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"They’re shutting down the engines tonight." Trish said as she stared
at the beautiful star studded sky through the cabin porthole.

Steve walked up behind her, slipping an arm around her waist and
kissing her lightly on the neck. "Nice. I’ve always wanted to find
out what sex in zero G would be like."

She laughed, turning around and planting a full wet kiss on his lips.
"I thought you old guys weren’t supposed to be interested in sex all
the time."

"Most old guys aren’t traveling with a beautiful twenty year old coed." Steve laughed running an appreciative hand around her butt.
"And, we old guys just love to be reminded we’re old."

She flushed a deep scarlet red. "Well you are twice my age."

"That I am." Steve said, pulling away. "Flatter me again by telling
me why I was the lucky man you picked as your companion for this
journey."

"I would have picked you anyway." She protested. "Honestly!"

"And the fact that the others were not already married or gay had
nothing at all to do with it?" Steve asked slyly.

She grinned evilly. "That only sped up the selection process. I had
this nice idea of you sneaking up behind me while we discussed the fun
we’re going to have tonight. How did we get on this subject?"

Steve laughed. "You called me old."

"Oh." She pulled down the zipper of her jumpsuit. "Well I guess now
is as good a time as any for you to prove how young you still are."

Steve’s eyebrows arched appreciatively as she stepped out of the
jumpsuit and let it fall slowly to the floor.

***
-- Polite Dinner Conversation --
***

Dinner was served early that evening and was by far the most lavish
feast yet prepared on the journey. There was a very good reason for
both the lavishness and the early meal. Since their departure from
Earth, the ship’s engines had been pushing the gargantuan, modified
asteroid through space. This thrust simulated almost half of Earth’s
regular gravity.

Now though, the Isthmus was preparing to drift for two weeks before
she would begin her turn and resume a braking thrust, slowing her down
as she neared Mars. For those two weeks they would be adrift, there
would be almost no gravity at all. Though the Isthmus was a modified
asteroid the gravity was so feeble that should someone drop a pen, the
time between release and landing could be measured in days rather than
seconds. The meal was a veritable feast because it would be the last
meal they would have for the next two weeks that would not come from a
squeeze tube or a ration pack.

The Isthmus was only nominally a passenger liner. Her primary purpose
was to carry cargo between Earth and Mars, and this she had been doing
now for almost half a century. Most people selected the instantaneous
magic of teleporting over the eight week space voyage, but enough
people were still leery enough of teleporting for the great space
freighters to make some room for paying passengers.

Steve and Trish had been invited to dine at the captains table this
evening. On anything other than a space voyage this would have been
an honor. However considering there were only twelve passengers
aboard every passenger would dine at the Captain’s table eventually.
Still it was Steve’s first time at the table, and from his vantage
point he was able to get a good look at his fellow travelers. As he
gazed around the room he realized for the first time that he had been
so infatuated with Trish that he had made no effort at all to get to
know any of these people.

"Is this everyone aboard?" Steve asked the captain.

"Indeed it is Mr. Whiley. Twelve passengers including yourself and
the fair lady, three crewmen, and six droids." The captain answered.

"I can’t believe more people don’t travel this way." Trish said.
"It’s terribly romantic."

Steve coughed.

"Romance is one way to pass the time I suppose." The captain
admitted. "Most people don’t have the patience for an eight week
journey. Even more people don’t have the fortitude to withstand two
weeks without gravity. Our sister ship, the Carpathia, sees a great
deal more passenger traffic than we do, since they put on the rotating
wheel. Centrifugal force substitutes for gravity when the ship goes
adrift."

"Why do we have to drift anyway?" Steve asked, suddenly interested.
"Seems it would be faster to just accelerate to the halfway point,
then turn and decelerate."

"Well there’s a number of factors really. Fuel concern is one. But
really the main reason is the faster we go, the more dangerous an
impact is to us. Of course we have several tons of rock and steel
between us, but the faster we go the less that will serve to protect
us." Noticing their worried faces, "Oh don’t be too concerned. It’s
precautionary only. Space really is quite empty. In my thirty years
aboard the Isthmus we’ve never hit anything larger than a baseball and
all that did was create another crater on the surface, no harm done."

"The technology is absolutely wonderful." Trish commented. "It has
been a very pleasant journey so far."

The captain coughed. "Well, technology keeps marching forward. If
one of our passengers has his way ships such as these will no longer
be needed."

"Really?" Steve asked.

The captain inclined his head. "Yes. The distinguished looking man with the goatee over there is a certain Doctor Ernest Vance, a Nobel
Prize winner by all accounts. Apparently he travels to mars to test
what he calls a wormhole between the moon and mars. He insists that
with a wormhole you can just step through a hole in space on the Moon
and step out on Mars."

"You can do that with a Teleport." Steve said, frowning slightly.
"Not my preferred way to travel."

"No. No. Teleport works by destroying you one place and re-creating
you somewhere else. The good Doctor explains his wormhole as a fold
in space, joining two distant points. Nothing is destroyed -- nothing
created. Apparently it is as simple as walking through a door and
finding yourself millions upon millions of miles away."

"Well that is interesting!" Steve confessed.

The captain nodded. "That it is. If it works, it will likely put me
out of a job in a few years, but I’m near enough to retirement anyway.
If it works, it will put the very stars within our reach."

Steve nodded and Trish beamed. "An astronomer’s dream." She sighed.

"Is that what you are studying?", The captain asked. "Forgive me if
I intrude. The manifest says you are traveling to continue your
studies at Molesworth University on Mars."

"That is exactly what I’m majoring in. I’m returning to start my
Junior year, on a full scholarship!", Trish bubbled.

"Very impressive. It’s not often Martian universities extend
scholarships to Terrans, you must be an exceptionally talented lady."

"I had excellent scholastic scores it’s true. But I think the primary
motivation was to introduce some cultural diversity to the university.
The younger Martians these days apparently forget all too easily that
there are billions of their fellow men in their same cosmic
neighborhood. And I’ll admit they’re a bit different than the people
back home."

The captain nodded. "That they are. They still have to work very
hard to keep the place livable. The lack of luxuries and
infrastructure tend to make them a very grim and determined people."

As desert ended the Captain rose and addressed the gathered
compliment. "Good people, in an hour we will shut down the engines.
If you would be so kind as to return straight away to your cabins and
secure yourselves when prompted we should have no problems. Those of
you who have difficulties with micro-gravity should take one of the
pills you’ll find in your bathrooms. Please remember, extended
periods of micro-gravity present some difficulties and on behalf of
the entire crew I remind you we are here to alleviate those
difficulties should they arise."

***
-- Zero G --
***

Steve strapped himself into the easy chair as the time neared. Trish
walked over and settled into his lap, snuggling in comfortably. When
the captain’s voice started counting down the seconds over the
speaker, Steve wrapped his arms around her. When the countdown
reached zero, the ever present rumbling of the ship ceased. The quiet
that followed was profound.

"Let go." Trish said eagerly.

Steve complied and she pushed away gently drifting lazily towards the
ceiling. "I’m flying!" She squealed in delight.

"I’m falling!" Steve squealed back! And indeed, though he was
securely strapped to the comfortable chair, every sense in his body
told him he was falling.

Trish turned gracefully in mid-air and came to rest standing on the
ceiling looking down at Steve. "You’ll get used to it quickly, I
promise. Do you need a pill?"

"No. I’ve taken this trip before. You’re right, I’ll get used to it,
but it will take a few minutes."

"You never told me why you were going to Mars." Trish said as she
pushed off the ceiling, flying fast towards one of the walls.

Steve smiled as he watched her carefree acrobatics. "My sister is
getting married. Since I’m the only family she’s got left it falls to
me to give her away." Suddenly he laughed.

Trish noticing the laughter grabbed hold of a light stand and pulled
herself to a stop. "What’s so funny?"

"Oh just recalling something about children, sugar, and bouncing off
walls.", Steve said, still chuckling.

Trish arched an eyebrow dangerously. "Children?" She pulled down the
zipper to her jumpsuit and disrobed, tossing it across the room. She
was wearing nothing underneath and Steve could not help but note how
wonderfully micro-gravity tended to augment the female form. "Are you
calling me a child?"

"N-Never!" Steve stammered.

She smiled and pushed very lightly off the wall, drifting towards the
center of the room, flapping her arms lightly to come to a stop, in
the dead center. "Are you going to join me?" She asked, her voice
becoming sultry and full of promise.

"Right away!" Steve answered eagerly, fumbling at the straps in the
chair. In his haste he pushed away from the chair a little too hard
and went speeding towards the ceiling, something he didn’t notice as
he was searching for his zipper, at least until he bumped his head.

"Offf!", he grunted as he rubbed his injured cranium.

Trish giggled. "Slow and steady is the rule in sex and zero G Steve
me boy."

Finally Steve managed to discard his jumpsuit and pushed lightly off
the ceiling drifting over towards Trish. Her smile grew larger as he
drifted closer. When they were close enough she wrapped her arms
around him and drew him close for a lingering kiss. When his engorged
cock moved from pressing against her waist to probing for her entrance
she pulled back.

"Trust me Steve. The only real way to have sex in space is orally."
She said. "And since men tend to loose interest…." She let the
thought trail off.

Steve understood the latter full well, though it would be the next day
before he understood the former. He smiled and pushed against her,
lowering himself between her legs. As they floated, weightless he
began to probe her with his tongue, with a confidence none of Trish’s
peers had yet mastered. Trish arched her back and neck, closing her
eyes as she groaned.

"I forgot how wonderful this is." She gasped between panting breaths.
Steve’s deft tongue probed her deeply before moving up to run playful
circles around her clitoris. As her gasps became more pronounced,
more urgent, he began to suck her, grinding his lips to add additional
sensations. When her gasps turned into shrieks of "Yes!" he found her
hands wrapped fully around the back of his head, pulling him into her.

"Wonderful!" Trish groaned. "That was wonderful! You could do that
to me all night long."

Steve smiled and favored her with another orgasm. After she had
recovered from the second, Trish pushed away slightly. "Ready to go
to heaven Steve?"

"I hope you mean figuratively darling." Steve chuckled.

Trish smiled knowingly. "You’ll have to decide that for yourself.
Close your eyes." Steve complied. "You’re drifting. Nothing exists
but this." She wrapped her mouth around his erect cock, and then one
hand around his buttocks. Steve groaned. "This is sooo weird."
Steve moaned.

"Hush." Trish commanded. "It gets better." Then she returned her
mouth around his cock and began to bob her head up and down. The only
sensations that existed for Steve was her warm, moist mouth around his
excited cock and her light touch on his ass which she used to keep
contact with him. young though she was, she brought him to the
threshold of orgasm with a deft, practiced efficiency and then held
him there, until the only thing that existed for him was the waves of
pleasure springing forth from his groin. It was like floating in a
ball of pure pleasure. Finally she sped up just enough to throw him
over the edge, and the orgasm was blinding in its intensity.

"Wow." Steve said, more than a little awed as Trish floated up to
snuggle against him.

"Told you." Trish smiled as she brushed away some hair that had
fallen near his eye.

"That you did. To bad it’s only two weeks." Steve smiled.

"To bad indeed." Trish agreed.

***
-- Murder! Murder most foul! --
***

The next day was spent in an orgy of sex play, exploring the
possibilities that zero G provided. Trish was indeed right.
Copulation was so difficult it wasn’t worth doing. They were as apt
to send each other flying around the room as anything, and after twice
flying uncontrollably into a wall or floor they stuck to oral sex.

They were floating in the middle of the room that evening, when the
doorbell chimed. Steve sighed and pushed away from Trish, floating
over toward his jumpsuit. The doorbell chimed again as he was getting
dressed. As he pulled up his zipper he noted that Trish had already
dressed. Now however he had a small problem as he was floating in
mid-air. The doorbell chimed yet again as he began flapping his arms
trying to get to a nearby wall. Trish laughed, delighted at his
comedy and pushed off the floor towards him, pushing him into a wall.
"Thanks!" Steve said sheepishly as he pushed himself onto the floor
the soles of his suit gripped the floor, providing some traction. The
doorbell was chiming a fourth time as he opened it to find the Purser.
She was a smallish Japanese girl, barely older than Trish. "What can
I do for you Miko?"

"The Captain has asked me to bring you to Doctor Vance’s quarters."
Her eyes flitted worriedly towards Trish and then back to Steve.
"There has been a murder."

"Doctor Vance?" Steve asked.

Miko nodded her head. Trish had moved up behind Steve and was
listening intently. "The Captain wishes to keep this as quiet as
possible for now." Miko said pointedly to Trish. "He wishes you to
come to the Doctor’s cabin." She said to Steve.

"Of course. Let me get my notebook first." Steve said.

"Can I tag along Steve?" Trish asked as she followed him over to the
desk.

Steve frowned. "You’d better not." He said cautiously. "It won’t be
pretty. It never is."

"Please?" She said, batting her lashes. "Let me be your Doctor
Watson."

Steve sighed. "You don’t play fair at all."

"I know." She giggled. "I’m terrible aren’t I?"

Steve sighed again. "OK, but unless we’re alone be as quiet as a
mouse. Can you do that?"

She snapped to attention and gave him a salute. "Aye-Aye Captain."
She broke into a broad grin. "I promise I’ll be your perfect, devoted
servant."

Steve pulled the notebook computer from his desk. "OK." He said as
he tossed the computer toward her. "You can set this up to record the
crime scene."

She nodded and followed him back to the door where the Purser was
waiting anxiously. She frowned when she saw Trish was going to
accompany them. "The Captain will not be pleased to see Ms. Carter."

Steve shrugged. "I’ve selected her as my assistant. Since we’ve been
inseparable for the last few days, right now she is the only person
aboard this ship I’m sure did not commit the murder, besides myself."

"As you say Mr. Whiley." Miko said as she led them down the wide
hallway towards the Doctor’s Cabin.

As they entered the room Steve’s eyes were immediately drawn to the
corpse seated in the easy chair. Doctor Vance appeared to have been
around fifty, and had the gray hairs that went with that age, giving
him a distinguished look. He had strapped himself in to the chair and
tucked in the folds of the chair by his side was a paperback novel.
His tan tunic was soaked in red, still wet blood around his chest.

The Captain and Mrs. Vance were standing by the bed, talking in hushed
tones as they entered. Noticing their arrival the Captain turned and
walked over to them, a grim expression on his face. "Thank you for
coming Mr. Whiley. As you can see we have need of your services."

"It does appear we will all be going down in the history books."
Steve said. "There’s never been a murder in space before."

"I’m hoping you can allow us to say there’s never been an unsolved
murder in space before we reach Mars.", The Captain said.

Steve nodded. Then noticing the Captain’s gaze on Trish said, "Ms.
Carter will be acting as my assistant."

The Captain frowned. "Before I sent for you I checked your
credentials Mr. Whiley; former policeman, former FBI agent, former
CIA agent, and a distinguished career as a private investigator. Your
references are unassailable. You are the only person other than
myself I do not suspect at the present."

"Then since Ms. Carter and I have been together since we started
drifting, she is cleared by association to my credentials." Steve
said.

"Of course." The Captain admitted.

"Let’s begin with how the body was found." Steve suggested.

The Captain nodded. "Miko, please tell Mr. Whiley what you know."

"At six thirty, ships time, the call light for this room began to
flash. This is a non-urgent call, it usually means the passenger
simply wants the room straightened up. If it’s urgent they’ll call
voice. I had nothing pressing at the moment so I answered the call
straight away. When I got to the door there was no answer. This is
not unusual. Some passengers press the call button before they leave
so they return to a straightened cabin. After a minute I opened the
door and found Doctor Vance as you see him now."

Steve checked his watch noting the current time of seven-fifteen. "I
take it you then went straight to the Captain?"

"Yes." Miko replied.

"And I came down to see for myself." The Captain said. "I sent Miko
to track down Mrs. Vance and set Lieutenant Alexander to guard the
room. I then reported the crime to my superiors. After we had
investigated your credentials it was decided to allow you to head the
investigation."

Steve nodded. "And when was he last seen alive?"

"At six." Mrs. Vance said. "I left here at six o’clock."

"Well that’s a nice narrow time frame." Steve said as he walked over
to the body. "Did anyone else see Mr. Vance alive around that time?"

Miko nodded her head. "Mr. Vance called me at two minutes after six
and requested the temperature in his cabin be lowered. It is logged
in my workstation."

He paused a moment in front of the lifeless form and turned. Behind
him on the wall was an oblong circle of splattered blood. He studied
it a moment. "Odd." He said. "He was obviously stabbed. When the
killer removed the knife it must have sent the blood flying. Notice
the clean area in the circle? Almost like an eclipse. I’d be willing
to bet some of the blood landed on the killers clothing."

"I didn’t notice that." The Captain said. "But now that you mention
it, it is quite obvious."

"You have spare tunics on board?" Steve asked.

"Yes." The Captain said.

"Enough to replace everyone’s current wardrobe?"

"I believe so."

"I think the first thing we should do is gather everyone’s jumpsuits.
Label each one. If we haven’t found the killer by the time we reach
mars, a DNA sweep should find which tunic was involved with the
murder."

The Captain’s face brightened considerably. "An excellent idea. Miko
fetch Lieutenant Alexander and see to it at once. Be very meticulous
with your notes."

"While you’re at it, be on the lookout for a largish knife." Steve
added. "If you find one, don’t touch it, but send for me at once."

The captain nodded his agreement. Miko bowed slightly and left.
Steve turned his attention back to the corpse letting his eyes move
slowly up from the man’s feet, probing every millimeter of the body.
When his eyes fell to the clenched left hand, Steve paused and moved
in closer. Between the fingers were a few strands of red hair.
"Captain, I think you should find Mrs. Vance another cabin. Being
forced to occupy this one would no doubt prove distressful to her."

"Of course! I wasn’t thinking." The Captain apologized. "Please Mrs.
Vance, if you would accompany me."

"Y-Yes." Mrs. Vance stammered.

After they had left Trish walked over and knelt beside Steve. "What
is it? What did you find?"

Steve took the man’s hand and turned it over, palm up, forcing the
fingers open to reveal the red hair between the fingers. "Red Hair."
Steve said.

"There’s only one red-headed person on board!" Trish said excitedly.
"Gosh this is easy!"

Steve pulled out a handkerchief and snatched a floating coin out of
the air. "And I’ll wager the red-haired man has been to India. This
is an Indian Paisa. Look at the placement of the wound. That had to
go through his ribs, whoever did this was very strong. Notice also
only one entry point. He was stabbed only once."

"Well I guess now you just tell the captain to arrest the red-haired
man and it’s all done with."

"Think a moment Trish. We’re in space. There’s only fifteen people
here. No one can enter. No one can leave. What kind of murder
happens in such a situation?"

Trish frowned. "A crime of passion?"

"Yes, that is one possibility. There’s another."

"A premeditated murder? But that’s silly."

"Not if you plan to make it look like someone else did the murder."
Steve said. "Examine the hairs in the hand carefully."

Trish leaned forward and stared. "They’re hairs."

"Notice the roots, and think." Steve coaxed.

Trish’s face drew into a concentrating frown. Her eyes suddenly lit
up. "The roots are facing the palm! If he had grabbed someone’s hair
the roots would have been on the outside not the inside!"

"Good!" Steve said. "You’re beginning to think like a detective now.
It’s possible he may have had some weird grip on the murderer. But
I’ll wager you that this is a plant. Right now, our red-haired man is
on the very bottom of the list of suspects."

Trish beamed as Steve explored the corpse further. "This will be a
tough case." He said as he examined the body. "We don’t have net
access out here and there are none of the traditional tools." He bent
over and sniffed at the body’s mouth. "Hmmm. Wine."

Steve pushed away, and started exploring the rest of the room, finding
nothing remarkable. "See if you agree with this Trish. Sometime
between six and six-thirty, someone rings the doorbell. Dr. Vance
tucks his book into the chair and the murderer enters. The murderer
has brought wine. Doctor Vance drinks some, and shortly thereafter is
stabbed. When the murderer withdraws the knife, blood rushes out;
some of it splashing on the murderer, the rest hitting against the
wall. The murderer then places the red hairs in the victim's hand and
leaves behind an Indian Paisa. The killer collects whatever the wine
was in and leaves, pressing the attendant call button on the way out."

"I don’t think I could have pieced it together as easily, but that
certainly sounds right." Trish said, impressed. "But why the call
button?"

"Most likely the murderer felt he or she had a solid alibi for the
time in question, since this would serve to fix the time of death.
Also, if it is indeed a frame job, it is likely the person being
implicated does not have a strong alibi. Still it is possible that
Dr. Vance managed to hit the call button before he lost consciousness
and panicked the killer."
"So if all the clues are false, how are you going to find the REAL
killer?"

"Two of the clue’s aren’t false." Steve noted.

Trish frowned again. "You’ve lost me."

"There are two very real clues right in this room; though they are
contradictory. First, there is the fact that it took a great blow to
drive the knife through the ribs. That indicates strength, probably a
man. The second is the wine. men don’t ordinarily share wine, that
would indicate a woman entered the room."

"Maybe he shared a drink with his wife before she left.", Trish
suggested.

"Perhaps. But there is no wine in this room. It may be a dead end,
we’ll know after we find out more about his day."

The Captain re-entered. "I’ve got Mrs. Vance settled. Lieutenant
Alexander and Miko are seeing to the cabin searches. I’m afraid we’ve
had to tell everyone there’s a murder, no other explanation would
serve."

Steve nodded. "That’s fine. I’d like to see the passenger manifest
tonight and first thing tomorrow, I’d like to start interviewing
everyone on the ship."

"Of course. I anticipated as such." The captain withdrew a small pad
and handed it to Trish who started transferring the information.
"Have you discovered anything?"

Steve nodded. "Red hairs in the victim’s hands and an Indian Paisa,
but I believe them to be plants to frame someone else."

The Captain frowned. "Red hair, that would be Jase Hobkins. Are you
so sure it’s a frame-up?"

"It’s possible. In any case it’s best to be thorough especially when
history will be watching us."

The Captain’s head snapped back, stung by the reminder. He took the
pad back from Trish when she offered it to him. "Who would you like
to interview first tomorrow?"

"I’ll start with Mrs. Vance. I’ll schedule the rest after I’ve had
the chance to study the passenger manifests."

"Very good. The home office has agencies all over the globe gathering
more detailed information on our passengers but it will no doubt take
several days to compile."

"A very challenging case." Steve said.

"Do you require anything else?" The captain asked.

Steve thought a moment. "Do your computers log the airlocks?"

"No. They are completely independent systems. Safety reasons and
all." The captain said.

"If I were a murderer and wished to dispose of evidence on a space
ship I would send it out the nearest airlock." Steve said.

The Captain’s face brightened for the first time that evening. "Then
the killer has made a mistake!"

"Oh?"

"Yes! We’re drifting right now, and feeble though it is, the ship
does have gravity. There would be just enough atmosphere left in an
airlock to send something into space, but it would most likely be in
orbit around us at least until we fire the engines again."

"Do you think you can find it, assuming of course that is how the
evidence was disposed of?"

The Captain frowned again. "I don’t know. But I shall most
certainly set the task to Lieutenant Alexander when he finishes the
room searches."

"Then I guess there’s nothing further to do until morning." Steve
said.

***
-- A brief Interlude --
***

Steve sat in the easy chair of his room studying the list Trish had
downloaded. Trish was curled in his lap studying the manifest as
well.

Barr, Jeff S.
M - USA - Detroit, MI - 48 - Engineer (Teleport).
Purpose: Pleasure - Room #3

Brown, Tanner B.
M - EU - Germany, Bonn - 33 - Journalist (Science Times)
Purpose: Business - Room #15

Carter, Trish M.
F - USA - Vancouver, BC - 20 - Student (Molesworth)
Purpose: Business - Room #8

Davis, Myrial K.
F - EU - England, Westminster - 38 - Homemaker.
Purpose: Pleasure - Room #5

Davis, Paul C.
M - EU, England, Westminster - 43 - Director, NexCor.
Purpose: Pleasure - Room #5

Dawson, janet C.
F - USA - San Francisco, CA - 29 - None.
Purpose: Pleasure - Room #9

Gold, Barry J.
M - USA - San Francisco, CA - 28 - Doctoral Candidate
(Harvard)
Purpose: Business - Room #19

Hobkins, Jase D.
M - USA - Miami, FL - 44 - Research Assistant.
Purpose: Business - Room #18

Kneed, Kathy T.
F - EU - England, Westminster - 28 - Secretary.
Purpose: Business - Room #6

Vance, Ernest T. Dr.
M - Quebec - Montreal - 51 - Researcher (Harvard)
Purpose: Business - Room #20

Vance, Grace L.
F - Quebec - Montreal - 47 - Homemaker.
Purpose: Pleasure - Room #20

Whiley, Steve A.
M - USA - Los Angeles, CA - 40 - Private Investigator.
Purpose: Pleasure - Room #7
"Not much here." Trish said.

"Quite a bit actually." Steve said.

"Oh please!" Trish said incredulously.

"Well lets start with Mr. Barr. It says he travels to mars for
pleasure, but he works for Teleport."

"So?"

"Do you not suppose Teleport might be interested in a magical wormhole
that lets people travel from one point to another?"

Trish thought on that. "I guess they would."

"Paul Davis works for NexCor, a giant multinational shipping firm.
They even run their own space freighters, yet he travels on a
competitor’s ship with his wife and probably his secretary. Is this
suggestive?"

"He’s also interested in the wormhole!" Trish said, her eyes
brightening. "Janet Dawson is probably hitched up with Barry Gold,
she’s probably the one I saw at their table. Barry Gold is probably
working on the project with Doctor Vance." She continued the train of
thought. "Tanner Brown is probably covering the story. Jase Hobkins
is also working on the project. Kathy Kneed is probably Paul Davis’
secretary." She stared at Steve in surprise. "Aside from the crew,
we’re probably the only people on the ship who aren’t here because of
the wormhole thingy."

Steve smiled. "Very good! You really ought to consider studying law
enforcement, you’ve got a good eye for these things."

She gave an exasperated sigh. "Only after you rub my nose in it!"

"You learn to look for these things -- how they all connect. It’s
part of the job description."

"Like Mrs. Vance." Trish said confidently.

"You noticed." Steve smiled.

"She was very calm. She looked disturbed, but not at all like what
you’d expect of a wife who just found her husband murdered."

"That’s not necessarily incriminating." Steve warned. "It could be
shock or maybe there wasn’t much love in the marriage. I’ve seen
spouses before who were perfectly innocent, yet very happy at their
better half’s demise."

"I think I’ll stick to astronomy." Trish said. "I think there’s such
a thing as knowing your fellow man too well."

"That’s the hardest thing about being a cop." Steve agreed. "It
doesn’t take long at all to loose your faith in humanity."

She smiled and wiggled her bottom against his crotch. "I think I can
restore a little faith if you’re in the mood. I know it’s terribly
perverse and all, but all this has made me horny as hell."

"Well, I think something can be arranged." Steve replied slyly.

After a half hour or so, Trish had indeed managed to restore some of
Steve’s faith.
***
-- Interview with the widow --
***

"Good morning Mrs. Vance." Steve said as the stately woman entered
the room Captain Zigler had set up for them. "Please have a seat,
although I guess it really isn’t necessary."

"I’ll take the seat Mr. Whiley." Mrs. Vance said as she walked over
to the chair and strapped herself down. "I imagine I’d look pretty
silly floating around."

"Well it has it’s merits." Steve said. He paused a moment and
glanced at his notebook. "If you could, please tell me everything
that occurred immediately before you left your husband and what you
were doing during the time he was -- well the time of the incident."

"I know this is going to sound perfectly horrible," she began, "but
yesterday Ernest found me kissing Jase Hobkins. We’ve been good
friends for many years, but in the last few months we’ve also been
lovers. Ernest and I argued about it in our room. He was a hard man Mr. Whiley. He lived for his job, never for me. I was a showpiece,
something he drug out for faculty parties and the reporters. I was as
much a part of his wardrobe as his tuxedo. The argument was quite
intense and I fled. I spent the next forty-five minutes with Jase in
his room, until Miko found me."

"You realize that gives you a strong motive for the murder." Steve
asked, surprised at her candor.

She nodded. "I do. But it would be a stronger motive if I tried to
hide the truth and you found out anyway. I remember reading about you
in the papers when you hunted the rose stalker. It was quite
sensational at the time. I not only think you’re good enough to catch
my husband’s killer, but I also think you’re good enough to find out
about the affair. So I save you the effort."

"Catching the Rose Stalker was the most difficult case in my career."
Steve admitted. "And I do thank you for your candor. If I may ask,
where exactly were you and Jase making out?"

"In the Gym."

"Did anyone else see you?"

"I don’t know. I mean, I really wasn’t paying attention to anything
other than Jase."

Steve nodded. "Now let us discuss your husband’s research."

"The wormhole?" Mrs. Vance asked.

"Tell me a little about it." Steve prompted.

"Well the first thing you should know is that the wormhole is really
Barry Gold’s baby. My husband won a Nobel Prize for his theory on
gravitational wavelets, but it was Barry who saw the possibility of
using the theory to create a wormhole between two points. I thought
that what my husband was doing was despicable. We argued about it
constantly, but he assured me it was simply how things were done in
the academic world."

Steve thought on that a moment. "So now we have another suspect."

"Oh Barry? He wouldn’t hurt a fly and he idolized my husband. That’s
probably why they got along so well."

Steve shrugged. "So tell me what the wormhole does."

She frowned. "You’ll get a better explanation from Barry or Jase."

"Humor me."

"Well apparently it’s possible to generate some sort of field, and if
a similar field is started somewhere else, the space between the two
fields sort of bends. When it bends enough, it’s like the two fields
are right next door to each other and if you pass something through
it’s like passing something through an ordinary doorway only it
appears wherever the second field is."

"Have they tried it before?" Steve asked.

"On the lunar research facility. It worked flawlessly. We’re
traveling to Mars to see if distance affects the device. If it worked
between the Moon and Mars we were going to travel to Europa and make
one last field test before announcing the discovery and
commercializing it."

"And when it’s commercialized?" Steve asked. "Who shares in the
profits?"

"Well the university for one. They get twenty-five percent. My
husband, since he lead the project, would get fifty percent. The
other twenty-five percent would be distributed between the others
working on the project as he saw fit."

"And now?" Steve asked.

"Why I’m not sure. I would suppose Barry would take over the project,
based on his work to-date and the success of the project so far, no
doubt the college would grant his Doctorate and allow him to
continue."

Steve leaned back. "And there was never any contention between Barry
and your husband?"

"Not that I knew of." Mrs. Vance answered. "Whenever he and janet visited for dinner, everything was very cordial. He often remarked to
me how much he admired my husband’s theories on gravity."

"Janet is Barry’s girlfriend?" Steve asked.

"Fiancee." Mrs. Vance corrected. "Barry proposed before we departed.
She accepted."

"Do you think janet knows your husband was appropriating Barry’s
work?"

"Maybe. I really don’t know."

"What are your impressions of Janet?"

"Well she’s a nice enough girl I guess. Young, very pretty and
talkative. Barry seems happy enough with her."

"Don’t spare anyone’s feelings please Mrs. Vance."

She sighed. "Really she’s a very nice girl. With the differences in
our ages there’s just not enough to really form a good friendship."

"Do you know a Mr. Paul Davis?"

"Only from meeting him on the ship. He’s the director of NexCor."

"How about a Mr. Tanner Brown?"

Mrs. Vance smiled. "He’s the Science Times reporter who is covering
the wormhole experiments. It’s all top secret of course, but when the
announcement is finally made, Mr. Brown will have the full exclusive
inside story all ready for print."

"So he’s been with your party for a while?"

"For almost a year now. Science Times considers this the story of the
century."

Steve nodded. "Do you know a Mr. Jeff Barr?"

"Again, only after meeting him on the ship."

"Tell me about Jase Hobkins. What he does, what he’s like."

Despite herself, Mrs. Vance blushed. "Well he’s the lead assistant on
the project. He organizes notes, files, sets up equipment, records
measurements. A sort of glorified errand boy in a high-tech way. But
I think the project would collapse without his organizational skills.
As for what he’s like, he’s a good, kind, honest man."

"Did you notice your husband drinking wine before you left?"

Mrs. Vance cocked her head at the shift in topics but answered
quickly. "No. Ernest rarely drinks alcohol, he prided himself on his
thinking and despised anything which affected that."

"Thank you Mrs. Vance. I may have further questions for you later. I
ask that you do not discuss our conversation with anyone else."

Mrs. Vance rose and walked to the door. Before leaving she turned and
said, "Mr. Whiley, my husband and I had our differences. I may not
have loved him anymore, but he was in many ways still my friend. He
may have been riding on his past accomplishments but he was still a
most brilliant man and the universe has precious few truly brilliant
men in it. I wish you the best of luck and God speed in finding his
killer."

After she had left, Steve turned to Trish and asked, "What do you
think?"

"I think she’s telling the truth." Trish said flatly. "I think she
was with Jase when her husband was killed. And since you’re pretty
sure Jase is being framed, that makes her innocent."

"On the other-hand she and Jase might have conspired to kill him.
They are having an affair after all. It would be a crime of passion.
The clues left behind might be unintentional or the clues may have
been planted deliberately to make it look like an obvious frame."

"I’m confused again." Trish admitted.

Steve smiled. "So am I. Only twelve more people to interview."
Steve pressed the call button and said, "Miko, please ask Jase Hobkins
to join us."

"Right away Mr. Whiley. The Captain asked me to inform you that our
data links will be going down for the next three days. There seems to
be a malfunction in the laser. We can still use Teledata for
important communications however."

"Was the Captain able to obtain the passenger biographies before the
data link went down?"

"No Mr. Whiley."

"Thank you Miko."

"I will send Mr. Hobkins in right away as you requested." She bowed
her head slightly and the picture disappeared.
***
-- Interview with Jase Hobkins --
***

The man who entered the room was large and powerful looking. The type
of man one would expect to see working at the docks lifting heavy
cargo, yet there was a thoughtful expression to his face, and the
glimmer of sharp intelligence behind his blue eyes. He made his way
easily to the chair and seated himself, gazing at Steve and Trish much
as one would gaze at two coiled cobras.

Steve looked up from his notes and smiled. "Good morning Mr. Hobkins.
I need to ask you a few questions, some of them may be of a personal
nature."

He nodded. "I understand."

"When was the last time you saw Mr. Vance alive?"

"That would have been around five o’clock when he burst in on Grace
and I in the Gym."

"Did you argue?"

"No. He called attention to himself and demanded Grace return with
him to his room."

"Is this the first time Mr. Vance caught you two together?"

"Yes."

"Is this the first time you were caught together?"

Jase leaned back in his chair and thought. "No. Barry walked in on
us two months ago, shortly before we left the moon."

"Did anyone else see you together yesterday afternoon?"

"I don’t think so. I wasn’t really paying attention."

"When did you next see Mrs. Vance?"

"Shortly after six."

"Was she upset?"

"Yes. She said Mr. Vance had argued with her, that he had threatened
her, and he had come close to striking her. She told me she wanted a
divorce as soon as we reached Mars."

"Are you aware the timing of the divorce would cause significant
hardships in the future?"

"Yes." Jase replied. "In my opinion it would have been worth it."

"In what capacity did you work for Mr. Vance?"

"I organized the project; coordinated the help, took notes, scheduled
trials, worked the bureaucracy to obtain permits, moved equipment.
You name it, I did it."

"Were you satisfied in your job?"

"Yes. I found it very rewarding."

"Does the wormhole work?"

"On the moon at least. It didn’t matter if the two ends were right
next to each other, or on the other side of the globe. No one had any
reason to doubt that it would work between the moon and mars or the
moon and Europa. This trip is just a formality to ensure the research
is as compete as we could make it."

"Tell me a bit about Tanner Brown."

"The reporter? Not much to say. He’s always hanging around, asking
questions. Nice enough fellow even if he is gay."

"Did you sleep with him?"

"I don’t swing that way."

"What do you know of Paul Davis?"

Jase shifted uncomfortably and lowered his gaze. "He’s a nice enough
fellow. We’ve had several chats since he’s been aboard."

"What were the nature of those chats?"

"Just genera chit-chat; sports, politics, space travel. He plays
chess and so do I, we’ve gotten together for more than a few games
this trip."

"Was Mr. Davis interested in your wormhole project?"

"Yes. We talked about it in a general manner. Mostly it’s impact on
space exploration."

"Have you also talked with Jeff Barr?"

"Only hello. We’ve bumped into each other a few times on board ship."

"Were you aware that Dr. Vance was appropriating Barry Gold’s work?"

"Yes. I didn’t approve."

"Did Mr. Gold seem uncomfortable with the idea?"

"You know it’s odd, but he wasn’t. I’d swear the kid practically
worshipped the ground Dr. Vance walked on."

"Tell me about janet Dawson?"

"She’s Barry’s fiancee. Pretty and smart to boot. I don’t see her
very often."

"Have you been sleeping with anyone other than Grace Vance?"

Jase shifted uncomfortably at the sudden shift in questions and
answered, "No."

"Are you in the employ of anyone other than the former Doctor Vance?"

After a slight pause he answered, "No."

"Do you love Grace?"

"Yes."

"Do you plan to marry her?"

"I haven’t thought about it. I think I will though."

"Have you been to India recently?"

"Why as a matter of fact I have. My brother lives there and I visited
him right before we left."

"Thank you Mr. Hobkins. I may have further questions for you later
on."

"Anytime." Jase answered as he rose.

After he left Trish turned to Steve and let out a deep breath. "Wow,
the tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife."

Steve nodded thoughtfully. "Jase Hobkins is a man with secrets to
hide Trish."

"Do you think he did it?"

"I’m not sure. I believe he’s capable of it. He has a motive. But
there is one thing that saves him at the present?"

"What’s that?"

"I believe Mrs. Vance."

Trish nodded.

Steve pressed the call button and Miko appeared on the screen. "Miko
will you please join us for a few minutes? I’d like to get your
testimony now."

"Right away Mr. Whiley." She said, bowing slightly as the image
faded.
***
-- Interview with Purser Miko Toranaga --
***
"This won’t take very long I hope Miko." Steve said. After she
remained silent, Steve began. "You say you received a call from Mr.
Vance at six o’ two?"

"Yes."

"Did you notice anyone in the halls either shortly before or after
that?"

"Shortly after the call, Mr. Brown passed my station, I believe he was
heading for the rec room."

"Is he the only person you saw?"

"Yes."

"When the captain asked you to find Mrs. Vance, how did you locate
her?"

Miko blushed slightly. "I have seen Mrs. Vance and Mr. Hobkins when
they are near to each other, they are close friends. I visited Mr.
Hobkins room first. They were together."

"Very observant." Miko made not reply to that. "Did you notice
anything at all between six and six-thirty that may be of any help?"

"No. I’m very sorry."

Steve shook his head dismissively. "No need to apologize. When you
and Lieutenant Alexander searched the rooms last night did you find
anything?"

"No Mr. Whiley. We found no knives. There was no blood on anyone’s
tunics."

"You’ve collected them all then?"

"Yes Sir. They are labeled very well."

"While you were searching did anyone appear nervous or apprehensive?"

"Not that I could see Mr. Whiley."

"When you explained there had been a murder, did anyone react
unusually?"

"They all seemed genuinely surprised sir."

Steve sighed. "Thank you Miko. Please send Barry Gold in next."

Miko rose, bowed slightly and left gracefully.

"I like her." Trish said. "She’s very polite."

"That she is."

"Not very helpful though."

"Helpful enough." Steve said. "One of the hardest things about a
murder is determining the time of death. Thanks to Miko we have it
narrowed down to a nice half hour span."

Trish nodded. "Interesting there was no blood found on the tunics."

"I have a theory about that." Steve said.

"Care to enlighten me?"

Steve smiled. "Think on it a bit."
***
-- Interview with Barry Gold --
***

The man who entered the cabin next was thin as a rail, and though he
was otherwise an attractive man he entered the room in a gloom. "Mr.
Whiley?" He asked.

Steve nodded. "Please have a seat Mr. Gold." After Barry had been
seated Steve continued, "I have to ask you a few questions, a few may
be rather personal."

"OK." Barry said.

"Dr. Vance was murdered between six and six-thirty last night. Where
were you during that time?"

"Asleep in my cabin with Janet." Barry answered.

"Six is very early to be retiring."

Barry blushed. "Well we decided to find out what zero G sex was like.
It was strenuous."

"I see. How long have you known Dr. Vance?"

"He’s been my mentor for close to four years now."

"You admired him?"

Barry leaned forward. "Very much! The man was a genius! His theory
on gravitational wavelets is as important and as profound as
relativity itself."

"And yet he was stealing your work."

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Barry leaned back. "It was our work Mr. Whiley. The theory was his,
I had an interesting idea of how to exploit it and he worked with me
on developing that idea."

"So you saw yourself in partnership with him?"

"No. I was his student. He was my friend."

"Are you aware of how your relationship would affect the financial
distribution?"

"I am. But we’re talking huge here. Doctor Vance had promised me 20%
of the project, the rest of the 5% to be distributed among the rest of
the staff. That 20% will get me far, far more money than I could ever
hope to spend in one or even a hundred lifetimes."

"How about the prestige? It might have been his theory, but it was
your idea. History will record Doctor Earnest Vance as the father of
the wormhole."

"And he deserves that recognition. As you say it was his theory. And
I have years and years ahead of me. Right now it takes a machine at
each point to create the wormhole. That means to travel to the stars
we first have to send out a probe before we can open up a link. But I
have a theory on how to create a stable wormhole with only ONE
machine. After I got my doctorate and was doing my own research,
that’s what would get me my Nobel. I’d go down in history as the man who gave humanity the stars."

"More than enough glory to share then?"

"Exactly."

"Are you aware Doctor Vance’s wife was having an affair?"

Barry crossed his arms. "Yes. Several I saw her and Jase a few
months ago."

"Did you mention the affair to anyone?"

"Only to Janet. I have no secrets from her."

"Congratulations are in order I hear."

Barry beamed. "Yes. We’re going to hold a ceremony on Mars a few
weeks after we arrive."

"I see on the passenger manifest that janet Dawson has no profession
listed, is this accurate?"

"Yes. I met her on campus when she was a first year med student. She
decided she wasn’t cut out for medicine but by then we were pretty
much an item, and I’ve enough money for us to both live on
comfortably."

"Before your, activities last afternoon did you and janet share a
drink?"

Barry looked at Steve quizzically, "Yes we did actually. How did you
know?"

"Just a guess Mr. Gold. You are certain the wormhole works?"

"Positive."

"Do you know a Mr. Tanner Brown?"

"Yes. He’s the Science Times reporter, he’s been covering our
project."

"Have you had any difficulties with him?"

"None at all. He’s been very discrete and I rather like him."

"Do you know a Mr. Paul Davis, his wife, or Kathy Kneed?"

"Only by bumping into them on the ship."

"What about Jeff Barr?"

"The teleport engineer? We had a few chats on board. Nice enough
fellow, very sharp on his physics."

"Thank you Mr. Gold, that will be all for now. I may have further
questions for you later on."

Barry nodded and left the room.

"This is so frustrating!" Trish mumbled after he left. "All the
people with the strongest motives seem so sincere."

"These are all extraordinarily bright people Trish, and I believe the
murder was well planned, meticulously planned in fact. No one is
going to walk into this room and act in such a way that we will know
immediately that he or she is the murderer."

"Then what’s the point of the interviews?"

"The interviews give us more information than we had before, and
information is our friend and the murderer’s enemy. Already things
begin to fall into place."

"And you’re not going to tell me what those things are, are you?"
Trish pouted.

"I would not presume to rub your nose in the facts." Steve smiled.
Pressing the call button Steve said to Miko, "Please send in janet Dawson."
***
-- Interview with janet Dawson --
***
"Good morning Ms. Dawson." Steve said as the pretty woman entered the
cabin. "Please have a seat." As she moved, he couldn’t help noticing
how similar in stature she was to Mrs. Vance though they were several
decades apart in ages.

"Thank you Mr. Whiley. I hope you are making good progress on finding
Doctor Vance’s Killer."

"There have been some important clues." Steve admitted. "But these
interviews will serve to place those clues in context. I have a few
questions for you, a few of them may be of a personal nature."

"I will answer to the best of my abilities."

"Where were you last afternoon between six and six-thirty ships time?"

"In my cabin with my fiancee."

"Asleep?"

"Resting."

"Mr. Gold informed us you were a medical student before you gave it
up."

"That is correct. I found I was squeamish at the sight of blood.
That is not a very good quality for a doctor to have."

"And now you will be a homemaker for your husband?"

"It is an honorable career."

"Indeed it is. Were you aware Mrs. Vance and Jase Hobkins were having
an affair?"

"Barry mentioned it to me several weeks ago. It did not surprise me."

"Why didn’t it surprise you?"

"I had noticed a certain tenderness between the two of them for almost
a year now, as well as a friction between Jase and Dr. Vance."

"So Dr. Vance and Mr. Hobkins were not on friendly terms?"

"Oh professionally they were friendly enough. But there always seemed
to be some unspoken stress between them when they were together. I
had the impression they did not really like each other."

"Were you aware Dr. Vance was appropriating Mr. Gold’s work?"

Janet frowned. "Yes. I didn’t like it one bit, but Barry absolutely
worshipped Dr. Vance. He assured me that whoever got credit we were
all going to end up absurdly wealthy. He also assured me that he had
another idea that would earn him more than enough fame later on."

"Are you on favorable terms with Jase Hobkins?"

"I like to think so, yes."

"With Grace Vance?"

"Yes. We’re not fast friends or anything, but we’re civil enough to
each other."

"Have you ever slept with Jase Hobkins?"

"No."

"Do you know a Mr. Davis?"

"Yes, I’ve seen him and Jase together fairly often."

"Before this trip?"

"At least twice on the moon."

"That is interesting. Are you aware that Mr. Davis is the director
for NexCor?"

"The shipping firm? No I was not."

"Do you know a Mr. Tanner Brown?"

"Yes. He’s the reporter for Science Times. He always seemed pleasant
enough, even if a bit nosy."

"Do you believe Jase Hobkins capable of murder?"

Janet paused. "Before yesterday I would have said no. But
considering he was having an affair with Dr. Vance’s wife, I think he
may very well have done it."

"And if I told you that Mrs. Vance said she was with Jase at the time
of the murder?"

Janet thought a moment. "I do not think I would be terribly surprised
if they were both involved in the murder."

"We found no physical evidence to support that conclusion."

Janet’s eyebrow arched slightly. "Well I’m not an investigator, my
opinions are of course completely uninformed speculation."

"Do you know a Jack Barr?"

"Yes. He’s had several conversations with Barry since we’ve been on
board. They tend to get very technical, I usually don’t sit in on
their conversations."

"Thank you Ms. Dawson. I may have further questions for you later on.
But for now you have been most helpful."

"Why thank you." janet said.

Trish leaned over and said, "She makes a strong case against Mrs.
Vance and Mr. Hobkins."

"That she does." Jack said as he pressed the call button. "Miko,
since it is nearly lunch time, I would like to dine with the Captain
and the Lieutenant. Afterwards I would like to interview in this
order, Tanner Brown, Paul Davis, Myrial Davis, Kathy Kneed, and Jack
Barr."

"Very good Mr. Whiley. The Captain had hoped you would dine with him
regardless. I shall make the arrangements, say lunch in two hours?"

"That should be fine."

"What are we going to do for two hours?" Trish asked. Steve smiled
knowingly. "Oh." Trish smiled back.

***
-- Another Interlude --
***

"Do you think any of the people we’ve seen so far is the murderer?"
Trish asked as Steve pulled at her zipper.

"It’s possible. Why don’t you tell me what you think of our
interviews so far while we play?"

Trish’s eyes grew wide as Steve lowered himself between her legs.
"That is SO naughty!" She scolded.

"You mean thinking on a mystery while having sex is perverted?" Steve
asked slyly.

"In a word, yes." Trish said. "But I like it."

"Good." Steve said as he lowered his mouth to her waiting pussy.

"Hmm. This is going to be fun. Well let's start back on the moon.
Oh! That’s nice! Jase Hobkins, who’s our primary suspect at this
point is caught doing the nasty with Grace by Barry, who mentions it
to Janet. Probably caught doing what you’re doing to me right now,
God this is so damn weird! Hmmmm. janet says there’s some tension
between Jase and Dr. Vance, she also says Jase has been meeting with
Paul Davis before they ever met here. OHHH! Damn if you keep doing
that, this is going to get really, really hard."

"That’s not the only thing that’s really, really hard right now,"
Steve said mischievously.

"I think there’s some serious backdoor politics going on here. In
addition to the affair, Jase is probably selling project research to
Paul Davis. If everything works as everyone seems to think it is,
it’s probably in Mr. Davis’ interest to either sabotage the project or
delay it long enough to develop his own wormhole. But that goes right
back to incriminating Jase and Mrs. Vance. Yes!" She moaned as she
ran her fingers through his hair. "This is so damn sexy."

"But the thing is, oooooh!, I believe Mrs. Vance. That means Jase
really does have an alibi. And Barry and janet were together. So
I’m, I’m, Oh God! I’m cumming!"

"Not bad!" Steve said as he floated up beside her, letting one hand
trace delicately around her breasts. "You were paying attention."

"And I’m still lost." Trish said.

"There were a few subtle points you seemed to have missed though."
Steve said.

"Maybe you can expound them while I return a favor?" Trish suggested.

"I think I’ll let you think on it a little more. You seem to have so
much fun figuring these things out for yourself."

Trish sighed before delicately wrapping her luscious lips around his
engorged cock.
***
-- Lunch --
***

Lunch consisted of little more than dry ration bars and tea served
from squeeze tubes. Ordinarily, such simple fare was consumed in the
privacy of one’s cabin, but this was more a meeting than lunch.

"Have you made any progress Mr. Whiley?" The Captain asked as they
entered.

"Some. I’ve a few theories at the moment, none of which I’m ready to
share."

"I’m terribly sorry about the lost data link. Apparently one of the
circuits on the communication’s laser has malfunctioned."

Steve snickered. "It wouldn’t be the AE-35 unit would it?"

The captain’s face was a puzzled blank as he missed the private joke.
"I’m not familiar with that. We do have a teledata unit on board, but
it has a limited capacity and we’re saving it for important messages
and the final data transfer when the home office has the passenger
data compiled."

"Have you made any progress on the outside search?"

The captain turned to a tall blond man next to him. "Your report Mr.
Alexander?"

"I’ve found nothing yet. But that’s not surprising. The asteroid is
actually very large and since we don’t know the angle of the orbit
I’ve had to make a painstaking survey. I do not have much hope of
finding anything."

"Did you find anything unusual in your search of the passenger
cabins?" Steve asked.

"Nothing." The lieutenant said. "But I do not have an eye trained
for such things, it may very well be that I missed something."

"Did you notice any unusual reactions when you informed the passengers
of the murder?" Steve asked.

"Nothing really stood out, no. There were various reactions from
shock, curiosity, worry, confusion. But nothing drew my attention as
being out of the ordinary."

"You and Miko collected the passenger’s clothing?"

"Yes sir. As was instructed, everything has been appropriately
labeled."

"We may have had a break in that Whitestar requires it’s passengers to
wear ship issued jumpsuits." Steve commented.

"It really isn’t that unusual." The captain said. "Jumpsuits are
best suited for zero G environments. They’re easy to put on and get
out of, and they do not tend to float up in inappropriate places. Do
you believe the killer has made a mistake?"

"Perhaps. If we find the evidence outside, then the killer has made a
mistake. It may be that the killer has made a mistake with the
jumpsuit, though I doubt it."

"Miko tells me that you only have five more people to interview.
Will you be able to solve the case then?" The captain asked.

"I believe I will be able to solve it, as for physical proof that may
be much, much harder. I would urge Mr. Alexander to be very
meticulous in his search."

"I will do my utmost I assure you." The Lieutenant said.

"And you Ms. Carter, what do you think of all this?"

Trish smiled. "I think it is fascinating to watch Steve at work. But
I’m quite lost I assure you."
***
-- Interview with an Interviewer --
***

"Good afternoon Mr. Brown." Steve said as a dark, smallish man entered the cabin.

"I’m honored to meet you Mr. Whiley. Most gratified as well." Tanner
replied.

"You’ve heard of me?"

"I follow the press, it’s my nature of course. You were the lead
investigator on the Rose Stalker back with the FBI. I believe you
also tracked down and apprehended the Foritha Terrorists before they
could detonate a nuke in Miami when you were with the CIA. A very
impressive career."

"Thank you. You realize of course why I asked to see you."

"Oh of course. I’m no doubt an abundance of information about the
case."

"Why don’t you share with me some of that abundance."

"Well going strictly to motive, there’s a lot here. If you want to
accuse Barry Gold, you only have to know that Doctor Vance was
stealing Barry’s research. We all knew it, even Barry. But I’ll give
the Kid credit for being a better person than I would, he didn’t seem
to care. Jase Hobkins was selling research and test results to Paul
Davis."

"Really?" Steve said leaning forward.

"Oh yes. I don’t think they saw me, but I spied Jase passing a rather
large folder on to Mr. Davis back at the lunar research facility."

"Interesting." Steve said as he jotted a note. "Please continue."

"I’m not terribly sure, but I also think Jase and Mrs. Vance were
having an affair. It’s more a suspicion really."

"So that would go to Mrs. Vance’s motive." Steve noted. "Do you know
a Jack Barr?"

"Yes. He’s a teleport engineer we met on board. He and Barry have
had a few chats. I’ve slept with him a few times to break the
monotony."

"Do you believe Barry is also selling research?"

Tanner thought a moment. "No. I think they may have talked about the
theory, but Barry would do that with anyone who could understand him.
It would not be in his interest anyway. He’s going to be a very rich
person, credit or not."

"Where were you between six and six-thirty yesterday?"

"At six I left for the rec-room, I spent an hour working out."

Steve nodded. "Did you pass anyone on your way to the rec-room?"

"I wouldn’t say pass. I saw Mrs. Vance go into Jase Hobkins Cabin. I
passed Miko at the purser’s desk on my way to the rec-room."

"Who do you think killed Dr. Vance?" Steve asked.

"If pressed, I would say, Jase, Grace, and then Barry in that order."

"What about Paul Davis? Surely with billions if not trillions of
dollars at stake he would have motive."

"I suppose he would, but surely a man like that would hire a
professional. "

"Perhaps, but he is hands on enough to see to the theft of research
personally." Steve noted. "But this is only wild theory. You also
left off janet Dawson."

"Well there’s not much motive for her to have done it."

"Maybe Jack Barr then?"

Tanner laughed. "Jack’s probably the last man on the list of
suspects. You’ll understand when you interview him."

"Thank you Mr. Brown. I may have further questions later on."

"Anytime. It has been a rare pleasure watching you work. If you
don’t mind, may I take your picture?"

"You plan to publish our story?"

"Of course! This is the story of the century! The first murder in
space!"

Steve sighed. "Try not to portray me as some larger than life hero.
Remember I still have to live in the world, and it won’t be very easy
for me to do that if I continually disappoint everyone for not living
up to their ideas of me."

Tanner laughed as he pulled out a small vid camera and took a few
sweeping shots.

***
-- Interview with Paul Davis --
***

Paul Davis was very confident and self assured as he took his seat.
He very much looked like a man who ran the affairs of a billion dollar
multinational company.

"Good afternoon Mr. Davis." Steve said. "I’d like to begin by
advising you that though I am investigating this murder, I have no
official capacity in law enforcement at the present. I therefore ask
that you be candid with me, though it may reveal illegalities on your
part. So long as your activities do not touch on the murder, I will
not be obligated to divulge any improprieties."

"Then you already know I’ve been buying research results." Mr. Davis
said, suddenly on guard.

"From Mr. Hobkins, is this correct?"

Mr. Davis sighed. "Yes it is. We in the shipping business can
survive in the age of the teleport because somehow the raw teleport
material has to be shipped from point A to point B. The wormhole
bypasses all of that. Thanks to the information we obtained from Mr.
Hobkins we were developing our own wormhole. The timing was tricky,
but there was a very good chance that we would share in the patents.
This would allow my company to survive and even prosper."

"So in actuality, the death of Dr. Vance is a good thing for your
company since it will cause a delay in their research, allowing you
more time to finish your prototype."

"Stated that way, yes. But I assure you, neither I nor my company had
anything to do with Dr. Vance’s untimely demise."

"Were you in contact with any other member of the research project?"

"No. I tried to be as discrete as possible."

"Where were you between six and six-thirty yesterday afternoon?"

"In my cabin."

"Alone?"

"Yes. Myrial had decided she wanted to get out and explore a little."

"Do you know a Jack Barr?"

"I met him on board. He’s a teleport engineer, apparently traveling
to mars on vacation, though I find that odd."

"How so?"

"Well I’ve never met anyone from teleport yet who didn’t actually use
teleport for travel, especially since it costs them nothing."

"Thank you Mr. Davis. I may have other questions for you later on."

After Mr. Davis had left Trish leaned over and asked, "Why so short?"

"He didn’t do it." Steve said.

"How do you know?"

"Because the murder will uncover exactly what he doesn’t want
uncovered. The fact that he has been stealing their research. That
will nullify his patents."

"Oh."
***
-- Interview with Myrial Davis --
***

The prim, proper lady sitting before them looked every inch the wife of a director of a large multinational corporation.

"Good afternoon Mrs. Davis. I have just a few questions for you, a
formality really."

"Of course." She answered.

"Where were you between six and six-thirty yesterday afternoon?"

"I was taking a stroll around the ship. It gets awfully boring in the
cabin sometimes."

"Did you see anyone while you were out and about?"

"I saw Mr. Brown in the rec-room doing some exercises, but no one
else. Mostly I was in the viewing gallery watching the stars. They
are so beautiful."

"Do you know, or have any impressions about the other people on
board?"

"Other than my husband and Kathy? No, I’m afraid not."

"Are you aware your husband was purchasing research on the wormhole
project from Mr. Hobkins?"

"I really do not concern myself with my husband’s business Mr.
Whiley."

"What do you concern yourself with Mrs. Davis?" Steve asked
pointedly.

"Why, what a wife of a prominent business man should concern herself
with Mr. Whiley. I hold social events, meet with the wives of his
executives, manage the household, and a million other things that make
us both very successful."

Steve sighed. "Can you think of anything that may help me in this
investigation, however trivial."

"No. I’m afraid not."

"Very well. I may have other questions for you later on."

"Thank you Mr. Whiley. I’m sorry I couldn’t be of much help."

After she had left Trish shuddered and said, "That woman is totally
consumed by her husband’s life."

"Maybe." Steve said. "She is a very fine actress and plays her part
well I think. But everyone has their own lives. I think that if we
dug beneath the surface what we found would surprise you."
***
-- Interview with Kathy Kneed --
***

"You are Mr. Davis’ secretary?" Steve asked of the pretty woman
sitting before him.

"Yes." Steve started to ask something further but she interrupted.
"Before you continue there are a few other things you should know. I
know this is not an official investigation, but I do know murder is
very serious and I have no desire to be a part of that particular
intrigue."

Steve sat back. "Please continued."

"I’m Mr. Davis’ secretary, it’s true, for close to five years now.
I’m a very good secretary. But I also work for TransCor, a competitor
of NexCor. I obtain information that I think may be of value to my
employer and pass it on."

Steve nodded. "I actually suspected as much, though it was only a
very small suspicion. This information of course included the
wormhole research Mr. Davis was obtaining from Mr. Hobkins."

Kathy raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I think I did right by coming
clean with you if you figured that much out for yourself. Yes, the
wormhole research was the majority of the information I passed along."

"You’ve been having an affair with Mr. Davis?"

"On and off, when he needed it. It’s not strictly a part of the job
description but it is expected if not engraved in stone."

"Did you ever meet with any of the researchers of the wormhole
project?"

"I met a few of them for the first time on-board. The short answer is
I wasn’t on a first name basis with anyone."

"Do you know a Jack Barr?"

"Only by bumping into him on-board."

"Do you think Mr. Davis has the capacity to have murdered Dr. Vance?"

Kathy sat back and thought. "Mr. Davis can be ruthless. When you
head up a multibillion dollar corporation you are swimming with the
sharks literally. Such men don’t survive on things like compassion or
humanity. So in answer to your question, I believe the answer is
yes. If you ask if I think he did it, I’d say no. It would interfere
with his plans."

"But not TransCor." Steve said pointedly.

"No." Kathy said. "Their link is further removed thanks to me. This
is why I decided to be very candid with you. If I tried to hide my
link to TransCor and you uncovered it, I would become a suspect."

"It is something I will consider. Where were you between six and
six-thirty yesterday?"

"In my cabin, organizing files and notes for Mr. Davis."

"Alone?"

"Yes."

"Thank you for your testimony and candor Ms. Kneed." Steve said. "I
may have further questions for you later on."

"I will be at your beck and call." She answered before leaving.

"Very suspicious that one." Trish said. "She actually has motive, I
can see her sharing wine with Dr. Vance, and she’s tough as nails
beneath that pretty exterior."

The terminal lit up and Miko appeared on the screen. "Mr. Whiley?
The Captain has asked me to inform you that Lieutenant Alexander has
found a large knife and a hammer, outside. He asks me to tell you
that there may be other evidence and they are still searching."

Steve leaned back, bringing his hands up to his mouth as he thought on
that. Finally, after a few moments said, "Thank you Miko. That
answers one of the questions I still had. Please send in Jack Barr."
***
-- Interview with Jack Barr --
***
The man sitting across from them was very small, standing about five
feet tall. He was physically the weakest man Steve could remember
seeing in a very long time. In addition to that, the man very much
looked his role as an engineer.

"Good afternoon Mr. Barr. I have a few questions I’d like to ask."

"I understand."

"You work for teleport?"

"I do."

"If I may ask, why are you traveling in this manner?"

"Not everyone at teleport is enamored of the process. I prefer to
keep my molecules intact."

"The manifest also says you are on vacation?"

"I am."

"Teleport is a very generous company to allow you a what, twenty week
vacation?"

Jack coughed. "Well it’s more a leave of absence."

"And your presence here with researchers who are developing a
competing product is merely a coincidence?"

Jack turned beet red. "In truth, no. Teleport found out about the
wormhole experiments, I was asked to travel and find out if there was
any truth to the reports."

"And you discovered?"

"After talking with Barry, I believe the device will revolutionize
everything."

"And put teleport out of business?"

"Teledata may survive, but teleport as a means of travel will go the
way of the horse and buggy."

"This disturbs you?"

"Not at all! There’s always demand for a good engineer."

"Where were you between six and six-thirty yesterday?"

"In my cabin doing some research on gravitational wavelets."

"Other than Barry Gold have you talked with anyone else aboard?"

"Tanner Brown and I have talked on occasion. But as for the others,
no. I was really interested only in the theories behind the
wormhole."

"You and Mr. Brown are lovers?"

Jack blushed again. "Friends or acquaintances really. I’m usually
not so free with who I have relationships with, but as the only other
gay man on board, he offered some diversion to the routine."

"Thank you Mr. Barr. I may have other questions for you later on."
***
-- Pieces of a Puzzle --
***

"Well this is an interesting puzzle." Trish said after they returned
to their cabin.

"Yes it is. Do you know who did it yet?"

"You mean you do?"

Steve nodded. "The evidence found outside was the last link."

"Who?" Trish demanded.

"Think on it a bit. I’ll help you out with the clues. See if you can
put it together. You’ve after all been privy to every moment of the
investigation. Everything’s there if you look for it."

"OK. I’ll play your game. The clues, lessee, that would be the
wine, the blood, the coin, and the hairs."

"Dismiss the coin and the hairs. They might or might not have been
plants. But since the possibility exists that they are plants, ignore
them and go with the other evidence."

"Hmm. That only leaves the wine and the blood."

"You’re forgetting the wound itself. A single blow, delivered
powerfully enough to crack the ribs."

"I remember now. You said that was contradictory evidence. men don’t
ordinarily share wine and the blow was powerful as if delivered from a
strong man. The only really powerful man aboard is Mr. Hobkins."

"And the other evidence points to him as well." Steve said. "But
remember also our conversation at the crime scene."

"Because everyone knows the killer is aboard, the killer would go to
great pains to make sure that someone else was blamed. Or something
like that. Unless of course it was a crime of passion."

"Now consider what was found outside."

"A knife and a hammer. Why a hammer?"

"Think on it a second." Steve prompted. "You can figure it out."

"To deliver a powerful blow!" Trish said in awe after a moment. "But
that’s silly! Surely Dr. Vance did not just sit there while the
victim poised a knife at his chest and strike it with a hammer."

"Yes that is a puzzle." Steve admitted. "At least until you put it
in context with the other facts."

Trish thought a few minutes on that. "The wine, could it have been
drugged?"

"Very nice!" Steve said. "I’m assuming it would be a drug that left
almost no trace unless it was being specifically looked for of course.
When we reach mars we’ll have them check for just such a class of
drugs – something which would leave the victim immobile or
unconscious."

"The killer was a woman!" Trish exclaimed.

"Undoubtedly."

"That means either Mr. Hobkins was covering for Grace and thus an
accomplice, or it was one of the other women."

"Yes. It does tend to narrow the suspect list down to five people."

"There are six women aboard." Trish said slyly.

"And I was getting a heavenly blow job by one of them at the time and
she has an alibi." Steve smiled.

"I doubt Miko was in on it." Trish said. "And Mrs. Davis just seems
too artificial to do anything so vulgar."

"I guess that leaves Mrs. Vance, Ms. Kneed, and Ms. Dawson." Steve
said.

"But Mrs. Vance has an alibi. She was with Mr. Hobkins. Mr. Hobkins
vouches for her and Mr. Brown said he saw her enter Mr. Hobkins room.
Besides I believe her. So it’s really only two people."

"Yes. I’m sure the killer didn’t plan on Mrs. Vance being seen by Mr.
Brown. It’s one of the problems with murder. No matter how well you
plan things, something usually goes wrong. The testimony of Miko and
Mr. Brown and the timing of it all tend to exclude Mrs. Vance." Steve
said.

Trish studied the desk intently for several minutes before slowly
raising her eyes to meet Steve’s gaze. "It was janet Dawson!"

Steve’s eyes twinkled. "What gave her away?"

"The wine was drugged! janet was a med student!"

"But she had an alibi," Steve reminder her playfully.

"Barry was asleep!" Trish jerked the notebook around to her and typed
in a few commands. "Barry said that he and janet had a drink before
they had sex! It’s right here! I’ll bet she slipped him a mickey!
Barry was asleep, but janet said only she was resting!"
"You’d probably win your bet." Steve said. "There’s another couple
of points against her as well though they are very subtle."

"I’m sorry Steve, I’ve played myself out, and I can’t even begin to
guess at motive."

"I suppose money and power would do as a motive. The prestige of
being the wife of the man who invented the wormhole would likely be
far greater than the prestige of being the wife of the man who worked
to develop the wormhole. No doubt if we do a psychological work-up of
her personality we’ll find a deep need to be around power. But that’s
really conjecture at this point."

"So what are the other points?"

"She has the same general build as Mrs. Vance. They could probably
wear each other’s jumpsuits quite easily."

"The blood!"

Steve nodded. "No doubt she cleaned it off, but knew full well it
wouldn’t survive a deep DNA probe. Again, as a medical student she
would be familiar with chemicals that would remove blood. I would
hazard a guess that after arriving she offered Dr. Vance some wine and
shortly thereafter excused herself to visit the bathroom. She
probably lifted one of Mrs. Vance’s spare suits and probably put it on
over her own. No doubt the DNA tests will find traces of Dr. Vance’s
blood on one of Mrs. Vance’s suits."

"So she was really framing both Mrs. Vance and Mr. Hobkins!" Trish
exclaimed.

"Exactly. There was another subtle point as well."

"Which was?"

"She was the only person we interviewed other than Tanner Brown who
suggested motives of others with little prompting. Mr. Brown had a
solid alibi."

"Ahhh. I never would have noticed that."

"I think with practice you would have." Steve said.

Trish frowned. "But how to prove it? All the physical evidence still
points to Mr. Hobkins."

"That really isn’t a problem at all." Steve said. "Though all this
was elaborately planned, she was to smart for her own good and
actually made several crucial mistakes."

"Like assuming whoever investigated would take the evidence she
planted at face value."

"Right, that’s one."

"She also didn’t expect the murder weapon to be recovered." Trish
frowned. "But the radiation and vacuum in space would destroy any DNA
evidence. She may have even stolen the knife from Mr. Hobkins."

"True." Steve admitted. "But I think the drugs she used will be
uncovered once they are being looked for, and no doubt an
investigation will reveal she had access to or purchased the drugs in
question. Also a DNA sweep of the jumpsuits would reveal the blood, a
more thorough sweep should show that Ms. Dawson was inexplicably close
to that suit. Something in light of motive, means, and opportunity
will be very hard for her to explain."

"Ah!" Trish said. "How long have you known she was the culprit?"

"I suspected her after our interview with Mrs. Vance. Each subsequent
interview only served to confirm my suspicions. When Miko told me of
the hammer, I knew beyond a reasonable doubt."

"But what about the hairs? How did she get Mr. Hobkin’s hairs?"

"They may have slept together once. Maybe Mr. Hobkins visited their
home and she just gathered what she found. Any number of explanations
would suffice really."

"I’m impressed." Trish admitted.

"So am I." Steve said. "You unraveled it quite nicely on your own."

"But not all the way, and certainly not as quickly as you did." Trish
said. "She spent how long planning all this, weeks, months? You had
her figured out in hours."

"Aw shucks." Steve said bashfully.

"I think you deserve some sort of reward." Trish said intently.

"Well maybe we ought to fill in the Captain first."

"It’s not like she’s going to rush off and kill again Steve! I think
an hour or so wouldn’t do any harm!"

"An hour or so?" Steve asked incredulously.
***
-- All’s well that ends well --
***

"Mr. Whiley! Mr. Whiley!" Tanner Brown called from across the busy
space port. Steve glanced over and saw the intrepid reporter and
paused, waiting for the man to catch up with him. "I’m glad I caught
up with you!"

"I saw your story in Time." Steve said. "Very flattering. Exactly
the sort of garbage that I’m going to have to spend the rest of my
life trying to live up to."

"It was only the truth Mr. Whiley." The reporter said defensively.
"Before any of the physical evidence could be analyzed, before any
psychological profiles drawn up, before any passenger histories could
be delivered you had the killer dead to rights and behind bars, well
behind a locked door anyway."

"Whatever." Steve replied. "So what brings you to the spaceport
today?"

"Well, Science Times is owned by a larger media company. They want to
buy the VR rights to your story." Steve started laughing. "Really
Mr. Whiley, this is a substantial amount of money!"

Steve wiped a tear from his eye. "Mr. Brown, I’m a private detective.
I enjoy what I do, and I like to think I’m good at it. I’ve worked
with enough famous clients to know exactly the price of fame, and I
seriously doubt your company can meet that price."

"How does half a million new dollars sound?"

Despite himself Steve stopped and turned to consider the man. "No
dickering Mr. Brown. I’ll give you exactly one more chance to name a
figure, you’d better make it the highest number you’re authorized to
make."

Tanner Brown considered Steve carefully. "One million new dollars."

"Nice." Steve said. "Let us discuss artistic license a moment. If
for instance I wished the story to uncover corporate espionage and the
theft of a fine young man’s research, I’m assuming of course that
would be a part of the story?"

"I think that could be arranged." The reporter said, his smile
growing.

"And if I suggested the name of the detective be changed?"

"No doubt that screen writers would wish to choose a more adventurous
name."

"Tell me, are you making the trip back?"

"Why as a matter of fact I am."

"Then I’ll accompany you to the ticket desk. It seems Whitestar has
granted me and my guests free passage in perpetuity in gratitude for a
certain small favor."

Tanner laughed. "That perpetuity won’t be all that long I assure
you!"

"Then the mars-moon wormhole worked?"

"Flawlessly." Tanner said as they made their way to the ticket
counter.