A Visitor to the Future - 18 - Outmoded Malice
He span back around to us, "So, what are we thinking?"
"As Aida said it seems like this scenario is based around the early 2200s - seems like we're in some sort of astronaut barracks," said Sarkona, "That'd at least explain the Mars references."
"Does anyone know much about this time period?" asked Antonia, "All I know is that clearly cleaning drones haven't been perfected yet - did they have to make the smells so genuine?" She scrunched up her nose at the statement.
"Unfortunately," said Tungsten, "My historical studies have been focused on the 17th to 20th centuries. Although I'm looking forward to the challenge of analysing a time period I'm not familiar with."
"Besides automobile history, I know a bit about the space programs of this time," volunteered Sarkona, "The early 2200s were marked by a lot of nation states sending missions to Mars. Though the first person to land on Mars happened before the end of the 21st century, this was the time in which every country and corporation that could was trying to get some infrastructure on Mars."
I spoke up, "A lot of this seems familiar - security cameras, locks, security fences. Doesn't seem greatly different from my time so far."
"Fantastic," said Tungsten, "Then for my first question - how reliable are these 'security cameras'? I'm having issues picturing how all this technology fits together without the Consortium."
I explained the basics - cameras would record footage and store it either locally or on some shared internet space, but given this was a military-looking installation they were likely to be stored locally. People would then view the footage later.
"And the footage - how easily would it have been in your time to manipulate it?"
I rubbed my chin, "Not impossible, but time consuming. Maybe in the 2200s it'd be a lot easier."
"Excellent," said Tungsten, "Then without auditing or oversight from the Consortium I suggest that we not rely upon the security footage for the time being. I think we should next take a look at the body."
Antonia spoke up, "Do you think that will be as authentic as the rest of this place? If so I will pass, there is a reason that I stick to plant bio-dev."
I felt uneasy at that statement and mirrored the sentiment. "Given how realistic everything has been so far, I'll pass too. We can keep checking this room."
Sarkona nodded, "Makes sense! We'll split up - meet back here in 30 minutes?"
At that they left the room, leaving me and Antonia to have a good look around. We found nothing of interest in the bathroom and despite checking the bedroom extensively found no signs of forced entry or hidden holes through which someone had come in. We came back to the bedside table and Antonia pointed to the bottle of pills.
"I know about these, oral medication - how old-fashioned!" She picked up the bottle and began to read the label, "I know many plants were used to make these before bio-dev made them obsolete. I even recognise some of the ingredients! Amazing to think that flowers were used to cure illness."
I nodded as she passed me the bottle to inspect. It seemed to be some sort of heart medication. I stared at the label, not quite reading it in a moment of reminiscence. "Strange to think that you see these as outdated. I used to take pills every day."
She gave me a friendly tap to the upper arm, "No longer necessary! Sarkona did a very good job fixing you up." She pointed at the photograph we'd seen earlier - a man and woman were happily walking on a beach, hand-in-hand, a friendly-looking dog at their heels. Antonia exhaled a long breath before continuing. When she did, she simply said "I don't get it."
"Don't get what, sorry?"
With a pained look on her face, she turned to me, "Look at how happy he is in this photograph. I know this is just a set piece, but I don't get why anyone would want to kill him. This sort of thing happened more in your time, so could you explain it to me?"
My eyebrows raised at the question, and I took a moment to think before replying. "I don't really get it either - I see it as awful too. But a person might kill someone else as a result of anger, or fear, or because they had a motive to - maybe they had something to gain from the person dying."
"But that all seems so stupid! That's no reason for anyone to die," she continued, "I remember studying Romeo and Juliet as a child and thinking to myself, why don't they just run away together? They wouldn't even have had to go that far - then they could be happy and not die."
I laughed at that, "I think the tragedy of the play required it. Wouldn't be much of a tragedy if they all just ran away." The mental image of Juliet grabbing Romeo's hand and them running through the streets of Verona hung in my mind.
"I suppose. Maybe that's why I was more interested in Compassion and Empathy lessons than Literature. It just seemed so unreal."
A thought sprung to mind. "Antonia," I asked, "How would you deal with anger, or frustration, or any other negative emotion toward another person?"
"That depends," she continued, "It doesn't happen very often. I'd reflect on it at first to see if it was reasonable, maybe ask a friend for their opinion on it. If there was an actual basis for it and I liked the person, I'd tell them and we'd try to work through it together if we could."
"And if you couldn't? What if you really hated them for no reason?"
She thought for a moment. "I'd stop seeing them - or go somewhere else. It's a big solar system - I don't have to see anyone I don't want to. But I've never hated anyone for no reason."
I blinked. She made it sound so simple. I looked at the pill bottle once more - just like the pills inside, in that moment malice itself seemed very outmoded.
"Thank you for trying to explain anyway," said Antonia, "Though I don't think I'd make a very good detective."
We searched the room one more time, this time inspecting how the window opened and closed - the latch had been left unlocked. Then our time was up as Sarkona and Tungsten entered the room, mid-conversation.
"...and the contusion looked almost completely authentic," said Sarkona, "It must be some sort of synthetic flesh composite!"
"I could tell the difference," said Tungsten, "But my vision is better than yours - so it's almost cheating. Hello!" he said, addressing us, "How goes the search?"
"We've found out that the window was unlocked," I said, "Besides that, nothing. How was the body?"
"Completely realistic - I think you made the right choice staying behind," said Sarkona, "The nurse says that the cause of death was a blow to the forehead with a blunt object - we saw large amounts of bruising. It's bizarre, a blow like that wouldn't be lethal today - not by a long way! We were both absolutely fascinated by the mock-up though."
"Synthetic flesh never ceases to amaze," added Tungsten, "I think I'm ready to do some interviews - shall we away?"