Chapter 14

Lutitut made the kikut to bring good luck to the Brek. The kikut made the seams pure. The kikut made the ground stable. The kikut made the air dry and dusty. Grit was the first kikut, and thought the Brek should appreciate the gifts of Lutitut more. Grit created the Mult plague, for the deepest diggers that never showed thanks to Lutitut. Grit created the Uvit, the sudden flood, for the greedy that never left anything for Lutitut. Lutitut saw what Grit had created and forced the rocks to spit him far from the places of the Brek.- Forty Third of Firsts, the tale of Lutitut

Asuun spent the rest of the day working with his AI to verify the integrity of the evidence that had been collected so far from all of the murder sites. He was able to confirm that it had all been accessed by someone from the Advocate’s office, shortly after it has been entered into the log.

After confirming this, Asuun found himself staring at the display.

This is ridiculous. The integrity of his evidence has been impacted now. The protocol is that only the investigating technician would ever access the files. The security on the files was supposed to be coded to only allow that.

Asuun had his AI check the name of the assigned technician to the files, it confirmed that he was still the assigned technician. Theoretically, the Senior Advocate could change the assigned technician, but that was rarely done, and had not happened here apparently.

Asuun thought briefly of confronting the Senior Advocate, but decided that would accomplish nothing. The Senior Advocate had violated a lot of protocols with these actions, there is no way he has not prepared for a confrontation.

The more he thought about it, the less sense it made. He had no choice but to continue with the investigation. The clock was ticking, he could not afford to be distracted by this right now. Asuun had his AI notify his supervisors AI with what he had discovered. For now he would focus on the interviews he had to do today.

The morning saw him go through another 13 suspects. They were all able to provide a verifiable alibi for at least one of the murders. In many ways, if this case is the same type of murderer as the ones in the past, then a suspect having an alibi for even just one of the murders would mean they could not be the one. All of his training told him there was always the possibility it was something new, so he had his AI shuffle the already interviewed suspects to a separate list, ‘provisionally cleared’.

He was taking a break from the interviews, when, on a whim, Asuun had his AI bring up the murder scene display from, what he had identified as, the first murder site. He expanded the display to include that section of the waste plant. He also had his AI adjust the lighting levels for a night time shift. He had his AI highlight the likely location for where the murder took place.

Something about this just did not make sense. These waste processing plants are not places people just wander around. However it happened, the murder victim most likely knew his killer. There were no reports of lost, or trespassing, individuals during that work day. So anyone in the plant at the time of the murder, most likely had a reason to be there.

Asuun brought up the recorded display for the second murder site. He had his AI expand the display to include the house and whole yard. The workshop was separated from the main house but not by a significant distance. But this location could not be more different from the site of the first murder.

While the private residence would not be as secure as the waste processing plant, the residence had its own type of security. The workshop is located at the back of the property, a difficult location to get to for the general public. That would suggest, whoever had killed him, had access to the workshop.

Asuun brought up the image for the third murder scene. He had his AI expand the view to include nearby alleys and roads. He had his AI project angles of view from all doorways and windows that could have viewed the murder scene and the immediate alley.

He had his AI check the security logs for of the buildings showing in the overlay. He had it rule out any of the openings that had their security setting set to ‘enabled’. This removed all of the potential angles of view from the overlay.

Asuun already knew that this area did not have a high crime rate, specifically, violent crime was very uncommon. So the chance that some random killer would be stalking these alleys was incredibly low. This would suggest that whoever had been in that alley, had a reason to be there.

Asuun brought up the display for the fourth murder scene. This one seems to be the most unusual, away from most people, much more isolated and yet accessible to more people. This murder scene was the first to suggest the murderer was waiting. A question that Asuun had, was the murderer waiting for the victim specifically? Or would he have killed the first person he encountered?

Asuun brought up display for the most recent murder scene. The boutique had been closed, but the victim still inside after hours. The murderer had gotten through the main entrance without having to force the lock, as far as they could tell.

Asuun arranged the five displays from left to right in chronological order. Geographically the only association between the five was that they were centered in this city. There was a rough time frame of 1 1/2 to 2 weeks between each murder. He still couldn’t see the pattern, but he was sure there was a clue in there.

There was one other common point to all of these murders, the time of the attacks. The fact that all of the attacks have occurred in the evening, or at night, is obviously relevant. Asuun just couldn’t see what he could do with that information right now.

The research on the previous murderers all indicated that whatever was making them do this, relied on their consciousness being suppressed. If it was as simple as being asleep, then it should have been possible when taking naps as well.

The research had shown that it didn’t happen every time that they fell asleep. So that by itself would not be enough to trigger an event. Possibly it is a link to either activity cycles, or maybe even the biological sleep/awake cycle.

Asuun set the rest of that aside, he wasn’t going to get any further with this for now. He would focus on clearing suspects and let it rumble around in his brain for a little longer. He had gone through half the list now, that had to mean he was closer to finding the killer.

4 hours later, and he had cleared another 12 potential suspects. At this point he was feeling more than a little frustrated by how slow this was going. He could not keep his mind from wandering over the possible reasons for the Senior Advocate to interfere this way.

Asuun’s AI notified him that he had a communication from supervisor Lusant. He immediately noticed that the communication had been received over 2 hours ago. Asuun had directed his AI to not interrupt him during the interviews, so he was not surprised by the delay.

Lusant’s message had suggested he contact the researcher by the name of Rysal. Lusant indicated that the researcher was currently working with a subject human, and thought they might offer some insight that had not been available previously.

As it was getting late, Asuun had his AI check to see if the researcher was still in their office. His AI was able to confirm that she was, giving him a gender to her name. Asuun had his AI try to connect, but after a short time his AI said the connection was not confirmed.

His AI was able to confirm that she was likely still at work, as her id had not been classed as having exited the building yet. Asuun had his AI check on the topic of her research. It identified her as a Wysallean field specialist. Her current research project was described as identifying and analyzing Wysallean fields in non-Sel hosts.

Asuun knew as much as the next Sel when it came to understanding what the Wysallean field was. But he had always assumed it was something specific to the Sel. His AI pointed out that she was the youngest Sel on record, with this kind of autonomy when it came to designing her research projects. It also pointed out, that she was recognized as one of the foremost researchers in this field.

Seeing as how this seems to have begun with Humans, maybe he could get some direction by speaking with her. On a hunch, Asuun had his AI check to see if there were any other researchers working on any projects involving Humans. He learned that there was currently a team studying cultural and scientific material. The head of the project was a female researcher located here in this city, named Liuani.

Asuun had his AI try contacting her office.

“This is Liuani, what may I do for you Investigator?”

“I am currently working on an incident, and in researching it, I believe I need some information on Humans, and I understand you are currently leading a project on them. Is there a time I may speak with you, or someone in your team, to answer some questions about them?”

“If I can help, I would be happy to. When did you want to meet?”

“I would like to meet with you as soon as possible. Would it be alright to come by now?”

Asuun watched her check something off to one side, then look back at him.

“Yes, that is fine. I will be waiting in my office.”

Asuun took the closest transmat to her location. There was a bit of a delay as the transmat terminal was a little busy at this time of the day. It was only a delay of a few minutes, before he was able to get access.

The receiving transmat was about 50 to 100m from her office structure. There was a light rain in this part of the city, but the sheltering fields over the walkways kept them dry. The building AI was obviously expecting him, as soon as he was detected he was notified where to go to get to researcher Liuani’s office.

Her office was located on the third floor of the structure, turning left once he got off of the lift, it was only a 10 to 15 m walk to her door. It opened as he approached but he still paused in the entryway until he spotted her on the couch behind her desk. She was obviously expecting him as she immediately gestured for him to enter.

As he walked into the office he took a look around. It was not too crowded so it did not look like she had been in this office for too long. There were a couple of citations, acknowledgements, and at least 2 degrees , he noticed on display in the office.

“First I want to thank you for seeing me at this time, and on short notice.” He said as he took a seat.

“I’m happy to be of service inspector, I’m not sure what I can do for you but I will do what I can.” Liuani gave him her focused attention.

Asuun couldn’t help but notice, she was very attractive. Not exactly what he was expecting in a cultural researcher. Yes he had just seen her when chatting minutes earlier, but he had assumed that she would be less...in shape. Seeing her face to face, he could tell she stayed very active.

“I appreciate your cooperation,” he was able to say after a few seconds, “I’m not sure either how much you can help, but I would certainly appreciate any insight you can give me for this current investigation.” He tried to sound professional. He must be tired he thought, he doesn’t usually get this thrown off by a pretty face.

Liuani waited patiently for the investigator to explain how she could help.

“What can you tell me about Humans?”

Liuani was not really expecting that question, she paused for second, trying to order her thoughts, and to try to think of a place to start.

“They are a pre-light species. They have two sexes. The average male is typically about 30 to 40% more massive than the average female. They exhibit a wide range in skin coloration. They are very social, preferring to live in large scale communities. They have an average...”

“Sorry to interrupt, I’m not looking for the typical...statistical information.” Asuun tried to think of a description of what he wanted.

“Well...can you give me some kind of suggestion, or hint, at anything specific you might be looking for?”

Asuun realized he didn’t have a specific concept to ask about. He wasn’t sure if the Humans had anything to do with his murderer. He came here because he was afraid that the criteria he was using to create a suspect list was flawed in some way. He had been thinking that if that first Human had been the catalyst for these events, there should be something in their culture that would indicate something like this.

It occurred to him that there would be no way to avoid telling the researcher at least some of the background to his investigation. The minister had said that it would be fine for him to tell people, he had just asked that Asuun be careful who he chose to tell.

“I need to tell you a little bit about my investigation. I’m going to keep some things back because I don’t want them to influence any information you may have. So I am going to ask you to be patient with me for a minute, while I give you some background.”

Liuani was curious now, and a little concerned. The last thing she’d needed was for the security team to take possession of her research.

“I am currently trying to track down the identity of the serial killer. I assume you have heard references to their crimes on the broadcasts?” Asuun waited for her nod before continuing.” We believe this string of murders is related to a very extended string of murders that can be traced back over 500 cycles.”

Liuani’s middle eye opened just a little at Asuun’s statement. She knew that she could not hide the reaction from him, and didn’t really try.

“Yes, I know exactly how that sounds. I had the exact same reaction when I was first told that piece of news as well.” Asuun spoke patiently. “Like I said, I don’t know if you can help but I am a not going to turn down any potential leads.”

“500 cycles ago a subject was brought back from a research mission, the first human, and he died within minutes of arriving here. It was later concluded that he had suffered some form of organ failure, probably due to the shock of waking up in such an alien environment. An emergency medical technician by the name of Gruth tried to revive him. Just over one cycle later Gruth would kill his first victim. He would kill 18 Sel before he was finally apprehended. Gruth was kept isolated for 33 cycles while he was tested and analyzed to try to understand why he had done what he’d done. At that point he died of apparent old age, his body showing all the signs of someone over 200 cycles old. He was 135 cycles according to records at time of death.”

“Within a cycle of his death, the murders started again. That killer was eventually caught as well, but not before killing 11 Sel. His name was Nuall and he had been working as a gardener at the facility that Gruth was at. He lived for another 51 cycles while in confinement. Then he too died of what appeared to be natural causes, also younger than he should have. The records show he was 122 cycles at time of death. This pattern keeps repeating itself, murders happen, the murderer is caught and confined. There are never successfully rehabilitated, none ever admits to remembering or consciously committing any of the murders. The murders stop happening while they are confined, but once they die, within 1 to 1/2 cycles, it will start happening again.”

“I’m the security technician assigned to identifying the murderer this time. I have the advantage of all of the notes and previous observations as made by the previous security technicians over the course of their investigations. But this time I have one more advantage none of the previous investigators had access to, and that is an active research project on Humans. So having heard all of that, I would like to ask you if you can add any insight or information, based off of their culture or history, that could give me some idea how they could be related to the strings of murders?”

Liuani just sat there looking at the investigator, her mind trying to process the very bizarre story she had just been told. She was fairly sure that the investigator was not crazy, certainly her AI would have validated that his credentials were current, so that cannot be the case. She could see he was trying to give her the time to get used to the idea.

“If you are asking, are there any records or historical events similar to what you are describing, I don’t have a simple answer for you. Humans kill each other a lot. They have been killing each other individually, as well as in large groups, for pretty much all of their history. They have used justifications like politics, honor, land, doing the right thing, fear, greed, and sometimes simple anarchy, throughout all of their history.”

Liuani paused here, Asuun could tell she was working on her terminal, so he gave her time to find whatever she was looking for. She was finished less than a minute later.

“I can tell you that they have had numerous mass murderers as well. The documentation suggests that this could go back before records started being kept. Of the ones that were eventually caught, the vast majority were identified as having some form of mental disorder.”

“Are there any mentions in their records of strings of mass murders? Anything referring to multi-generational killings, or possibly series after series of unsolved, but similar murders?”

Liuani could hear the doubt in his voice, she got the feeling that he thought this was becoming a waste of time. She still wasn’t sure what Asuun was looking for, she could not imagine how anything a Human can possibly do could have caused such a chain of events. Though she had to admit, the results of Rysal’s scans, did indicate there’s something different with Humans.

Liuani had not tried looking for this particular topic amongst the data. She posed the question to her AI, asking it to go through the last 200 cycles of recorded history, looking for the kind of pattern that Asuun had described.

It only took a few seconds before her query gave her some results. Nothing here matched the specifics that the investigator had been stated, but she was a little surprised to see some similarities.

“I can confidently tell you that they have been no events exactly like you describe recorded in the last 200 years of their written history. That being said, there are several references to something that they describe as ‘copycat’ killers. Apparently there are a number of recorded incidents of people continuing to kill others in the same way a previous mass murderer had done so. Sometimes this could end up being even multiple new killers.”

That piece of news had indeed surprised Asuun. The idea that other intelligent beings would want to replicate the way an obviously insane being was acting, was not something he would have ever considered. He wasn’t sure how this was related in any way, but he had the feeling it might be.

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