This Again? Five: “You Lose, You Learn, You Bleed, You Learn, You Scream... You Learn.”
Title: This Again?!?
Fandom: Original Fiction
Chapter Five
Characters: Ariander Micah, Jace Nescar, Sophia Mazil
Rating: PG
Word Count: 5,208
“Tira Mulgaw, show hands and come out, by order of the Protectorate,” Ari shouted, standing to one side of the suspect's doorway, while Jace remained stationed on the stairwell opposite, one flight up, the tip of one boot braced on the rail and the nose of his service phase pistol the only visible signs that he was there. Ari pounded one fist on the locked door and repeated the summons, adding, “This is your last warning.”
The door was opened, in a manner of speaking. From within the boardinghouse flat the officers could hear the sound of a powerful blast weapon charging. A highly illegal blast weapon, they would need to add that to the charges pending against Tira Mulgaw when she was apprehended. Shards of wood panel, door hardware, and bits of the surrounding wall went flying in all directions, showering Ari and 3rd Inspector Haray Franz opposite him with debris. “I am really beginning to hate this woman,” 1st Inspector Micah muttered under his breath. He tapped the Squad com attached to his flak vest and ordered, “Cover all exits, suspect is resisting arrest.”
“No?!? Is she really?” came Jace's sarcastic response from somewhere above Ari's head.
A light triple-tap to his sub-q telecom immediately opened the line between himself and his partner, an upgrade installed to the telecom system that had more than proved worth the considerable personal cost over the past few years. No waiting for lines to clear, no linking to techtypes or plexi pads for connection addresses, no busy signals. Ari had a direct line to his partner's ear just three taps away, and he barely had to raise his voice over a whisper for Jace to pick up his words. “Go high. Plugs in. I'm done fooling around with this particular pain in my posterior.”
“Oh, fun! Boom time!” Jace's excited whisper made Ari smile, despite the stress of the situation. Such little things made his partner inordinately happy.
After placing his own ear protection buds in place, Ari pulled a small round device from his belt. Franz's eyes went wide at the sight and he quickly dug through his belt pouch for his own plugs, and then he prepared himself for a rapid retreat from this level of the building.
One of the perks of being a 1st Inspector in command of the squad; if Ariander Micah determined that explosives were called for in this situation, then there would be explosives, no waiting around for an authorization code for the commander of the 43rd Homicide Squad. He tugged the charge release from the top of the concussive audio grenade cylinder and tossed it through the gaping doorway. When he heard the distinctive 'ting' sound of the grenade hitting the floor and rolling, he dove away from the doorway, down the stairwell and pounded the threads quickly after the scurrying Franz.
Ari heard the thumping of Jace's boots hitting the stairs going up; just before the high pitched whine of the audio grenade engaging hit him. The whine was designed at such a decibel to act as a warning; giving law enforcement personnel a brief window of opportunity to get protective ear pieces in place before the impending damaging sound blast occurred. The 43rd Squad, from long experience, knew that 1st Inspector Micah always set the delay switch at the shortest possible setting; a count of two, and so reacted accordingly: quickly.
The entire building shook on the anticipated count of two, as the audio grenade went off. There was always some concussive damage in the immediate area of the explosion, thus the necessity of the quick retreat by Nescar, Micah and Franz. There would have been no way for anyone in the flat to escape the blast. Ari climbed the stairs, weapon at the ready. Occasionally, a very stubborn suspect, or one very strung out on illegal substances would come out of the blast zone still in motion, deafened and sight impaired, weapons firing. Historically those sort occasionally got in a lucky shot at an unsuspecting Protector, but never on anyone from the 43rd, not since the inception of the division; they were that good.
There was no sign of movement in the dusty rain of debris in the remnants of the room. Ari looked up to see Jace hanging upside down over the railing of the floor above, trying to see into the flat. He shook his head negatively; he saw no movement within the flat either. Ari hit his Squad Com, “Negative movement. Nescar and Micah going in. Franz and Ghilip, backup, cover the stairwell. Suspect is a known illegals user; she might still be standing somewhere in there, out of sight. Careful going, people.”
“She's not still standing,” Jace called out in a cheery sing-song voice a moment later as they crept into the cheap apartment. Their suspect was flat on her back, the power blaster wrapped in her arms, held tightly against her chest. A fine layer of dust and plaster covered her. Ari held his weapon ready and tilted his chin towards the blaster. Jace bent, snatched up the heavy piece of firepower and danced back with it cradled in his arms.
“Franz?”
“Yeah, Micah?”
“Need you in here. Jace has his hands full and we have a second suspect. It looks like we snagged two perps with one little audio grenade.” Ari's eyes were flitting back and forth between the two unconscious suspects, his weapon at the ready.
Haray Franz appeared in the dusty air at Nescar's side. He took in the situation and pulled his lectro shackles from his belt, cuffing Tira Mulgaw. Ari pulled his own shackles and tossed them over to Franz, who caught them and snapped them onto the wrists of Emil Wajali, a suspect in the same crime spree that Tira Mulgaw had been accused of perpetrating. Two of the crimes were murders and thus had landed the entirety of the case in The Pit. The Protectorate's tracking bureau had lost the trail of Wajali a few days prior, and so finding him here was an added bonus for the 43rd Homicide Squad.
Four of the supplementary support personnel they had requisitioned for this raid came into the flat, followed soon after by a heavily armored Information Coordinator Steffi Milla, a heavy-duty field grade plexi pad tucked into the crook of her elbow. She waved her temporary minions in the direction of the subdued suspects and then turned a slow circle, surveying the scene. She clucked her tongue and said reproachfully, “Ari, you made a mess of another crime scene.”
“Not a crime scene, just a suspect's abode. Tira Mulgaw is NOT going to get her security damages deposit back from the landlord here, and I cannot say I am the least bit regretful about that.”
The wrap up of the scene did not take long, though their Public Relations Specialist was having a difficult time calming the building's landlord outside on the street. Ariander did not interfere; he and Jace kept moving towards the Squad's transport. They approached the rear hatchway, where they could see other members of the team at the various tasks involved in closing down an arrest scene.
“Papa, papa, can I keep it?” Jace begged as he followed closely at Ari's heel.
Ari turned to see Nescar lovingly petting the heavy blaster. The waiting list for the department requisition of such a weapon was quite long. Lisage Toobray would never authorize the allocation of funds for one anyway, no Protector really needed that much offensive firepower, not with the advent of the highly effective audio grenades. Hopeful blue eyes turned up at Micah. “Please, Papa, lemmee keep her. I promise to take good care of her, and take her out for walks frequently and give her lots of nice oil rubs.”
“Aw, look at that. I think Nescar has finally found the girl of his dreams,” Torv Ablones said as he leaned down through the hatchway to offer Ari a hand up, hauling the much stockier Squad Commander up with a grunt.
With a heavy sigh, Ari pushed the hair back from his face, he really needed to get a haircut, he thought absently. “If, and I mean if, that weapon has not been used in a violent crime of record, and if it does not come up on the inquiry as the possible murder weapon in any crimes, then I'll talk to SR Toobray about letting you acquire the commandeered evidence on a permanent loan to the 43rd Squad.”
The smile Jace flashed was so wide, it made Ari's cheeks ache in sympathy. Jace scrambled up into the transport and sat on the side bench hugging his new toy. As each member of the team came back to the vehicle, Nescar proclaimed loudly, “Ari said I could keep her.”
Ari gave up trying to argue or add his own disclaimers and conditions to the statement.
Eventually, after many requisitions and affidavits were signed and sworn, Jace was allowed to keep the power blaster. He painted “43” in white lacquer on the barrel, and named her Big T in honor of Tira, the suspect from whom he had appropriated the weapon. Big T had pride of place on two brackets Nescar specially installed on the edge of his work station. And there she sat, just above eye level, keeping watch over The Pit.
2nd Inspector Jace Nescar could be... peculiar... at times.
~*~
As half a moon and then another went by without another incident of reneu or even one bad dream, Ariander set his earlier fleeting concerns about his sanity aside. He had a full caseload to keep him occupied, and soon the weirdness of the Quence moon faded into memory, and the postponed trip out to the Klendaric Institute was all but forgotten. Winter was coming, the Frost moon had started. Though Oolan City was far too temperate for the snows Ari remembered from his childhood in the north, the temperature dropped drastically and the season of wind storms would soon begin.
~*~
The wind was howling loudly outside, and it was loud enough for Sophia to hear it down in the depths of The Freezer, two stories beneath the ground. She stepped over to the wall switch and hit the controls, turning on every overhead light fixture in the cold room, laboratory and the Junior Coroner and Medical Examiner's offices. She had the misfortune this evening of being the on-call Coroner, and had been called in to do an autopsy on a probable homicide. The Homicide Squad needed the evidence to proceed as quickly as possible. It did not really cheer her to know that Ariander had also been rousted from his nice warm bed to work the same case, since that meant he most likely would be working all night and she wouldn't see him, again.
He had asked her to share living quarters with him, reasoning out that they spent so much time working; they shouldn't waste time traveling back and forth between their apartments. She had agreed, and they had been searching for a suitable space for them both, in what little spare time they could find between their two schedules.
There was a clattering noise behind her, and Sophia jumped even though she knew logically, that it was the lift coming down from Intake. The stormy night and the fact that she was alone in the morgue was making her nervous. The lift stopped and the heavy freight doors opened, revealing Jo and Bohb from Intake, who smiled and nodded in greeting as they wheeled the gurney past her.
“Got a weird one for you tonight, Doctor Mazil,” Bohb said, passing her the plexi pad with the preliminary information that had been collected by Intake upstairs.
“Just what I wanted to hear on a night like this. Weird how?” She followed them into the cold room and watched as they shifted the dark corpse carry-bag from the gurney to an exam table.
Jo made a face; he was usually the silent one of the pair, leaving Bohb to answer, “Animal attack, maybe. Nothing like we ever saw, isn't that right, Jo?”
“Nothing like it,” Jo agreed with a solemn nod.
There was a howling rush of sound from the lift as a gust of wind came down the shaft from several stories up. “I don't suppose either of you would like to stay and assist me on this? They couldn't get a lab technician to come in at this hour, not in this weather.”
“We're already off duty, Doctor Mazil; we just brought this one down as a favor to Old Luk upstairs. Sorry.”
“Well, don't worry. I've worked alone lots of times. I can handle it. Good night, boys.”
“Good night, Doctor Mazil. Have a happy Frost Festival,” Bohb called with a wave as he trailed after Jo to the lift.
Sophia waved to them as they loped off back the way they had come. Frost Festival; no small wonder they couldn't get anyone in to assist tonight, even with the promise of bonus pay; the interns would all be off celebrating. Frost Festival was the biggest excuse on Gallia for drunken revelry. Every intern, university student, Protector cadet and junior lab assistant would be off enjoying themselves over the winter break.
With a heavy metal clang of the doors and the rattling sound of a nearly empty lift carrying them up, Jo and Bohb were gone, leaving Sophia alone with her weird case.
Steeling her spine and straightening her shoulders, Sophia crossed the cold room to stand before the corpse carry bag. She lifted a vent mask into place over her nose and mouth, slid an eye shield down over her upper face and ran her gloved finger along the seal of the corpse bag. The sides fell away, and despite her nervousness, Sophia was drawn in by the odd condition of the body before her in the bag.
The legs, arms and head were all intact, and appeared uninjured. The torso and abdomen however, were a torn, shredded, bloody mess. “What happened to you, poor thing?” Sophia whispered. She reached beneath the table to the control panel beneath and depressed the switch to turn on the vidrecorders. She looked up at the closest overhead monitor and stepped back to tug down the vent mask and expose her face for the visual record. “I am 2nd Coroner Doctor Sophia Mazil, today is 13th Frost, 2999. I am preparing to autopsy case #6676766. Subject is male, approximate age of thirty to thirty five years. No identification chip was found on the deceased.” She glanced over at the plexi pad on the exam table behind her. “Credit chit, library user card, and speeder operator's license found in the rear trouser pocket by First Responders belong to a Maxil Predmore. Visual comparison between the speeder stillshot and the victim's face are a positive match.”
Sophia peeled away the body bag and began the long, slow process of describing the deceased for the medical record. The unfortunate Maxil Predmore's last medical exam. “Height, 11 hands and five. Weight, 3 krema, 22 lun. Visual inspection reveals no wounds to the extremities.”
It took quite a while for Sophia to catalog the extensive injuries to Predmore's chest and belly. “My conclusion, based on the pattern of tearing, the saliva residue and the fur found on and in the victim is that Maxil Predmore was the victim of an animal attack, a large animal with long, sharp claws. Blood and saliva samples will need to be analyzed for positive identification. I suspect a kryon, a lais or perhaps a pilo.”
She entered the last of the data she had for her report and then crossed the room to the work station there. Reaching for the techtype, she entered the connection code for the 43rd Homicide Squad through the vidcom, she wanted them to see this for themselves. Predmore's body would be visible on the vidcom behind her. She was startled to see Ariander's weary face as the connection went through. Just seeing his face soothed her nerves and she gave him a cheeky grin. “Answering your own coms 1st Inspector?”
“I sent everyone else for a morning meal. They've promised to bring me back berrybread and a thick choco creamy. It has been a long night over here. Two new homicides, a suicide we have to rule out as a homicide, a speeder accident that Traffic Control is insisting is a case of Vehicular Homicide by an inebriated operator. Practically the whole Squad got called in on bonus pay tonight. How are things at The Freezer?”
“Just the one body, but what a body. Can you see behind me?”
He leaned to the side and looked around her, and drew his head back and blinked in surprise before leaning in again. “Did something... explode out of that person?”
“Apparently something ate him, or at least all the good bits. I've never seen the like,” she gave a shiver as the wind howled again. She flinched a little bit as the lift shaft rattled, the car shifted against the rails by the wind with a clanging noise.
“Creepy. The hair on the back of my neck is standing up. I can hear the wind howling through the vid pickups. You guys must be having a lot of fun over there tonight.”
“Just me. And no. Not having fun.”
“Soph, you're by yourself in the morgue?” concern crept into his voice as he scanned the room behind her.
She shrugged. “I've been alone before. They couldn't get anyone else to come in. Frost Festival revels.”
“Streets full of drunks, all the more reason not to be alone.” She saw just the top of his head as he looked down and away from the screen, and she heard the click of keys being typed, 'poke, poke jab, jab' Ari was a very slow typist, though the sounds came quickly tonight. He looked back up at the screen and she saw concern etched on his brow. “How much longer do you need to stay there?”
“I'm almost done. I just need to put poor Max in the ice tank and file my reports; thirty, maybe forty clicks.”
He nodded, still looking away at what must be a techtype on the work table. “Don't leave. Stay down there in The Freezer, you've got at least three levels of security between you and the street there. Rafela, Stefi and Jace will be there by the time you're ready to leave. Wait for them.”
“You don't have to do that, Ari. Your people have work to do, a lot of work,” Sophia protested mildly, though it was a relief to hear that she wouldn't have to go home alone in the dark.
“My people - our friends - are on their meal break and don't mind coming to get you on their way back here. Jace was annoyed when I told him you were alone over there, he went on a rant about Medical and lack of support staff and your superiors in general, and that is no easily accomplished task via typing into a palmcom, out in the cold, while wearing gloves. You can wait here, have a nice meal courtesy of the 43rd Homicide Squad and then come home with me, you'll have your very own Protector for an escort. Send that autopsy report over, will you? I want to look at it before you leave there, just in case I need more data.”
“Transmitting now. What a horrible way to die. It, whatever killed the poor man, ate his organs. The only mercy is there were no defensive wounds, he didn't struggle much, whatever killed him killed him fast and hard. Let me wrap up, telecom me if you need anything else,” she waved in the direction of her ear, and the sub-q transmitter there. Four taps and Ari's voice would be in her ear, he was that close to her at all times, thanks to the technology.
A few clicks later and his voice was in her ear over the sub-q. “Sophie, I've got a bad feeling. There's something about this corpse. I feel like I've seen something like this before. I don't like it.”
“You're projecting your concern about me onto the case. Step away from it, Inspector. If it is something, you'll remember it when you aren't pushing so hard.”
“Sensible Sophie,” his voice was warm and loving as he said it. “Except when she works alone at night. I'll see you soon.”
She returned to the victim's body and re-sealed the corpse carry bag. With her foot, she released the locks on the wheels and slowly rolled the exam table towards the ice tank, the freezer for which the morgue was nicknamed. Maxil Pardmore was now conclusively identified through blood tests that had been run through the system. It was short work to slide the body into an ice unit to remain until the investigation into his death was concluded.
There was a sound out in the cold room. “Jace? Steffi? Rafela? I'm back here,” Sophia called as she tugged off her gloves and protective outer clothing and threw them in the recycler. “You're early; I didn't expect you for another thirty clicks.”
When she rounded the doorway into the cold room, her jaw dropped. Standing before her with only an exam table between them, perched upright on two spindly legs was a decidedly non-Gallian creature. Too shocked and terrified to move, Sophia clutched the edge of the table and stared at the reptilian looking monstrosity before her. Bipedal, her scientifically trained mind supplied in the absence of all other rational thought. Two long thin arms ended with long hands - not hands, claws - six taloned claws that could easily have caused the strange wounding pattern evident on Maxim Pardmore's body. Each claw had razor sharp points. The head was large, eyes set on the sides, bird like. Tufts of short fur lined the scalp, down the sides of the head, and ran down the thing's arms. It turned its head sideways, tilted one way then the other, regarding her with one tiny, cold, alien eye and then the other. 'Alien,' her brain provided the proper word.
Sophia's brain kicked back into fully functional mode again. She slowly reached her hand up and tapped behind her ear, four times. At the same time, she slid a hand down under the exam table and flicked on the autopsy recorders. She tried to keep the hysteria she felt out of her voice as she said quietly, over Ari's repeated and increasingly loud demands for her to answer him, “Ari. We have a level one alien incursion. Pardmore's killer is here. Now.”
“Get out of there. Sophia. Run! Jace is on his way. Get to the lift.”
There was no way to tell him that she knew she wouldn't make it. She couldn't voice the certainty. The creature had opened its mouth, revealing a double row of wickedly sharp teeth. It was advancing towards her, head swaying from side to side as it kept her in view. She shifted, trying to keep the table between them. Should she shut off the transmitter? Did she want Ari to hear what happened when this thing caught her? He would see, later. The recorders would pick it up, all of it. Her death by alien claws would be well documented for the 43rd to view, review, analyze.
“I love you, Ari,” she reached up and tapped the subcutaneous transmitter off. Then she turned and ran towards the lift, which she heard grinding down through the levels, her friends just a little too late to help her. The hairy reptilian horror gave chase. She could hear the claws clicking on the tile of the morgue floor. She shoved exam tables behind her, trying to put obstacles in the way, anything to slow the creature, to give her a few moments more to get to safety.
It was not to be. The creature gave a shriek that echoed through the corridors of The Freezer, and in one leap, knocked Doctor Mazil to the floor. Powerful legs held her to the floor with ease, the creature would not be thrown off by her struggles. Sophia Mazil was a brave and proud woman. She would not beg for mercy; she knew there was none forthcoming. She had known it the moment she had looked into that single cold alien eye as it assessed her; she had seen her death.
The gaping maw descended, and the end came quickly.
When the lift doors opened, the trio of Protectors found themselves facing a reptilian creature, covered in fresh blood. It threw back its head and shrieked, a war cry, perhaps, or a summons to its fellows that it had found prey? Instinctively, the creature seemed to know that Jace was the imminent threat, that the object the prey fumbled to lift and aim was a weapon. Whipping out its spiked tail, the creature knocked Jace to the ground, his legs swept out from under him. Blood flowing freely from the slashes the spikes had ripped across his limbs. He didn't even have time to scream before the thing crashed down upon him and tore out his throat.
Steffi Milla stumbled back against the wall of the lift. She saw beyond the creature, saw the torn body of Sophia Mazil, blood seeping out around her to puddle on the green and white tile floor. She saw Jace go down. She saw his blood spray in an arc; soon the air was misted nearly pink with the abundance of liquid death in the air. She heard Rafaela’s screams, melded into one long keening screech that ended abruptly as the monstrous killer slashed her throat and bit into her friend's face, tearing away chunks of flesh with double rows of razors.
This was worse than the worst gore pop vid Steffi had ever seen. So much worse. This was real; those were her friends. And that thing was stalking her now, taking slow measured steps towards her. Whimpering in terror, Steffi felt along the wall, trying to get to the control button to start the lift. Her fingers touched it, she pressed. But just as the doors slid up, the creature hurled itself up, springing with powerful legs, slipping between the doors.
~*~
Not long after Sophia Mazil cut off the sub-q transmission to her lover, the remainder of the 43rd Homicide Squad, along with officers culled from the 36th Assault, 28th Traffic and 9th Juvenile Squads arrived, in full combat-ready tactical gear at Medical. They swarmed over the Intake platform at the rear of the building. The doors to the lift stood open, a bloody trail leading from the lift across the loading dock to the Intake work station, which was in complete disarray. Behind the work station, they found what remained of IC Steffi Milla.
Knowing instinctively what they would find below, 1st Inspector Ariander Micah led what remained of his Squad down the stairwell to The Freezer, his jaw firmly clenched. He would do the job. He would find this thing and he would kill it, if it was the last thing he ever did.
But knowing what they would find, and seeing the cold, torn, ravaged bodies of the two people he loved most in the world were two completely different things. It took every bit of training, every last dram of will power, and a nearly overwhelming need for vengeance for Ariander not to drop to his knees and wail at the top of his lungs. As it was, he was shocked into silence, moving on auto pilot, unaware of what was going on around him. Years of habit moved him mechanically through the motions of overseeing the setting of the crime scene, the recording of the evidence, beginning the investigation. But through it all, Ari was vaguely aware that something was not right, there was something off in the morgue, something that he could not name, could not describe. He was not sure what it was. He shoved it aside.
He watched in a detached manner as another Squad came in, brought over from Port Wassi to do the fieldwork on this one. Lisege Toobray leaned into his field of vision, saying words at him, but Ari didn't comprehend them, didn't hear them. He watched as they gently lifted Sophia's mangled body and placed her on a gurney and wheeled her away, following a gurney with Rafaela’s remains, which had followed the gurney with Jace's corpse away, into the cold room.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ari saw something, he turned his head to look, and tried to concentrate on what his mind was telling him he had just seen flash across the doorway towards the stairwell. It hurt to think. It hurt to breathe. Was his work done yet? Did he need to stay aware? Did it matter anymore? What did anything matter anymore?
Ari felt a hand on his arm. He glanced down to see someone he remembered, vaguely. Doctor Weng, or Yeng. Then there was a sharp pinch on his arm and he was toppling sideways, onto his own gurney, being wheeled away to somewhere else.
His last conscious thought was, “This can not be.”
~*~
“Subject number four has once again initiated a Restore,” Researcher Nine called out as he watched the monitors.
“Likelihood of retention?” Senior Researcher Number Seven asked. He was concerned at the inordinate interest Researcher Nine had with Test Subject Number Four. It was troublesome and bordered on impropriety; the junior researcher seemed to be losing his objectivity in this study, a dangerous trend.
Pointing to a graph and series of numbers, Researcher Nine replied, “Percentages have been increasing with each Resolve. This one would anticipate eventual Total Recall, a possibility within the next two Resolves. This is the third self-initiated Restore by this test subject, the twenty first Restore in total.”
Senior Researcher Number Seven frowned. This was troublesome. “Test Subjects Eight and Eleven each declined rapidly after the fourth self-initiated Restores and Resolves. It has been surmised that the Total Recall process led to their eventual mental instabilities.”
As usual, Researcher Nine had a comment to make, “Subject Eight had a history of mental imbalance, prior to the Resolves. Subject Eleven self-Restored after death three times, a considerable strain to the mental processes of any reasonable being. Neither of these subjects possessed the genetic markers present in Subjects Four, Seven and Nine. This one believes Subject Four capable of retaining self after Total Recall.”
“I do not share this belief or certainty, Researcher Nine. However, this one admits that the points are valid, perhaps the unique genetic marker will make a difference in the outcome of the other test subjects.” Senior Researcher Number Seven turned and stalked away to another bank of monitors. Number Seven did not see the small smile of triumph cross the face of Researcher Nine.
Fandom: Original Fiction
Chapter Five
Characters: Ariander Micah, Jace Nescar, Sophia Mazil
Rating: PG
Word Count: 5,208
“Tira Mulgaw, show hands and come out, by order of the Protectorate,” Ari shouted, standing to one side of the suspect's doorway, while Jace remained stationed on the stairwell opposite, one flight up, the tip of one boot braced on the rail and the nose of his service phase pistol the only visible signs that he was there. Ari pounded one fist on the locked door and repeated the summons, adding, “This is your last warning.”
The door was opened, in a manner of speaking. From within the boardinghouse flat the officers could hear the sound of a powerful blast weapon charging. A highly illegal blast weapon, they would need to add that to the charges pending against Tira Mulgaw when she was apprehended. Shards of wood panel, door hardware, and bits of the surrounding wall went flying in all directions, showering Ari and 3rd Inspector Haray Franz opposite him with debris. “I am really beginning to hate this woman,” 1st Inspector Micah muttered under his breath. He tapped the Squad com attached to his flak vest and ordered, “Cover all exits, suspect is resisting arrest.”
“No?!? Is she really?” came Jace's sarcastic response from somewhere above Ari's head.
A light triple-tap to his sub-q telecom immediately opened the line between himself and his partner, an upgrade installed to the telecom system that had more than proved worth the considerable personal cost over the past few years. No waiting for lines to clear, no linking to techtypes or plexi pads for connection addresses, no busy signals. Ari had a direct line to his partner's ear just three taps away, and he barely had to raise his voice over a whisper for Jace to pick up his words. “Go high. Plugs in. I'm done fooling around with this particular pain in my posterior.”
“Oh, fun! Boom time!” Jace's excited whisper made Ari smile, despite the stress of the situation. Such little things made his partner inordinately happy.
After placing his own ear protection buds in place, Ari pulled a small round device from his belt. Franz's eyes went wide at the sight and he quickly dug through his belt pouch for his own plugs, and then he prepared himself for a rapid retreat from this level of the building.
One of the perks of being a 1st Inspector in command of the squad; if Ariander Micah determined that explosives were called for in this situation, then there would be explosives, no waiting around for an authorization code for the commander of the 43rd Homicide Squad. He tugged the charge release from the top of the concussive audio grenade cylinder and tossed it through the gaping doorway. When he heard the distinctive 'ting' sound of the grenade hitting the floor and rolling, he dove away from the doorway, down the stairwell and pounded the threads quickly after the scurrying Franz.
Ari heard the thumping of Jace's boots hitting the stairs going up; just before the high pitched whine of the audio grenade engaging hit him. The whine was designed at such a decibel to act as a warning; giving law enforcement personnel a brief window of opportunity to get protective ear pieces in place before the impending damaging sound blast occurred. The 43rd Squad, from long experience, knew that 1st Inspector Micah always set the delay switch at the shortest possible setting; a count of two, and so reacted accordingly: quickly.
The entire building shook on the anticipated count of two, as the audio grenade went off. There was always some concussive damage in the immediate area of the explosion, thus the necessity of the quick retreat by Nescar, Micah and Franz. There would have been no way for anyone in the flat to escape the blast. Ari climbed the stairs, weapon at the ready. Occasionally, a very stubborn suspect, or one very strung out on illegal substances would come out of the blast zone still in motion, deafened and sight impaired, weapons firing. Historically those sort occasionally got in a lucky shot at an unsuspecting Protector, but never on anyone from the 43rd, not since the inception of the division; they were that good.
There was no sign of movement in the dusty rain of debris in the remnants of the room. Ari looked up to see Jace hanging upside down over the railing of the floor above, trying to see into the flat. He shook his head negatively; he saw no movement within the flat either. Ari hit his Squad Com, “Negative movement. Nescar and Micah going in. Franz and Ghilip, backup, cover the stairwell. Suspect is a known illegals user; she might still be standing somewhere in there, out of sight. Careful going, people.”
“She's not still standing,” Jace called out in a cheery sing-song voice a moment later as they crept into the cheap apartment. Their suspect was flat on her back, the power blaster wrapped in her arms, held tightly against her chest. A fine layer of dust and plaster covered her. Ari held his weapon ready and tilted his chin towards the blaster. Jace bent, snatched up the heavy piece of firepower and danced back with it cradled in his arms.
“Franz?”
“Yeah, Micah?”
“Need you in here. Jace has his hands full and we have a second suspect. It looks like we snagged two perps with one little audio grenade.” Ari's eyes were flitting back and forth between the two unconscious suspects, his weapon at the ready.
Haray Franz appeared in the dusty air at Nescar's side. He took in the situation and pulled his lectro shackles from his belt, cuffing Tira Mulgaw. Ari pulled his own shackles and tossed them over to Franz, who caught them and snapped them onto the wrists of Emil Wajali, a suspect in the same crime spree that Tira Mulgaw had been accused of perpetrating. Two of the crimes were murders and thus had landed the entirety of the case in The Pit. The Protectorate's tracking bureau had lost the trail of Wajali a few days prior, and so finding him here was an added bonus for the 43rd Homicide Squad.
Four of the supplementary support personnel they had requisitioned for this raid came into the flat, followed soon after by a heavily armored Information Coordinator Steffi Milla, a heavy-duty field grade plexi pad tucked into the crook of her elbow. She waved her temporary minions in the direction of the subdued suspects and then turned a slow circle, surveying the scene. She clucked her tongue and said reproachfully, “Ari, you made a mess of another crime scene.”
“Not a crime scene, just a suspect's abode. Tira Mulgaw is NOT going to get her security damages deposit back from the landlord here, and I cannot say I am the least bit regretful about that.”
The wrap up of the scene did not take long, though their Public Relations Specialist was having a difficult time calming the building's landlord outside on the street. Ariander did not interfere; he and Jace kept moving towards the Squad's transport. They approached the rear hatchway, where they could see other members of the team at the various tasks involved in closing down an arrest scene.
“Papa, papa, can I keep it?” Jace begged as he followed closely at Ari's heel.
Ari turned to see Nescar lovingly petting the heavy blaster. The waiting list for the department requisition of such a weapon was quite long. Lisage Toobray would never authorize the allocation of funds for one anyway, no Protector really needed that much offensive firepower, not with the advent of the highly effective audio grenades. Hopeful blue eyes turned up at Micah. “Please, Papa, lemmee keep her. I promise to take good care of her, and take her out for walks frequently and give her lots of nice oil rubs.”
“Aw, look at that. I think Nescar has finally found the girl of his dreams,” Torv Ablones said as he leaned down through the hatchway to offer Ari a hand up, hauling the much stockier Squad Commander up with a grunt.
With a heavy sigh, Ari pushed the hair back from his face, he really needed to get a haircut, he thought absently. “If, and I mean if, that weapon has not been used in a violent crime of record, and if it does not come up on the inquiry as the possible murder weapon in any crimes, then I'll talk to SR Toobray about letting you acquire the commandeered evidence on a permanent loan to the 43rd Squad.”
The smile Jace flashed was so wide, it made Ari's cheeks ache in sympathy. Jace scrambled up into the transport and sat on the side bench hugging his new toy. As each member of the team came back to the vehicle, Nescar proclaimed loudly, “Ari said I could keep her.”
Ari gave up trying to argue or add his own disclaimers and conditions to the statement.
Eventually, after many requisitions and affidavits were signed and sworn, Jace was allowed to keep the power blaster. He painted “43” in white lacquer on the barrel, and named her Big T in honor of Tira, the suspect from whom he had appropriated the weapon. Big T had pride of place on two brackets Nescar specially installed on the edge of his work station. And there she sat, just above eye level, keeping watch over The Pit.
2nd Inspector Jace Nescar could be... peculiar... at times.
~*~
As half a moon and then another went by without another incident of reneu or even one bad dream, Ariander set his earlier fleeting concerns about his sanity aside. He had a full caseload to keep him occupied, and soon the weirdness of the Quence moon faded into memory, and the postponed trip out to the Klendaric Institute was all but forgotten. Winter was coming, the Frost moon had started. Though Oolan City was far too temperate for the snows Ari remembered from his childhood in the north, the temperature dropped drastically and the season of wind storms would soon begin.
~*~
The wind was howling loudly outside, and it was loud enough for Sophia to hear it down in the depths of The Freezer, two stories beneath the ground. She stepped over to the wall switch and hit the controls, turning on every overhead light fixture in the cold room, laboratory and the Junior Coroner and Medical Examiner's offices. She had the misfortune this evening of being the on-call Coroner, and had been called in to do an autopsy on a probable homicide. The Homicide Squad needed the evidence to proceed as quickly as possible. It did not really cheer her to know that Ariander had also been rousted from his nice warm bed to work the same case, since that meant he most likely would be working all night and she wouldn't see him, again.
He had asked her to share living quarters with him, reasoning out that they spent so much time working; they shouldn't waste time traveling back and forth between their apartments. She had agreed, and they had been searching for a suitable space for them both, in what little spare time they could find between their two schedules.
There was a clattering noise behind her, and Sophia jumped even though she knew logically, that it was the lift coming down from Intake. The stormy night and the fact that she was alone in the morgue was making her nervous. The lift stopped and the heavy freight doors opened, revealing Jo and Bohb from Intake, who smiled and nodded in greeting as they wheeled the gurney past her.
“Got a weird one for you tonight, Doctor Mazil,” Bohb said, passing her the plexi pad with the preliminary information that had been collected by Intake upstairs.
“Just what I wanted to hear on a night like this. Weird how?” She followed them into the cold room and watched as they shifted the dark corpse carry-bag from the gurney to an exam table.
Jo made a face; he was usually the silent one of the pair, leaving Bohb to answer, “Animal attack, maybe. Nothing like we ever saw, isn't that right, Jo?”
“Nothing like it,” Jo agreed with a solemn nod.
There was a howling rush of sound from the lift as a gust of wind came down the shaft from several stories up. “I don't suppose either of you would like to stay and assist me on this? They couldn't get a lab technician to come in at this hour, not in this weather.”
“We're already off duty, Doctor Mazil; we just brought this one down as a favor to Old Luk upstairs. Sorry.”
“Well, don't worry. I've worked alone lots of times. I can handle it. Good night, boys.”
“Good night, Doctor Mazil. Have a happy Frost Festival,” Bohb called with a wave as he trailed after Jo to the lift.
Sophia waved to them as they loped off back the way they had come. Frost Festival; no small wonder they couldn't get anyone in to assist tonight, even with the promise of bonus pay; the interns would all be off celebrating. Frost Festival was the biggest excuse on Gallia for drunken revelry. Every intern, university student, Protector cadet and junior lab assistant would be off enjoying themselves over the winter break.
With a heavy metal clang of the doors and the rattling sound of a nearly empty lift carrying them up, Jo and Bohb were gone, leaving Sophia alone with her weird case.
Steeling her spine and straightening her shoulders, Sophia crossed the cold room to stand before the corpse carry bag. She lifted a vent mask into place over her nose and mouth, slid an eye shield down over her upper face and ran her gloved finger along the seal of the corpse bag. The sides fell away, and despite her nervousness, Sophia was drawn in by the odd condition of the body before her in the bag.
The legs, arms and head were all intact, and appeared uninjured. The torso and abdomen however, were a torn, shredded, bloody mess. “What happened to you, poor thing?” Sophia whispered. She reached beneath the table to the control panel beneath and depressed the switch to turn on the vidrecorders. She looked up at the closest overhead monitor and stepped back to tug down the vent mask and expose her face for the visual record. “I am 2nd Coroner Doctor Sophia Mazil, today is 13th Frost, 2999. I am preparing to autopsy case #6676766. Subject is male, approximate age of thirty to thirty five years. No identification chip was found on the deceased.” She glanced over at the plexi pad on the exam table behind her. “Credit chit, library user card, and speeder operator's license found in the rear trouser pocket by First Responders belong to a Maxil Predmore. Visual comparison between the speeder stillshot and the victim's face are a positive match.”
Sophia peeled away the body bag and began the long, slow process of describing the deceased for the medical record. The unfortunate Maxil Predmore's last medical exam. “Height, 11 hands and five. Weight, 3 krema, 22 lun. Visual inspection reveals no wounds to the extremities.”
It took quite a while for Sophia to catalog the extensive injuries to Predmore's chest and belly. “My conclusion, based on the pattern of tearing, the saliva residue and the fur found on and in the victim is that Maxil Predmore was the victim of an animal attack, a large animal with long, sharp claws. Blood and saliva samples will need to be analyzed for positive identification. I suspect a kryon, a lais or perhaps a pilo.”
She entered the last of the data she had for her report and then crossed the room to the work station there. Reaching for the techtype, she entered the connection code for the 43rd Homicide Squad through the vidcom, she wanted them to see this for themselves. Predmore's body would be visible on the vidcom behind her. She was startled to see Ariander's weary face as the connection went through. Just seeing his face soothed her nerves and she gave him a cheeky grin. “Answering your own coms 1st Inspector?”
“I sent everyone else for a morning meal. They've promised to bring me back berrybread and a thick choco creamy. It has been a long night over here. Two new homicides, a suicide we have to rule out as a homicide, a speeder accident that Traffic Control is insisting is a case of Vehicular Homicide by an inebriated operator. Practically the whole Squad got called in on bonus pay tonight. How are things at The Freezer?”
“Just the one body, but what a body. Can you see behind me?”
He leaned to the side and looked around her, and drew his head back and blinked in surprise before leaning in again. “Did something... explode out of that person?”
“Apparently something ate him, or at least all the good bits. I've never seen the like,” she gave a shiver as the wind howled again. She flinched a little bit as the lift shaft rattled, the car shifted against the rails by the wind with a clanging noise.
“Creepy. The hair on the back of my neck is standing up. I can hear the wind howling through the vid pickups. You guys must be having a lot of fun over there tonight.”
“Just me. And no. Not having fun.”
“Soph, you're by yourself in the morgue?” concern crept into his voice as he scanned the room behind her.
She shrugged. “I've been alone before. They couldn't get anyone else to come in. Frost Festival revels.”
“Streets full of drunks, all the more reason not to be alone.” She saw just the top of his head as he looked down and away from the screen, and she heard the click of keys being typed, 'poke, poke jab, jab' Ari was a very slow typist, though the sounds came quickly tonight. He looked back up at the screen and she saw concern etched on his brow. “How much longer do you need to stay there?”
“I'm almost done. I just need to put poor Max in the ice tank and file my reports; thirty, maybe forty clicks.”
He nodded, still looking away at what must be a techtype on the work table. “Don't leave. Stay down there in The Freezer, you've got at least three levels of security between you and the street there. Rafela, Stefi and Jace will be there by the time you're ready to leave. Wait for them.”
“You don't have to do that, Ari. Your people have work to do, a lot of work,” Sophia protested mildly, though it was a relief to hear that she wouldn't have to go home alone in the dark.
“My people - our friends - are on their meal break and don't mind coming to get you on their way back here. Jace was annoyed when I told him you were alone over there, he went on a rant about Medical and lack of support staff and your superiors in general, and that is no easily accomplished task via typing into a palmcom, out in the cold, while wearing gloves. You can wait here, have a nice meal courtesy of the 43rd Homicide Squad and then come home with me, you'll have your very own Protector for an escort. Send that autopsy report over, will you? I want to look at it before you leave there, just in case I need more data.”
“Transmitting now. What a horrible way to die. It, whatever killed the poor man, ate his organs. The only mercy is there were no defensive wounds, he didn't struggle much, whatever killed him killed him fast and hard. Let me wrap up, telecom me if you need anything else,” she waved in the direction of her ear, and the sub-q transmitter there. Four taps and Ari's voice would be in her ear, he was that close to her at all times, thanks to the technology.
A few clicks later and his voice was in her ear over the sub-q. “Sophie, I've got a bad feeling. There's something about this corpse. I feel like I've seen something like this before. I don't like it.”
“You're projecting your concern about me onto the case. Step away from it, Inspector. If it is something, you'll remember it when you aren't pushing so hard.”
“Sensible Sophie,” his voice was warm and loving as he said it. “Except when she works alone at night. I'll see you soon.”
She returned to the victim's body and re-sealed the corpse carry bag. With her foot, she released the locks on the wheels and slowly rolled the exam table towards the ice tank, the freezer for which the morgue was nicknamed. Maxil Pardmore was now conclusively identified through blood tests that had been run through the system. It was short work to slide the body into an ice unit to remain until the investigation into his death was concluded.
There was a sound out in the cold room. “Jace? Steffi? Rafela? I'm back here,” Sophia called as she tugged off her gloves and protective outer clothing and threw them in the recycler. “You're early; I didn't expect you for another thirty clicks.”
When she rounded the doorway into the cold room, her jaw dropped. Standing before her with only an exam table between them, perched upright on two spindly legs was a decidedly non-Gallian creature. Too shocked and terrified to move, Sophia clutched the edge of the table and stared at the reptilian looking monstrosity before her. Bipedal, her scientifically trained mind supplied in the absence of all other rational thought. Two long thin arms ended with long hands - not hands, claws - six taloned claws that could easily have caused the strange wounding pattern evident on Maxim Pardmore's body. Each claw had razor sharp points. The head was large, eyes set on the sides, bird like. Tufts of short fur lined the scalp, down the sides of the head, and ran down the thing's arms. It turned its head sideways, tilted one way then the other, regarding her with one tiny, cold, alien eye and then the other. 'Alien,' her brain provided the proper word.
Sophia's brain kicked back into fully functional mode again. She slowly reached her hand up and tapped behind her ear, four times. At the same time, she slid a hand down under the exam table and flicked on the autopsy recorders. She tried to keep the hysteria she felt out of her voice as she said quietly, over Ari's repeated and increasingly loud demands for her to answer him, “Ari. We have a level one alien incursion. Pardmore's killer is here. Now.”
“Get out of there. Sophia. Run! Jace is on his way. Get to the lift.”
There was no way to tell him that she knew she wouldn't make it. She couldn't voice the certainty. The creature had opened its mouth, revealing a double row of wickedly sharp teeth. It was advancing towards her, head swaying from side to side as it kept her in view. She shifted, trying to keep the table between them. Should she shut off the transmitter? Did she want Ari to hear what happened when this thing caught her? He would see, later. The recorders would pick it up, all of it. Her death by alien claws would be well documented for the 43rd to view, review, analyze.
“I love you, Ari,” she reached up and tapped the subcutaneous transmitter off. Then she turned and ran towards the lift, which she heard grinding down through the levels, her friends just a little too late to help her. The hairy reptilian horror gave chase. She could hear the claws clicking on the tile of the morgue floor. She shoved exam tables behind her, trying to put obstacles in the way, anything to slow the creature, to give her a few moments more to get to safety.
It was not to be. The creature gave a shriek that echoed through the corridors of The Freezer, and in one leap, knocked Doctor Mazil to the floor. Powerful legs held her to the floor with ease, the creature would not be thrown off by her struggles. Sophia Mazil was a brave and proud woman. She would not beg for mercy; she knew there was none forthcoming. She had known it the moment she had looked into that single cold alien eye as it assessed her; she had seen her death.
The gaping maw descended, and the end came quickly.
When the lift doors opened, the trio of Protectors found themselves facing a reptilian creature, covered in fresh blood. It threw back its head and shrieked, a war cry, perhaps, or a summons to its fellows that it had found prey? Instinctively, the creature seemed to know that Jace was the imminent threat, that the object the prey fumbled to lift and aim was a weapon. Whipping out its spiked tail, the creature knocked Jace to the ground, his legs swept out from under him. Blood flowing freely from the slashes the spikes had ripped across his limbs. He didn't even have time to scream before the thing crashed down upon him and tore out his throat.
Steffi Milla stumbled back against the wall of the lift. She saw beyond the creature, saw the torn body of Sophia Mazil, blood seeping out around her to puddle on the green and white tile floor. She saw Jace go down. She saw his blood spray in an arc; soon the air was misted nearly pink with the abundance of liquid death in the air. She heard Rafaela’s screams, melded into one long keening screech that ended abruptly as the monstrous killer slashed her throat and bit into her friend's face, tearing away chunks of flesh with double rows of razors.
This was worse than the worst gore pop vid Steffi had ever seen. So much worse. This was real; those were her friends. And that thing was stalking her now, taking slow measured steps towards her. Whimpering in terror, Steffi felt along the wall, trying to get to the control button to start the lift. Her fingers touched it, she pressed. But just as the doors slid up, the creature hurled itself up, springing with powerful legs, slipping between the doors.
~*~
Not long after Sophia Mazil cut off the sub-q transmission to her lover, the remainder of the 43rd Homicide Squad, along with officers culled from the 36th Assault, 28th Traffic and 9th Juvenile Squads arrived, in full combat-ready tactical gear at Medical. They swarmed over the Intake platform at the rear of the building. The doors to the lift stood open, a bloody trail leading from the lift across the loading dock to the Intake work station, which was in complete disarray. Behind the work station, they found what remained of IC Steffi Milla.
Knowing instinctively what they would find below, 1st Inspector Ariander Micah led what remained of his Squad down the stairwell to The Freezer, his jaw firmly clenched. He would do the job. He would find this thing and he would kill it, if it was the last thing he ever did.
But knowing what they would find, and seeing the cold, torn, ravaged bodies of the two people he loved most in the world were two completely different things. It took every bit of training, every last dram of will power, and a nearly overwhelming need for vengeance for Ariander not to drop to his knees and wail at the top of his lungs. As it was, he was shocked into silence, moving on auto pilot, unaware of what was going on around him. Years of habit moved him mechanically through the motions of overseeing the setting of the crime scene, the recording of the evidence, beginning the investigation. But through it all, Ari was vaguely aware that something was not right, there was something off in the morgue, something that he could not name, could not describe. He was not sure what it was. He shoved it aside.
He watched in a detached manner as another Squad came in, brought over from Port Wassi to do the fieldwork on this one. Lisege Toobray leaned into his field of vision, saying words at him, but Ari didn't comprehend them, didn't hear them. He watched as they gently lifted Sophia's mangled body and placed her on a gurney and wheeled her away, following a gurney with Rafaela’s remains, which had followed the gurney with Jace's corpse away, into the cold room.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ari saw something, he turned his head to look, and tried to concentrate on what his mind was telling him he had just seen flash across the doorway towards the stairwell. It hurt to think. It hurt to breathe. Was his work done yet? Did he need to stay aware? Did it matter anymore? What did anything matter anymore?
Ari felt a hand on his arm. He glanced down to see someone he remembered, vaguely. Doctor Weng, or Yeng. Then there was a sharp pinch on his arm and he was toppling sideways, onto his own gurney, being wheeled away to somewhere else.
His last conscious thought was, “This can not be.”
~*~
“Subject number four has once again initiated a Restore,” Researcher Nine called out as he watched the monitors.
“Likelihood of retention?” Senior Researcher Number Seven asked. He was concerned at the inordinate interest Researcher Nine had with Test Subject Number Four. It was troublesome and bordered on impropriety; the junior researcher seemed to be losing his objectivity in this study, a dangerous trend.
Pointing to a graph and series of numbers, Researcher Nine replied, “Percentages have been increasing with each Resolve. This one would anticipate eventual Total Recall, a possibility within the next two Resolves. This is the third self-initiated Restore by this test subject, the twenty first Restore in total.”
Senior Researcher Number Seven frowned. This was troublesome. “Test Subjects Eight and Eleven each declined rapidly after the fourth self-initiated Restores and Resolves. It has been surmised that the Total Recall process led to their eventual mental instabilities.”
As usual, Researcher Nine had a comment to make, “Subject Eight had a history of mental imbalance, prior to the Resolves. Subject Eleven self-Restored after death three times, a considerable strain to the mental processes of any reasonable being. Neither of these subjects possessed the genetic markers present in Subjects Four, Seven and Nine. This one believes Subject Four capable of retaining self after Total Recall.”
“I do not share this belief or certainty, Researcher Nine. However, this one admits that the points are valid, perhaps the unique genetic marker will make a difference in the outcome of the other test subjects.” Senior Researcher Number Seven turned and stalked away to another bank of monitors. Number Seven did not see the small smile of triumph cross the face of Researcher Nine.