~~~~
“Unit 2, this is Unit 8,
where is the suspect?” Unit 8 inquired over the radio.
“Uh, inconclusive,” Unit
2 stuttered.
“Unit 2, what was the
suspects last location?” Unit 8 pressed for more details.
“Suspect jumped off
Sector 9 bridge into River 569,” Unit 2 explained, “this unit did not see them
hit the water or resurface.”
“Unit 2 the code word
for that is lost suspect, not inconclusive suspect,” Unit 8 scolded.
“Confirmed,” Unit 2
replied before they muttered something inaudible.
“Repeat Unit 2,” Unit 8
snapped.
“Nothing Unit 8, radio
malfunction,” Unit 2 affirmed hastily.
“Confirmed,” Unit 8
stated harshly. “Command, suggest Unit 2 for disciplinary action.”
“Valid,” the mechanical
voice of Command chimed in on the radio. “Unit 2 report for disciplinary action
at the end of the next cycle.”
“Confirmed,” Unit 2
agreed reluctantly.
~~~~
Hey remember this story? Here's a short snippet of what everything was like before it went all horribly wrong. Unit 2 ended up being my favorite part of that story, their subtle incompetence was charming in a way (even if they were really bad at their job).However, stepping out of the framing device of the original story has now brought to attention an important strength/flaw of that story. It was extremely vague and ambiguous. I never really explained what the Units were exactly, except that implication they were a peacekeeping/police force for this ambiguous setting. Now in the original story this was fine because it was told through a sort of chat log, the lack of information was simply part of the presentation. It was a glimpse through a window into that world rather than a full narrative set in it. Giving it a general feel of cold detachment, which probably strengthened the story.
However, here the cold detachment and ambiguity feel a bit more forced. So in a way I'm not happy with this one, but it's short so in the end it's more harmless fluff than anything else. Really I just sped right through this story, I have some big things I want to work on right now, so I made some extra short stories to build a bit of a backlog. Okay rambling over.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy
~~~~
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