“Oh God dammit,” Mayor Reilly muttered as ISN News went to a rather hasty commercial break. “Did they have to try the old ‘communication difficulties’ excuse?”
“I don’t think they had many other options,” Katie pointed out. “Not when their reporter starts claiming there’s an evil conspiracy at work.”
Snorting, Malcolm turned back towards his desk. “This is Fenspace Sheriff. Idiots screaming into the void? That’s a normal day. No one gives the slightest damn. But when someone tries to shut them up?” He sighed, dropping into his chair. “We’re going to have idiots convinced we’re trying to suppress the Moron That Cried Turnerite.”
Pausing, Katie gave him a baffled look. “Cried what?”
He grinned at her, no humor in the expression. “Do you remember, back during the War, the story about how an evil army of white supremacists were preparing to invade after Great Justice and the Reavers had battered each other to exhaustion?” he asked. “And that they were starting out by taking over colony domes here on Ganymede and murdering anyone that didn’t meet their standards of humanity?”
Eyebrows rising, Katie glanced back over at the projector. “This is that idiot?” she demanded. The Mayor merely nodded. “And he’s still a reporter?” He nodded again. “How?!”
“Damned if I know,” he muttered. “He’s even more willing to make shit up now, it seems.” Shaking his head in disgust, he leaned back in his chair. “Claiming Jeph is attempting a cover up to protect the Professor by trying to keep the media off Captain Woods back, for gods sake.” Frowning, he considered that for a moment. “Assuming that even is Chris Wood in that video, now that I think about it. We don’t know what his biomod is, after all.”
“It is,” Katie confirmed, smirking slightly at her boss's expression.. “I spoke to her earlier while arranging for her to come in so I could take her statement,” she explained.
“Ah… Damn. So, got the genderswap, and a rare and exotic species. Poor bastard,” he muttered. “Okay, since I know those reporters out there are going to ask now,” he said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of city halls front steps, “what are the odds any of Simmons gibberish was actually the Professor’s goal there?”
“Probably on the other side of none,” the Sheriff replied, rolling her eyes. “He let slip earlier it was a new strain of handwavium, and he wanted to document the results, but at the same time, he honestly didn’t realise the person he’d performed an emergency biomod on, and the man stopping him him from studying one of his experiments were the same person.” Taking in the Mayor's expression, she laughed and claimed a chair. “No, seriously. If it wasn’t for me explaining to him why he was under arrest, he’d probably have dismissed it completely and gone on to do something more interesting, like working out how to make miniature suns or some other crap.” Resting her feet on a second chair, he shrugged. “The man doesn’t understand the concept of vengeance.”
Nodding, the man put on his reading glasses and glanced down at his paperwork. “Well, that’s something I can use. You can’t think of anything else for when I deal with the reporters? Or even just ISN’s executives?” he added.
Scratching at an ear, Katie considered that, then nodded. “Yeah, actually. That hospital security footage. That has to be stolen. Athena?”
“I have already begun a security evaluation of MacDonald Memorial’s computer systems,” the
AI replied via the comm terminal on Malcolms desk.
“Thank you.”
“Look into that and anything else the idiot might be up to,” the Mayor said. “I’ll deal with the media. What time is Captain Wood going to be here?”
“Three pm, same as Jeph. I figured worst case, we could make one meeting out of it.”
“Smart woman… now, stop sitting around and get back to juggling plates,” he said with a weak smile, making shooing motions. Katie rolled her eyes, but rose to her feet and headed for the door.
***
(And with that, my vacation time ends and it's back to work with me. I suspect I'll be slowing down the writing at least a little now.)
“I don’t think they had many other options,” Katie pointed out. “Not when their reporter starts claiming there’s an evil conspiracy at work.”
Snorting, Malcolm turned back towards his desk. “This is Fenspace Sheriff. Idiots screaming into the void? That’s a normal day. No one gives the slightest damn. But when someone tries to shut them up?” He sighed, dropping into his chair. “We’re going to have idiots convinced we’re trying to suppress the Moron That Cried Turnerite.”
Pausing, Katie gave him a baffled look. “Cried what?”
He grinned at her, no humor in the expression. “Do you remember, back during the War, the story about how an evil army of white supremacists were preparing to invade after Great Justice and the Reavers had battered each other to exhaustion?” he asked. “And that they were starting out by taking over colony domes here on Ganymede and murdering anyone that didn’t meet their standards of humanity?”
Eyebrows rising, Katie glanced back over at the projector. “This is that idiot?” she demanded. The Mayor merely nodded. “And he’s still a reporter?” He nodded again. “How?!”
“Damned if I know,” he muttered. “He’s even more willing to make shit up now, it seems.” Shaking his head in disgust, he leaned back in his chair. “Claiming Jeph is attempting a cover up to protect the Professor by trying to keep the media off Captain Woods back, for gods sake.” Frowning, he considered that for a moment. “Assuming that even is Chris Wood in that video, now that I think about it. We don’t know what his biomod is, after all.”
“It is,” Katie confirmed, smirking slightly at her boss's expression.. “I spoke to her earlier while arranging for her to come in so I could take her statement,” she explained.
“Ah… Damn. So, got the genderswap, and a rare and exotic species. Poor bastard,” he muttered. “Okay, since I know those reporters out there are going to ask now,” he said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of city halls front steps, “what are the odds any of Simmons gibberish was actually the Professor’s goal there?”
“Probably on the other side of none,” the Sheriff replied, rolling her eyes. “He let slip earlier it was a new strain of handwavium, and he wanted to document the results, but at the same time, he honestly didn’t realise the person he’d performed an emergency biomod on, and the man stopping him him from studying one of his experiments were the same person.” Taking in the Mayor's expression, she laughed and claimed a chair. “No, seriously. If it wasn’t for me explaining to him why he was under arrest, he’d probably have dismissed it completely and gone on to do something more interesting, like working out how to make miniature suns or some other crap.” Resting her feet on a second chair, he shrugged. “The man doesn’t understand the concept of vengeance.”
Nodding, the man put on his reading glasses and glanced down at his paperwork. “Well, that’s something I can use. You can’t think of anything else for when I deal with the reporters? Or even just ISN’s executives?” he added.
Scratching at an ear, Katie considered that, then nodded. “Yeah, actually. That hospital security footage. That has to be stolen. Athena?”
“I have already begun a security evaluation of MacDonald Memorial’s computer systems,” the
AI replied via the comm terminal on Malcolms desk.
“Thank you.”
“Look into that and anything else the idiot might be up to,” the Mayor said. “I’ll deal with the media. What time is Captain Wood going to be here?”
“Three pm, same as Jeph. I figured worst case, we could make one meeting out of it.”
“Smart woman… now, stop sitting around and get back to juggling plates,” he said with a weak smile, making shooing motions. Katie rolled her eyes, but rose to her feet and headed for the door.
***
(And with that, my vacation time ends and it's back to work with me. I suspect I'll be slowing down the writing at least a little now.)