Chapter 8: Cinema Extraction Part 3 - Murder in the First

<Centurion L’ielit Debir, we have an incident,> the AI noted. <Concubine Amelie Lane tried to kill her sponsor Rashid Clark in stateroom C-04. The concubine is already remotely stunned. Medics are on their way. The sponsor and his second concubine Mary Middleton are in critical condition.>

“Damn. She was on the watch list, right?” L’ielit asked. She was already on the way to the named stateroom.

<Yes Centurion, but unfortunately for the sponsor, Amelie started her assault in the middle of the change of shifts. 3.35 seconds passed before a Marine pulled the remote trigger of the installed stinger.>

L’ielit reached the apartment. She entered and noticed bloody shoeprints. The medics had already been there. There had been no reason to be careful at the crime scene since the AI had recorded everything from different angles. Sponsor Rashid Clark hadn’t changed the apartment’s interior very much. L’ielit looked in the bedroom. The concubine Amelie was still stunned and lying on the floor beside the bed. A steak knife had fallen from her hand. The bed and the floor were stained with blood. “That’s a lot of blood for 3.35 seconds,” L’ielit noted.

<Concubine Amelie managed to cut both her victim’s carotid arteries.>

L’ielit picked the bloody knife. “Where did she get the knife?” L’ielit asked.

<Most probably concubine Amelie stole it yesterday from canteen two. You can use the replicator’s scanning abilities to prove that.>

L’ielit carefully examined the knife. “I don’t think that is necessary. She didn’t bring it from Earth, since it’s the common canteen design with the engraved ‘V’ in the handle. AI, please replay the whole incident for me with your holographic projectors.”

The AI started the replay with Rashid entering the apartment with his new second concubine Mary following. L’ielit listened to the argument between Rashid and Amelie when Amelie refused to join them in bed for a threesome. Ten minutes later, when Rashid was wildly fucking his new girl, she entered the bedroom. Only in the very last second did she get the knife from her sleeve, where she must have hidden it the whole time. Rashid had turned his face halfway to talk to Amelie when he was struck by the knife. The sharp blade cut through Rashid’s throat and he collapsed beside the shocked Mary mid-fuck. Then Amelie rammed the blade into the girl’s throat two times before the stinger paralyzed her.

L’ielit sighed. “AI, please tell me if we would have been able to prevent this on a modern ship with better internal scanners and a state of the art AI.”

<I calculate a thirty percent chance that on a modern ship concubine Amelie wouldn’t have been able to hide a knife. The incident itself would not have been preventable. I’d like to note that on almost every trip from Earth to a colony there are casualties.>

“I thought we could make it better. It seems I was wrong,” L’ielit said. “For the protocol. Concubine Amelie Lane tried to kill her sponsor with a steak knife. She heavily injured her sponsor and another concubine. Therefore she has to be recycled. The verdict is to be enforced immediately.”

<Confirmed.>

L’ielit lifted the paralyzed concubine and carried her to a bigger recycling unit in a storeroom.

L’ielit sat in her office with her concubine and personal assistant Carmen and Lieutenant Sneider for the daily meeting. “Six days and we have a second dead. Do you think there will be more?”

“I don’t think so,” Lieutenant Sneider said. “We still have several people under closer observation, but those two have been by far the worst. The others are slow learners and tend to ignore facts. Two of them are aggressive but they have limits. They throw things or slap someone, but would not use a lethal weapon.”

“Thanks for your assessment. I hope you are right,” L’ielit said. “Now to our normal passengers. Our little lie worked on the gays. Each of them took a woman. With some help they found concubines that feel fine with two gays around. I heard that they have found the gap in our plan. It seems some of them plan to let their male concubine impregnate their female concubine and the word spreads. I really hope those women don’t stay excluded from their sponsor’s beds forever. That would be a constant source of concern.”

“We still have thirty-three sponsors that are short on concubines. It seems they are the hardliners among the monogamists. Should we do something about that?”

Carmen piped up. “I’d say no. If they are happy with that and don’t try to force monogamy on other sponsors, I see no reason to force them to take another concubine. In addition, four of the sponsors on your list are from the mensa group. They have taken their female concubines and weren’t happy with the remaining male candidates. That gives the unassigned males on Vandergast an unexpected opportunity to get a sponsor.”

“Well said. I agree with that,” the Lieutenant said.

“Okay, then we should start to tell them how life on Vandergast is organized,” L’ielit said. “They will be happy that it is not half as bad as they have been told until now. Every sponsor is allowed to use the apartment’s replicator and can send his concubines to the med bay for augmentations. The restriction wasn’t all too effective to force them to fill their slots. I’m happy that the exception on the Mills girls worked that well. But I don’t think that it would have helped the others.”

Carmen nodded. “You know, Susan Mills might have initiated a vogue. Not exactly the robot girl fashion, but the use of tattoos instead of clothing. It will be interesting to see if this spreads when we arrive on Vandergast.”

L’ielit grinned, “Yes, maybe you are right. Now to the next point on the agenda. It seems we have enough sponsors that have volunteered for the Navy or the Fleet Auxiliary. This means we have a full crew for the kilo class ship that’s currently under construction. AI, how many sponsors have not yet decided which branch of service they want to join?”

<Currently there are forty sponsors that haven’t joined a branch of service,> the AI answered.

“In my opinion it would be best to guide them towards Navy and Fleet Auxiliary. Any objections? I don’t think the kilo is the last spaceship Vandergast will create.”

Lieutenant Sneider and Carmen both shook their heads.

Rashid woke up in a med tube. His first reaction was to gasp for air and reach for his throat. His last memories indicated that he should be dead.

A nurse talked to him and tried to calm him, “Sir, you are okay. The med tube repaired all damage your concubine inflicted on you. You are as good as new.”

Finally Rashid realized that he was still alive and there was no trace of his injury. He climbed out of the tube. The medical assistant handed him a new set of clothes. Rashid dressed mechanically while he tried to figure exactly what had happened. Finally he asked the AI, “AI, please tell me what happened. I remember being stabbed with a knife in my bedroom.”

<Your concubine Amelie Lane attacked you in your bedroom with a knife. She managed to inflict massive damage on both you and your concubine Mary Middleton before she was stunned. Your concubine Mary Middleton is in med tube eight. It is just to your left. Mary Middleton will need another few hours since her spine was damaged by the attack of your concubine Amelie Lane. Your concubine Amelie Lane has been recycled for attacking her sponsor with a deadly weapon. You are one concubine short again.>

Rashid looked for Mary, but he couldn’t see anything through the fogged screen that covered the tube. ‘Poor Mary,’ he thought. ‘Only one hour under my sponsorship and she was nearly killed.’ He carefully touched the material of the screen. “What should I do now?”

The nurse tried to be helpful, “You can wait for your concubine, but it will take another two hours at minimum before she will be released. Do you need someone to talk with you? Talking helps one to get over traumatic shock.”

“Yes thanks,” Rashid said. Rashid sat down on a chair near the med tube where his concubine was lying. “What’s your name?”

“My name is Nadia.” Nadia sat down beside Rashid. “How do you feel emotionally?”

“I feel like being paralyzed by too much alcohol. My mind is fogged. No, it’s not my mind. It’s my feelings.” Rashid clenched his fists. “I’m mad at Amelie for attacking me, but the target for my anger no longer exists. I’m happy that Mary and I survived, of course.” Rashid paused. “I’m also mad at myself. I made a series of mistakes. It was me who took Amelie just for her good looks. I didn’t release her when I realized that she wouldn’t cope with the new lifestyle. I forced her to face a potential rival even though I knew that would create trouble.”

“Sir, please stop that,” Nadia interrupted his speech. “Don’t make yourself the target of your anger. Yes, you made a few mistakes. But it was she who had a psychopathic personality. You tried to be a good sponsor and not just casually dump your concubine. This is good. Sometimes you just can’t do the right things and the good things at the same time.”

“You are probably right. But what should I do now? I don’t feel traumatized or anything like that. There is just an anger that gnaws at me.”

“I’ll give you some very practical advice. Go and ask one of the Marines for a light training session. Physical exhaustion helps a lot to flush bad feelings. Then you come back and help your concubine over her shock. Celebrate your survival. Get a feast from the replicator with a lot of sugar and cream and then flush her fears with passionate sex. Don’t give her or yourself the time to link sex with the fear of being murdered.”

Rashid looked at Nadia. “Thanks for your advice.” He took another look at the med tube and then left the med bay. Once outside he looked around. There were a few sponsors and concubines in the corridors, but no Marine. ‘Oh well, I can exhaust myself without a Marine.’ Rashid started to run the corridors in a jog trot, but quickly switched to full speed. After a minute and several near collisions he returned to a jog trot.