Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Chasers: 2075 ❯ Chasers Zero (2 of 2) ( Chapter 2 )

Author's Note: A big vote of thanks to Strife Aileron for editing this as well as providing many suggestions for improving this story. If I ever do decide to try writing a novel again, I'll be calling on you first

Chasers 2075: Zero-Two

The lights gradually came up in the little apartment, illuminating an average bedroom. A figure lay in the middle of rumpled covers, a pile of clothes carefully folded on a nearby chair. Hanging in the open closet were rows of women's formal wear with only a few items of more casual clothes there beside them.

An alarm went off and the woman rolled over to bury her face in the pillow to drown it out. "It's time to get up," a smooth voice said, barely carrying over the loud buzz of the alarm. A soft mumble was heard from beneath the covers, and the alarm got louder. "It's time to get up, ma'am," the voice repeated firmly.

"Aarg," Jen sat up in her loose fitting pajamas, her blonde hair sticking up in all directions. She reached up to rub her blue eyes as she softly asked, "What time is it?"

"0600 hours," the computer reported crisply, "coffee is on as instructed and breakfast will be ready in ten minutes."

"Make it fifteen," Jen mumbled as she stumbled towards the bathroom, "I'm going to shower first."

"Yes ma'am," the computer answered softly.

The bathroom doors slid aside as Jen stepped inside the cleanser, the carefully modulated sonics scouring away dirt and grime, then a rinse of warm water to take the dirt away. Feeling just a bit self-indulgent she ran the rinse cycle twice, enjoying the sensation.

Dressed in her robe, Jen left the bathroom and walked into the kitchen, sitting down at the table and breathing in the wonderful scent. "Messages?" she asked curiously.

"Four phone solicitations," the computer reported.

"Dump them," Jen said as she forked some of her eggs into her mouth, chewing on them thoughtfully. For synthetics, they weren't too bad today.

"Two messages from Karen," the computer continued.

Jen winced visibly at the name. She stabbed a sausage with a bit of extra force as she said, "Delete them, too." She gulped some coffee down after the sausages to try and wash the taste away. It looked like the computer hadn't quite got the hang of them yet.

"And a message from your mother."

"Oh, god," Jen whimpered, thumping her head down onto the table.

"Delete, Play or Save?" the computer asked.

"Play it," Jen sighed, "but audio only, please." Softly she added, "The audio will be more than enough, I bet."

There was a moment of silence, then her mother's distinctive voice came on. "Why are you never home when I call you, Jennifer? I've arranged for another marriage meeting, and in my opinion he's most suitable."

Jen groaned, "Suitable? Give me a break...."

The message continued, "Please don't blow this one off like you've done the others. You're getting older, and as you age it'll be harder to find a good match. Of course, I wonder why I try with such an ungrateful daughter, but...." A meaningful pause, and she gave the place and time of the meeting. "Don't be late, it makes such a bad impression."

The sound of Jen grinding her teeth could be heard as the message came to an end. At the computer's cheerful request to save or delete Jen barked, "Delete!"

There was a long moment of silence in the little room, then Jen looked up. "What's the time?" she asked softly.

"0630 hours," the computer reported.

Abandoning the last of her breakfast, she wasn't feeling very hungry anyway, Jen got up from her seat and strode to the bedroom. She stripped off her robe, then pulled on her bra and panties. She slid a neutralizer patch on her underarm, then slid her crisp dress shirt on. Her pants were almost stiff as she slid them on so she paced her bedroom until the fabric moved a bit easier. Socks and shoes, then she walked to the bathroom.

The blonde smiled just slightly, looking at her reflection. Jen shook her head, combing that golden mane back and fixing it in place. A little makeup, her teeth cleaned then breath freshened, and Jen was ready. She stopped by the door, sliding her identification away into a pants pocket and pulling a coat on before she headed off to work.

"Hey, Jen," her neighbor stuck his head out of his doorway. The older man gave her a weak smile, "Did you get that...?" he searched his memory, "promotion you wanted?"

"Something like that, Mr. Alexander," Jen said with a smile.

"Well, good luck then," he headed in, a slight smile on his face. Jen chuckled to herself, knowing that the old gossip would be spreading the word by lunch.

"Good morning, Ms. Grayson," the android in the lift tube said simply.

"Good morning," Jen cheerfully agreed as she stood in the middle of the floating disk, "the garage level, please."

"Garage level," the android repeated, the voice command carrying the metal disk down on a powerful electromagnetic field. The android served a purpose other than lift operation, of course, it was also considered part of the security system.

"Thank you," Jen stepped off, hearing a faint 'your welcome' as she walked away. Her car was a bit old, but servicable, a 2069 model. "Mother would be appalled," she muttered to herself as she climbed in, locking the safety restraints around her.

The drive to work was the same as it always was, but Jen felt an odd sort of excitement. The final destination was going to be different, and that was all that mattered. She reached the police annex early, moving around to the proper garage. Keyed to her car's unique black box, the great door irised asside, and auto-navigation guided her car to it's new slot.

'I'm here,' Jen looked around the garage, taking in the police vehicles with the 'Special Unit One' insignia on them. Taking a steadying breath, she stepped into the lift and keyed in the correct level. A short ride up and she approached a marked door.

"Huh," Jen blinked. The metallic door to the section was marked with 'Police Special Operations Unit' in the typical black, regulation text, and just below it someone had painted on, with a much more delicate hand, the words 'the Chasers.'

Jen walked down the hallway, soon reaching an odd combination of a squad room and a kind of break room. No one was in there, so she tried a connecting door, looking around her curiously, then stopping cold. A woman's bottom was sticking out from under a set of computer terminals, her red lacey panties clearly visible due to her short skirt.

"Uhm, hello?" Jen asked.

The woman's body jerked up in surprise at that, loudly thumping into the desk. "Owee!" the woman's voice wailed, then there was the sound of muffled cursing. The figure wiggled out from under the terminals, holding her head and tears glistening in her eyes.

"Sorry," Jen managed, looking at the pretty redhead. The young woman was rubbing at her head, her green eyes narrowed slightly. She wore a tight t-shirt with the short skirt, her feet encased in slim leather boots.

"Jennifer Grayson, right?" the redhead smiled wryly, offering a hand before she realized it was dusty. A quick wipe on her skirt and she offered it again, "I'm Elizabeth Harris, but you can call me Beth. Gwen told me you'd be coming today."

"Jen, and it's nice to meet you, Beth," Jen shook the hand. She looked at her curiously, "You really call Section-Chief Musashi by her first name?"

"We run a pretty informal operation here," Beth said with a smile, looking Jen over casually. Jen felt herself blush, suddenly wishing she wasn't in her suit. "Well, I guess you'll get used to it," she added. "Come on."

Jen quickly followed befind her, passing rows of offices in the hallway. One already had her name on it, and Jen paused to take a look inside; it was mostly bare. A desk, chair, and a wilted plant were the only things she saw. "That was quick," Jen said as she caught up to Beth again.

"Gwen told me about you yesterday," Beth shrugged as she walked on, "so it wasn't all that hard to do." She gave Jen a smile, "But thanks."

They moved into a much larger open area, and Jen's eyes widened as she looked around. One whole section was set up like a firing range, but she didn't recognize any of the weapons that were lined up on a table waiting to be used nearby. The targets that were set up against the wall had little holes punched in them, ragged looking holes.

"Welcome to the firing range," Beth said with a smiled, picking up a blue-gray weapon that looked much too large for the smaller girl's hands.

"What is that?" Jen looked at the weapon, feeling a sick kind of fascination towards it. "I mean, I think it's a gun, but…."

"It's an old fashioned chemical propulsion firearm," Beth said calmly as she loaded the weapon, "one dating back to the late twentieth century. It's almost an antique, compared to our modern weapons, but we've found it's just the thing against androids."

"May I?" Jen asked hesitantly, extending her hand. She felt nervous, but if this sort of thing was necessary for being a Chaser then she'd learn to manage. Still, it was an awfully big gun!

Beth flipped it around to that the grip was pointing towards her, "Here you go." Jen handled the thing with respect as she continued, "The safety is still on."

"Thanks," Jen smiled weakly. She looked down the range at the paper targets and asked, "So how do I do this?"

Beth ran her through the basics, softly explaining how the gun functioned. "You want to try it?" she asked, nodding towards the targets.

"Yes," Jen said, moving forward to the firing range. She braced herself in the firing cubicle, trusting in the sound dampening systems. She released the safety, aimed the gun with both hands, and firmly pulled the trigger.

BOOM!

The gun jerked, and Jen cried out in pain as her shoulders were wrenched. She staggered backwards, dropping down onto her butt. She sat there for a few moments before she finally gasped out softly, "Holy fuck!"

"Are you all right?" Beth actually looked down at her in alarm, which wasn't really helping Jen regain her composure.

"I think so," Jen carefully put the safety back on and sat the gun down on the floor before she akwardly got back up to her feet. Bending down to pick it up she gave Beth a tentative smile and said, "It sure has a kick!"

"Well, let's see how you did," Beth said, using a mechanism to bring the paper target over to her. She held it up, blinking in surprise at the hole punched close to the center of the target's body, probably pulled up by the recoil. "Not bad," she managed, clearly surprised.

"Thanks," Jen smiled slightly, rubbing at her sore wrist. "I hate to ask, but do you have something with a bit less kick?"

"Come on," Beth took the gun back from her with a smile. "This is a Colt Magnum, one of the larger guns," she explained. A little sheepishly she continued, "I've been trying to find someone who could actually use it."

"Well, give me some practice," Jen shrugged encouragingly.

"Fair enough," Beth put the weapon on the table, then picked up a smaller weapon. "Here, try this," she passed it over.

Jen hefted the weapon, a relieved smile on her face. This one seemed to suit her much better, fitting her hands. "What kind is it?" she asked curiously.

"A Glock 20," Beth said, "it holds 15 rounds per clip, and the recoil is much more manageable." She picked up the target again, pointing to where the bullet had gone up, "You need to compensate for the recoil."

"Got it," Jen said firmly. She tried that on the firing range and after a few misses she began to hit where she wanted to. "That's better," Jen said with a certain amount of relief.

"You've been going with just bodyshots," Beth noted as she examined one of the targets, "but that's not how we operate."

"No?" Jen looked at her in surprise.

"An android's internals don't have very much to do with our human anatomy," Beth said to her simply, "so their not vulnerable the way we are. To take an android down, you nead to shoot in two areas." Beth pointed down to the base of Jen's spine, "Here," she said then pointed up, "or in the head, is where you have to shoot."

"Why there?" Jen asked curiously.

A man's voice firmly replied, "The primary motivational systems are at the base of the spine, you shoot there the android stops cold. Behavior and all the cognitive functions are located in the head, so if you shoot there it takes a few moments to drop."

Jen turned to look, taking in the man there. He leaned on a cane, his dark hair falling into his eyes. Something in his manner cried out 'police officer' despite the fact that he was in casual clothes, with a long white lab coat over them.

"Dr. Davis," Beth gave him a smile, "I haven't seen you around lately." She looked over at Jen, "This is Dr. Richard Davis, our forensic pathologist."

"Jennifer?" he asked her, obviously having heard about her already, and she nodded. The doctor smiled slightly, "It's my job to determine any of the physical causes for why an android has broken the law." He suddenly gave her a stern look, "If you could do me a favor, please avoid using a headshot to stop them?"

"Ah, why?" Jen asked, blinking.

Beth smiled wryly, "The normal cause of an android going bad is due to logic faults, or possibly caused by going free-will, all of which we think is based in the head."

"Not that we've actually had a free-will go bad on us," Dr. Davis noted with a impish smile, "but I'm looking forward to it, if only because of how much it'll upset Gwen."

Jen found herself chuckling softly at the almost gleeful look on the man's face.

"You're a very bad man, sir," Beth said, her own lips turning up. Curiously she asked, "Are you going to be around for awhile, and can I show her the morgue?"

"Got to go back to my other jobs," he sighed, pushing black hair up out of his eyes. "But yeah, you can show her the morgue," Dr. Davis said, turning carefully and walking away. A soft laugh, "Give her the grand tour."

"Good," Beth waved as he left. She looked back at Jen and asked, "So, are you comfortable using that pistol?"

"Yes, I think so," Jen agreed.

"Here, fill this out," Beth handed Jen a datapad with a series of forms encoded on it, modified versions of the usual weapons check out forms. Once Jen finished filling them out Beth passed her a shoulder holster, taking a moment to help her get it on. "Bullets you'll need to see me for," Beth said as she passed two cartridges over, "but here's two clips to start you off."

"Right," Jen blinked. A bit akwardly she popped the partially spent clip out of the pistol, sliding a fresh one in. She slid a bullet into the chamber, put the safety back on, then she put the pistol away carefully, if a little clumsily, back in the holster.

"You'll need to practice that," Beth noted as the two moved towards the door, "learn how to draw the pistol out smoothly. Out in the field, you may need to get your weapon out fast."

"Hmm," Jen nodded, pulling her jacket on over the holster all the while mentally running through what the man had just told her. Curiously she looked down at Beth and asked, "The pathologist, he wasn't always a doctor, right?"

"You got it in one," the look Beth gave Jen was just a bit more respectful. "He was a police officer until his leg was crushed in an accident, and he refused a cybernetic replacement," she quietly explained, "Dr. Davis went into forensic medicine with a side in cybernetic systems, so when Gwen needs a android taken apart she calls him in."

"That makes sense," Jen agreed. There was a chill in the air, and she was surprised to see her breath appear in a mist in the air. "So do we really have a morgue here?" she asked curiously.

"Technically no," Beth said as she pushed open the main door, revealing a room modified with a large surgical station in the middle of the floor. Silver fronted drawers lined one side of the smaller room, and various pieces of equipment were set up around the table. "We don't officially have a morgue, since androids aren't considered human. This is a 'surgical forensics examination room' on the floor plan," Beth said dryly.

"But it amounts to a morgue," Jen quietly agreed, shivering slightly at the reduced temperatures in the small room.

Beth led her over to one of the metalic drawers, pulling it open with a single strong pull. The android lay there, it's expression calmly blank. Designed after a female it could almost be considered beautiful, the waves of orange gold hair falling around it's nudity. The only things that marred that beauty were the blast hole in the middle of the belly, and the fact the back of the head had been opened up, making the internal circuitry and fiberoptic filaments visible.

"Kate took this one down just a few days ago," Beth explained. She gestured to the ragged hole that had been punched through her middle, "The shot went in through there and right into the motivational center."

"And.." Jen gestured to where the head had been opened up.

"When androids go bad, it seems to be due to what the scientists like to call a logic failure. In essence, the brain can't seem to deal with a human owner's fundamentally illogical behavior," Beth said. "That seems to happen due to the cognitive functions housed in the brain, so the Doc examines them there to confirm it," she explained.

"Hmm," Jen looked down at the inert android, her expression unreadable. She looked up at Beth, "You said someone named Kate stopped it?"

"Kate Williams," Beth agreed as she slid the drawer shut, "she was one of Gwen's first recruits in the Chasers, and she's the most senior officer." They left the morgue together as she added, "You'll be working with her the most, out in the field."

Jen frowned slightly as she considered that piece of information. "So what's Kate like?" she asked Beth tentatively.

"Capable," Beth said to Jen thoughtfully, "very capable. She's very good at doing her job, both out in the field and back here in the office." She offered Jen a smile, "You've heard the phrase 'Doesn't suffer fools gladly,' right?"

"Yeah?" Jen had a nervous smile on her face.

"Kate pretty much embodies that," Beth said with a shrug.

"That's comforting," Jen murmured.

Beth gave her a grin, "She's the best person to have with you out in the field." She paused before adding gently, "You can learn a lot from her, if you want."

"Thanks," Jen murmured softly. They entered the computer center, then went into the large squadroom plus break area there. Jen stiffened as she was the asian woman, "Ma'am!"

"Good morning," Gwen smiled slightly, looking towards them as she carried a coffee cup in hand. A small sip, "What do you think so far?"

"I'm impressed," Jen managed.

"But probably a bit overwhelmed," Gwen noted perceptively. She raised an eyebrow, "Did Beth try you out on that damn cannon of hers?"

Jen noticed Beth's appealing glance, weighing what to say. "No, ma'am," Jen said, watching Beth visibly sigh in relief.

"Right," Gwen clearly sounded skeptical, but she still let it pass. "You might want to get your office set up," she suggested, "take some time to absorb what you've learned." With that she walked by them back towards the offices.

"Thanks," Beth sighed once Gwen was gone, "I owe you one." She walked over to the coffee machine and asked, "How do you take yours?"

"One cream and sugar, please," Jen blinked, watching as Beth hit the switches and a lovely smelling cup of coffee came forth. She took the cup from the smaller girl, "Thanks."

"You're not going to ask me?" Beth said after a few moments of near silence, sipping at her own steaming cup.

"You probable weren't supposed to try me out on that gun," Jen shrugged casually, "but it doesn't really matter." She suddenly smiled at Beth, "Besides, now you owe me one."

"Fair enough," Beth nodded. "Like the Boss said, why don't you go set up your office? After that I'll run you through the computer systems, give you an idea of our capabilities."

"I'll look forward to it," Jen raised her cup in a little toast when they seperated as the computer room. She walked down the hall, pausing at the door marked with her name.

The office itself wasn't very large, the small desk sitting to one side with her box of personal stuff sent over from her last placement. Jen pushed the door shut behind her with a soft click, feeling a bit odd at having such a private space all for herself. She walked over to the desk and took her coat off, handing it on the chair before unpacking her stuff. Her awards and commendations went up on the wall, along with a few photos. Her personal files she uploaded onto the desk's computer in a few moments, setting up the interface just the way she liked it.

The chair itself was soft, clearly new, and Jen sat down with a sigh. It was comfortable, a far cry from the old chair she had inherited with her last desk. "Oh that's nice," Jen said with a grin as she leaned back, letting herself relax a bit.

Jen touched the top of the desk, accessing the core mainframes. "Please list all cases assigned to Jennifer Grayson, please." she requested.

"None currently assigned," the computer surprised Jen by responding almost instantly in a smooth female voice.

As it spoke a display came up on the desktop, showing all the case assignments. There were three investigations active, all asigned to the same woman, Kate Williams. From reading the display it looked like Gwen supervised the Special Investigations Unit, Beth handled the computers and data management, leaving Kate with field operations.

"This thing is powerful," Jen stroked the top of the desk with a smile before focusing on the data displayed there. 'This Kate must be very busy,' she blinked in surprise. Looking at the display, Jen realized there wasn't any other officers assigned to field duty. 'It's just Kate and me,' Jen thought.

Feeling a sudden bit of nervousness Jen reached over to touch the hilt of her gun, then pulled her hand away. "Computer," Jen asked, "what is the average turnover time for an open case file?"

"Fourty-seven hours," the computer reported crisply.

Jen blinked, taking a moment to digest that piece of information. 'Kate has been closing her cases in less than two days?' she thought in surprise. 'I think I'm impressed.'

There was a tapping on the door, and Jen looked up to see Beth smiling at her. "How are you settling in?" she asked.

"Pretty well," Jen smiled back, "the desk computers are at least a generation ahead of what we had in the squadroom. Where did you get these?"

"Gwen has some pull with the brass," Beth said with a smile, "and I've done a bit of tinkering with the systems, too."

"Tinkering?" Jen looked at her curiously, but Beth just grinned impishly. She slipped out from behind her desk and Jen walked over to Beth, "You said you were going to run me through the computer systems, right?"

"Come on," Beth grinned, taking her up the hallway towards the computer room. "This is my baby," she confided as they went inside, "I helped build it myself.".

"Wow," Jen murmured as she walked around the electronics set-up, trying to take it all in.

All around an large office chair the sets of computer terminals busily worked, data streaming by, information on all registered android activity scrolling on their screens. Multiple sets of keyboards, a VR interface rig, and a few items that looked like gray or even black market hacker gear were all ready to go. While many of the connections looked jurry-rigged, the overall whole reminded Jen of a single unit, built for one purpose.

Beth was smiling proudly at Jen's slightly dumbfounded expression. "We added the processing power to help keep track of registered androids," she said, "and I've rigged it to be able to find unregistered androids, too."

"How did you manage that?" Jen blinked.

"The old civil defense sensor grid," Beth cheerfully explained, "I discovered that I could use it to find the androids, as long as I have enough initial information on them."

Jen looked curious, "How often do androids just get caught with this system?"

"Not as often as I like," Beth admitted. She smiled wryly, "It usually does seem to come down to an officer chasing a runner down."

"Hence the name," Jen agreed.

"Which is why I'm glad to see you here," Beth said with a sigh, "you get to chase them down, instead of me."

A soft sound of someone clearing her throat was heard, and Jen turned to meet the darkest brown eyes that she had ever seen. The sandy haired young woman stood there, thin and tough looking, dressed in simple T-shirt and jeans, a battered police jacket over that.

"So you're the new one," the woman's voice was neutral, almost cold.

"Kate Williams," Beth spoke up, "I'd like you to meet Jennifer Grayson."

"Officer Williams," Jen smiled, projecting her most friendly manner as she continued, "it's such an honor to meet you."

Kate looked her over for a moment, then she turned questioningly towards Beth. Finally she looked at Jen and simplty said, "Kid, you have a lot to learn." With that, she strode past them towards the hall, offices and firing range beyond.

Jen watched her walk away, her own expression nearly unreadable. 'What was that about?' she wondered, fealing a bit of fear in her gut.

"Don't mind her," Beth spoke up, "Kate's always like that with new people. Once you get to know her, she'll warm up to you."

"I hope so," Jen shook her head slightly.

"Come on," Beth led her towards the hall and Gwen's office, "Gwen told me that she wanted to see you."

"...what the hell were you thinking?" the heard Kate growl just ahead of them, and Beth gestured to Jen to stand still.

Gwen's cool voice answered her, "Jen is a very capable police officer, you might want to review her file before you pass judgement on her."

There was a beat of silence, and Jen felt deeply uncomfortable. "She looks like a lifesized Barbie doll," Kate finally growled.

"True," Gwen surprisingly agreed, "and because of that she's had to work twice as hard as any other officer, Kate." A beat of silence, "Give her a chance, please."

Kate chuckled softly, "All right, fair enough." There was no amusement left in her voice as she continued, "But if she can't hack it, I want her gone."

"If she can't do the job," Gwen answered calmly, "then I'd be criminally irresponsible in keeping her on the force."

"Fair enough," Kate agreed.

Jen closed her eyes a moment thinking, 'I wish I hadn't heard that.' Ignoring Beth's apologetic look she stepped forward, tapping on the office door.

"Come in," Gwen called out.

"Hi, Gwen," Beth waved with a false sort of casualness.

"Beth, Jen," Gwen nodded. She looked over at Jen and asked, "You've met Kate yet?"

"We've been introduced, yes," Jen kept her voice even.

Gwen raised her eyebrow, quickly noting how Jen didn't even look towards Kate. She leaned forward in her seat and said, "With Kate here, I wanted to tell the two of you that I intend to make you partners. Kate, you'll help Jen adapt to being a member of our unit, and Jen, I think you could learn a lot from her, too."

'She doesn't look any happier about this than I do,' Jen thought as she took in the pinched look on Kate's face. 'Still, she's the boss,' Jen looked back at Gwen. "Yes, ma'am."

"Looks like I get a tag along," Kate said with a sigh.

A soft chime noise brough all of their attention to Beth. She tapped her wristband, calling up a small holographic display on her watch face. "Police alert," and with that she bolted from the room, hurrying over to the computer room.

Gwen was out the office door a moment later, then Kate paused in the doorway to look back at Jen irritably. "Come on," she said to her curtly, "it looks like we've got work to do." With that she was out the door and up the hallway.

"Right!" Jen followed the group to the computer center.

Beth was sitting in her seat behind the array of computer terminals, reading several screens at one. "Android incident in Lowtown," Beth read, "no formal call yet."

"Crime?" Gwen asked quickly.

"Just coming in now," Beth hit several keys on a keyboard and checked another screen, "homicide, ma'am. No other details just yet, though."

"Lets get mobile," Kate grabbed Jen's arm and pulled her towards the enterance way.

"Hey, wait a minute," Jen stumbled after her through the squadroom, "we haven't even gotten our orders yet!"

They went out the door as Kate growled out, "Did you hear Gwen telling me to stop?" That shut Jen up as Kate continued, "We'll probably get the formal request from the regular police services in a few minutes, and it's better to be on the move then."

They exited the lift into the vehicle bay, and Jen looked around curiously, "So do we just check out a cruiser, ma'am?"

"Kate," she corrected her. She strode towards a certain parking slot and said, "I've got a favorite cruiser, we'll take it."

"Open," Jen called out the order and blinked in surprise when the cruiser didn't respond. Kate took an old-style key card and unlocked the doors with a swipe through the door sensors. "What's wrong with it?" Jen blinked.

"Nothing's wrong with it," Kate climbed in the driver's side, then reached over to manually pop open the passenger side, "it just doesn't have an onboard computer."

"It's been removed for repair?" Jen asked, looking over at the manual controls on the driver's side warily. She knew how to drive something like that, but that training was usually only intended to be used in an emergency system crash.

"Had it taken out," Kate answered as she started up the car, inserting the keycard into the steering column.

"Kate," Beth's face appeared on the driver's side viewscreen, but her voice was loud enough for Jen to hear, "we've gotten the request, we're a go."

"Got a location?" Kate asked as she slid the car out from it's spot, roughly turning before rolling up the access ramp.

"I've got the district," Beth said, "I should have something more precise when you get there." After reading off a set of coordinates the girl's face disapeared.

"Brace yourself," Kate tossed Jen a surprising smile as they slid out onto the street.

"Aaah!" Jen cried as the car leapt forward, speeding down a crowded street. The other cars swerved and dodged, the cruiser forcing forward. 'And to think, this is just my first day,' Jen thought to herself weakly.