Star Law: A Marshal Cole Series

Chapter 18 (c)

Gunter Volks left Dr. Kriprisov's medical center following yet another update on the forensic results of the Aubrey Chase Chen and the Burnside autopsies. All of the data was uploaded to CICI. It was extremely frustrating as there were no useful leads. Still, he was happy to see the doctor. Even without delivering him a suspect on a silver platter, she had given him some encouragement.

"The absence of physical evidence is a clue as much as anything in this case," Kriprisov said. "As you know, there should have been evidence of a suspect's presence in the blood spattered cabin. The fact that there were no footprints or voids speaks volumes. It suggests some sort of non-corporeal presence."

Usually this sort of thinking would give Volks a headache. "You mean an energy?"

Kripisov nodded. "The level of force needed to twist a safe off from its mount suggests quite a bit of energy."

This new tidbit of information buoyed Volks because it gave him a new avenue of search. He decided to drop by the Central Plaza and get an espresso and then head to engineering to see if they had the ability to track energy spikes inside the ship. He was about halfway there when he heard it. No, that wasn't accurate as it wasn't something you heard, it was something you felt.

It was an insistent, unremitting ringing in the head. At first it was low and irritating but as he approached the plaza. Some people might have thought the ringing was internal but Volks felt this was something else. He keyed his comm.

"Volks to security," he said. "Are there reports of the sound of ringing coming ship-wide?"

The voice of Jay Champion sounded. "You hear it too, Chief? I thought it was just me but reports coming from all over the ship about a strange sound but the computers are reporting nothing."

The sound of a commotion crackled in the comms. Volks frowned. "Champion, what's going on?"

Champion came back on breathless. "Sir, we have video feeds from Central Plaza. People are collapsing everywhere! The AI has no idea what is going on!"

Volks took charge. "Pull the alarm. Seal the decks."

"But chief, you're inside the zone."

"I know," replied Volks.

The big pressure doors began to rumble in to closed position behind but he paid no attention. His objective was forward. This is where the ringing inside his head grew more uncomfortable as he drew near the upper entrance to the Central Plaza. He drew his gun and tried to shake the incessant and now painful buzz in his head. It actually made him double over with nausea.

As he approached the railing he saw other people on their hands and knees moaning in pain. One or two were unconscious. No one but him was still walking and he was barely keeping it together. He had no explanation for it other than during the war; he had learned a meditation to fight off sonic weaponry deployed against him. He sensed that this wasn't sound but the principle was the same, he tried to stay focused and to block the ringing in his head. He was successful insofar as he was not unconscious like so many others.

Looking over the rail and two decks below, he saw no one who was unaffected. In horror, he saw someone slumped over a railing that was clearly slipping. It was too late. Over he went to what surely was his death. People were unconscious or incapacitated wherever he looked. One woman appeared to have hit her head and was bleeding out.

Over and over Volks repeated his mantra has his head was splitting in pain. Even though only seconds had passed, he was having trouble with nausea. He looked over the edge and aimed his gun below. He wasn't sure what he was looking for but instinctively knew there was some threat, something causing the ringing.

He saw a blur near the far entrance. It was a man with brown skin, possibly Indian. He ran across the promenade seemingly unaffected. In fact, he was unaffected. No signs of any kind he was being impaired. With haste he continued to run but also looked behind him as if he was being pursued.

Volk's hands trembled slightly when the ringing in his head grew. The man was now closer to the same side of the ship. That and the ringing were connected. He didn't know how or why but that if the man was not stopped more people would die. It was difficult to concentrate and he was aiming down two decks but drew a bead on his target and fired.

There was a flash from the barrel of his gun and then a burst of energy and then blood on the chest of the man below. The ringing came to a sudden and dramatic end. Volks had seldom felt as confident of a decision as he did with this one to discharge his weapon. He had little time to feel that way as he sank to the ground a second later unconscious.