[02] Full of Ideas

[charmandsmiles.livejournal.com]

[Hello, fellow residents. Have a Doctor, pacing in front of the bar. The CAT is in his hands, video turned on.]

Oi, you lot! Listen up. If your CAT says it's August, it's wrong -- June was eleven months ago. Now, either someone's been tampering with these things on purpose, or there was a bug in the programming. I'm about to find out. Might even clear up a few other things while I'm at it. I'm full of ideas about this case, got a whole list of potential suspects. If anyone wants to swap clues, come find me. Could do with a bit of company.

[filtered to Ten and Brax;]

Speaking of company, I think we ought to move in together. Bit domestic, I know, but it's...lonely, being by myself. 'Course, it's been lonely ever since I blew up Gallifrey. Er...since we blew it up? Blimey, it's odd having a self around all the time. Mind you, I think it's fantastic, even though you're annoying.

[/filter]

[and now he's walking into the bar, looking for Audrey]

Comments

[charmandsmiles.livejournal.com]

[frowns too] I think it is, yeah. What other things should've been explained? And what's not right?

[fortune_sought]

Yes, please, is there more you could tell us about the CATs? I'm afraid I come from a world without any such technology, and I find it all terribly confusing. No one has told us a thing about how to use them!

[luministimods]

But that's the problem! These should have come with a how-to guide to access things like the music player, the video/audio recorder, the temperature gauge--even a little laser light guide for when you want to put up shelves! But that guide isn't here. Not on either of yours. You have the correct model of the CAT device, but the software lacks all the extra drivers and fixtures. I bet you can't even change--[changes the shape of Nine's CAT into its pin form]--well, at least you can do that.

[she falls silent while she plugs away at both CATs] Both of you ought to be able to record messages and live conversations now, except I gave you a tiny little red light instead of the big glowing thing Iussus wanted. Only wanted it that way because he thought the light would be intimidating.

Anyway. [she sighs and hands the CATs back to them] The most important functions on these, you already know how to use. You can message people with a video, strictly audio, or text only, and I've seen plenty of you doing that just fine. But you mentioned something about an unregistered CAT device, huh...? [takes a drink of her water] That's another thing that isn't right. All CATs are supposed to be registered, due in part that there's a little GPS signal inside that tracks your whereabouts. It's part of the reason you can't leave a room without it. It lets any CAT user know where to find you if you go into the Town Directory and look them up. [pulls out her CAT, taps Sophie's name and picture, and it shows a little arrow on the screen pointing at the White Rabbit--then turns it around to show them] See?

But if it's unregistered, then that person can go about as they please and wander around without a CAT. They're virtually untraceable. That is...until they contact a registered user. Then there is a chance they can be traced, but it's awfully difficult.

[charmandsmiles.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Audrey. D'you know why ours haven't got all the bells and whistles? And I'd appreciate a few pointers on tracing an unregistered CAT. I'm very, very good at this sort of thing, trust me. We've got messages to work with. But whoever's been sending these messages isn't the murderer, they're a friend. They don't trust the Sheriff to sort things out, though, that's clear enough.

[fortune_sought]

Yes, they tried to hint to us who the murderer might be. They must know, but, for some reason, think that we need to know more than the sheriff. [blinks] That really is quite odd, now that I think about it... After all, only townspeople have died; not the new residents.

Couldn't the same principle be used to find the murderer? We would simply need to know which CAT was in the location of the murders at the proper time. Is there a way to check that?

[luministimods]

I can't think of why they wouldn't. It could've been reset when that stupid weather systems update went out. Damn program never did work right for me.

I'm not at all surprised they're trying to help you with the investigation. Sheriff Iussus is a good man, but...he's not always too bright. He relies too much on the evidence in front of him and not enough on his intuitive thinking skills.

But truthfully, I'm not exactly sure if there is a way to trace the CAT location on the days of the murders. They only do real-time locations, not past. And Andre's the one you should talk to about tracing CAT signals like that. I only know so much... Sorry. [takes another fry, stuffing that into her mouth. the door opens again and she spins around to see if Andre's there, and it isn't. just another regular. she sighs and starts wringing her hands around her glass, her expression worried]