A Visitor to the Future - 19 - Interviews and Ideas
Travers led us back down the stairs to a large meeting room, explaining that the suspects had been confined to quarters until needed. We all sat down at one side, except for Tungsten, who paced with hands crossed behind his back.
"He's super enjoying this," said Sarkona to me in a hushed whisper, "Might be fun to do something like this again if he ever needs cheering up."
It didn't take long for the first suspect to enter the room. He was a lean man in his mid-thirties with dark-rimmed glasses. His hair was slicked back with oil or gel and he wore the same fatigues as Travers with a white caduceus on his breast pocket, marking him as a medical figure.
"Please," said Tungsten, gesturing to the seat opposite us at the table. "Take a seat, and provide us with your name and rank."
He sat down a tad nervously, pulling the chair in behind himself. His accent sounded Dutch. "I am Doctor Isak Alise, mission specialist, and ranking medical officer on the base."
"Tell me," Tungsten continued, "Did you know the deceased well?"
He cleared his throat a little. "Purely in a professional capacity. I am aware of his medical status and I have trained with him for the last six months as part of the upcoming mission. I was shocked to hear of his death nonetheless."
"Please describe what you mean by 'medical status'."
The Doctor exhaled a breath through his nose. "Commander Jackson has a long and extensive career of space flight, flying everything from orbital resupply missions to being part of our last mission ten years ago. Space travel naturally has some wear upon the body, so I need to keep his specific needs in mind."
"Such as?"
"He has medication to reduce the load on his heart, and more recently his lapse into alcoholism, which I believe was the direct result of his divorce."
"Wouldn't that disqualify him from the program?" asked Sarkona.
The Doctor seemed to fume a little at that. "For most people, yes. But to be frank the Commander has ten times the space experience of anyone else on the crew and he is very favoured by the higher-ups, so despite my formally noted recommendations he has remained on the program."
"That's almost worse than the whole murder thing," whispered Sarkona to me and Antonia, winking.
"Where were you last night?" asked Tungsten.
"I was working late within the medical bay on a project - alone. My apprentice nurse had the night off and was off-base - I assume means that he has been assigned to autopsy the deceased in my place. I briefly went into the base's canteen, where I saw Commander Jackson making merry with specialists Hollings and Meers. Apart from that I spent the rest of the night in my room, asleep."
"Tell me, what about the rest of the crew," asked Tungsten, "Do they get along well?"
"Most of them, just fine. Jackson practically sponsored Hollings into the program, and seems friendly enough with Meers. Apart from that, Commander Jackson and Sub-Commander Okumu have something of a rivalry which has flared up on more than one occasion, but I can't believe either of them would actually do serious harm because of it."
"Serious harm?" asked Tungsten.
"They've butted heads a couple of times, but never in a serious way. Okumu - much like myself - resents that Jackson has been favoured by our superiors and we both make no secret of it."
Tungsten placed a six-fingered hand on the table and leaned forward. "Tell me this, Doctor. In your professional opinion, who among the crew are the most physically fit?"
He looked taken aback by the question, taking a moment to think. "Okumu and Hollings have the top physical results. Then it would be Meers followed by myself."
Turning to the three of us, Tungsten extended a hand, "Then I will defer to my colleagues here."
Sarkona chipped in, "Do any of the crew have experience with editing camera recordings?"
"I do not. As for the rest, I have no idea - while we do have to be generalists for the purposes of the mission that skill would not be required in space. If you were to check the crew files it would be listed there."
Neither Antonia nor I could think of any other questions so Tungsten dismissed the Doctor, leaving the four of us to our thoughts. I tried to replay what had just happened in my mind but it was like a puzzle I couldn't crack - if the Doctor had any murderous intent I really couldn't tell.
"I think we'll need to look at the camera footage," said Sarkona, "And the log files, even if they have been tampered with. They could have missed something."
"Yes," said Antonia, "And what about those staff files? Could be something in there. What was it you said earlier - maybe the Doctor had something to gain that he's not telling us." She shook her head briefly, "Ugh, it's so hard not being able to ask the Consortium about what happened."
"An idea is forming in my mind," said Tungsten, "A hypothesis - but I need more information. We should speak with this Sub-Commander Okumu next."
A few minutes later the Sub-Commander entered the room. He was a mountain of a man who stood taller than all of us. Instead of the flag that we'd seen on all the military fatigues so far, the Kenyan flag was present - I was surprised to see something from my own time. His well-built arms folded and his expression soured as he entered the room, taking a seat across from us.
"Mind if I lead again?" asked Tungsten. No-one objected, he was doing very good so far. "Sub-Commander, please state your full name and title."
His voice was gruff - he sounded displeased with the questioning. "Sub-Commander Hamidi Okumu, second in command of the upcoming mission."
"Would I be correct in assuming that with the passing of the Commander, you are now fully in command?"
The corner of his mouth twitched, "That would be correct, though I resent the implication."
"Tell me, where did you last go climbing?"
Okumu looked very confused by the sudden shift in the conversation.
"Oh, it's obvious," said Tungsten, "Your hands are calloused and strong, especially about the top of the palm. You also have all the hallmarks of a climber's frame - I would be very surprised were you not."
"Or you read my file," said Okumu, "Mount Kenya, to answer your question, about a month ago."
"Interesting," said Tungsten, "Tell me about your relationship with the Commander."
He exhaled sharply through his nose. "Not good. He was a pig-headed, glory-seeking relic who should have been retired years ago."
Sarkona actually laughed a little at that, "And you don't think that stating that makes you a bit more suspect?"
"It would be more suspicious if I were to hide it given that anyone on this base would tell you the same. I made no secret of it - I didn't like him. But I would always put that aside where the mission demanded it."
Tungsten continued, "Were there any recent arguments that you'd had with him?"
"Yes, a few. I disagreed with him about his selection of crew for this mission and the duty roster. But he is - was - the commander and even if I object I always follow orders."
Antonia spoke up at that. "Can you think of anyone who had anything to gain by killing him?"
"No," he said, "In fact - the opposite. As much as I didn't like him or the situation in general, he was well-liked by our superiors - that made things much easier from a resource front. I will face greater difficulties."
"Any other questions?" asked Tungsten.
I decided to speak up, "When did you last see the commander?"
"Yesterday afternoon. We were running through mission protocols, in this room in fact."
Neither Antonia or Sarkona could think of anything else, so Tungsten dismissed Okumu.
"It's so odd," said Antonia with a furrowed brow, "Both the Doctor and Sub-Commander were annoyed by the favouritism, but they both continued working here."
"They probably didn't have a choice," I said, "If their superiors liked things the way they were it would be hard for them to change it. If they objected too much they might have been kicked out of the program. If things were anything like they were in my time, that might have been the end of their careers in space."
Antonia's eyebrows raised briefly, and then her expression changed into contemplation.
"I think we should put the interviews on hold for a little while," said Tungsten suddenly, "I have a theory I'd like to try out."