comes from publicly available sources. I saw ten identical boxes delivered to different addresses in a circle around the shooting. None of the addresses had line-of-sight to the target, so the killer must have had some other method for tracking Jim. Either that, or boxes were sent to multiple locations and only ten were activated.
“Eight minutes before the shooting, something inside each box cut its way out. The boxes looked specially designed for this purpose. One box was delivered upside-down, despite the labels on the outside. That box failed to open. From the rest of the boxes, drones emerged.
“They looked like toys on all the video I saw. They hovered in positions surrounding Jim at various distances while maintaining some amount of cover. Jim was shot by all of the drones simultaneously. Is that about right?”
“Where did you get video?” Aster asked.
“Come on,” Maco said. “It’s everywhere. There are cameras all over that part of town. The city has two public cameras that picked up most of it. The TV station right there has a hi-def traffic cam that witnessed three of the drones. Two million people must have seen at least part of this crime.”
“What, from any of that, suggests that this wasn’t carried out by a person?” Aster asked.
“First, the precision. You can’t pilot nine drones at once. And the shots didn’t fire at the same time, they impacted at the same time. Clearly it would take a machine to pilot drones, aim the weapons, and pull the triggers,” Maco said.
“Even if machines assist in the murder, it’s still the finger that presses the button,” Aster said.
“You’re not listening—there is no finger. These drones targeted Jim by facial recognition and then once they had pinpointed him, they would have communicated to each other. This murder was completely perpetrated by software.”
“Then a finger created the software,” Aster said.
“Well, then I guess you’re investigating a suicide,” Maco said.
“Do you have any proof for that allegation?” Ploss asked.
“My years of experience add up to a deduction that some would call intuition. That’s my proof.”
“Surely you must have more evidence,” Aster said.
“I would think you guys had that covered,” Maco said. “If I spotted the box of the tenth drone, then you should have. Did you go pick up that box and examine the contents? Did you dust the tenth drone for prints? Did you find any of the other nine drones after the shot?”
“We can’t answer any of those questions. We’re asking what you know,” Aster said.
“I guess I don’t know anything,” Maco said. He folded his arms.
“We heard that you linked assets from stock trades to an automated manufacturing operation,” Aster said.
“Nope. I heard theories about shipping and stocks and all I did was say that one could pay for the other. That’s all.”
“What made you assume that the two things were connected?” Aster asked.
“You know, I don’t think I have much more insight for you guys,” Maco said. “I’ve got some work I need to do this afternoon. Do you have any other specific questions?”
“We’re trying to solve your friend’s murder here. Don’t you think you owe it to your friend to help us find his killer?” Ploss asked.
“I’ve told you what killed him, and you don’t seem interested in hearing about it. Find out something about The Organization and we can talk about that. Then I’ll know you’re serious. Until then, we’re wasting each other’s time.”
“I don’t consider it a waste of time,” Aster said. He stood up. Ploss stood up as well. The two men headed for the door.
“Nice to meet you,” Aster said as Maco hit the button to unlock and open the door.
“Good day,” Maco said.
Aster and Ploss stood on the front porch as the door closed and bolted behind them.
“He seemed nice,” Ploss said.
# # # # #
Autobiography3();
/*****
May, 2006
The lunch with Bert and
“Eight minutes before the shooting, something inside each box cut its way out. The boxes looked specially designed for this purpose. One box was delivered upside-down, despite the labels on the outside. That box failed to open. From the rest of the boxes, drones emerged.
“They looked like toys on all the video I saw. They hovered in positions surrounding Jim at various distances while maintaining some amount of cover. Jim was shot by all of the drones simultaneously. Is that about right?”
“Where did you get video?” Aster asked.
“Come on,” Maco said. “It’s everywhere. There are cameras all over that part of town. The city has two public cameras that picked up most of it. The TV station right there has a hi-def traffic cam that witnessed three of the drones. Two million people must have seen at least part of this crime.”
“What, from any of that, suggests that this wasn’t carried out by a person?” Aster asked.
“First, the precision. You can’t pilot nine drones at once. And the shots didn’t fire at the same time, they impacted at the same time. Clearly it would take a machine to pilot drones, aim the weapons, and pull the triggers,” Maco said.
“Even if machines assist in the murder, it’s still the finger that presses the button,” Aster said.
“You’re not listening—there is no finger. These drones targeted Jim by facial recognition and then once they had pinpointed him, they would have communicated to each other. This murder was completely perpetrated by software.”
“Then a finger created the software,” Aster said.
“Well, then I guess you’re investigating a suicide,” Maco said.
“Do you have any proof for that allegation?” Ploss asked.
“My years of experience add up to a deduction that some would call intuition. That’s my proof.”
“Surely you must have more evidence,” Aster said.
“I would think you guys had that covered,” Maco said. “If I spotted the box of the tenth drone, then you should have. Did you go pick up that box and examine the contents? Did you dust the tenth drone for prints? Did you find any of the other nine drones after the shot?”
“We can’t answer any of those questions. We’re asking what you know,” Aster said.
“I guess I don’t know anything,” Maco said. He folded his arms.
“We heard that you linked assets from stock trades to an automated manufacturing operation,” Aster said.
“Nope. I heard theories about shipping and stocks and all I did was say that one could pay for the other. That’s all.”
“What made you assume that the two things were connected?” Aster asked.
“You know, I don’t think I have much more insight for you guys,” Maco said. “I’ve got some work I need to do this afternoon. Do you have any other specific questions?”
“We’re trying to solve your friend’s murder here. Don’t you think you owe it to your friend to help us find his killer?” Ploss asked.
“I’ve told you what killed him, and you don’t seem interested in hearing about it. Find out something about The Organization and we can talk about that. Then I’ll know you’re serious. Until then, we’re wasting each other’s time.”
“I don’t consider it a waste of time,” Aster said. He stood up. Ploss stood up as well. The two men headed for the door.
“Nice to meet you,” Aster said as Maco hit the button to unlock and open the door.
“Good day,” Maco said.
Aster and Ploss stood on the front porch as the door closed and bolted behind them.
“He seemed nice,” Ploss said.
# # # # #
Autobiography3();
/*****
May, 2006
The lunch with Bert and
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