Killing Time On Mars

by Alec Taylor

  I didn’t know where to start, which meant I needed to start at the beginning—the very first call to Security from Vivian.

  I quietly got up and went to the gym for an extra-long workout. After I showered, I went to the dining room for breakfast. As always, there were a couple of early birds already there. I held out my hand under the medicine dispenser and it dropped two pills into my palm, which I swallowed with a big drink of water. I had a quick look at the news headlines projected on the wall, but it was just more dysfunction between the JOSEV investors. The rest of the solar system hadn’t changed much while we were away.

  Jan was already in the office by the time I got there, and Pete arrived at his usual time.

  “How’s Ying working out in the Executive Office?” I asked Jan, after sensing his eyes on the back of my head.

  “She’ll be fine,” Jan replied coolly. “She’s…very excited to be here. You’re back from your trip.”

  “Yes.” I turned around to look into his eyes. “We went to Valles Marineris.”

  “Sounds like punishment to me,” sneered Jan.

  “It was nice to get out of the colony.”

  “See anything unusual out there, Michael?” asked Jan, and instantly I knew that he knew what we had discovered. A little wave of anger washed over me, which I had to forcibly control.

  “What do you mean?” I replied carefully.

  “I don’t know. Any unusual rock formations.”

  “Masses of them,” I replied. “It’s really an amazing place. You should go there.”

  “Maybe I will,” said Jan.

  “Pete said you were taking time off?” I asked, and Pete quickly glanced over at Jan.

  “Yes, sometime,” said Jan evasively, and Pete looked back at his screen.

  *

  That afternoon, I ran out of work to do, so I put in a rooming application to share with June, which I knew would probably take weeks to be addressed. Then I went to the lounge, hoping to find Vivian. Instead I found a massive table-tennis tournament in progress. Tony was watching, cheering with the crowd. I asked him where Vivian was, and he said she had gone to the office to check on some experiments.

  I found Vivian in the Organic Manufacturing lab. She was inspecting plants growing in hydroponic containers.

  “Hello,” I said from the doorway.

  “Oh, hello,” she said, looking up. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  “Thanks for a great holiday.”

  “Yeah, it was fantastic. A bit too intense, perhaps,” she said with a smile, obviously thinking about her ripped suit.

  “Can we talk privately?” I asked, pointing at the transmitter inside the neck of my suit.

  “Sure,” she replied and reached in to disconnect the battery on her suit.

  I disconnected mine and said, “Can we talk about Imani?”

  “Oh. Yes, of course.”

  “I’ve been thinking about her death. Something still doesn’t add up. Eli didn’t have to lie. I think he was intending to kill himself from the moment he took the buggy—he could have just told me that he killed Imani, and I’m surprised he didn’t.”

  “I never thought he was capable of murdering Imani,” said Vivian.

  “Well, I don’t think he did it, either. Or at least, if he was involved, someone else was pulling the strings.”

  “Who?” asked Vivian.

  “I don’t know yet,” I replied. “Can you remember the morning you called me, when she didn’t turn up for work?”

  “Yes.”

  “Could you run through it again for me?”

  “Okay. I remember that day very clearly. I was never an early riser before working with Imani, but she always got in so early and she was my inspiration, so I just gradually adopted her work pattern. It was like clockwork. I don’t know where she got her energy from, because I’d sometimes see her in the lounge late at night, and then she’d be in the office early the next day, looking bright and cheery.”

  “So what happened on that day?”

  “She didn’t turn up. I was there at seven-thirty as usual. From the first minute she was late, I thought something was wrong. It was so unusual. After a little while I tried to call her, but she didn’t answer. And then, when I couldn’t stand it any longer, I called you.”

  “You mean you called the Security Office,” I said.

  “Yes, and you answered.”

  “Then what?”

  “Well, I saw your broadcast message go out asking her to check in, and that made me even more nervous. As the time went by, I felt worse and worse. I was very worried by the time the general search call went out. But then at least I had something to do, so I started looking straightaway. I went to her room, which was empty. I checked the bathrooms, the common rooms, even the laundry and storerooms. Then I went out to the greenhouses.”

  “Did you get any calls, or see anything suspicious while you were searching?”

  “No, I…can’t remember getting any calls. You could look at my log. I was just looking for Imani. I can’t remember seeing anything suspicious.”

  “Go on. You went to the greenhouses,” I said.

  “Well, you know how big they are. I went out to the first one and called her name, and then walked around the whole greenhouse. I did that in greenhouses one and two and then went into greenhouse three. I saw her almost immediately. It was awful.”

  Vivian paused to wipe a tear from her cheek. I waited for her to continue.

  “Anyway,” said Vivian, “she was so still. I yelled at her, trying to wake her up, but it was no use, and somehow I knew she was dead from the moment I saw her. That’s when I called you—I mean Security—again.”

  “And you don’t remember seeing anything else around her body, or in the greenhouse, or even on the way to the greenhouse?” I asked.

  “No, I’m sorry, I didn’t. I wish I could be more helpful.”

  “It’s all right,” I replied. “I’m just trying to refresh the whole thing in my mind and see if there are any other angles to investigate.”

  “Be careful, Mike.”

  “Don’t worry. I will be,” I said. “Thanks for your help. I’m sorry I upset you again.”

  “No, don’t worry. I’m just a little tired. It wasn’t a very relaxing holiday!”

  I left and stood outside her office, wondering what to do next. I needed help badly; I wanted to access the evidence, but I didn’t want to leave any fingerprints on the file.

  I needed help from Liu.

  30. AN ITCH

  Liu wasn’t in the Systems Office. When I called him, he said he was helping to clean the kitchen, which was a big job, and asked if I could help. I found him wearing gloves, goggles, and an apron. He looked like a mad scientist.

  He and a couple of other volunteers were scrubbing the ovens. I joined in and spent some time cleaning. When we were finished, we washed the gloves and goggles and hung them on a drying rack. The other guys left, but Liu and I stayed, standing alone in the kitchen.

  “So, Mike,” said Liu. “I’m guessing you didn’t come here just to help clean the ovens.”

  I replied with a smile, “Yeah, you’re right. I wanted to talk to you about something, in private.”

  “Private, eh? Am I in trouble?”

  “No, of course not.”

  “Well, then, maybe I’ll help you,” he said.

  I pointed at my transmitter, which was still disconnected.

  “Way ahead of you,” he said and pulled at the battery wire in his suit, which was already disconnected. “Have you performed a transmitter check lately? I’m guessing most of the colony is completely off the grid for the holidays.”

  “It’s a risk for everyone,” I replied, “but I understand why we’re all doing it. In fact, that’s kind of why I want to talk to you.”

  “Really.”

  I wasn’t quite ready to enlist Liu. He had helped before, but I wasn’t completely convinced that I could trust him.

  �
�Can we talk about the colony, and the early years, and Imani?”

  He sighed and said, “I guess so.”

  “You don’t seem to have fond memories.”

  “Don’t I? I don’t know; it seems like a long time ago now. We all started out so excited, with so much energy. I came in the first fleet, you know, with Imani.”

  “What happened? I mean, I know it’s not easy out here…”

  “What happened? This colony happened. This cold compound that we’re stuck in, with the same people, forever. The only thing that’s improving is the harvest—meanwhile, we eat tofu and watch depressing content from Earth. We can’t even space out on cookies anymore.”

  “What happened between you and Imani?” I asked.

  He sighed before replying. “The usual story. It was romantic for the first few weeks. We were all on an adventure together. We were caught up in the hysteria of it all. And I fell for her. It was so easy. She liked me as well and, for a while, everything was great. She didn’t care that I was from China and I didn’t care that she was from Europe. But then she got, I don’t know, bored or afraid or something, and she ended it.”

  “How did you take it?”

  “Oh, wonderfully,” he said, rolling his eyes.

  “Are you still upset?”

  “Oh, no, believe me. I got over it. I had to. She started seeing other people and there’s no way you can carry baggage around out here. You have to move on.”

  “Unlike Eli.”

  “Yeah. I guess he couldn’t get over it, poor guy. I feel sorry for him. Felt sorry for him. I’m sure she didn’t deliberately hurt him—she probably even warned him it could never be serious—but I suppose he fell in love.”

  “Do you think he killed her? Was he that upset?”

  “I don’t know. I guess so. I didn’t know him that well.”

  “Were you as upset as him, at first?”

  Liu jerked his head back and said, “What? Of course not! You have to have more than your heart broken to want to kill someone.”

  “I think you’re right,” I said. “Actually, I’m not sure Eli killed anyone.”

  “You don’t think he did it?”

  I paused. Was I ready to ask for his help? Could I trust him? I decided it was time.

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Wow. Now I’ve heard everything. So we have a killer in the colony, unless it was Glen or one of his victims. Was it Glen?”

  “I don’t know. Probably not.”

  “Do you know who it was?”

  “No, and that’s what I’d like your help with.”

  “Really? My help?” said Liu with scepticism.

  “Yes, because…Hmm…It’s complicated.”

  “What are you up to, Mike? Why are you doing this?”

  “Well, nobody wants me to find out the truth. JOSEV has chosen to believe that Eli killed Imani. And not, I suspect, because they’re sure it’s the truth, but because it suits them and they don’t care about the real killer.”

  “What do you mean, they don’t care?”

  “I mean, well, I think they may even know who killed her. JOSEV may be implicated somehow.”

  “Ta ma de. What are you saying?”

  “I don’t know,” I replied. “But I’m sure we don’t know the truth yet. I have reason to believe that JOSEV is prepared to do almost anything to protect its interests.”

  “From Imani?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Who are we talking about, anyway?” asked Liu. “JOSEV is a bunch of people. Who are you looking at?”

  “Nobody yet—that’s my problem. The investigation pointed to Eli. Everything else around Imani was a dead end. I want to get back into the files, but I suspect they’re being watched.”

  “And you want my help to get in without being detected,” said Liu.

  “Yes, that’s it. At least at first. I’m hoping that I missed something the first time around and that you can help me dig this time.”

  “Off the record, though. Off the grid completely.”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, I’ll do it,” said Liu. “You’ve got me curious and I’m over the shit that we get from JOSEV. Mushroom ban, my butt. But what do we do if somebody starts sniffing around and asking questions?”

  “If you’re good, they won’t come. Also, we’ll cook up a cover story to throw them off. We’re friends, anyway—they can’t stop us hanging out. And if they follow me to you, all you need to do is say we like talking about…what’s your favourite hobby?”

  “Do you really want to know?” he said with a cheeky grin.

  “Dammit, Liu,” I said with a smile. “What’s your favourite respectable hobby?”

  “I make video games.”

  “Okay, you’re teaching me about making video games. Really? Okay. We’ll have to make that real, by the way. You’ll have to give me a crash course.”

  “I don’t really see you as the type.”

  “I’m full of surprises. Oh, and one more thing: when the time comes, I might need you to help with an…intervention, of sorts.”

  “An intervention?”

  “We might need your help.”

  “My help?” he asked.

  “Yes. We might need your help if we find the real killer.”

  “Okay, but you should know I’m a pacifist,” said Liu. “And a coward. But sure, I’m in. Where do we start?”

  “In your office,” I replied, “with private access to the files.”

  “Leave it to me,” said Liu. “Just give me a little while to get ready.”

  *

  Later that night, I was sitting in the lounge with Tony, June, and Vivian when Liu walked over.

  “Hi, Mike,” he said. “You know that video game we were talking about? I cracked into the source code. When do you want to come and have a look at it?”

  The others looked at each other, amazed.

  “I have a new hobby,” I said to them, ignoring their expressions of dismay.

  “Can I come mid-morning tomorrow?” I asked Liu.

  “Yeah, sure, but we don’t have that long to do this, you know. The holiday is almost over and I’m getting a new support officer rotating through Systems.”

  “I’m a quick learner,” I replied.

  The following morning, Jan and Pete were already in the Security Office when I arrived. And when I got up to leave a little while later, Jan asked me where I was going.

  “To London to visit the queen,” I replied, holding his gaze without blinking.

  “I’ve noticed your transmitter goes off the grid,” he said quietly, and Pete looked up.

  I wanted to confront Jan and ask him if he was spying on me, but I decided that would just play into his hands and give him an opportunity to quiz me.

  So instead I said, “We all need a little privacy every now and then,” in a lighter tone and with a flip of my hand.

  “Don’t you think it’s a bad example?” said Jan, glancing at Pete. “It’s a security risk and a breach of policy, not to mention a risk for you personally.”

  The little weasel with no security experience was telling me about security risk. My anger was increasing.

  “Guess where you can shove that policy,” I said. “It’s the holiday month.”

  I was starting to lose control, so I quickly left, angry at myself for the outburst. Jan brought the worst out in me. I unplugged my transmitter and walked to the bathroom, occasionally looking over my shoulder. He didn’t follow me—he wasn’t that obvious. As I cooled down, I realised that there hadn’t been any real animosity in his words and he could genuinely have been interested in my welfare. I shook the experience off and went to the Systems Office. Liu opened the door and locked it behind me.

  “Here it is,” he said, pointing to the centre screen in the room, where my files were open. The other screens were showing mostly video games and programming code.

  “Are you okay?” asked Liu.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Better
than fine. I’m going to get this done.”

  “Okay,” he said, leaning back a little.

  I started by looking at phone logs—Vivian’s calls, Imani’s calls, then Eli’s calls.

  “Can you look at this log?” I asked Liu, pointing at Imani’s calls, “and see if there are any unusual links or patterns?”

  Then I looked at the video footage around the time of her death, this time rolling it further forward and backward. Liu dug out more footage for me, completing Imani and her attacker’s journey from the inner-colony airlock. As I was looking at Imani and the killer walk through the passages, an idea started to form in my mind.

  I went back to the Security Office after lunch. It seemed that Jan hadn’t moved.

  “How was the queen?” he asked with a smug little smile.

  “She was good,” I replied, not taking the bait. “She sends her love.”

  “Which country is she the queen of?” he asked.

  “The queen of kiss my ass,” I said with a smile. “Is everything okay, Jan? You’re being a bit nosey.”

  His smile had disappeared. He was silent for a few seconds.

  “I’m just looking out for my teammate.”

  I noticed Pete was watching our conversation warily. The air was thick with tension.

  “I didn’t realise you cared,” I replied. “You seemed more annoyed with me when I sent that broadcast message about JOSEV spying on us.”

  Jan looked at Pete, who turned back to his screen.

  “Well, you shouldn’t have done that, Michael,” said Jan. “A lot of people are disconnecting now, many because of that message. You should be careful. If I were you, I wouldn’t do anything to upset JOSEV. They don’t like to scare people with the idea they’re being spied on. And they probably didn’t like the way you did it, either. You’re biting the hand that feeds you.”