Star Law: A Marshal Cole Series

Chapter 6

They had started as triplet brothers but the youngest was not too long dead. Ajani, the first born and one who fought for possession and Adisa, the second born and the one who was clear remained were the brothers alive. Azi, the last born and one who best represented youth was dead. Murdered. Or at least that is what the brothers in their hearts believed.

Walking down the corridor, the dark skinned young men moved like hunters. And indeed they were predators. Together they'd been trackers in western Africa before being discovered by Gaulle and brought to America. He was the one to recognize their talent and the reason for its success.

What Gaulle discovered is that that the gift the young men had that they were able to single out an individual's thoughts and then triangulate and locate that person. The death of one brother had hobbled that ability but not completely destroyed it. Ajani and Adisa were still fairly effective in tracking. Like Singh, they had heightened five senses and could see, hear and smell like the predators they were. Losing the ability to triangulate prey had given way to running prey to ground. The young men had a relentlessness about them in pursuit.

Singh was not comfortable meeting yet more members of their group aboard the ship. It couldn't be avoided though with the death of Aubrey Chase Chen. Everyone had to be informed, everyone vigilant. No further information had been generated since the body had been moved out for autopsy so it was difficult to even know what to be watchful of. It was unsettling.

The final leg of the Niagara's journey was the star system Recedo Boötis where an Earth-like planet called Hawks had appeared only recently. The system roughly four light years away from Eta Boötis came by its name honestly. Recedo in latin meant disappear and until very recently no one knew a star and planetary system existed inside a mysterious cloud that stretched over several light years.

The Dark Adder Cloud had existed for millions of years but it was not static in the least. It moved, it swirled and it hid. It could not be seen through or scanned so whatever was inside was an unknown. It was difficult if not impossible to navigate in because electro-magnetic properties. Moreover, due to some physics anomaly, ships could not drop out of warp bubble up to half a light year away and quantum communications were blocked within the same distance. Scientists were still scratching their heads about that one. What made them react with even more surprise is when the cloud had ebbed over three years to reveal Recedo Boötis, a star that had been completely enveloped in the mists. Several planetary bodies including the planet Hawks circled Recedo and it exhibited some of most Earth-like qualities seen in recent years. All of that and no sentient life present. Soon the rush was on and first the scientists and later the settlers began to come to the system.

This was the Niagara's fifth trip to the planet since Blue Star Lines had set up orbital as well as ground terminals. The space-based part of the operation was in fact an asteroid towed into orbit and then nanufactured to provide a berth for a passenger liner and mooring for two tugs. The nano technology had almost everything it needed in the rock: Carbon Hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen mixed in with trace metals. The end result was an orbital space station platform transformed by nanites. Even water and food could be generated from the carbonaceous asteroids.

The planet Hawks was the destination of all the remaining passengers aboard the ship including Singh and his group. They had all arrived at Arcturus, the home port of the Niagara via circuitous routes from Earth over many weeks. Once at the Alpha Boötis system, they boarded the ship separately. That is, all but Adjani and Adisa. They always were together.

Singh was inside his modest cabin when he heard the rap at the door. The two men never used the door bell. "Come," he commanded. The door slid to one side and Adjani and Adisa walked silently in and the door closed behind them. "I'm sorry gentlemen. Gaulle wanted everyone informed and you two in particular based on your security expertise."

"How is it that we didn't know anything before Ms. Case was attacked?" asked Adjani.

"We were all told to be vigilant after leaving Earth," Singh said. "Still, there was no warning of anything to come. Everyone responded to my last check and nothing was reported."

"What do we know?" Adisa asked. He was always the logical one and straight to the point.

"We know Aubrey Chase Chen's death was a violent one," said Singh matter-of-factly. "We'll have to wait for the autopsy to know more detail though."

"You're leaving something out," Adisa said. He stared intently at Singh waiting for a response.

"The death took place behind a locked cabin door. The ship crew had to cut open the frame to get inside." Singh waited for the inevitable outburst from Adjani.

"It is one of us then! Or people like us. Who?" Adjani cried out.

"Not necessarily someone like us," replied Singh. "We just don't know."

"He's right," Adisa said quietly to his brother. "It could be machines. What else could kill Ms. Chen?"

Singh blinked. He hadn't considered that and yet should have. It was the one thing all fear: Artificial intelligence, androids, nanotechnology. This was something that couldn't be countered as easily as human or alien. You couldn't read an AI, sense what it was thinking and manipulate it and you couldn't damage it if it kept the data in unreachable server storage. At best you could avoid being the focus of it. Machines could indeed have killed Chen. However, if they had it still wasn't clear how or who or why.

"It is difficult to speculate. The captain of the ship has enlisted a Commonwealth marshal to investigate," began Singh. "I am monitoring his investigation but at this point they are no wiser than we are about what happened."

"A marshal?" questioned Adjani. "When did this policeman come aboard the ship? Is he here for us"

"No, no," calmed Singh. "The ship record shows he has made the trip a few times to make prisoner transfers back to Arcturus. It is a routine trip."

Adjani remained guarded. "I don't like it. We have no room to move with police on board."

"Let me take care of the police," assured Singh. "Just stay out of their way."

"What do you need of us?" Adisa asked. He was always on point.

"Gaulle wants you to do what you do. Roam the ship; see if you can sense anything."

"It doesn't work that way," said Adjani annoyed. "We need something to track and that it assumes we are looking for someone rather than something."

"Best we've got so far," said Singh. "I'll inform the others, send you any update especially if it is of suspects you can track."

"Is there anything that ties any of us to Ms. Chen?" Adisa asked a final question. "Anything at all?"

"Our covers remain the same as back on Earth," explained Singh. "We arrived via different routes and have not mingled aboard ship. Since boarding, I've only seen you and Gaulle and I did so under protest."

"We'll be just wandering out there not knowing what to look for," complained Adjani.

"I'll try to get you more information so we know what we are dealing with," said Singh. "We don't know where the danger lies. All we know is that one of our group is dead and we have no idea how or why. You're our best trackers. Let's see if we can find out what is happening."

Adjani looked at Adisa. There really wasn't more to say. Both of them had liked Aubrey Chen. If nothing else, you could sense they wanted to find her killer. To that end though, they were no closer to finding the truth. Adjani moved to the door followed by his brother. Silently, they slipped out the cabin leaving Singh to himself.