Open Writing

The second body also lay on its side, its face turned to
the cabin wall so that Holly could not immediately see
who it was, who it had been. For whoever it was, they
were now very dead, as the spreading globules of blood
readily testified. The synthwool blankets on the bunk
were soaked with it, as was the clothing of the deceased,
and the rest was floating in the air. All that could be seen
at first glance was that it was a woman. Even the color of
the hair, soaked in blood, was unclear.

Hesitantly, Holly and Jase entered the cabin, one that
was not permanently occupied by anyone, which added to
their difficulty in immediately identifying the latest victim
of Julian Hoddle. That the doctor was responsible, there
could be no doubt, even at this early stage, and Holly’s
shock and revulsion was augmented by a slowly growing
anger. Turning the body and discovering the cause of
death, Holly was certain, would provide confirmation, but
she knew that it was a formality only. Nevertheless, she
did so, with Jase’s help, and then recoiled at the sight,
even though it was one they had seen before.

Cathy Marshall stared up at them with sightless eyes,
dull and semi-lidded in death rather than staring as they
appeared in the movies on the holovee. As Holly had
expected, the Australian geologist had been killed in the
same way as the South African girl, her throat slashed in a
wide, deep arc, and the body had been completely
exsanguinated, drained of all blood. In addition to the
throat wound, the body showed signs of several other stab
wounds, all over the upper torso. Obviously, Hoddle must
not have got what he wanted from Cathy, either, and had
taken out his fury on the unfortunate woman. Whether
this had happened before or after the fatal slash, Holly
could not tell.

As before, Holly had been alerted to the murder far too
late; this time, it had been the computer that had sounded
the alarm. Holly and Jase had been in the computer room,
testing the feasibility of the idea of turning back to earth
with only three days until turnover when the computer
had reported the presence of a large quantity of
hemoglobin in the supposedly empty cabin. They had
raced there, pulling themselves along the corridors by
handholds as fast as they could, but whoever had done the
awful deed (and Holly knew it was Hoddle) was gone.
Only the young woman’s body was left, lying forlornly on
the bunk, tied there by the straps that had been used to
secure her, to hold her still while her life had been taken.

Subsequent tests would show that, while rape had been
attempted, it had not been consummated. Apparently, like
Chrissie, the Australian had put up quite a fight, which
had forced her attacker to kill her and run. As before, a
search of the ship yielded no result and the computer
could still not discover Hoddle’s whereabouts. Sadly, and
with a growing feeling desperation and dread, Holly and
Jase set about the task of cleaning up the cabin and seeing
to the young woman’s remains.

* * *

“Come on, Doc, he’s got to be somewhere!”

Holly spoke the words more harshly than she had
intended, and immediately apologized. They had been
checking and re-checking the computer’s records, trying
to discover how Hoddle could disappear so completely
from all sight and detection. In the eight hours since the
Australian woman’s death, Holly, Jase, and Caleb had,
with the computer’s help, searched every possible hiding
place on the ship. They had even gone so far as to check,
through the computer, each sleep cell in case Hoddle had
taken one over for himself. In that time, neither Jase nor
Holly had slept; now, they were in the computer room,
seemingly at a dead end.

“As someone wiser than either you or I once observed,
Holly, everyone’s got to be somewhere,” replied the
computer in a tongue-in-cheek tone. “But, as insightful as
that may be, I realize it doesn’t help us very much right
now.”

Holly smiled wryly at the computer’s attempt to
lighten the mood. “Okay, Doc, I get the point. But where
can he be? We’ve pretty much checked every part of the
ship that we can, and no luck. It’s as though he’s vanished
into thin…” Holly fell silent, staring into space.

“Is something wrong, Holly?” said the computer.

Holly thought for a moment, then said, “Remember
your Arthur Conan Doyle, Doc? The locked-room
mysteries? As the sage of Baker Street said, when you
have eliminated all other possibilities, whatever remains,
however unlikely, must be the answer.” She slapped her
hand down on the tabletop. “That’s it!” she exclaimed. “I
know where he is!”

* * *

“Outside the ship?”

The computer, designed to work closely with humans
and specifically programmed not to show impatience or
ridicule at their sometimes painfully slow thought
processes, or some of the more far-fetched theories they
might put forth, nevertheless had to work hard to keep the
scorn out of its voice on hearing Holly’s theory.

“Holly, what makes you think Doctor Hoddle would go
to that much trouble? I mean, no offense, but don’t you
think he would just assume he could overpower you, a
lone woman?”

“You’re forgetting Jase. And Caleb,” Holly replied.

“Okay, point taken, but I think Hoddle would find a
way to outsmart them both. No offense, but they aren’t
exactly the sharpest hooks on the line, you know?”

Holly smiled, knowing the computer was trying to be
practical, not deliberately insulting. “I know, Doc. But at
least they’re there. And, physically at least, either of them
is more than a match for Hoddle. And then there’s Yuri.
He’s also become very protective of me lately, and I’m
sure that if I told him to, he’d break Hoddle in half.”
Holly waved her arm around the computer room. “We’ve
tried everywhere, Doc, and he’s nowhere. It’s the last
possible place.”

The computer was silent for a moment, then said, “So
you think he’s in a suit, tethered somewhere?”

“It’s the only possible explanation, Doc. And it’s easy
to check. We’ll do a count of the environment suits. One
turns up missing, we’ll know.”

There was no alternative forthcoming from the
computer, and Holly began organizing herself, Jase, and
Caleb into three teams. Environment suits were stored in
several places, but they were all known, and would not
take long to check. In a very short time, they would either
have confirmed or eliminated the possibility.

* * *

“Well, I guess that settles it.” Holly looked at Jase and
Caleb, and turned to include the computer in her
statement. “We’re short one environment suit, and it’s not
the one I used. He’s outside.”

“What do we d-do now, Holly?” asked Jase, holding
her hand and sitting very close to her.

Holly looked at him apprehensively. “Well, I guess
there’s only one thing we can do, Jase. I’ll have to go
outside and find him.”

The two men and the computer all began to talk at
once, all arguing against such a course of action, and
Holly cut them off. “I have to! How else are we going to
catch him? Or do you think it would be better if we just
leave him there? Then, he could come and go as he
pleased, and pick us off one by one.”

They were quiet for a moment, then Jase said, “I – I’m
coming w-with you, Holly.”

Holly shook her head. “No, Jase. It’s too dangerous.
We don’t know what Hoddle might…”

“Is it because I’m not s-s-smart enough?” Jase sounded
so dismayed, so defeated, that Holly reached out to him
immediately.

“No, Jase, it’s not that,” she said, taking his hand
again. “Someone has to stay on the ship, to look after
things while I’m not here.” As she said this, she cast a
guilty look in Caleb’s direction. He looked back at her
trustingly, and Holly was immediately contrite.

“Caleb, you can’t come. It’s…it’s dangerous,” she
finished lamely. “We don’t know where Hoddle is, or
what he’s doing out there. Or even if
he is out there.” Holly shrugged her shoulders. “It’s
only my best guess, after all. I might still be wrong. He
may have taken a suit to make us think he went outside,
and be hiding somewhere else.”

Jase looked at her keenly. “B-but you don’t really
think that, do you H-Holly?”

Holly smiled back at him. “No, Jase. He’s out there,
I’m sure of it.”

“Then w-we have to g-g-get him. If w-we can’t g-go
with you, tell us how we can help.”

So Holly began to sketchily outline the plan she had
begun to devise. Between her, the two men and the
computer, they discussed it past the next meal break and
into the ship’s night. They continued to argue back and
forth the pros and cons of Jase accompanying her on the
perilous EVA. Jase pointed out an obvious fact that Holly
had forgotten.

“I might not r-r-remember it all, Holly, but I was an EEVA
tech too. I’m s-sure it would c-c-come back to me.”

They tossed this around for a while, and Holly sat at a
table in the canteen, awake for some time after Jase had
drifted off to sleep, no closer to a decision. Subsequent
events, however, rendered all these discussions moot, and
forced a radical change of plan.

* * *

There was one detail they had to attend to, before they
could begin the search for Hoddle, as Holly told them
when Jase woke. They had to get Li Chiang and the
Russian, Selenkov, back into their sleep cells. Hoddle
could not be allowed access to them, even for a moment.

“I feel guilty enough as it is about Chrissie and Cathy,”
she said. “We should have done this ages ago, but we’ve
got just eight hours until turnover; we have to do it now.”

So Holly and Jase left the canteen and went to the
room that Caleb used. Holly felt ashamed at the way she
had rebuffed his offer of assistance, and was eager to
reassure him that he could be of help. Caleb, of course,
had said nothing to Holly, and had gone to his cabin when
Jase went to sleep.

But despite his silence, she knew he was disappointed
at her rejection. She would find something for him to do,
something that he could handle, and which would make
him feel useful.

They reached Caleb’s cabin and touched the door-
chime, then waited. After a few moments, Holly touched
it again, but there was still no sound from within, and no
one opened the door. Holly began to feel uneasy, and she
keyed the personal communicator she carried, linked
directly to the computer.

“Doc, can you tell me if Caleb is in his cabin?”

The computer answered immediately. “The cabin is
empty, Holly. He’s not there.”

Holly thought for a moment. “Can you find him?
Where is he?”

“No, Holly, I’m afraid I can’t. He doesn’t appear to be
on the ship. Major Selenkov, however, is in his cabin, and
seems to be asleep, but I must also tell you, now that you
ask, I’m detecting a large amount of hemoglobin in Ms.
Li’s cabin.”

Holly felt her blood run cold. No, she thought, not
again! Turning from Caleb’s door, she began to pull
herself along the corridor to the cabin occupied by the
Chinese woman, Jase right behind her. Reaching the door,
she said, “Doc, open this door!”

The computer overrode the locking mechanism and the
door slid open, and Holly and Jase ducked as a cloud of
scarlet globules drifted out through the opening, past them
and into the corridor. Holly and Jase entered warily,
weaving and dodging the blood and looking around the
room. They saw what they dreaded to see almost at once.

The Chinese computer expert was lying under the
room’s table, drifting and bumping gently against the
steel legs, down where they were bolted to the deck.
Carefully, Holly and Jase eased her out and over to the
bunk. She had been killed in the same manner as the other
two, but was considerably more damaged than they had
been. In addition to her throat being cut, her lips were
split, her nose was broken and both of her eyes had been
blackened. Holly called the computer again.

“Doc, is there any sign of Caleb or Hoddle?”

“No, Holly. I can’t find any trace of either of them.”

Holly digested this, a knot of fear growing in her. If
Hoddle had killed Caleb in another way, then his vital
signs would not be there for the computer to detect, nor
would there necessarily be any blood. God, what was he
doing this for? She voiced these thoughts aloud, then
turned in surprise when Jase spoke.

“H-he might have taken him out-outside too, Holly.
You know, like a h-hos-hostage or something.”

Holly stared at him. He could be right, she realized.
But they still had to search the ship for Caleb, just in case.
She was about to say so when a voice spoke from her
communicator, rendering all discussion superfluous.

* * *

“My, my, Holly, it appears that the dummy’s got a few
brain cells left after all.”

Holly froze, then said, “Where are you, Hoddle?
Where’s Caleb?”

A dry chuckle came through the device. “Oh, he’s all
right. I think he’s quite enjoying the experience, actually.
By the way, you were right in your Holmesian deduction.
We are where you thought we were. Well done.”

Holly fought to keep the anger out of her voice. “Why
have you taken Caleb? He’s no threat to you. Please, let
him go.”

Again, the same good-natured chuckle. “Oh, I’m
afraid I can’t do that, Holly. You see, I thought it would
only be a matter of time before you realized that I was
outside the ship. Now that it has finally occurred to you,
it’s as well that I have taken this precaution. You’re a
very resourceful young lady, Holly. It’s a pity we couldn’t
have worked something out, but I knew you wouldn’t go
along with my little scheme.”

Holly swallowed, then found her voice. “What little
scheme is that, Hoddle?”

“Come now, Holly, don’t sound so resentful.” He
paused, then went on. “You know, it really is a pity we
couldn’t have come to some sort of accommodation. I
begin to see in you someone I could have connected with,
a woman of both principle and character, most rare. Well,
never mind.” Hoddle paused, and Holly thought she had
almost heard a wistful tone in his voice, a touch of regret
at what might have been. Then he was talking again.

“You know as well as I do that these…livestock aren’t
going to be of much use to anyone. Except in the most
basic of ways, of course. But then, you’ve found that out
already, haven’t you Holly?”

Holly frowned. “What do you mean? What way?”

“Holly, please. You must know what I’m talking about.
After all, you’ve got your little boy-toy. Why should I be
denied the same?”

Holly gasped, then tried to articulate her revulsion, but
the voice cut her off.

“Oh, Holly, spare me your righteous indignation. You
can’t deny that it’s a situation made in heaven for a virile
man like me. Having two thousand beautiful, compliant
women on tap, as it were. But I, at least, have a higher
motive than you. I can claim to be starting a dynasty,
establishing…no, fathering a colony, while you…well,
you’re just getting your jollies, aren’t you?

“Of course, unlike you, the men are of no use to me,
but the women…Ah, the women, Holly. They are all such
perfect specimens of beauty and brains, and any offspring
they produce will be perfectly normal, you know. The
brain damage was induced rather than congenital, so no
problem there. With me as the father, who knows what
level of genius can be produced? Perhaps I might sire
progeny whose intellect exceeds even my own. And there
is the added bonus that, as a doctor, I can deliver my
children myself, personally.”

Hoddle paused for a moment, then continued in the
same gloating tone. “So, the organizers of the mission get
what they wanted after all, you see? A colony of human
beings established outside the solar system. Now what, I
ask you, is wrong with that?”

Holly fought down her fury, remembering the three
women the Englishman had mercilessly slaughtered, and
tried to answer in even tones. “Just one thing, Hoddle.
The children, like their mothers, may be physically
perfect, but what do you think their brains will be like,
having been fathered by a certifiable, homicidal fucking
NUT-CASE!!?”

Holly’s voice climbed during this, yelling the last two
words in an uncharacteristic display of temper, and
Hoddle chuckled again.

“Oh, my dear. You really will have to learn to manage
your anger a little better than that. I can help you with it,
incidentally, if you would like,” he added with mock
affability. Then he went on, his stutter now completely
gone.

“Even my new, improved state was brought about by
the accident, remember. Nevertheless, I’m confident that I
can raise my children in my own, enhanced image. So to
speak. They say that breeding is everything, don’t they?
That, I am sure, is something a refined Southern Belle
such as yourself would know all about. Breeding, that is.
Imagine it, Holly, an entire world, with me as the
founding father. Rather puts the colonizing efforts of our
own forefathers in some sort of perspective, doesn’t it? I
mean, they may have founded new countries, created a
flawed colony or two, but I will found a whole new
world.”

Holly ran her hand wearily over her eyes. “Hoddle, I’m
getting tired of listening to your ravings. What do you
want?”

Again, the small chuckle. “Ah, the direct approach.
Very well. When the ship’s computer reports to me that
everyone except yourself is back in their sleep cells, then
we will talk again, Holly. And, in case you have some sort
of ruse in mind, please remember that the computer
cannot lie to me, just as it cannot lie to you, or any
human. Nor can it take part in any action that might
cause me any harm. Something about a set of laws;
written, I understand, by the machine’s alter ego, way
back in the twentieth century. How very appropriate.

“Now, I’m a reasonable man. I realize it takes time to
return someone to cryosleep; therefore, you have four
hours until I disconnect Mr. Strong’s tether. But Holly,”
the voice continued, “please do not attempt to delay
things, or use any stalling tactics. Mr. Strong’s suit has
only a little more than five hours worth of air; after that, I
cannot be held responsible for what happens. Remember,
turnover in eight hours, sleepers in four. Until then,
Holly.”

Holly stared at the air before her, then said, “Why do
you want me to…” She stopped abruptly. There was
nothing in her communicator but static; Hoddle had cut
her off.