The riots had not reached the 37th precinct, but the place was buzzing with it when Officer Karison arrived. At least two stations’ news were running, together with radio communications from already besieged stations providing background noise and fertile ground for speculations and rumours flying from head to head.
Karison kept her eyes down and hurried towards the stairs to the changing room - she would feel safer once she had switched from her petite civilian body to her usual armoured patroller on-duty-model.
However, someone stopped her.
“The chief needs to see you.”
With some confusion she recognised the ID on the athletic, generic male body as Nirre’s; they usually chose an androgynous look. It almost distracted her from the sinking feeling the announcement gave her. She nodded and turned down the corridor. Since Nirre followed at her heels, she fished for a hint. “Weird time to talk about a pay rise.”
“I don’t know.” Nirre’s voice was oddly flat. An effect of the unfamiliar body, or did they want to hide something? “Maybe hazard pay.”
Karison was sure there was trouble when Nirre entered the chief’s office behind her, and took station next to the door.
The chief looked at her coolly. “I want to show you something.”
She turned the screen to face Karison and hit a key, starting a choice part of the video that had triggered the riots. From the point of view of a heavy patroller, a boy in his late teens protecting his head from the inhumanly strong blows of the police officer.
“Karison, what were you thinking?”
She twitched looking up, realising that the chief had been watching her very closely. The video, the memory had drawn her in. “What makes you think that was me?”
“The records drawn from your body have gaps matching the timestamps shown. Headquarters have requested the full video files from the press, so we will know for sure if the serial number in the meta data matches.”
Karison had thought she had covered her tracks better than that. For a start, those videos had been deleted before transmission. Where had the record come from?
“Chief, that was not my doing. Are the techs with access to the on-duty-bodies being investigated? One of them could have tampered with my records.”
“Yes. But so are you. You’re suspended until things are clearer. Don’t leave the borough, your communication will be monitored, you know the rules. Nirre will take your statement. Leave.”