Detroit, 1983.
Thanks to generous donations from the Visitors, the Detroit Police Department Central Station was looking like something out of a science fiction movie now, the kind with scheming A.I.s and sentient robots.
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Truth be told, the Visitors couldn’t care any less about crime in Detroit. But they were taking threats to themselves serious and made sure to equip their human allys with the instruments to combat those threats.
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Rika: “A package just arrived for you, Detective!”
Gavin: “Thank you, Rika!”
Rika: “What is it?”
Gavin: “Just some chemicals Forensics ordered. They’re for coloring slices of cells to better see the details.”
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Rika: “Really? But didn’t we get a machine for evidence analysis along with all the other stuff from the Visitors?”
Gavin: “I guess so. But our nerds don’t understand how that thing works.”
Rika: “Misplaced the manual?”
Gavin: “Haha, no! The book only tells you what button to push and how to interpret the results the machine spits out. Nobody knows what it does, exactly.”
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Rika: “Does that mean our forensics department mistrusts the Visitors?”
Gavin: “Nah! They are just naturally curious.”
Rika: “And why were YOU ordering the chemicals, anyway?”
Gavin: “Since we have the machines now, Captain Fowler cut Forensics’ budget. I still have plenty unspent expenses credit, so I chipped in.”
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Rika: “Oh my…”
The one co-worker who was known as a highly competitive opportunist was suddenly dishing out money? But, wait, not to just anybody. Gavin Reed was aiding specifically the scientists in the basement, who seemed to distrust the Visitors. Reed’s own brother was a scientist, too…
“Oh my” didn’t even begin to cover it in Officer Tachibana’s eyes. The Scientist Conspiracy apparently was real! And it had infiltrated law enforcement!