Killing Time On Mars

by Alec Taylor

  Nobody said anything. Hu’s jaw was set like stone, and her face was completely blank, like a master poker player’s. The rest all appeared shocked, eyes wide and shaking their heads.

  “I can’t believe that Karl would murder anyone, let alone Imani,” said Chris. “Eli killed her, didn’t he?”

  “Chris,” said June, “I knew Eli very well and I know how they broke up. I never thought he killed her. This analysis shows he couldn’t have—he wouldn’t have taken a call on Karl’s screen.”

  “It isn’t proof, Security,” said Hu, in a low, flat monotone.

  We all looked at her silently. I forced myself to hold eye contact with her as she stared at me.

  Finally, I said, “No, you’re right. It’s not. But it’s very suspicious and needs to be explained.”

  “Can you show us again?” June asked Liu, and we rolled through the analysis again.

  “Okay,” said Chris when we had finished. “I guess it makes sense. I suppose someone else might have answered the call on his screen, but it doesn’t seem likely—surely anyone else would just let it go unanswered? And surely they wouldn’t talk to the wrong person for a whole minute? Assuming that we all think Karl murdered Imani, which I still can’t quite believe, then why are we all here? What do you want us to do about it?”

  “Well, I’m hoping that, if we confront Karl, he’ll confess,” I said. “But that’s not guaranteed. He’s a professional politician and won’t be shaken easily. Ultimately, he needs to provide a bulletproof explanation or be tried for murder.”

  “Why don’t we just ask Jan about the call?” asked Vivian.

  I paused before answering. “Because he may also be involved and I don’t think we can trust him. Maybe he’s the other person we found in the video analysis? My instinct is to confront Karl with what we’ve got now. And if Jan’s there, we might be able to use it to our advantage. If we play it right, we might be able to get him to help us.”

  An idea was forming in the back of my mind.

  “How do we confront Karl?” asked Tony.

  “Well,” I said, “there are no weapons here, but we need to assume that he’s dangerous. He’s innocent until proven guilty by a court of law, but we need to take the threat seriously. Our best hope is safety in numbers. If we outnumber him, we probably won’t have any trouble. As to what we’ll do if he implicates himself and we arrest him…actually, Chris, I was thinking that either you or June could step in as acting Chief Executive in the interim.”

  June glanced at me with a flicker of surprise. I realised I had just impulsively promoted my girlfried to acting Chief Executive, and shrugged back at her.

  “What? Dammit, I’m a doctor, not a politician,” said Chris, annoyed.

  “Chris,” said June, “we can do it together. We’ll make sure we’re doing what the colony wants. We’ll need to explain to everyone what’s happened and some people won’t be happy. We’ll call a colony meeting as soon as we confine Karl. We could even start the process of an election.”

  “June, we need to tackle one thing at a time,” I said. “Let’s just deal with Karl first. So, Chris, you and June will be joint Acting Chief Executive.”

  “Okay, I suppose,” said Chris, shaking her head, clearly not happy.

  “All right. He’s in his office right now,” I said to them all. “We’ll go there and ask Karl to come to Security, and Liu, you can log on to one of our screens to run them through what we’ve seen here.”

  And we left to confront Karl.

  35. THE LAST PIECE

  “You know what you’re doing, right?” asked Tony quietly as we walked along the passage toward the main airlock.

  “I’m making this up as I go along,” I replied, only half joking.

  “That’s fantastic. Don’t you have, you know, training or something?”

  I was mostly following my instincts. Everything seemed to point to Karl, and I believed he was guilty, but we were lacking a piece of evidence that firmly tied him to either the Executive Office or the greenhouse that night.

  “We’re out on a limb with this one,” I said. “My instinct says Karl is guilty, but we really need him to confess. We’ll confront him and try to play it out, but if he has his story straight, we’re in trouble. If everything falls into place, Jan might help us, but it’s a gamble.”

  We arrived outside the doors to the Executive and Security offices.

  “Okay,” I said. “June and I will go to Karl and ask him to come to Security. The rest of you guys can go into Security and tell them that we’re on the way. Can you do the talking?” I asked June, and she nodded.

  June and I opened the door to the Executive Office and walked in. Karl was sitting at his desk, and Ying was at hers. Karl looked up with surprise as we walked in.

  Ying started to speak, but Karl spoke over her and asked, “What do you want?”

  Anger momentarily flashed across his face. It appeared that I was not popular in the Executive Office in the wake of my overdose.

  “Karl, we need you to come and see something in Security,” replied June. “It’s important and urgent.”

  “I do not like the sound of that,” said Karl, regaining composure. “I am busy and I cannot just come whenever you ask me to come.”

  “Please, Karl. It’s Sunday, and it’s important,” said June and then we stood in silence for a few seconds.

  “Ying, wait here. I will be back very soon,” said Karl, standing up.

  “Actually, Ying could come, too,” I said.

  “You do not tell my staff what to do!” barked Karl.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “Can you please bring Ying as well?”

  Karl looked at June, who nodded, and then he said, “Fine.”

  Ying, looking confused and curious, got up to follow us.

  Pete and Jan had been in the Security Office when the others entered. We could feel the tension in the air as we walked in. It was so still and silent that the hairs on the back of my neck bristled and goosebumps spread across my arms. Pete and Jan were standing in front of their screens, glaring at Tony, Vivian, Chris, Hu, and Liu, who were standing together near the door.

  “What the hell is this all about?” asked Pete.

  “Okay—” I started.

  “Oh, great,” interrupted Pete. “The disgraced cop is leading the charge. I should have known.”

  “No, Pete,” said Liu firmly. “This is mostly my work. I need to show it to you.”

  Liu was standing near Jan’s workstation, so he sat down in front of the screen. As it woke up, the screen briefly showed the image of Earth from the space station. I remembered how Glen used to sit there, obsessed with the live feed. Jan had not changed the screensaver.

  Liu logged on and opened the footage from the medical dispenser and the airlock on the day of Imani’s murder.

  “Mike and I have been…troubled by Imani’s death and weren’t sure that Eli killed her,” said Liu.

  “I do not believe this,” said Karl. “I am leaving. This is stupid.” He turned to leave.

  “No, Karl,” said Tony as he and I stood in Karl’s path.

  The tension in the room went up another notch.

  “Get out of my way,” snapped Karl.

  “Karl,” said June, “you need to see this,” as she also moved to block the door, followed by Vivian.

  The tension in the room went up again. I could see a vein throbbing on Pete’s neck and Karl’s eyes were wild with anger. Ying looked anxious, but Jan seemed to be viewing the entire scene with mild disdain. Hu was standing like a statue in the corner.

  “Turn around, Karl,” I said firmly, “and watch Liu.”

  “You have gone too far,” said Karl. “You will be going home. To jail.”

  “I am home,” I replied, “although maybe you’re right and you’ll send me back to Earth, like you did to Robert Wyndham. We’ll see.”

  I pointed to the screen in front of Liu. June put her hand gently on Karl’s shoulder and
turned him to see it.

  Liu turned back to the screen and continued. He slowly and carefully showed them the footage from the medical dispenser, the identification algorithm and its associated footage, the counts of people who went out and came back, the matching footage of people going through the airlock, my movements to and from Security, and the two missing people—the two who went past the dining room but never left the inner colony.

  I was watching Pete carefully, but I couldn’t see Karl’s face. When Liu showed the footage of the second, unidentified colonist, Pete breathed in sharply. It was almost a gasp, and his eyes widened. I was sure he recognised himself. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach as I realised that Pete was the second colonist in the footage.

  Then Liu showed them the log of Karl’s suit on that day—in his room but not collecting biometrics.

  “You were living alone,” I said to Karl and he jumped at the sound of my voice. He whipped around and glared at me. He reminded me of a cornered stray dog.

  “And I bet, if we searched your room right now,” I continued, “we’d find that you have a suit from the early days of the colony, a suit that isn’t recorded or allocated in the system.”

  “He might have disposed of it by now, though,” said Vivian.

  Karl composed himself as an eerily calm expression came over his face. Pete looked ready to pop. He made a slight movement toward the door but stopped himself.

  “Show him the call and the heights,” I said to Liu. He showed Karl the diverted call from Jan and ran through the triangulation of the heights of the two people walking into greenhouse three.

  “It’s your height, Karl,” said Liu.

  “Karl,” I said. “We know you murdered Imani.”

  He didn’t say anything—just maintained that creepy blank expression.

  “You killed her because she was an agitator,” I continued, holding his gaze. “She was very popular and pushing for local government. And that would have challenged your authority, maybe cost you your job. It also represented a threat to JOSEV and their autocracy on this planet. Maybe you were acting on orders from them, or maybe you did it just because of the impact on you personally. Either way, we know you killed her with your own hands. You strangled Imani that night out in greenhouse three.”

  Not a single word or expression came from Karl—he was like stone. I realised that Jan hadn’t been with Karl that night because he had made the diverted call, and Glen was dead, so I had one last person who worked in Security to question. One last person who could be in the office on a Sunday night without arousing suspicion. The person who had reacted when they saw the footage of the second, unidentified colonist walking past the dining room. I looked over at Pete.

  “Pete,” I said. “Why were you at the office so late that night?”

  “Enough of this bullshit!” yelled Pete. “You saw where I was. I was in my room all day.”

  Tony and I looked at each other. I could tell we were thinking the same thing: Damn. Pete, too.

  “So that’s not you in the footage,” I said, “walking toward the airlock? You weren’t going to the office?”

  “No. That’s not me,” he growled.

  “And those two people walking back after midnight—they aren’t you and Karl?” I said.

  “Go fuck yourself, Mike,” said Pete, clenching his fists.

  There was silence for a moment. I played my last card.

  “Perhaps you had help on the inside,” I said and looked at Jan. “I wonder what that call was about.”

  “Michael,” said Jan quietly, almost shyly. “Karl answered my call that afternoon, in the Executive Office. And Pete was with him.”

  We all stared at Jan in shock.

  “You little fucking shit!” yelled Pete, lunging at Jan.

  Tony and I jumped to intercept Pete and pushed him back against the wall.

  “Thanks, Jan. That’s very helpful information,” I said. “Okay, here’s what’s going to happen now. We’re going to lock them in the infirmary until we can secure another room inside the colony. We’ll need to remove anything dangerous for now and post guards at the door. Chris, can you organise all of that?”

  “Sure, but I’m going to need some help,” she replied.

  “I can help with that, Security,” said Hu to me in a low voice. It was the first thing she had said since arriving in the Security Office.

  “Thanks, Hu,” I said. “Jan and Ying, organise an emergency meeting of the colony in the dining room. June and Chris will address everyone and explain the situation. They’ll take authority in the interim. You’ll need to work together to make it all happen, to ensure that the colony continues to operate in a calm and stable way. If you’re at all nervous about what’s happening, say so now.”

  Ying said, “I’ve seen enough,” and Jan nodded.

  “Okay,” I continued. “We’re going to package up Liu’s analysis and Jan’s testimony and send them to law enforcement in Australia, where JOSEV headquarters is based and where I know they have a proper legal system. We should also send the evidence to JOSEV. Liu, can you patch a new and unrestricted comms line to Earth?”

  “Yeah, no problem,” said Liu. “I’ll send it old school: radio.”

  “Liu,” said June. “JOSEV might send troops to reinstate Karl, particularly if they ordered him to kill Imani. We’ll need access to the media as well.”

  We all stood looking at each other for a few seconds, digesting that statement.

  “Okay,” said Liu with gravity.

  “This is a coup,” said Karl quietly, still standing near Jan’s screen.

  “Coups have autocratic military leaders,” I replied. “We’re just arresting a murderer, we’re installing a king.”

  “And you’re both innocent until proven guilty by a court of law,” said Vivian. “You’ll both get a fair trial. We’re just detaining you until then.”

  “You’re going to hang for this,” Pete sneered at me.

  “Okay,” I said. “Tony, Chris, and Hu, can you please take them to the infirmary.”

  Almost the moment they left the room, I received a call from Tony on my visor. I looked up at the door, wondering if something was already wrong and if I should rush out to help them.

  36. WHERE ARE THEY GOING?

  “Tony?” I said. “Is everything alright?”

  The video on the call switched from inside Tony’s visor to his helmet camera. A few metres ahead, Hu and Chris were escorting Pete down the passageway toward the dining room. Tony looked left and I could see he was escorting Karl.

  “Karl,” said Tony quietly, and I realised he was secretly calling me so I could hear his conversation with Karl. I started recording.

  “I want to tell you something,” said Tony very quietly. “You know how I was in the US after Hurricane Alpha? Well, I heard someone say something back then that I remembered during the storm we had last winter. It was something one of the politicians said when there were no cameras around to keep him honest. He said, ‘Crises create opportunities.’”

  Karl looked up but didn’t say anything.

  “You know what that means, I think,” continued Tony. “The thing is, the politicians knew the pumps would fail one day, the cities would flood. They actually wanted them to. They wanted the crisis, so they could make political gains.”

  He stopped, pulled Karl around and stared down into his face.

  “I know you were responsible for the sabotage,” whispered Tony, “that you manipulated Glen and pushed him to kill himself.”

  Karl said nothing for a moment and then a little smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. He looked down the passage to make sure the others were out of earshot.

  “Very clever, Tony,” whispered Karl. “I didn’t think you had it in you. How did you find out?”

  Back in the Security Office, I was stunned.

  Tony stepped back. Then he spun Karl forward and started walking again.

  “The evacuation list, Karl,” said
Tony. “I knew the moment I looked at it. Everyone on the list was a loyalist. Even Glen was on the list and Mike wasn’t. But there’s one thing that’s been bugging me since then.”

  “What’s that?” asked Karl with a half-smile.

  “Why was I on the list?” asked Tony. “You knew I wasn’t a loyalist, that I was in favour of local government. And yet I was the only non-loyalist on the list. Why?”

  They had reached the T-intersection, where Hu, Tony, Chris, and Pete were waiting. Amber rushed up to join them as they started walking toward the infirmary.

  “That’s simple, Tony,” said Karl loudly, so everyone could hear. “You’re useful and I can control you.”

  At that moment, Amber smashed her fist into Hu’s temple and her limbs became a blur as she attacked the others. Tony fell backward, his helmet facing up toward the ceiling, and I heard him gasp.

  “Quick,” I said to the others in the Security Office. “They need help!”

  “What?” said Liu.

  “I’m on a call with Tony,” I said. “Amber attacked them.” I rushed to the door.

  We all ran out of the office and down the passage to the T-intersection. We found Chris, Hu, and Tony lying on the ground unconscious, but there was no sign of Karl, Pete, or Amber.

  “They must be hiding down here somewhere,” I said. “June, can you look after these guys? Vivian and Ying, can you look down in the dormitories? Be very careful—Amber is dangerous. Liu, you can come with me the other way, toward the kitchens.”

  Liu and I slowly started walking down the passage.

  “Hold on,” said Liu. “Their transmitters were working before. I bet they haven’t turned them off yet. Let’s just look them up.”

  “Yes, of course,” I said and followed him out as he rushed back to Systems.

  As we got back to the T-intersection, I was relieved to see Tony sitting up, leaning against the wall. Hu was standing. A trickle of blood running ran down the side of her head, over her right shoulder and down her back. June was squatting next to Chris, who was still lying down but now conscious. Liu went into Systems to log on.

  “Is everyone okay?” I asked.