The Tartarus Directive

Chapter 8

Griff returned to headquarters to the news that György Dutka was dead. He had committed apparent suicide in his cell--hanging himself from a support beam with a knotted blanket.

It was highly unusual for any prisoner to commit suicide on the Atlas. Holding a prisoner for a long period of time was almost unheard of because of the lack of holding space and resources to house convicts. Effectual criminal penalties were few beyond varying levels of fines, forced labor, or simple execution. There was not nearly enough evidence to condemn Dutka to death and, even if he had been slapped with a hefty fine for illegal union organization, his comrades could have pooled the credits necessary to pay a fine in an hour.

Hasan brushed off Dutka's death with the same care one swats a fly. Griff on the other hand demanded to see Dutka's body. Griff could not understand why Dutka's death invoked such sudden rage in him, but it seemed to him that martial law had only created official disorder and vigilantism instead of bringing subversive elements to heel.

The desk officer brought Griff to Dutka's cell where the body lay still. Dutka lay on his back atop the cot, arms at his side and legs straight, a blanket pulled over his body. Griff uncovered him to make an examination. His face was swollen and bruised with a bluish hue. The collar of his tunic was undone and a dark red ring wrapped around his throat. His hair was matted with dried blood. Griff saw Dutka's eyeglasses peeking out from under the cot. They had been crushed as if stepped-on.

The injuries Griff observed on Dutka's body were consistent with having been thoroughly beaten shortly before death. Officers were not supposed to beat prisoners and people about to commit suicide do not beat themselves up. As such things are what is supposed to happen and what does in practice are two very different things, especially where unaccountable law enforcement entities are concerned. It did not take long for Griff to understandably become especially skeptical of the suicide verdict. A man who had as many powerful enemies as Dutka did was, as could be expected, a constant target of suppression and assassination. He had been dead for about three hours.

Griff stayed with Dutka for half an hour, going over everything in his head and trying ot figure out what was to be done. It was clear that almost no one in the Security Service cared that Dutka was gone. In fact, Griff was certain most would secretly celebrate his elimination. He knew Commander Rowland and Hasan would not miss him either.

Griff exited the cell and went to the desk officer. He ordered a complete autopsy to be performed on Dutka and specified it be done by the medical bay doctors, not the Security Service's coroner. He was determined not to have the results of the autopsy altered or buried and his best chance at preventing that was with a civilian doctor.

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Griff's next stop was Commander Rowland. It was unusual for anyone to call on the commander, and more unusual still for someone as rank-and-file as Griff to do so. Even so, Griff believed that he was entitled to some level of transparency which had been afforded to few others and he knew he could speak to the commander with a degree of candor.

He made it as far as the first A level checkpoint before he was stopped. The guards demanded to know what his business was on A level at this time of night. Griff obstinately affirmed his position as a Security Service officer and again insisted he be let through.

The guards were unmoving and so Griff had no other choice than to push through them. This choice was not a particularly intelligent one. He was apprehended immediately by the two guards who easily overpowered the weakened man. He struggled to break free but was only met with the rubberized butt of a gyrojet carbine in the back of his head. Darkness.

He woke, dazed, on the floor of an A-level corridor. His head pounded violently as it had after the union riots. He was blinded by the whitish light overhead and could only see the blurred figures of people looming over him. As his hearing returned, the muffled grumbles and growls of angry speech became words. It was Mr. Damir reprimanding the guards.