Ben Bova: The Trikon Deception

BRITISH LORD MURDERED

BATH—Sir Derek Brock-Smythe, outspoken former foreign minister and well-known philanthropist, was found murdered in his Avonshire home this morning. According to police, he had been shot to death sometime Friday night, but the body was not discovered earlier because he had dismissed his servants for the weekend.

Police stated that his unclothed body was found in bed, wrists and ankles tied to the bedposts with a woman’s nylon stockings. He died of a gunshot wound to the head. Apparently the pistol was held in his mouth when the trigger was pulled.

“It’s a grisly sight,” said Inspector Carlin Mayes. “Some sort of sexual thing gone wrong, undoubtedly.”

Police are questioning the household servants and known friends of Sir Derek’s.

Ms. Joanna Ames, a frequent houseguest, revealed that he had “unusual” sexual tastes. “It might have been some game he was playing with someone that simply went too far,” she said.

Sir Derek had been a member of Parliament since 1976 and served as foreign minister from 1990 to 1994, when he resigned over the government’s decision to quit the European Community.

After his resignation he devoted most of his time to philanthropic and scientific pursuits, He founded and financed the Sir Walter Brock Laboratory in Lancashire in the hope of attracting “the flower of British science to forge a technology worthy of the coming millennium.”

Sir Derek’s adoptive brother, Dr. Chakra Ramsanjawi, is currently in a Zurich prison awaiting trial on charges of criminal conspiracy and theft brought by Trikon International Corp. and Ciba-Geigy A.G. He is also fighting extradition to the United States, where he has been indicted on drug and assault charges stemming from the recent Trikon space station incident.

When asked if there might be any relationship between Dr. Ramsanjawi’s arrest and Sir Derek’s murder, Ms. Ames replied, “I simply don’t know. That’s something the police will have to consider.”

Ms. Ames, who was in London for the weekend, said the news of Sir Derek’s murder reached her just before she left for Italy. She is taking sabbatical leave from her faculty position at Oxford to spend a year teaching in Venice on a Trikon International fellowship.

FIRST WEDDING IN SPACE

HOUSTON (ap)—Commander Daniel Tighe and Dr. Lorraine Renoir were married yesterday aboard the space shuttle Constellation while it was docked to the Trikon Station in orbit 300 miles above the Earth. It was the first wedding ever performed in space.

N.J. Williamson, commander of Constellation, officiated. The groom is the commander and the bride is the medical officer of Trikon Station, a commercial and industrial space station owned and operated by the Trikon International consortium.

Best man was Dr. Hugh O’Donnell; the bridegroom’s son, William Tighe, served as usher. Maid of honor was Dr. Thora Skillen, former head of the Trikon/North American research group aboard the station.

The station was severely damaged three months ago when a crewman suffering from a delusional illness known as Orbital Dementia seized control of the command module and fired a series of thruster bursts that sent the station into a spin.

Though the station was crippled and virtually without electrical power, Cmdr. Tighe single-handedly reoriented the station and maintained life support until help arrived.

Cmdr. Tighe and Dr. Renoir, who will retain her maiden name, intend to remain on the station to supervise the repair work.

Fabio Bianco, founder and CEO of Trikon International, who is now living permanently aboard the orbital station, gave the bride away.

“This day marks a new beginning for Trikon and for the human race,” Bianco told reporters via videophone. “Our program to create a microorganism that will eliminate toxic wastes has restarted and I expect success within six months to a year.”

Bianco added, “We will save the whales that now face extinction. And we will save the human race, as well.”