DETECTIVE BROWN-Case 1: MIRA Murder Mystery

SNEAK PEEK

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12:55 pm, 10-3-2020
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Out of all the spacecraft MIRA has ever constructed, the most famous is The Skeld. Only approved for travel two years ago and already known as "the Crown Jewel of MIRA's fleet," the 5,000 ton passenger ship has become the new icon of modern space travel, and it makes NASA's Space Shuttle look like the Wright Flyer, both in size and in advancement. Its nuclear-powered shield and weapon systems neutralize anything threat, from hostile ships to asteroid showers, it's equipped with a renewable life support system in the form of a miniature greenhouse paired with an oxygen recycling function, and it can reach a top speed of Mach 3,000 in the vacuum of space, allowing it to cover 93,000,000 miles in just a handful of days.

I never thought I'd see it in real life...Let alone board it on a four-month expedition to a different planet.

The officials called me into the office just three days ago. Said that after what I accomplished on the rooftop, they'd made the decision to add me to the list of crewmates set to board the ship to the Polus outpost. Turns out, even though MIRA and CARSA are trying to make a cooperative effort with the research over there, things are still kinda...strained between the two corporations. So they wanted to send me in case people on our side started to mysteriously turn up dead.

By this point, I was expecting them to have let me go so I could get back to my digs on Staten Island, and I made that clear to them...But it's kinda hard to turn down a quarter-million dollar bonus just for doin' what I already do for a livin' up in space, so I figured it was in both of our best interests to cooperate.

Black was put on the list, too. They said they thought he and I worked together pretty well up on the roof, so it might do some good...I don't see how any good can come out of me and him being stuck on the same spacecraft for two months straight, and then for another two months during the return trip. We might as well have been reenacting the Revolutionary War up there with all the nasty back and forth goin' on between us. What the hell are these people thinking? You know what, I don't even wanna know...

I was hoping that if Black were coming with us, Green would be put on the list too, considering that he'd established himself as our third party member, and would probably ease up the tension just by bein' around. But those hopes were thrown out the window in a flash; due to his status as a D.I., he was disapproved for the flight to Polus and assigned to more duties at home base...But they DID call him into the Skeld to give the plants in the mini-greenhouse a quick inspection before liftoff, so he got to do something for the expedition.

Black mentioned the situation to me as we headed down the gate towards the ship entrance.

"Shame he couldn't come with us after the rooftop incident...Hey, who knows? If all goes well, maybe one day he will be approved to go with us into the depths of outer space."

"Yeah, that'll be the day...But in the mean time, I gotta be stuck with just you."

"Hmph...Don't remind me."

He and I were the last two to board the ship...It's a good thing there's gonna be a whole rest of the crew for us to be able to mingle with, or else I'll be driven to madness up there.

Just as we were going in, our buddy Green was coming out, his bag o' gardening tools in hand and gloves caked in soil. Black was the first of us to greet him.

"'Ow do, Green? Everything set for departure in O2?"

He nodded his head in confirmation.