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On the starship Constellation, Paul Divine had collected Charles Bragg, and together they called on the Peterson family.
"Good morning Mr Peterson, Mrs Peterson, my name is Paul Divine and this is Charles Bragg, I hope you are both well?" Paul Divine asked the couple from Oregon. Mrs Peterson looked around at the two agents, Mr Peterson ignored them and continued reading an article entitled 'Eco Logging'.
"Good morning, can I help you in some way?" Mrs Peterson enquired, looking up at him from her bed where she sat reading a magazine.
Talking quietly so that his voice carried no further than the Petersons`, Paul Divine answered her question.
"Yes Mrs Peterson, you can. I am about to take you both into our confidences and tell you a something that I must ask you to keep to yourselves for the moment." Mrs Peterson looked a little surprised by this statement and even Mr Peterson looked up from his article.
"We are not communications experts, we are in fact federal agents on the trail of two alien spies who have murdered at least seven people, maybe nine, maybe many more." Paul Divine stopped for a moment to let this sink in before continuing.
"They have also stolen secret scientific equipment which they are trying to take back to their planet, and we believe that they could be hiding amongst the colonists on this ship. A starship from their planet is planning to rendezvous with them when they reach Persephone."
"That is absurd, Mr Divine, why on earth would they take such a roundabout route to get back to their own planet, and in any case all the people on the Constellation were chosen at least a year ago, how could they now hide away amongst them?" Mr Peterson said, the conversation now of interest to him.
"To answer your second point first, I believe that they may have murdered the original colonists, which is why I was not sure of the exact body count. As to your first point, I think that your second point answers it very well; all the passengers are all above suspicion having been chosen for the last twelve months or more. Another reason is because they had to leave Earth quickly because of a certain piece of technology that only came on line hours after the departure of this ship, and it was for this reason that the Constellation was chosen as the escape vehicle. This new technology would have led to their capture if they had not left Earth when they did, and they knew that after stealing such a valuable piece of technology that it would be difficult to exit via any of the normal ports. However a lead came in later in the day and that is why we boarded the ship at Ganymede." Paul Divine whispered.
"Oh, I don`t feel very well George, in fact I think that I am about to faint." And with that brief statement Mrs Peterson slumped to the floor.
"Rosalyn!" Peterson said in a scared voice. "Look what you have done talking about spies and murder and such like." Peterson said angrily.
"Get the doctor, Charles." Paul Divine ordered Charles Bragg, who after his night time conversations with the colonists knew exactly where to find Doctor Schwartz.
"She`s dead, Rosalyn is dead, but how, she had a medical check-up only recently and they said she was fine?" Peterson groaned after searching for and not finding any trace of his wife`s pulse.
Doctor Schwartz was soon at the Peterson`s cubicle, with him was his wife who was the colonies nurse, they had brought a hospital trolley and the four men moved Mrs Peterson up on to it so that Doctor Schwartz could better examine her.
The first thing he did was to fit Mrs Peterson with a respirator and then he checked for a heartbeat, there was none, Mrs Peterson`s heart had stopped. Doctor Schwartz took out a syringe and filled it with anexadrine, which he then injected into her heart, he hoped that it would shock her heart into working again, but it did not work.
"Let`s take her to the clinic, we have better equipment there." Doctor Schwartz said. He immediately began pushing the trolley towards the clinic. Mr Peterson was distraught, he held onto his wife`s hand in the hope that she was still alive, and that she could still feel her hand in his. Luckily, the clinic was on that deck level, so they were soon within its walls. As soon as they reached the clinic, Doctor Schwartz connected Mrs Peterson up to the ship`s medical system while Nurse Schwartz gave her another shot of anexadrine.
"Well Doctor, can you save her, will she be all right?" Peterson begged, his normal strength was gone, what was left was a shadow of his normal self. As Peterson waited for the doctor to answer him, his eyes silently pleaded with him to say that his wife would be all right.
Peterson was almost in a state of collapse, the thought of journeying on alone to a planet where he knew no one, where all would be strange to him, and forever to be without Rosalyn seemed to be too much for him to cope with. Doctor Schwartz must have guessed at some of the thoughts running through Peterson`s head from the scared look upon Peterson`s face.
"I am sorry George, she is dead, and there is nothing that I can do."
"No!" Screamed Peterson, he sank to the floor with his head in his hands, crying softly. "No."
Doctor Schwartz and his wife took an unresisting Peterson back to his cubicle where the doctor gave him a shot to put him to sleep.
"Sleep will help him for now Chris, but when he wakes he will still have to deal with it." Ida Schwartz stated.
"I know Ida, but hopefully his subconscious will begin the process while he is asleep." Doctor Schwartz turned to one of Peterson`s neighbours; it was Tricia Brand, a bright young woman from Lincolnshire in England.
"Please keep an eye on him Tricia, let me know when he wakes up."
"Don`t worry Doctor; we will keep an eye on him." Tricia Brand replied kindly for she had liked the young couple, and she was finding it difficult to stop her eyes from filling with her own tears.
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