Of crimes and felonies pt II

It had been a while since he had been on Pluribus. Even after living for over 3170 years, this planet-spanning city at the heart of the Union was a sight with few equals. Even after all this time traveling to truly exotic, alien worlds and mind-boggling places, Phil was a New Yorker at heart. He had grown up at the lower eastside of that now so quiet city back home on distant Earth. He felt most at ease within a concrete and asphalt jungle of a big city, and while there were a few bigger cities within the Union. None was as all-inclusive and spectacular as Pluribus, at least in his mind." His personal space ship, the Jolly Blue was small enough for one of the planet's spaceports and he had touched down only about an hour ago. His presence was not completely random of course. In all his long life, he never wanted to be anything else but a policeman and detective. He had begun his career as a beat cop in the concrete and glass canyons of New York City, advanced to homicide detective for the NYPD and now served almost three thousand years as a detective for the Union police . Unlike the tremendously popular Admiral Richard Stahl or the somewhat less popular Fleet admiral McElligott , he was virtually unknown to the general public, however, every Union police officer had heard about him, not in the least because he was always mentioned during training at one of the academies. He had even thaught at the academy for several hundred years, but teaching classes wasn't his style. So he roamed Union space more or less cherry-picking interesting criminal cases. This time he was heeding an invitation to the opening of a new museum exhibit, promising to showcase archeological finds of pre-astro Earth times. He always found it very amusing to see the puzzled faces of modern Union citizens starring at something as mundane as a corkscrew and hear the archaeologists explanation about an exceptional crude surgery tool. The exhibits official opening was not until the day after tomorrow. With no particular hurry to be anywhere, he stepped out from the North Continent spaceport building and onto the slide belt that would carry him due south, and eventually to the Government island and the Assembly sphere. The system asked."Citizen, destination please?" "South, Assembly district ." Utchat the planet AI recognized his voice and CITI ."Welcome back to Pluribus, Phil . Any particular destination?" "Glad to be back, Utchat. No I am quite too early for my reason to be here. I am in no rush, but while you there. Is Mel's dinner still there? Right at the entrance to the Luminous district ?" "It certainly is, Phil and they are open at all times." Hearing this, Phil realized he was hungry and was in the mood for a real New York-style patty melt with french fries. While Mel's was far from Earth, the proprietor offered many real Earth food specialities in an American style diner facility. So he switched to the fastest express lane and gave the tile new directions. "Mel's Diner. Luminous district." The system warned him of a rain shower that was about to commence," "Just splendid," he muttered and adjusted his old fedora and closed his trench coat. Even after such a long life he hadn't changed his personal style one bit. He reflected on that very fact for a moment. That seemed to be a common theme among those humans that, for some purpose or another became immortals. Richard Stahl was never seen without his sunglasses and his mirror shine polished boots and the McElligott the old highlander wore a kilt whenever possible. Peter Baker still wore his stetson and jeans. He nodded to himself, as he knew the answer. The longer they lived the farther they moved away from being human and these little anachronisms are were perhaps nothing else than anchor points to hold on to whatever humanity was left inside. He himself didn't feel much different than he had felt back then when it all begun; when he had chased abdominal alien monsters through the sewers and subway tunnels of New York City preventing them from self replicating and causing much death and mayhem. But Phil knew he was far from the same person he had been. Back then neither he nor the majority of humanity believed in sentient life on other planets; no one thought it possible to travel faster than light or stay alive for over 3000 years. It had been a wild ride and so much had happened since those days back in 2015 on good ol' Earthy. So many friends and of course his entire family had fallen to the relentless mercyless march of time. Even his beloved Saresii wife was long gone. Deep in these brooding thoughts that overcame him ever now and then, he had stepped of the deceleration ramp and without noticing right through a yellow police barrier. The barrier had of course detected his badge and made iteself insubstantial so he could pass through. --""-- Ben and his new partner had arrived at the crime scene just as the rain started. While command had called weather control to stop the down pour. some of the evidence had been washed away no doubt. But he would not be part of the actual investigation of course, and neither Dallas. Both were unifroms and had been called to assist with securing the crime scene and redirecting the crowds to the other side of the side of Andromeda Blvd. But even here at the entrance to one of the best and most diverse entertainment districts of the known universe, nothing drew the attention of onlookers as an accient or the scene of a crime and in this case murder. Ben stood by the barrier projector, having his shock baton drawn just for visual deterence of course and scanned the crowd behind the bright yellow ribbon of hard light with the pulsating words 'Police barrier do not cross' flashing in Union standards and several major sub languages. There was an age old saying that the perpetrator of a crime often returned to a crime scene to check out the handywork while being just another face in the crowd. The victim was an assembly assistant, a Shaill assigned as an aide to the reprsentative of the Shaill homeworld no less. What was left of the poor mollusk was a pile of wet glistening guts and organs, the ME was kneeling right beside it. Not to far away one of the homicide detectives of the first precint, a Kilonian multi pod named Worx was interviewing the closest witness to the incident, a Nurglin. Now in the onset of night, the being was glowing in a variety of very beautiful blue, white and red fluorescent shades of light. Ben had never heard about or seen a Nurglin but GalNet central had provided him with a basic education regarding this recent Union member species. Bowser appeared from a less illuminated side street, a service alley behind the Zorgo cave building that was shaped like a small desert mountain. He stomped in his enromous APE suit right onto the scene, closely followed by a Centurion, the civil service version of the famous Fenris battle robot. Bowser held a human male between the fingers of his left hand, while the Centurion carried an inflated Null sphere with a human female inside. Ben snorted with a smile."Looks like our friend Bowser has caught someone apparently connected to the crime." Dallas his new partner was quite green around her nose as she eyed the revolting heap of a partialluy disolved Shaill. "This has to be a targeted assassination." "What makes you think so?" Ben asked rolling his eyes with a smirk. "Who would bring a weapon that is harmful to a Shaill alone, if the Shaill wasn't the target. A weapon that can be purchased without any trace just about anywhere" "I am glad you are going to detective school. I better call detectice Kilkit over and let him in on your insight." "No need to be sarcastic, Corporal Carson. This is my first patrol and an assassination right away. Who would have thought that Pluribus is such a violent and dangerous place?" "It is not, that's the first homicide this month for our district." Ben stopped as he saw a human man pass through the yellow barrier field. "Hey you get back behind that line. I also want to see what kind of hardware you carry to circumvent a police barrier!" The man held out his hand."Oh it had stopped raining." To Ben the man with the hat said." Would you please restate your question officer? I was admittedly a little pre occupied by my own train of thoughts." "This is Pluribus, buster. You can't just stroll across police barriers and expect me to repeat everything twice! Now hold it right there and let me see some ID." "I am not inclinded to show you ID. I just turn around and go my way." Ben padded his shock baton."Mister, last warning. ID now and some explanations or you face arrest." Dallas was not so sure the approach was warranted."Corporal, the citizen has not broken any laws. He offered to retreat behind the line." "You be quiet and learn rookie! And we will talk later about you second guessing a partner in the field." To the man in the hat he said."I still see no ID. Dallas put him under a restraining field and call a bot." The man touched his wrist worn PDD and a golden Inio Police Detective shield projection popped up above it. "Will that do for ID?" Ben nodded."Yes detective, but if you are from another precinct, you should have identified yourself to command. This is a precinct one investigation." "Corporal, we do not have a law that requires anyone to show ID on public venues just on the whims of a police officer. You acted extremely rude and unprofessional. I will make it a personal matter to assure myself that this is an exception and not the norm for precint One." Carson was no longer as blustery and and hardboile acting as he had been moments ago. Especially since he saw his captain, the almost four meter tall Andorian step out of his unmarked Sunblazer and come over with large steps. "Detective Decker, what an honor! Seeing you here, makes me think this homicide is not the beginning but part of an ongoing high profile case you are working on?" Dallas raised the visor of her helmet and mouthed the word 'Decker' silently towards pale Carson, with a big surprise in her face. She whsipered. "Could it be?" The man with the hat shook his head."I really only stumbled by accident onto this crime scene. If I had paid more attention I would have switched to the other side of the road. However I must comment on the rather un civilized and rude behavior of this corporal." Captain Yarom Tunte, sighed deeply. Coropral Ben Carson, Sir. he is a good man and one the beat for over 28 years. There is a reason he is still corporal, Mr.Decker His mother is Thauran and he was born right here on Pluribus, if you get my drift." "I get your drift Captain Tunte, but I always believe every being is responsible for its own actions, after that long on the beat he should not jump to conclusions so easily. If he treated a regular citizen like that, would we talk about excuses and heritage?" "I see your point, Mr. Decker. Corporals Carson  and Graham you are to report back to the precinct." Decker waved at the female."Not her, she wasn't rude and tried to rein him in." Captain Tunte switched subjects."Anyhow no matter the reason why you are here. I am glad you are here. This is a high profile case and I was about to call head quarters for a senior investigator. Luckily the most senior of them all stomped right onto the scene." Phil sighed and officially stated that he was here for a museum opening and that he was confident in the abilities of the local detectives, but the eternal police man inside him had already hoped they asked him. He also noticed that the young female was shyly and with a few feet distance following them, trying to hear every word, as he approached the remains of the Shaill . The ME had stopped the CSI robots from gathering the remains and or doingf anything else for that matter. The ME was humanoid but had a metallic silvery skin, was completley bald and had no visibnle earlobes, nostrils. His mouth featured no tongue and no teeth. He looked more artificial than most robots. Yet the Medical examiner identified as male and he listened to the name of Bloodclod. He was a Centmac and member of the X1o1 society. It also appeared that he knew the immortal detective as he got up."Lord and behold, the legend himself, Phil Decker decides to mess up my crime scene." He actually hugged the man. "Good to see you, Phil. The crime scene is all yours." "You got the most goulish name of any MD in the galaxy, my shiny friend. Fill me in and then let's get that poor sob of the sidewalk. I came to have a bite across at Mel's diner, but seeing a mostly melted Shaill made those plans a distant priority." "According to the CITI this was Shabil Nolux, aged 42 standard years and he died of rapid dehydration and body liquid crystalization, the result of three salt bombs. It is about as nasty and painful as can be for a Shaill to diue that way. Poor mollusk suffered for several minutes. Med bots came too late, even though there are med bots prowling the promenade." "This was a full grown Shaill, right?" "Yes, it was a healthy, if slight overweight individual of the Big Red subspecies. About six ten when stretched and estimate about 230 pounds." Phil noticed the female corporal listeninbg and taking whispering notes to her PDD. "You might as well get closer and get yourself a clearer picture, Corporal. So how long have you been transfered from Splish Splash to Pluribus and how do you like your first day on the beat?" Her chin dropped to her chest."Sir, I am here for six days and this is my first shift." The Kilonian multipede detective clicked with his mandibles and out of his voicebox came a well modulated laugh."He does things like that all the time rookie. This is famous  Phil Decker, without question the best detective of them all. Normally I would object someone taking lead in a case of mine. In his case I am honored. How did you know she transfered in and from Splish Splash of all places?" To the MO Decker said."Can you send me an estimate how much water is contained in the average Big Red and are there areas on their bodies that are more sensitive to salt than others?" "I am contacting Paracelcus right now and I am going to perform a detailed post mortem. Are you done or do you need more time?" "No my friend your tin heads can scoop Shabill Nolux now." He held up an index finger to indicate that he had not forgotten about the Kilonian's question. "One second Detective Worx." To the CSI specialist he said."Have you vacuumed the surface from the Zorgo cave entrance all the way to where Shabi died?" "No Sir. We just collected micro debris around the victim. I am directing my bots to do that now." "Perfect." Phil tugged on the fabric of his pantlegs and crouched down looked into the direction of the Zorgo Cave exit and then said without turning his head."You keep tooting my horn and I start to believe all this nonsense. You are a good detective, Worx. A damn good one and you do not need my help." "As for you Coropral Dallas Graham, you wear a brand new Enroe Lawman in an auto draw holster. The weapon is so brand new in fact, it still has the factory inspection tag on it. The spray can of sticky net is also still factory sealed. No beat cop would ever go on thr prowl with the can sealed. Takes forever to get it open, especially if you want to restrain an angry Nul or a drunk Pertharian. Meaning you just stepped out of the armory. You addressed your partner with his rank,and not by first name and the exchange was not too friendly. He is your senior by years but not much by rank, also speaks of someone stuck an off world noob with a seasoned, but grumpy local veteran." Worx raised his four upper leg pairs and said."He does that all the time. When he explains it everyone goes, Duh of course. But until he does everyone thinks, just how does he do it. I am going to mold tonight, far ahead of schedule. Your praise just made me grow three sizes." The Kilonian said."To be honest, if you can take the lead on that one,I would be very happy. I got two more cases still on my desk and this one is already on every news outlet. You coudn't pick a more public venue to kill someone and such a high profile case is bound to bring all sorts of scrutiny." "Just what I need in my old age." He pushed his Fedora straight and pulled something no one really recognized out of a coat pocket. A small black rectangular thing. Phil flipped it open and used a stylus to make notes. Dallas looked at it."Sir, but how do you know I am from Splish Splash? No one here can even keep the name straight for one sentence or would know where it is. Are you a telepath?" "No I have none of these handy psionic gifts. All your gear is brand new, except for your all terrains. Those boots are well broken in and worn in the fashion people of very wet planets wear them. With the bioseal flipped up and your leggings tugged inside. These are duty issue boots and not private, while I knelt down, I could see the the marking for the 11,334th precinct. Which is on Splish Splash." The Kilonian had of course heard and said before Dallas could respond."I told you, 0nce he explains it..." Phil took a few steps and approached the Nurglin. Dallas looked at the small property tag on her boots."I never really noticed it to be there. Would that not mean he knows all 14,000 or so precincts?" The immortal detective who had been born on far distanty Earth in a far distant time was now standing by the Nurglin. As utterly alien the being was to a human being its distress was somehow clearly evident. Worx said."This is Ti-8, he is here on Pluribus on behalf of his people, the Nurglin of the Silver Veil galaxy. He visited the Zorgo cave with Shabil and witnessed it all. We have his statement and according to the Poly-Analyzer his statement is eighty eight percent accurate. No records of any kind, Phil." Phil looked around and pointed towards a hiphigh duro crete planter."Would you mind joining me over there? So I can sit down and we can talk and we are out of the way for the neccessary tasks to be performed." The glowing being immideatley agreed and Phil sat down at the rim of the planter."So you are from the Silver Veil galaxy. That is the the 34th galaxy on the spur to Avondur is it not?" "Yes, Citizen. We are the first member civilization of that galaxy." "It's quite a long trip hopping from Gatehouse to Gatehouse. I made it as far as the so called Alien Gatehoue in the Clusterball galaxy. I think that is number 28 on that spur right?" "Yes, Citizen, but things are steadily improving. There are now Space train connections from twentynine on downward. I am trying to develop more business and..." The Nurglin turned his flexible body end with the eyes and watched as a robot sealed the duraplast container holding Shabil's remains."He was such a pleasant person. I learned quite a bit about the Shaill and now he is dead. Killed no less!" "It is an event no one should witness and I hope you do not take the demise of your acuaintance as a core impression back to your home world. Murder is not the norm." Tit-8 glowed fainter."Unfortunatley it is a crime not unknown to my kind. We don't have many anymore, but murder does happen and almost always for reasons of passion and rivalry." "Yes, that appears to be a common reason among many species, but murder one, or the planned killing of another individual has been virtually unknown within the Shaill society. When the salt bombs hit were you close to Shabil?" "Yes, I was engulfed in some of the salt dust myself, but the robots tended to my eyes and I was unharmed otherwise." "Does your species consume or use Sodium Chloride for anything?" "No." "That should be all, Tit-8,thank you for your time." Bowser stompedup."No need to involve a famous detective and all. I already solved the case. He presented a very pale and all dressed in black young human man, still dangling in the grip of his fist like a weightless rag doll. "This is Mortim Housen, he is a very frequent guest of the Crimson velvet night club, which happens to be right next door to the new Zorgo cave." Bowser motioned up and down the bright lit boulevard, while still holding the young man in the same humongous suit hand."This is the famouys Luminous strip, Detective but behind those buildings is the second tier, where the hard boiled gamblers and toxers go." Decker got up from the planter and said."Wh don't you put the man down and explain it all to me and we can all go to do our business." "The Crimson Velvet is a Neo Vamp hang out, a very exclusive one for rich kids and such." "What kind of New Vamps?" Decker's face and voice did reflect concern. "Both kind, Mr. Decker. The kind only pretending and the kind thinking they are real vampires and go hunting. No law allows us to shut down the club or prohibits their life style choice." The APE equipped patrol officer sighed in frustration. "We are keeping an eye on them and over the years we caught the ones that went hunting so to speak and we know they do have ties to the Necros as well." Phil nodded."All serious stuff, no doubt and I am aware of the Necro menace but what does that have to do with the Zorgo cave?" "The Zorgos of course!" "Care to eaborate?" "The Zorgos are vampiristic and the crowd next door worshipping vampirism next door feel that these telepathic worms are tortured and exploited. We have had complaints about Mortim harrasing Zorgo cave patrons before. Fact is that the Zorgo cave has two Shaill employees and it was them Mortim planned to kill and set an example, that Shabil came out the door was unfortunate but he was not the planned victim!" Mortim spat."I have your badges for that! My father is Magador Housen." Bowser sighed."Spare me the litany. I caught you in the service alley hiding behind a shipping  crate, you still have salt all over you and your poly analyzer explanation of things is less than 20 percent truthful." Bowser leaned forward and said loud."You have been seen running from the victim!" "I have nothing to do with this." Decker said."Book him Officer for the attempted rape and physical assault on a minor after administering Psychopehn, but I doubt he killed the Shaill." "What?" Both Bowser and the pale man said more or less simultaneously. The female your robot partner carries in the stasis ball, is a girl at most fourteen or fifteen years of age. She has a torn skirt, bite marks on her neck. His pants are still open and he has the characteristic blue stains of opening a pack of Psychophen without the auto dispenser on the finger tips of his right hand. Thisn is why his Poly results are whack. He tried to cover a what really went on behind that shipping crate. " "But the salt on him and he has been seen running away by a Klack."