Happy pt.6

Lobert opened the door to Christina's room and her hologram came on.

"Good to see you Lobert, I've missed you already. Did you succeed?" she smiled kindly and Lobert's exhaustion subsided a little.

At this point he didn't even question why Christina seemed to know everything already.

"Because of the happy? Yes I know who is behind it...at least I think I do. Daisuke Kirinumi is the mastermind."

"Interesting." Christina said, nodding her head slowly.

"Evidence, however, there was none, except for the production manager's oral testimony."

"You don't have to worry about evidence; Tyrone Dewey, the Chief Justice has some. I suggest you have a word with him."

Strange…if Mr. Dewey already had the evidence, why didn't he do anything? Was he in on this?

"Then why did you send me on this scavenger hunt? People died because of me!" Lobert said angrily, everything he had done so far suddenly feeling so pointless.

"Just know that your investigation gave birth to fruits that we can savor at a later time." Reiko assured.

Lobert didn't quite like the way she seemed to be playing 4D chess, but he also couldn't understand what was going on in a Super AI.

"I hope the fruits are worth it." Lobert grumbled.

"I'll see you again soon then." Christina said in farewell, but Lobert wasn't done yet.

"Do you know anything about new policies that may have led to a fish kill?"

"If you're talking about the accusations in the news, no, I have nothing to do with that. For this kind of mass die-off, the lake of Central City would have to have been abused for a long time. It's already happened several times, even before I was created."

That erased the last of Lobert's doubts.

"My plans include restoring the lake to its former glory. I hope you now know me better than to suspect me." She said, pouting.

"No, I was just-" Lobert tried to justify himself.

"Just kidding. I know what you're thinking." Christina said with a sweet smile that pierced his heart.

Lobert hadn't paid attention until now, but for some reason her beauty wasn't generic; she looked exactly like his ideal.

"All right, then, I'll just go see Mr. Dewey." Lobert said slightly embarrassed.

With a friendly smile, Christina waved goodbye.

×

Reiko drove to the address of Mr. Dewey's apartment which was publicly available; hopefully he was at home.

The drive didn't take that long, for his apartment was also in one of the central districts; appropriate for a chief justice.

Arriving at the correct skyscraper, Reiko and Lobert landed on one of the landing pads.

From the landing pad, it led into a wide corridor that led to several apartments - so Mr. Dewey didn't have an entire floor just for himself.

Several elevators were located on the left side.

"How are we going to find him here, are you sure this is the right place?" he asked Reiko.

"This should be the right place."

Reiko went to a terminal near the landing pads and typed in Mr. Dewey's full name.

"He's on the 120th floor in room 120-34."

Lobert felt a bit embarrassed because he didn't know such a terminal was to be used; such a device made sense though, he could have figured that the terminal at the entrance might have such a use.

Reiko got the elevator and pressed 120 into the display.

This elevator was pretty darn fast, too.

Once on the right floor, it didn't take long for Lobert to stand in front of room 120-34; he pressed the doorbell.

Nothing happened.

He pressed the doorbell again.

Nothing happened.

He pressed the doorbell again; all good things come in threes; perhaps Mr. Dewey had simply overheard the bell.

Nothing happened.

Lobert gave up and wanted to leave, but Reiko did not move.

She pressed the bell and did not let go.

A few seconds passed, then a minute.

Finally, heavy footsteps sounded from inside the room and the door opened.

"What do you want with me at this hour?" Mr. Dewey scolded.

"I'm sorry, did we wake you?" Lobert asked politely.

"No, I've been drinking." Mr. Dewey said grumpily.

Lobert caught a glimpse past Mr. Dewey and the apartment he saw was a pure mess; a pathetic display for a chief justice.

There were open bottles and empty packages of prepared food everywhere, some even with moldy remains.

Granted, his old apartment didn't look much better, but he wasn't the arbiter then.

"So, what do you want?" Mr. Dewey asked again.

"A bird whispered to me that you have incriminating evidence against Daisuke Kirinumi."

"Incriminating? Hah, don't make me laugh. It's not worth a damn crap." Mr. Dewey cursed.

"So that's why you're here...come on, have a seat. It's not that tidy but I hope you can make yourselves comfortable.

Mr. Dewey turned around and pushed the trash with his feet aside to clear a halfway passable path.

He sat down at the table on the floor and poured himself another glass.

There was the strong smell of alcohol in his apartment; other foul odors were among them, but the alcohol overpowered them all.

Lobert and Reiko cleared a small seating area.

"I tried, you know? I tried to enforce justice. But nobody cares about justice!" Mr. Dewey rambled.

"Slow down first." Lobert said. "What evidence do you have?"

"I have it all! Transactions, pictures, videos, statements...and all by myself!" he complained.

"But nobody cares! The police council president? In the pockets of Kirinumi. The government control committee president? In the pockets of Kirinumi. The media? In the pockets of Kirinumi. Any rich person can do whatever he pleases without fearing any consequences! I could put my faith in you, of course, but I'm afraid you won't fare any differently than I did."

Mr. Dewey let out a heavy sigh and finished his glass.

"You can try all you want, but no one with any real power will do anything against him."

You could see how forlorn he was.

Things were more hopeless than Lobert first assumed.

"Do you know why Mr. Kirinumi is selling the Happy at all? He doesn't seem to be making any money from it."

"The Happy, huh? I'm not entirely sure, but the way I see him, it's his twisted view of the world. He must think he's some kind of savior of the unfortunate or something like that, that's the only thing I can think of."

So he was just crazy, Lobert thought to himself; he would take that explanation as a given for now.

"Can I have the evidence?" Lobert asked.

"Yes, certainly. I have no use for it anyway. Just try it if you must." Mr. Dewey said, calming down a bit again.

He handed Lobert a storage medium.

"But I suggest you enjoy your time as the arbiter. If you're obedient, you can earn a handsome sum of money for yourself."

It all sounded rather daunting, but Lobert had something Mr. Dewey didn't: Christina.

Maybe she knew what to do with the evidence; after all, she was a Super AI.

For now, however, there was nothing more Lobert could do about the Happy. The manufacturing site was shut down.

"Maybe there's still hope." Lobert said.

Mr. Dewey and Lobert looked deeply into each other's eyes.

"I advise you to clean this place up a little bit, it's hard to move around here." Lobert commented.

"Yes...maybe I will." Mr. Dewey said in an exhausted voice.

"And thank you for the evidence." Lobert added.

"You're welcome."

Lobert and Reiko made their way back to the landing area, where Reiko had already called for the car; convenient, because it was just starting to rain.