Turtledove
Register
Advertisement
Shapur Razmara
Fictional Character
"Getting Real"
Set in the Future
Type of Appearance: Direct POV
Species: Human
Nationality: United States
Religion: Islam
Date of Birth: 2070s
Occupation: Police officer
Spouse: Andromeda (divorced)
Children: All unnamed
Affiliations: LAPD

Shapur Razmara was a Lieutenant with the Los Angeles Police Dept. during the 2117 war with China. At the time, he was a twenty-plus year veteran with a stocky build and thick, black hair and mustache just going grey. He was a divorced father. Making only $20,000,000 a month, he could afford to pay any two of: child support, rent, or food at any time.

Razmara was heavily involved in trying to stop the distribution of Real. As the war began, he received a phone call from a citizen reporting a Real user collapsed in front of her residence. He and his partner Sgt. Anastasios Kyriades responded to the call and took the unconscious man to a holding cell in the station.

While waiting for the suspect to regain consciousness, Razmara did paperwork. There was a sudden explosion across the street which knocked out the electricity and air conditioning. As the emergency lights came on, a recorded voice ordered the building evacuated. When he reached the street, he could see the Korean take-out burning with a fighter jet tail sticking out of the roof. Kyriades commented that they were lucky since the plane could have hit the station and killed everyone inside if it had crashed a split second earlier.

Later, Razmara and Kyriades interviewed the Real user. They didn't get much from him. The suspect was unexpectedly lucid and on his guard as Real didn't leave a hang-over. The user did enthusiastically explain how Real was more real than reality. This did not impress Razmara who had him locked up in his own cell rather than return him to the holding tank.

A few days later, Razmara was again doing paperwork when the power went out. This time there was no explosion. His cell phone and the landline on his desk also didn't work. Suddenly an avatar, a Blue Haired Woman, appeared and warned the surprised officers to leave the city, giving them two and a half hours before something bad would happen. The officers elected to head out.

Razmara and Kyriades headed north away from the ocean on foot since no vehicles worked either. They passed a bicycle shop and bought a couple of cheap bikes for a million. While somewhat quicker, the crowds prevented them from travelling as fast as they would have liked.

When they reached Caltech, Kyriades glanced back, swore and stopped. Razmara stopped too and saw that the city was covered by what looked like a giant Pyrex bowl with the leading edge only eight blocks behind them. As they watched, lightning started to lash inside the bowl. Their cell phones began to work but only for calls outside the bowl.

The U.S. Air Force attacked the bowl but it was impervious to missiles. One pilot was too eager and crashed his plane into it with no effect aside from a huge fireball. As Razmara watched, U.S. Army tanks rolled up but their cannon were equally ineffective.

Razmara thought of his ancestors charging European machine-guns on horse back and turned to Kyriades to ask him "How's it feel to be a wog, Stas?". Kyriades didn't get it but Razmara feared that he and the whole country soon would.

Advertisement