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It’s amazing how tenaciously cafeterias hang on to the past. They probably already had mustard eggs here in the days of the first telegraph battalion.
“You know what that means?” asks Michael.
Yasira nods. “Today is Pad Thai Day!”
That’s what Michael always calls it when they skip the canteen and go to the Thai restaurant around the corner.
“Correct!”
At the restaurant, Yasira tells her partner everything she has found out.
“Wait a minute,” Michael interrupts her at one point, his mouth full. “Are you telling me the video is fake?”
Yasira squirts some more lemon over her pad thai.
“I’m just saying it could be. That we haven’t investigated in that direction yet.”
“But Lena Palmer is not fake! She really has disappeared. We’ve talked to her father. You’re not saying she voluntarily took part in this video? That it’s staged?”
“No, try to understand! She wasn’t involved at all. I’m saying it could be that someone just used her pictures to generate this video.”
“But she’s really disappeared,” Michael shouts. He seems to be blocked.
“That’s what makes it so brilliant in a sick way!” exclaims Yasira. “Because Lena is real, because she’s disappeared for real, because they used the image of a real person, it didn’t even occur to us that the video could be fake.”
“I don’t know, Yasira. It seems very far-fetched to me. Why Lena?”
“Because her disappearance already made headlines!”
“But who would be behind this video?”
“Well, who benefits from it? Amateur Faker Dorks, perhaps. Or the Active Homeland-Protection! Bear and his buddies!”
Yasira takes out her phone and shows her partner the videos of the virtual influencer her daughter follows.
“This Mila doesn’t exist!” she exclaims, “Do you understand? Not an actress! Not a role model. Completely computer generated. Made by some nerds on behalf of some advertising jerks.”
“Crazy,” says Michael.
“Yes, gross. I’m not saying I’m definitely right about this, by the way,” says Yasira. “I’m just saying that it’s a path we haven’t looked into yet. And it’s possible.”
“But if you’re right,” says Michael thoughtfully. “Where does it end? How are we supposed to know what’s real and what’s fake?”
CYBER-CHRIS
Christian Baumann from the technical department, nicknamed Cyber-Chris at the BKA, looks up from his computer in surprise when Yasira enters his office. Perhaps he prefers digital communication channels. Yasira wonders whether his friends also call him Cyber-Chris. His family? His girlfriend? Does he even have one? Cyber-Christina? Cyber-Chris could also be the name of a villain in one of those cartoon movies that Zara always watches. Or maybe he’s even the hero who fights the nastyMiss Information? But he doesn’t look particularly heroic. More like one of the conspiracy theorists Agent Mulder was friends with inThe X-Files. The one with the long blond hair and the round, black glasses.
Yasira sits down opposite him and gets right to the point. “How good is video generation software today?”
The man, who is nearly ten years younger, smiles briefly. And somehow Yasira immediately realizes that she’s dealing with a mansplainer. Screw it.
“Have you seen the lastAvatar?” asks Christian.
Yasira nods. Her daughter dragged her into it.
“That’show good video generation software is these days,” says Christian. “No. That’s not even true. It’s almost two years better!”
Yasira rolls her eyes. That was not a helpful answer.
