Chapter 5: The Wreckage of the Saint Cauvery Museum
The sounds of hovering VT-42 Enforcer choppers grew louder, their engines cutting through the smoke-filled sky. The wailing sirens of emergency responders had long since faded into the background, replaced by the steady hum of a few military-grade drones as they combed through the airspace, scanning for any movement.
The aftermath of the explosion was beyond anyone's expectations. What had once been a cultural icon of Ezgon city, the Saint Cauvery Museum, home to some of the most significant artifacts of human engineering and history was now nothing more than a catastrophic smoldering ruin. A crater of jagged steel beams, cracked concrete, and burned debris now marked the place where the famed Second Generation Machine had been displayed.
As the smoke cleared, the first batch of the official investigators arrived: the Research and Investigation Unit of the Ministry of Scientific Affairs otherwise known as the Arbiters of Justice.
An organization comprised of arbiters who were in charge of handling incidents involving world threat crimes like this. The team of analysts, detectives and engineers deployed swiftly from their transport vehicles, all dressed in scholarly dignified black robes and equipped with the latest observational devices.
The leader of this operation, Detective Ainsley Ferrow, was the first to step into the crime scene. Her dark eyes calmly staring at the smoldering debris before her.
She was a woman in her mid-thirties, sharp and seasoned in her approach. Her hair was cropped short, making her exclude an aura of a seasoned detective.
She was donning a long scholar grey robe that blanketed her body from head to tores. She had been with the Arbiters Sanctum for over a decade, long enough to have seen things that made her stomach twist. And she was one of the most seasoned arbiters whose experience had turned legendary in the field of detectives.
Ferrow's team, a mix of seasoned detectives and tech specialists, had been deployed for the sweep. Their first priority was to secure the site. The second? Find the identity of the perpetrator of the crime.
Then thirdly narrow down the motives and background of the suspect.
A usual textbook method for all arbiters .
"Set up the perimeter," Ainsley suddenly barked at her subordinates.
She then turned to the police officers who were on standby on the scene and ordered.
"And l want those who are not detectives, or who are below lieutenant rank in their fields to quickly leave this scene.
The enforcers who were crowded on the scene were quick to take her orders. They immediately gave the detectives space, to work.
A moment later the scene was only left with six people, four members of the Arbiters Unit of the Ministry of Scientific Affairs and the captain and his lieutenant of the present enforcement Unit.
Ainsley's eyes glinted with focus as she surveyed the wreckage . She knew that there were three key details that she needed to focus on during the investigation.
The first detail was the assassination attempt of Govenor Archibald Wenshire.
The second being the kidnapping of Dr Chuck.
And lastly the third being the disappearance of the Second Generation Machine.
Due to the rank of the machinery, she had already denied the possibility of its destruction, since original machines were practically indestructible. So a damage of this caliber wouldn't be able to destroy it.
As she narrowed down the three details, Ainsley couldn't help but sigh.
"This case is really going to be hard."
She only had a few witnesses at hand who were the Govenor and his four personal bodyguards. And judging by their current predicament, she knew that it was going to take a long time for her to question them of the details of the events.
Then due to the destruction of the Museum, the perpetrator had successfully destroyed any potential clue he might have left behind.
"What a drag" said Detective Ainsley as she kicked a few debris over.
Captain Malone, of the enforcement unit raised his eyebrows when he saw her behavior.
It didn't fit the behavior of a professional arbiter.
He couldn't help but doubt her capabilities in this field.
Ainsley couldn't be bothered by his judgement, and she continued to move through the scene, grumbling and kicking a few debris on the way.
After a few moments of hyperventilating, she then exhaled a large breath in an attempt to calm herself. And then turned to her team as she ordered.
"Carla, go and take Voice of Sol "
Captain Malone who was watching from the sidelance was suddenly taken aback when he heard this order.
As a Captain of an Enforcement Unit. He was well informed of the various knowledge of high grade machinery.
And due to his knowledge, he knew what the Voice of Soul was.
This Third Generation Artifact was a very powerful artifact , that was created by the famous mad scientist, Syrian Sol.
Aside from this knowledge, he also knew that it was also labelled as the strangest machinery in the entirety of the generational machines in the hands of the Government Institute.
And as for why the captain was perplexed by Ainsley calling out this artifact was because of the fact that this detective team had come equipped with such an important artifact.
This meant that the team here was an elite team- or possibly a pro squad of arbiters.
This was in contrast to what he had observed from the actions of the lead detective.
Carla had already reacted when she heard her leader's orders.
She rushed towards the large SUV van parked at the parking lot of the Meusium.
A moment later she returned holding a box shaped radio, that had a design of a creepy smile and sinister eyes on it.
As Carla moved with the radio, static voices kept echoing from it and when one listened closely to those voices they would learn that the radio was demanding to be left alone.
"Let...sizzzzzz...me..zzzz...go"
Malone was surprised by these qualities.
This showed that the Voice of Sol had self awareness meaning that it had AI properties.
As Carla brought the machine, Detective Ainsley didn't stand on the ceremony before she quickly took the uncooperating artifact.
As she took the artifact she turned to the stumped Captain Malone and his lieutenant of the police department.
She then began to speak.
This here is a Third Generation Machine called The Voice of Sol. It was created by the mad scientist Syrian Sol. It has high AI capabilities that surpass any artifact that had been created to this date, making it earn a title and a singular category of a Sentient Machine Category. It has three functions.
One is that through electromagnetic inference it can gather detailed information from other observational devices. This simply means that in cases like this it can collect data from the disturbance of the electromagnetic fields here, to restore the data that the various surveillance security cameras and other observational machines that had been monitoring the Museum had gathered. And this doesn't matter whether the corresponding machines have been destroyed, since the data would be taken from the knowledge in the electromagnetic fields.
The second Function of the Machine is that, through its high AI capabilities we will be able to ask it questions on the targeted events from the data it has collected. This screens out unnecessary and unwanted data.
The third Function of the Machine is that, it can use electromagnetic waves to mark and track any machine as long as it grasp it's corresponding electromagnetic signature in an electromagnetic field."
After hearing the description of the Voice of Sol and its functions, Captain Malone of the police department immediately grasped how the detective was planning on using this machinery to solve this case.
He couldn't help but be impressed by her approach.
Detective Ainsley Ferrow was already beginning to operate the Third Generation Machine.
"Voice of Sol, could you please gather data of what transpired on this place for the past five hours."
Upon hearing the request of the Detective, the bizzare radio radio released a static noise before an childish provoking voice sounded from it.
"l ....refuse "
Everyone at the scene was dumbfounded when they heard this response.
Both Captain Malone and his Lieutenant were surprised by the machine's AI abilities. Both of them had a similar thoughts in their mind.
'Isn't this too Sentient for a machine. '
Meanwhile, Ainsley pricked her brows in face of the machine's response which she had long expected.
"What do you want?"
She replied with an unsuprised voice.
"To be reunited with-..."
Before the static voice could continue, Ainsley easily interjected cold.
"No"
She easily knew what the radio wanted to say, so easily refused.
This radio as far as she had worked with it, it has always tried to negotiate with her into reuniting it with its so called counterpart, which Ainsley had no idea of what it meant.
But she knew that this counterpart was something that could make the radio dangerous, since the higher-ups had a firm decision on this matter.
And it was to never under no circumstances let that happen.
When the radio heard Ainsley's answer, the radio suddenly fell silent.
Ainsley couldn't help but sigh. It seemed that unlike the previous time, this time the radio wasn't taking no for an answer.
This also meant that this case was more important than she thought, for the radio to have taken such stance in its negotiation.
She turned around and said to one of her teammates.
"Joe , get me a call with the Governor's office."