* * * * * *
Maggie knows that it will take her boss at least an hour to go home and shower before he is back at the office. Not believing Mr. Origami when it comes to Mr. Burges, she decides to do a little investigating of her own. The police might not drop the ball with the Burges case, but the slim chance that his murder might go unsolved still bothers her. Maggie finds herself preoccupied with the need to find some kind of closure for the man’s life, especially since the death of Mr. Burges was even more senseless than the death of Mr. Payne. She shouldn’t have snuck a peak at the autopsy photos when she hacked Civil again after Mr. Origami left the office. It was brutal. And for what? Maggie doesn’t have the answers and she wants them.
And so, she finds herself sitting in a waiting room in the one place she might be able to find them: The Central South Hardship Shelter, one of many hardship shelters in New Manhattan.
There was a collapse in business with one of the dock companies when Maggie was a child. As a result, many families lost their jobs, their main source of income, and their homes. Maggie’s family was fortunate that her father worked for a different company, and so they remained unaffected by the layoffs. However, many of the families of Maggie’s friends were. They all ended up in hardship shelters, some of them for more than a year. She visited many of her friends while they lived in the Brighton D Hardship Shelter. It was like going to a hotel, with nice rooms and suites, like her friends were on vacation. Eventually, all of her friend’s parents found new jobs. Some of her friends ended up having to move far, far away. Maggie saw as a child how these shelters kept those families afloat, and how for some it was still such a blow, not having a place of their own.
Now, she wants to know what it was like for Mr. Burges, and if he had a family. Maybe it will lead her to why he was out in that alley last night. If she is lucky, Maggie might obtain something important that could lead to who Mr. Burges’ killer is. And if not, she hopes to at least find something concrete enough that it will convince her boss to talk to Civil about the case.
“Miss Fender,” a portly woman sitting behind a desk calls to Maggie from across an empty waiting room. “The assistant director will see you now.”
Maggie gets up and walks past the woman’s desk, thanking the woman along the way. The double glass-doors of the assistant director’s office open automatically, the malleable glass quickly wraps around spinning poles with a ‘vvooo’. The new glass is a trademark of many World Government operated buildings, especially for mid-to-high level administrative positions. Maggie enters the office and the doors close behind her with a ‘vrooo’. “That’s cool,” Maggie cheerfully states, pointing back at the doors.
“I too think that they are impressive,” replies a robot, sitting at the assistant director’s desk. The robot stands and extends its hand, offering Maggie a seat. “Ms. Fender, I am pleased to meet you.”
“The pleasure’s mine,” Maggie replies. “Thanks so much for seeing me… ah. I’m so sorry. I didn’t quite get your name from Mrs. Stead, outside. I sometimes have a hard time with the surnames of robots. And when it’s binary…”
“It is perfectly alright. Our surnames are quite meaningful to us, albeit not always easy to read or speak. Especially if it is binary. But you may call me by my chosen name, Beta. It is a bit easier to pronounce, I think.”
“Probably why it’s so popular,” Maggie say with a chuckle. “And you can call me Maggie if you like, Mr. Beta.”
“It is unnecessary to call me ‘Mr.’, Maggie. I’ve been told by my assistant that you wish to inquire about Mr. Burges. I have heard the reports over the net. It is quite tragic.”
“Yes. It is very tragic. Mr...—ah sorry, Beta, I’m trying to convince my boss to take the case and look into it. But he seems to be preoccupied at the moment and I’m not sure what he’s working on. Anyway, I’m worried that the police and media are too preoccupied themselves with the death of Mr. Payne.”
“I am sure that the police will find the time to investigate both incidents, Maggie,” Beta offers. “However, it is very admirable of you to be so caring of someone that you have never met.”
“It was just so wrong, though. For Mr. Burges to be killed the way he was. You know? Why did he have to be killed like that?”
“Questions,” Beta replied, “can only bring you a headache, Maggie. It was a senseless crime. So no sense can be found in any answer as to why it had to happen. We can only hope that whoever committed this crime is made to answer for it. And I’m positive that Civil is up to the task of finding such an individual. Although, help can always be good. Who is it that you work for?”
Maggie sighs. “My boss is a former detective, who simply has nothing better to do than to do the same job he did when he was on the force. Without the help of Civil or its budget and his paycheck and really no clients at all to speak of.”
“Oh.”
“His name is Origami. You may or may not be familiar with his rather meteoric rise to infamy when he flamed out,” Maggie says with a smile. She really needed a good dig into her boss, even though he was not there, for refusing to take the Burges case to Civil.
Beta sits still for a minute, thinking. “Indeed I am familiar with your boss, Maggie. I still maintain record of the story in my processor. It is good to know that it did not keep him down. Your boss seemed like quite the sad character back then.”
Under her breath, Maggie says to herself, "If you ask me, he still is."
Beta continues, “Mr. Burges, in a way, was also a sad character. The ‘what if’s’ are too numerous for any rationalization to be gained from their contemplation. No doubt you may be more partial to Mr. Burges than Mr. Payne because you see Mr. Payne more so in the media and can readily see the impact his loss has on those around him, his friends, his company, his wife, whereas Mr. Burges has a negligible impact with his loss. And you may also wonder why he was even out there in the rain, when our doors were open to him.”
“Yes,” Maggie affirmatively states. “Didn’t he have a family? Is there anyone to miss him?”
“There are two-thousand homeless in New Manhattan; with a margin of error of fifteen. It is a relatively low number considering the city’s population. Our capacity at this facility is relatively low as well, when compared to other regions of the world. Right now it is only at five-percent. It is a blessing, as it allows our staff to help elsewhere in the world. The recent earthquake in Southern Cyberia left many in Mongolia devastated. Anyway, for those relative few who choose not to seek help there are many factors. And help cannot be forced on anyone. Usually what I find is that some people simply give up. As sad as it may sound, it is true. Others do not care.”
“What was it for Mr. Burges?”
“He faced the worst tragedy one can imagine. Mr. Burges was a part of one of the elite divisions of the World Army. As I understand it, from hearing him talk when he did come to us for help, Mr. Burges helped stop the cell that sprouted up in the horn of Africa and helped to reestablish local governmental control. After about a year away from home he finally returned to his family. Shortly have he arrived back in New Manhattan, there was a terrible accident. A freighter testing the city’s new hover road system suffered a catastrophic failure. It fell, plummeting to the earth, from two-hundred stories up. He was home when it happened. His wife and two small children were stuck in traffic due to the issues with signals that New Manhattan was having at the time. They were of the many that did not survive. After that, he was a broken man. It did not matter to him whether he was here or out in the rain. Mr. Burges had no life to go back to because he saw nothing to live for.”
Maggie tears up at hearing Mr. Burges’ story. A few tears escape down her cheeks before she is able to wipe them away. It is a sight that does not escape her host, as Beta offers her a tissue.
Beta apologizes, “I am sorry, Maggie. I did not mean to make you upset.
Mr. Burges may have no longer had a family but you can rest assured that he will at least be missed by no less than the two people currently sitting in this room. So you can take comfort in that.”
A buzz comes from a console on the assistant director’s desk. “Yes?” Beta asks toward the console.
A hologram of his assistant’s head and upper torso lights up. “Sir, two detectives from Civil are here to see you.”
“Ok, we are just about done here. Thank you, Yonna.” The hologram of Mrs. Stead blinks off. “See, Maggie? I bet that those two detectives are here for the same reason you are. They may not feel as personally about Mr. Burges as you do, but it will be enough if they just do their jobs and look for his killer. Although, if you really think that your boss could help…”
The two stand up as Maggie replies smiling, “I’ll make him.” They talk a little more as Beta walks Maggie to the door. ‘Vvooo.’ As the doors open, Maggie shakes Beta’s hand and thanks him once more for his time. She passes the two detectives as she heads toward the exit. One of them is tall, a little taller than her boss. The other is short, only a couple of inches taller than Maggie. The taller detective is black and has short hair. His muscles are large and show slightly through his leather jacket.