The Freezer Read online

  * * *

  They were listening intently. Even Dyson had moved toward the group.

  He knew I was right, but like the rest of them, chose not to talk.

  Were they testing me?

  “Only one person was willing to help. Only one. And unfortunately, she died because of it.” I glanced at them in turn. The question was, who among them had killed her? I still didn’t know, but I would dig the information out soon, of that I was sure.

  Cray chortled. “Right. You’ve got nothing. You’ve just been floundering around here not really understanding a thing.”

  He had been my biggest detractor so I pierced him with my eyes. “Really? Let’s start with the personnel here. Let’s start with you.”

  It only maddened him further. Veins had popped on his temples. “Go ahead,” he ground out.

  “You are a geneticist and an expert on the human genome. You have specialized in medical nanos in the past, using them to combat neurological disorders, correct?” This information had been in his personnel file.

  He nodded but said nothing.

  I continued, “And now you’re here, looking for life on Europa.”

  “That’s right.” Anger radiated from him. I ignored it.

  To Snow I said, “And you. You’re the chief physician here, but are also looking for life. You’re an expert in human anatomy.” I had learned this during the introductions when I first arrived, as well as from her files.

  She narrowed her eyes at me.

  “Aoki was a lab technician. I assumed she was doing routine lab work here, running tests, compiling results, also looking for life.”

  “Correct,” Lefave rumbled.

  “But she specialized in working with primates.”

  No one said a word.

  “That was in her file,” I said. “It’s why she was here, wasn’t it?”

  He nodded. “Partly, of course. The chimps are here. We needed someone who could take care of them.”

  “Ah, the chimps that no one wanted to tell me about,” I mumbled. Then I fixed my eyes on my next target. “Simon.”

  Marius said, “Yes, Lieutenant.”

  “You have been a doctor for fifteen years now. Your expertise is in human biology and anatomy, and human biochemistry.”

  “Yes.” He looked around.

  “I researched you all thoroughly, as I would in any investigation. I also looked into the victims’ backgrounds as well. Bojdl, stationed at The Freezer with you, specialized in nerve regeneration therapy.” I consulted my reader. “And Dr. Dinova. Your field is cardiovascular systems and neurology.”

  Lefave stood and threw his arms in the air. “Yes, yes, yes. This is all true, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the murders. What is the point in all this?”

  I shot an icy glare at him. “Because, Director, you are all experts at this facility. You in fact, according to your file, are a surgeon by trade and specialize in medical nanos and the human cardiovascular system.” I searched their faces as they watched me quietly. I clenched my teeth for a moment. “But people, what you are most definitely not doing here, despite this show you’ve put on hoping to convince me, is looking for alien life.”

  * * *

  Lefave looked enraged. “What?”

  “You are not looking for life in the ocean. What are you doing?”

  “How dare you question the very purpose—”

  I stalked toward him. “Someone killed Aoki because she was going to tell me the truth!” I screamed right into his face. “Why? What is going on here?”

  Still nothing. It made me shake my head in frustration. I was going to figure this mystery out, surely they must have known it.

  “I noticed the fields you all specialize in long ago. But what none of you are is a specialist in alien life. Isn’t that who should be here? Experts in xenobiology, alien microbes, people who have actually studied life on other worlds in the Confederacy?”

  Lefave’s eyes were hard, but he didn’t speak.

  “And there’s more,” I said. “A lot more.”

  I paused to take a breath and Sato cleared his throat. “How long have you suspected this, Lieutenant?”

  “I realized something was odd about this facility while still on Ceres! It was one of the reasons I wanted to come. First was the fact that neither Dinova nor Marius wanted to talk about it. That set off some alarms. But second was the fact that not one of the three people who transferred out of this place knew the slightest thing about alien life or what to look for.”

  “Interesting,” Sato mumbled.

  “When I questioned Aoki, I saw the sample that she was studying.”

  He blinked. “Sample?”

  “Water sample. It was on a table in her lab on level two. She was using a microscope to examine it. There were crystals in the water, minerals.”

  “Salt,” Snow interjected.

  “Yes, but the water was perfectly clear. Not a bit of cloudiness or dirt or debris in it.”

  Silence.

  “Doesn’t that surprise you, Ed?” I said. “A sample from an alien moon, from a layer of water fifty kilometers thick that abuts a solid rocky core which is experiencing tectonic activity that includes underwater volcanoes, and the water is crystal clear?” I snorted. “Do you all think I’m stupid?” I spun on Dyson. “Then later you took me outside. I wanted to see the drill sites to test my theory.”

  “I showed them to you,” he said, but his voice was shaky.

  “You showed me three drill holes.” I paused to let that sink in. “Only three drill holes in more than two years here. Is that all you’ve done?”

  Lefave said, “We drill in different—”

  I put my finger up. “Sorry, sir. No. Dyson said that was the only drill site, which made even less sense to me! And he’s the only one who does them! If I were on a moon like this looking for life in the oceans, I’d be drilling all over the fucking place. Not just from one site only a kilometer from this facility! And I’d take samples close to where the heat is venting.” I frowned. “And the frozen water was new. All of it.”

  “What?” Snow asked.

  “The ice around the drill sites. Bright white.” I glanced at Dyson. “You pointed it out to me, and I also saw the newer ice near the boundary at the ice ridge.” I shook my head. “All the drill holes were recent, because I had arrived, and you knew I’d want to see them. You snuck out and drilled them while we were sleeping.” Or he had programmed the drill rig to make the traverse for him—he’d told me that it was automated, after all—and then the laser had created the drill sites to deceive me. I took a breath and paced before them. “And the laser beam could have potentially ruined your samples! Killed any life within the water!” I chewed the inside of my cheek. “The whole facility makes no sense. Chimpanzees on Europa! It’s ridiculous, and after trying to talk your way out of it, you still didn’t explain why you had covered the hatch to hide them from me!” I turned to Snow. “When I went to the clinic to autopsy Aoki, the ventilation fans were louder than normal. Then later, after my experience outside, when I was sick from the radiation, I noticed that the fans were back down to their normal level!”

  “What’s your point?” she asked.

  “You were trying to vent the dome the first time, so I wouldn’t notice the smell!”

  * * *

  Sato was nodding as he watched me work. He, at least, appreciated what I was doing here. Some of the others, however, were still trying to keep secrets from me.

  “You didn’t want me to know about the primates,” I said. “The facts are clear. Even Cray said to me that Aoki was often ‘elsewhere’ in the facility. That’s when they’d meet. But at other times she was also with the primates, working on them.”

  Snow looked furious, but she hel
d her tongue.

  I continued, “It was another example of you trying to hide the animals from me.” I exhaled as I considered what to discuss next. “Snow.”

  “What?” she snapped.

  I ignored her anger. “You were on the fast track to great things. Your file is clear. Brilliant scientist and doctor, promoted quickly and moving rapidly up the ladder. Then you end up here. Why?”

  “This is a prestigious—”

  I snorted. “Come on. A remote outpost on Europa?”

  “If we find life in Home System it’ll be the discovery of the millennium!” Cray snarled. He’d been quiet during my accusations.

  I turned on him. “You gave me a lecture on it in your cabin. In fact, I remember thinking at the time how bored you sounded. You had prepared that speech for me, hadn’t you?”

  “What?” His eyes danced with anger.

  “You were going on about the ocean beneath us, about the heat from the core. It was all scripted!” I gestured at the first level of Module A and Lefave’s workspace. “It’s all a façade! Something else is going on at The Freezer!”

  “What?” Sato asked, bewildered. He was the only one with that expression, in fact. The others all knew already.

  I glared at them; my face was set like steel and my eyes hard. “Multiple people have mentioned to me that it was difficult being here. They were alluding to the environment, but I believe it was more than that. Something that you’re doing here...your true research...it’s difficult for some reason that’s not environmental.”

  I turned to Lefave. “It’s why Bojdl was depressed. It’s why he seemed beaten. I remember thinking that I had seen the expression before. When someone is overwhelmed with guilt and fear...when someone is simply tired of dealing with the pain...that’s when they look like that.” I glanced at Dinova. “But why did Marek Bojdl have that expression?”

  She blinked. “Pardon?”

  “You were his friend here and at Ceres, Doctor. Why was he depressed?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know, Tanner.”

  More resistance. Oh well. “There’s something I haven’t told you yet.” I looked straight at Marius and Dinova. My companions from Ceres. “I had Captain Lawrence go through station records. There was no communication from Europa to Fort Iridium in the months leading up to Bojdl’s death. No transports from The Freezer to Iridium. The only connection between The Freezer and Bojdl’s death was you two.”

  Dinova and Marius.

  They looked horrified.

  “What are you saying?” Sato asked.

  “I’m saying the killer on Ceres—and the person who murdered Shaheen and infected me with a micro-bomb—is from Ceres. Not from The Freezer.”

  Lefave threw his head back and laughed loudly. “This whole time you’ve been here looking for killers, you knew it was one of them!”

  Marius and Dinova looked shocked. Marius said, “But Tanner—”

  I motioned him to stop. “I went back and viewed the holovid of Bojdl’s death. There was someone there watching it, in the mess hall.”

  Marius was frantic now. “But surely that’s not weird! It’s where we eat our meals! Everyone at Fort Iridium goes there!”

  “But this person watched Bojdl die. A supposed friend. And there was no emotion, no surprise, because this friend knew that it was going to happen!”

  Singling him out had startled him. He had started sweating and his hands were in front of him, as if warding me off. “But—but—” he was saying.

  “It’s okay, Marius. Earlier when Lefave accused you two, you responded with more emotion than I’ve ever seen from you. Like right now.”

  Then I fixed Dr. Marina Dinova with a hard glare. “It was you.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  All eyes were now on Dinova. Marius, her closest friend, was disgusted. There was pure distaste on his face. Dinova’s expression, on the other hand, was cold and impassive, but her gaze was fixed to mine.

  “You knew he was about to die,” I whispered. “You knew about the acid burn and that Marius had injected priority nanos in him, that he had maybe fifteen minutes of life left. You followed him to watch it happen.” I studied her for a long moment. She seemed frozen in position, not knowing whether to object or admit it.

  I continued, “And you left a micro-bomb in my quarters, hoping to infect me.” I was sure that Lawrence would confirm this, when and if we finally restored communications. “You also got Shaheen. You murdered innocent people...for what?” I knew it had something to do with The Freezer. Whatever this base was for, it had caused Bojdl’s death. “And when I forced you to come here, your response was odd.”

  “In what way?” she finally said. Her voice was soft.

  “You seemed to be acting.” I hesitated for a heartbeat. “I also noted that you didn’t cremate Bojdl. Usually the physician would run the autopsy immediately—which is protocol, and you followed it—but then you deliberately left the body in your freezer.” Another thought crystallized...it was all coming together. “You wanted me to examine it! You wanted me to find the bomb, to realize it was murder and not a natural death!” The thoughts were roiling through my brain now. “And when I first met you, your reaction was weird. You recognized me, didn’t you? You had wanted me to come to Ceres, right? Because you knew who I was...knew my reputation...”

  She watched me silently, but didn’t say a word.

  She had killed Shaheen. Had planted a bomb that tore a hole near her heart and ripped her away from me. An innocent person...collateral damage...

  And then a thought shot through my brain and made my stomach drop. “Oh, my God,” I whispered. And then I stabbed Dinova with a look. “All this time I thought Shaheen was a mistake, but she wasn’t.” The idea continued to resolve itself in my mind. “You meant to kill her from the start.”

  She sighed and dropped her eyes. “I needed you to bring me here. I needed to give you a reason. Your lover’s death was certainly a good one.”

  My hand snapped to my pistol and it was out in an instant. I leveled it at her face. Everyone gasped except for Dinova. She simply met my weapon, her expression blank.

  I ground out, “You killed two people—three with me included—to get back here! But why, for God’s sake?”

  No response.

  And then a crack rang out and stretched on for a long moment. It was sustained and loud. Sato had indeed been right: they were louder in Module A.

  He was watching me, thinking the same thing.

  And then I grunted. “All right. Let’s get everything on the table.” I stepped back and trained my pistol on the entire group. “Don’t move. We’re going to figure this out, here and now.” I bared my teeth. “No more secrets.”

  * * *

  They all looked surprised at my action. I continued, “You’re all guilty, as far as I’m concerned. You may not have killed Bojdl or Shaheen, but someone here killed Aoki Tali! And you’re all still hiding the true purpose of this facility!”

  Lefave snorted. “What are you talking about? You know that Marina killed Bojdl, now leave! Your work is done.”

  I frowned. “But who killed Aoki, Director? Who attacked me?”

  He looked flustered. “I’ll look into that. Leave now, and don’t come back.”

  I watched him, confused. He had balled his fists at his sides and his lips were pressed together in a thin line. Why did he think I could just leave? “I’m sorry, Director, I can’t.” I paused. “Instead, let’s figure out what this facility is for, shall we?”

  Sato said, “But how, Tanner? No one wants to—”

  I snorted. “Because I told everyone to meet on the lowest level of Module A, Ed. Remember?”

  His brow furrowed. “Sure, just a little while ago.”

  “The problem is,
this isn’t the lowest level of Module A.”

  * * *

  And then, before they could react, the smell reached me.

  A second later, as it seemed to register on everyone’s faces, the lights dropped out. Red emergency illumination slowly came up, but the level was way down. Darkness shrouded everything now. Long shadows stretched across the dome, and it was difficult to see more than a few meters. Next to every desk, table, cabinet and workspace was an area of near total darkness. And that smell...

  Acrid, burned wires.

  The alarm started to shrill, and Dyson finally came to life. “Fire! Fire! Everyone into vacsuits, now!”

  It was chaos. Every single person standing in front of me darted away. I couldn’t shoot everybody...and besides, I still didn’t know who had killed Aoki. But Dinova was nearby, and as she jumped past, I hauled her close. “You’re staying with me, Doctor.”

  She grunted in response and tried to pull away, but I held tight. “Be grateful I didn’t shoot you back there,” I snapped. “Now stay with me, or I’ll burn you down in a second.”

  “You wouldn’t—” And then she saw my face.

  “I would, and I almost did.” She had killed the only family I’d had since my parents had died. Killed the person who had pulled me back from the abyss of loneliness. Killed the only person who made me feel human again after all those years of suffering in silence.

  Yes, I would gladly have killed her, had my feelings of duty to the CCF not been so strong. I would try to bring her to CCF HQ. What happened there would be justice.

  Besides, the result would be the same.

  But it wouldn’t be in cold blood.

  We found an emergency locker in nearby Module E and quickly suited up. The helmet attached at shoulder hinges, and I could walk around with it thrown back, ready to lower and seal at a moment’s notice. Then, dragging Dinova by the arm, I marched back to Module A.

  A muffled blast echoed through the travel tube as we passed through. I increased speed, pulling the doctor behind me. The others were in the main module already, including Dyson, who was on the uppermost level. He was shouting down the ladder at us.