A pounding headache tormented Arron as he sat in an uncomfortable parasteel hover-chair.
The magnetic cuffs that bound his legs and arms to the Parasteel chair made it so he could not get comfortable.
The blinding white light along with the white walls and table did nothing to lessen his discomfort.
He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply to try and calm himself down while also trying to take his mind off of his body which ached everywhere.
Arron now understood that this was one of the special rooms which were soundproofed to the point that no sound from outside the room was able to reach him.
The absolute silence was enough to drive anyone mad and Arron had already been waiting inside the room for over an hour all alone.
As if the blinding white light and the absolute silence was not enough there was also a problem with the air inside the room.
It was far too dry, to the point that Arron’s lips and mouth had already become parched and chapped.
BZZZZT!
The sound of the smooth white parasteel door unlocking startled Arron out of his muddled thoughts.
He opened his dry eyes to see four people entering the room. The first three to enter the room were all wearing white suits with white reflective visors covering their eyes.
The fourth and last person to enter the room was a middle-aged man wearing a well-worn black suit with an M1 badge on his left chest with the floating holographic words [Officer Riol, Legal department] underneath it. He carried a black parasteel briefcase that was just as worn as his suit.
The black-suited Officer Riol walked over to Arron and did a quick inspection and grimaced after fully taking in Arron’s horrendous condition.
“Did you guys do this?” asked Officer Riol.
The three white suit agents looked at the two with disdain on their faces.
“We’re not barbarians. We wouldn’t stoop to such a level as beating up a potentially Troubled suspect,” said a small female agent standing in-between two large towering muscled men.
Officer Riol snorted at the bald-faced lie. He knew they would do whatever they needed to do to normalize a situation. He turned back to Arron who was still gathering his wits after what felt like a decade of silence. The muffled voices inside the soundproofed room sounded wrong to Arron’s ears.
“It took me a while longer to get access to this interrogation as the Office of Reason didn’t want to listen to the Chief’s request at first,” said Officer Riol.
“It’s fine,” said Arron in a hoarse voice.
“Ah! Have you not had dinner? You seem like you could use something to clear out your parched throat.”
Officer Riol placed his briefcase on the table and pressed two holo buttons on each end popping the lid open revealing a change of clothes along with several secure datapads and a dozen synth-jelly energy pouches. Unfortunately, they were all original flavor.
“Ahem… It is not proper to be giving a potentially troubled suspect food or drink during an interrogation,” said the irritated female agent.
Officer Riol ignored her and gave Arron one of the pouches which he gladly began drinking even if it was extremely bitter and not one bit as tasty as the Pickled Pickle flavor.
The female agent sat down right across from the cuffed Arron in the only other hover chair in the white room.
She placed a Secure datapad in the middle of the white table and tapped a few options on her own wrist datapad before she flicked several files to the secure datapad.
Immediately a 3-d holographic video popped up and started playing.
A disheveled M1 officer pulled his service weapon out from his concealed holster and pointed it at a man in a busy food market street.
“He’s got a gun!” shouted a female voice coming from the person recording the video. She was only a short distance away from a man that the gun was now pointed at.
BANG! The man dropped to the ground dead.
“AH!!!! HE KILLED HIM!”
The officer turned his gun onto another man and again… BANG! Killed the man.
The hysterical screaming woman had dived to the ground and kept shouting “HE’S GOING TO KILL US ALL!!” as she continued to record the M1 officer from the ground.
The short clip ended with the officer continually sweeping the area looking for more targets to shoot.
A second clip this time from the news started playing. In the background was the first video of the killing repeatedly looping while the news anchors and a guest Mother and Father Party member talked.
“As I have been saying since the start, the ‘Special’ unit M1 is filled with nothing but murders,” said the guest full of confidence in his words.
“I have to agree with you, just look at him. Everything about him screams maniac bloodthirsty killer,” said Fela.
“I have been just informed by the producer that a wave of bans on all government-approved social media has been started by the Office of Reason to combat the extremist non-believers who are posting support for such a brutal killer,” said Kommy.
“I don’t see how anyone can support such thuggery. To me they are no better than Separatists!” growled the guest party member.
“You don’t have to worry, the Office of Reason has already apprehended the Troubled suspect. They will no doubt be swift with normalizing the situation,” said Fela.
“They must be firm! Show no lenience to such a thug! Set an example.”
The video slowly disappeared as the female agent swiped down, shutting it off.
“Explain,” was all the female agent said as she and the three other agents stared at Arron.
“I was attacked,” said Arron, not saying anything else.
The female agent raised an eyebrow in doubt.
“None of the videos we have gathered from the various social media or cameras from the local street shops showed any attack.”
“Look at him! He clearly was attacked with all the wounds and bruises on his body,” said Officer Riol pointing towards the many such areas on Arron’s exposed skin.
“He could have done that to himself,” said the female agent with a smile.
“Don’t. I know you have a large backing in Mother and Father allowing you to cross and bend the rules but you’re not the only one with backing. I advise you not to make false accusations like that.”
The female’s smile turned to a frown as she was reminded of how Officer Riol was able to butt in on her interrogation.
Compared to the Office of Reasons’ large support from the majority of party members, those supporting M1 were just a fringe group that had originated from the 1st level. Even though they were a small group they could still cause problems for the Office of Reason.
She turned away from the two M1 officers and began a silent conversation with the two other office or Reason agents using their visor’s secure communications.
The conversation lasted for nearly five minutes before they turned back to stare at the two M1 officers once again with their faces blank.
“What you have said does not fit with what we have gathered,” said the female agent.
“Officer Arron was able to record the whole affair,” said Officer Riol.
Hearing this the two male agents frowned for a second but the female did not show any reaction.
“Holovideos can be doctored, and his records show he has several minor speech code violations that have lowered his SCS by several points,” said the female agent.
“I can say the same about your own videos you are using as evidence,” said officer Riol.
“Send us the file,” said the irritated female agent.
“This is just a copy. We have the original back at the M1 HQ,” said officer Riol.
He grabbed one of the secure datapads in his open briefcase and began tapping in several codes to unlock it. Seconds later he swiped over the full recording of the event.
“Are you going to watch it right now?” asked officer Riol.
“No need. We want to hear from officer Arron in his own words EXACTLY what happened. We will cross reference his claims from all the video evidence and investigations we are conducting.”
The female agent turned to stare at Arron and said, “Start from the beginning.”
Arron cleared his throat and tried to sit up straight but was hindered by the cuffs.
“I had just got off of work on my first day back after receiving a fine and a week of suspension…”
The female agent held up her hand stopping him.
“Why were you suspended and fined?”
“You know why. You have already read his files,” said Officer Riol.
The female agent looked at some flowing text on her wrist datapad and with mock shock, she looked back at Arron.
“I see, so you were one of the idiots that let party member Jood’s son die.”
The room was silent for several minutes before the female agent coughed and waved her hand saying “Continue.”
Arron grit his teeth and once again started to explain what had happened, “As I was saying, I had just got off of work…”
