One day at noon, the weather was fine.
After leaving an upscale restaurant, Sutter was assassinated in broad daylight.
The assassin was an unemployed man, a middle-aged white man.
"You made me lose my job and robbed my life of meaning. I want you to pay with your life!" Before dying, the killer pressed a recorder on his body.
"You drove my wife away, made me unemployed. When I went to claim benefits, they said I could only get one-fifth of my original salary. That little money isn't nearly enough to pay off all my debts!"
The killer was shot dead on the spot by more than a dozen bodyguards. There was no way he could have said so much, so he had recorded what he wanted to say in advance.
Sutter returned home in a foul mood.
All along the way, people called him a "butcher" and a "robot."
Of course, many police officers were protecting him as well.
But those officers did not look at him kindly either, because the higher-ups were planning to use Machine War Police to replace them.
They cost less, worked longer hours, required no pensions or allowances, and posed no risk of disobeying orders.
Other industries might delay the use of robots, but the public security sector would certainly prioritize them, just as it had with drones.
More than a decade ago, remote-controlled warfare had still been just a concept.
More than a decade later, in any conflict, if there was no drone support, people would only think it was a fight in some backwater.
If few drones were used, it was a battle between the poor.
Because only the lives of the poor were cheaper than a drone...
When Sutter got home, he saw his girlfriend using the latest toner again.
Half