Nothing. That’s what.

The thick scent of smoke and beer filled the car as soon as he closed the door. His forehead met his arms hanging over the steering wheel.

“Harris… what are you doing?” he muttered to himself.

The long silence was interrupted by a screech of a stray cat, followed by a few short barks. Looking up, he met his own eyes in the rear-view mirror.

“Detective Leonich my ass…”

His eyes glanced at the car’s clock. It was 3AM. His digital badge was worthless for three whole hours now, and yet he flashed it in front of everyone like any other day.
What else was he supposed to do? He wasn’t going to stop them the legal way. Not without smashing all of their heads.
If his heroic act was caught by Parascythe’s perfect security systems, he was facing a fine and some time in jail… If he was lucky. 
As if having to tell his wife the good news about his detective career coming to a full stop wasn’t bad enough, now it turned into a complete wreckage.

“Parascythe’s perfect security system? Why then does it need us?”

The Chief of Detectives answered his question full of pride…

“It is perfect because it has us.”

But that was hardly a satisfying answer for Harris.

Perfect? How? I mean… we’re only human.

“Only human…” his voice cracked under all the cold beverages and cigarettes. He noticed his left fist leaving a permanent mark on the steering wheel. He looked at his hand with a mixture of nostalgia, fear, and disgust as it rotated a full circle. He liked that feature. Especially the sound it made when it starts and stops. A cold mechanical whirr, and yet somewhat playful. If his son was still alive, he’d probably love it, but his daughter… He had to be careful not to use his left arm whenever he wanted to embrace her or caress her hair.

It was the thought of his kids that made him do what he did not ten minutes ago.

He was going to let it all slide, keep drowning in his beer, and mind his own goddamn business. He wasn’t a detective anymore anyway. Not his problem. But that all changed the moment the guy flashed his knife; the moment Harris first noticed tonight, that the club was full of kids - teens that seemed to have come to the club first chance after having their “finally legal” birthday.

The guy dropped the knife with a terrible scream deafening the sound of broken little bones that his wrist was making. There’s always a bigger fish.
Harris’ mechanical left made a flat surface of his face as well. Followed by gentle arm-twisting as his cheek swept all the glasses off the counter.
His friend pulled out a gun and Harris pulled out his digital badge saying…

“Detective Leonich. Parascythe District 1 Police Department.”

What a mouthful. But it served to distract from the neon flashing warning that spelled red letters over his once proudly worn emblem.
Revoked.
The guy dropped the gun and put his hands in the air. Unexpected actually, but he probably weighed that was the least problematic way out for him.

“Get outta here.”

Leonich managed to leave an impression of mercy upon the duo, while in fact, it was a façade hiding the cold harsh truth; he had no right to arrest them. Not anymore.
Calling the police would do little good, but his main reason for not doing so was a lot more shallow.

Him? Detective Leonich? Calling the police? Perish the thought.

He turned the keys and started the engine. He preferred that over the newer cars with voice commands.
Tiring.
To trade a lovely silent ride for a little bit of convenience? Hardly a good deal. The old ways worked just fine.
But owning probably the last car in Parascythe that wasn’t an automatic made him feel ancient. Belonging to some other times.
He junctioned himself into the highway with ease. The cars driven by AI were programmed to sync with one another. To them, his ‘antique vehicle’ was near invisible and treated as an unexpected obstacle, making for a dozen awkward situations a day.
Not that the highway was completely empty during the night, but it was not a slow jam like during the day. After all, Parascythe never truly sleeps.
There were no speed sensors as it was near impossible for any of the AI-driven cars to go over the regulations. Other than the emergency vehicles, he was the only one that could go over the speed limit. Being a detective was the only reason he could own that car in the first place.

“Goddamn it!” he smacked the steering wheel with his right hand to avoid damaging it.

It meant he’d have to sell it, as scrap to the lower levels to make matters worse. 
The lower levels… If he hadn’t chased after them and outside of his jurisdiction, he’d still be a detective. But he wouldn’t be a hero to his boy.

“My boy?”

He realized then, why he did it. As highway lights were storming past on his windshield, he admitted to what was really going on in his head at that moment. The kidnapped boy reminded him of his own son and saving the boy meant he redeemed himself from his haunting past.
Like hell. There was no redemption.
But at least he didn’t regret his decision anymore. If those bastards pulled the boy down to the lower levels of Parascythe, that would be a fate worse than death. It would truly be hell.
The way people live down there…
Harris closed his eyes for a moment, recalling the horrors he’s seen after dropping down after them. Rats in sewage was the first image that came to mind.

“People… humans living like rats. While we enjoy the sun up here.”

The sound of an incredibly annoying digitalized horn woke him up. One of the AI-driven cars took it upon itself to warn him of possibly crashing into the sidewalls. Luckily, Harris was experienced in avoiding crashes. Now, if that was something to be proud of was an entirely different matter.
The tires screeched as he stepped on the brakes, leaving parallel lines on the dark concrete. He reversed to correct his bearing and shifted back into first gear to avoid being a nuisance to others on the road.

“Thank fuck… A crash is the last thing I need.”

It was all he needed to say to have a black van crash into him from behind the very next moment. 
The horn wouldn’t stop. Even after he regained consciousness and took the keys out, it kept ravaging his already ringing ears.

“Fucking hell!” he smacked the steering wheel right in the middle with his left arm. What followed would have been funny, any other day. His face was inside a white balloon filled with air. There was no calming his rage. All of it, all of the things that happened in the last 24 hours, sucked. He flailed around like a helpless animal, kicking and punching. Finally, he forced the door open with his mechanical arm and rolled out of the car and onto the floor, cursing and spitting.
As his eyes focused, he saw a pair of fine black shoes in front of him.

“Dude… you alright?”

A man wearing a black suit and a tie, albeit loosely around his neck, offered a gloved hand. Harris dismissed it with a slap of his right hand and stood up on his own.

“What the absolute fuck man? Your AI stopped working?” He showed at the barely dented black van behind the suited man.

“Oh this?” the man pointed over his shoulder with his thumb, “Yeah, it’s not AI-driven. Can’t have important work left to that shit. So, yeah… sorry I crashed into you. Happens.”

Sorry? Happens?!

…

The last straw was drawn. All of the bottled-up frustration had to go and the only place for it to go now was the man’s young face. 
His left flew before he knew it. His rage got the better of him and the consequences hardly mattered. It was soon going to meet with a soft, creamy surface and paint it red, flattening its features.
Or at least, that’s what he thought.
He was on the floor before he could blink, with his left arm on his back. Why the heck wouldn’t it move?

“Assaulting an agent of Z.O.O.? Damn… you gotta be desperate to try that.”

The man let go and stood up, dusting his suit.

Harris stood up as well, but with a lot of trouble. His left arm was hanging, refusing to help his cause. Actually, it felt like a burden more than anything else. Its heavy frame was now just extra weight.

“What… What the heck did you do?” Harris’ voice cracked.

“I turned it off, of course.”

The man had both of his hands behind his nape and was chewing something. Probably a bubble gum, if the sweet calm breaths were any indication. His light eyes were slender and a sharp contrast to his spiky, back-swept red hair. Flame or rust came to mind.

“Well… turn it back on!”

“Sure, sure. I’m that stupid,” said the man as he walked back to the black van.

“Hey… you… you can’t leave me like this!” Harris shouted after him desperately, “I’m a … I used to be a detective.”

“Dude…chill. It’ll turn back on in a couple of minutes,” The man closed the door and started the van, driving off and leaving Harris to his own devices. He examined the car and figured it could still drive. It just didn’t look as pretty as it did minutes ago. He sat in it and took a deep breath.

“Did he say…Z.O.O.?” 

* * *

 The alarm clock wouldn’t stop, not until he threw it off the nightstand. There was no need for it anymore. He forgot, but he didn’t have to show up today. They would call him in to pick up his belongings and sign some documents when they were finished cleaning his former desk and giving it to some newbie.

“Fucking hell…”

He closed his eyes and fell into deep slumber once again. What seemed to be a moment later, a hard knock woke him up. The sun was out. And high. 
A few frustrated rings on his doorbell followed. As he opened, still shirtless, and stretching his neck, his face stiffened.

“Janneth? What are you…” he sighed deeply, “What are you doing here?”

“Here. Take it,” she handed him an envelope.

“What…?” he was still drowsy and not having a chance to get back into the world of the living via some coffee didn’t help.

“I thought… I thought at least, I’d come and give them to you personally.”

The woman was dressed modestly and her face was beautiful in a simple way. Unfortunately, it wore a deep frown.

“Janneth, do you wanna… come inside?” Harris managed a single sensible thought. After what he’s been through yesterday, he tried his best to figure out which part of it might have been a dream.
All of it, if possible. Please.

“No, I’d prefer not to.”

And who could blame her? They only lived separately for a couple of months, and it was already very clear who was the one keeping the apartment decent. One glance behind him revealed a room full of beer cans, ashtrays, and video games piled up one onto another. The stench of stale air didn’t help either.

“Listen… Harris. I… I gotta go. Please sign those and… please don’t cause us any trouble.”

“Us?” he asked her with a more awoken tone now.

“Yes… me and Rebecca,” eyes fixed to the floor betrayed her feeling of guilt even better than the trembling of her voice.

As he started opening the envelope, Janneth turned around trying to get away immediately.
He grabbed her forearm. The low cry she let out reminded him to ease on the grip. A mechanical grip was hard to control precisely, after all. She lifted her gaze from the black metal frame and looked at him with eyes full of tears. He let go.
The echo of her footsteps going down the metal stairs was like a countdown. He knew what was in the envelope and it was too late to do anything about it. He squashed his only chance mere moments ago.

“Divorce… FU—”

* * *

 What can a single person do?

After the law failed to protect his son, Harris decided to take matters into his own hands and joined the police. He made it all the way up to ‘detective’, married another wife, and had another kid. A fresh start? Hardly. But it was an attempt, alongside his main drive, to change the law for the better.

But what can a single person do?

He lay down on his bed looking up at the slow-turning fan. The sun rays were breaching through the blinds, forming parallel yellow lines on the dirty walls. Janneth was literally waiting for an excuse. And the news of him getting fired, issued to her with inhuman speed the information spread in Parascythe, was just the perfect opportunity she was waiting for. If there was any doubt in her mind and heart, now it vanished.

“Heck…”

Not like he didn’t care, but the once burning fire was now a sole tip of a short candle. Extinguishing it wasn’t that hard. What made Harris’ chest tighten was the thought of his daughter, Rebecca, probably being assigned to her mother’s care. And it wouldn’t be the end of the world if at least their relationship was smooth. But it was as rough as the wasteland sprawling under Parascythe’s heavenly eye.
Harris only ever saw footage of the planet’s surface, but he never actually got lower than yesterday.
The scum had kidnapped a citizen of the top level. A boy, not older than 10. It would be an especially high sum they’d get for innocence like that down there. There was no doubt in his mind as he chased them down.
He breached not only one but two rules; operating out of his jurisdiction and using an illegal firearm.
The standard issue, AI-operated weapons that the police were carrying wouldn’t shoot. He still remembers what a close call it was, running into one of the kidnappers and pulling the trigger, only to realize that what he was holding was now a useless piece of junk. Immediately, he went for his revolver and shot the man dead. The rest of the kidnappers suffered the same fate.
No remorse. No breaks. Not for scum like that.
But after the investigation, his boss called him into his office… and the rest is history. Now he had no gun, no car, no job, and soon enough no wife. Well, at least the boy was safe, right?
Hardly a consolation. Not like his parents will make all of Harris’ problems go away. The ‘thank you’ card and flowers must have been a joke. Hardly a case that they couldn’t afford more, judging from the fact they lived in District 1’s Heavenly Hills - the only place in Parascythe with a beach.

“Sonnova bitch.”

Harris spat as he sat on the bed’s edge. They finally completely turned off his arm’s feature to pull out the digital badge, he realized, as it wouldn’t show up in the user interface hologram, but it was showing an unread email in his inbox.

“An invitation for an …interview?”

The timing was unbelievable. That is to say, he actually did not believe it to be a coincidence. His eyes lit up.
Harris was considering how the city’s systems perhaps saw it fit to get him employed as soon as possible, but as soon as he read a little bit more, he chuckled and turned it off.

“Must be a fucking joke.”

The interview was for a job at one organization he’d never expected to work for.

“Z.O.O….”

He laid back into bed and pretended he never saw it. The notion itself was hilarious enough - there was no need for him to further ridicule himself by actually attending. But the brain never wants to shut off when a person needs it to. Instead, a brainstorming session was in order.

“How the fuck did he…?”