound of Maggie shooting her gun. Sound of Hugo getting hit and hitting the floor).
Martin: NO!! (sound of him walking forward)
Maggie: Stand still buddy!
Vicki: (in pain) uuu
Maggie: You ok Vicki?
Vicki: I don’t know. He stabbed me in the arm with some syringe thing. I think he injected me with something.
Maggie: God damn psycho! Hey you! What was in that stuff?!
Martin: That wasn’t meant for you.
Maggie: Hey! Listen to me! What was that stuff?
Martin: …It won’t hurt you…
Vicki: Uhh.. Maggie.. This guy is…
Maggie: Just hold on Vicki! Hey, buddy take that jacket and hood off, let me see who you are. What’s up with you’re voice too?
Martin: …Unfortunately it does mean I need you now (sound of Martin quickly grabbing Vicki).
Maggie: Waa! Hey! Put him down! (sound of Martin running off very quickly while holding onto Vicki) Hey! Come back! (sound of Maggie running after them) Hey! VICKI! (sound of her running more. She opens a door and runs outside. She stops running). ….He’s gone…
Zippy: (running up) He took off! He took off! He was carrying Vicki! (stops running by Maggie out of breath) He went through the woods over there. He was running like a million miles an hour!
Maggie: God damnit! How is that possible?
Zippy: I don’t know! He must have some kind of, implants or enhancements on his legs or something like that! I’ve never seen anything like it before!
Maggie: I’m going to try and follow them. Call back up and tell them what happened! Here (sound of Maggie throwing Zippy the keys) take the car and get back to the station, it’s not safe here! I’ll catch a ride when back up comes. Tell Bates what happened if I don’t come back!
Zippy: (Sound of Maggie running off) Wait!… (sighs) damnit! (sound of Zippy running back to the car).
(Sound fades out)
(Sound fades in. Inside bates office at the police station. Patricia and Otto are in his office).
Bates: (after a moment of silence) Well then…
Otto: So now what?
Bates: Well, if this was any other situation, I would have you thrown in jail for keeping crucial information from the police force. Unfortunately, thanks to your little legal performance we put on earlier, I guess there’s not a lot I can do… you’re quitting huh?… Fine, get out of here. I don’t need you’re dead weight on the case.
Patricia: And you let Zippy go to.
Bates: Right.
Otto: Let’s go Patricia. (sound of them getting up and heading for the doors.)
Bates: Otto…
Otto: (sound of them stopping walking) What?
Bates: You know you want to bring this ring down more than anyone else. You’ll be back.
Otto: You hate me, what do you care if I’m on the case or not?
Bates: Because… in a few days you three have been able to get us closer to the center of the crime in this city then my team has been able to do in two years.
Otto: Fine, then you can carry it from here. What is this?
Bates: Will I be able to? Will my team be able to carry it from here? (blows some air out). I hate a lot of people you know, you’re not special because of that. I hate most people in fact. Including the men I hire to work on this force everyday. But what I’ve had to come to accept in my life as the enforcer of the law of this city, is that it’s my duty to get the job done. And that’s it. It doesn’t matter if I hate you, or the people in the office next door or even myself. The only thing that matters is getting the job done. And you three get the job done. I have a feeling that you think the same way too. What can I say? You and you’re team have got the stuff in your guts that I need Vainikainen. Besides… Just because I hate you doesn’t mean we can’t be friends right?
(Otto let’s out a sigh as he thinks about what Bates has said to him).
Patricia: Otto. Come on. Don’t listen to him.
Otto: …Sorry Bates. I’m a private dic. I don’t work for honor, I work for cash.
Bates: You want money? Hell, I can get you money.
Otto: Goodbye Howard. (Sound of them opening the door to his office and walking out).
Bates: (slightly fading in the background as they walk forward) Otto! Damnit…
Patricia: (to you Otto as they are walking) You’re doing the right thing.
Otto: (bitter) Let’s just go.
Patricia: (seeing she’s upset Otto) …Ok.
Zippy: (Running in from a distance, voice comes into the foreground). Otto! Patricia! Bates!
Patricia: (sound of them stopping walking) Zippy? What’s wrong.
Bates: (sound of him walking up from his office) What’s going on?
Zippy: (Sound of her stopping running. She is out of breath). Vicki’s been kidnapped by the killer!
All three: What?
Patricia: What happened, what happened?!!
Zippy: We went to the pathologists house. He was acting all crazy. He had a ton of robotic parts and things all over his house too. He started yelling, and Maggie told me to run out to the car so I did. I don’t know what happened inside, but I heard a gun shot. Then I saw a man dressed in a long jacket with a hood. He ran out the back of the house and he was carrying Vicki. He was running like a hundred miles an hour. He took off into the woods and Maggie chased after them. I called for backup and then came here.
Otto: Wait, what do you mean he ran off carrying Vicki?
Zippy: I don’t know! He just. He must have had some like suit on or had some kind of enhancements on him or something. He literally just picked Vicki up and ran off.
Bates: How do you know it was the killer?
Zippy: I guess… I guess I don’t, I’m just assuming.
Patricia: (panicing) Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no. (sound of her walking away from the group).
Otto: Hey Patricia, (walking after her).
Bates: Alright, I’m going to try to get Maggie or someone from the backup on the line to see what’s going (walks away).
Otto: It’s going to be fine.
Patricia: Oh my god, oh my god.
Otto: Hey! Listen to me. We’re staying on the case ok? I’m staying on until we get him back.
Patricia: (breathing heavy) …Ok …Ok …Thank you…
Zippy: (walking over) Hey, Patricia, don’t panic. Vicki was alive when he carried him out of there. I think if he wanted him dead immediately he would have killed him there right? He must have a plan or something, which means we have time to save him.
Patricia: (composing herself) You’re right…. Yeah, you’re right. Ok. We can do this. We just have to figure out who this guy is. Did you get a good look at him? Can you describe him to the sketch artist?
Zippy: I don’t know, I barely got a look at him he was moving so fast. He was tall though. And was wearing a long brown coat with a hood.
Patricia: (sighs trying to contain herself) It’s a start…
Bates: (Walking back) Just phoned into backup. Maggie wasn’t able to follow them. They are at the house right now combing the place out. They’re going to bring back anything they can find. They stated that they found what looks like more drugs in the house too.
Zippy: So what do we do now?
Otto: Ok, so, this obviously is all tied into the Homer Diya murder case right? So we need to continue to work on the evidence and clues we have available right now. Bates, were you’re guys able to bring anything back from BIT yet?
Bates: It’s starting to get dark out and they’ve been there for a few hours now. I imagine that they should be coming back soon.
Zippy: Oh! ADAM! The autopsy node. I need to look at him. You’re lab people wouldn’t let me before. Also, we sent them the pebbles in the Etuis box to analyze.
Bates: There… working on it.
Otto: Bates, look, if you want us on this case, you need to bring us in all the way or we’re just screwing around here.
Bates: So you think I’m going to trust you now that I know you were hiding Homer Diya’s drug addiction?
Otto: You know now don’t you?
Zippy: Homer Diya was on drugs?
Patricia: It’s a long story, I’ll explain it to you.
Bates: So what? You and you’re team are back on the case now?
Otto: Depends, can you afford it?
Bates: Hehe, yeah, I can afford it.
Otto: Then yeah we’re back on. At least until Vicki is found.
Zippy: (to Patricia) I’m confused whose on Otto’s team?
Patricia: (to Zippy) He’s talking about you, Me and Otto. You’re going to be getting paid now too.
Zippy: (to Patricia) Oh… Cool! I’m part of a detective team now!
Patricia: (to zippy) … you’re different…
Otto: Alright, Zippy, that’s you then. You and Patricia go down to the lab and see what you can find out from ADAM. See if they were able to find anything out about the Pebbles too.
Zippy: Ok.
Patricia: We’ll also have them run tests on the drugs you found at BIT.
Otto: Good idea. Review the tapes from the brothel too. Howard, get some of you’re guys, we should go check out Barbara Diya’s home. If she’s been kidnapped, there may be some clues there.
Bates: Right.
Zippy: (to Patricia) Barbara Diya’s been kidnapped?
Patricia: (to Zippy) I’ll explain that to you too.
Otto: Right let’s go. (sound of them walking in opposite directions) (as he’s walking off) Partricia, don’t worry! I’m going to get him back. Don’t worry!
Patricia: Ok! Ok!
Otto: Seriously!
Patricia: Ok! I heard you!
(sound fades out)
COMMERCIAL
(Sound fades in. Patricia and Zippy walking down the hallway to the lab.)
Zippy: I’m surprised you didn’t try to go with Otto to Barbara Diya’s place.
Patricia: …Yeah… I don’t know… I probably should have. I wasn’t thinking. Otto probably purposely wanted me to stay here so I could cool down.
Zippy: We’re going to find him.
Patricia: You’re right, we are. I just have to try to keep my brain focused and brutal right now and I’ll be ok.
Zippy: …Hey, thanks for letting me on the team.
Patricia: Ok, you’ve gone nuts lady.
Zippy: No I haven’t!
Patricia: You were ready to kill me yesterday for dragging you into this!
Zippy: Well… I don’t know… it’s different now. Danger isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I guess I’ve always been scared of dangerous situations, which is probably why I started a security company. But, to be honest, I’ve never really faced a dangerous situation until now. It’s different than I thought it would be. I always thought that when you’re in the heat of it, you would become all anxious and nausea-y. But… when you’re actually in it it’s not like that at all. You just sort of react and don’t think. You don’t have time to be anxious, you just have time to be you. It’s sort of like the expectation of the danger is the thing that makes you upset and not the actual danger itself you know? I always try to control things, but I’m starting to think all I can really do is control myself and how I react when things actually happen.
Patricia: (reflecting on her freak out towards Otto for putting his life at risk earlier) …Yeah…I get it… Hey (they stop walking. The sound of Patricia hugging Zippy)… (while her face is buried in Zippy’s shoulder)… You’re a really good friend and I really appreciate you being in my life.
Zippy: …I really appreciate you too…And thanks for the hug… (sound of them stopping hugging).
Patricia: Ok, we’re at the lab, let’s go in.
(sound of them opening the door, walking in and closing it behind them).
Zippy: Wow, this place is pretty cool with all the test tubes and view screens and stuff.
Patricia: Hanz are you here?
Hanz: (distance) Hallo yes? Who is it?
Patricia: It’s Patricia. Patricia Lacreoux. I work with Otto Vainikainen. We met…
Hanz: (sound of him walking up, voice getting closer) Ah! Patricia! Yes! How are you?! (stops walking when he reaches them) Ah! I see you’ve brought a friend too, how fun!
Patricia: Yes, this is Zippy. Zippy, this is Hanz, he runs, er, used to run the lab at the police headquarters. I suppose you work in the lab here now though…
Zippy: Hi
Hanz: Oh hohoho! You have short hair! I love girls vith short hair! Oh zhat’s so great!
Zippy: Yeah…
Patricia: How is the new location treating you Hanz?
Hanz: Oh god, ist terrible. All of mine equipment vent poof vith ze headqvarter building. Aye, ze things ze have here are so out of date. Ze mineral scanner I have to use hadn’t had its softvare updated in 6 months for goodness sake!
Patricia: Speaking of the mineral scanner, Vicki gave you a box with a bunch of pebbles in it to scan. Do you have the results?
Hanz: Ya! I do. Bates called unt told me you vould be looking for zat information. Ok fine, come follow me. (sound of them walking through the lab) Ack, do you know vhat ze vurst part of zis ist? Vhith ze lab? It’s run by James Hendersen. He basically is going to be acting like mine boss until they reestablish ze headqvarter building.
Patricia: Ooooo. I’m sorry to hear that.
Zippy: Whose James Hendersen?
Patricia: James is another lab technician that works for the police department. Hanz and him don’t really get along.
Hanz: (angry) zat douche-bag couldn’t find his ass if you gave him a flashlight and map! (stops walking) (very happy suddenly) Here ve are! Ok fine, let’s look at ze results. (sound of him flipping through a piece of a paper). Hmmm, now zis is interesting. Zese pebbles do not appear to be naturally made. Zere is a small seam around ze outside of zem, suggesting zey were made by a machine, or possibly even hand made.
Patricia: Huh…
Hanz: (sound of more page flipping) Ze pebbles zemselves appear to be made out of ze following materials: a mixture of stone and dirt, a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen…
Zippy: Like water?
Hanz: Ya, but a very concentrated form of it to make it solid without turning it into ice… It’s so strange, I’ve never seen something like zis before. I don’t know how you vould be able to do it…
Patricia: What about the other pebbles?
Hanz: Huh … vell zis is even more interesting. The other pebbles are made of solidified materials vhich you vould find in Fire, dirt, Electricity, a mix of oxygen and nitrogen, unt another mixture of oxygen and hydrogen but with some dirt mixed in.
Zippy: They’re various forms and versions of natural elements I think.
Hanz: Ah ya! Zat makes sense! Ze red pebble ist Fire, Earth vhich vould be the stone and ze dirt pebbles, Zis pebble would be electricity, zese tvo pebbles vould be vater and er… dirty vater I suppose, unt zis one vould be air.
Patricia: How is that possible? How can you turn things like Fire and Air into a solid?
Hanz: Vell, I don’t know. Like I said, I’ve never seen anything like zis before. I mean, all of zese zings are made out of matter… So you would need to find a vay to stablize ze matter as it is in ze active form and then solidify it. But… zat’s just… I… I don’t even know how you vould be able to do something like zat…. Yet, here it is.
Patricia: Man, the more we investigate this thing, the more confusing it gets.
Hanz: Ya. vell here, (sound of Hanz handing Patricia the Etuis box) take ze box unt pebbles back. I’ve discovered what zey are. Now it’s up to you to discover vhy zey are.
Patricia: Fair enough.
Zippy: Can we see ADAM?
Hanz: Yes, zis vay. (sound of them walking). I am quite happy that you convinced Bates to let you look at ze node. I am no good vith ze robots. Give me minerals, give me blood, give me finger prints, yes. Ze valking and talking robots not so much. I vish to god they would hire a roboticist. (sound of them stopping walking). Ok fine, here ve are. I have been trying to get him to speak but he vill not talk now. I’ve also tried to get him open, but no luck zere either.
Zippy: ADAM? Hello, ADAM? (no response) ADAM, this is Officer Zipporah Erhnstein. I have recently been promoted by Sherriff Howard Bates to be you’re superior officer and I order you to respond to me. (no response). …Huh…
Patricia: Now what?
Zippy: ADAM, overwrite TH1345 protocol and replace with the FG789 protocol. Make a verbal statement confirming when the process is done. (no response) Hmmm… That should’ve worked. Let me check him out (sound of her putting her hands an ADAM. Sound of ADAM falling over with a loud clunk. Sound of smoke coming out of his head).
Hanz: Vhat happened?
Zippy: Guys… I think he’s dead.
Patricia: Dead?
Zippy: Well… I mean, not like dead as if he were ever really alive. I mean I think his main processer has been fried.
Patricia: Could someone have gotten in here and scrambled his egg?
Hanz: Nine, I vas here in ze lab vith him all day. They brought him in zis morning unt he vas moving around unt vas fine. I vas vorking on other projects earlier though, unt he vasn’t moving around or saying anything for a vhile now zhat I think about it.
Zippy: He could have quietly burnt out and remained still while you were working. Here let me see if I can get him open. (sound of Zippy starting to work on ADAM) The reason you probably weren’t able to get him open is because since he’s burnt out, he can’t respond to audio commands anymore. You’ll have to find the manual release, which should work now that he’s, er, dead. There it is (sound of ADAM’s hatch popping open). Ok, let’s see what we’ve got inside here.
Patricia: You get way too excited about digging around in robo-guts.
Zippy: I’m not the one who makes necklaces out of human bones.
Patricia: Meow
Hanz: I heard zat ze nodes at ze brozel had zeir memories erased. Do you zink ze person who did zat could have programmed him to self destruct?
Zippy: (as sounds of her digging through Adam happen) I doubt it…
Patricia: Why not?
Zippy: Well, ok, so you know how every node has a set of prime directives coded into all of them?
Hanz: Ya.
Zippy: Well, as you know, one of the central directives of that code that is common across all nodes is that memory data cannot be erased. The logic behind that directive is that since nodes are not self reflective, they are unfit to assess if data is important enough to store or delete. Now, the concept of robots not being self reflective is a pretty in depth and complicated concept, but let me give you a watered down example: imagine if a node that works on wall street is going through a standard maintenance operation, and in the process comes across a chunk of memory data that appears to be useless. Maybe the node had 5 minutes of looking at a random guy on a bench typing something into his phone in its memory. From the node’s perspective this is just random memory data that is taking up space and it would therefore delete it.
However, if you assess what that node saw from a different perspective you would know that that man on the bench typing into his phone was sending insider trading information, which ultimately led to a stock market crash. However, as the node doesn’t have this perspective and the inability to think ahead in a self reflective manner, it would just delete the information, therefore loosing important incriminating evidence.
Patricia: Right. So the government made it a law that nodes are not allowed to delete their memories.
Zippy: Right, and thus the directive. …Stay with me, this will all come back to your question in a minute… the issue with the directive, as well as any code, is that someone could just hack it if they really wanted to. So in order to prevent this they created something called an “allowance protocol” in the code. What it does is that it makes it so that in order for anyone to even get into the area of the code where the main directives lay, they have to have permission from the Node itself.
Hanz: Huh?
Zippy: You basically have to get a node to personally agree to let you hack into their central directives. But the thing with that is, and this is why this works so well as a security system, it’s impossible. You can’t ask a robot or a computer program for self permission, as they have no concept of self. It’s like asking a banana to peel itself.
Patricia: But what about passwords? Isn’t that a form of getting permission from a computer?
Zippy: No, that’s getting permission from a human. The human is the one that creates the password and sets that protocol that people cannot access until they pass the test that the human has set up. The computer just acts as the gate keeper. I’m talking about ‘Self Permission.’ The node has to personally allow access based on its own criteria that it creates itself. This means it can’t use anything that has been programmed into it. No pre set password, no random password generators, no database information. It can’t even use predictive, reactive or assessment coding to create it, as the base code was written by a human. The code it would have to use would have to come completely and originally from itself. Basically, it would have to spontaneously come up with its own original thought, without any assistance from something else. However, as we stated before, this is impossible as nodes are not self reflective. Even though they can be programmed to mimic emotions or reflective thoughts, like Tubby, in the end a node is just a very mechanical inanimate tool. Only beings that possess concepts of self reflection are able to create original thoughts. So therefore it’s impossible to delete a node’s memory.
Hanz: Ok fine, but vhat about self destruction?
Zippy: Well, it’s basically the same story. Tied directly into the directive that a node can’t delete its own memory is that a node can’t purposefully destroy itself. I mean, destroying yourself would delete you’re memory files as well right?
Patricia: But what about the node at the brothel? That one had its memory erased.
Zippy: Correct. So, what that means is that someone figured out how to get past the allowance protocol, which is impressive to say the least given that it’s impossible.
Hanz: Ok, so yes zhen. Zhis same person who deleted the other node’s memory could have programmed ADAM here to self destruct.
Zippy: Like I said, I’m doubtful of that.
Hanz: Vhy?
Zippy: Because this node didn’t have his memory deleted. When I interrogated him the other night he stated that someone tried to delete his memory but failed. If someone wanted him to self destruct they would have had to get past the allowance code which they failed to do in order to delete his memory. Since ADAM hasn’t left anyone’s sight since last night, I highly doubt the person who deleted the node’s memories in the brothel would’ve been able to sneak in and hot wire ADAM to self destruct either.
Patricia: So what was it?
Zippy: My suspicion is that some wiring or something got shaken loose or damaged and that it finally caused his higher processer to burn out. When I was talking to him earlier his voice was all shaky and stuttering and he was talking nonsense which makes me think there was some physical damage.
Patricia: Have I ever mentioned how hot you are when you talk nerdy?
Zippy: (sarcastic) Gee, thanks.
Hanz: oh hohoho, look at you two. You are so fun ze vay you play vith each other vhile you are vorking. Zis is such sexy fun time ya!
Zippy: What is that?
Hanz: Huh?
Zippy: Vas is das?… er.. I mean, what is that? Inside ADAM, I’ve something. There’s like something weird in here that a bunch of the central circuits are wired into… AAAH! (sound of Zippy jumping back and running around in disgust) Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew!
Patricia: What? Let me take a look … What the? It’s a… Toe?
Hanz: A toe?
Patricia: Yeah. Someone cut off their toe and connected a bunch of ADAM’s circuits to it.
Zippy: Oh my god that’s sooo gross!
Patricia: Well, is this what caused him to act crazy and burn out?
Zippy: Yeah, I’d say so! Ugh. The moisture from the… gah… thing there… probably made it’s way through the inner workings of the main circuits and ultimately led up to his main processer which made him go berserk and then burn out. I have no idea how they were able to do that and still have him work in the first place. Why would someone do that?!
Patricia: Well this is certainly a new one…
Hanz: Vell here, help me pull it out unt I’ll do some tests to see who this toe belongs to. (sound of Patricia and Hanz digging into ADAM).
Zippy: (going to be sick) Uuuhh,
Patricia: Zippy, just, go and give the other lab techs the drugs to test, we’ll handle this.
Zippy: (weakly) …ok (sound of her walking off).
Hanz: For such a smart girl she has a veak stomach!
Patricia: Actually… she’s doing pretty good.
(Sound fades out).
(Sound fades in at Barbara Diya’s house)
(Silence for a moment. Then the sound of a knock on the door).
Bates: (through the door) Hello? (more knocking) Is anyone home?
Otto: (through the door) You got the warrant, just open the door.
Bates: (sound of Bates trying the lock door knob) (through the door) It’s locked.
Otto: (through the door) I don’t suppose any of you have lock picking tools on you?
Police officer 1: (through the door) I do. Here you go.
Otto: (through the door) Ah… that surprises me. (sound of Otto starting to pick the lock).
Bates: (through the door) What? That we come prepared for a locked door?
Otto: (through the door) No that you use lock picks to do it with. It just seems so… beneath you. You seem like the kind of guy who would much prefer the morally unambiguous sound of a battering ram. (sound of lock clicking) Ah, there we go. (sound of door opening) (no longer behind door) And here we are.
Bates: Welp… Looks like you were right, kidnapped.
Otto: Yeah, and apparently by force based on how trashed this hallway looks.
Bates: Alright boys, spread out and see what you can find. (sound of police walking in and search place). (Sound of him walking up to Otto) What do you think?
Otto: Well I think it was sudden that’s for sure. Based on the pattern of the damage to the hallway it looks like they snatched her up quick and she didn’t have that much time to thrash around a great deal in order to cause too much damage.
Bates: What about the locked door? If they kidnapped her in a hurry how did they get her to lock the door?
Otto: Hmm. Well, they could have closed the door behind them quickly on the way out and it would have auto-locked behind them based on the make of the doorknob. But if it auto locks they would have had to find a way to unlock it or bash the door open or something, but there doesn’t look like there’s any forced entry at the door. And they probably didn’t just get Barbara to open the door, as it looks like they dragged her out from this direction (sound of them walking into another room and stopping). Yep, they dragged her out from the kitchen.
Police officer 1: Sir, looks like the assailants smashed through a window in the kitchen and crawled in.
Bates: Yeah, two of the windows are broken in and there is glass everywhere. I guess since they broke two windows there were probably two of them.
Otto: And pew… rotten food on the counter. She must have been in the middle of cooking when this happened. Based on the relatively light amount of damage here in the kitchen, and leading out into the hallway and out the door though, I would say who ever grabbed her was incredibly strong and fast.
Bates: So probably the guy who grabbed Vicki then.
Otto: My thought me too…
Bates: But why wouldn’t they carry her back out the window? Why did they bring her out the front door?
Otto: Because… they didn’t want to hurt her. That would make the most sense. If they dragged her out the window she would have gotten cut by the glass. When I met and talked with Barbara Diya she seemed to be in perfect physical health too. I don’t know… they ran off with Vicki instead of killing him on the spot, and they’ve apparently had Barbara Diya in their custody for over 6 months and haven’t killed her… Murder just doesn’t seem like these guys MO…
Bates: Are you starting to think they didn’t kill Homer Diya?
Otto: It’s hard to say. There is so much of this that doesn’t make any sense at all. Why would you kill a man and then kidnap his sister for 6 months without killing her? Why would she come to me looking for help without giving me the details? …I guess she could have known that someone was listening in at the time… But if she knew that they were bugging her, and they knew that she knew that they knew, why would she come to me? And what does this all have to do with BIT? And men with physical enhancements?
Bates: You’re thinking too much Otto.
Otto: Yeah? I think you’re right. The more I try to think all of this through the less it makes sense. It’s like the more we dig the deeper this hole gets. (sighs) Well, I guess we’ve just got to keep digging and hope that we come out the other side eventually…
Police Officer 2: (sound of him walking up and stopping) Sherriff Bates, the boys have pretty much searched every room so far. We haven’t really found anything. The only sign of a conflict is here in the kitchen and leading out the front door. Everything else is in perfect condition. They found her computer though.
Bates: Ok, maybe that nerd girl can do something with it. In the meantime, keep looking around. Check every crevice. I don’t want us to miss anything.
Police Officer 2: Yes sir. (sound of him walking off).
Bates: (Silence for a moment while sound of Otto slowly walking around) What’s up with you all of the sudden?
Otto: (sound of him stopping walking) This place is a hell hole isn’t it?
Bates: Eh, it’s just a couple of broken windows.
Otto: No, I mean this city. This place has really turned into a hell hole.
Bates: No-one knows that more than me.
Otto: You know, the other day I was investigating a case… it ended up being a murder case. I found the guy bi-sected in the basement of a house in JP. Bi-sected Howard! Someone cut the god damn guy in half! My parents used to take me around that area when I was a kid and now I’m finding people cut in half there.
Bates: Yeah… Hey about that case, they said he was missing a piece of one of his hands after you reported it in.
Otto: I took it.
Bates: You took it?
Otto: Well, I didn’t cut it off or anything, it had already been cut off and a piece of the bone was laying on the floor. Patricia makes necklaces out of that stuff so I took it for her.
Bates: …When you decided to tell me this just right now… what did you think my reaction was going to be?
Otto: Oh give me a break Howard, it’s a useless piece of evidence… besides, me and my team are no good to you right now if you put us in jail for stealing a dead man’s hand bone.
Bates: …Have I told you how much I hate you lately?
Otto: Yep, you have… I’m heading back to the station, I think we need to do another pow wow with the team to figure out our next move. (sound of him walking away).
(sound fades out)
(Sound fades in. Inside the board room at the police station).
Bates: …And that’s all the information we have collective gotten so far minus the information Dr. Renart will be giving us in a moment.
Maggie: My head hurts.
Zippy: It’s not that hard to understand Maggie, here, I’ll help: (talking fast trying to help) Vicki’s been kidnapped by an enhanced person after first being injected him with a mystery liquid that was being made at the house of the pathologist who did the autopsy on Homer Diya and then tried to cover it up by deleting the records and by putting up a deception protocol on ADAM the autopsy node who also had a toe installed into his mainframe for some currently unknown reason. At the same time it looks like Barbara Diya had also been kidnapped 6 months ago by 2 people, one of which was probably the same person who kidnapped Vicki and when she visited Otto she may have been trying to give him clues to save her because she may have been being listened in on at the time. On a different note, we now know that Homer Diya was on drugs during the time he was killed, and that he was the one who ordered the lock from me for the etuis box which leads us to believe that he may have created the Hyper-neuro bomb as well. Oh! Speaking of the hyper-neuro bomb, they found a secret compartment at Homer’s office in BIT which contained a bag of currently unidentified drugs and a bunch of diagrams for machines that appear to cut people up as part of something known as the “exchange” which is something that ADAM the autopsy node was talking about before he burnt out, but we don’t know where the exchange takes place because the location was written in code. Oh! And speaking of ADAM burning out, while we were at the lab when ADAM burnt out we also found out that the pebbles within the Etuis box were each hand or machine made out of different natural environments, which is really weird because the science to do something like that is mind-boggling and why the heck would someone want to do that in the first place? Oh! And speaking of science, while Otto was at BIT he got locked in a burning box by one of the teachers there who seemed to have gone crazy or was high or something. But after Otto escaped the box he was in a room filled with the machines diagrammed out to cut people up. Oh! And Hugo Bernard was acting crazy at his house, but then Maggie shot him and now he’s dead. Oh! And Patricia found a bunch of video tapes from the night that Homer Diya was killed in the brothel …
Maggie: I think I’m going to throw up…
Zippy: …Oh yeah, Vicki also found out that the battery at the crime scene was a standard battery that could have been used in a laser saw…
Bates: I think we should probably just let Hanz go up and present now.
(Sound Bates walking off the podium and sitting down, Hanz walks up and stops at the podium)
Hanz: Zhank you very much Sheriff Bates. Ladies unt gentlemen, as our pazologist has gone coo-coo crazy nuts unt is now shot zrough ze noggin unt dead, I am now acting as pazologist as well. To begin viz I vill talk about ze nutty node ADAM. It has been assessed viz ze help of Zippy ze very cute smart girl, zat ADAM had gone strange due to a human toe being used to replace his central ram processor unit. Vhy zis vas done unt how ist unknown at zis time. However, vhat is of interest to know is zhat after doing ze autopsy on Hugo Bernard, I found that it vas his very toe zat had been installed into ADAM ze robot.
Otto: What? He cut his own toe off?
Hanz: Yes, it vould appear so. Again, ze question of vhy remains hovever.
Patricia: Wait… exchange… you don’t think…
Otto: What?
Patricia: This sort of makes… uh… sense? I mean think about it. Exchange… strange machines at BIT that seemingly have been diagramed out to cut people up, and now we find a toe installed inside one of the robots.
Zippy: So… they’re exchanging body parts then?
Bates: I’m not following.
Patricia: The exchange. What if when they are talking about exchange they are talking about switching their body parts with nodes.
Otto: Hmm… if someone was able to exchange their body parts with a robot they could become enhanced like the guy who kidnapped Vicki right?
Zippy: I don’t see why not… assuming you could actually do it. At least it would make sense why they would be building these machines to cut people up.
Otto: But what would the value be of putting you’re body part into a robot? How does that do anything?
Patricia: Hmmm… Hanz, did you find any sort of robotic parts inside Hugo Bernard’s body?
Hanz: Zis is an interesting idea, however, nine, I did not find anyzing robotic inside of Hugo Bernard.
Zippy: Oh… well, so much for that.
Hanz: Vell, not necessarily. Remember Zippy, in science ze absence of evidence is not necessarily ze confirmation of failure. One zing zhat I did notice on Hugo Bernard is zat he had a scar on his forehead. However, due to ze kabloomy exploding nature of his head I vas not able to find anyzing of real interest behind ze scar ozer zhen messy pulp. Perhaps zhere vas something zhere, but it vas destroyed by zhe bullet.
Patricia: Those pictures of Homer Diya! Remember? I saw what looked like wires coming out of his chest cavity…
Otto: Howard… Since Barbara Diya has apparently been kidnapped, do you think you could speed up the process on the paper work to exhume Homer Diya’s body? Could you get it tonight?
Bates: You’re going to dig him up? This isn’t to make more jewelry is it?
Patricia: (out the side of her mouth) You told him about my necklaces?
Otto: Howard…
Bates: (sighs) I’ll see what I can do… But I’m not doing this because you asked me to, I’m doing it because as Sheriff I want to.
Otto: Right…
Maggie: Hey, I have a question, why did Hugo’s head explode like that? I’ve seen guys get shot in the head before and it isn’t normally that, er, gory…
Hanz: Excellent qvestion Maggie. After doing blood samples on Hugo Bernard I found zhat zhere vas a very high dose of a strange drug zat I have never seen before. Zhe basic effects of ze drug seem to cause an effect on ze brain, possibly explaining ze strange behavior, as vell as ze skull itself, namely it softens ze bones of ze skull, vich is vhat caused his head to go cabloy sqvuirt vhen you shot him. Vhy he vas on zhese drugs is currently unknown. However, more of zhis drug was found at Hugo Bernard’s house.
Otto: Was this the same drug found in Homer Diya’s office at BIT?
Hanz: Nine, zat vas a completely different drug all together. Again, somezing I have not seen before. It appears to be a highly poverful narcotic zhat disguises itself as caffeine vhen checked for in ze bloodstream.
Otto and Patricia talking together at each other: They found traces of caffeine in Homer Diya’s blood.
Bates: Well, I guess we know what he was high on.
Otto: But again, why? Why be on a different drug from the other people who were a part of this whole thing? Hanz, do you know what the substance was that Vicki was injected with?
Hanz: Unfortunately Nine. Vhatever he vas injected vith, seemed to have been ze last of it. All of zhe parts and pharmaceuticals zhat were at Hugo Bernard’s house vhere either all used up, or vhere just left over refuse from zhe process zhey used to make vhatever it vas zhey made. (Patricia nervously sighs) Ve vere able to recover some of the eqvations and diagrams for making the substance from Hugo’s house, however there vasn’t enough information zhere to put back together vhatever he vas making. And ze information zhat is zhere is very confusing to begin vith.
Otto: …Well, I guess we’ll have to table it for now… What were you guys able to see on the video tapes from the brothel?
Patricia: More mysteries to be honest. It’s just a video of the main hallway, there wasn’t any video from inside the actual rooms. There wasn’t anything really of interest, just the nodes moving around the hallway. No images of Homer Diya or the killer. I guess they got into the brothel some other way instead of the front door. Maybe the window or something…
Otto: Hmmm.
Maggie: So what’s the next move then?
Patricia: We dig up Homer Diya’s body and see if has node tech inside of him to start.
Otto: Yeah… and we need to find Matt Peters from BIT too… He ran off after he tried to kill me. I have a feeling if we can find and follow him he’ll lead us to this exchange.
Patricia: How are we supposed to find him.
Bates: …He like girls…
Patricia: What?
Otto: (getting where Bates is leading) …Yeah, he does doesn’t he? He really likes girls… girls that know robots…
Bates: …And he always goes to the Aurora club…
Maggie: What are you guys talking about?
Bates: When we spoke with Matt Peters he was obsessed with finding a date. I don’t know if it was the drugs or not, but it’s all he talked about.
Otto: He said he liked to go to the Aurora club to try to pick up brainy girls who know a lot about robots.
Bates: So if we can send in an undercover agent to hit on him we could easily get a lead to where the exchange is happening…
Maggie: Well don’t look at me, I’m not exactly Ms. Charming when it comes to picking up guys in bars.
Patricia: Yeah, and neither you nor me know very much about robots when …compared… to… Zippy.
Zippy: Huh? What?
Patricia: Looks like you’re going to be making friendly with a scholar Zippy.
Zippy: No! I can’t…
Patricia: Why not?
Zippy: (out of the side of her mouth) Patricia… You know I’m not into boys…
Patricia: Don’t worry I’ll teach you the timeless art of nerd seduction.
Otto: Zippy, we need this information in order to help Vicki…
Zippy: To help Vicki? … Ok…. Yeah… I’ll do it… I’ll do it to help Vicki. He helped me, now I need to help him.
Bates: Ok then (sound of him slapping hands) let’s go dig up a corpse!
(Sound fades out).
END CREDITS/COMMERCIAL/OUTRO