M.A.I.D.S. [season 1]

Episode 10: The Dispossessed

M.A.I.D.S. Episode 10 – The Dispossessed

After being shown to the door, Ben Wilner hid outside of Adam’s residence, using an app on his personal computer gauntlet to render himself “invisible” to the home’s surveillance mechanisms.  Though such an illegal program had cost the award-winning reporter a lot of credits, in the end he decided that the price, and the risk, was worth it.  The reporter knew full well that there was more to Eve than Adam had let on, and he was determined to find out what.

Wilner had been Adam’s friend for a long time, and that gave him a perspective on FIST that most outsiders could only dream of.  He knew that FIST would want to discuss the combat drone with Adam in person, which meant that Adam and the drone would have to leave the house soon.  All the reporter had to do was wait.

An electronic lock-picking app (also illegal) allowed Ben to regain access to the premises.  He kept his invisibility app running as he made his way through the house, his footfalls soft as a cat’s.  He did not find Pandora in the kitchen or the bedroom, but when he came to the study he saw a form under a blanket on the couch.  He crept up to it and found…

“Dear God, what is this?” he began to record, “What I have discovered is a Synthia on the sofa in Adam’s study.  It is dark-skinned and hairless.  I’m pulling up the ownership information on it now…Well fuck me on Tuesday, this Synthia isn’t finished yet! And it belongs to…Eve?  What in blazes is going on here?”

Wilner used the camera on his gauntlet to film the sleeping, unfinished Synthia, then pulled the blanket back up over it.  He went to the kitchen and helped himself to a beer, then continued to snoop around the home.  Wilner thought of the delivery truck he’d seen arriving just when Adam and the combat drone left, and decided that Eve must be in the underground garage with the shipment.

The garage was as long as the house and unornamented.  There was only enough room in the space for Eve’s monocycle, Adam’s ASV, and a space for shipments to be held.  Wilner hacked into the shipping manifest and spent the next several minutes deducing what exactly the contents were for.

“Eve is building a finishing station here to complete its unfinished Synthia?  Oh, Adam could go to prison for a very long time over this.  ‘Unauthorized Synthia creation is prohibited by law,’ and all that.  I can’t believe Adam is party to this sort of thing!” Wilner paced back and forth, making a note of everything he found while he tried to fathom what his friend was up to.

“Where is Eve?” he asked the dank garage air, and not even an echo responded.  He decided to go back up to the main house and trade his empty bottle for a fresh one, then retired to Adam’s study to think about the morning.  As he maneuvered through the unoccupied house he brought up news feeds, learning about the IED planted at FIST headquarters and the brief firefight that ensued.  The story caused him to stop in his tracks.

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LARAMIE, Wy. — FIST headquarters was attacked at 0951 today by Adam and an illegal combat drone.  Five CROW operatives were killed in the attack.

Adam’s vehicle was loaded with explosives that detonated prematurely at the entrance to Freedom's International Special Team headquarter’s parking area.  A firefight ensued between a squad of Combat-Ready Organization of Warriors soldiers and the assailants.

Adam and his combat drone escaped when FIST troops reinforced the newly-arrived CROW troops.  They were last seen heading toward Adam’s home on a pink monocycle.

Local authorities are coordinating with FIST and CROW operatives the capture of Adam and his drone.

CROW’s purchase by FIST was announced earlier this morning in an online press release.