“That is inadvisable, Oliver. Droog is a lone streamer with limited resources. It’s unlikely he purchased insurance, so now that his mech is wrecked, he will not be back. Therefore, there is no reason to continue after him. We do not wish to prematurely raise the ire of Apex, so I see no benefit.”
“I don’t care,” I said.
The scout let out a thoughtful click. “Then again, many of those killed while still in the drop unit are crying foul, and it is possible Apex may grant them another chance.”
“Just fix it for me, will you?”
“Very well,” Roger said. “I will tell you when he can hear you.” A pair of drones moved toward the egg shape.
I continued to read the file on Benicio Campos aka Droog. For possible insults, the recommendation wasn’t very clear. All it said was “Suggest that he sexually abused Pepita.”
“Who is Pepita?” I asked.
Behind me, honeybees were already swarming the wall, fixing it. A group was loading the debris from the big gun into a wagon being tugged by a rhino. A long line of black drones marched into camp, dragging mech parts toward the hive, where they were to be studied and recycled.
Across the way, the others continued to circle the body of Mr.Gonzales. More scenes like this were playing out in other places, and that unraveling feeling in my chest turned to a knot.
Mr.Gonzales’s large cowboy hat sat by itself in the dirt. It was stepped upon by a drone rushing by.
The scout speaking with the voice of Roger clicked. “Pepita was Droog’s pet Chihuahua who used to accompany him on his pranks. Pepita disappeared from his streams approximately nine months ago with no explanations, and rival streamers have suggested multiple reasons for Pepita’s disappearance, including murder and neglect. The most common theory that seems to upset Droog the most is when people suggest Droog was sexually abusing Pepita. The truthappears to be that Pepita is still alive and well but now resides with Droog’s mother in Fortaleza, several districts away. His mother filed a restraining order against Droog eight months ago, suggesting Droog and his mother do not have a good relationship.”
“Who is the most popular rival streamer that lives near him? Someone he really hates.”
“Goat Sects. He lives one block over from him. It appears they’re aware of each other’s address and have pranked each other by streaming outside their homes. It should also be noted that they both dated the same woman. Droog has filed numerous harassment police reports against Goat Sects.”
“Did you say ‘Goat Sex’?”
“Sects. S-E-C-T-S, not sex. That’s his online name, though there is an implication that the confusion between ‘sects’ and ‘sex’ is deliberate. His tagline is ‘I fuck the goats so you don’t have to.’ ”
“What does that even mean?”
“I do not know. I am assigning some researchers to investigate now.”
I watched the honeybees repair the communication console on the fallen mech. A thought occurred to me. An idea.
“What’s this Droog guy’s mother’s name? Give me all you got on him.”
“His mother is named Giovana Campos. I am looking up details on her right now. She is a prosecutor for the Republic District 443. Prosecutors are not allowed to have social media profiles, so I need to do a deeper search. Please wait.”
There was a strange pause. The black scout that was speaking with Roger’s voice stopped hovering and alighted upon the ground for several seconds, as if it had just turned itself off.
“Uh, Roger?” I asked.
And then, without explanation, the scout powered back up and resumed hovering. Roger continued as if there hadn’t been any interruption.
“There are multiple articles on the net about successful tax evasion prosecutions that mention the mother. The father was named Waldir but went by Didi. Didi appears to have died several years ago. Droog does not have any siblings. He was dating another streamer named Lady Diva, but they broke up after he pranked her by replacing the water in her shower with some sort of oil substance. He claims Lady Diva was in on the prank, but Lady Diva denies it. She has since claimed he was physically abusive and has moved to the same streaming platform as your sister, Real-Friends.”
I paused at that.
I took a breath. “Why haven’t you said…You know what? Never mind. Is this the same person that was dating the other guy? Goat Sects?”
“Yes. Goat Sects dated her briefly after she and Droog were a couple, a fact that Goat Sects has proudly announced multiple times on his stream. Viewers can donate to have him post a short clip of Lady Diva sitting on Goat Sects’s lap and biting his ear. This is accompanied by a slurping sound clip and a bouncing picture of Droog crying.”
Christ,I thought. I didn’t understand any of this. Was this really the sort of thing that entertained people on Earth? Why was the cruelty of others, the mocking of people with insults just lobbed back or forth like grenades, so popular? It was no wonder people enjoyed things likeOperation Bounce House. I mean, that was the next step, wasn’t it? If these sorts of caustic interactions online were normal, then killing strangers for fun could only be expected.
The honeybees all backed off. “The connection has been repaired,” Roger said through the scout. “He will be able to hear you in five, four, three, two, one.”
“Still here, bitches!” Droog was saying. “Wait, wait, wait! What’s this? Do you guys hear that? I think my audio is back!”
