Meteor Systems

Meteor Systems
Type	Information technology firm
Headquarters	Innovation Valley, Pacific Bay, U.S. (main) The Wastes, Pacific Bay, U.S.
Founded by	Albert Tesla (self-proclaimed) †
Leader	Ernest Turing † Teresa Turing † Karen Knight † Alden Greene †
Years active	????–2015
Enemies	Pacific Bay Police Department
Appearance(s)	Season 2 of Criminal Case: Smart Money (first app.) The Final Countdown (last app.)

Meteor Systems is a now-dissolved technology firm featured in the second season of Criminal Case, appearing as a central figure throughout Innovation Valley, Paradise City, and The Wastes.

Events of Criminal Case

Innovation Valley

Smart Money

When the Pacific Bay PD first arrived in Innovation Valley, Chief Marquez cited Meteor Systems as the ones behind many devices used every day. Andrea sent the player and Amy to supervise a party for Meteor Systems celebrating the takeover of a company called Drone Zone. They went to the Drone Zone office, only to find the body of Meteor System's CEO Ernest Turing whose face was stuffed with money. During the investigation, they met several affiliates of Meteor Systems: the head of Drone Zone David Rosenberg, a factory worker named Zhou Li, a programmer who was later revealed to be the co-founder of Meteor Systems Bob Levene, and a robot that Ernest built known as Per-Sephone. At the climax of the investigation, it was revealed that Per-Sephone was behind the murder. Per-Sephone apparently thought to give the victim more money, so she ended up giving it to him by shoving it in his face, inadvertently choking him.

After her trial, Amy and the player decided to look into what happened to Per-Sephone that made her kill Ernest. For more answers, they decided to speak with Bob Levene. Also, it was revealed mid-investigation the victim bought out Drone Zone in order to access its technology, so they searched the office again to find why Ernest was so interested. In their findings with Per-Sephone, they discovered that she had the capability to actually make decisions on her own like a human. When they told Bob about this, he was just as shocked as the team was and decided to look further into this. While in their findings with Drone Zone, it was revealed that Meteor Systems managed to find a way to turn their technology into nanobots, which could prevent people from getting sick. When they told David about this, he was excited to know he was responsible for aiding in the creation of this technology.

With this in mind, Amy and the player decided to go to the park to find more of what Ernest was planning. They ended up finding his last will and testament, and according to Hannah, the entire company would go to his wife Teresa Turing, making her the new CEO. Teresa was glad to know that she would be in charge, although Amy was unsure that Meteor Systems was in good hands with Teresa as CEO.

Uncivil Rights

Midway through the investigation of the murder of Annette Arbor, the player had to interrogate the vice-president of Meteor Systems and ex-wife to Frank, Karen Knight. She had been working together with the victim towards giving robots more rights. But later on, it was revealed Karen was given a memo by the Meteor Systems board of directors to deal with Annette. She explained that Annette was going too far with the Robot Act; Karen wanted them to be accepted so more could be purchased, whereas Annette wanted to give them power which would have hindered sales. But she insisted that she was not responsible for the mayor's murder.

After Annette's killer was arrested, it was discovered that the mayor was given an offer by Meteor Systems. That offer would entail them giving her hundreds of robots to do menial tasks in Innovation Valley. But that would mean more robots than humans would be in Innovation Valley, all produced and controlled by Meteor Systems. Plus the proposal was written by Karen, and she said that the company had everything under control.

Immortal Sin

Chief Marquez informed Amy and the player that Meteor Systems had opened up a new underwater lab. The cops went there on a reconnaissance mission, only to find CEO Teresa Turing underwater and stung by numerous jellyfish.

It was revealed that Teresa was making Meteor Systems research immortality because of her rare terminal disease, even going as far as to build two labs dedicated to studying it: the underwater lab where they researched on jellyfish and an experiment center where a mad scientist named Dr Rascher was researching mind-swapping. Furthermore, the team discovered another helper robot named Aphro-Dyte who was assigned to help Teresa. In the middle of the investigation, Vice President Karen Knight assumed the position of CEO of Meteor Systems and resolved to shut down all of the research started by the victim.

After Teresa's killer was arrested, the team discovered a tank of jellyfish in the underwater lab which (according to Yann) was extremely venomous but was genetically modified to keep the organs intact. However, Aphro-Dyte said that there were no official experiments revolving the jellyfish. Furthermore, the team discovered that Meteor Systems was developing cyborgs: part-organic, part-machine creatures, and that Dr Rascher had already made his dog a cyborg.

At the end of the case, Chief Marquez said that there was a break-in in a Meteor Systems factory.

Programmed to Kill

Amy and the player went to the factory in order to ensure nothing was stolen in the break-in. only to find the body of Meteor Systems programmer Bob Levene, held up by robotic arms with his eyes glowing red and partially eaten up. According to Roxie and Hannah, the victim's blood was crawling with nanobots programmed to eat up Bob's blood cells instead of healing them.

Several suspects were members of Meteor Systems: CEO Karen Knight, robot Aphro-Dyte, mad scientist Dr Rascher, and entrepreneur David Rosenberg. Mid-investigation, numerous citizens (including Amy herself) were stung by nanobots, putting them in a comatose state and turning their eyes red. Frank and the player continued the investigation, wearing special suits designed by Hannah to avoid being stung.

Aphro-Dyte was later arrested for injecting nanobots into humans (including the victim) so they could reprogram their hosts into "humbler beings". Regarding her motive, Aphro-Dyte said she was tired of humans abusing her kind. After being sentenced to 50 years in prison by Judge Dante, she turned herself off and uploaded her mind into the internet. Due to the upload, the previously comatose citizens then began to incite violence. The police cooperated with Meteor Systems to stop the nanobot plague: Karen provided an electro-pulse bomb to deactivate all electrical devices and drive Aphro-Dyte out, Rascher provided a cure for the nanobots, and David provided a drone to administer the cure over a wide range.

At the end of the case, Karen promised to the team that Meteor Systems would slow down its research before they headed to Paradise City.

Paradise City

A Killer Among Us

CEO Karen Knight became a suspect in the murder of heist member Danny Moto. At first, it did not seem that Meteor Systems was involved in the murder but a sketch of an angry Karen behind Danny in his trial for the murder of Louis De Rico proved otherwise. Karen said she attended the trial to ensure that Danny did not give Meteor Systems—where he was an intern before Karen fired him—a bad name.

Later when Frank was tried for the murder, Karen came and hijacked the court, holding Chief Marquez hostage unless the team freed Frank. She and Frank were able to escape from the court and seek refuge in the Wastes.

The Wastes

Into the Wastes

Amy and the player went to the Wastes to follow the fugitives' trail. In the entrance to the radioactive wasteland however, they found Meteor Systems programmer David Rosenberg dead in a puddle of plutonium.

During the investigation, the team found a phone with a video of Karen proving the killer was a Meteor Systems employee. The team then discovered that a few people were working for Meteor Systems in the Wastes: Utopian psychologist Trevor Neuman who was released on behalf of the company, former Army General Freeman, and environmental scientist Jess Prakti. Aside from General Freeman (who was hired to protect David), the new employees were working with David to replicate and study experiments done by a genius scientist from the 1960s named Albert Tesla, who had vanished without a trace. Later, the team arrested Jess for the murder, who said she killed David because the thought transmission machine revealed that he was going to kill all the scientists in order to stop the project.

After the trial, the team found out that Albert Tesla had tried to upload his mind into a supercomputer. Later, they found a satellite view of the Meteor Systems headquarters in the Wastes which they showed to General Freeman so that he could guide them there. Once there however, Karen held the cops at gunpoint and took them as prisoners for the company.

The Sting of Death

Amy and the player were able to escape the prison and then the headquarters only to find Karen dead outside. Agent Z urged the cops to go back to the bunker in order to find the link to Karen's murder and in order to expose the company's evil scheme that could possibly result to the end of the world.

During the investigation, the team found out Dr Rascher was back in order to experiment on a secret project. A few new employees were also discovered: shark expert Trevor Finn (who Meteor Systems took in order so he could take care of their sharks) and Grimsborough businessman and convict Alden Greene (who Meteor Systems hired in order to oversee the secret project). They also found a Computer Interface who was apparently enslaved by the company. Later on, they also found out the GIA, the agency Agent Z worked for, used to work with Meteor Systems to develop alien technology before they cut ties because Karen had breached their agreement.

Through a recording, Karen revealed to the cops that the company was intending to destroy the city and then take over it. Furthermore, the Computer Interface turned out to be no more than Albert Tesla, whose attempts to upload his consciousness into a computer succeeded. He claimed to have brought Pacific Bay to life.

Later on, Amy and the player arrested Alden for the murder of Karen Knight. Before Alden could spill who the mastermind behind the plan was, Frank shot him dead. Frank revealed that Karen stole the plutonium to power the supercomputer so they could upload their comatose daughter onto it before Alden forced her to give her the plutonium. Realizing the destructive intent of Meteor Systems, she wanted to stop the plan. He also said that the kidnapping was orchestrated so the cops would be able to get inside the headquarters.

Meanwhile, the team found out from Dr Rascher that Tesla was controlling Meteor Systems, not the other way around as he claimed earlier. Upon interrogation, Tesla said that he was destroying the city as he was disappointed with the "experiment". He then said that he created a virtual utopia for the people who obeyed him. After this, Frank charged to the wires sustaining Tesla.

The Final Countdown

Amy and the player went to the lookout point to go after Frank. There, however, they found him tied up and shot in the head. Tesla revealed he freed five convicts from the prison and asked one of them to kill Frank. He then proposed to abandon the virtual reality if the player showed him justice by finding out who killed Frank. He then stopped the bombing so the team could investigate on a time limit.

During the investigation, they found an abandoned building containing Tesla's corporeal body. However, Tesla prevented them from unplugging the body from the computer. Later, Tesla provided the cops an opportunity to investigate his virtual utopia. Furthermore, the team were able to find the five convicts freed by Tesla: party hustler Derek Stone, voodoo priestess Erikah Mabayo, Teresa Turing's mother Greta Meduse, disgraced hiker and Amy's ex-boyfriend Bobby Prince, and Blade heiress and Frank's love interest Veronica Blade.

The team arrested Bobby, who confessed to being provided the opportunity to live with Amy in the virtual utopia. After Bobby pointed a gun to them out of anger due to Amy having a new boyfriend, Amy shot him down out of self-defense. Tesla, refusing to accept that the cops had won his "game", continued the bombing after the arrest.

Hannah duplicated a helmet that would get them in and out of the virtual utopia and manufactured a gun that would kill Tesla in the virtual world. After Erikah volunteered to pull them out when needed, Amy and the player confronted Tesla. There, Tesla tried to stop Amy from shooting him and destroying the virtual utopia by bringing back the Knight family. However, the family merely encouraged her to shoot Tesla. Amy shot Tesla twice: once in his digital form and another in his interface form. With Tesla down, the bombing stopped and Pacific Bay was saved.

Known personnel

Founder

Albert Tesla / The Computer Interface (self-proclaimed) †

Heads

Ernest Turing †

Teresa Turing †

Karen Knight †

Alden Greene †

Programmers/Researchers

Bob Levene †

David Rosenberg †

Dr Rascher

Jess Prakti

Trevor Neuman

Other workers

General Freeman
(private security)

Trevor Finn
(shark caretaker)

Zhou Li
(factory worker)

Danny Moto †
(intern; formerly)

Robots

Aphro-Dyte

Per-Sephone