 The velocity of the ball rolling around the room mirrored the speed of Bavaria. Her quick, agile movements proved to be just enough to capture the tiny, red round thing. By being a thoroughbred German Shepherd, her coat of black and brown shimmered in the light. When she raced back and forth she made the man responsible for her gleeful. Such existence of virtually no crime prompted this activity.

In Smartystan, people busied themselves so much, there was no time for committing breaches of the legal system. Sergeant Gray Boulson, twenty-eight, with blonde nearly cropped hair and bluish eyes, picked up the ball and held it. Bavaria noticed this and sat. She perceived the cessation of the ball’s movement and just sat there. Boulson smiled. It was a short little smirk recognizing his command over the beast.

For a place like this to stand, it took the police force nonetheless. Like throwing your guns away, this would be the same act if the cops disappeared.

There had to be some semblance of justice at all times. Boulson kept his uniform smart and trim. If a thread became loose, he pinched it off with a pair of nail clippers. His boots shined with the intensity of a starry night. 

Cops like him didn’t pray for chaos. When the SuperSynth attack occurred, this was the largest example of a show of force the place had ever experienced. The fire at the voter registration building became an anomaly. The fact no one was seriously hurt, including the private fire responders, attested to the quick actions and professionalism displayed by the men and women in uniform. Protection of the city-state became a top priority for President Goshen. Police functioned as patrollers and didn’t even carry guns on their person. 

Smartystanians walked the streets with their own guns both concealed and in plain sight. Despite the tranquility, officers trained daily just in case there would be some domestic criminals prowling about the premises. Behind the gates, peace reigned supreme. Police chief, Dalana Keywell, wore a white shirt with glistening eagles on her lapel. She wore midnight blue trousers and affixed her badge with such intricate detail, that it never looked crooked or missed where it needed to lay. In her office, she could hear the ball resume its activity and hear Bavaria’s slight panting.

Everyone in the K-9 unit adored their boss. She poured a cup of coffee and walked around the Alabama marble floors. As she sat back down, she sipped the Colombian coffee with aplomb. To consider the fact this station had never had to pursue a serial killer, a bank robber, or credit card scammer enlivened her. A concern of whether she could keep coffee off her pristine uniform remained just that. 

With a brain chip occupying her head, she often viewed the news and kept chocolates to balance the acidity of the drink. Boulson kept bouncing the ball in Bavaria’s direction. Chief Keywell, dark-skinned and military trained, focused on the day’s topics. Her ebony eyes darted over data. As the ball bounced in the adjacent office, a feeling of assurance washed over her with every line of information that sprung up from the monitor in her mind. 

She arose and could see through the glass Bavaria chase back and forth the rubber scarlet sphere. She grinned after a sip. Time seemed to move quickly, despite the call every now and again over some domestic dispute. These remained rare, even. Also, the nature of the arguments stayed in the realm of ideas and not fists, whips, or guns. Chief Keywell looked at the other staff. Lieutenant Kayden Varney, a twenty-year veteran of the force, cracked jokes with ease. He looked tallish and showed gray at his temples. He had been Dalana’s pick for the next in line to follow her. In her twenty-two years as a cop, she had experienced the turmoil of Wilmington, Delaware streets in times that had not been so peaceful. She and Varney had been partners when the streets looked like a wasteland. A beacon of hope, Smartystan provided a comfort for those who wished to live their lives free from the fetters of oppression and indecision.

Varney wore a white shirt, too, though not as spiffy as his boss’. His jocular nature matched with Officer Kennedy O’Cordry. He was white and on the short side but a bundle of energy. The idea of Varney and O’Cordry trading one-liners seemed to be the only instances where the excitement came during the day. Dalana delighted in this. As if drawn to the humor and repelled at the same time, she sought to just glance at Varney and give him that look. It appeared as a reminder that in spite of the fact the phones didn’t ring, the cops still had to function on the clock. Varney’s smile disappeared.

He cleared his throat and sat with Sergeant Holder Lansky. He was jacked. With the skin the color of teakwood and muscles nearly bursting through his sleeves, he stopped smiling when he saw Dalana and Varney’s faces. A ten-year veteran, he had known the Old Delaware, too. No more reports of missing children, teens shot in the back, bodegas being raided, or drug deals gone awry, all of this had been wiped out when those gates closed. 

Concerns over people crossing the border from Maryland and Pennsylvania became primary. They, though, didn’t view such activity as real crimes. People, for the most part, wanted to absorb themselves into the fabric of this new-fangled society. The police of Troop 2205 made it their business to ensure only folks with proper credentials crossed over to the small nation. Now, of course, some people had no digital forms and just wanted to breathe free air. Work abounded in the place and made it simpler for the rest of the Smartys to take this area from an idea to a functioning metropolis.

Dalana wanted her staff to take seriously their roles as purveyors of justice nonetheless. Her awareness of Officer Lansky’s role as head of intelligence gave her satisfaction. Before she rose through the ranks, she knew him as a beat cop that handed out citations. Lansky doled out tickets but also saw action. In a street war, he had made his presence evident when he fired his first shots at someone aiming his weapon at a police dog named Tixby. He eliminated that threat with precise execution. Those days seemed like eons ago. Lansky now talked with Sergeant Boulson. Lieutenant Varney drew his own cup of coffee. He paced in his office. Dalana smiled. With a quick turn in her seat, she sat up and looked at more news. The last component to her staff came in a fair-skinned officer named Corporal Leslie Servona. She had gray-green eyes and hair tied into a donut bun. By all accounts she had been the rookie on the squad, compared to everyone else’s years in activity. In her time, she had seen the worst Wilmington had to offer, too. With the advent of the city-nation, yet, she excelled at her craft though she suffered from post traumatic stress disorder. To have Bavaria around the office, she felt a sense of comfort if not outright joy. Unmitigated happiness didn’t come easy for Officer Servona, but she persevered in the face of her own fractured mind state. Her condition didn’t prove to be severe, so she stayed on the force. Bavaria’s presence contributed to her own sense of self-worth and enjoyment of animals.

This unit supplied Smartystan with its most vital protection. They became the guardians of a place that required little to guard.  Leslie needed no further instruction from any of her superiors. She just knew. In her twenty-four years as a cop, she grew hungrier and wanted more out of the role. Her eyes set on the chief’s position. Within her, she knew that with a few years’ time and excellent service, she would be amongst the superior ranks. A glow seemed to shine in her mind as she contemplated leading an office like Dalana. Leslie, though, didn’t want to be “like” anyone else, however. She wanted to stake her own claim in the world and pursue her interests with a bruising determination. She looked at her brain chip and noticed how a group of people congregated around the police headquarters.

Not alarming, but still curious, the group multiplied within just a few moments. Chief Keywell noticed this as well. Sergeant Lansky simply used the Active Denial System (ADS) to cause the crowd to disperse. More people just stood outside and showed not force, but an eerie sense of just standing there. The men and women of Troop 2205 observed all of this and reported.

Their aim rested in non-lethal methods throughout this whole time. Lansky turned off the ADS and then the people just turned around and walked back to their homes and places of business. 

This peculiar act sparked interest in the minds of the police officers. They had in their thoughts notions of previous uprisings turning bloody and monstrous. Fortunately, this time, no one received any clubs to the head or got sent out on a stretcher. The oddity of this action appeared to be not lost on the cops. Blank stares at each other elicited a weird sense of wonder and as if the whole thing had never been a threat. 

Boulson took Bavaria out for a walk. Sunny and bright, the streets had cleared totally. Bavaria sniffed around and found no traces of drugs or paraphernalia. Given that all substances had been decriminalized and legalized Officer Boulson suspected a vial, a stem, a needle…anything to indicate these citizens had been high and wanted to storm the police station.

Such proved not to be the case. The dog and walker traversed over the city landscape with an air of suspicion tinged with doubt. Though it seemed out of place, Boulson reminded himself that it probably was just some new viral video challenge. Bavaria did her business and they walked back to the headquarters.

When they opened the door, there seemed to be an air of activity going on in the place. Fresh from their walk, Boulson and Bavaria walked into a storm of officers scurrying about everywhere. He looked at the chief who was talking into her brain chip at a rapid pace. Other officers ran past him. Bavaria stayed silent. The officers grabbed guns and protective gear. Now, Boulson knew something was happening but he had no clue what. Lansky offered him a rifle and a helmet and round resistant vest.

Without hesitation, Boulson gathered his side arm and placed the vest over himself. He then wrapped Bavaria’s vest around her as well. Chief Keywell then looked at her staff and dropped her head. She had become inundated with information that somewhere someone had instructed the citizens to rush all military and police installations across the city-nation-state. Looks of disbelief seemed like murky waters, unclear and muddled. An air that something like this could happen remained at the forefront of the minds of the officers.

In keeping with their code, they had still prepared for something like this to occur. Riot gear became the uniform of the day. Bavaria barked. She paced and panted and finally sat at the command issued by Sergeant Boulson. The officers vacated the space. The K-9 unit vehicle became their mode of transportation. Each maneuver through the platinum and diamond streets produced even more potential for peril. Bavaria stayed quiet. The row of police cars rolled out of the garage. A few corporals stayed back with Lieutenant Varney as he commanded the office in Chief Dalana Keywell’s absence.

Like a reverse funeral procession, the cars stormed out of their parking spots. Where they were headed, Sergeant Boulson could only guess. He followed orders like a sentry from some far gone era. The calmness of Bavaria in the back gave a sense of assurance to the veteran cop.

Chintan Jani

Smartystan

The Beast

 The velocity of the ball rolling around the room mirrored the speed of Bavaria. Her quick, agile movements proved to be just enough to capture the tiny, red round thing. By being a thoroughbred German Shepherd, her coat of black and brown shimmered in the light. When she raced back and forth she made the man responsible for her gleeful. Such existence of virtually no crime prompted this activity.



Smartystan

The Beast

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About the Creator

Skyler Saunders

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Smartystan

The Beast

This is an Exclusive Story for supporters of .css-13w9qce-Text{display:inline-block;color:var(--text-accent);}Skyler Saunders

About the Creator

Skyler Saunders

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Reason First: Tekashi 6ix9ine's Mother Held At Gunpoint During Frightening Home Invasion

This is an Exclusive Story for supporters of Skyler Saunders