The Ethics of Silence

by C. J. Nash

“You’re not actually going to give him the materials and manpower for his insane project, are you?”

  “No, but I didn’t want to flatly refuse him. I don’t want him going back to Mr. Vronsky and asking him about Lazarus. I hate to waste the labor loading that material tomorrow, but it should keep Mr. Tellus busy the entire day. By the way, Janet, you played that brilliantly. Telling him that he should get off his lazy ass was inspired.”

  “Now I want to know what Project Lazarus is.”

  “There is no Project Lazarus.”

  “There is a Project Lazarus. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have pretended to give in to that Morlock’s blackmail.”

  “It is not Project Lazarus—it’s just Lazarus. Soon I hope to be able to give you the details, but now is not the time,” said the Farmer aloud. Then in a whisper, “Damned Morlocks!”

  “What did you just say?” asked Janet.

  “I said damned Morlocks.”

  “So, you don’t like him either?”

  “I disliked him from the moment he referred to my apple trees as those damned trees. That pissed me off.”

  Janet stood and kissed the Farmer on the forehead. “You were wrong, you know.”

  “About what?”

  “About this being a boring meeting. I had fun making that Morlock squirm. I think I’m going home now.”

  “Are you going to talk to Mr. Turner?”

  “I want to, but I’m not sure that I should.”

  “You should talk to him, Janet. I’m still trying to find you that third option.”

  Chapter 20

  NO STOPPING NOW

  Mason emerged from the bathroom wearing only sleep pants after his shower. The bedroom lights had already been extinguished. By the feeble light from the bedside clock, he quietly crossed the bedroom and slipped under the sheet. Not knowing what to expect from the ever unpredictable woman who shared his bed, Mason tentatively brushed his fingertips across her bare back. He snuggled in close feeling the warmth as his bare skin touched hers.

  Mason’s hand found a firm, warm breast, the erect nipple pressed into his palm. He kissed the back of Janet’s neck; she wiggled backward even closer to Mason. He could feel the cleft of the perfect derriere pressing against his groin, pressing against his erection, driving him insane.

  His hand drifted downward, unchecked. As it brushed across Janet’s midsection she shivered, but still made no move to arrest the roaming appendage. Downward still his fingers drifted searching out the waistband of Janet’s panties, but they only encountered bare flesh. Further still his fingertips slipped until they brushed against downy softness. Downward his fingers crept until he was massaging a bump of flesh that caused Janet to squirm.

  Janet reached behind and tugged at the waistband of Mason’s sleepwear. When the pants refused to budge she whispered, “Take them off.”

  Mason complied with the request before resuming the erotic massage. “I love you, Janet,” he whispered.

  Janet did not reply with words; instead she turned to face Mason and tenderly kissed his lips. “Make love to me,” begged the most beautiful woman of two worlds.

  Chapter 21

  INTERROGATION

  Wednesday morning. The Farmer had sent a message to Peter Vronsky requesting his presence at the desiccation chamber. When Vronsky arrived, the Farmer asked, “Could you please come in here? I need to show you something.”

  Vronsky was ushered through the door of the chamber. The Farmer told him, “I noticed the chamber being used a couple of days ago and I came here this morning to see what was being processed. What I found is this.” He pointed to the shriveled body. “I don’t know how he managed to trap himself in here. I don’t think this is a colonist. Do you know him?”

  “No,” replied Vronsky, without actually looking.

  “You probably spent eight months on the same ship with this person. I was hoping you could identify him. Please, if you will, take a closer look.”

  Instead of peering at the corpse Vronsky closed his eyes. “No. I still don’t…” He said no more because the door to the chamber slammed shut. He rushed to the door but could not force it open.

  Vronsky’s ‘pad chimed, announcing a call from the Farmer. “What do you think you’re doing?” Vronsky asked, panic in his voice.

  The Farmer replied, “I installed a latch on that door this morning. You can’t force it open.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I want to know where you were around ten, Saturday morning.”

  “I was working.”

  “You weren’t here?”

  “No. The only time I was ever here before today was when you showed me this chamber shortly after my arrival.”

  “So, you didn’t sabotage the light in the chamber?” The dim light in the chamber immediately went dark. The Farmer had not only installed a latch on the door, he had also added a remote switch to extinguish the light.

  “That’s not funny! You’re scaring me!”

  “I don’t suppose you broke the emergency release valve.”

  Vronsky used the light from his notepad to survey the room. The emergency release was still broken. “I haven’t been here. What do you want from me?”

  “Could you have sent a message Friday night asking Mason Turner to meet you here?”

  “I tell you, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Let me out of here!”

  “We traced that message to your notepad. I just want to know if you are working alone or if there are others working with you.”

  “I don’t know what you are accusing me of. Let me out of here and we can talk.” The red lamp illuminated, indicating that the vacuum pump had been activated. “That’s not funny! Turn it off! You’ve got the wrong person! I didn’t do anything!”

  “I hope that you are lying to me because, until I get a confession that I can believe, I will not turn off that pump. I would really hate for an innocent man to die.”

  “But I am innocent. Believe me!”

  “You know, desiccation is a very slow process. It will be several minutes before you feel any change. Your ears will begin to feel uncomfortable. Swallow or yawn to equalize the pressure. It won’t happen just once, but many times while the air is slowly evacuated from this chamber.”

  Vronsky swallowed several times and wiggled a finger in his ear. “I tell you, I’m innocent. I don’t know who that man is. Maybe someone used my ‘pad to send a message. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Take a good look at Mr. Turner on the table. In five days you will look just like him. Do you want that?”

  “I swear I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  “After a while, it will start getting cold. As the pressure decreases, the temperature drops.”

  Vronsky swallowed again. “What do you want from me?”

  “Just the truth.”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about. I swear!”

  “You will feel some discomfort as your blood gases expand. But the decompression isn’t rapid enough to give you the bends. If the pressure were to drop to fifty millibars at this very moment, your blood would be boiling. But you will be dead long before that happens. Your body will have cooled enough that the blood won’t boil until the pressure has dropped to around thirty millibars. All the water in your body will slowly boil away until you look just like that corpse lying on the table. Is that what you want?”

  “No,” sobbed Vronsky. “Please don’t do this to me.”

  “I’m sure you can already feel the pressure in your ears. All you need to do to save yourself is to tell me what I want to know.”

  “And if I tell you…What happens to me then?”

  “I’m sure you’re familiar with Lazarus.” Only silence. Minutes that seemed like hours passed. The Farmer repeated, “You do know about Lazarus, don’t you?”

  Vronsky answered feebly, “Yes, I know about Lazarus.”

  “Give me the answers that I want and you can join my old
friends.”

  “Your old friends? I should have guessed. That is worse than death.”

  “No. You would only remain with my friends for a little while. When the next ship lifts for Earth, you will be on it. You will have to face justice on Earth, but there is no death penalty there.”

  “Why would you send me back to Earth for justice?”

  “The justice of Earth and the justice of Mars are not the same. If you were to receive justice here you would, without a doubt, be put to death. Life is far too precious to extinguish unless there is no other option. Earth is the other option. On Earth, you would no longer be a threat to anyone that I care for. Whether you are sent to prison or you are set free is no concern of mine.

  “I will tell you what you want to know.”

  “Okay. But take care. If I catch you lying to me, I will go home and leave you here. I won’t be returning until you resemble Mr. Turner.”

  “Did you know that they are planning on expanding Lazarus?” asked Vronsky.

  “Yes, I did know that. Go on.”

  “My primary mission on Mars was to determine what was necessary for the expansion.”

  “You’ve seen it?”

  “Yes, I’ve been there.”

  “You said that was your primary mission. What was your secondary mission?”

  “I was supposed to keep an eye on Mr. Turner.”

  “You were just supposed to keep an eye on him? You weren’t supposed to kill him?”

  “No. I wouldn’t have come if they had told me I had to kill a man. I’m not a murderer.”

  “If Mr. Turner were able to speak, I doubt that he would agree with you.”

  “They threatened me. They threatened my wife and two sons. I couldn’t be there to protect my family.”

  “You keep saying they. Do they have a name?”

  “Travis Erwin is the man who told me that either Mr. Turner would die or my family would. I have no proof, but I am certain that Mr. Erwin is owned by the drug companies, both legal and otherwise. And I am sure that he isn’t the only one.”

  “And you haven’t voiced your suspicions while on Earth?”

  “How can I know who can be trusted? Everyone with proof of those crimes ends up dead.”

  “Like Mr. Turner.”

  “Yes, like Mr. Turner,” Vronsky sobbed.

  “Why was Mr. Turner sent to Mars?”

  “The official reason was to investigate a murder. The governor requested an investigator and Mr. Turner was selected for the job.”

  “And the unofficial reason?”

  “He was investigating corruption in the NAU. I think he was beginning to ask questions that no one wanted answered. They wanted him occupied with an entirely different case, safely away from Earth.”

  “You said that you weren’t sent here to kill him. What changed?”

  “A few days ago, he resumed his investigation of the NAU. I think he was beginning to find his answers.”

  “What about Mr. Echols? How does he figure into this?”

  “Who?”

  “The man whose murder Mr. Turner was sent to investigate.”

  “I don’t really think he has anything to do with any of this. It was just plain bad luck on his part that he died when he did. They were looking for a way to get rid of Mr. Turner and the request from the governor came at an opportune time.”

  “Is there anything else that you should tell me?”

  “No. Yes! I can give you a list of all the officials that I suspect of corruption.”

  “Okay,” said the Farmer. “Do it. I’ll shut off the pump and return the air pressure to normal.

  The red indicator was extinguished and the dim lamp once again illuminated the room.

  Chapter 22

  A THREAT ELIMINATED

  After the Farmer had related the details of the interrogation, Mason asked, “Where is Vronsky now.”

  “Mr. Vronsky is no longer a threat.”

  “I didn’t want him dead.”

  “He is not dead. I know a place where he can stay until he returns to Earth. A place where he will be no threat to you or any member of the colony.”

  Janet looked up from her notepad. “There is no such place here in the colony.”

  “There is such a place. You’ll just have to trust me, Miss Edwards.”

  Mason asked, “He said that Travis Erwin instructed him to kill me?”

  “I have no reason to believe that he was lying to me.”

  “Who is Travis Erwin,” asked Janet. “I’ve heard that name before.”

  Mason answered. “Vera West listed him as the person that Mr. Vronsky has been in contact with on Earth. He is also my direct supervisor. He is a very powerful man and apparently very dangerous. Before I came to Mars, I was following a trail of corruption that implicated some very high government officials. There was never a direct link to Mr. Erwin and I had believed that he was above suspicion.

  “I had actually hit a brick wall in my investigation because the files that I needed were always locked. But many of the files that I was unable to access on Earth are readily available on the Mars server. I have made more progress in my investigation in the last week than during the entire year before I left Earth. The illegal drug trade, primarily smash, plays a prominent role in the corruption.

  “Besides Travis Erwin and you, Mr. MacDonald, there was a third person that Vronsky was calling. I think I need to go call on the governor.”

  “You can’t,” said the Farmer. “You’re dead, remember?”

  “But you’ve caught Vronsky. We can end the charade.”

  “Do you think that the governor might be involved?”

  “I don’t know. Damn it! I can’t pretend to be dead and question him.”

  “If you’ll tell me what you want to know, I can talk to the governor.”

  “Right now I’d be satisfied with the governor’s DNA. Could you get that for me?”

  “You’ve got it, Johnnie. Anything else?”

  “I need the sample to go to Donna Ward at the genetics lab.”

  “I know Mrs. Ward.”

  “Ask her to call me when she gets the results. Oh, and don’t tell her who the sample came from.”

  “No? So, you do suspect the governor in Mr. Echols’ murder?”

  “I don’t know. Just covering all my bases.”

  After the Farmer had gone, Janet asked, “Why do you think the governor has anything to do with this?”

  “My supervisor ordered Vronsky to kill me. One of the mysteries that I haven’t yet been able to unravel concerns something called Lazarus. Both my supervisor and Vronsky are somehow involved with Lazarus. Do you know what other names are associated with Lazarus? The governor for one. And Mr. MacDonald.”

  “You don’t believe that Eddie had anything to do with Mr. Echols being killed, do you?”

  “No. I like Mr. MacDonald, but…”

  “Call him Eddie, everyone does.”

  “Okay. Eddie is involved with something called Lazarus. And I will not stop digging until I find out what this Lazarus is about.”

  “But, you said that the governor is also involved in Lazarus. Why would you think the governor was involved in Mr. Echols’ death but not Eddie?”

  “Because the governor might have had a motive. My supervisor wanted to get me as far as possible from my investigation on Earth. Conveniently, a murder occurred on Mars that took me away from that case. A murder that could not be solved. Is it a coincidence? I don’t know.”

  “You think your supervisor ordered the governor to create a case so that your services would be needed here?”

  “Maybe.”

  “That’s insane. The governor’s not that kind of man.”

  “And Vera West isn’t the kind of woman who would commit murder unless she thought it was absolutely necessary.”

  “Vera is a good person. She’s sorry for what she has done.”

  “I know.”

  “Mason…”

&nb
sp; “Yes.”

  “After you get the results back from the governor’s DNA test, you will have exhausted all your leads in this murder investigation. Either the governor is guilty, or you will never find the guilty party.”

  “There might be other evidence that has been overlooked. No one saw the letter opener and I doubt that anyone really looked for it.”

  “No. All the evidence is gone. Mr. Echols has been sent to the farm. I am sure that Eddie has already recycled the body.”

  “Shit! Eddie didn’t just want the body to scare a confession out of Vronsky. He wanted to permanently destroy any remaining evidence.”

  “There was no more evidence. Give up your investigation. Enjoy your remaining time on Mars.”

  “Are you suggesting that I enter into a temporary marriage contract with one of your friends? No thanks.”

  “No. I am suggesting that you enter into a marriage contract with me. Contract terminates when you lift for Earth.”

  “I didn’t see that coming. That is absolutely the most tempting bribe I have ever been offered.”

  “It’s not a bribe. I really like you. There is no more evidence. Don’t waste your time while we could enjoy that time together. And maybe I will have a son or daughter who is a part of you, even if I can’t have you.”

  “I can’t.”

  Janet’s eyes fell to the floor. “Would you rather pick another? There are several very attractive single women who would be happy to share your bed.”

  “No. I don’t want another. I want you, but I don’t think I can bear to enter into a contract knowing that it is just temporary. And if we had a child, I would want to watch it grow. I can’t enter into a contract with anyone here on Mars.” Mason wiped away a tear that was beginning to leak from his eye. “I’m in love with you, Janet, but I can’t do this.”

  Chapter 23

  LAZARUS

  Thursday morning. Breakfast. The Farmer said to Mason, “I spent some time talking to the governor; then I went into the bathroom and stole his hair brush. Lots of grey hair for the DNA test. We didn’t talk about the murder, but we did have something else we needed to discuss. How much have you learned about Lazarus?”