"Thisisall I've discovered a gas leek and had to leave the building. Secure premises until I return. Can you find the source of the leak?"
"It seems to be coming from one of the gas lines going to the gas generator, professor." Scientists had figured out how to produce carbon monoxide cheaply from CO2 and then they had found another equally cheap way to turn the CO into propane about a decade earlier. Now almost everyone used propane to generate electric power without having to rely on the power grid much. The bigger power plants were now mostly used for research.
"I have already shut off the gas professor and I'm venting the bad air, are you alright?" She asked
"I'm fine, Thisisall. Good job. I will be back in about a half hour. Can you have it vented by then?"
" Of course, professor" she said but he knew that something was wrong. She also had sensors and she should have detected the leak before it got so high.
As professor Xapo was crossing the lawn he almost tripped over an incoming robocat. The robocats were about the same size and had the same body mechanics as a domestic cat but they were much smarter. A robocats had to know the entire city including all the alleyways and other shortcuts. Including where the biodogs(regular dogs) were located. Robocats were used to deliver cryptocurrency payments in large amounts and were both completely secure and untraceable.
Upon seeing him the robocat recognised him, slowed and let out an electronic meow. Each robocat had it's own special markings and name. If you called a robocat by the wrong name it would disappear back the way it came. "Here Crackle!" He called. Crackle purred softly and walked up to him.
He picked up the robocat and hailed a smartcab. There was a teen sitting in the back already and the smartcab said "I have to drop her off first downtown, would you like to wait or ride along?" Apparently she didn't mind because she just smiled. "Yes that will be fine. The place I'm going is downtown." Xapo consulted his wristwatch and cancelled the Emergency call. If this was what he thought, his only hope was to find the kind of hackers who didn't make need to consult lawbooks before they acted.
The teen he was riding with was one of the new experimental mods and she had thick fur instead of clothing. Someone might think of this as an invitation but she was also extremely strong and had sharp claws instead of nails. Because the new mods were so common the notion of race was not very dominant in there minds as you couldn't usually tell what color their skin was through their thick fur. Also the issue of homelessness want as important as they were often more comfortable sleeping outside anyways.
"That's a cute robocat" the mod said. "Her name's Crackle" he said. She reached over and pet the robocat. The cat purred in response. He noticed that there seemed to be a cop car following but was not flashing any lights. "That's odd" he said to himself.
To be continued...