Brian Stableford - Asgard's Secret

When I didn’t answer her question, Susarma Lear looked over her shoulder, following my gaze. She smiled too, but the peace-officers ignored her as they leapt from the slow-moving strip on to solid ground.

“Are you Michael Rousseau, sir?” the spokesman said to me.

“Whatever it is,” I said, “I didn’t do it. I just this minute got out of jail.”

“You are not under suspicion of having committed any crime, sir,” the Tetron informed me, dutifully. “However, we are investigating a multiple murder, and your name has been recently linked with several of the deceased persons. This necessitates my asking you some questions. It will not be necessary for you to accompany us to our offices, provided that you have no objection to our recording your answers here.”

The star-captain was giving me a rather peculiar look, as if she were wondering whether she’d accidentally conscripted Jack the Ripper.

“Who’s dead this time?” I asked.

“Seven people have been killed,” the policeman told me. “Three are vormyr, one is a Spirellan, one a human and two are Zabarans. Three of the persons gave evidence at your recent trial, testifying that you murdered Mr. Atmanu in their presence.”

It didn’t take a mathematical genius to work out who one of the victims must be. “Balidar’s been murdered?” I said, weakly. “Heleb too?” I added, optimistically.

“Simeon Balidar is the dead human,” the peace-officer confirmed. “The Spirellan named Lema also testified at your trial, as did the Zabaran Shian Mor.”

I was disappointed to hear that Heleb wasn’t numbered among the dead, but I felt free to hope that he might be grief-stricken about his little brother. “I was in jail,” I repeated. “My every word has been monitored for the last five days. You know that I couldn’t have had anything to do with it.”

“I have already confirmed that you are not under suspicion,” the Tetron reminded me, frowning as only a Tetron can frown. “All I need to know is whether you know anything that would cast light on the motive for the crime. Since you had nothing to do with it, you might perhaps be able to tell us whether anyone else had a motive.”

“Right,” I said. “As it happens, I do. The dead men were participants in a conspiracy to frame me for the murder of the Sleath, Atmanu. The conspiracy has just gone awry, so the person who hired them is probably trying to clear up the evidence of his crime. His name is Amara Guur. He’s not one of the dead vormyr, I presume?”

The peace-officer didn’t seem too happy about the content of my statement, but he recorded it meekly. “Amara Guur is not among the deceased,” he confirmed.

“Pity,” I said. “He’s your man, then. He’s already been responsible for one murder that I know of. I have no doubt at all that he’s also responsible for these. I suggest that you arrest him immediately.”

“Do you have any evidence to support what you say, sir?” the peace-officer asked, dutifully.

“Absolutely,” I said. “The best evidence there is. I know that I didn’t murder the Sleath, and that all the witnesses at my trial committed perjury in order to force me to sign a contract drawn up by Amara Guur. You should arrest a woman named Jacinthe Siani as well as Guur—she’s a Kythnan. If you put your minds to it, you’ll have the entire puzzle unraveled by nightfall.”

The star-captain obviously wanted to get a move on. “Have you finished with this man?” she asked. “If not, you’ll have to deal with me. He’s a trooper in the Earth Star Force, and I’m his commanding officer. As it happens, I was hoping to talk to your commanding officer. I need your help to ascertain the whereabouts of a stolen vehicle and apprehend the thief. It’s a matter of some urgency.”

“I fear that I am presently engaged in a murder enquiry,” the Tetron replied. “If you care to call at our headquarters, one of our officers will record your complaint and will doubtless do his best to assist you. The central police station on the far side of the plaza.” He turned and pointed.

“Crucero,” the star-captain said to her lieutenant. “Get over there and see what you can do to get some action out of these jumped-up monkeys.”

I winced. All three peace-officers were Tetrax—perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not—and they were standing close enough to hear what she’d said. Even though she’d said it in English, they had it on tape. When they played it back, they’d be sure to have it translated—and they wouldn’t like it one little bit.

I waited until they’d jumped back on the strip and had been carried away before saying, “You might want to be careful about remarks like that, Captain. The Tetrax can be touchy. They never show it, but rumour has it that they hold grudges for a long time.”

“They’ll help us,” she assured me. “Their friends on the satellite are very interested in my cargo.”

“The spoils of Salamandra?” I said. “Why would they be interested in loot picked up from the devastated homeworld of some barbarian species from way along the rim?”

Her eyes were pure Medusa. “I’m asking the questions, Russell,” she reminded me. “You’re wasting time. How do we get started chasing that android?”

“If you really want to make a move,” I said, “we should probably start at my place. That’s where he got the keys to my lock-up, and the truck. Perhaps he left a note to apologise—maybe even to explain. At any rate, I’d like to find out what else he stole. Also, I’m hungry—and I think your men might be hungry too.”

“I’ll worry about my men,” she said. “They’re soldiers. But you’re right. If that’s where the trail starts, we should check it out. By the way, you were lying to the peace-officers, weren’t you? You don’t have the least idea who killed all those people.”

“Actually, I’ve got a pretty good idea who killed them,” I said. “But yes, I was lying—I can’t believe that Amara Guur slaughtered seven of his own people. What I can believe is that he’ll be even madder when Jacinthe Siani tells him the bad news about me than he was when he found out that someone else had started gunning down his henchmen. It would be nice to think that the peace-officers might take him in for questioning, although they’re probably a bit too scrupulous about matters of evidence to do it on my say-so. Shall we go?”

Her Medusa stare was mingled with curiosity. She didn’t know quite what to make of me. She didn’t seem to approve of me, but wasn’t quite ready to say so—yet.

Crucero had taken three men with him to the police station. It took twenty minutes for the remaining four of us to get back to my place, but the interval passed without any discernible assassination attempts. My room was locked, and showed no signs of having been broken into, but I opened the door very cautiously, just in case there was anyone inside who shouldn’t have been there. There was.

He was lying on my bed, but he didn’t get up to greet me. He couldn’t, because he was very obviously dead. It was Saul Lyndrach.

The peace-officers arrived in a matter of minutes to conduct their investigation. The team was headed by the same Tetron who’d spoken to us in the plaza, who obviously felt that Saul’s murder was linked to the others, although he didn’t explain why. He was right, of course, but he didn’t seem to attach any particular significance to my confident assurance that Amara Guur was definitely responsible.

At least my own alibi was still cast iron.

It was a long afternoon, but I was eventually allowed back into my apartment. The body had been removed once the forensic team had completed their examination, and someone had tidied up. The officer who’d interrogated us was kind enough to sum up his preliminary findings.