Cultwick: The Sweeper Bot Plague (18 page)

Chapter 19. Alice the Detective

Alice arrived in Ash Cloud riding in the back of a bus transport that ran between there and Willow Switch. She and Edwin exited the vehicle, where a Cultwick Corps officer immediately greeted them.

“Operative,” he began. “We received word of your visit concerning the heretic, Erynn Clover.”

“Yes, do you have something for me?” she asked.

“There was an incident at Ash Cloud’s Bank of Cultwick yesterday,” he explained. “It was robbed.”

She looked at him quizzically and then said, “Yes, and what does that have to do with the heretic I’m hunting, corpsman?”

“We believe
she was the perpetrator, ma’am,” he explained.

“Show me,” she simply
stated.

The corpsman guided her and Edwin through the streets of the sizeable town. As they walked
, she noticed a fair amount of destruction to some of the buildings. There were bullet holes in some of the walls and many the windows had sections of broken glass.

“What happened here,
corpsman?” Edwin asked the man leading them.

“When the robbers
made their escape,” the man explained, “they mutated one of our men. He rampaged through the town, attacking the other corpsmen, until we were finally able to take him down.”

They walked past a few soldiers who were piling up a monstrously large creature into the back of a halftrack. It had vicious looking claws and long tentacles
protruding from all over its misshapen body.

“They turned a man into that
… thing,” the corpsman told them.

“Hmm, if it really was the heretic, then Dr. Rowland must have been responsible for that creation,” Alice said. “He does quite impressive work.”

“Is this doctor we’re tracking truly our enemy if he shows such prowess for the transcription sciences?” Edwin asked.

“He has skill,” she confirmed. “But he ignores the church’s teachings, and ignorance of scripture is ignorance of truth.”

They soon arrived at the bank where the corpsman showed them into a backroom. As they walked, they passed several dead bodies, two guards and two other bodies. In the backroom, there was a table of grainy-brown pictures lying on a table. The corpsman picked up one in particular and handed it to Alice.

“T
here is a camera in the vault that managed to take this during the robbery,” the corpsman said pointing to the picture she held.

“Erynn Clover”, she said, looking at the picture.
In the photograph, she was pointing her chromesmith gun at the camera, preparing to fire. “What are you doing robbing a bank? What are you doing in Ash Cloud for that matter?”

Alice turned her focus back onto the corpsman, “How did this happen?”

“Well, Operative,” he began, “By all accounts, it was a fairly unorthodox robbery. They had four men stage a robbery upstairs, but they didn’t actually take anything. There is a security feature whereby all the vault doors are locked when anyone presses the button under the counter.

“According to witnesses inside at the time, the men didn’t even attempt to open the door. They just waited and kept looking out a window
at the front of the bank. Simultaneously they had people get inside the safe deposit box room through an underground tunnel. From there they were able to get into the vault door.

“Apparently the bank manager had gone missing the day before - they used his gene sample to get into the
vault. Presumably, he gave them information on how to get past the security systems as well. Eventually the men upstairs left, and the ones down here left through the tunnel. We haven’t been able to trace back the tunnel, since they collapsed it after they were done.”

“There were s
everal bodies outside,” she noted. “Were any of them the robbers?”

“One ma’am,” he answered. “Three guards were killed aside from the one
they mutated outside.”

“
Hmm. What did they take?” Alice asked, as she continued to look over the scattered pictures.

“They pretty much cleared out the vault, ma’am,” he answered. “Oh, and the contents of three
safe deposit boxes were taken as well.”

This piqued the operative’s interest, and she looked up from the table.
“Who did the boxes belong to?” she asked.

“Not sure, ma’am. I’ll go collect that information now,” he told her before walking out of the room.

Alice and Edwin took a few minutes to look through the other photographs taken during the bank robbery. Among the photographs, Alice identified Erynn, Dr. Rowland, Germ, Tern, as well as three unknown men and one woman. One of the men she recognized as one of the dead men she passed earlier, but she was unsure of the others. Edwin picked one up in particular and stared at it for some time.

“Have you found something, Mr. Hollow?” Alice eventually asked.

“I know this man,” he said, handing her the picture. “That’s Hirim Burgan. Our intelligence teams suggest he’s heavily involved in the Chromework Confederacy.”

“Hmm,” the operative said eyeing the photograph. “Perhaps the Clover woman is indeed linked to this little rebellion after all.”

Picking up a picture of the unknown woman and showing it to Edwin, Alice asked, “And this one? Do you recognize her?”

Edwin studied the image for a moment before responding, “No. Not familiar with her. You want me to look into her?”

“Please,” Alice said, tossing the image back to the table. She picked up a picture of a man with an eye patch over his left eye and a bandanna concealing the rest of his face, and she continued, “Him as well.”

Edwin nodded and collected several of the pictures from the table. Alice looked back through the photographs scattered about the tabletop and spo
tted one of the automaton. In the image, the bot was being attacked by the automaton guard in the vault, and in another photograph was disassembled in an array of pieces on the floor.

The corpsman that had led them to the bank soon returned with the information she had reques
ted, “Ma’am,” he began. “Box one, zero, three belonged to Markus Morrissey, box six, seven, two was Hollis Porter’s, and Garland Webber owned box eight, nine, four.”

Ignoring the report for a moment, Alice asked, “Did your men find the automaton in the vault?”

“No, ma’am,” he answered. “Just the bodies you already saw, as well as an unconscious guard downstairs.”

“Very well,” she continued
. “Have your men retrieve the box owners, corpsman. We will need to discuss with them what the heretic and her rebels took.”

Alice left Edwin to look over the remainder of the photographs, while she headed out to
look at the vault. Before she made her way there, however, she was approached by a young woman.

“Operative?” the young
woman said.

“Yes, what is it?” Alice asked.

“I think I might have some information for you,” she answered.

Alice nodded and again asked, “And what is that?”

“I’m a teller here,” the woman explained. “Marjorie. One of our customers opened a safe deposit box the morning of the robbery, but it turns out that the woman was in Cultwick City and couldn’t possibly have been here to do so.”

“Is that right?” the operative inquired.

“Yes, ma’am,” Marjorie continued. “A woman claiming to be Countess Upton came in with all the proper papers, opened the new box, and had it charged to her account. This morning, however, the countess contacted the bank in Cultwick City about the charge, disputing that she had asked for the box. I took a look at our surveillance, and I believe it may have been the heretic that actually acquired the box.”

“I’ll need to see what is inside that box, Marjorie,” Alice explained. “Can you have someone open it for me?”

“I’ll get someone on it, ma’am,” Marjorie said before heading downstairs.

A young corpsman
with a flustered looking gentleman approached her before she could go investigate anything further.

“Operative Page,” the corpsman said. “This is Hollis Porter, the postmaster here in Ash Cloud.

“Might there be a room I could use nearby, corpsman?” Alice asked.

“Of course, ma’am,” he said and guided her and the postmaster to a closed room. He showed them inside
, where there was a glossy wooden table and a pair of matching chairs.

“Corpsman,” Alice began. “Please have Mr. Morrissey and Dr. Webber wait just outside when they arrive.”

The young man nodded and exited the room. She then took a seat and extended her hand gently forward indicating for Hollis to sit opposite her. He was a portly man with frumpy clothes and balding, blonde hair. He wore thick-framed spectacles, and she noted that he was beginning to perspire quite heavily, as he sat.

“Mr. Porter,” Alice started, “Have they explained enough for you to understand that in addition to the bank robbery some of the
safe deposit boxes were broken into and that one of those was yours?”

“I was told that, yes,” he answered.

“Good,” she continued. “What I need to know from you is what you kept in that box. We’re hunting down the perpetrators, and it may be helpful to know what they were after and where they will go next.”

“I really didn’t have anything special in there, ma’am,” he told her.

“Well, Mr. Porter, I didn’t ask what was special in the box,” she stated flatly. She narrowed her eyes and continued, “I asked you to tell me is what was in it. Do you think you can do that for me?”

Perspiring
more, Hollis said, “Uh, of course, Operative. Of course. I just meant I can’t imagine why they would have gone for my box is all. I just kept a few copies of identification papers and a backup ledger of the shipments coming into and out of Ash Cloud as well as some of the surrounding territory.”

“Well, if what they took was a backup ledger then I’ll need to take a look at your primary ledger, Mr. Porter. Go and retrieve it for me now.”

Hollis stood up from the table and gave an awkward sort of bow to the operative. Alice stood and escorted him to the door where a corpsman was waiting with another man.

“Operative Page,” he said, “This is Markus Morrissey.”

“Ah, yes. Mr. Morrissey,” Alice stated. “Please come in.”

“I’m a very busy man,
Operative,” Markus told her as he entered the room. “I’d like to get this over with, so I can get on with this shit of a day.”

“Oh, I don’t intend to keep you too long, Mr. Morrissey,” she explained, sitting with him at the table. “
But speak to me like that again, and I assure you it will be the last thing you utter.”

Markus stared at her, attempting to judge the situation
and the predicament he may well have got himself into. He ultimately decided to keep quiet and let her talk.

“Now then,” she continued. “
I just need to know what you kept in your safe deposit box.”

“I kept all my schematics down there,” Markus said. “Every last design I’ve come up with. This bank was supposed to protect them, and now I’ve lost everything. Whoever took them could remake them now. They stole my intellectual property!”

“Mmm. Is there anything in particular that you’re concerned about them taking, Mr. Morrissey?” Alice asked.

“That new turret design for starters
,” he said.

“And what was that?”
the operative inquired.

“We were about to start building them in mass for the Cultwick military,” Morrissey explained. “My factory practically single handedly arms the corps.
Plus my weapons are supposed to help these idiots protect the bank.”

“
They don’t seem to have aided them very much, Mr. Morrissey.” She stood up and walked to the door. “Thank you for your time.”

Alice showed the
disgruntled man out of the room, and outside she saw a man that she recognized as Dr. Webber waiting for her. Alongside him was the teller that had told her about the countess’ box.

“Dr.
Webber, please come inside,” Alice requested. Turning her attention to the teller she asked, “Is the box open, Marjorie?”

“Yes,
Operative,” she responded. “The box has been laid out on the table in the room downstairs. You can look at it whenever you’re ready.”

“Thank you, Marjorie,” Alice said. “I’ll take a look soon.”

The operative closed the door to find Dr. Webber already seated at the table with a few pages spread out on the table. She took a seat and began looking over the papers splayed out before her.

“What have you brought me, doctor?” she asked.

“Copies of what was in my box,” he answered. “I assume that’s why you had me brought down here. We may have a real situation on our hands here, Operative. I expect Cultwick will be very interested in you retrieving what those bank robbers took from me.” He firmly planted his finger over one of the pages in particular as he said this.

Alice looked down at the paper to see the words, ‘SBP Trials 130 B’ printed along the top. On it was an extremely complicated looking chemical formula.