Robert Sawyer - Fossil Hunter

And then, and then, and then…

Traveling at sixty-seven kilometers per second, it drilled through the Crucible’s atmosphere in less than two seconds, leaving a vacuum hole behind it.

On impact, a lethal shock wave spread for twelve hundred kilometers from the crash site. The comet and much of the target material vaporized completely, electron shells stripped off to form a super-heated plasma. Much of it blew out the hole in the atmosphere, and, in a fraction of a day, enveloped the world above the stratosphere. The planet was plunged into darkness.

In the atmosphere, nitrogen ignited, leading to strong nitric-acid rains.

Forest fires raged across all the continents.

Plant life died on land; photosynthetic plankton expired throughout the seas.

The food chains collapsed.

And, just as I had planned, in a very short time every land animal massing over twenty-five kilograms died, including every single one of the dinosaurs.

The way was paved on the Crucible for the mammals.

Gathgol was used to solitude. After all, he was an undertaker. People didn’t fear death—not exactly—but neither did they like to contemplate it. Being undertaker was a pretty good job. There were only seven thousand Quintaglios in all of Capital province, fully half of them here in Capital City. Gathgol’s services were rarely called for, although he did travel to wherever a death had occurred. More often than not, a death would happen on the hunt—a pack had foolishly gone after a meat-eater instead of a herbivore, or attacked a hornface from the front instead of the rear. In those cases, assuming the surviving hunters had been successful, Gathgol would get to dine on fresh meat before he bundled up the body for the trip to Prath.

These days, though, Gathgol was not getting much solitude. Since the murder of Haldan, he had had many visitors to his small establishment in the holy quarter of town. Today, Sal-Afsan himself had come, along with his assistant, the lanky Pal-Cadool.

“I believe we can determine several things about the person who did the killing,” said Afsan without preamble. He groped for a stool. “For instance, to cut Haldan’s neck at the angle he or she did, he or she would have to be of a certain height. Isn’t that right, Gathgol?”

There was no response.

“Gathgol? Are you still here?”

The undertaker found his voice. “Forgive me, Sal-Afsan. Yes, I’m still here. I’m sorry, it’s just I’m flabbergasted that a savant such as yourself would ask questions of me.”

Afsan waved a hand in the direction Gathgol’s voice had come from. “You are the expert in matters of death, Gathgol. I am no savant in this area.”

“Yes. No. I mean—”

Afsan held up his palm. “Just answer the question as if it were posed by a child, a student. And call me ‘Afsan,’ please. The formal name is just adding to your discomfort, I’m sure.”

“ ‘Afsan.’ But that’s what your intimates call you.”

“Some of them call me ‘fathead,’ ” said Afsan, with a disarming wrinkle of his muzzle, “but the ones who like me call me ‘Afsan,’ yes.”

“Afsan,” said Gathgol, trying the name on for size. Then, again, “Afsan.” There was wonder in Gathgol’s voice; evidently the undertaker had never expected such informality.

“Yes, Gathgol. Now, if you could perhaps answer my question?”

“I’m sorry. Of course. No one could do this while balancing on tippy-toe. Assuming the mirror was held like this—”

“I can’t see you, Gathgol. Please describe what you mean.”

“Sorry. I assume the mirror was held in both hands, outstretched. Doubtless the murderer was holding it by the intact part of the wooden frame, one hand on either side. The mirror was a heavy piece, and one hand would have been inadequate to steady it. The murderer must have lifted it over Haldan’s head, the broken, sharp edge facing in, then brought it down below her muzzle and sliced up into the neck. To do all that, and carve at the angle that was used, the murderer would have to be at least one hundred and eighty centipaces tall.”

“At least sixteen kilodays old, then.”

“Yes, although perhaps a kiloday older if a female. Don’t put too much credence on that, though—these are rough estimates.”

“Sixteen kilodays is pretty young.”

“It’s a pretty young age to die at, too,” said Gathgol, but he instantly regretted speaking the observation out loud. “I’m sorry, forgive me. But that was Haldan’s age, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“A young adult,” said Gathgol. “More than old enough to have taken the pilgrimage, though.”

“Would someone that age have enough arm reach to bring the glass over Haldan’s head?” asked Afsan.

“Arm reach varies from individual to individual, of course. Um, if you’ll forgive my impudence of making an example of you, good Cadool, I’ll point out that you have a much greater reach than is normal for one your age. Your limbs are quite long. Could a person one hundred eighty centipaces tall have managed it if he or she was of average build? Yes, but there wouldn’t have been much clearance. Still, I found no cuts on the upper surface of Haldan’s muzzle, so it must have happened cleanly. And, of course, the killer could have been taller than one hundred eighty centipaces, and, therefore, older. One-eighty is simply the bottom end of the range.”

“Wouldn’t Haldan have seen the glass passing in front of her eyes?” asked Afsan.

“Of course,” said Gathgol. “And she probably swung her head around to look at the murderer. In fact, the swinging of her head, as much as the murderer’s swiping, would have been what carved the neck open. But as she was dying, Haldan would have seen the person who killed her.”

They were silent for a moment.

“What about the glass?” said Afsan.

“As I said before, it was a mirror. Not a great one—the optical qualities weren’t all that good, judging by the fragments, and the metallic backing was uneven. Still, they don’t make mirrors here in Capital City; too much basalt, not enough quartz-rich sand. One that big would have likely been made in Chu’toolar, but merchants distribute many of them each kiloday.”

“There’s no way to be more specific about where it came from?”

“Not really,” said Gathgol. “At least, I can’t think of a way. The frame is unadorned; just plain wood.”

“What kind of wood?”

“It looks like hamadaja to me.”

“Thunderbeast fodder,” observed Afsan. “Found in all eight provinces.”

“Exactly.”

“What about a manufacturer’s mark?”

“If there was one on the glass or the frame, it’s not on any of the fragments we have.”

“Perhaps Novato will have an idea,” offered Cadool. He turned to Gathgol and added, “She used to deal with glassworkers in making her far-seers.”

“Of course,” said Gathgol. “The mirror was incomplete. A large hunk was used to do the killing, and after the deed was done it was dropped on the tabletop, and shattered, but the whole thing wasn’t brought to Haldan’s apartment.”

“And no one heard the sound of breaking glass?” asked Afsan.

“The walls of Haldan’s apartment were thick, of course,” said Gathgol. “You couldn’t have noise leaking from one apartment to the next without creating territorial tensions. Forgive me, but even your own calls for help wouldn’t have been heard if you hadn’t left the main door open behind you. And, of course, the crime took place during the middle of the day; very few people would have been home then, I’d warrant.”