Robocop: Silicon Soul

Detroit. They say they cleaned up this town because they have some maniac cyborg shooting the right wrong people. Street sweepers clean the gutters and say there is no more trash. I see a greater impurity. Evil walks these streets, brothers and sisters, and wears the masks of common citizens like you. I see fear. I see greed. I see sin. I see everything, my brothers and sisters, for I am the All Seeing Eye. Detroit needs to be cleansed, brothers and sisters. Tonight, go out and convert the masses, turn their black hearts pure. Tonight we will finally destroy evil. We will eradicate sin. Rise! Rise and go forth for our march to Heaven shall go onwards into the night! Onwards into eternity!

Detroit. The worst type of town. I should know, I work here. Oh, hi, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Ted Spiker. I work with Murphy, the Robocop. You probably heard some things about him. Last week, he blew up an OCP factory in order to catch the most wanted criminal in America. Well, he caught him. Not all of him, by the way, just select parts of his body that survived the explosion. He's a damn fine cop but I think he takes excessive force a literal too literally. Eh, who knows, the man is literally a machine so subtlety I doubt is a part of his programming. I never really knew Murphy when he was actually human, but I doubt he was as the Dirty Harry Terminator as Robocop is. Sweet Jesus, Robocop? I'm sorry if that name does not sound as good as Kill Machine 3000 but the lab boys have come up with worst names. Machine Man for example. Oh, yeah, let me bring you up to speed. That paragraph above? Yeah, that was a recent transmission from this new cult in Detroit. We never really got a name for that yet, but all we know is that all of its members have a giant eye scarred into their foreheads…with a branding iron. Funny thing, they tend to carry those things around and brand people on the street. The strange thing about these branding irons, they seem to really convince people to believe in this cult. Believe in it so much that afterwards they are never the same person. From some of the dead cult members the autopsy boys got, it seems that the iron permanently dissembled their frontal lobes so that their personality is intent only on this cult. We just call this cult The Cult, because this seems to be the number one pain in the ass in Detroit's mind now. And this All Seeing Eye person, we only hear rumors. Rumor has it that it is an ex-OCP executive that went nuts in the brain after constructing this unbelievable project. So far, we have neither seen him nor this project he has created. But, hey, enough exposition, on with the story.

Detroit. The worst type of town. At the wheel, Murphy rides stealthily through the night. Every night in Detroit is the wrong night to be out. It feels only a little safer to be with Murphy.

"Hey, Murphy, anything happening on that big transistor radio inside your brain?"

He stares at the road like a man possessed, or dead. Hey, it works for him. Being dead once must work miracles on the emotional department.

"We need to work reconnaissance," Murphy says nonchantly, "these cult members can strike from any time at any place. The possibility they may have a full force attack tonight is 99.98."

Like I said before, a machine. I sit back, letting him do most of the work, when something catches my eye. An explosion at the gas station. The fire licks the streets like some large serpent. However, it is what is happening around the gas station that catches my eye. Three cult members attempting to brand a family of four. The car stops suddenly and Murphy gets out.

"Stay here."

"Yeah, good idea."

He motions to the cultists.

"You there, cease and desist. You are under arrest."

The cult members look at Murphy with the same enthusiasm as he addressed them. With none at all. They advance on Murphy. Murphy takes out his gun like an electric cowboy.

"Stop your actions at once or you will force me to fire."

Believe me, he will. He is about as trigger happy as the LAPD at a Rodney King rally. The idiots still advance on him, thinking he is the biggest fish of all. They run at him only to be greeted by three bullets. One for each of them. In the head. They desist. Permanently. He stares at their dead bodies for a second. What is he trying to see in them? I bet he can probably relate since he got screwed out of life like those three suckers over there. I don't know. That's when I realize it isn't over yet. Murphy immediately goes erect.

"Start the car." he says in his monotonous tone.

I don't know what he is seeing but I go to the driver's seat and set up the car. However, a little too late to move. Twelve cultists have just jumped onto the hood of the car. I should really be batshit crazy afraid right now but I do what my cop code says. I drive the car with them on it. Murphy is firing blindly into the night. These aren't the only cultists. I try to waive them off, I even fire a round or two, but they come out of the darkness like a swarm of mosquitoes to a light. I spin the tires trying to throw more off the car while shooting my gun at all angles around me. Shit, shit, out of rounds. I go to Murphy, but he has his hands full and…oh shit…he's on the ground. Someone knew how to power him down. And that's when my car meets the streetlight ahead.

I wake up next to Murphy in a dimly lit room. Don't take that the wrong way people. I know it was a crazy night but…

"Good evening, brothers and sisters."

And that's when I realize I am as good as dead. Out of the woodwork over a hundred cultists come and in the center of the room, in front of the altar, is the All Seeing Eye himself. The rumors were true that this is an ex-OCP executive. However, the rumors were only told so much. They neglected to mention that his eyes are no longer there…in their place is a giant mechanical, twitching, infrared, super eye.

"Tonight we would like to welcome our distant cousins, Robocop and his officer friend."

I hear the sneers already.

"Hush, we do not need to jeer these upholsters of sin, we must dwell and look hard upon them. If we look hard enough, we can repent knowing that we will never be like them. Never decadent, never unwavering, never unfaithful, never evil in the ways of corporate finance. Do you know that this eye can see everything? I know what you are thinking right now, Ted."

Okay, that was freaky.

"Yes, that was 'freaky.' I know the fear that pervades you right now. What am I going to do with you? I can tell every one of my followers right now to tear you to shreds or let you to go. It all depends on what I am thinking at the time. The only things I can not hear are the thoughts of your friend, Mr. Robocop Murphy. His computer programming is much more complicated than any human mind."

This isn't going to be good.

"Now, I will let you go if only you answer this one question…"

Murphy struggles with his gun.

"No, no. You will not be doing any of that, Mr. Murphy. I managed to… convince them to keep my security clearances, including the one that allows me not to be blown away by a homicidal machine. Now, just sit tight and answer my question."

What, does this guy think he is the keeper of the Bridge of Death?

"Just tell me one thing, Murphy, what is it like to die?"

Murphy doesn't answer.

"What did you see in those moments between your death and waking up?"

Murphy stares long at the altar.

"Let me put it this way, if I shut you down forever, what will you see?"

"I saw…"

He stops and smiles.

"What did you see?"

He doesn't answer. He may still be a machine, but damnit, he knows when not to talk. The All Seeing Eye shakes him, losing his nerve.

"WHAT DID YOU SEE?"

I feel the gun in the back of my head.

"Tell me, or your partner finds out what I have been searching for my entire life."

Now I feel like rooting for the bad guy…till I find Murphy's gun, dropped right next to me. All I have to do is roll and grab it and blow away the son of a bitch. Sounds easy, but what of the hundred followers surrounding me? I don't think they will take it very kindly if I killed their leader. Well, there is the off chance that I do make it…but then again, if Murphy answers the question and the All Seeing Eye gets what he wants…what will happen to us? Very hard to make a decision here.

"I saw…"

Murphy sputters. His system is breaking down. He collapses…conveniently knocking out the gunman in back of me. Okay, decision made easier. I take the gun and I shoot out the eye. The now Non Seeing Eye collapses onto the altar, blood pouring out of his head. I wait for the worst from the followers but they stand perfectly still, like statues in a mausoleum. It was quick. Too quick. Murphy still twitches a little in back but he seems to be regaining his system. I stumble over to the Non Seeing Eye. He twitches but remains perfectly calm. He reaches over to me.

"I could see everything with this eye. The thoughts of young babies when they take their first walk. A dolphin's travels across the unending sea. The molecules inside your hand. But…what I can't see…is what happens…what happens…after…"

Whatever he was searching for, I bet he just found it. Murphy wakes up from his seizure. I help him up.

"Are you okay, Murphy?"

He nods. I ask him a stupid question.

"What did you see, Murphy?"

"Nothing."

He strolls out. At least he still has that black sense of humor.