by J P Waters
Dim nodded. “Word is it was at the hospital last night.”
“Is that why the police are here?”
Dim shook his head. “Not exactly.”
“What’s going on?”
“Well…” said Dim, hesitantly. “Another guy was found dead this morning. A night-shift worker who wasn’t even here during the blast. This time it looks like a murder.”
“Murder? What happened? That’s crazy.”
“Crazy is definitely the word for it. Plus, there was something else weird about it.”
“What?”
“Rumor is he’d been sucked dry.”
“Dry?”
“As a bone. Dehydrated as jerky.”
“Why would someone do that to someone else? And how?”
“Hey, don’t ask me. It might just be gossip. They’re saying his blood and moisture had been sucked right out. Mummified. Whatever it was, though, that’s why they’re not letting us go any further. At least until they finish the investigation.”
Two deaths in two days? Olie wondered how many other workers were injured and still in the hospital.
Olie looked down at Dim’s leg, eager to change the subject. A thin, sleek metallic brace had taken the place of his sterilization device. “Doesn’t it hurt?”
“Did, but they gave me a dully.”
Olie couldn’t help but smirk at the slang. What Dim called dullies, Olie knew as opioids.
“And you’re on them right now?”
“That’s right.”
“Dim, that’s dangerous. You work with heavy machinery all day.”
“Come on, Olie. I didn’t expect this from you. I know for a fact they hand out the stuff like candy on Mars.”
“Can you blame them? Space sickness is real. And it’s not like everybody takes them.”
“Sure, they don’t,” said Dim with a chuckle.
The front door of the plant was being opened and some of the workers were being let inside. Olie shuffled along beside the others.
“That man I found - Newton. How exactly did he die?”
“Lost too much blood. I guess that makes two after this morning.”
Olie felt a chill run up her spine. “Jeeze, Dim.”
“You watch out today,” Dim added, stopping before they parted ways inside the building. “I don’t think anyone knows what’s going on yet, and whoever killed this guy could still be around.”
Olie nodded as her coworker stepped away. As if she would let her guard down anyway after the day before.
Olie decided to take a quick detour past building 9 only to find it barricaded off, with a few police and menacing-looking droids standing watch. The building itself seemed to have been hollowed out by the fire, and a large portion of the roof was gone. At least these days no one had to worry about rain.
Just past the barricades was the area where she’d found the dying man—no, Newton. The bloodstains were still on the concrete. She stopped in her tracks, fighting back the tears that were forming.
Olie thought she might have grown accustomed to death with soldiers “disappearing” in the service, but there it was part of the job. Newton had never signed up for this. And as she continued walking toward her line, she wondered if she could be next.
According to company messaging, the cells that powered each line’s suction pump were extremely safe. If that was true, how could the explosion have happened? Was it some kind of freak accident? And then there was the murder to contend with. She didn’t even know where to begin thinking about that. What kind of psycho pumped the blood out of a man? Was it a fetish? Some kind of calling card? Or a weapon she’d never heard of? None of the possibilities were particularly reassuring.
Olie performed her work that day, but her heart wasn’t in it. Following the explosion, the plant found itself with an alarming number of technological errors. She spent hours rushing around the plant, chasing call after call for technician work on broken droids. While normally Olie loved the rush, she was only paying half as much attention as she typically would. Even when discussions of an impending strike from the union came up, she couldn’t break out of her haze. Two men were dead. Two. And she’d held one of them. She kept seeing Newton’s face as she evaluated the readouts on her droids.
Thankfully, no issues that required her absolute attention arose. She probably wouldn’t have been able to help if they had.
When Olie arrived home, she found the creature from that morning spread open and pointing toward the setting sun. The day had been so trying she’d nearly forgotten about him. Changing out of her work clothes, she watched him bask in the fading light pouring in through the windows. This thing was bizarre. Starfish didn’t sit up on their backs. And what could he be looking at as he seemingly stared into the sun? Olie slipped into the chair at the kitchen table and watched the creature for some time.
“You need a name. Don’t you think you need a name?”
Olie searched her mind for a moment. She couldn’t help but think of a flower as she looked at the animal’s five arms reaching for the sun. She did a quick NOVA search for flowers with five petals. The first result was a “geranium.” She’d never seen one before, but it was beautiful.
“Gerry. Do you like Gerry?” she asked, reaching in to stroke one of the creature’s short arms. This time he didn’t recoil. Instead he stood up and stared at Olie. His arms waved slowly like a sea anemone's tendrils.
“I think it suits you just fine.”
Her band began to buzz. She looked down and saw that she was receiving a call from Jayson. She answered.
“A murder this time? Are you okay?”
Olie nodded, but then Newton’s face flashed back through her mind. Olie did her best to keep her voice from trembling. “Well, actually…” She was concentrating on keeping her tears back.
“Olie, I’m coming over.” Jayson said it like it was a statement, but they both knew it was a question.
Olie paused. It was happening again, and she knew that was a bad idea. But she was so rattled by the deaths, and so tired. And maybe asking Jayson about Gerry was the next best step anyway.
“Yeah, yeah, okay.”
“Okay, I’ll be there soon.”
After ending the call, Olie looked at Gerry, who seemed to be curling up to go to sleep. Grabbing a dishtowel, she draped it over his cage, blocking out the sun. Chances were he was tired too. They both needed some rest.
Chapter Five
Jayson arrived a short time later. He stepped into Olie’s apartment and immediately hugged her tightly. They stood there in that embrace for what felt like an eternity—to Olie anyway—until she took the first move in backing away.
Jayson could tell he’d overstepped his bounds. “I know I was here last night, and we said two in a row is a no —”
“No,” said Olie. “Considering the circumstances… I, um. I think it’s okay.”
The two moved into the living room and took separate seats. The sphere was rotating through its default scene, a series of images of Olie’s time in the service and of her father when he was a young man. There were also photos of her sister, who had died in the Russian-Chinese War a few years before Olie enlisted. Ursula’s death had partially inspired Olie to join, and it was one of the last big points of contention between her and her father. He hadn’t been able to stand the thought of losing both his daughters to the military.
Jayson watched a full cycle of the digital images dissolving into each other before breaking the silence.
“So, the adnews reported that someone was murdered, but that’s about all they said. What happened?”
Olie shook her head. “No news on our end, either. There are some disturbing rumors spreading about it, though.”
“Disturbing? Like what?”
“One of the guys on my line said the victim was drained of all his blood. All his fluids, actually. Dehydrated.”
“What? Are they sure it was murder? Are there machines onsite that could have done that?�
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“Not that I know of. They said it was as if he’d been mummified.”
“Wow.”
“I know.”
“But you’re okay? Was it anyone you knew?”
“I didn’t know him, although that doesn’t make it any better. I’m just a little stunned, I think.”
A beat passed as more photos of Ursula faded in and out of the screen.
“Why would someone spread a weird rumor like that?”
“It’s only a rumor if it’s not true.”
“Do you think someone had a personal grievance against this guy? A coworker or something?”
“I hope not. I have to go back there tomorrow.”
“Well, they must have it on surveillance. We should know soon.”
“Did they say anything about surveillance videos on the adnews?” Olie asked, curling up on the loveseat and wrapping an arm around her legs.
“No. They just said it hadn’t been released.” Jayson leaned forward. “Olie, don’t take this the wrong way, but you really seem shaken. This isn’t like you.”
“I think it’s still mostly yesterday. I can’t get that guy I found out of my mind.”
Jayson leaned back in his chair. “Two deaths in two days…”
Olie’s attention drifted from Jayson to Gerry’s enclosure. Another mystery was starting to feel like it was just too much. Maybe Jayson could help with this one.
“Well, I, um, I found something strange on my run this morning. That probably isn’t helping,” said Olie.
“Strange? Strange how?”
Olie stood and made her way over the kitchen. “I’m going to show you something. I don’t really know what to think about it, but I’m going to show you.”
“Okay.”
Olie beckoned Jayson over, slowly pulling the cloth off the container. Gerry was balled up in the corner of the container, evidently still sleeping. Jayson leaned forward, staring intently.
“What the hell is that?”
Olie leaned over and blew on the fluffy creature, trying to encourage him to open up.
“I have no idea. I found him on the beach. He just rolled up on shore.”
Jayson narrowed his eyes.
“Do you want to hold him?”
“No, that’s okay.”
“When he opens, he looks a bit like a starfish. Just… a hairy one.”
“You did a search on NOVA?”
“Yeah, nothing.”
“Really? Are you sure?”
“Go ahead, you try.”
Jayson took a photo with his band, but after a couple of cycles he found nothing more than she had.
“Maybe there’s something in my work’s biology database.”
Jayson logged into his lab computer via a remote connection and tried again. Still nothing.
“Starfish are endangered anyway,” Jayson mused. “If it came out of the ocean, where could it have been hiding?”
“Maybe it crawled out of some deep-sea canyon. Isn’t, like, only 70% of the ocean explored still?”
“I mean, it’s more like 90 with those submergible droids…” Jayson looked at the animal again. “Still, stranger things have happened.”
Gerry finally complied in lifting a forelimb. Olie and Jayson could just barely catch a glimpse of his tiny maw inside.
“This could be important, right?” Olie ventured. “I mean, to your research. For terrestrial life in general. When’s the last time we found something alive and new?”
“Yeah, but I’m a botanist. I wouldn’t know where to start with this thing.”
“I’m not passing him off to the feds, Jayson. No way.” Olie frowned. After her sister’s death, Olie had more than their fair share of incompetent government employees. She wouldn’t trust them with anything.
Jayson raised his hands up in defeat and then shifted to the other side of the container, hoping to get a better view. Picking up a spoon off the counter, he started gingerly prodding.
“At the very least they’d probably let you name it.”
“I already did. I’ve been calling him Gerry.”
Jayson laughed. “No, I mean a species name.”
“Gerrius Starfishus, then. For all we know he’s one of a kind. Maybe Gerry’s just… Gerry.”
“Well, before we do anything else, we could always ask Mona.”
“Really?” Olie replied. This wasn’t a direction she’d wanted to go in. “What would she know?”
“Mona has access to most knowledge the world over.”
“But we already did a search on NOVA.”
“True, but Mona can go beyond a simple image or vid match. I’m just saying that if you want to find out something about this thing—”
“Gerry.”
“...Gerry without taking it in, then Mona can tell you what—if anything—it might be related to. Far better than I could, anyway.”
Olie hesitated. Just hearing Mona’s name made her uncomfortable. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
Olie took a breath. She hadn’t met Mona yet and had been dreading the prospect.
“Fine.”
“Great. I’ll drive.”
Olie and Jayson rode in his solar-powered Yuvi away from the apartment and further inland. While the AI drove, Olie held Gerry’s home on her lap and Jayson ran searches on a handful of niche search engines. No dice.
“At least you’ll get to see my new house.”
Olie nodded.
“You haven’t been over since my promotion.”
“Yeah. It’s a bit far, you know.”
“Just thirty minutes. And when I get my drone copter it’ll be even less. There’s a landing pad on the roof.”
“Oh, um, wow.”
Jayson instructed the vehicle to make the windows transparent. They were close to his place, traveling through a valley where numerous homes had been built right into the Earth. Cement blocks inserted into hillsides, naturally cooled by the Earth despite the blazing sun. Jayson’s was one of many, and as they climbed out, he excitedly pointed to the drone copter pad above their heads.
A set of stairs descended to an oversized door opening into a long living area. The home wasn’t as extravagant as it could have been, but Olie was still surprised. She knew Jayson’s family was wealthy, but before he’d chosen to live by his own means. Now, it appeared that had changed. She could see three bedrooms from the entry alone, plus a loft that overlooked the main space.
“Mona!” Jayson called, closing the door behind them.
A slender blonde woman leaned over the balcony. Or rather, Olie would have thought it was a woman if she hadn’t known better. Mona was a Sebanic, or Seba for short—enhanced, multi-functional cyborgs crafted (and marketed) by Cerebral Bionics. They were the must-have tech product with a mile-long backlist if you could afford one, so Olie had never expected Jayson to be able to purchase one of his own.
Mona made her way down a spiral staircase and moved to join the pair in the kitchen. Olie had set Gerry on the kitchen table and was slowly removing the cloth once again.
“How can I help you tonight, Jayson?” Mona asked.
“Can you tell us what this is, Mona?”
Mona took one look at the creature inside the container and said, “That is an unknown species.”
Olie furrowed her brow. She’d known this was a bad idea.
“You didn’t even look.”
“I did,” said Mona.
“Could you take a closer look?” Jayson asked.
Mona approached the creature and bent down to get a better view.
“My initial observation is not altered by proximity.”
“Alright, Mona,” said Jayson. “Pick it up and tell us what animals you think it could be related to, then.”
Looking from Mona to Jayson, Olie said, “Just be gentle with him. He’s scared.”
Mona reached into the container for Gerry, who had once again curled up in the corner from all the excitement. She gingerly
lifted the animal and held him for a moment as scanners in her palm worked him over. Passively and without a sound, Gerry lay in her hand.
“It is not related to any known animals, but I would say it shares the most traits with a penguin.”
“A penguin?” Olie interjected. “Not a starfish?”
“Shares traits with, not resembles. This deeper layer of feathers is similar to those of a penguin.”
“But it has five legs,” said Jayson.
“It is similar to a starfish in that it does not appear to have gills,” explained Mona. “But neither do penguins. I could give a more in-depth comparative analysis were I able to dissect the creature.”
“No!” Olie shouted, grabbing the animal from Mona. Dissection was the last thing she wanted.
“No thank you, Mona,” said Jayson.
“I can also dissect the unknown species after it dies.”
“That won’t be necessary, but thank you.”
“Very well. What can I do for you now?”
“What have we talked about, Mona?” Jayson asked with a sigh.
“I’m afraid we’ve talked about a lot of things.”
Jayson nodded. “But I think I told you that constantly needing to instruct you on what you should do diminishes the benefits you offer.” Mona turned to leave, but Jayson stopped her. “Mona, can you just stay here with us? Just listen.”
“Very well.”
“Socialization happens a lot faster when they’re not home alone all day,” he explained.
“So I’ve heard,” Olie replied, placing Gerry back in his container.
Before Jayson could continue, his band began to vibrate. A name Olie didn’t recognize blinked in red letters.
“Shit, this is important. I’m gonna take this upstairs. Mona, give Olie anything she might need.”
As Jayson climbed the spiral staircase, Mona turned and went into the kitchen and returned with a glass jar.
“Do you think this would serve as a better terrarium?”
“Oh, um, thank you,” Olie replied. It was a much better size for their tiny friend. “Do you think Jayson will mind?”
“He’ll allow me to order a new one if you find it necessary.”