《The Smol Detective》


 Chapter One

    Piglet was so excited at the idea of being Useful that he forgot to be frightened any more, and when Rabbit went on to say that Kangas were only Fierce during the winter months, being at other times of an Affectionate Disposition, he could hardly sit still, he was so eager to begin being useful at once.


    -A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh


    <hr>


    "{Has anyone accepted it yet?}"


    "{Bgrarh, youjustsaw me post the position [twelve minutes] ago! Give it time!}"


    There was a clicking whine. "{Awww, but how long do we have to wait? It''s been so long already!}"


    There was an exasperated sigh. "{The patient claw finds its mark. We''re almost there, just a couple more [months] at most.}"


    "{A couple of [months]? Really?}"


    "{You know how in demand they are. And our position is a little strange compared to most, a lot of them might not want to apply.}"


    "{But I made the hat and everything! Quick, check it again, maybe one of them accepted it while we were talking!}"


    "{Bgrarh, I amnothaving this conversation. Just relax, will you?}"


    "{But Ngralh-}"


    "{I said relax. Please, can we just sit and watch the game? It''s the Iron Jaws versus the Claws Of Destiny, should be a good one.}"


    A long moment followed of tinny roaring through speakers.


    "{Check it again.}"


    "{Shush! Sit! Relax! Watch game!}"


    Another moment of tinny roaring, shorter than the first.


    "{How about now?}"


    "{BGRARH-OF-ARHRAZ, BY THE FIRST PACK I SWEAR THEY WILL NEVER FIND THE BODY...!}"


    <hr>


    It was a flawless blue-sky day when Oscar Williams had his well-structured life go completely and utterly sideways. He was stretched out on a white sand beach and in the middle of giving The Eye to one particular tanned and lithe beach bunny. Happily, she was giving his muscular body just as interested of a scan in return. He assumed a half-smile as he scratched his stomach, right next to a bullet scar that stood out as a lighter brown against his darker skin. Something else nagged at him though, some little bit of business he had to do every day...


    Memory returned, and Oscar sighed as he plucked a datapad from a canvas bag lying on the sand next to him. He then opened up a local news-blog, paged over to the horoscopes, and did a quick and automatic scan. That scan became a lot less automatic as he read again the day''s entry for Virgo.


    An old friend will be coming back into your life soon! Don''t hesitate to take advantage of whatever he might have to offer. Remember, nobody likes a grouch!


    He bit back a curse and fished a phone out of the bag, then dialed a number he''d never, ever expected to dial again. The voice on the other end was as smooth and warm as ever.


    "Oscar! What a pleasant surprise!"


    "Hey, Martin," he replied with a much more forced happiness. "What''s the rumpus?"


    "Oh, just the usual wading through decades of files from before the Unification. How many young women have you bedded today?"


    "It''s eleven in the morning, dude. I don''t workthatfast. You should take a break, come down here with Henry, get yourselves a little cabana, go at it like rabbits. I''ll be your tour guide."


    Martin sighed. "No can do. But hey, if you get the chance you should swing by Langley and see what we''ve done with the old place."


    Oscar kept any sense of irritation out of his voice. These days, one never knew who or what might be listening in. "Yeah, I should do that," he said aloud.


    After a few more minutes of chatting and a promise to visit, he hung up and stared up into the sky. It was just as blue as before, but now he could sense the black and looming danger behind that pleasant-looking expanse. It was a danger he''d tried to ignore for many years by focusing on the pleasures of the flesh. But he knew that Martin''s unspoken request must have something to do with the xenos.


    <hr>


    "...and through here we''ve dug out another couple of rooms. This''ll be long-term storage once we get everything transferred over to holographic media."


    Oscar ducked his head as he followed the smaller man into the next room. Martin''s blond hair was at present covered with a hard hat, and Oscar wore similar headgear. Freshly-cured cement lined the walls, and the furniture consisted of a steel table and a couple of chairs. Another door led out of the room, one that looked more like what one would find in a bank vault.


    Oscar pushed the entry door closed, then turned to Martin and raised an eyebrow. The other man was already stripping out of his clothes. With a shrug, Oscar followed suit.


    "How''s Henry?" he asked in the middle of disrobing.


    "Doing fine, he''s got a Brahms recital in Philly next week."


    They piled their clothing onto the table, with the hard hats placed on top. The now-naked Martin waved a hand silently at the vault-like door. The equally-naked Oscar pulled it open and stepped through. Beyond was a larger and even more spartan room, with earthen walls and wooden support beams. In the center of the room was a small table with a single bare manila folder on it. Martin pulled the door shut behind them and spun its central wheel.


    "You reckon this is secure enough?" asked Oscar as he looked over the cave-like room. It was harshly lit with work lights that cast impressionistic shadows on surrounding dirt.


    "We''ve got five meters of steel and copper around us, plus a hundred feet of bedrock overhead. We don''tthinkthe xenos have snuck nano-monitors into every bit of clothing made on Earth, but it''s better to be sure. If we''re not private in here, then I might as well join you on that beach of yours." Martin walked forward and placed a palm on the table. "I gotta say, you''re looking damn good for a retired guy."


    Oscar shrugged. "Five miles of swimming, every morning. And I''m also keeping active with a local Muay Thai gym. You''re not going through all of this just to make a pass, are ya?"


    Martin gave a chuckle. "As if! Besides, Henry would kill me." He looked up at Oscar with only a faint trace of apology on his face. "You''re back on the clock."


    Oscar stared back in disbelief. He''d expected this to be some sort of minor in-and-out consulting gig. He let forth his very bestI''ma Eat Your Liverglare, the one that had once made even the toughest suspect wilt into a puddle of terrified goo. "You lousy little bastard sonofabitch MOTHERFU-"


    Martin held up a finger. "Before we get into calling my parentage into question or accusations of incest, read that." The finger now pointed at the folder on the table.


    Oscar took in a very deep breath and then let it out again. "I''m not reading shit. I''mout, been out for damn near three decades. I''m running a fuckingbarnow, I''m beyond rusty."


    "Don''t care. You''re the only one I can trust with this." Martin spread his hands and assumed his best ''heartfelt'' gaze, which was very similar to a puppy giving its owner a silent plea for one more treat. "Please, Oscar. I wouldn''t have pulled you in if it wasn''t important. As you doubtless have guessed, this involves the xenos."


    The big man snorted. "Fine. Dunno how Henry puts up with your manipulative ass..." He regarded the plain folder, then snatched it up and opened it. There were only two sheets of paper within, the top in English and underneath a printout covered with the hieroglyphic text of xeno language. Oscar automatically scanned the top of each sheet and was surprised to see no hint of the expected markings on either.


    Oscar slapped the folder closed. There were no notes on its exterior either. He smirked at Martin. "What, did you guys forget how to mark classified material while I was gone?"


    Martin stared back as if he was in a conference room and not standing stark naked in an unfinished basement. "There isn''t a word for how secret this is. After you read that, you will be the tenth person on Earth to know its contents. And two of those ten are currently held in seclusion."


    "What is it?"


    "Read it first. It''s fragmentary, but...informative."


    Oscar shook his head. "Probably getting your panties in a wad over nothing..." He flipped the folder open again and read. Martin watched silently. After a bit, Oscar''s forehead wrinkled in confusion. He flipped to the second, original sheet as if the alien script would tell him anything more. "This is it?"


    "That''s all we got. It was a rare fuck-up on the xenos'' end, probably some sort of memory buffer issue. That message got squirted to the wrong location and then got pulled back almost immediately. But not before a junior tech was able to make a printout of some of it. He''s one of those we''re holding in seclusion."


    Oscar read through the message again, but it was just as confusing as before. "We''re sure of the translation?"


    "As sure as we can be. We didn''t use the normal xeno-supplied software, for obvious reasons. But we did find an expert who''s learned enough of the Dorarizin language on her own to hazard a guess."


    "I''m assuming she''s the other one you''re holding in seclusion."


    Martin nodded. "We''re supplying her with everything she could want with regards to reference materials and other comforts. She''s a bit of a recluse anyway, so it''s no great hardship on her part."


    Oscar scratched at an itch on his head. His dark hair was now a little more shaggy than the high-and-tight he''d once sported during his military career. "So if your expert is right, the gist of this is one of the Dorarizin was privately messaging another and calling in some major favors to get a human on her crew. From the context, it seems there''s a huge demand for us in general. But why?"


    "We do not know. You were my best investigator, so I need you to go and investigate."


    The big man snorted and tossed the folder back on the table. "Sure, I''ll just waltz up to the nearest xeno and start asking ''em questions. Where the fuck do I even start? Aliens are kinda thin on the ground."


    "This is a long-term assignment. I want you to apply for the xeno placement program."


    "Okaaaay...so what''s my cover ID?"


    "None. You apply as yourself."


    Oscar crossed his arms. "You gotta be fuckin'' kidding."


    "We estimate a 70% chance that the xenos hacked a big chunk of our military database during that whole mess with Atlanta and Sao Luis. We have to assume that they have your service record, fingerprints, DNA, the works."


    "Just because I''m willing to get naked in front ofyoudoesn''t mean I''m gonna drop trou in front of some damn alien and tell ''em who I really am."


    Martin smiled and shrugged as if Oscar was acting silly. "But you have plausible deniability. Like you said, for decades you''ve just been tending bar. You never got involved with any of the anti-xeno groups, and this visit just looks like a harmless bit of catching up with old friends. If they ask about what you used to do, be honest. If they ask about anything classified, just say ''no comment''."


    "And what do I say when they ask me why I''ve sold my bar to head into space?"


    "Because you''re not selling your bar, you''re burning it down."


    Upon the man''s silent and unamused stare, Martin continued unruffled. "You''ll make it look like an accident, of course. But you can spin it as a cruel twist of fate making you feel that you need to change your life for the better, yadda yadda. You''re a good bullshitter, you''ll make it work."


    Oscar rubbed his forehead. "And if I say no?"The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Martin''s smile faded. "How''s your half-brother doing? His parole going well?"


    The bigger man set his jaw. "You wouldn''t dare."


    "If you think so, then by all means refuse."


    "Martin, you''re asking me to upend my entire fuckin'' life off of a single message fragment that we can''t fully translate."


    "True, and maybe it''s nothing. Or maybe the xenos are up to something really nefarious. But even if they''re not, we still need to find out what the hell''s going on out there. You have no idea how much behind the eight ball we all are."


    Oscar held up a hand with its palm facing up. "You think I don''t know that? Shit, you and I were active duty when Atlanta happened. We had a fuckin'' front-row seat for that curb-stomping. I know humanity''s outclassed, in every goddamn way. But the xenos are friendly, or at least they act like it. There''s not much else we can do at this point other than hunker down and try not to piss ''em off too much."


    "It''s not that simple." Martin waved his hands around as if trying to gather the words. "Even with the few bits of their technology they''ve given us, we''re rapidly becoming a post-scarcity economy.But we have no idea what we''re doing.The politicians are putting on big fake smiles and acting like it''s all business as usual. But every single human institution ever, political or social, was formed to deal with an environment of scarcity. Things aren''t going to stay the same, they can''t. And when enough people figure that out, things are going to get truly weird and ugly. We''re having enough worries about depopulation as it is."


    "And me finding out about this will help with all of that? You need a team of eggheads to advise you, not some broken down ex-thug."


    Martin laughed. "My pert ass you''re broken down. Look, we need more leverage with the xenos. Right now we''re the cool new thing, so there''s a demand for our culture. Thanks to that message fragment, we now know there''s a demand for us too...Christ alone knows why. But that demand will only last so long before the xenos move onto the next cool new thing and then we''re left as some primitive backwater that nobody visits. We need as much of their tech as we can get our hands on, and more importantly we need their expertise. They''ve been pretty hands-off since Atlanta-"


    "By treaty," interrupted Oscar.


    "Yes, yes. But if humans do have an advantage insomearea over the xenos, we might be able to renegotiate the Icelandic Treaties and chisel more concessions out of ''em."


    Oscar closed his eyes and sighed. "Fine. But I''m not teaming with any damn turkeys."


    Martin laughed. "You really have been out of the loop, haven''t you? We''re still not letting any humans station with the Karnakians."


    That news made Oscar open his eyes and raise an eyebrow. "Oh?"


    "Of course ''oh''. There''s a lot of bad blood on our side, no matter how much the raptors apologize and try to make nice. I''m guessing that particular policy won''t change for at least a couple of generations."


    <hr>


    Oscar''s arson went off without a hitch. Nobody got hurt, and nobody suspected shenanigans. He donated the resulting insurance money to a local charity, as it helped assuage his conscience and also fit in with his ''turn over a new leaf'' cover story.


    The next month was an endless stream of interviews, plus a lot of physical and mental tests. Oscar did very well at the latter and aced the former. Thanks to modern xeno-influenced medicine his body was closer to thirty in biological age in spite of him being a little over sixty years old.


    He had to thread a particularly obnoxious bureaucratic needle; if he appeared too capable, then he might get himself declared too valuable a resource and be kept grounded. But if he erred too far in the other direction he''d have to do a lot of tedious remedial training in order to be declared as ''useful'' to the xenos.


    During the whole process, he also had to be completely honest about his background and service record. Asking about anything classified was met with a polite ''no comment'' or the ever-popular ''I can neither confirm nor deny that, ma''am and/or sir''.


    The final interview was the one he truly dreaded. That was the one where he''d have to meet a xeno for the first time. What''s worse, the xeno was a Karnakian. He''d done what reading he could on interacting with the raptors and had gotten not much out of it other than ''Don''t talk about religion''.


    For that interview he first had to fly to Quito. Thanks to its location near the equator, the once-sleepy Ecuadorian city was the ground terminal for one of the space elevators the xenos had installed as partial payback for Atlanta and Sao Luis.


    The elevator itself was a few klicks from the city center, which still the same white-and-red-roofed architecture from back when humans fancied themselves alone in the universe. The gigantic steel-gray needle of the elevator stretched to the zenith as Oscar''s car approached.


    As impressive as the elevator was, actually using it was surprisingly tedious. It took several hours for his car to reach Zephyr Stations''s geostationary orbit, and even then he wasn''t admitted into the station proper. Instead, he and his luggage were directed to a smaller vestibule that hung off the side of the station like a grape. If he flunked this interview, he''d be sent right back down the elevator with a pat on the ass and a hearty ''thanks for playing''.


    Oscar was eventually directed to a cheerful older woman who fitted him with the necessary comm bead and tested that the semi-permanent earpiece was working. After listening to various prerecorded alien statements that boiled down to ''Can you understand me? How about now?'', she pronounced him good to go.


    "Are you nervous, dear?" she asked at the end of the testing.


    He shrugged and decided not to lie. "I sure as hell am."


    She patted his shoulder. "Oh, you''ll be fine."


    Oscar put on his game face and walked off to have a nice little chat with a quarter-ton''s worth of sapient carnivore.


    <hr>


    Tk''Natz was having a simplysplendidday. This was partly because she was a Karnakian and therefore naturally cheerful, and partly because she had the enviable job of interviewing [Humans] on a daily basis. She tapped her claws on the [desk] in front of her; it was not an item of furniture that her kind bothered with, but it helped keep the [Humans] calm to see a familiar environment. At least, it helped keep them calm until it was time for them to benotcalm.


    Her [ten o''clock] appointment came through the door, and she trilled a greeting as the crest of feathers on top of her head rose in interest. This interviewee was a larger [Human] than usual, with a coloration midway between their extremes of pink and dark brown.


    "|Hello! Please have a seat, ''take a load off'', as you say!|"


    The man nodded and did so while her implant called up his information into her front two eyes'' field of view. Red keywords of interest flashed among the text.


    "[Hello, sir]," said the human. "[I''m Oscar Williams, pleased to meet you.]"


    "|I am Tk''Natz, and I am pleased as well. But the proper [Human] honorific for me is ma''am.|"


    The man gave a look of unease, and Tk''Natz had to tamp down the impulse to leap over the desk and hug him in reassurance. There would be a time for that soon enough. "|Don''t worry about it!|" she continued, "|You''ll pick up on the physical differences between our sexes in no time.|"


    "[Ah. So does that imply that I''ve [made the cut]?]" asked Oscar.


    She smiled in happiness, and her very toothy grin made Oscar press back a little into his seat. "|Almost! There is one final test. I am now required by law to inform you that your body''s responses are monitored for any abnormal fear or anger response.|"


    What happened next was Tk''Natz''s favorite part of every interview.


    In one fluid motion she stood and bounded over the desk to stand next to Oscar. The [Human] leaped to his feet in alarm at her sudden movement, and as her wing-arms reached out for him he threw a fist at her snout. He was actually quite fast for a human; most interviewees never even had time to get to their feet before she hugged them.


    She ducked her head smoothly to the side as his punch went sailing right on by; in the same moment her wing-arms completed their motion and gathered him into her keel-like chest.


    Tk''Natz''s feathers fluffed out and she gave a contented warble as the [Human] squirmed in her embrace. "|It''s all right, little one, this is only a test.|"


    The [Human] relaxed upon hearing her words. "[You should have warned me.]"


    "|That would spoil the test results!|" She released him and gave his chest a few instinctual nuzzles, then trotted back around behind the [desk] as the test results appeared in her implant. "|Now, let''s see how you performed...adrenaline spike, elevated heart rate, yes, yes, excellent. It appears you have a very standard [Human] fight or flight response. Although you definitely chose fight.]"


    She grinned at him again, but this time he didn''t flinch as he seated himself once more. "[Sorry about that, ma''am.]"


    Tk''Natz ducked her head in a brief bow. "|It is not a worry! Only to be expected given your military background.|"


    Oscar chuckled. "[To be fair, my later career involved investigating not fighting.]"


    "|Oh? You were in the [police]? My files only list you as a former member of your country''s military.|"


    "[Yeah, that''s right. Ya see, I was in the [US Army CID], and we had a specific jurisdiction. Does that last word translate?]" Upon her nod he continued. "[If a crime involved the [US Army] we handled it, or helped handle it.]"


    "|I understand! That is good to know. That information will be used to suggest positions for you that fit more closely with your skills. Although there is also some additional safety training required for everyone.|"


    "[That''s understandable. Going into space isn''t like heading for the beach.]" He cleared his throat. "[So, ah, did I pass?]"


    Tk''Natz tilted her head and regarded him with one eye. "|You did. But do you mind if I ask a question?|"


    "[Go right ahead.]"


    "|You were a member of the military when my people...arrived in [Atlanta]. It would be quite understandable if you held some resentment towards my species. In the unlikely event you ever had to deal with a Karnakian, would you be able to do so without prejudice?|"


    In response the human leaned forward in his [chair] and began to unlace the covering over one of his feet. Tk''Natz peered over the edge of the [desk] with a curious little warble and saw him pull off the covering as well as a tube-like garment.


    They both leaned back as Oscar raised his leg and plopped his bare foot on the [desk]. "[You see that?]" he asked.


    Tk''Natz wanted to reach forward and tickle the adorable little appendage with a couple of her claws, but instead she simply replied with a questioning, "|Yes?|"


    "[That''s not the foot I was born with. The original got removed by an [IED] in a little sandy [shithole] on the other side of my planet. Took my leg off below the knee. That was about [seven years] before you guys showed up.]"


    "|Oh, no! How ever did you manage?|" Her concern was genuine, but she was also secretly pleased. She''d wanted to see if he would offer up this fact on his own.


    Oscar laughed. "[Well, I had a prosthetic that worked okay. And I was in the [CID] at the time, so it wasn''t like had to go jump out of [airplanes] or anything.]"


    He took his foot off of her [desk] and shrugged. "[But about [twenty years] ago the rejuvenation tech you gave us became capable enough to regrow my foot, and it works just as good as the original. So yeah, I''m still [salty] about you invading us, even if it was an accident on your part. But I figure that since then you guys have done what you could to make amends. Anyway, the answer to your question is yes.]"


    <hr>


    Oscar hadn''t exactly lied during the interview, but he was still hoping that his placement would be somewhere far away from any raptors. That moment when Tk''Natz had damn near teleported across the room and reached for him...the memory still made him shudder a bit, even though her ''attack'' had ended in a fluffy-feathered hug rather than a disemboweling.


    He stepped out of the elevator car into Zephyr station proper with his duffel in one hand and his guitar case in the other. The guitar and spare strings ate heavily into his weight budget for personal items, but he was damned if he was going to head into the Great Unknown without either. The room was smaller than he expected, and the only person present was a thoroughly bored young man with stringy hair who sat slouched behind a glass desk.


    As he approached, the young man stirred and looked up before speaking in a fluid monotone. "WelcometoZephyrStationyerfirstgreatstepintoalargeruniverseidentifyplease."


    "Sorry?"


    The greeter rolled his eyes. "Identify, please." He gestured towards the glass-topped desk.


    Oscar placed his hand on the desk, and a green outline appeared around it. An equally green glowing ball appeared in front of his eyes.


    "Followtheindicatorpleasehaveagooddayandabrightfuture." The greeter leaned back and stared off into space again.


    The ball went puttering off down a nearby hallway, and Oscar followed with a final bemused glance back at the half-asleep greeter.


    It had been late evening when he''d left Quito, but the Zephyr stations operated on UTC and so here it was ''midnight'', or at least what passed for it in space. The halls were appropriately empty, with only a few random humans here and there. The halls were also larger than he expected. The reason for that was discovered soon enough, when Oscar rounded one corner and found himself facing a wall of muscle and fur coming the other way. He all but bounced off of the xeno, and the only reason he didn''t fall on his ass was that a huge paw clamped onto his shoulder with blinding speed.


    The furrythinglooming over Oscar emitted what could only be described as a ''clicking-growl'', then a string of snarls, growls, and clicks which resolved into discernible speech in his earpiece. "[Oh, I''m so sorry! Are you all right?]" The Dorarizin looked down at Oscar and smiled in what was probably supposed to be a calming fashion. From the lack of a mane, this was probably a female; the Dorarizin had more obvious sexual differences than the Karnakians.


    Oscar was a well-trained badass and tougher than six roofing nails held together, and that was the only reason he didn''t immediately turn tail and run screaming. "No problem there...ma''am, I''m Oscar."


    "[I''m Rgrezneh-of-Hrzgaren! You must be new here, I don''t recognize your scent.]"


    "Yeah, I just caught the car up from Quito..." He trailed off as she poked her huge nose into his scalp and gave a deep inhale. Oscar froze, but that was just because he wanted her to get a good long sniff. It wasn''t because of the paw that still held tight to his shoulder, or because of her three rows of fangs. Nope, it sure wasn''t because of any ofthat.


    "[Yep, you''re a new one. Welcome to [Zephyr], and good luck finding your assignment!]" The werewolf-like xeno gave his shoulder a friendly pat and loped around him and off down the hallway.


    <hr>


    Oscar slumped in a chair with his face pressed into the heel of his hand. With his free hand he kept paging (and paging, and paging) through the long list of xeno requests for human personnel. In spite of its length this was only his personal list, calibrated to better match his own expertise.


    The training thus far consisted of various demonstrations of how easy it was to die in space. The very first class had lots of gory pictures of the three other races after they''d been exposed to vacuum or crushed by deceptively slow but massive items moving in zero-g. It drove home the fact that while the xenos might be bigger and stronger than humans, they were most certainly just as mortal.


    He was sitting in the cafeteria after his most recent training session, which involved learning the various warning symbols used by the aliens to denote things like ''death pressure less than four bulkheads away'' and ''live steam'' and ''do not cut into this pipeyou fool, it contains liquid sodium''.


    From the looks of it, there hadn''t been a human death in space since the accidental First Contact with the Karnakians. And from the looks of it, if the other races had anything to say about it there never wouldbe any such human death to trouble them.


    "Why are so many of them asking for us?" he murmured through his half-smushed mouth to the universe in general.


    The universe chose to respond in the person of one of Zephyr Station''s permanent human staff, a chipper redhead named Jessica who sat at a nearby table. "We''re different, that''s all. These guys put a lot more value in the new than we do. Remember, they''re post-scarcity as far as most resources are concerned. But right now there''s only so many humans to go around."


    Oscar made a noncommittal grunt and kept looking. Her response was one he''d heard before, and he wasn''t sure how much he believed it. This endless list indicated an equally endless thirst, and in a galaxy full of wondrous things humans couldn''t be thatmuch in demand, right?


    The job titles flowed past his eyes. Navigator, greeter, another navigator, engineer, cultural liaison, a flowery title that more-or-less meant ''gofer'', heating engineer...


    He stopped at a title that grabbed his attention. "Detective?"


    Jessica looked up from her own datapad. "Really?"


    Oscar chuckled. "That''s what they call it. It''s gotta be a mistranslation..." He trailed off as he opened up the full job listing and read it with increasing puzzlement. "What kinda name is ''We Who Hunt Between The Spaces?''"


    "Sounds like Dorarizin," replied Jessica as she scooted her chair over and peered around his substantial shoulder. "They''re always going on about hunting and ''By The First Pack'' and whatnot. Hmm...yep, they''re Dorarizin. Looks like a small ship with just a single pack, which is unusual."


    After reading the listing thoroughly, Oscar was still fuzzy on what this ship actually did. But the position would involve lots of traveling to different locations, and this was the closest thing to his old job that he''d seen in days.


    He hesitated only a moment before he tapped on the ''Accept'' button.

 Chapter Two

    The Dorarizin ship Furious Claw Of Inquiry popped back into normalcy with only a casual wave towards the notion of proper Einsteinian spacetime. The ship looked like the [Human] weapon known as a punch-dagger; most of its body was an armored pyramidal wedge which was the ideal for drilling through the interstellar medium at high speeds. That wedge was followed by a boxy rear section that contained the ship''s engines and other vital bits. The Claw cruised serenely on towards the distant blue globe of Earth. Deep inside the ship''s hull there was yet another inspection underway on the hangar deck.


    Captain Rgrarshok-of-Ngraz stalked along an invisible line on the deck plating, noting with concealed pleasure how her crew''s foot-claws all just managed to touch that line without going over it. As the huge gray-furred Dorarizin continued her inspection, she reached out to adjust each pack member''s gear. And every member got an adjustment, even though her touching was really unnecessary. Even an Inquisitor would be hard pressed to see anything out of line.


    She did have to slow and stop once, however. It was in front of Bgrarh-of-Arhraz, of course. It was always in front of Bgrarh. He was the largest Dorarizin that she''d ever seen unless she counted looking into a mirror. His eyes almost came up to the level of her own purple gaze.


    "{Specialist Bgrarh,}" she started, then stopped. She gave him a complete scan starting at his feet. Everything was in order, his dark-red fur was neatly combed, his uniform was correct, the cylinder containing his emergency p-suit was set just right upon his hip, and his tail was properly groomed. But on top of his head was...


    Rgrarshok unsheathed a claw and pointed it at the offending garment. "{What is that?}"


    "{Cultural item, ma''am!}" replied Bgrarh. His deep-blue eyes gleamed with happiness. "{I''m allowed one as per both Senate and Imperial regulations.}"


    "{It is a hat on top of your head, which need I remind you is covered in fur and does not therefore require a hat.}"


    Bgrarh didn''t hesitate in the slightest as he responded. "{It''s a valued cultural item of our newest denmate, and thus I am wearing it to give him a sense of normalcy when he comes on board.}"


    She made a slashing gesture of finality. "{Hat. Off. Now.}"


    He snatched the hat off with the blurring speed typical of Dorarizin and stowed it with equal efficiency.


    Rgrarshok finished her inspection and then placed herself in front of the line of her pack members. She clasped her paws behind her back and gave them a final long and sweeping glare. "{[Three years], people. [Three years] of hard work by all of us to reach this moment. It took me an entire [year] of finagling just to get the Senate bureaucracy to allow our crew into the [Human] placement program. Then another [two years] of training on simulacra and refitting the entire ship to accommodate a [Human]. That''s not to mention the surprise inspections by the Inquisition just to make sure we''re not slacking off while waiting for some [Human] to accept our request. And now, by some miracle, one has done so and he is actually qualified for the position. So believe me when I say that if anyone screws this up...}"


    Here the Captain glared in particular at Bgrarh. "{...in that unlikely event, I will quite simply skin the offender and display their worthless pelt as a warning unto the next ten generations.}"


    <hr>


    Oscar stood next to the two cases that contained of all his worldly possessions and waited for his new crewmate to appear. He had to admit he was more nervous than he''d been before the interview with the Karnakian. That had been a one-and-done thing. But now he was going to face an alien that he''d be living with for the foreseeable future.


    The door in front of him slid open to reveal a Dorarizin, one with dark green fur and amber eyes that sized him up with one curious glance. He wore a tight-fitting gray uniform with a curlicue insignia on the shoulder that Oscar didn''t recognize.


    "Hi, I''m Oscar. Pleased to meet ya."


    "[And I''m Ngralh-of-Arzgar.]" The big alien made a quick gesture that looked something like a bow; the movement was almost too fast for Oscar to track. "[I''m also pleased to make your acquaintance, my new denmate.]" Ngralh''s nose darted forward and nudged at Oscar''s chest. "[Wow, that''s amazing.]"


    "Sorry?"


    "[Your scent, it really is just like an abandoned newborn. I''ll for sure need to scent you before you go on board, because I really don''t wanna wrestle the Captain if she catches wind of you smellin'' like that.]"


    Oscar had read up more on the Dorarizin after he''d accepted the position and he knew that this was not something he could opt out of. The Dorarizin females on board Zephyr Station were used to ''normal'' human scent, to the point where they''d gone effectively nose-blind to the smell. But the alien women on board his chosen ship were most certainly not used to a ''normal'' human''s smell and would act instinctively. And since Oscar was small and relatively fragile their instinctive grab-to-protect might become inadvertently lethal.


    He smiled, careful to keep his teeth obscured. "Yeah, I wouldn''t want to have to cause any problems my first day, Ngr...Ngralh-of Arz..." Oscar fumbled with the alien''s name since he didn''t have the two rows of upper teeth required to make the proper clicks.


    Ngralh gave a rumbling chuckle. "[Don''t worry about it. Just get close to my name, the translator is smart enough to take it from there.]"


    "Okay...Nate. Did that work?"


    The Dorarizin gave his ear-twitch equivalent of a nod and stepped into the corridor, then spread his huge arms. Oscar gave a silent sigh and moved into the requested hug. Those massive arms closed around him and brought him tight against the alien''s furry chest.


    All things equal, Oscar supposed it could have been a lot worse. At least the male Dorarizin had scent glands on their chest, which made the whole ''scenting'' rigmarole feel like just a case of bros helping bros instead of something else.


    Not that Oscar had anything against that something else, of course. It took all kinds to make a galaxy. He rubbed his cheek into the fur against his skin and wondered how long it would take for him to smell like a ''proper'' Dorarizin and not like a helpless pup.


    "Hey, Nate?"


    "[Yes?]"


    "What exactly does your crew do? The job listing was a little vague."


    Ngralh let forth another laugh which vibrated through Oscar. "[That is to be expected. Our mandate is a little unusual. Shall we go to the closest observation lounge while I explain?]"


    Oscar mentally scanned through the nearest rooms. "Yeah, let''s go for Viewing Rotunda 1A. I think it''s down that way..."


    <hr>


    The Earth was a blue globe speckled with white clouds while the gray length of the Quito space elevator stretched towards it like an accusatory finger.


    "[That''s your planet?]" asked Ngralh. He sat cross-legged on the floor of the rotunda''s lounge, while Oscar in turn sat upon the alien''s lap and accepted the Dorarizin''s continued scenting-hug with equanimity.


    "That''s my planet," replied Oscar. It was a view he couldn''t get enough of, and he''d been here every day since arriving in Zephyr. It made most worries seem like small potatoes, and it also reminded Oscar of the fragility of his species'' place in the universe. Especially when one compared humanity to the other three sapient races. After all, most every human now living was still down there. The rest were scattered to the four winds, and nowhere was there enough of a human population concentration to get a single decent village started let alone a proper colony. There was talk of setting up something on the Moon and Mars, but thus far it was nothing but talk.


    "[It''s beautiful,]" said Ngralh. "[I wish I could set foot upon it and visit where you lived. Alas, I can''t thanks to those [?error, probable expletive?] [Karnakians].]"


    Oscar chuckled. "I don''t think you''ll get much argument about that last sentiment, at least in the human section of Zephyr."


    Ngralh sighed. "[I imagine so. So where were you living before coming here? Is it visible from this location?]"


    Oscar pointed. "You see where the elevator points towards that big continent?"


    Ngralh''s head nodded in the human manner, making his furry chin rub along the top of Oscar''s scalp.


    "Okay, so that''s the city of Quito. Now look at the ocean above that, and you''ll see a big island. That''s Cuba. Above that is a big peninsula, which is Florida. I was on the west side of Florida."


    "[Ah, I see. And is that where you were lived during your time of service?]"


    "Nope, I was stationed in Washington D.C. when I was in the Army CID. That city is further up from Florida...crap, it''s hard to make out from this far out." He waved a finger in its general direction. "Somewhere up there."


    "[And before that you were an active military member, correct?]"


    "3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. I shifted into CID after I lost my foot and was discharged from the military. And before you ask, yeah I had a bunch of friends from 3rd Battalion who...well, Fort Benning is just south of Atlanta. They were some of the first responders."


    The alien''s arms tightened fractionally around him. "[I am very sorry.]"


    They moved on to more pleasant topics, namely what the hell Ngralh''s crew did for a living.


    It boiled down to an intersection of politics and jurisdiction, two concepts that translated well across all four species. Within the Dorarizin Empire, for example, there was usually no doubt about who was in charge of investigating and prosecuting a particular crime. It was left to each planet or colony to set their own ground rules, and then for cases involving true treason or massive sector-wide felonies there was always the Inquisition to come steamrolling in to take care of matters.


    But where Dorarizin regions met up with the regions claimed by the other species, there were sometimes crimes for which the jurisdiction was more muddled. "[And in that case we step in,]" said Ngralh, "[Both to investigate the crime itself as well as determine who will actually be allowed to prosecute the criminals.]"


    "Got it. I''m kinda surprised that I could get a position on your ship; it sounds a little too close to something military."


    "[Our mandate comes from the Senate. For diplomatic reasons we are not part of any military, but as you say it is a close thing. The captain had to comb a lot of tails to get a human on board.]"


    Oscar gave a mental fist-pump. This job sounded like a perfect cover for his true mission. Aloud, he said, "I''ll do my best to show your captain she made the right decision. What''s my role?"


    "[Officially your title is ''Trainee Junior Investigator''. For now, you''ll just observe us during our next assignment and also get trained on emergency protocols in case we have a problem on board the ship.]" Ngralh leaned down and sniffed at the back of Oscar''s neck. "[Much better! That should be enough scenting for now. Shall we be going?]"


    Oscar looked once more at the planet he''d spent his whole life on, and wondered if he''d ever see it again. "Yeah, I guess we should." The human wriggled out of Ngralh''s lap and picked up his gear. As the Dorarizin also got to his feet the xeno tilted his head at something only he could hear, then held his paw next to his ear.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    "[Bgrarh, calm down and don''t bark. Yes, I''ve collected him. Yes, I''ve scented him. No, don''t do that, we''ll be on board in just a few minutes...Bgrarh, you can come on board the station but don''t run through the [Human] section!...]"


    He stopped speaking and shook his head. "[Well, looks like you''ll get to meet one of your new denmates right now.]"


    Oscar followed Ngralh out of the rotunda and they headed for the Dorarizin section. He noted how the xeno''s ears kept flicking back in his direction as Ngralh made sure the human was right behind him. The wall colors began to change to bright red, warning any possible humans in the hallway that they were leaving the relatively ''safe'' human sector.


    "[So what''s in your larger case?]" asked Ngralh. "[It has an interesting shape.]"


    "It''s a human instrument called a guitar. I''m strictly amateur, though."


    They turned a corner and saw a huge shaggy dark-red lump squirming on the ground. The red Dorarizin was trussed up in silvery ribbon-like cables as if he was a Sunday roast. Oscar figured that the source of those cables was the spherical security drone which now blinked a few lights as it hovered over the downed xeno.


    Ngralh sighed. "[He was running after all.]" He walked forward, and as he reached the drone it bobbed a little and warbled.


    "[Greetings,]" said the drone. "[The entity was approaching the [Human] section at a high rate of speed, moving much too fast for [Human] safety. This unit has deployed appropriate non-lethal countermeasures.]"


    One of the ribbon-cables wrapped tight around the downed Dorarizin''s snout and prevented him from talking properly. That didn''t stop him from trying, however, as he continued to struggle. "[Mmmm! Mm mmmh hnmmnnmh!]"


    Ngralh shook his head. "[I told you not to run.]" He stood up straighter and formally addressed the drone. "[Ngralh-of-Arzgar, First Officer, ship ident ''Furious Claw of Inquiry''. This is my denmate Bgrarh-of-Arhraz, and I will take custody of him now.]"


    A soft ping came from the drone. "[Identity is confirmed. Thank you, and enjoy your stay at [Zephyr] Station.]"


    The drone cruised off with a slight whirr, and Oscar knelt to examine the flat bonds wrapped around Bgrarh. They were seamless, with no apparent lock or mechanism to show how they came apart. "How do we get these off of him?"


    Bgrarh stopped struggling upon hearing Oscar, and his head snapped around as his bright blue eyes stared hard into Oscar''s own hazel. The human froze and wondered if he''d somehow given offense. But after a long moment of back-and-forth staring, Bgrarh''s bushy tail started wagging furiously.


    "[Mmmm! Mhnmn mm NUNMMM!]"


    "[Yes, Bgrarh, that''s [Oscar], our new [Human] denmate. Now, do you remember your training?]"


    Bgrarh''s tail slowed. "[...Mmmm hmmm?]"


    "[Well clearly you don''t, or you wouldn''t have been running so fast this close to the [Human] section. You know they''re slower, and they might not be able to dodge out of the way in time.]"


    "It''s okay, Nate, it''s no big deal," said Oscar. He did not want to be the proximate cause of a major security incident before he even got on board. "Let''s get him loose."


    "[Not here,]" replied Ngralh. "[I want him back on board before he breaks something or someone. Don''t worry, he''s a good kid. Just a little too excitable.]"


    Ngralh reached down and grabbed a cable around Bgrarh''s chest, then began dragging his larger comrade along like a sack of potatoes while Oscar trailed after them both.


    <hr>


    They got on board the Furious Claw without further issues, and while the other members of the crew gave Oscar the Dorarizin equivalent of handshakes (i.e. full-body hugs and lots of sniffing) Ngralh rubbed a little nano-magic goop onto Bgrarh''s bonds. The ribbon-cables crumbled and released the Dorarizin, who promptly bounded to his feet with a happy bark.


    "[Thanks! Hi [Oscar], I''m Bgrarh-of-Ahrhraz! Where''s your hat?]"


    Oscar had time to get out one puzzled "Eh?" before he was swept up in Bgrarh''s incoming hug. It was every bit as enthusiastic as one would expect, but fortunately Bgrarh showed appropriate restraint. The human didn''t even feel the slightest twinge in his ribs even though his feet dangled well off of the deck.


    A bark-click filled the hangar, which in Oscar''s bead resolved into a very stern "[AttenTION!]"


    Bgrarh quickly set Oscar down and spun to salute the newcomer. After a bit of hesitation Oscar copied Bgrarh''s salute. The rest of the crew did the same as the largest Dorarizin he''d seen to date strode into the hangar.


    Her purple eyes flicked over them all, stopping at the human. "[At ease.]"


    Oscar dropped his salute and looked up (and up) at who could only be the Captain as she walked up to him. "Hello, ma''am."


    "[Greetings, [Oscar]. I am Captain Rgrarshok.]" She extended a huge paw, and Oscar replied by extending his own and and giving her a human-style handshake. His hand vanished into her mitt, and he knew that if she squeezed too hard she could powderize every bone in his hand. He thought about trying to come up with a reasonable approximation of her name, and then realized just as quickly that she should only be referred to as ''Captain'' now and forevermore.


    "[We''ll be breaking orbit shortly,]" continued the captain as she dropped his hand. "[In the meantime, Ngralh will show you to the room we''ve set aside for your private time.]"


    Oscar smiled but groaned internally. Ah yes, that room. It wasn''t exactly his ''quarters'', since he wouldn''t be using it for sleeping. As to be expected of wolf-like aliens with no concept of personal space, the Dorarizin slept together in a few big piles. Those piles would now include Oscar, which should help keep him properly scented.


    His room was just a place to stow his stuff and also for the Galactic Union mandated ''alone time'' where he would be required to spend at least 4 hours a day immersed in human media. It seemed like a huge waste of time that he could better spend elsewhere. Not to mention there was one part of the media now sitting in his personal terminal that Oscar really wanted to chuck overboard. Namely, the meme-edited Dorarizin media.


    The Office of Interstellar Harmony had impressed upon Oscar that taking the memed-up stuff was not a matter for debate, that it was required for his sanity. They also impressed on him the need to keep it utterly secret from his furred crewmates. The memes weren''t exactly insulting to the Dorarizin, but humor was not something that translated well even between human cultures. He''d been threatened with a court martial and all sorts of horrible retribution if he breathed a word about it to any xeno.


    Oscar''s previous occupation had on occasion involved handling secrets so nasty that if someone broached them the unfortunate fool would simply disappear. So he''d smiled and nodded at the OIH representative while the paltry threats flowed in one ear and out the other.


    "[Can I take him to his room instead?]" asked Bgrarh, who was nearly vibrating with a palapble desire to please. "[Please oh please can I?]"


    Rgrarshok folded her arms and stared at him. "[I don''t want you endlessly bothering him, Specialist.]"


    "[I won''t, I promise! I''ll just show him to his room.]"


    She sighed. "[All right. But I want your lab ready for our next assignment. We got a few good bits of intel out of our last mission, and we might have found a major hub of Green smuggling.]"


    The crew made a bunch of grumbling, clicking noises that indicated general disgust.


    "What''s Green?" asked Oscar.


    "[You''ll get a full briefing once we''re underway. If I''m honest, I''d like to get a [Human] perspective on it. Dismissed, people. And Bgrarh? I mean it. In [two hours] I''ll be in your lab and it had better be scentless.]"


    <hr>


    The six remaining crew all stared after the small creature as he headed off with a very happy Bgrarh looming right by his side. They waited for an appropriate time until [Oscar] was well out of earshot before they all looked at each other with wagging tails. Even the captain''s tail swished slightly. The ship''s engineer, a smaller blue-white female named Egwreh-of-Grhraf, let out the faintest "{Awwww!}"


    "{None of that!}" said the captain with a follow-up warning click of her jaws. "{He''s an adult sapient worthy of respect, I don''t care how cute he acts or smells.}"


    "{The effect is really amazing, though,}" said Ngralh. "{I mean, seeing them in pictures is one thing, but in person? It was all could do to not just hug him the moment I saw him.}"


    "{Your restraint is appreciated, XO,}" said the captain dryly. "{I''m relying on you to ensure he''s kept properly scented. In the meantime it''s business as usual. We''ve arranged everyone''s schedule so that you all get to spend time with the [Human]. Just don''t fuss over him too much and I''d better not catch anyone treating him like a pup. Think of him as just another trainee past their final claw-molt.}"


    <hr>


    "[So why aren''t you wearing your hat?]"


    "Er, my hat?" Oscar had to trot at a brisk pace to keep up with Bgrarh''s long strides.


    "[Your inspector hat! It''s a [Human] custom, right?]"


    "A custom...hat?" He hefted his duffel onto his non-guitar-laden shoulder and wondered how in hell he was going to get around the ship in any reasonable time, seeing as how this place was laid out with giant aliens in mind.


    "[Oh, you''re testing me, right? Don''t worry, I''ve read all the stories and seen all the movies about your people''s investigation methods. I know about the hat.]"


    "Okay, hang on a bit." They slowed to a stop and Oscar looked up at Bgrarh with a raised eyebrow. "Start from the beginning, Benny. What''s this hat you''re talking about?"


    "[The hat of your greatest detective! I had our clothing nanofabricator make one for me too, so we can be proper detectives together!" Bgrarh reached into a pouch at his side and pulled out a large oblong shape made from plaid cloth, which the alien then placed on his head while he kept speaking.


    "[I couldn''t do the smoking pipe, of course, what with our enclosed atmosphere. And the cloak didn''t turn out very well. But the hat came out great!]" He dropped his paws and gave Oscar a proud grin while the human stared up in disbelief.


    The xeno''s triangular ears now stuck up on either side of a Dorarizin-sized deerstalker hat, making him look like Sherlock Holmes suffering from a serious case of werewolf.


    Bgrarh pointed a claw at it. "[See? Like I said, I''ve got my own hat!]"


    "Um..."


    "[Now do the thing on me!]"


    For one horrifying moment Oscar wondered if this was the Bgrarh way of making a pass. "The...thing, Benny?"


    "[The analysis thing!]"


    Oscar relaxed when he realized what Bgrarh meant. He wondered if he should try to explain how a Holmes-style scan was something that only happened in fiction. But the earnest gleam in Bgrarh''s eyes could not be denied, so in the spirit of crew harmony he stepped back and made a great show of looking the huge alien up and down while he tried to come up with a plausible line of bullshit. The trick would be to take the few facts he knew about Dorarizin and wrap them into a more complicated-sounding package.


    He dropped his duffel bag and summoned his inner Basil Rathbone while he stroked his chin. "Hmmm, yes. I might be a little off, seeing as how you''re not the...type of person that I''m used to. But let''s try anyway, shall we?"


    Bgrarh nodded and grinned while Oscar again examined him. "You''re originally from a desert climate. You played in one of the professional Hunt teams but had to give that up after a serious injury. You''re okay with that, though, because you love your current position."


    The big xeno clasped his paws together and all but squeed. "[That''s right! Now do the explanation thing!]"


    Oscar waved at Bgrarh''s massive torso. "The desert climate was easy to determine, that''s indicated by your fur color. You have a notch in each ear in symmetrical positions, which means they''re not accidental. Players in Hunt teams tend to mark themselves like that, especially when they make the senior leagues. And given your size you''d be a natural for the sport, but instead you''re on this ship doing what sounds like a technical position. That means either you wanted a significant change in career or because of some other reason. I also noticed that you move with a slight but noticeable limp, which given your rejuvenation tech must have come from a very serious injury. That explains the change in career. The last part is more of a guess, but this is an elite crew and the Captain doesn''t strike me as the type to allow anyone into it unless they''re committed. So how did I do?"


    Bgrarh responded with a lunge and another hug, nearly crushing Oscar''s guitar case in the process. The human sighed and realized he was going to have to put up with a lot of this treatment for the foreseeable future.


    <hr>


    Oscar sat in the cafeteria as he chatted with the ship''s doctor, one Kgrashak-of-Rgreth AKA ''Kate''. It was a pleasant conversation in spite of Oscar needing a booster seat to be at the proper table-height.


    He looked up in mild surprise as Ngralh set a tray in front of him. Thankfully it was sized for humans and not Dorarizin, and even included a set of silverware. As to be expected, the meal was mostly meat. A huge steak occupied most of the tray, with a few browned potatoes and some green beans along the side. It was all synthesized, of course, but he had to admit it smelled great.


    "Oh, ah, thank you!" he said to the XO. "But you didn''t need to do that." Oscar looked around the circular table and realized that the rest of the crew was here, all looking at him. He gave them all a general nod. "Um, are you guys eating too?"


    Ngralh gave another of those ducking-bows. "[It is tradition that a new pack member gets the first meal off of the next kill. Obviously there''s noting to actually ''kill'' around here, so we have to make do with some synthesized grilled glrnada. Kgrashak checked, and it''s safe for [Humans] to eat. I had the synthesizer add a few [Human] side-dishes as well.]"


    Oscar gave his own little bow. "Thanks, I''m looking forward to trying it." The ''glrnada'' sliced easily enough and was surprisingly tender. It reminded him a little of beef, but with a spicy and gamey tang that wasn''t bad at all.


    The other crew didn''t make a move to get their own meals, and instead watched him eat as if it was the most amazing thing ever. Oscar got a few bites into the steak and started to feel self-conscious, as if he was putting on a show. He decided to make light of it and waved his utensils. "This is as interesting as it gets, folks," he said, and followed with a self-deprecating chuckle.


    The Captain stirred. "[Ah, yes, I shall get the rest of the meal.]" She walked off, and the crew fell to chatting with each other. Bgrarh excitedly told the others, with many gestures, about how Oscar had done the ''analysis thing'' on him.


    The subject of discussion leaned over to Kgrashak. "He does know that''s all fiction, right Kate? I mean, I know the Dorarizin have fiction of their own."


    The doctor smiled. "[Of course he does. Don''t worry. Bgrarh is quite brilliant, he''s just excited. He''ll calm down once we''re underway and settled into a routine.]"


    The Captain returned and plonked onto the table a huge platter filled with enough cooked meat for half a steer. Every Dorarizin reached forward and grabbed whatever piece was nearest to them. Kgrashak selected a big leg joint and casually bit a chunk out of it the size of a porterhouse steak. She didn''t bother with chewing, and instead just swallowed the bite and opened wide to take another.


    Oscar suppressed a shudder at seeing Kgrashak''s fanged mouth. He''d just been in the middle of a pleasant conversation about their respective hobbies, but now he was reminded once more that she was most certainly a predator.


    The others around the table tore into their own portions while Oscar glanced at one wall of the cafeteria. It showed a view of the rapidly-receding Earth, which made him wonder yet again if he was really ready for this. He was decades out of practice in doing anything sneaky, and if these people discovered he was an undercover agent they might just up and make him next on the menu.

 Chapter Three

    One might expect the bridge of the Furious Claw Of Inquiry to be on top of its hull, complete with a huge window to look out upon the glorious star-laden expanse of space. This is why one doesn''t let Hollywood design starships. Such a location invites destruction of the nerve center of the ship by either A) a chunk of debris moving at a good fraction of lightspeed, or B) the business end of a weapons-grade maser wielded by your friendly local space pirate.


    Just as it should be, the bridge of the Furious Claw was deep within the armored hull of the ship. But the view against the semicircular wall in front of Oscar was still amazing, even if it was a projection instead of a direct view of the outside.


    Near the front of that wall was one of the motorbike-shaped couches that constituted a Dorarizin workstation. Pilot-Navigator Grawfren-of-Delzreg, AKA ''Gertie'', sat at that workstation as she steered the ship from normality into the blatant disregard for common sense known as warp travel.


    Oscar sat in a chair that the Dorarizin claimed was sized for an average human, but he privately called bullshit on that. He was bigger than the average human and the chair still felt a little too roomy. Plus it wasn''t a real workstation since it had no controls. All the chair had was a small panel at his right hand with indicators that would tell him in which way he would die if something failed catastrophically. He suspected the true reason for the chair was so that the crew could keep an eye on ''their'' human while the ship was maneuvering into and out of warp.


    But on the other hand he now had a uniform like the others, complete with an emergency p-suit tucked into a small cylinder at his hip. Donning and doffing the latter was the initial bit of safety training he''d gone through after the first meal. It wasn''t hard; the instructions consisted mostly of ''slap this wad of nanofabric onto yourself and let it wrap around you''.


    "Nice view," he said to nobody in particular. It was indeed pretty; the stars twinkled like diamonds on black velvet with only a slight shimmer to betray that they were in warp.


    "[It''s a computer recreation,]" replied Captain Rgrarshok. "[If you looked out a real window while in warp, you wouldn''t see [?error, possible expletive relating to excrement?].]" The captain and first officer sat hunched to one side of him on their own workstations. She reached into a side pocket of her uniform and pulled out a small transparent vial before handing it to Oscar.


    "[This is the ''Green'' I mentioned earlier.]"


    Oscar accepted the vial and tilted it up towards the overhead lights. Within it lay a few pinches of a green crystalline powder that looked like fine salt. "It''s a drug?"


    "[Technically not,]" replied the captain. "[At least, it''s not manufactured as one. That''s why my team is assigned to these cases. This powder is more properly called ''feather-dust''. The [Karnakians] use different types of feather-dust to clean and re-scent their feathers. Most of them are not a problem, except for this particular kind. You see, Green is just as harmless to them as the others, but...]"


    "But not harmless to Dorarizin."


    "[Hah! You scent the trail with admirable speed. Yes, this particular type of feather-dust has a very bad effect on us; it''s similar to the [Human] reaction to the substance known as [methamphetamine]. It''s utterly forbidden in the core worlds, and even possessing a little leads to significant punishment. The amount in that vial would be enough to have your claws permanently removed.]"


    One thing Oscar was still getting used to was the way the xenos were pretty chill in most respects...until one ran into something like this, where they suddenly adopted a zero-tolerance policy worthy of the harshest police state. But he supposed such draconian measures made sense. An FTL starship of any size was a horrifyingly destructive weapon, so one couldn''t have its crew off of their tits on space-meth.


    He also understood why the Furious Claw and its go-anywhere mandate was involved in tracking Green. He decided to speak aloud his conclusions. "But it''s easy to enforce such laws in your core worlds where there''s nobody but Dorarizin around. On the border worlds next to Karnakian space, or on some planet where you and the raptors interact constantly, it would be a lot harder to control possession. After all, it''s perfectly innocent for your average Karnakian to have a nice big jar of Green."


    Oscar didn''t miss the little glance that passed between the two Dorarizin. He wondered if this briefing was more of a test. The captain gave her equivalent of a nod.


    "[Again, you claw directly at it. We are heading for a border world called [Pak''tahl]. We have reliable intelligence that a major supplier of Green is using it as their base of operations and we intend to dig them out of their burrow. With enough evidence we should be able to turn the Dorarizin involved over to the Inquisition.]"


    "Hmm. And what''ll be my role in this?"


    "[Officially you are still a Trainee, which means you will simply accompany us during the investigation and observe."


    He sensed there was an unsaid part of that sentence. "And unofficially?"


    The captain''s ear slowly tilted forward in the Dorarizin equivalent of a raised eyebrow.


    "[Unofficially? We are a small crew, so all are expected to contribute to the hunt. I know you''ve had a lot more experience than the typical trainee, so feel free to speak up if you have any observations."


    Oscar leaned back in his chair and then to one side as he tried to imitate James T. Kirk''s seated swagger. He was in space, after all. "Well, I did have to work this one case where a couple of corporals got cute and tried to set up a drug smuggling operation in their barracks. I guess I won''t be completely useless. How long for us to get to Pak''tahl?"


    "[About [three weeks]. Plenty of time for you to get up to speed on your required training.]"


    <hr>


    Oscar did what felt like the millionth squat as his legs started to give the jelly-wobble that indicated oncoming muscle failure. He just managed to get the bar up into its rack with a clank and figured that he''d pushed himself enough. Any more and he''d need a spotter.


    Working out was a good way to keep his mind occupied, but his very best efforts seemed like literal child''s play given what was going on in the gym beyond the little setup they''d provided him. Right now, every bit of Dorarizin exercise equipment was folded away to leave a smooth, mat-like expanse of floor.


    Oscar grabbed his towel and wiped his forehead while he watched the ongoing bout. Specialist Myyreh-of-Relgreh, AKA "Myra", prowled around First Officer Ngralh. The pair circled each other like two giant wrestlers looking for the right opportunity to clinch.


    When he''d first asked the dark-brown Dorarizin what her specialty was, Myyreh had blinked her deep blue eyes at him. Then she''d smiled and held up a paw while extending her claws with a meaningful waggle.


    Myyreh was the ship''s CQC expert, which was really saying something when talking about a race of three-meter-tall murdermachines. She and Ngralh were in the middle of what they called a ''friendly little sparring session'', but to Oscar it looked more like an all-out canine war.


    The two combatants sprang at each other again and then broke apart; Ngralh now favored his right knee. The attack and riposte had been so fast that it took Oscar a few moments to work out what had happened. The XO had gone for a high tackle that Myyreh had intercepted with a low kick to the knee.


    Oscar settled his towel over his shoulders as Myyreh shot in for a grapple. Ngralh tried to copy her intercepting kick, but his foot got batted aside and after one confused whirl of limbs the XO found himself pressed stomach-first into the mat with Myyreh twisting his arm awkwardly behind him. He slapped the mat once with his free paw and she immediately released him. He bounded back to his feet with the typical Dorarizin blurring speed, but now no longer crouched.


    "[Good bout,]" he said. The pair hugged, and then Myyreh looked over at Oscar with a predatory look that he didn''t like in the slightest.


    "[Hey, Trainee [Oscar], come on out here.]"


    Oscar looked in vain behind him as if hoping to see some other human. He turned back to Myyreh and saw that Ngralh now squatted at the edge of the mat with a calculating grin on his face.


    The human crossed his arms as he regarded Myrreh''s huge form. She was more rangy in build than the average Dorarizin but her muscles were defined enough to easily show through her fur. "Specialist Myra, you cannot be serious."


    "[I''m not asking to spar. I just want to get a sense of how well you dodge and move. The captain assigned me to watch your tail, after all.]" She beckoned with one paw. "[Just a little testing, I promise I''ll be gentle.]"


    He sighed and tossed his towel aside as he moved onto the mat. He tried to make it a confident stride but Oscar was smart enough to know when he was way out of his weight class. "If I''m honest, I don''t see the point of this."


    "[Are you afraid, Trainee?]"


    Oscar shrugged his shoulders and got into a ready stance. "No, but as the human philosopher Harry Callahan once said, ''A man''s got to know his limitations.''"


    Myyreh flicked her ears in the Dorarizin equivalent of a nod. "[That is a very wise saying. But I need to see how much I need to keep my nose pointed in your direction when we''re dirtside. I''m just going to try to grab you, and you try to avoid me. You can hit me if you want to.]"


    As soon as Oscar nodded one of her huge paws made a clutching motion at his head. He slipped the attack and shuffled right, keeping his fists up and chin tucked in. Myyreh made a few more swipes at him which he also avoided. He knew she was keeping her attacks deliberately slow for the moment.


    She grinned. "[Okay Trainee, you''re not completely helpless.]" Her eyes shifted to take in his stance. "[Is that a [Human] fighting style?]"


    He nodded. "It''s from a human country called Thailand-" Oscar slipped to the left as she made another, faster grab for him while he spoke. He briefly thought about trying a little jiujutsu on her, but that would be like trying to grapple with a bulldozer. No, he had to keep moving.


    "Float like a butterfly," he muttered, as Myyreh''s attacks became faster and more numerous. There would, however, be no stinging as like unto the proverbial bee. Not if he wanted to keep out of her clutches.


    "[Come on! You''re just dodging! Let me truly scent your ability!]" She made a leap forward, one that Oscar had to roll to the side to avoid. "[You can''t run all the time!]"


    Oscar made another roll as her paw slammed down into the space he''d just occupied. He rolled again around the crouching xeno and regained his footing. As Myyreh snapped her huge head around Oscar saw an opening and kicked...


    Decades of training and conditioning had made his shins hard enough to smash through a baseball bat with ease. But as he connected with Myyreh''s unguarded shoulder it didn''t feel like a bat, it felt more like he''d tried to kick a steel girder.


    Myyreh rolled to one side from the force of his kick, then sat back on her haunches like a gorilla getting ready to charge. She no longer smiled as she rubbed absently at her kicked shoulder.


    Oscar hobbled back a bit and tried to ignore the pain in his shin. "Shit, sorry Myra. You okay?"


    Her grin came back. "[Not bad, [Human]. I actually felt that. Good bout!]" She spread her arms in a silent invitation for a hug.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    <hr>


    The Ballad of Drezneh is one of the Dorarizin''s most epic stories, on a par with human tales such as Journey To The West or the Mahabharata. The tale is of a brave ship''s captain who leads her crew on a long trek to safety after their ship crash-lands on a remote and hostile planet. It was supposedly based on historical fact, although Oscar was pretty sure the movie they were now watching took some liberties with the truth. He found it unlikely that the real Drezneh kept getting into fist-fights with giant crabs.


    "And the gal playing Captain Drezneh is...Zranf?" he asked. On the recreational lounge''s main screen yet another giant crab made a clawing swipe at the redoubtable captain, who responded with a roar and a leap.


    "[Yeah,]" replied Bgrarh, "[She''s one of our best actors. This is a pretty good version, too. A lot better than that opera from a few [decades] ago.]"


    The rest of the crew shuddered, even Captain Rgrarshok. That meant that Oscar shuddered as well, since he was sitting in the Captain''s lap while she combed his hair with extended claws. He was surprised that the normally-aloof Rgrarshok had made the offer...well, it was not so much an ''offer'', more a command of ''sit in my lap and let me groom you''. He had to admit the slight scratching and massage of his scalp felt nice.


    He glanced around the lounge and saw that the Dorarizin were arranged in little groups going through similar grooming rituals, although he also noted that their grooming was mutual. The human pondered the social consequences of offering to groom Rgrarshok and figured he should at least ask.


    Oscar cleared his throat. "So, ah, did you want me to groom you as well? Sorry if that''s rude, I''m still getting a handle on what''s considered proper."


    Her claws gave his head one final gentle scratch and then she settled her arms around him. "[Don''t worry. Your claws aren''t really suited for it. And besides, as the captain it''s my job to groom everybody.]"


    He was also getting a handle on Dorarizin culture and pack structures. They had more females than males, so a typical ''family'' pack consisted of one or two males with two or three females running things. The alpha females (and Rgrarshok definitely counted as one) were traditionally in charge of making sure that the pack was healthy and able to hunt. This crew was not a family-pack per se, but they were more closely bonded than the much larger crew of, say, a mobile mining station.


    So this was just a case of familial pack traditions applied more broadly. At least that''s what Oscar hoped it was, and that the huge captain wasn''t becoming interested in him in ''that'' way. It would be unprofessional. And more importantly, even if he reciprocated any possible interest then the first time they tried some interspecies nookie she''d break his pelvis.


    But the rest of the movie passed without incident, and the captain seemed content to just let Oscar use her as a warm and fluffy recliner.


    <hr>


    Doctor Kgrashak-of-Rgreth pressed her paw-pads into Oscar''s bare back. He was pretty sure that there was no need for her to get physical for his examination, what with the xenos having nanotech and all. But he figured it was just another example of the Dorarizin being their usual touchy-feely selves.


    It was chilly in the Claw''s medbay, since he was now only wearing compression shorts while the good doctor looked him over. Her paws reached up and squeezed his shoulders and neck, then Oscar twitched a bit as he felt her cold nose poke into and sniff at his neck.


    Then she moved around the exam table and poked the same damp appendage into his chest. As she inhaled deeply Oscar wanted to make a joke about her buying him dinner first, then figured that explaining the joke might be more trouble than it was worth.


    "So can you smell anything wrong?" he asked. "I mean, I''m assuming that the pack-scenting is still there, seeing as how you''re not grabbing for me."


    Kgrashak leaned back and began examining his arms. "[There are layers to scents. I can still smell your [Human] scent, but it''s overlaid with the pack-scent so my instincts know that you''re not abandoned. And then on top of that is ''your'' scent, which tells me your identity and health."


    "So you can tell how healthy I am just through smelling?"


    "[It''s taken a few exams for me to get trained up on your particular scent profile, but yes. Now, what are the symptoms of Green abuse?]"


    "Pop quiz time, eh Kate?" Oscar cleared his throat. "Mild Green abuse symptoms include dilated pupils, some slight tremors in the tail even when at rest, and general irritability. Mild users also tend to be easily distracted. At higher dosages, the user''s ears lay flat back against their head most of the time and their claws extend spasmodically. Their concentration suffers to a noticeable extent, and they have difficulty staying seated. That level is when Green usage is usually discovered and dealt with. However, in the most extreme cases the user becomes...well, they turn into what we humans would call a ''berserker''. The pupils become so dilated that the eyes appear completely black, their tail fuzzes out and their claws extend permanently. Worst of all, their prey drive kicks into high gear and they''ll chase and kill anything that moves. Fortunately such extreme abuse cases are rare, since it usually results in a death or two. The death of the user, if no one else."


    Kgrashak finished prodding his thighs and nodded. "[Well summarized. It''s unlikely that we''ll run into such an extreme case of Green abuse on this assignment, but it''s possible. Now do you understand why we assigned Myyreh to protect you?]"


    "Oh, yeah. I got that loud and clear, and I''m happy she''s doin'' so. Momma Williams didn''t raise no dummy."


    <hr>


    The Trainee Junior Investigator plinked away at his guitar, trying to figure out a tricky bit of fingering as he half-watched some sappy romantic comedy. It was not a movie to Oscar''s usual taste, as it had too few explosions. But he was starved for seeing normal-sized people with no fur doing normal human things. At first he''d resented the mandated 4-hours-per-day seclusion, but now he was seeing the benefits of it.


    As the rom-com wrapped up, his fingers started sounding out a cheesy pop song from his youth. "Ohhhhhh, we''re halfway there...Wooaaahoohh, lemon and a pear!" he warbled. Bon Jovi didn''t really work on an acoustic guitar, but it was better than nothing. The little lyrical joke made him smile to himself, and then the smile faded as he came to an uncomfortable realization.


    Originally he would have let an IED take his other leg off rather than admit it...but he was scared.


    The first week it had started out as a mild unease. He''d told himself it was just nerves, just getting used to a 10-hour sleep cycle while being snuggled every night by huge furry aliens. The next week that unease turned into a low-level panic; he couldn''t shake the notion that something was following him, some unseen predator that always ducked back out of sight when he turned to look.


    And the panic wasn''t going away. If anything it was getting worse, no matter how much he tried to treat this assignment like any other mission. He kept telling himself that it was just like his Ranger days when he''d been deep in enemy territory.


    Although ''enemy'' was the wrong label. The Dorarizin were perfectly nice save for an enthusiam for physical contact. And Bgrarh snored like a chainsaw when it was his turn to sleep-cuddle Oscar. Apart from that they''d been excellent hosts, giving him no hint of threatening behavior.


    Their politeness still didn''t help. Oscar was used to being the biggest, toughest sonovabitch in the place. But now he''d been reduced to a toddler in both relative size and strength. The ship''s walls were too tall and far apart, everything was sized for giants and not for him, his was the only ''normal'' human voice he heard amid an endless sea of growls and snarls and clicks...


    Oscar checked the time and saw that he still had a couple of hours to go. He absently strummed a few chords as he pondered the implications of what he was about to do. Originally he''d promised himself to never touch the memed Dorarizin files, both out of respect for his hosts and because needing to do so seemed really fucking weak.


    But that was before he''d spent two weeks amid a pack of apex predators in the middle of nowhere. Before he could second-guess himself, Oscar reached for his terminal''s remote and called up the well hidden folder.


    <hr>


    "[You smell a lot more relaxed today, Trainee [Oscar.]]"


    He glanced up from the drone on the bench towards Engineer Egwreh. "Eh, I slept with Nate last night. He snores less than Benny."


    Of course, that was not the reason for his improved mood. It was amazing how two hours of watching Captain Drezneh doing heroic deeds while spouting ''Much wow, very excite'' was enough to restore his equilibrium.


    He pressed his palm against the drone''s control panel, and it lit up with an orange outline around his hand. He tapped the glyphs around it in the instructed sequence, then closed the panel''s cover. "Well, it didn''t blow up on me. How did I do?"


    Egwreh''s eyes unfocused a little as she accessed the drone through her implant. "[Not bad at all. It''s now keyed to your biometrics and will follow you.]"


    "Will it accept my commands?"


    "[A few. You can tell it to stay in one place, for example. But if you get more than [ten meters] away it will move to keep you within that range. It''s intended as a backup to Myyreh''s protection."]


    "Y''all are really not taking chances, are ya."


    "[We are not going to be the first crew to lose a human in space. The captain will turn us into wall decorations if that happens.]"


    He regarded the basketball-sized metal ball of the drone''s body which sat in a cradle on the workbench. "So what kind of weaponry does it have?"


    "[Strictly non-lethal protection. We''re a Senate investigative team, so we don''t carry anything that could be, shall we say, ''mistaken'' for military-grade hardware.]"


    And the Dorarizin didn''t really go in for things like sidearms. Probably because they could run at 120 klicks per hour and had claws which could rend metal.


    In spite of having both Myrreh and the drone looking after him, Oscar also wanted a little something extra on his hip. Maybe he could finagle a favor out of Egwreh later on and get her to do a little nanofabrication on the side.


    "[Go ahead and try out the drone,]" said the engineer. "[You should get used to having it follow you.]"


    If he was going to have a robotic nursemaid, then Oscar figured he''d have a little fun with it. He clenched his teeth and raised a dramatic hand like a mad scientist giving orders to his latest abomination. "Rise, my creation!"


    The sphere beep-booped and hovered off of its cradle as instructed. "[This unit is now operational and programmed to provide protection.]"


    Oscar grinned. "Sweet, I''ve got a minion!" He tapped a finger on his chin as he regarded the hovering sphere. "But you need a proper name, something butler-y I think. I''ma call you Jeeves."


    A few lights blinked on the drone''s chrome surface. "[This unit will respond to the designated label.]"


    Egwreh gave him a sidelong glance. "[You do realize that drones are not actually sapient, right? They''re not even sentient, they''re just some expert systems lashed together with a language synthesizer.]"


    "Don''t listen to Emma, Jeeves. She''s just jealous that she doesn''t get a minion. Now...follow me!"


    Oscar hopped off of the stool he''d been using to reach the workbench, then trotted for the door. He''d gotten in the habit of moving at least at a jog everywhere due to the sheer size of the ship.


    The drone beep-booped and trailed along obediently behind the human. Egrweh watched them leave as her tail twitched slightly. After the door closed, she let out a quiet "[Awww,]" as her tail wagged faster.


    <hr>


    "[And you''re sure you don''t mind? I mean, it is allowed by regulation but I didn''t want to offend you. I was worried you''d think we were teasing you.]"


    "I understand your worry, Captain. But it''s really no problem. If it makes Bennie happy, I''m fine with him wearing it."


    The captain sighed. "[All right. I do want Bgrarh at maximum efficiency, and if this helps him then so be it. We should be coming out of warp in a few [hours] anyway.]"


    <hr>


    Pak''tahl was a mining colony. A few hundred years ago, the Karnakians had some ideas on a more efficient means to extract the moon''s resources while the Dorarizin had the manpower (er, xeno-power) to try out those ideas.


    They''d succeeded in spades, and after several centuries of prosperity the colony settled down into a more-or-less equally divided world where alien stood next to alien in peace and brotherhood...or at least that was the official story.


    It floated like a gray-green marble in the bridge''s viewscreens, and beyond the colony was the red-banded gas giant which was the moon''s primary.


    "[The colony''s resource output has been steadily dropping over the last few decades,]" said Ngralh. The bridge also functioned as the ship''s conference room, and the rest of the crew gathered around as the First Officer went through his briefing.


    "[Due to the drop-off in production, certain elements in the colony have turned to, shall we say, alternative means of income.]"


    A picture of a Dorarizin male appeared, overlaid onto the outside view. "[This is Hrzharh-of-Azrehs. During our last few assignments we''ve found Green shipments with some residual [DNA]. The [DNA] samples match each other and also partially match Hrzharh''s filed genome. Given the number of shipments involved, we believe he acts as a significant node in the smuggling network."


    Another picture, of a larger female, appeared next to Hrzharh. Oscar felt the haughtiness of her expression right through the picture.


    The XO continued. "[This person is the main reason we can''t just turn this case over to the Inquisition. This is one Grawreh-of-Rrelren, Alpha of Hrzharh''s pack. She''s from a very prestigious clan line and can yank a lot of tails in the Imperial bureaucracy. Which in turn means she has quite a lot of pull in the galactic Senate."


    A few more females appeared next to Grawreh, then another male. "[Kergrakh, the Beta female of the pack, and Zreshak, the Gamma. This last one is Nrgeth-of-Arzerghr, the second male of the pack. He''s come under suspicion of Green smuggling once before, but no hard evidence was ever found.]"


    Egrweh spoke up. "[What about local law enforcement?]"


    Ngralh called up another picture, below the line of pack pictures. This was the first overweight Dorarizin that Oscar had ever seen, with a roll of furry flesh that extended out over the collar of his uniform.


    "[Kergrth-of-Ahrraht,]" said the XO. "[He''s tasked with investigating crimes in the Dorarizin sector of the colony. Most of his arrests wind up with successful prosecutions, but that''s because he hardly arrests anyone. He''s probably as corrupt as a weeks-dead erzet, but again there is no solid evidence of such.]"


    Captain Rgrarshok now stepped forward to address them. "[We''ve kept all messages about this mission off of the official channels, so the Pak''tahl smuggling ring didn''t know we were coming. About [ten minutes] ago we notified the colony of our planned orbit. I''m sure they have contacts in traffic control who are letting them know at this very moment that ''We Who Hunt Between The Spaces'' has arrived. They''re going to panic, which is good. We need to keep that panic going, starting by hauling Hrzharh into an interrogation room and getting him scared enough to shed a few teeth.]"


    Oscar could not find fault with the captain''s strategy. Panicked people made mistakes, mistakes which could then be exploited.


    He decided to speak up. "Where do you want me, Captain?"


    She nodded at him. "[You''re with me and Ngralh. He''s going to find Hrzharh and do the aforementioned hauling. I want you in the room when we interrogate him.]" She grinned. "[Apart from letting you log some training time, you''ll also act as a nice distraction for our suspect.]"


    "Ah, because I''m unusual? Good idea."


    A look passed over the captain''s face, one that Oscar didn''t recognize. "[Of course, yes...unusual.]"

 Chapter Four

    Now that they were out of warp, Oscar took the opportunity to catch up on his email. The main one was a letter to his half-brother in Nashville. It was filled with fluffy and nondescript updates about his current gig, along with a few embedded keywords for Martin. Those keywords decoded into ''All going well, nothing to report so far.'' His usual horoscope check hadn''t uncovered any covert messages from Martin either, so things Earthside seemed to be going fine.


    There was a discreet rapping on his door. Traditionally the Dorarizin used their claws to scratch on doors to request access, but after a few times of nearly soiling himself at the horrible screeching noise Oscar asked them to please knock instead. "Yeah, be right there," he called, and pressed ''Send'' before heading to the door.


    <hr>


    The colony of Pak''tahl was built like a huge hamster cage, with lots of cylindrical tube-like hallways connecting larger caves. The walls and rock faces were covered with a hard material that looked like plastic but which Oscar figured must be a lot stronger. It was not dark and dank as he''d expected; the walls were colored in soft pastels, the air was clean and fresh, and every so often there would be a built-in screen along the wall that showed some large and expansive scene of nature. So that was nice.


    What wasn''t nice was the staring. After getting off of the Claw''s shuttle he''d received nothing but curious stares from every single Dorarizin they passed. Oscar strode along as if the staring was no big deal, partly because he didn''t want to show weakness. The other reason for his striding was that Myyreh was striding right next to him while Jeeves floated on his other side. Having a Kung-Fu Warrior werewolf and a security drone watching your back was enough to give anyone a nice warm and fuzzy sense of protection.


    Those in the hallways parted to either side of them, since Captain Rgrarshok was at the head of their little parade. They reached the largest cave yet, one with a garden area in the middle and numerous box-like apartments set into the walls. The space was mostly filled with Dorarizin. Mostly.


    Oscar spotted two of the raptor-like Karnakians puttering along the far wall of the cave. One of them snapped its snout around to face their little formation, and its four eyes blinked in surprise upon catching sight of Oscar. It...no, he was able to tell it was a ''she'' by this point...she reached over and tugged at her companion''s wing-arm, then pointed with obvious excitement at him.


    He ignored the raptors for now; as long as they kept their distance, he''d keep his.


    A Dorarizin that Oscar recognized as Kergrth-of-Ahrraht came huffing through the central garden. As in his picture, he was a very ''substantial'' male; the fasteners on his dark green uniform were putting in a heroic effort to keep everything contained.


    "[Captain Rgrarshok! This is an unexpected pleasure!]"


    The huge captain gave a grave nod in reply. "[Chief Kergrth. Do you mind if we speak privately?]"


    "[That''s no problem, my headquarters are nearby...]" The fat Dorarizin did a double-take upon seeing Oscar. "[I say! Is that a...]"


    "[''That'' is a ''he, Chief,]" replied Rgrarshok. "[My latest trainee. I''m sure you won''t mind if he accompanies us.]"


    The chief made a little bow towards Oscar. "[Of course not.]"


    Oscar heard the softest rumbling growl behind him. It was a nearly subsonic noise that said ''back the fuck up'' more clearly than the sound of a shotgun getting racked. He turned carefully and saw that the female Karnakian approaching their group. Her feathers were a pearlescent blue color that shone in the soft overhead lighting.


    The raptor darted her snout back and forth in quick, birdlike movements as she stared first at Oscar and then at the much larger and closer Myrreh. The bodyguard wasn''t exactly blocking the Karnakian yet, but Oscar noted how her legs were flexed and her weight perfectly balanced so as to leap if required. Myrreh gave out another warning growl.


    The Karnakian trilled to Oscar as a crest of feathers on its head rose up. "[Greetings, and may your striving for perfection bring you closer to the Great One. I am Tk''Serk, and it is an honor to meet you.]"


    Oscar crossed his arms and stared back. Tk''Serk had for sure not been involved with Atlanta, and it was unfair to judge an entire race on the clusterfuck that had resulted from humanity''s First Contact. Hell, a good chunk of Karnakians were pacifists anyway. So he''d be polite to the dinosaur but he''d be damned if he was going to be friendly.


    Tk''Serk figeted her claws together. "[I am pleased to see a [Human] here, so far from your home. Your kind is truly becoming an interstellar species!]"


    He bit back words to the effect of No thanks to you, birdbrain, but reconsidered. "Your sentiment is very appreciated," he replied in a flat tone.


    The Karnakian bobbed her snout, and with a last somewhat worried glance at Myyreh she turned and trotted off.


    Chief Kergrth blew out a relieved breath as the raptor departed. "[Ah, yes. So, if you''ll follow me please...]"


    <hr>


    The chief''s headquarters were a little too nice in Oscar''s opinion, although his instincts on what counted as ''luxury'' might be way off due to the ubiquity of nanofabrication. Post-scarcity or not, the walls and furnishings of the chief''s office seemed more ornate than was required.


    Kergrth didn''t have a ''desk'' exactly. It was more of a work surface set to one side of his office. He sat on his haunches next to it and looked in disbelief at Captain Rgrarshok.


    "[You can''t be serious!]" he protested. "[If there was any significant Green smuggling going on here then I''d know about it. And the Rrelren pack can''t be involved. They''re from one of our oldest clans.]" He leaned forward a bit and tried to sound reasonable. "[Besides, [Pak''Tahl''s] Dorarizin sectors are my jurisdiction. It''ll be easier if you give me what evidence you have and I''ll look into it. I know the people around here, I know exactly who to talk to."


    The captain''s head nearly brushed the ceiling as she stood in front of the chief. "[My team has direct authorization from the Senate to pursue such matters. And I intend to pursue, starting with Hrzharh-of-Azrehs. Where is he?]"


    The chief''s ears went flat against his head. "[How should I know? He''s a law-abiding citizen.]"


    Rgrarshok tilted her head as she received a message via implant. "[Ah, never mind. My XO has located Hrzharh. I''ll need one of your rooms for the interview.]"


    "[It will just be an interview, right?]" Kergrth leaned forward onto his fists with a worried look. "[I have to live here, it can''t be anything rough.]"


    The captain gave a casual wave of one paw. "[Please, we aren''t the Inquisition. I''m sure that everything is just as you say and that Hrzharh''s claws are straight and true. I merely wish to give him a chance to explain himself.]"


    With more worried looks, the chief escorted them to a spartan room that didn''t even have a work surface. Once inside, the captain tapped her chin. "[Yes, this will do.]" She fiddled with the room''s lighting controls until there was only one harsh light shining down from above. In the meantime Chief Kergrth shifted from one foot to another.


    She turned to him after she was done. "[Thank you, we''ll let you know when we''re done.]"


    He gave an uncomfortable shake of his head. "[Hrzharh is a citizen of this colony. I should be present.]"


    "[We''ll give you the full, unedited recording of the interview as soon as it''s completed.]"


    Kergrth looked at her unsmiling face and visibly slumped. "[Very well. I expect this to be conducted according to proper standards.]"


    "[Of course.]"


    After Kergrth left, the captain turned to the human. "[We have a few [minutes] until our guest arrives. Trainee [Oscar], how would you proceed with this interview?]"


    Oscar folded his arms and thought for a bit. "We''ve got two strategies. We either go for shock and awe, or act like it''s no big deal and we''re just following up on some weak-ass lead. The first tactic will get them panicky and running around, which should make them slip and give us something more to work with. The second strategy might make them relax and get sloppy."


    "[Which would you recommend?]"


    "Option one. Drop on ''em like the wrath of an angry god."


    The captain gave a half-smile. "[Then we are in agreement.]" She pulled a fist-sized camera drone out of a side pouch and tossed it into the center of the room. It promptly beeped and hovered near the ceiling. She turned and surveyed the space.


    "[Let''s see...Myrreh, please stand there in the corner. [Oscar], you hide yourself next to her and wait. I''m sure he''ll start out aggressive, with some words about speaking to my higher-ups. [Oscar], if he keeps up with that nonsense I want you to speak up and ask about some pointless detail to get him off balance.]"


    Within a few minutes, the door slid open and a male Dorarizin strode in as if he owned the place. He wore an embroidered waistcoat and his mottled gray mane was neatly combed. His ears held multiple earrings apiece, which was something that Oscar hadn''t seen yet on a Dorarizin. The male clasped his waistcoat''s lapels in his paws and started complaining the moment he crossed the threshold.


    "[This is all very improper! Are you the captain? I wish to register a complaint...]"


    Captain Rgrarshok stood to her full height, and she ducked her head down. The overhead lighting cast her face into shadow. The sight was enough to make Hrzharh stop speaking and backpedal a bit. His back ran right into Nrgalh''s chest, since the XO now blocked the only door into the room.


    Rgrarshok unsheathed a claw and pointed it at the drone hovering overhead. "[Hrzharh-of-Azrehs, you are now being recorded. I have just sent the authorization for this investigation to your implant. Do you question its authenticity?]"


    Hrzharh rallied quickly, Oscar would give him that much. "[N...No, it''s just that I was in the middle of an important business transaction when your colleague accosted me!]"


    "[Ah, your business. Let us discuss that business, shall we?]"


    He drew himself up as if to subconsciously match her posture. "[Yes, let''s! I have nothing to hide. I promise you that I''ll be making a full complaint to your superiors...]"


    Oscar figured that this was a good moment to start with the distracting. "Captain, may I ask a question?"


    The captain''s stormy expression relaxed into mildness. "[Of course.]"


    "Does that authorization you mentioned act like what humans would call a search warrant?"


    Her mild tone didn''t waver. "[Yes. It gives us authorization for searches and for interviews like this.]"


    Hrzharh stared at Oscar. "[What...what is that creature doing here?]"


    Oscar decided he''d play up the ''clueless yokel from the sticks'' angle. He''d been raised in the southern US and he could really thicken up his accent when he needed to. It was a handy way to get a suspect to underestimate him.


    He gave Hrzharh a friendly wave. "Aw, don''t mind little ''ol me. Just learnin'' the ropes ''round here, as my folks say."


    The suspect spluttered as the Captain went back into ''predator'' mode.


    "[Your genetic material has been found on several shipments of Green. Do you have any explanation as to how that might have happened? I''d hate to waste our time chasing after an innocent man.]"


    Hrzharh waved a paw. He was clearly agitated and his claws were extended. Oscar noted that his claws were a lot more shiny and polished than those of his own shipmates; that must be another status thing. The human also noticed that the room was now filled with a faint spicy scent. Was Hrzharh wearing perfume? That was something he hadn''t heard of. Maybe it was a Dorarizin guy thing. The gender roles were reversed in their society, so maybe his outfit and demeanor was the doggo version of wearing a slinky dress while sporting a smoky come-hither stare.


    "[By the Pale Moon, how should I know?,] he sputtered. "[I have handled many things here, perhaps one particular container which was then used by some miscreant later on.]"


    The Captain settled back on her substantial haunches with a small smile. "[Your claws do not appear as one who works at the docks. And your genetic material was found on several Green shipments on widely separated worlds. Are you sure there isn''t anything you''d like to tell us?"


    A commotion erupted out in the hallway behind the XO, and Ngralh turned himself to face whatever was going on out there. Oscar''s translator only caught a bit of a deep female voice haranguing the hapless Chief Kergrth.


    "[?error#sn&(error:undefined words)?an OUTRAGE, you hear me? A member of my pack, hauled out of a very important meeting like some common thug!]"


    Hrzharh visibly relaxed upon hearing that voice.


    "[I can''t interfere, they have a mandate from the Senate!]" spluttered the chief.


    The newcomer gave a loud huff. "[Honestly, what do I pay taxes for? You there, move out of the way if you know what''s good for you!]"


    Ngralh looked back over his shoulder with a cocked ear and a half-smile, one that said Do you want me to take out the trash?This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    The captain shook her muzzle slightly and gestured for the XO to step aside. A dark blue-gray Dorarizin swept into the room. She was wearing an embroidered jacket that was just as ornate as Hrzharh''s, and as she entered she fixed the captain with a furious glare.


    "[Are you the one responsible for this?]"


    Rgrarshok gave a little bow. "[Grawreh-of-Rrelren, I presume.]"


    "[I''m going to have your claws, you overgrown...]"


    "[You will do no such thing. I have full authorization for this investigation, and if you interfere in this interview I will have no choice but to broadcast that authorization to every implant in this colony. Merely to clear up any misunderstandings, of course.]"


    Grawreh snorted. "[A feeble threat, if you think you can besmirch my clan''s reputation with such tactics. No, you will either release my denmate now or allow my pack''s advocate to be present for this so-called interview.]"


    After a moment of the two females staring at each other, Rgrarshok turned to Hrzharh. The male now looked quite smug.


    "[Hrzharh-of-Azrehs, you are free to go. But we expect you to be available if we have any further questions.]"


    He made a mock-gracious bow and turned to his mate. "[Thank you for coming, dearest. I''m sorry you had to do so.]"


    As he took her arm, she gave another, more triumphant snort. Her eyes flicked over Oscar and she looked a little puzzled, then recovered and gave the captain a frosty sneer before the pair swept back out of the room.


    Rgrarshok watched them go with a little smile on her face. Then she held out her hand, and the camera drone obediently dropped into it. The captain looked up at the chief still wringing his hands in the hallway. "[Chief Kergrth, you will receive a recording of this interview for your own records. We thank you for your cooperation, and we''ll let you know if we need anything else.]"


    <hr>


    The team''s hotel suite sat in what constituted the ''center'' of the colony''s Dorarizin territory. Apart from a few denpile-containing rooms, the suite had a kitchen/meal area and a large main room intended for relaxation and receiving guests. The latter room now had all of its furniture pushed aside while a new holo-display stood in the center of the largest wall.


    Fancy tech aside, the display functioned as something that Oscar was very used to, namely as a ''whiteboard'' for putting up data and pictures on the current case. The center of the display showed the portraits of Grawreh and Hrzharh, and below those were pictures of the other members of the Rrelren pack.


    Captain Rgrarshok stood to one side with her paws clasped behind her back. "[Engineer Egwreh, report.]"


    Egwreh stood and began gesturing. Under her implant''s control, one side of the display suddenly showed a huge array of tiny screens. Each tiny screen showed an image of a corridor or common area along even tinier bustling figures. "[Right after we settled into orbit I used our authorization to gain access to the colony''s public camera system. Our expert systems are now trawling through the various feeds and correlating any increased activity with news of our arrival. They''re also looking for our suspect''s faces, so we''ll be able to track their movements if any of the Rrelren pack so much as step a paw outside their apartment."


    "[Good. Specialist Bgrarh?]"


    Bgrarh now stood, and Oscar was pleased to see that he had his deerstalker once more upon his head. In spite of his perhaps-goofy headgear, the big male''s attitude was calm and centered now that he was ''on the job''.


    "[I''ve deployed a few sensor drones at key entry points on the docks. They''re purely passive at the moment. I want to focus on the containers themselves; each container we found with Hrzharh''s [DNA] was of the same type, and so I''ve set the drones to scan for exactly that container. We can then correlate those with the shipments.]"


    "[Excellent. Ngralh, you dig into the Rrelren pack''s finances and see if there''s any unexplained payments or general strangeness. Doctor Kgrashak, I want you searching the colony''s medical history. Someone in the smuggling ring might be using the product on the side. Trainee [Oscar], I want you to dig into the shipping side of things, particularly among the Karnakians.]"


    Oscar nodded. "That makes sense. Pacifist or not, they''ll be on their best behavior around a human." He regarded the bare expanse of the display and pictured the structure of the smuggling ring. "The product must be coming from the raptor''s core systems to here. I''m assuming that it''s forbidden to openly ship Green to any Doarizin colony?"


    "[That''s correct.]"


    "I hate to ask the dumb-yokel question, but has anyone in your Empire asked the Karnakians to, ya know, please stop making Green?"


    The captain chuckled. "[It would make life so much simpler, wouldn''t it? No, there are apparently a few sacred bathing rituals which the [Karnakians] claim must use Green.]"


    "So much for that. Okay, so the stuff is coming in on the sly. Maybe they mix it in with other bathing powders. I''ll start with the port. I want to get a sense of how much dock-side interaction there is between the two races. Right now I''m guessing the hand-off takes place there."


    <hr>


    The Dorarizin portion of the docks showed quite clearly how much Pak''tahl''s fortunes had changed. They were a series of huge and interconnected caverns, separated from each other by large vault-like doors. But most were now empty, and only a few held stacks of the giant ingots that constituted the colony''s mining output.


    The dock manager for the Dorarizin section of the docks was a sour-tempered male named Zergarh-of-Arzerghr. His sour mood was probably due to having to put up with Oscar''s questioning. The human felt a little sympathy for the guy, but only a little.


    Oscar, along with his entourage of Myrreh and Jeeves, stood next to Zergarh on a balcony that overlooked the huge expanse of the in-use dock. Oscar had to step up on the lower crosspiece of the balcony''s railing to get a proper look. The rocky ceiling had a surprisingly familiar-looking gantry crane that ran the length of the cavern. Far below, a hulking Dorarizin dockhand held a blocky controller, using it to lower the cable that held the crane''s claw-like clamp. The clamp settled onto a flat ingot of metal that was a long as a schoolbus. After walking around the ingot to make sure it was set, she pressed another button on the controller and the clamp clicked around the huge and matte-gray bar. After a press of a different button, the entire mass began to rise into the air.


    "[I''m telling you, if there''s Green smuggling going on it''s not through these docks.]" Zergarh paused to turn and yell at the worker far below "[You''re pulling it up too fast!]"


    The dockhand spread her arms in the universal gesture which said Why you gotta break my balls? But she did slow down the ingot''s ascent.


    Oscar pointed at a far wall. "So the Karnakians have their docking facilities through there, correct?"


    "[Yes, it''s completely separated from ours by [thirty meters] of solid rock. We do seismic scans every [month] to make sure nobody''s trying to get cute and dig themselves a tunnel.]"


    The human regarded the rising ingot. "You set up the docks that way in the beginning?"


    "[It''s standard when there are any joint Dorarizin and [Karnakain] facilities. Green smuggling has been going on for a long time.]"


    By now the ingot was at Oscar''s eye level. The dockhand grabbed the dangling cable from the gantry and started towing the load over to the closest stack.


    "So everything shipped to and from this side only goes to Dorarizin space, right?" he asked. "The Karnakians must have a similar setup on their side."


    "[You got it. We split up the metal output equally, and they ship their half from their docks.]"


    "Hmm." Oscar leaned over the railing more to follow the dockhand, and he sensed Myyreh tensing behind him at his slightly more precarious position. Oscar ignored her worry as he regarded the crane assembly. "Interesting."


    Zergarh''s eyes narrowed. "[What?]"


    "Oh, just that you use cranes instead of some fancy anti-gravity rig. Plus she''s using a manual control for the crane. You guys have those brain implants, I would have thought that they''d be easier to use."


    The dock supervisor shook his snout. "[Cranes don''t drop a [metric ton] of metal on your head if the power cuts out. And as far as implants...yes, they''re easier but this is a dangerous environment.]" He pointed in a direction at ninety degrees to the Karnakian docks. "[Two bulkheads in that direction is [Pak''tahl''s] surface, which is at death pressure. Most controls around here are manual only. Anything that can be interfaced via wireless can in principle be hacked.]"


    <hr>


    Ti''Etka, the Karnakian in charge of the other docks, had sky-blue feathers and the usual sunny disposition of his race. In contrast to his sour Dorarizin counterpart, the raptor seemed delighted to be interviewed and took great pleasure in showing Oscar around his bailiwick. The layout was an exact mirror image of the Dorarizin docks, with both docks separated by a thick wall of solid rock.


    "[This is where all incoming shipments from Karnakian space are scanned and sorted,]" he said. The Karnakian gestured with one wing-arm at a square portal big enough to pass a battleship. At the moment a large wheeled crate was outlined in a network of red lines as it trundled slowly through the opening. Several Karnakians trotted through the portal as well in both directions, and they all gave Oscar curious head-tilts that made them look like huge downy-feathered puppies. Puppies with way too many razor-like teeth and the wrong number of eyes.


    "What do you scan for?" asked Oscar.


    "[The standard types of contraband. Weapons-grade fissionables, unlicensed portable tesseracts, masers above a certain power output...and, of course, Green feather-dust.]"


    "Everything and everyone goes through the scanner, I presume."


    "[You presume correctly. Every bit of cargo and personnel coming off of a Karnakian ship is tracked via cameras to ensure that they are put through this machine. There are no exceptions.]"


    Oscar nodded. "Well, it seems you run a very tight ship, as we humans say. Does that phrase translate?"


    Ti''Etka fluffed out his chest feathers as his crest rose. "[Yes, I take your meaning quite well. I thank you.]"


    <hr>


    The team reconvened at the hotel suite several hours later. Oscar started with what he''d found at the colony''s port.


    "If the Green is getting through Ti''Etka''s scanner, then the hand-off to the Dorarizin must take place somewhere other than the docks. Or they''re somehow sneaking it around the scanner without the cameras catching it. How much product are we talking about per shipment?"


    Rgrarshock held out her paws as if she was cradling a loaf of invisible bread. "[The usual shipment size is about so big. Say about [four kilograms] worth. Twenty such shipments per [year] would be enough to supply a significant portion of Dorarizin space. Pure Green is quite potent.]"


    "So that''s small enough to tote around without raising too much notice. Do they cut it? Er, I mean do they dilute the Green with other inert substances?"


    Bgrarh spoke up. "[They certainly do, [Oscar]. Most of the Green samples I''ve analyzed are at best fifty percent active Green. The rest is usually powdered clay of some sort. And I had a look at the Karnakian dock scanner. Pardon my [Human], but it''s a fucking joke.]"


    Oscar raised an eyebrow. "Spicy language there, Benny. What do you mean?"


    The big Dorarizin gestured at the main display, and several cutaway diagrams of the dock scanner appeared. "[The scanner doesn''t have a fine enough resolution. It can detect the general chemical signature of feather-dust, but it''s worthless at any more specific identification.]"


    Ngralh nodded. "[So all anyone has to do is hide the Green among a shipment of legal feather-dust and it''ll slide right on through.]"


    "[Exactly.]"


    "Would Ti''Etka know that, though?" asked Oscar. "I''m trying to figure out if he''s dirty or just clueless."


    Bgrarh did the Dorarizin equivalent of a shrug. "[It''s possible he doesn''t know. This is a commercial scanner unit, so maybe he just fell victim to a good sales pitch.]"


    Thus far, Egwreh had sat back on her haunches and watched the others talk. But now she stood, and Oscar had picked up enough of Dorarizin facial expressions to know that the engineer was feeling quite smug.


    "[I can shed some light on that. He''s dirty.]"


    Captain Rgrarshok raised an ear. "[What do you have?]"


    Egwreh called up a video on the main display. "[This event occurred just after we notified Pak''Tahl traffic control of our arrival.]"


    The center screen now showed a random hallway with two figures at the far end. The camera resolution was good enough to show that one of the figures was Hrzharh. The other was a Karnakian with feathers of a familiar pearlescent blue color.


    "I think I know that Karnakian," said Oscar. "She approached us right before we talked to the chief Dorarizin. Tk...Tk''Serk? I think that was her name."


    On the screen, the pair gesticulated at each other. There was no audio but it really wasn''t necessary. Hrzharh waved his arms about, clearly in the middle of a good old-fashioned freakout. Meanwhile the raptor held up her wing-arms in a soothing manner. Eventually she even reached over and touched his shoulder to try and calm the agitated Dorarizin.


    "Oh, Tk''Serk," said Oscar. "You''re a dirty girl, aren''t you? So much for all that ''Great One'' stuff. Looks like he''s flipping his shit and she''s telling him to stay frosty. But what does this have to do with our chipper dock supervisor?"


    Egwreh chuckled. "[Ti''Etka is her clutch-mate. They''re siblings.]"


    The team looked at each other, and Oscar couldn''t keep the grin off of his face. "Jackpot."


    Rgrarshok held up a paw. "[Now, let''s not celebrate before we bring the prey to ground. Ngralh, what does the Rrelren pack''s finances look like?]"


    "[They receive a portion of the profits from the colony''s output, since their family is one of those who put up the capital to start it in the first place. But about [ten years] ago, their income started to dwindle along with the metal shipments. They did not adjust their spending to match and as a result they''re in debt up to their ear-tips. That so-called ''business'' meeting that Hrzharh mentioned was actually renegotiating the terms of one of their larger loans. Interestingly their debt has started receding in the last [two years]. I''m still tracing where the new income is coming from, but I think we all know the answer to that.]"


    "[Keep at it.]" The captain stabbed a claw at the screen. "[And also look into that [Karnakian''s] finances. [Tk''Serk] must be getting a cut of the proceeds. Bgrarh, I want you to give the XO a paw with that.]"


    Oscar pondered the screen as the captain added pictures of the Karnakian siblings above the central photos of the Rrelren pack. She connected the two family groups with a line and a question mark, then added another line above the raptors leading to another question mark.


    "[So this is what we know,]" she said. She paused and her upper teeth rippled outward and back into place, a little tic that in a Dorarizin indicated deep thought. Oscar shivered a bit as his hindbrain yelled once again that he was in danger, he was standing way too close to an apex predator and he should run...


    Rgrarshok pointed at the incoming line from the top. "[The product is hidden among normal feather-dust. It gets scanned through and logged...there must be an indicator of some sort that says which dust shipments are the ''loaded'' ones. Tk''Serk or Ti''Etka take out the hidden packages of Green and carry them out of the Karnakian docks. Then they meet up with one of the Rrelren pack for the exchange.]" Her claw moved to the line connecting the two families.


    "Exchanging money for product," mused Oscar. "Then the Rrelren pack ship it out from the Dorarizin docks. We know the general structure of the smuggling, but proving it is gonna be harder."


    "[That''s correct,]" said Ngrarl. "[We''ll need to determine who specifically is involved in shipping the Green back offworld.]"


    The captain turned to Doctor Kgrashak. "[Did you find anything?]"


    "[In the last [year] there''s been three suspected cases of Green abuse,]" replied the doctor. "[One tested positive for Green and was sent to the core worlds for rehabilitation. The other two passed the blood test, but that might have been because they were warned of the test and stopped dosing.]"


    "[I''ll wager our illustrious police chief had something to do with that warning,]" said Ngralh.


    "[Perhaps,]" said Rgrarshok. "[Doctor, please work with Egwreh and see if you can correlate either of those two suspected Green users with Hrzharh.]"


    Oscar cleared his throat, and the captain turned with a little smile on her face. He didn''t think it was mocking, or at least he hoped so. "[Yes, Trainee?]"


    The human motioned at the center pictures. "Hrzharh''s DNA was all through those Green shipments you uncovered. I agree he''s a dirty boy. But the others in the pack might also be involved to some extent."


    "[True. I still need to do a formal interview with Grawreh, so I''ll handle her.]" She turned to regard the display. "[As for Kergrakh, the Beta...XO, I want you to interview her.]"


    Ngralh nodded as the captain nodded towards Oscar. "[Trainee, I want you to look into Zreshak, the pack''s Gamma. She''s apparently a scientist or engineer of some sort. There''s a chance she''s not involved with her pack''s criminal activities.]"


    "Do you want me to do a formal questioning, or make it more of a chat?" asked Oscar.


    "[Hmmm, keep it more of a chat for now. Make sure you have a drone with you to record it, and keep the drone visible. We don''t need them claiming entrapment.]"


    She turned to address the room in general. "[We''ll all need to be very careful around the Rrelren pack. By now every member of her pack will have a camera drone of their own for recording any interactions with us.]"


    A few minutes later, they''d determined that both Kergrakh and Zreshak were currently at a type of establishment that translated to a ''scent club''. Before Ngralh and Oscar could be dispatched to ''chat'' with them, the rest of the team found another interesting tidbit of information.


    "[Rgratz-of-Arznor,]" said Egwreh as she pulled up a picture of a sleepy-looking Dorarizin. "[Suspected of Green use but tested negative. His most consistent employment is in running odd jobs for one Hrzharh-of-Azrehs.]"


    The captain grinned, but this was more of a predatory rictus than an expression of happiness. She cracked her knuckles. "[Good work,team. This changes our plan. Grawreh''s off at police headquarters...complaining about us, no doubt...so in the meantime I''ll go find Rgratz and see if I can get him to turn on Hrzharh.]"


    "Do you want me there for that?" asked Oscar.


    "[No, I want you and Ngralh to stick with your assignments. Things are going to happen fast now, and I want to keep tabs on all of the Rrelren pack.]" The captain nodded towards Myyreh. "[I don''t need to tell you to watch over [Oscar] carefully. And Trainee, you''ll need to be careful as well. This colony is full of Dorarizin who haven''t gone through the same training that we have. They''ll move faster than they should around you, and that could be dangerous.]"


    Oscar twitched in surprise as Myyreh settled one of her paws on his shoulder in a comradely manner. "[Don''t worry, Captain. He''s a pretty dodgy little guy. But I''ll still watch over him like a pup.]"


    The human wasn''t sure if he should be flattered or offended by Myyreh''s words.

 Chapter Five

    The ''scent bar'' was a place whose name translated to ''Gentle Tranquility''. Oscar expected the place to be like a rave but using scent sprays instead of strobing lights. Instead, the atmosphere was tranquil and more like a tearoom. One wall of the space consisted of a large screen projecting a scene of a sunlit plain of gently waving tall grass.


    The interior held lots of circular tables, some of which were occupied by Dorarizin. Each table held several large blown-glass objects that looked like big brandy snifters. Instead of liquor, each snifter held a small amount of colored oil. Several Dorarizin at one of the tables passed around one of the snifters, each taking a turn to inhale from its mouth.


    As soon as Oscar entered, every eye in the place turned to stare. For the most part, those stares were just curious but he could tell a few Dorarizin looked annoyed. He ignored them all as a Dorarizin wearing an apron came bustling over. He was polite enough to only give Oscar a surprised double-take before welcoming them.


    "[Hello and welcome to Gentle Tranquility. May I show you to a table?]"


    "[Sadly, I''m here on business,]" said Ngralh. "[But my colleagues would like to sample your wares. Is Kergrakh-of-Rrelren here?]"


    The manager nodded towards a table in the far corner, where Kergrakh''s gray-and-white figure sat and sniffed at the glass held in one paw. Oscar was surprised to see that Zreshak, the Gamma of the pack, sat at a separate table nearby and faced away from her pack-sister. He wasn''t an expert (yet) on xeno body language, but the two seemed distinctly chilly with each other.


    Each sister also had a fist-sized shiny metal sphere hovering near their respective shoulders; the captain''s speculation about the Rrelren using camera drones was correct.


    Myyreh and Oscar followed the manager to a table against the wall opposite the viewscreen while Ngralh loped off to talk with Kergrakh. The manager paused as he realized that the table was too high off the ground for Oscar, even if he stood. The Dorarizin didn''t really use chairs either, since they squatted on their haunches like a gorilla when at rest.


    "Don''t worry," he said to the rueful-looking Dorarizin. "Do you have a spare crate in the back I can sit on?"


    The manager fetched one in record time, and it was even high enough for Oscar to rest his elbows on the table. Myyreh sat on her haunches next to him.


    "[I take it this is your first time in one of these places,]" she said with a grin.


    "Oh yeah. It''s a lot more...frilly than I expected."


    Myyreh shrugged. "[Yes, I normally don''t frequent scent bars this fancy.]"


    "So it''s just for smelling things?"


    "[''Just smelling''? Scent is the path to keeping us Dorarizin sane.]" She waved at the view of nature across from them. "[If you live on a starship or on a colony like this, there''s no ''outside'' to go running in and feel the wind in your face.]"


    Oscar supposed that made sense. The Dorarizin were pack hunters, built to run for miles in pursuit of prey. Indulging those instincts in a place like this would keep them centered.


    The manager returned with a tray bearing several snifters. "[The daily selection. We also have wine and food as well, would you care for some?]"


    "Sure. Ah, do you know if any of it is safe for humans?"


    "[Your drone can tell you,]" said Myyreh. "[It has a built-in scan function.]"


    There was a commotion in the far corner as Kergrakh stood, snarling down into Ngralh''s face. "[I will not be accosted like this!]" she yelled. "[If you have any questions issue a formal request through our advocate!]"


    She stormed out of the bar with her tail frizzed out in anger, giving the manager a frosty glare as she did so. Ngralh followed at a more leisurely pace as he exchanged looks with Myyreh.


    In the meantime Oscar paid attention to Zreshak, who watched her pack-sister go with an amused air.


    "Do we follow them?" he asked Myyreh.


    Myyreh shook her snout. "[Ngralh just sent me a message via implant. He''s pretty sure that she''s heading for the pack''s apartment, so he''ll track her just to make sure. We''re to keep with our subject and engage her in conversation if possible. In the meantime...]"


    She picked up one of the snifters and inhaled. "[Ooh, this is nice. Open plain with a rainstorm coming on.]" Myrreh handed the snifter to Oscar. "[Care to try?]"


    "It''ll be wasted on me, but sure." He had to hold the snifter in both hands as he carefully put his nose over the lip of it and inhaled. "It smells...fresh."


    Myyreh gave a Dorarizin snicker. "[That''s all?]"


    "It''s a little bit like fresh-cut grass? That''s all I get out of it. You know our sense of smell stinks compared to yours. Pun fully intended."


    "[Hmmm.]" She took the snifter back from him and gave it another long inhale. "[Wow, this is really nice. I''ll have to start using the classier establishments.]" Myyreh set the snifter down and gestured at a bare section of the tabletop, which lit up and displayed a line of alien glyphs. "[I can order food for us, but as for wine I''m afraid I don''t know as much.]"


    Zreshak was in the middle of sniffing one of her own scent selections when her ear twitched over towards them upon hearing Myyreh''s words. The Dorarizin stood, and Oscar blinked in surprise at how short she was. Zreshak was shorter than Myyreh, who was herself on the smaller side. The Gamma was probably no taller than 8 feet 5 inches.


    She sashayed over to their table while Myyreh stared at her with laser-like focus. Zreshak wore a long sleeveless vest that looked a bit like a lab coat. Her fur was white, like an artic fox, while her eyes were a bright emerald green, and she regarded Oscar with amusement as she spoke.


    "[I''m familiar with their wine selection. May I join you?"]


    Myyreh and Oscar exchanged a look, and she nodded at him in a clear message of ''It''s your call''.


    He waved at a spot across from him. "Sure, have a seat."


    Zreshak seated herself as her drone moved to hover just over her shoulder. "[Just to make things clear, I won''t answer any questions about any possible criminal accusations unless our advocate is present.]"


    Oscar leaned back a little. His main job was to sniff out just how involved Zreshak was in the smuggling done by her pack, and he figured that goal could be accomplished by chatting about mundane things. "Fine by me. I''m just here to learn more about your culture anyway."


    "[Oh? Then this establishment is an excellent place to start. Now, as to food and drink...]" Zreshak regarded the displayed menu and tapped a few glyphs. "[Those should be compatible with human anatomy...I think. You should have your drone scan it to make sure.]" Zreshak looked up at Myyreh. "[So what shall we talk about?]"


    Myyerh nodded towards Oscar. "[Ask him.]"


    The scientist now looked to Oscar with a raised ear. "[So you''re a true member of their crew? Not a mascot?]"


    Oscar grinned, making sure to show his teeth. "Yes, I''m a true crew member. Still a trainee, if I''m honest."


    "[Very well, Trainee. Ask anything you''d like. I may answer.]"


    "Well, there is always the standard ''what do you do for a living''."


    Zreshak smiled as she picked up one of the other snifters from the table. "[It''s complicated, but the idea is simple. I''m developing methods that will allow us to mine deeper into [Pak''Tahl''s] interior.]" She sniffed and sighed with pleasure.


    "What does that one smell like?" asked Oscar.


    She passed the snifter to him, and he inhaled. "I''m smelling a faint bit of pine?"


    Zreshak chuckled. "[It''s an evergreen forest at midday with a herd of glrnada in the distance. And all you smell is ''a bit of pine?'']"


    "[They''re practically nose-blind,]" said Myyreh.


    Oscar set the snifter down. "To get back on topic, Zreshak, maybe you can answer another silly question."


    "[Oh, I doubt it''s silly.]"


    "It might be. Remember, I''m a barbarian from the wastelands. Why don''t you just inject a bunch of nanotech into this moon and let it do its thing to extract all the metals you could want?"


    "[Hmm. That''s not a silly question, but it assumes that nanotech is magic. For proper self-replication the nanobots require very specific elements in specific ratios. Rare earths are usually a problem; they''re never present in enough concentration. Not to mention as one goes deeper underground the temperature goes up, and with high enough temperatures nanobots stop working.]"


    The manager arrived at that point, bearing another tray with filled wine glasses alongside a plate of smoked meats. The glasses, as with the snifters, were almost comically over-sized for Oscar. He again had to use both hands to handle his wine as he set it front of him. "Jeeves, check this stuff out would you?"


    A brief grid of red lines appeared over the table, and Jeeves beeped. "[The items on the table do not contain any [Human] toxins or allergens.]"


    One of Zreshak''s ears perked up quizzically. "[You named your drone?]"


    "Sure! Dude''s helping me out, he''s gotta have a name.]" Oscar reached over and gave a pat to Jeeves'' metal flank. The drone did not even beep in response.


    Zreshak looked over in evident confusion towards Myyreh, who just gave a casual shrug in reply. The scientist rallied and sipped at her wine with a newly-casual air. "[So, to continue with your question, even if you somehow could use nanotech to access every seam of metal inside the planet, at the end all you would have is a pile of nanobots. You''d have to then spend a lot more energy and time breaking them back down to retrieve the metal for other purposes. My research involves nanotech in part, but not in as direct a fashion as you think.]"


    "Got it. You''re trying to increase output while using the minimal possible amount of drones and nanotech."


    The scientist pointed a furry finger at him in a ''you got it'' gesture, then picked up a ''small'' piece of meat the size of a hardback novel.


    Oscar chose another, as did Myyreh, and they ate in silence for a while. The meat was tasty but a little chewier than he''d expected, and he felt a little ridiculous having to gnaw off little bits while his two dining companions ate their own portions in a few bites. The other patrons in the place kept glancing over to look at him eating, and Oscar had to tamp down his irritation. Sure, he was a small alien eating food that was a little too big for him. But why would that be so interesting?


    While they ate, Oscar''s comm bead crackled with Ngralh''s voice. "[Kergrakh just went into their apartment. I''m heading back to the suite. Grawreh''s on her way here, and I don''t want her to catch me standing around.]" A little flicker in Myyreh''s eyes was the only thing that indicated she''d received the same communication.


    There was another ear-crackle a little while later. This time it was the captain. "[I just finished the first interrogation with Rgratz-of-Arznor. Nothing yet, but I''m sure he''ll show his belly after a few more questionings.]"


    Zreshak spoke up when she''d finished eating. "[And how about you, [Human]? I mean, I know what you do for a living. But how in the name of the First Pack did a [Human] end up with a Dorarizin investigation team?]"


    "I applied for the position." Oscar drank a little more of his wine, which was a lot fruitier than he expected. But it wasn''t bad, and didn''t taste of too much alcohol. It wouldn''t do to get plastered in front of a possible criminal.


    "[But why did you want to leave [Earth] in the first place?]"


    "Why not? It''s a big galaxy and it would be a shame to not go see it while I still could."


    Zreshak snorted. "[I''m surprised your people would want to deal with any of us [aliens], given what happened.]" Her green gaze peered at him. "[I might be wrong, but you seem a little older. Were you alive when the Karnakians discovered you?]"


    Oscar bit back a nasty comment about her calling it a ''discovery''. Instead he simply nodded as he drank more wine.


    "[So why deal with those who wronged you? Is [Earth] that bad?]"


    "No, Earth is fine, it''s just..." Oscar figured he could tell her the truth. It wouldn''t cost him anything and it might make her drop her guard.


    "I had a nice little place." he continued. "A bar on the beach. Er, I''m assuming you know what a beach is."


    Zreshak nodded while sporting a very toothy grin. "[I''ve only been in simulations, but I know what they''re like.]"


    "Well, the beach is where I went after the dust settled from our so-called ''discovery''."A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "[You fled there?]"


    "''Fled'' is a strong term, but yeah." He noticed that Myyreh was also staring at him intently. "I just couldn''t keep doing what I was doing."


    "[Were you afraid?]" asked Myyreh. Her tone was somewhere between curious and challenging.


    Oscar gave a sad chuckle. "Nah. I''ve been scared lots of times in the past. This wasn''t fear, it was worse. I felt useless."


    That last word surprised Zreshak. "[Useless?]"


    "Sure. I was a member of the most advanced, strongest military on the planet. Our original mission was to protect our country. And that mission got diluted to hell and gone over the years, but it was still our core goal. And then, the very first time that our country actually did get invaded and we were needed to actually do our fuckin'' job..." He snapped his fingers. "Bam. No contest. We couldn''t do shit."


    Oscar looked at both curious Dorarizin. "So I quit. Went off and tended bar for decades. Kept myself in shape and had a lot of fun times with the ladies. But it was all just to keep myself busy and not think about it."


    He shrugged and sipped more wine. "And then, one fine day, the universe decides to burn down my bar. I figured it was a sign for me to, ah, ''get back on the horse''. I don''t know if that idiom translates, but it means I had to take control and try to do something constructive with my life." He waved at the table. "So here I am."


    "[Here you are,]" mused Zeshrak. "[I must confess, I''ve never felt like that. I''ve always had a goal firmly in mind. Still, I can appreciate how not having any would be...disquieting.]"


    Myyreh opened her mouth to add to the conversation, but at that moment Oscar''s comm crackled again. It was the captain again, but she sounded much less relaxed than before.


    "[Myrreh, [Oscar], get your tails to the Rrelren apartment. Ngralh will send you the coordinates and we''ll rendezvous with you there.]"


    Oscar knew why the captain sounded stressed when she spoke her next words.


    "[Hrzharh is dead. It looks like murder.]"


    Oscar and Myyreh looked at each other. "[Sorry, we need to be going right now,]" said Myyreh. "[I''ll get the tab.]"


    Zreshak''s ears went flat against her head. The scientist was not stupid; she knew something was up. "[What? What happened?]" Her amused look was now replaced with one of fear. "[Something happened, didn''t it? Did something happen to one of my pack?]" Her voice rose a little in panic at the last word.


    Oscar hopped off of his makeshift chair as Myyreh rose. He looked up at the panicked, white-furred Dorarizin and figured he wasn''t a big enough asshole to just blow her off.


    "Get in touch with your pack," he said. "You''re gonna need each other." She stared in horror as he turned and jogged out of the scent bar.


    Out in the corridor, Myyreh stared off into space for a bit then nodded. "[I have the directions to the Rrelren dwelling. With your permission, I''ll carry you.]" Before Oscar could speak, she touched his shoulder and gave him a sad little smile. "[I''m not implying that you''re useless, but I will get us there much faster.]"


    Oscar sighed and nodded. Before he could blink he found himself dangling in the cradle of her arms like a bride being carried across the threshold.


    "[Hang onto my neck as well,]" she said.


    Oh great, just when this couldn''t make him feel more like a little kid. But Oscar leaned in and got one arm around her neck just as she took off.


    <hr>


    Oscar knew from past experience that seeing copious amounts of human blood on video was nothing like seeing and smelling it in real life. And now he knew that held true even when the blood wasn''t human. Thanks to the safety videos he''d been subjected to at Zephyr Station, he''d seen plenty of pictures of Dorarizin blood.


    Now a bright blue spray of the real thing extended away from Hrzharh''s crumpled body. The wound that had killed him was obvious; the front of his skull was deeply indented, exposing his brain. One of his eyes was crushed into pulp, and the intact eye stared at the ceiling as if he couldn''t believe he was dead.


    It was obvious which instrument had killed Hrzharh. At the end of the trail of gore was the baseball-sized sphere of a camera drone. Its dark silvery surface lay coated with more blue blood, along with fur and bits of brain tissue.


    Oscar looked up and saw that the apartment was now infested with his team''s camera drones. They were everywhere, scanning the position of everything in the room including the team themselves.


    The place looked pretty nice, with pastel-colored walls that flowed into the floor and ceiling in a manner that made it feel a little like the inside of a civilized cave. It smelled a lot less nice, since the coppery reek of Hrzharh''s blood was mixed with a more perfumed stink that he couldn''t identify.


    At the moment, Oscar stood well out of the way against one wall. Bgrarh knelt and examined the camera drone and the surrounding blood splatter while Kgrashak, the medic, looked over the body itself.


    At the wall farthest from the entrance there was another, smaller splotch of blood. That was Kergrakh''s blood, or so he''d been told. Another camera drone lay near the splotch, although this one was only covered with blood. Egrweh was giving this second drone a careful scan with a flashlight-shaped tool. Beyond that was an open door, one of several leading out of the main room.


    Ngralh and the captain were in the middle of an intense four-way whispered conversation at the door to the apartments. The other two participants were Grawreh and Chief Kergrth. The Alpha looked like a wreck; her furry cheeks were matted with tears and it looked as if she''d torn at her own clothing in grief. The chief already had a comforting hand on her shoulder, and to Oscar''s surprise he saw the captain reach out and grasp Grawreh''s shoulder as well.


    Grawreh nodded and she loped off with her tail almost tucked between her legs. After another few brief words with the captain and XO, the chief trailed after her. Ngralh walked over to Oscar as the captain turned and surveyed the scene.


    "Well Nate, what''s the story with jurisdiction?" asked Oscar. Bgrarh stood and moved over to the other blood splatter while a camera drone followed him.


    "[They''ve agreed to let us handle the investigation into Hrzharh''s death,]" said Ngralh. "[We have a lot more expertise in this than anyone here.]"


    They both looked at the body for a bit. "How''s Kergrakh doing?"


    The XO sighed. "[She''s stable, but still unconscious. Grawreh was the one who found her...and Hrzharh. She says the door was locked. Egwreh checked and the door''s log doesn''t show anyone other than Kergrakh entering in the last few hours.]"


    "Are there any cameras in the outside hallways?"


    "[A few. We should have the relevant video in a few [minutes].]"


    "So if nobody came or left, then it looks as if the two camera drones went nuts and tried to crush their skulls. Succeeding, in Hrzharh''s case."


    Before Ngralh could reply Bgrarh came bounding over. "[Oh, [Oscar], I forgot to give you this! You''ll need it since this is your first case..." He started rummaging in a pouch at his side.


    Oscar stared up at Bgrarh''s deerstalker and wondered if he was about to get a hat of his own. But instead, Bgrarh withdrew a small glass-and-metal object from his pouch. The device looked like a toy as he pinched it between two huge fingers and held it out to Oscar.


    The human didn''t even think about scoffing as he took the magnifying glass from Bgrarh. It was sized for a human, after all, and the tool was one of the few things around here that didn''t make him feel like a child. He smiled up at Bgrarh. "Thanks, Benny."


    Bgrarh smiled in reply and loped off to continue his work.


    The captain spoke from her position by the door. "[Well, Trainee, what do you make of this? Feel free to talk aloud.]"


    The question made Oscar think of Garrett, the wiry old coot who''d mentored him during his first year in CID. He could almost hear the man''s cigarette-roughened voice behind him.


    Okay, smartass, let''s see how smart you really are.


    He stepped away from the wall. "We should start with the obvious, which is the apparent murder weapon. Emma, did you get any information off of the two camera drones?"


    The engineer stood from where she knelt next to the patch of Kergrakh''s blood. "[No, they''re both fried. Memory and internals are a total loss.]"


    "[I found one claw-mark on the drone next to Hrzharh,]" added Bgrarh. "[The scratch has micro-fragments which correspond to the particular metal concentration in his claws.]"


    "So he maybe caught sight of the drone coming at him and threw up a paw." Oscar looked at the splayed body. "Not in time, though. Emma, is it possible to rewire a camera drone to attack like that?"


    "[It''s possible. It would take considerable skill; there''s a lot of safety interlocks to prevent such a thing.]"


    "As a follow-up question, could a drone go fast enough to do lethal damage?"


    "[They''re certainly hard enough. Their shells are made out of iridium, and if our hypothetical hacker made the drone use all of its power at once...yes, it''s barely possible.]"


    "And now my final question. Could such rewiring be done remotely, or would you have to have physical access to the drone?"


    Egwreh gave a few thoughtful clicks. "[I honestly don''t know. My instinct is that such extensive reprogramming via wireless is impossible, but someone might have discovered a back door that isn''t in the technical bulletins yet."


    "So the killer reprogrammed the drones in person or, much less likely, did it remotely."


    Rgrarshok stood watching Oscar with her arms folded and a small smile on her face. Oscar felt a little bead of sweat on his neck; he hoped he wasn''t coming across as some kind of primitive screwhead suggesting they read goat entrails to identify the murderer. He twirled the magnifying glass in one meaty hand like a fidget spinner; the action helped to calm himself.


    He looked at the body again. "Next we need to look at the obvious suspect, the survivor. How likely is it that Kergrakh is the one who did this?"


    The team looked at each other, and for the first time Oscar saw them all look uneasy. "[It would not be unheard of for denmates to attack each other,]" replied the captain. "[But it would have to be due to some horrible transgression on Hrzharh''s part.]"


    "Something like Green smuggling, say? Maybe Kergrakh found out about it."


    Bgrarh shook his head. "[No, everyone in the pack knows about it, even if they aren''t directly involved. Denmates can''t keep secrets from each other. Scent alone would give away any transgression.]"


    Oscar turned to the medic. "We should still make sure. Kate, you should examine Kergrakh and see if her head wound could be self-inflicted."


    The medic nodded. "[I had a quick look before they took her away. It''s very unlikely she could have done it to herself, but I''ll double-check.]"


    "How was she found?"


    In response, Kgrashak gestured at the rear door with the second pool of blood. "[Grawreh said she was halfway out of that door, face-down.]"


    "Have the drones mapped that next room?"


    "[Yes, it''s all logged for evidence. It looks as if she was indulging in some more powerful scents than what they had at the bar.]"


    Oscar didn''t understand until he walked over, detoured around the blood, and poked his head in the door. Beyond was a little room that looked like a Zen meditation space. The floor was a woven mat of straw-like fibers, and against the far wall were numerous glass jars filled with colored oils. Just inside the room was a tipped-over snifter, and the damp patch of straw next to the snifter gave off the pungent, flowery odor that he''d smelled earlier.


    "That is strong for sure," he said. "And I''ve got the worst nose here. You guys must really be suffering."


    "[Eh, we''re getting used to it,]" said Ngralh. "[That particular scent is called ''hgrun'' and it''s used for calming the emotions.]"


    "So after leaving the scent bar, Kergrakh comes back here in a huff and tries to chill out." Oscar turned and visualized what might have happened. "She''s in that room, sniffing her chill-juice and muttering unprintable things about the damn cops from the Senate hassling her. Hrzharh is out here and lets out a warning cry when he sees his drone attack. She hears that, or she hears the thump when it smashes his skull. So she gets up and starts walking out the door when her own drone attacks her. Maybe she moved just as it attacked, so it only got in a glancing blow."


    The human made a tumbling gesture with one arm as he pictured Kergrakh''s fall. "So she goes down, boom, but she''s not dead. I''m assuming that the drone would be toast by this point?"


    Egwreh nodded. "[Our perpetrator must have set their internals to burn up after the attack. Their power would be drained anyway.]"


    "Got it. So that''s why her drone didn''t do a follow-up attack and make sure." The human pointed at the main door in front of them all. "Is that the only door into the apartments?"


    Bgrarh nodded.


    "How hard would it be to bypass that lock?" asked Oscar.


    "[Not very hard,]" said Bgrarh. "[Someone with moderate skill could do it.]"


    "And the corridor videos?"


    Egwreh gestured to a blank expanse of wall, and one of the camera drones came floating over in response to a command from her implant. "[Our collating program should have retrieved them by now...]"


    The drone shot out a fan of light against the bare wall, and a matrix of ten video screens appeared. All of them were filled with nothing but static.


    Oscar rubbed his forehead. "All of them out of commission? What are the odds of that?"


    "[Very unlikely,]" said the captain. Her smile rose into a half-grin. "[So what does that imply, Trainee?]"


    Oscar spun the magnifying glass again. "Right. We''ll need to examine the cameras, but for now it looks like they were deactivated. Doing it through the network might be detected or leave a trace...could you knock the cameras out with some sort of device?"


    "[Oh, sure,]" replied Egwreh. "[You could make a little handheld gadget to do that. It would be illegal to have it, of course. But using the device would be as simple as pointing it and pressing a button.]"


    "I''m assuming we found no such device here," said Oscar. "Kergrakh could have zapped the cameras on her way back to the apartment so as to make it look like someone else came in."


    "[For what purpose?]" asked Ngralh. "[Why make it look like a break-in? The drones were already here.]"


    "To confuse us. That''s assuming she''s the one who killed Hrzharh, of course...." The human stopped his magnifying glass in mid-spin as he had another thought. "Ooh, this camera-zapping device, could you use it to take out a camera drone?"


    "[If you tweaked its output a little, you sure could,]" said Egwreh. "[Killing a drone would be lot easier than trying to reprogram it into a murder weapon.]"


    The captain scratched at one ear. "[Okay, so if his drone didn''t kill Hrzharh, then what did our hypothetical intruder use?]"


    "They could still use the drone," said Oscar. "But in a much more primitive way. Could a Dorarizin throw a drone hard enough to cause that kind of head trauma?"


    "[Certainly,]" said Kgrashak. "[We should double-check the drones to make sure there''s no foreign skin cells or other leavings on them.]"


    Oscar tapped the magnifying glass on his chin. "Let''s run through that scenario. The intruder comes to the door, zapping cameras as they go, and bypasses the lock. Or more likely Hrzharh knows them and lets them in, and the intruder wiped the log afterwards. However they got in, they then zapped Hrzharh''s drone, picked it up, and threw it at him."


    Ngralh turned to regard the second pool of blood. "[So Kergrakh hears Hrzharh yell, she comes to the door and...our mystery person does the same thing to her?]"


    "Yep. After the first killing our intruder runs over and waits just by the door for Kergrakh to walk in. She sees Hrzharh''s body, runs forward without looking around, and the intruder knocks her down and bashes her in the back of the head with the other drone. No, wait, that doesn''t work. She''d smell them first, wouldn''t she?"


    "[She''d just been sniffing a bunch of hgrun,]" said Ngralh. "[Her nose would be useless for a while.]"


    Kgrashak nodded. "[It''s clear I''ll need to examine Kergrakh''s injury. With your permission, Captain, I''ll go do that right now.]"


    "[Granted. Keep in contact, and if they give you any nonsense refer them to me.]"


    The medic bowed and jogged out of the apartment. Rgrarshok put her paws on her hips and smiled.


    "[Well, Trainee, we have three scenarios. How do we narrow them down?]"


    Oscar blew out a breath. "Right. Scenario one is that someone reprogrammed the drones. Either the murderer set them to go off at a certain time, or somehow sent a remote command. If it''s the latter, we should look for evidence of that command. Plus there''s the motive angle. The killer didn''t affect all of the Rrelren pack''s drones, since the remaining three didn''t have theirs go nuts on ''em. So maybe Kergrakh and Hrzharh were the only targets, and if we can figure out why that might tell us who."


    Her voice was amused, if still a little condescending. "[Not bad. And the other two scenarios?]"


    "Scenario two is that Kergrakh is the murderer and tried to make it look like someone else either broke in or reprogrammed the drones or both. Right now, all we can do is wait for Kate to make her diagnosis of Kergrakh''s head injury. That leaves scenario three, our mystery intruder. If the drones don''t show any evidence of a third party, then the only thing that would prove option three would be some other evidence of their presence.]"


    "[Yes, that would be nice, wouldn''t it?]"


    From the captain''s smug tone, Oscar knew there was something he was missing. He spun the magnifying glass again in his hand and pictured the murder scene as a black box. Don''t worry about what went on inside the apartment, just look at all of the inputs and outputs...


    He made a disgusted grunt. "Aw, shit. I forgot we''re on an airless moon. This place has its own air recycling, doesn''t it?"


    The captain bowed. "[Full marks, Trainee. Yes, a large apartment like this would have its own life support system. Tied into the main colony, of course, but capable of functioning separately in case of emergency. Bgrarh, would you please check the intake filter?]"


    It took a little bit of searching, but they finally found the manhole-sized intake grill for the apartments hidden in a corner. Bgrarh pulled it off and directed one of the camera drones to go in first.


    "[It''ll record the position of the filter for the evidence log,]" he explained to Oscar. In deference to their implant-less human colleague, another drone hovered nearby and projected the first drone''s view into nearby space. The video showed the dun-colored metal walls of a duct, one that Oscar figured he might be able to squeeze through if he really needed to.


    "[Then we''ll pull the filter out and I''ll use our lab on board the Claw to do a detailed analysis of both it and the drones,]" continued Bgrarh. "[Any foreign [DNA] on them should tell us if someone else was in here...]"


    He trailed off as the filter came into view. In the tiny drone''s field of view the filter looked like a huge white expanse. And in the center of that expanse, a small feather sat pressed against the filter material by the outgoing air flow.


    It was a feather with a very familiar pearlescent blue color.


    The team all stared for a while at the image, until the captain finally sighed. "[Oh Tk''Serk, you utter fool. What have you done?]"

 Chapter Six

    "[My clutch-mate is not a murderer,]" said Ti''Etka.


    Karnakians couldn''t properly ''sit'', at least not in the same fashion as [Humans] and Dorarizin. So instead Ti''Etka sort-of knelt against one wall of the interrogation room with the fan-like end of his tail pressed against the wall''s unyielding metal.


    In the meantime Captain Rgrarshok stood nearby and performed her very best ''looming''. In spite of her threatening posture, Ti''Etka looked calm and composed with only the fidgeting of his claws to betray any nervousness.


    A dark-yellow Karnakian stood by the door. She was Ta''Stak''qa, the raptor''s equivalent of Chief Kergrth. By all accounts she was much less ''questionable'' than her Dorarizin counterpart. For the moment, she seemed content to merely watch the proceedings, darting her head back and forth to each speaker in turn.


    The captain sighed. "{I never said she was. Right now, Tk''Serk is only a suspect. And all I want...}" She gestured to the other Karnakian. "{...all we want is to speak to her directly. Do you have any information as to her whereabouts?}"


    Ti''Etka clenched his claws together and stared back unblinking.


    "{You may be worried because we are a Dorarizin team, but please believe me when I say that we''ll give her a fair hearing. We merely wish to collect all of the evidence that we can.}"


    "[There is no point. She is not a murderer.]"


    "{We found a feather in the Rrelren pack''s apartment, one with her particular color. We also found residual skin cells at the base of that feather which match Ti''Serk''s DNA. From the age of those cells, we know that the feather was shed within in the last day. She was recently in that apartment, an apartment where we found one Dorarizin dead and another badly injured. I am merely trying to avoid any further...problems. Again, if she turns herself in we will treat her with respect and listen to her testimony with no bias. [Ta''Stak''qa] will be present during all questioning. This could all be just a horrible coincidence.}"


    The sky-blue Karnakian looked at the floor. Rgrarshok had a moment of hope that she was truly winning him over, but then Ti''Etka looked back up with defiance in all four of his eyes.


    "[My clutch-mate is not a murderer.]"


    <hr>


    In a nearby room, Oscar grumbled internally about the lack of damn chairs. But his face was smiling and serene as he sat in lotus position on the room''s only table and plinked away on his guitar. Rgratz-of-Arznor sat across from him, but he no longer looked sleepy. In fact, he looked mighty pissed off. The alien was among the larger Dorarizin that Oscar had seen, and sported a few scars on his hands. Hopefully those scars were from manual labor rather than fighting.


    A red-brown Dorarizin sat next to him, one Brsau-of-Acgill. This was the Rrelren pack''s ''advocate'', who had oh-so-conveniently volunteered his services to ensure that Rgratz''s rights were not violated. He looked just as pissed off as Rgratz, but both Dorarizin sat quietly. Oscar didn''t doubt that their good behavior was due in part to Jeeves. The drone hovered in one corner, a threat that Oscar had very pointedly refrained from pointing out.


    Oscar strummed a few chords and waited for someone to talk. That was the only real trick to any police interrogation. The worst thing was for a suspect to clam up and give nothing. You had to get them talking. About the weather, about the latest football game, about their girlfriend''s bra size, whatever it was didn''t matter. You just had to get them talking and keep them talking.


    "[How much longer do we have to be here?]" asked Brsau with an underlying growl.


    Oscar shrugged. "Dunno. They asked me to wait here with you guys and let ''em know if you needed anything." He winked. "Just between us girls, I think they stuck me in here to keep me out of the way."


    Rgratz''s mane bristled. "[You know very well that we''re not females. This is pointless! I''ve already answered all of the questions from your ''captain''.]" He couldn''t quite keep the sneer out of his voice upon speaking the last word.


    The human began to play a song from well before he was born. The beginning chords held an ominous undertone, and the two Dorarizin tilted their heads as they tried to parse the alien music. Oscar hummed the melody for a few lines without actually singing the words, then spoke while staring at Brsau.


    "I don''t quite bless the rains down in Africa, but I''m smart enough to know that things look kinda shaky for your client. Right after getting questioned about certain activities of his boss, the aforementioned boss turns up with a bad case of the dead."


    "[Tk''Serk killed him!]" yelled Rgratz.


    Brsau put a paw on Rgratz''s shoulder. "[Don''t say another word.]"


    Oscar shrugged with one shoulder while continuing to play. "It sure looks that way. But even if the Karnakian did kill him, why would she do it right now? My pack''s all up in your collective face, looking into some drug trafficking."


    "[There has been NO real proof of-]" began Brsau.


    The human held up a palm. "My apologies. We''re looking into alleged drug trafficking. But still, pulling a murder while we''re watching is just plain stupid."


    He strummed a bit more and then fixed Rgratz with a sly smile. "Unless Tk''Serk was worried that Hrzharh would talk. Now I wonder, what might possibly give her that idea? Maybe you sent her a message via implant and told her that Hrzharh was looking shaky. Maybe he was the point man for the smuggling ring on the Dorarizin side. Taking him out might solve a whoooole lotta problems."


    Rgratz took in a breath to reply, only to be stopped by another warning slap on his shoulder by the advocate. The Dorarizin spun his head and snarled at Brsau, then stood abruptly. And since he was a Dorarizin, that was very abrupt indeed. Oscar kept his face serene and untroubled, but inside he wondered how fast Jeeves could react if things went south.


    The alien''s paws clenched into fists by his sides. "[I never sent a message to Tk''Serk. I have no idea who killed Hrzharh. And I have nothing more to say to you.]"


    Oscar chuckled. "That was some very specific denying, my friend. I notice you didn''t say anything about Green smuggling." He began strumming again. "Or Green use, for that matter."


    Rgratz''s teeth clenched. "[As I said earlier, I''ve already told your captain that I was tested and no evidence was found of any addiction. If you have something to accuse me of, then do so and stop your games.]"


    The human shrugged and continued playing. "Like I said, I''m just here to keep an eye on ya. Whether you''re a user or not is no matter to me. But I can''t help but notice that your tail is trembling a bit, and you stood up kinda fast even though there''s a security drone in the corner watching your butt. You really should think about stopping. Even us primitive humans know that you shouldn''t sample your own product."


    "[I am NOT...]"


    Rgratz''s furious reply was cut off as the door slid open and Myyreh entered. She gave the standing Dorarizin a frosty blue gaze that made him seat himself with the same rapidity with which he''d stood.


    Myyreh turned her eyes to Oscar, and her eyes became much warmer. "[Kergrakh''s skull fracture is healed. They''ll be bringing her out of the coma in an [hour], and the captain wants you there. Anything from these two?]"


    "Nah. I think my boy here is as dirty as the day is long, but that''s just little ol'' me''s opinion." He waggled his eyebrows at the now-seated Rgratz. "Take my suggestion to heart, okay? I''ve seen this before, so trust me. It''s only gonna get worse from here."


    <hr>


    "[She will be quite weak for a few hours,]" said the doctor. "[I don''t want a lot of people pestering her with questions. Her pack is in there as well, and I have to insist they have priority in talking to her.]"


    The captain nodded. "[I understand. My only request is that my medic, Kgrashak, and Trainee [Oscar] be present when Kergrakh awakes. And Myrreh, of course, but she will merely observe.]"


    Him being the only investigator going into the room was news to Oscar. He tried to catch the captain''s eye, but failed since she was firstly focused on the doctor and secondly she was quite a ways above his own eyeline.


    The trio from the Claw and the colony''s Dorarizin doctor stood in one of the outer rooms of Pak''tahl''s hospital. The walls were an even softer pastel color palatte than the rest of the colony, and Oscar wondered if there was some extra color or scent that he was unaware of to keep the patients calm. Calming surroundings or not, he for sure couldn''t fault xeno medicine. Kergrakh had come here barely clinging to life and only ten hours later was ready to wake up.


    "[What''s the update on possible brain damage or memory loss?]" asked Kgrashak. "[I didn''t see anything obvious when I examined her earlier.]"


    The doctor gave a noncomittal grunt. "[There was no swelling of the brain or large-scale deep tissue damage. The nanotheraputics didn''t catch any smaller-scale neural damage either, but we won''t know how her memories fared until she starts talking."


    As the doctor and Kgrashak moved off, Oscar cleared his throat. "Ah, Captain? I appreciate your confidence in me, but wouldn''t you prefer to be in there when she wakes up?"


    The captain smiled. "[If I go barging in and asking a lot of questions of an injured pack member it will look, shall we say, indelicate. You''ll be able to ask the same questions without appearing threatening.]"


    <hr>


    Kergrakh blinked as she opened her eyes. She inclined on a piece of furniture that was sort of like a human hospital bed, but one that was more conforming to her digitigrade rear legs. The Beta female''s eyes opened wide in the dim room lighting, taking in the rest of her pack gathered around the bed...a pack that was, of course, missing one important person.


    She twitched and made as if to push herself off of the bed, but Grawreh''s paw thumped into her chest to hold her in place. The Alpha had cleaned up since Oscar had seen her outside the murder scene, and she was once more the very picture of self-possession. She''d allowed Kgrashak and Oscar to stand in the corner of the room, though she''d sneered while doing do. The captain''s insistence that Myyreh also be present was met with an eyerolling acceptance from the Alpha.


    "[Relax, dear sister,]" said Grawreh.


    "[Hrzharh!]" shouted Kergrakh. "[I heard a yell from the next room...]" Her eyes darted around those at her bedside, and tears welled up in her eyes. "[Oh, no. Where is he?]"


    Grawreh caressed her head. "[Shhh, you need to rest and regain your strength.]"


    The bedridden Dorarizin let forth a mournful mewl. "[He''s dead, isn''t he?]" She put her paws over her face and sobbed as Kgrashak stepped forward.


    "[May I examine you?]"


    Kergrakh dropped her hands and one side of her lip raised in a snarl. "[What is she doing here?]" Her eyes darted to Oscar. "[And what is that creature doing here?]"


    Grawreh continued to stroke the Beta''s forehead. "[I asked them to look into...Hrzharh.]"


    "[That''s not why I''m here,]" said Kgrashak. "[My main concern is your injury. Would you allow me to check your head?]"


    The Beta leaned forward with only a little growling grumble. Kgrashak''s paws were sure and quick as she parted the fur over the recent injury in the back of the patient''s head.


    "[Your skull appears nicely healed. Do you have any blurred vision or nausea?]"


    "[No, just a headache.]"


    "[That should subside. But you must let the staff know immediately if you start having vision problems such as seeing double or difficulty focusing.]" The medic leaned Kergrakh back onto the bed as Oscar set his jaw and approached the group. The rest of the pack parted to let him pass. Most of them at least looked neutral about his presence. Zreshak actually gave him a little smile and nod. The only one to give him a dose of stink-eye was Nrgeth, the pack''s remaining male.


    Oscar''s head barely cleared the edge of the bed. He put on his best ''embarrassed'' face and rubbed the back of his head. "Hi. I know this is not something you want to deal with right now, but I''ve got to ask about what happened. Sadly, we don''t have the luxury of waiting."


    Kergrakh stared down at him in disbelief. "[You? You''re questioning me?]" Her disbelief faded and she gave a weary shrug. "[But yes, I suppose you must. I can''t tell you much. After getting back to our dwelling, I was trying to relax by smelling a nice glass of hgrun. I heard the door open and then heard some voices talking.]"


    "Could you tell how many voices there were?" asked Oscar.


    "[I think just two? I know Hrzharh was one of them, but I couldn''t tell you the other.]"


    Oscar waited for one of the remaining pack members to ''volunteer'' that Tk''Serk was the prime suspect. As required, the team had submitted a copy of their evidence log to Chief Kergrth''s office. But soon after doing so the Karnakian''s apparent guilt was the worst-kept secret in the colony. Memories could be easily skewed with a little suggestive questioning, and Oscar wanted to see if any of the pack would push Kergrakh''s recollections towards cementing Tk''Serk''s presence in the apartment. But no one spoke, so he continued.


    "Could you tell anything about the second voice? Did it sound familiar?"


    Kergrakh shook her muzzle. "[No, I don''t think so. It sounded Karnakian, I think? I remember being irritated by its trilling, but it''s all so fuzzy. I might be misremembering.]"


    Grawreh caressed her pack-mate''s head again and glared down at Oscar. "[Is this truly necessary?]"


    "Just one more question. You said you heard a yell from the main room. Can you tell me any more details after that?"


    "[Hrzharh and the other were talking, but it was just background noise to me until I heard Hrzharh yell. He sounded panicked, so...]" Kergrakh trailed off. "[I think I stood and moved to the door, but I''m not sure. I think remember a few moments from when I was brought here, but not much else.]"Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Oscar nodded and reached up to pat one of her paws which lay closest to him on the mattress. "That''s okay, it''s enough for now. You get some rest, and if you remember anything else let us know."


    Kergrakh''s other paw moved like lightning and trapped his hand between her paws. Myyreh pushed herself off the wall in alarm, only to be stopped by Kergrakh''s sniffle. "[Would...would you mind giving me a hug?]"


    The human blinked in surprise. That was something that he''d never encountered while questioning someone. His initial thought was to beg off; he''d been told often enough that ''untrained'' Dorarizin could seriously injure a human by accident. He glanced at Kgrashak, then back at Myrreh. The latter gave him a little shake of her head. He couldn''t blame his bodyguard.


    Kgrashak spoke up. "[You must be very careful, Kergrakh. As gentle a hug as possible.]"


    The injured female nodded in response as more tears welled in her eyes.


    Oscar sighed and clambered up on the bed. "If you want to, sure. Justhuurk...that''s still a little too tight."


    "[Oh, sorry,]" murmured Kergrakh, and loosened her hug so that Oscar could breathe properly. She pressed her forehead against Oscars''s shoulder, which was a little awkward since her head was about the size of a grizzly''s. Oscar felt her tears dampen his uniform as her sniffles turned into sobs. The force of her crying shook Oscar''s body while he gave her nearest shoulder a few pats and felt decidedly uncomfortable about the situation.


    <hr>


    "Well that was awkward," said Oscar. "But, as we expected, Kergrakh claims she didn''t remember much. She did say that there was someone else in the apartment, and it sounds like Hrzharh let whoever it was in. But she didn''t recognize the voice or hear what they discussed. She did volunteer it sounded Karnakian, but she was also careful to say that her memory is suspect due to the head trauma."


    "[And none of the other pack members nudged her memories in any particular direction?]" asked the captain.


    "Nope."


    The huge Dorarizin sighed and looked at the assembled team. They were back in their ''headquarters'' and their holographic display now showed a matrix of the various suspects, all centered around a picture of the murder victim. Tk''Serk was central to the diagram, with a big question mark next to her portrait. "[Kgrashak, are you convinced that the Beta''s wound isn''t self-inflicted?]"


    The medic nodded and called up an image of Kergrakh''s skull from when she''d been brought to the hospital. There was an obvious displacement of bone just above where her neck met her head. "[It was a severe injury, and the wound''s shape and placement is consistent with the camera drone being the weapon.]" A wireframe ball moved slowly into the image and bounced off of the skull at an oblique angle, its impact point right over the displacement.


    "[If I had to guess, the drone was already thrown when Kergrakh turned her head. Her turning changed the attack from a direct blow to a glancing one. That''s the only reason she survived. There was nothing else around her that could have been used to inflict a similar wound, and she couldn''t have thrown the drone at the back of her own head. The angle is all wrong.]"


    "I''ll ask the obvious question," said Oscar. "Could a Karnakian throw a drone hard enough to create the wounds on both Hrzharh and Kergrakh?"


    "[They could, especially if they use their hind legs,]" replied the medic. "[[Karnakians] can be surprisingly accurate with them.]"


    Rgrarshok pointed a claw at the Karnakain''s image. "[All right. As of now, Tk''Serk is the number one suspect and locating her is our main priority. What are we doing to find her?]"


    Egwreh stood. "[The Dorarizin and [Karnakian] police are on the lookout for Tk''Serk. They have also done seismic scans for any secret tunnels or hideouts, but they haven''t found anything so far. Bgrarh and I have also seeded camera drones at all exits from the colony, both at the airlocks and at the docks. We haven''t found records of any other suspicious camera outages in the colony''s own network. There are a few images of Tk''Serk from an hour before the murder, but since then she seems to have dropped out of sight.]"


    "[That rotten little Kergrth,]" growled the captain. "[If I find out he tipped her off I''ll eat his liver while he watches. Is there any way she could have left the colony before the murder was discovered?"


    "[No cameras caught her at any of the airlocks,]" said Bgrarh. He scratched a claw next to his deerstalker hat as he thought. "[I suppose if she got to the surface somehow she could be holed up there. But there''s no atmosphere up there, plus the temperature right now is only [fifty degrees] above absolute zero. She''d need to have an emergency shelter and a good supply of air and rations. She might be able to hide out for a few days, but she''d be pretty desperate to try lasting longer than that.]"


    Oscar stared at the display while he twiddled his magnifying glass. "I assume our camera drones are good enough to pick her up even if she''s in disguise?"


    Egrweh nodded. "[Yes, they image in a wide part of the electromagnetic spectrum including [terahertz]. Even if she wore a disguise or prosthetics, we''d nab her.]"


    "Maybe she doesn''t know that. Are there any ships at the docks right now?"


    "[We caught a break there,]" said Ngralh. "[There''s one Dorarizin ship that isn''t due to leave for another [week], and there''s no expected traffic coming in during that time either. We''ve placed a block on any ships entering or leaving, but that can''t last forever.]"


    "So what was Tk''Serk''s plan?" mused Oscar. "She had to know we''d stop any ships from leaving, even if she managed to sneak on board one of ''em. Which she can''t in any case. Making that camera-zapping doohickey shows she''s got some technical competence..." He rubbed his forehead with his free hand. "I don''t like it."


    "[What don''t you like?]" asked the captain.


    "I don''t like this whole thing. Something about it burns my gut. Tk''Serk''s not an idiot. The colony''s not that big, there''s only twenty thousand people here. So she can''t just change her identity and vanish into the crowd, she''s got to get away. Maybe she''s hiding out on the surface until the heat dies down, and then plans to stow away on an outgoing shuttle?"


    "[That might be an option, but she''d have to be pretty desperate,]" said Egrwreh.


    "Right, and we weren''t all that close to nabbing her or Hrzharh. Why resort to murder now, when we''re already here?"


    "[Tk''Serk panicked,]" said Ngralh. "[She did leave that feather behind. Maybe she was surprised by Kergrakh during the murder and managed to take her out, then bolted right after that. After all, she didn''t know when somone else in the pack might come home.]"


    Oscar shook his head. "This murder doesn''t feel like a panic move, though. If she had that camera and drone zapper, that implies premediation. Tk''Serk must have thought through how she was going to go about killing him. And yet when she finally does the deed, she doesn''t think to check if there''s someone else in the apartment? She doesn''t try to set up even a half-assed alibi? Nah, something stinks about this."


    Rgrarshok gave a thoughtful click-growl. "[Be that as it may, right now Tk''Serk is still our main avenue of inquiry. In the meantime there''s not much else to do but wait. No, wait, there''s one thing.]"


    She turned to the crew''s pilot. "Grawfren, head back up to the Claw and change our orbital inclincation so that we can cover as much of Pak''tahl''s surface as possible. Set our IR sensors to alert us of any suspicious heat spots on the surface.]"


    Grawfren nodded and loped out of the room. The captain turned and pondered the main display. "[We''ve all been awake for twenty hours straight, and we all need a break. Trainee, this would be a good opportunity for you to do your mandated four hours.]"


    Oscar huffed and threw up his hands. "Oh, come on! We''re right in the middle of the investigation! I can''t go sit on my ass watching sitcoms like a doofus!"


    Rgrarshok grinned and held up a placating paw. "[All right, all right. How about a compromise? In the spirit of cultural exchange, we''ll watch a [Human] piece of entertainment of your choice. I''ll log it as you fulfilling your mandated time, plus we could all use the grooming break.]"


    She looked at the team members in turn. "[After that, I want everyone to get at least [five hours] of sleep. Tired people get sloppy and make mistakes. If the police or our drones catch sight of Tk''Serk in the meantime, we''ll get the notification.]"


    There was a little grumbling from the others, but the crew finally agreed. Oscar pulled out his portable terminal and scrolled through the all of the OIH-approved movies. He saw one candidate that might be a little too ''on the nose'', but it was one he hadn''t seen in a while. And he knew Bgrarh would approve.


    "Cool, they have the 1939 ''Hound of the Baskervilles'' in here." He looked at the others. "Lemme guess, you''ve all seen it already." He looked over at Bgrarh. "Well, I know for sure you have."


    Bgrarh looked sheepish. "[I kept suggesting it, but it keeps getting voted down.]"


    Oscar laughed. "Well, Benny, I guess it''s your lucky day since I''m here to pull rank."


    <hr>


    Basil Rathbone turned to Nigel Bruce as he puffed on his pipe. "There are still some gaps to be filled in, but all in all, things are becoming a little clearer."


    Nigel Bruce rose to his feet as he performed his best Watsonian bluster. "Not to me, I assure you. It''s still a hopeless jumble. Mr. Franklin, Doctor Mortimer, the Barrymans...put it all together and what have you got?"


    "Murder, my dear Watson. Refined, cold-blooded murder."


    Since Oscar wasn''t tall enough to give the Dorarizin a proper grooming, they''d settled on a happy compromise; headpats. For this particular session it was Myyreh''s turn, and the big alien sprawled on her back next to Oscar with her head in his lap while he gave her scalp a thorough going-over with his hands. Her folded paws lay on her chest as she sighed in contentment.


    "[Is Earth really that misty?]" asked Myrreh.


    Oscar ran his fingers through the fur between her ears. "Parts of it can be. But that''s all a soundstage anyway." He kept his voice low so Bgrarh wouldn''t hear. For his part, the big male was getting groomed by Kgrashak, but it was clear he barely noticed it. Bgrarh clutched his deerstalker in front of him with both paws and grinned like the top of his head would come off, all the while watching Sherlock Holmes do his thing up on the wall.


    "[It does seem like a strange system, having the male of the line inherit all of the family property,]" mused Myyreh. She stretched a bit as he scratched at one particular area. "[Mmmm, yes, that''s the spot.]"


    "Yeah, we don''t really do that anymore," replied Oscar. He applied his fingers to the indicated spot with a will, making Myyreh''s tail swish against the carpet as she wagged it in pleasure.


    The human watched the familiar movie play out while his brain was occupied with the Hrzharh murder. What about the whole mess made his gut yell at him? He was missing something, but what?


    Myyreh''s soft head-fur felt wonderful under his fingers, and acted to calm him better than any fidget spinner. As he combed through her scalp, his hand bumped up against one of her big triangular ears. In the middle of his musing and without really thinking, he reached up and rubbed the velvety skin of her ear between his thumb and forefinger.


    Her body stiffened and she let out a little gasp. "[[Oscar], what are you doing?]"


    He blinked as his mind came back to himself and he snatched his hand away from her ear. "Oh, sorry. Did that hurt?"


    She turned her head away from the movie and grinned up at him. "[Just the opposite. That particular caress is a signal used by a male when he''s in heat. It''s meant to show the female he fancies that he''s ready.]"


    All thoughts of the case fled from Oscar''s mind as he wondered if he''d just committed interspecies sexual harassment. "Oh. Oops?"


    Her eyes filled with a devilish twinkle which transcended species. "[Is my little warrior feeling in the mood? You only need to let me know.]"


    "Um, Myra, I really didn''t mean to..."


    She chuckled and reached up with one paw to pat his head. "[I know. I''m just teasing.]"


    <hr>


    The hotel suite had separate shower/cleaning room, but unfortunately it didn''t have the same human-sized sink as was installed on board the Claw. Oscar made do by sitting on the edge of the tub-sized sink while he brushed his teeth.


    The human stared unseeing at the mirror while he thought for a bit on his ''real'' job, the one that Martin had volunteered him for. He had to admit that so far he had no real clue as to what lay behind the xenos'' rabid desire for humans.


    The obvious clich¨¦s were out. The aliens didn''t eat humans, of course. But even if man-flesh was the tastiest damn thing the xenos ever encountered, a skin scraping and some handy nanotech would be enough to grow all the steaks they wanted. It would still be disquieting, but wouldn''t involve any actual sapients getting grilled.


    Using humans as slaves was also nonsense. Anything that was too dirty or dangerous or boring for the average xeno would instead use drones; you didn''t have to feed or house them, and you also didn''t have to oppress them to keep them from getting uppity.


    Maybe humans being small made it easier to get into tight spaces? But then one would expect human engineers and techs to be in higher demand, and from what Oscar had seen that was not the case either.


    And it couldn''t just be due to humans being the new shiny thing in the galaxy. The crew of the Claw had gone to a lot of trouble to get a human on board, far more than seemed justified. He was sure that if the higher-ups in the Senate knew about his position there would be quite a few eyebrows (or their equivalent) raised in alarm.


    After all, the aliens presented a fa?ade of a peaceful, trouble-free galaxy with three separate species getting along swimmingly. And humans, for their part, had done a similar ''whitewashing'' of their recent history, to show the aliens that they were now also one big happy family. Each side knew the other was full of shit, but for appearances'' sake they let the diplomatic illusion stand.


    But now Oscar was getting a real eyeful of the seedy underbelly of the galaxy, and the Senate would surely freak their collective shit if they knew a human was getting such an extensive education in how xenos could misbehave.


    There was no two ways about it; Captain Rgrarshok had put herself out on a very long proverbial limb by bringing him on board, and it wasn''t because he could crawl through air ducts.


    He spit and rinsed. A random thought struck him, and he let forth a little snort of laughter. From the way the crew treated him, he was almost like the ship''s mascot. And then there had been that strange incident during Kergrakh''s questioning when she''d damn near cuddled him. Maybe, to the xenos, humans were just...


    Oscar snorted louder as he dismissed the errant thought. Nah, it couldn''t be that simple.


    <hr>


    Bgrarh didn''t snore for once, but it was still a hot and sweaty sleeping arrangement. Oscar had done his share of bedding down outdoors in the freezing cold, so he didn''t complain too much. But his sleep was still fitful, with fragmented dreams of him crawling through a succession of narrower and narrower tunnels until he was trapped in a small sultry space with an overhead steam pipe dripping water on his head...


    Oscar woke and found that Bgrarh''s tongue had lolled out of his mouth and slapped against his forehead. As he stirred so did the Dorarizin, and the alien pulled his tongue back into his mouth with an apologetic clicking.


    "[Sorry, [Oscar]. I''m having trouble sleeping.]"


    "Me too. I''m having lots of dreams of going through air ducts."


    "[Huh. I was also dreaming about moving through vents. What do you think that means?]"


    Oscar wormed himself around in Bgrarh''s arms to get more comfortable. "Maybe both our intuitions are trying to tell us something."


    "[A clue we missed?]"


    "Maybe. But it''s probably nothing. I mean, I think my dream''s just my subconscious trying to deal with being the little guy around here."


    Bgrarh nuzzled Oscar''s head. "[Maybe so, but why would I be thinking of such things? I for sure can''t fit in any ducts around here.]"


    The human chuckled. "I suppose I can''t either, based on that camera drone footage I saw. Certainly not as easy as a Karnakian''s feather, eh?"


    The pair had the same thought at the same time, and their eyes met. To an outsider it would have looked like they were about to launch into a passionate kiss, but nookie was the farthest thing from either of their minds.


    "Something''s hinky with that feather," said Oscar.


    <hr>


    Grawfren-of-Delzreg slouched against the wall of Bgrarh''s lab on board the Claw. Her eyes were closed, but her irritation was still evident by her twitching ears. "[You two dragged me out of a nice sleep to shuttle your dumb tails back up here, so you''d better get something out of this."


    Oscar gave a sheepish shrug. "I can''t promise that, Gertie." He and Bgrarh both once more pondered the feather. It sat on the lab bench in a block of solid glass, every molecule of it held in place and preserved by vitrifying nanotech. The evidence number scribed in one corner glittered in the harsh overhead lighting, and the feather within was just as blue as the first time he''d seen it.


    The human sighed. "Let''s run through it all again. The DNA matches Tk''Serk''s too well to be a mistake. The skin cells indicate that she shed the feather very recently, so this isn''t a case of someone getting ahold of an old feather of hers and trying to frame her. Do Karnakians know when they lose feathers? It is like shedding skin cells, or more painful like plucking out a hair?"


    Bgrarh gave a shrug of his own. "[Dunno for sure, but I think it''s more like getting a hair plucked out. If you yanked a feather off of a Karnakian they''d for sure know it.]" He gave a clicking sigh. "[I''m sorry, Oscar. Maybe both our intuitions are all wrong. We should rely on the facts, just like Holmes.]"


    "I agree, but it still feels like there''s something off here."


    "[But there''s nothing wrong!]" Bgrarh was as exasperated as Oscar had ever seen, and waved a big paw as he spoke. "[Everything that''s in that feather is only what should be there. There''s nothing that...oh.]" His expository paw dropped to his side.


    Oscar looked up from the encased feather. "You thought of something?"


    "[Maybe. I''m not sure. I need to get a feather from a Karnakian in the colony for testing. From more than one individual, now that I think about it. I should get a good sample size.]"


    Oscar thumped the table with a fist. "See? I knew you would come through."


    As Bgrarh beamed in happiness, Grawfren stirred and opened her eyes. "[You two [yahoos] are gonna make me run all over the place, aren''t you?]"


    <hr>


    The captain stood with folded arms as Bgrarh gave his summary in front of the team''s main display. Oscar stood to one side of the smugly grinning and gesticulating specialist. The human couldn''t blame him, he was sporting a similar grin himself.


    "[It all comes down to the metal content in the feather. See, the colony''s air has a slightly higher than usual heavy metals content due to their mining operations. They filter the air, so the concentration is kept low. It''s way below any toxic level, but still detectable above background.]"


    The captain''s ears rose as she realized where Bgrarh''s argument was going. "[And heavy metals wouldn''t get flushed out of the body. They''d accumulate over time.]"


    Bgrarh nodded with a grin. "[Exactly! I''ve tested feathers from twenty different Karnakians in the colony, and they all show some level of bio-accumulated heavy metals. But the feather we found? It''s clean. No detectable heavy metal content whatsoever.]"


    Ngralh rubbed his forehead. "[Wait. Tk''Serk and Ti''Etka have been residents of this colony for at least [fifty years]. So if that feather has no metal content, then..."


    "Then it''s a fake," concluded Oscar. "A nano-engineered copy. Somebody''s trying to frame Tk''Serk."

 Chapter Seven

    The captain rubbed the bridge of her snout to try and forestall a headache. She looked at the two grinning jerks who were the unwitting source of her irritation.


    "{You know what this means, right?}"


    It was a good thing for [Oscar] that he was so damned cute, because otherwise she''d have found his chipper attitude infuriating. "[I sure do! Our main suspect isn''t one any more and we have no [clawless] idea who''s behind this whole mess.]"


    "{But now we can let Tk''Serk know she''s no longer wanted for murder,}" added Bgrarh. "{If we can get her talking to us, we can get more information. For sure we can get her talking about the Green smuggling.}"


    Rgrarshok tapped a paw pad absently against her cheek as she thought. "{Hmm, I agree that Tk''Serk is key to this affair. But this needs to be done delicately. Who else knows about this?}"


    "{Just those in this room,}" replied Bgrarh.


    "{Let''s keep it that way for the moment. I''m not making the same mistake twice; nobody in Chief Kergrth''s department is to know about this discovery. As much as I hate to do it, we''ll have to keep Ta''Stak''qa''s people in the dark as well. I want our murderer to think their framing is still successful.}"


    She thought for a little longer. "{It''s public record that Specialist Bgrarh was sampling feathers from random [Karnakians]. Kgrashak, I want you to get some more random feathers and the same number of Dorarizin fur samples. Our cover story is that we found some evidence of metal contamination in the colony and just wanted to make sure it wasn''t becoming a health issue. The colony doctors will be pissed at us for thinking they''re not doing their job, but we''ll just have to accept their anger.}"


    Rgrarshok called up the main murder-case diagram. "{Then we need to start chipping away at the other members of the Rrelren pack. We need to double-check their movements both before and after our arrival. Was Hrzharh the only one involved in Green smuggling, or were there others? I''ll focus on the other male, Nrgeth.}"


    "{And I''ll keep up the pressure on Rgratz,}" said Ngralh.


    Bgrarh took his hat off and clutched it in his hands. "[But we are going to somehow let Tk''Serk know about this, right?}"


    The captain loped forward and put a hand on his shoulder. "{Of course we will, we just have to be careful.}" She looked down at [Oscar]. He was the most obvious choice for what she had in mind, but he was such a fragile little thing! Her instincts yelled at her that she was sending a child into danger...


    [Oscar] might be a mere pup in size, but he wasn''t an idiot. He picked up on the captain''s thinking right away. "[You want me to approach Ti''Etka, don''t you?]"


    Rgrarshok sighed. "{Yes. You''re the most obvious choice. I fear that he believes we Dorarizin won''t give his sibling a fair hearing. You''ll appear more ''neutral'' than us. I want you to get in touch with Ti''Etka and see if he can somehow get word to Tk''Serk about this.}"


    "[Without letting anyone else in the colony know about me talking to him, of course,]" replied Oscar. The little [Human] rubbed the back of his neck. "[All right, I got a notion of how to approach Ti''Ekta, but I''m gonna need some of [Bgrarh''s] time.]"


    "{You''ve got it. And Specialist Myyreh, you''re [Oscar''s] shadow, understand? I want you watching his tail non-stop from here on out.}"


    The warrior''s tail wagged slowly. "{That''s not a problem, Captain. I like looking at his tail.}" She looked down and gave the little [Human] a wink. [Oscar''s] face didn''t change, but Rgrarshok heard his heartbeat pace just a little faster. His scent also picked up slight sour tang that showed that Myyreh''s comment had indeed flustered him.


    Rgrarshok tilted her ear curiously towards Myyreh, who didn''t respond to the unspoken question. The captain hoped that Myyreh was just teasing. She had heard rumors that certain [Humans] had gotten very...experimental with their fellow crewmembers. As cute as they were, [Humans] were also rumored to be quite the randy little things.


    She sure didn''t want anything like that happening on her watch. Not that the captain had anything against it in principle, but she did not even want to imagine the paperwork involved if [Oscar] got himself hurt fooling around with Myyreh.


    <hr>


    The colony was in a foul mood. At least that was how Mx''ylept thought of her home, as if the entire place was like a single person in the middle of having a very bad day.


    No matter how much cubic the two species tunneled out of the moon, it was still an enclosed space. And thus when things were wrong, as they were right now, it hung in the air like a foul smell that wouldn''t go away. Old hurts and minor issues would blow up into major ones. Clutch-mates would snap at each other, Dorarizin packs would snarl among themselves.


    Things hadn''t been exactly great, not for a long while, but at least they''d been stable. Now there was a murderer at large in the colony, and what was worse the killer was the clutch-mate of his supervisor. Ti''Etka was bearing up under the strain with admirable strength, but Mx''ylept could tell that the Karnakian was paying only nominal attention to his job. Mx''ylept supposed that she couldn''t blame him.


    The Karnakian looked up from her datapad and sighed as a familiar large newcomer loped through the large entrance to the docks. "|Good afternoon, [Brgarh]. Come for more feather samples?|"


    "[Nope! Just checking on a few cameras.]"


    The big Dorarizin jogged closer, and Mx''ylept realized there was something different about him. In addition to his odd headgear, Bgrarh was wearing a large garment that covered his torso completely. It also bore the same fine criss-cross patterning as his hat, and hung down past Brgarh''s knees. The garment also had an extra bit of fabric around Bgrarh''s upper shoulders.


    Mx''ylept cocked her head curiously. In the view from her rear pair of eyes, Bgrarh''s head was filled with the dancing, shifting aura of sapient neural activity that his hat did nothing to obscure. Normally she would expect to see a similar if greatly reduced aura from the rest of his body. But his torso and limbs were curiously muted.


    "|What is that you''re wearing?|"


    "[It''s [Human] garment!]" said Bgrarh with his usual cheerfulness. "[They call it an Inverness Cape. It goes with the hat. Do you like it?]"


    "|It''s...interesting. It seems to be very shielding, though. I would imagine it would make you very hot. What''s it made of?|" One of her talons flashed out and nudged at his cape-covered front. She was careful not to press too hard. After all, she didn''t want to poke a hole in his nice new outfit.


    Bgrarh''s grin froze on his face as she did so. It could be her imagination, but he felt a lot more...squishy in the front than she''d expected. She also thought she picked up the merest hint of a pained grunt from the direction of his chest, although the Dorarizin''s throat and lips didn''t move.


    Was he injured, and using this strange clothing to conceal his wound? "|Um...|" she began.


    "[Anyways, I''ve got to get going! The captain will be after me if I don''t report back soon.]" Bgrarh turned and all but leapt away as Mx''ylept cocked her head. She could swear she heard that same faint and pained grunt again as the Dorarizin''s feet hit the floor.


    <hr>


    Ti''Etka''s foot-claws tapped against the stone of the docks as he half-heartedly walked along a row of crates. A datapad held in one clawed hand showed the manifest he was supposed to be checking, but his heart wasn''t in it. Fear and worry gnawed at his gut, both for his clutch-mate as well as for himself. The Karnakian was sure that every single movement of his was now watched by several different ''interested'' parties. He expected to be confronted at any moment by either one of the Senate investigation team or, more worryingly, one of the other people keeping track of him.


    He came to the end of the row and crossed to the next. He glanced down it automatically and then whipped his snout back in a double-take. There was a small form huddled midway along the line of containers, out of sight of any cameras.


    "[Don''t look surprised, idiot!]" hissed the diminutive alien. "[Just get over here.]"


    Ti''Etka''s innate curiousity won out over any fear that this was a setup. He glanced at his datapad and trotted into the aisle formed by the surrounding crates as if he wanted to double-check a particular section.


    "[Good,]" said the [Human] when Ti''Etka reached him. "[Keep looking around as if you''re reading crate labels and such.]"


    "|I''m surprised you trust me enough to let me approach you,|" murmured Ti''Etka while he acted as instructed.


    "[Oh, [Myyreh] is around here somewhere to keep an eye on me. Don''t ask me exactly where, though. She''s a sneaky one.]"


    "|Fair enough. You do realize that the dock cameras will have seen you come in here, right?|"


    "[Nope, I snuck in under Bgrarh''s cloak. We lined it with metal foil to keep my brain from being seen by your aura-sight-thingy. Got a helluva bruise from a poke by one of you guys, but I don''t think anyone knows I''m here.]"


    Ti''Etka looked up at the distant furred figure as Bgrarh made a great show out of examining one of his camera drones. "|And I presume you''ll leave the same way?|"


    "[Yeah, which doesn''t give me a lot of time. We need to talk about your sister.]"


    The Karnakian clicked his foot-claws against the floor in irritation. "|For the last time, I don''t know where she is. And she didn''t kill...|"


    "[We know she didn''t kill him.]"


    The flat declaration derailed the Karnakian''s train of thought and he tilted his head in curiosity. It took every ounce of his self-control to not look around at the [Human] while the they continued talking.


    "[I reckon your sister is involved with the [Green] smuggling, but she''s not a murderer. We have proof that someone planted that feather. Now, are you willing to talk to us? You could help us a lot by naming who else is involved.]"The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The Karnakian wondered if he should admit the truth, but his worry about Tk''Serk won out. "|I don''t know any of that. Tk''Serk handled all of the interactions. I was paid to look the other way, and nothing else.|"


    "[So we need your sister. Can you get in touch with her?]"


    Ti''Etka looked down at his datapad and wondered if he could trust the alien. "|I don''t know where she is,|" he finally said.


    "[I hope for her sake you''re just keeping up a front of plausible deniability. I don''t care. You need to get word to her about this however you can. If we get her safely into my team''s custody, then maybe we can figure out who''s really behind all this nonsense.]"


    At that Ti''Etka finally did give in and glance over at the [Human]. "|Into your custody? Not the police?|"


    "[Of course not. For all we know the cops here are the ones who set up this frame-job.]"


    "|You don''t trust Ta''Stak''qa?|"


    "[She might be clean, but can you say the same for those working beneath her?]"


    "|Yes! They''re all good people.|"


    "[Are you willing to bet your sister''s life on it?]"


    Ti''Etka''s silence was enough of a reply for the [Human].


    "[So you see why we need to play this close to the chest. I know it''s a big risk for you to get in touch with her and it''s a big risk for her to stick her [snout] out of wherever she''s hiding. But the risk gets even bigger the longer she stays in hiding.]"


    "|I don''t know what to do.|"


    "[You need to trust us, which I know is a big ask. I won''t lie, there will be a lot of pain coming in the future. Both for her and at least a little for you. But it won''t be because of a murder charge.]"


    Ti''Etka stared at one of the crates without seeing it while his mind raced. "|If I can set something up, how do I get in touch with you?|"


    "[We have no idea who might be listening in, so we need to keep this off of the grid and use written messages only. You see where [Bgrarh] is working right now?]"


    The Karnakain glanced up and saw the Dorarizin''s cloaked figure against the far wall of the docks. "|Yes.|"


    "[One of our team will be checking that camera twice per [sleep cycle]. Leave your note there.]"


    Ti''Etka shook himself and fluffed his feathers out. "|I''ll do as you ask. And thank you.|" For the first time in days, he felt...not great, but at least not entirely awful.


    <hr>


    Kgrashak prodded at Oscars''s bare torso while he sat cross-legged on a piece of luggage that they''d repurposed as an impromptu exam table. "I told you it''s fine, Kate. Just a little bruise."


    The medic didn''t look up as she let out a ''hmph'' that said louder than words that she would be the one to decide that, thank you very much. Oscar did his best to ignore her fussing as well as Myyreh''s amused scrutiny of his upper body.


    Bgrarh just looked abashed. "[I''m sorry, [Oscar]. I didn''t know she was going to poke at me like that, or I would have dodged.]"


    The human couldn''t understand why the xenos were kicking up such a fuss. "It''s no big deal, really! I''ve gotten way worse while sparring."


    "[You should have let me carry you in]," said Myyreh. The specialist sprawled languidly on her side on the floor of the team''s suite.


    "That would be a lot more noticeable," said Oscar. "The Karnakians have seen Benny wearing his hat already. So him wearing the cape looks less suspicious."


    "[I know,]" she replied as she rolled onto her back. "[I''m just a little jealous of Bgrarh getting to cuddle you like that.]"


    "What the hell does that mean?"


    "[Relax, I''m just teasing. You''re cute when you''re all flustered.]"


    Oscar resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he and Bgrarh continued their brainstorming session.


    "[I still think it''s someone wanting to set up their own rival operation,]" said Bgrarh.


    Oscar shook his head. "Why go to all of this trouble, though? I imagine that smugglers in your society are much like ours. They''re all about maximizing profit with minimal work. If a drug cartel wants you out of the way, they''ll just step on you."


    He touched his bullet scar, which lay on the other side of his torso from Kgrashak''s probing paws and nose. "Or at least they''ll try to step on you." Oscar pointed a finger at the main display, which showed their collected evidence on the murder case. "This is not their style. A frame-job like this is too cute!"


    "[Cute?]"


    "Too fiddly, too complicated. Too much effort. If they wanted Hrzharh and Tk''Serk out of the way, why not just kill ''em?"


    Oscar twitched as Kgrashak''s cold wet nose touched his bullet scar and gave it a few tentative snuffles. "[Is this old wound bothering you? I have some nanotheraputics that could replace the scar tissue, you''d never know you were damaged.]"


    The human gently patted her snout. "Nah. I appreciate the offer but I want to keep it. It''ll remind me to duck next time." He looked at the main display. "Assuming no hypothetical other cartel, then we''re down to either the others in the Rrelren pack or maybe Ti''Etka as our main suspects."


    The three Dorarizin looked at him with expressions of shock. "[Ti''Etka?]" asked Bgrarh. "[Why would he frame his sibling?]"


    Oscar shrugged. "I''m just speculating. Maybe he thought Tk''Serk was bringing shame to the family name with her smuggling activities...and so he frames her for murder instead. Yeah, that doesn''t make much sense. What about the pack? Maybe one of them found out about the smuggling and wanted to punish Hrzharh."


    Bgrarh''s ears flicked as he regarded the main display as well. "[It''s highly unlikely that Hrzharh was able to keep his activities with Tk''Serk secret from the others. Pack members get very attuned to each other; we can smell when one of our own is lying."


    Ocsar kept his face carefully neutral and hoped he himself didn''t count as a ''true'' pack member. Ultimately he was here on a clandestine mission and effectively ''lying'' to his adoptive pack by his very presence. He hoped his alien body language and scent profile would be enough to throw the Dorarizin off, and figured that it must have done so thus far. If they were suspicious of him they''d have confronted him long before now.


    "So the pack has known about the smuggling for a long time," he said. "Which raises the issue of timing. Why kill Hrzharh now?"


    "[We''re not thinking widely enough,]" said Kgrashak as she handed Oscar his shirt. "[What about Chief Kergrth?]"


    The human pulled on his tee shirt and hopped off of the table. "Now that''s a good thought. If there was some bribery going on, maybe Hrzharh was the bag man for it. If so, he''d be the only one who knew of the chief''s corruption. If Kergrth takes him out, he can sit back and claim innocence while we roll up the rest of the smuggling ring."


    "[He''d have access to the necessary nanofabrication facilities for making that fake feather,]" said Myyreh. "[And he has the technical training to construct a drone disruptor.]"


    "So the chief''s a good possibility." Oscar donned his uniform''s shirt and buttoned it up. "He strikes me as too much of a doofus to be our perp, but he could be faking stupidity. Lord knows I''ve used that dodge plenty of times myself."


    <hr>


    The door to the suite chimed and slid open. Ngralh entered, and his taciturn face split into a large grin as the door closed behind him.


    "[I take it we heard from Ti''Etka,]" said Rgrarshok.


    With a little flourish, the XO pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket. "[He''s heard from Tk''Serk. No details on where she''s hiding, of course, but he expects to get us another note by tomorrow with a place and time to meet her.]"


    <hr>


    The next note was a lot longer and not an unmitigated cause for celebration. Tk''Serk wanted to meet at the Dorarizin docks during the graveyard shift, which wasn''t a problem. She insisted that Oscar be the only one to meet her, which definitely was a problem.


    "[I don''t like it]," said Rgrarshok.


    Oscar folded his arms and regarded the note that lay in the middle of the assembled team. Looking at it was pointless on his part, since the note was covered in the unreadable glyphs of alien writing. "I can''t say as I like it much either. But she is allowing me to come with Myra and Jeeves, so it''s not like I''m waltzing in all by my lonesome."


    "[That''s the only reason I''m even considering going along with this]," growled the captain. "[I don''t doubt your bravery [Oscar], but you know how slow you move compared to us. Myyreh is very capable but she cannot guarantee your safety.]"


    "[Thanks for the vote of confidence there, boss,]" said Myyreh dryly.


    "[You are very fast, Specialist. But you aren''t infinitely fast.]"


    Oscar held up a hand to forestall any argument. "Don''t forget, I''ll have Jeeves too. Drones are faster than any of you guys."


    "[We should be nearby as well, just in case,]" said Ngralh. He called up a map of the docks. "[If we situate ourselves in this alcove here, we can be on the scene within seconds if anything goes bad.]"


    "[There are still a few bulkheads in between,]" replied Rgrarshok. "[If those get closed on us it''ll take much longer to reach him.]" She sighed and laid a huge paw on Oscar''s shoulder. "[My personal recommendation is to not go, Trainee. But I leave the final decision up to you.]"


    Oscar looked at the inscrutable note again with a sour scowl on his face. "We need this, right?"


    The captain shrugged. "[Perhaps. Our interviews are not yet fruitful, and our physical evidence is pretty thin.]"


    "[I can say definitively that there was no wireless hacking of either of the drones at the murder scene,]" added Egwreh. "[But that doesn''t help much.]"


    "So we need Tk''Serk to name names and kick things loose again. How much time do we have before the meet?"


    "[A few [hours]]," replied Ngralh.


    The human ran his fingers through his hair. "All right, then let''s do this. But I want some extra insurance. Emma, you and me need to come up with something."


    <hr>


    "[That design won''t be allowed,]" said Egwreh.


    Oscar stared at her in disbelief. "It''s only a damn slug thrower. This design is primitive compared with anything you guys have. I may as well be using a stone axe, fer Chrissake."


    "[It still throws metal slugs at high velocity, and thus is technically lethal. Plus there are additional restrictions inside a pressurized environment like this."


    He let out a disgusted grunt. "What about a laser or something?"


    "[Lasers are good for ship-to-ship combat but they make rotten handheld weapons. Their effective blinding range is a lot longer than their effective lethal range, and it''s way too easy to blind a friendly by accident.]"


    Oscar glanced with regret at the schematic of the M9 Beretta on the screen. "Maybe we could come up with some kind of frangible round?"


    "[We''d need to test it thoroughly, and we only have a little time.]"


    "Okay, let''s approach this from the other end. When Mr. John Q. Wolfdude decides he doesn''t want to play nice and go with you cops, what do you use to make him? We could construct a smaller version of that."


    <hr>


    Oscar squared his shoulders and tried to feel confident as he walked forward. He had Myyreh loping along at his left and Jeeves floating serenely at his right, not to mention Egwreh''s gift tucked under one armpit. But it still felt wrong to walk away from the other crew and through the massive bank-vault sized bulkhead door. He''d picked up enough Dorarizin nonverbal cues to know the captain was worried sick about him in spite of her outward stoic demeanor.


    To take his mind off of it he figured he''d tackle something else that made him uncertain. "Myra, I did apologize for the ear thing the other night, didn''t I?"


    His bodyguard looked down at him with a half smile. "[You certainly did. Why do you ask?]"


    "I can''t help but notice you''ve been a lot more, um, suggestive since then. Are you just messing with me?"


    "[Why would you think I''m messing with you? Maybe I''m utterly smitten with your raw seething masculinity.]"


    "Okay now I know you''re just messing with me."


    "[Perhaps.]"


    "Please, we''re walking into possible danger. If this is standard tease-the-FNG stuff then I''m willing to play along. But if it isn''t I''d rather know now."


    "[FNG?]"


    "Fuckin'' New Guy."


    "[Ah, I get your meaning. Maybe after this is all over I''ll tell you one way or another.]"


    Oscar let out a disgusted sigh as they walked through another and equally massive bulkhead. "Figures. I head light-years into space and still wind up in the middle of a bunch of smart-asses."


    The vaulted expanse beyond the bulkhead door was the one he''d looked over while interviewing Zergarh a few days earlier. Its gantry crane was in the center of the space, with another long flat ingot dangling from its claw as before.


    Below the huge bar of metal was a Dorarizin operating the crane''s control. Oscar didn''t like that. He''d assumed that Tk''Serk had chosen this time because there would be nobody there. The operator still faced away from them, even though he must have heard them enter. Oscar glanced at Myyreh and saw her nose twitching. Her amused expression fell away and was replaced with one of utter concentration.


    "Myra?"


    "[Something''s off.]"


    Oscar looked again at the other Dorarizin, and saw that the alien''s tail stood fuzzed out behind him like a bottle-brush. The penny dropped as he realized he was seeing something he''d only read about.


    "Aw, shiiiit..."


    He turned to sprint, just in time to see the bulkhead''s thick metal door slide down and into its closed position with a substantial thump. He heard a strange squawk from Jeeves as the drone dropped like a stone and bounced on the stone floor with a metallic bong.


    Oscar spun back as Myyreh''s arm thumped across his chest to shield him from the danger in the center of the room.


    Rgratz turned to face them as he tossed away a small cigar-shaped object. His eyes were black, completely black, like pits opened into an endless night. He crouched with extended claws as drool fell in constant streams from his multiple rows of sharklike fangs.


    The Green-crazed berserker''s growling voice sounded out in the huge cavern like the trumpet of doom.


    "[Playtime!]"

 Chapter Eight

    Oscar shrugged one shoulder. The human-scaled shock baton that he''d tucked under his armpit slipped down his sleeve and into his hand. He put his thumb on the baton''s switch only to stop at a word from Myyreh.


    "[Put that thing away. He won''t even feel it.]"


    Rgratz stepped forward, bumping his hunched shoulder against the crane''s control box as he moved. The box swayed gently on its long cable reaching up to the crane''s claw far above. Drool puddled on the floor beneath his jaws. There was a blue smear on Rgratz''s upper arm, but whether it was the Dorarizin''s own blood was something Oscar couldn''t tell.


    "What do you want me to do?" whispered Oscar.


    Before she could reply, Rgratz charged.


    Oscar had known the Dorarizin were fast, but watching the crew''s sparring sessions still hadn''t prepared him for the real thing. He only caught a blurred glimpse of gray fur before Myyreh''s arm shoved him back like a pile-driver.


    The human felt a flare of pain in his sternum and sprawled on his ass as the force of her shove smacked him into the unyielding stone floor. He barely managed to keep ahold of his baton as he rolled to his feet and saw what looked like two fur coats caught in a tornado. Myyreh''s dark brown body flowed and dodged around Rgratz''s gray as the two slashed and kicked at each other too fast for his brain to follow.


    Oscar pressed the baton''s switch, and the extendable weapon snapped out to its meter-long length. The blunt tip crackled with a blue glow; it should give enough of a shock to make even the biggest Dorarizin back up.


    But he had no idea if Rgratz would even notice it.


    The two combatants split apart and circled each other more warily. Rgratz sported a few deep oozing slashes along his leg, and there was a nasty gash on Myyreh''s torso that trickled blue.


    On instinct, Oscar took one step forward to get into the fight and help his crewmate. Then he realized that he might as well launch himself headfirst into a wood chipper. He looked around in a frenzy, hoping to find something he could use as an actual weapon.


    Then he glanced up. Okay, that might work as ''Plan B'' if Myyreh couldn''t put the bastard down...


    <hr>


    Myyreh ignored the pain in her side as her blue eyes fixated on Rgratz''s drooling grin. During their first little exchange she''d found that he wasn''t entirely untrained. He was also stronger and immune to pain thanks to his drugged-up state, which almost made up for his lack of expertise. Almost.


    "{I''m going to take you apart,}" growled Rgratz. "{And then I''m going to eat that infuriating little-}"


    Rgratz may have had the strength of several Dorarizin, but he was still an amateur. Myyreh, in contrast, didn''t waste time in any sort of verbal reply. As Rgratz spoke, she drove a spear-hand strike with her claws towards his throat.


    He dodged to the side and grabbed her arm, going for a grapple. With trained instinct Myyreh went with the grab, and the lack of resistance made Rgratz stumble.


    She pounced and reversed his grab into one of her own, then twisted his arm behind him and used her full body weight to slam him face-first into the floor.


    Rgratz snarled and wriggled as she levered his arm up behind him and kneeled into his back to keep him flat.


    "{Submit, will you?}" she grunted. In her peripheral vision she saw [Oscar] take another step forward with his useless baton held in a guard position.


    "[Do you want me to-]"


    "{Stay back!}" she snapped.


    Rgratz let out a bellowing howl and twisted his body in a titanic heave, throwing her knee off of his back. She kept ahold of his arm, however. With a distant flicker of horror she saw him continue to twist with Green-enhanced strength. Myyreh pressed harder up on his arm, trying to lever him back into the floor. She kept shoving until there was a sickening crunch as Rgratz dislocated his own shoulder.


    She felt his trapped arm go limp and realized that she''d lost her leverage - just as he kept turning and drove the claws of his untrapped hand deep into her thigh.


    The explosion of pain made her grip on his now-ruined arm slip and she gave a clicking scream.


    Rgratz pushed back with his good leg, throwing her to the floor. With Green-boosted speed he turned and leapt at her throat jaws-first. Myyreh managed to get her arm up and deflect the attack so that his fangs missed her neck and instead sunk deep into the meat of her shoulder.


    She screamed again, more in rage this time, and slashed with her other paw at his head. The slash earned a blue spray of blood from his head as she took out one of his eyes. He didn''t seem to notice and shook his clamped muzzle as if he was worrying at a glrnada''s neck, tearing and ripping her shoulder into a mass of torn flesh.


    Myyreh somehow kept from passing out from the pain. She slammed her good knee up into his groin, crushing his gonads. The pain made his jaws slacken their hold. She used that opportunity to kick him off of her, but his fangs still tore great lumps out of her shoulder as he fell away.


    She tried to regain her feet, but her injured leg wouldn''t cooperate. Her ruined shoulder brought fresh waves of agony that she ignored as she tried to use her good arm to lever herself upright.


    Rgratz heaved himself to his knees while a mixture of drug-enhanced slaver and Myyreh''s blood dripped from his grinning muzzle. "{You taste good, maybe I''ll eat you first-}"


    Just as he stood up, a gray blob arced into her field of view and smacked into Rgratz''s snout. The emergency pressure suit''s nanofabric did as it was programmed to do and tried to unfold itself out and around whatever it was in contact with.


    But the only thing it was in contact with was Rgratz, so the Dorarizin suddenly found his head wrapped in a odd-looking, somewhat human-shaped mask that he couldn''t see or breathe out of. He reeled back and pawed at his now-shrouded head.


    Myyreh used the distraction to try again to push herself up, but she could feel her strength waning. She''d lost a lot of blood from her leg, and she could feel herself going into shock.


    None of that mattered. If this bastard wanted [Oscar], he was going to have to go through her.


    <hr>


    Oscar raised the shock baton just as Rgratz succeeded in clawing the emergency p-suit off of his head. The Dorarizin gashed the shit out of his face as he did so, but of course he didn''t seem to feel it.


    The human waved the baton, and the xeno automatically turned his head at the movement. Rgratz''s remaining eye narrowed with ill intent at his annoying prey.


    Myyreh wasn''t on her feet yet, but at least she was still moving. Oscar figured it was time for Plan B.


    Plan B was gonna suck.


    He waved the baton to make sure Rgratz kept focused on him. "Hey, fuckwit! You want prey? Got some nice easy prey right here!"


    Myyreh drew in enough breath to gasp. "[Don''t!]"


    Oscar didn''t so much as glance at her as he kept up both the waving and the taunting. His focus was all on Rgratz. The Dorarizin stared at his movements as if hypnotized, his bloody fanged muzzle following the baton''s back-and-forth arc.


    "That''s right, shithead, you got some nice juicy prey right here..."


    Myyreh let out a despairing and faint whine as Rgratz charged again.


    The only reason Oscar was able to dodge was because of how badly Rgratz had been fucked up by Myyreh. Instead of the normal blur of motion, the crazed Dorarizin''s rush was only about the speed of a sprinting human.


    Oscar threw the shock baton and didn''t even pause to see if it connected. He turned and went in an all-out sprint of his own for the nearest pile of ingots. The nearer side of the pile looked like a haphazardly-stacked deck of cards with lots of protruding edges.


    He leapt and managed to snag the edge of one of the protruding ingots, then yanked himself up and onto the narrow ledge. His whole world narrowed to looking for the next hold as he tried to ignore the ever-louder snarling behind him.


    Oscar leapt again, this time only getting one hand onto the chosen ingot. He felt the tremor of Rgratz''s impact into the ingot pile below him. He still was able to pull himself up despite a warning twang from his back muscles.


    He really should have warmed up before doing this. Should have done a few torso twists and deep knee bends before getting himself locked into a room with a berserker werewolf.


    Oscar kept climbing as he did his best to ignore the snarling and thumping below him from Rgratz''s pursuit. The fucker only had one arm to work with and one bad leg, so Oscar hoped that cut down on his climbing speed.


    The human made it to the top and yanked himself up and over the edge with a groan of effort, then rolled to his feet. He glanced down and saw briefly the crazed glaring eye and snapping jaws of his foe before he looked up again at the ingot that hung from the overhead crane''s claw. It wasn''t all that far, he should be able to make it.


    Before he could second-guess himself Oscar took a few steps back, ran at the edge of the stack, and leapt.


    He landed on the ingot, but his weight made the flat plate of metal shift. His feet slipped out from under him and he slid towards the edge. He got one hand up and snagged one of the claws holding the ingot as his legs shot over the edge.


    Oscar hung halfway into space over the edge of the ingot. He looked out between his dangling boots at the unforgiving rock floor far below. From here the crane''s control box looked like a little yellow fleck. A blue trail of blood led to where Myyreh was pulling herself along the floor. She was using her one good arm to try to get to the ingot stack he''d just climbed.


    "Fuck," he muttered. She was closer than he liked, but it looked like she was still out of the danger zone. He pulled himself to his feet and stripped off his uniform''s jacket as Rgratz pulled himself on top of the stack that Oscar had just left.


    "[Nowhere to run, [Human].]"


    The human wrapped the jacket''s shirtsleeves around his hands. The rest of the garment dangled between them.


    "[Did the little tree-climber think he could out-climb me?]" Rgratz snarled. He crouched and got ready to spring.


    The aforementioned tree-climber snapped his hands out in front of him. The rest of the rolled-up jacket strained taut between them. He bared his teeth as if he was really going to use such a pitiful weapon against the huge alien.


    "Come at me, you gruesome sonofabitch. I''ll make a fuckin'' rug outta ya!"


    As Rgratz leapt, Oscar turned and stepped off of the edge of the ingot. He aimed the center of his jacket at the control cable dangling next to the crane''s claw.


    The thick cloth tube wrapped around the cable and he started to slide down with alarming speed. Oscar floundered in a panic, then clutched at the cable with his cloth-covered hands and managed to get a grip on it.


    The cable''s thick rubbery coating shredded the tough material of his jacket against his palms, slowing his plummet. He didn''t have the right gloves for fast-roping and had only wrapped his palms, so that same coating then promptly took the skin off of his now-unprotected fingers and thumbs.


    Oscar bit back a scream and managed to get his boots locked around the cable as well to control his descent. His world narrowed to the black cable before his eyes, now painted red with his blood, he needed to keep hold...


    His feet hit the control box and he fell back and away from the cable, earning a substantial bruise on his ass as he smashed into the floor yet again.


    Oscar scrambled to his feet as he threw away the now-well-shredded jacket. He lurched for the control box, knowing that he had to drop that ingot onto the floor before that drug-crazed fucker could jump off...


    Two clawed feet smacked into the floor before him, and the thump of Rgratz''s landing sent a tremor through the stone below him. Oscar looked up at Rgratz looming like certain doom.


    "[I can also jump better than you, tree-climber.]"


    Time for Plan C.


    Oscar flipped him the bird as with his other bloody thumb he pushed what he hoped was the correct button on the control box. A ringing clang sounded through the docks.


    Rgratz tilted his head curiously. His rage subsided just enough to realize what the noise meant, and as his eyes widened he looked up just in time to get a metric ton of metal ingot right into his face.


    The docks shook again, accompanied by a noise like God hitting the floor with an aluminum baseball bat the size of a dreadnaught.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Oscar looked down dazedly at the thick coat of blue blood which now covered him from the waist down. There was a lot more gore sprayed out around the ingot, which now lay nearly flat on the floor. A bit of fur protruded from under one edge of the metal, the only visible part of Rgratz''s corpse.


    Well, apart from all the blood.


    He dropped the crane control, and as his adrenaline faded the pain from his ruined fingers made him sob. He looked over and saw Myyreh lying nearby.


    She was covered in blue blood, and no longer moving.


    He hoped most of that blood was Rgratz''s as he limped forward.


    "Myra? Aw shit..."


    He knelt beside her and pulled her huge head into his lap. Her shoulder was a mangle of torn muscle and skin, and he could see to the bone in a few places. Her thigh was a bloody mess. Myyreh''s eyes were half closed and stared into space. He shook her head as much as he dared, but got no response.


    "MYRA!" he yelled. "You do NOT HAVE MY PERMISSION TO DIE, YOU GOT THAT?"


    Myyreh''s eyes blinked as she focused on him. "[I got it,]" she whispered back. She looked over at the copious amounts of blood pooled around the pancaked ingot.


    She grinned back up at him. "[Not bad, [Human]. Not bad at all.]"


    Her eyes started to close. Even though it hurt him like fire, he grabbed one of her paws with his own hand. His red blood mingled with her own blue as he squeezed. "No, don''t you dare go to sleep. You just stay with me, okay?"


    "[You...got it,]" she murmured.


    The distant bulkhead door clicked and slid upward.


    After that there was a confusing time of people running around and shouting. There was lots of gesturing and lots of bustling as they carried off the wounded pair.


    All the while, Oscar would not let go of her hand.


    <hr>


    Oscar''s limp was almost gone as he walked through the door to the hospital room. He had a spectacular bruise on one cheek of his ass from his impromptu fast-roping, and another on his chest from Myyreh''s initial shove. But somehow he''d managed to avoid any serious damage apart from his fingers.


    Bgrarh looked up and gave his tail a few sad wags in greeting. He crouched next to Myyreh''s inclined bed. The injured Dorarizin had her shoulder and thigh swaddled in thick silver bandages, and she still looked to be out cold.


    Bgrarh held his deerstalker hat and he wrung it in his hands as he kept looking between it and his bedridden crewmate.


    "How is she?" asked Oscar. He kept his voice low just in case she was merely sleeping.


    His colleague gave a Dorarizin shrug. "[She''s stable, now that her blood''s replenished. Kgrashak said the only unknown is how long it''ll take for a full recovery. There''s a lot of nerve damage in her shoulder. How''s your hands?]"


    Oscar regarded his own silvery-bandaged fingers. "I should have the skin regrown by tomorrow. This nano-medicine stuff is kind of scary what with how fast it works."


    He sat next to Bgrarh only for the big Dorarizin to reach over, scoop him up with one arm, and plop him into Bgrarh''s lap. Bgrarh gave a regretful click of his teeth. "[Sorry, I guess I should have asked if you were okay with that.]"


    Oscar placed a comforting hand on Bgrarh''s forearm. "It''s okay, Bennie. I know you''re worried about Myra. She''s a tough one. She''ll be good as new."


    Bgrarh continued to twist his hat in his paws as they both stood watch over the bedridden figure.


    Oscar looked down at Bgrarh''s deerstalker and figured now was as good a time as any to ask the question on his mind. "So why Sherlock Holmes?"


    "[Eh?]"


    "What makes him so interesting to you?"


    Bgrarh was silent for a moment before replying. "[It''s not just him. I mean, he''s my favorite character from your mystery stories but I''ve read a lot of others. Holmes, Miss Marple, Lord Peter Wimsey. I like all of them. I...]"


    Bgrarh stopped talking and clicked his teeth again in clear frustration. Oscar figured the best course of action was to stay silent and wait for Bgrarh to speak again. When the Dorarizin finally did it was with clear reluctance.


    "[Do [Humans] have a thing where if somebody is big they''re thought of as stupid?]"


    "Yeah, we do. I''ve dealt with that a lot myself."


    "[Then you understand. I''ve always been big, even when I was a pup. And I was a male, which made it even more noticeable. People thought of me as dumb my whole life. It didn''t help that I was playing professionally in a Hunt team. Players tend to have a reputation as...does the term ''meat-head'' translate?]"


    "Heh. It sure does."


    "[Then I got hurt and I couldn''t play anymore. People kept saying I should become a coach, but something about that yanked my tail...I dunno, I guess I thought that if I did that then I''d just be the dumb jock everybody thought I was. I didn''t know what I wanted to do with my life until I read some [Human] mystery stories.]"


    "Really?"


    Bgrarh nodded. "[We have mystery fiction of our own, but the heroes in our stories are strong as well as clever. But when I read [Human] mysteries, in a lot of them the heroes were just smart! They didn''t have to hit people or fight to win, they only had to stand back and observe. They figured out what was going on without so much as throwing a punch.]"


    "And you liked that idea."


    "[Yeah. I realized that more than anything I wanted to be thought of as the smart guy, to help people using my brain. I''ve worked really hard at it. I don''t know if I''ve succeeded, though.]"


    "You don''t?" Oscar twisted himself around to look up at Bgrarh. "Bennie, you''re a valued member of an elite Senate investigation team kicking ass around the fuckin'' galaxy. You were the one who figured out what was wrong with that fake feather. Trust me, you''re plenty smart. I would''ve been proud to work with you back in my CID days."


    Bgrarh smiled, then another rueful click. "[I wasn''t smart enough to realize that Ti''Etka''s note was leading to a trap, though.]"


    "Yeah well, that''s on me too. I didn''t think they''d make such a public attempt."


    "[I should have been there. I could''ve helped.]"


    "Don''t think like that, Benny. You''ve sparred a lot of times with Myra, right?"


    "[Yes.]"


    "She kicked your tail each time, right?"


    Bgrarh let forth a little chuckle. "[That she did.]"


    "And even with her ability that junkie bastard still managed to hurt her bad. She gave as good as she got, though. That''s the only reason I''m still alive. If he''d been uninjured he would''ve torn my guts out before I could so much as blink."


    Bgrarh shuddered and hugged Oscar so tight that the Dorarizin''s fluffy mane rubbed against his head. "[Don''t say that.]"


    There was a faint murmur from the bed. "[How am I supposed to get any sleep with you two yakking?]"


    Oscar stood with a little pained grunt and placed his palms on the mattress. "Myra? How are you feeling kiddo?"


    Her deep blue eyes looked down on him. They weren''t cloudy as they had been at the docks. Now they sparkled with a familiar and welcome good humor. "[That''s a very dumb question.]"


    Oscar gave a shaky laugh. "Yeah, but it''s kind of a human tradition to ask. Do you need some water or pain meds? I''ll get Kate in here."


    Before she could reply, the door slid open again and Kgrashak entered, followed by the looming figure of the captain. Myyreh tried to sit up, only to be waved back down.


    "[At ease, Specialist.]"


    The medic started fussing over Myyreh as Rgrarshok put a giant paw on Oscar''s shoulder. "[And how are you doing, Trainee]?"


    "Better than I should be, thanks to Myra. Have anybody found Ti''Etka yet?"


    The captain blew out an exasperated breath. "[We found what was left of him. He was slashed to bits, but we think he managed to get in a hit on his killer. There was Dorarizin blood on one of his foot-claws, and we matched the blood to Rgratz''s DNA.]"


    "I remember seeing a cut on that bastard''s upper arm," said Oscar. "He must have cornered Ti''Etka and beat on the poor sonofabitch until he confessed to exchanging notes with us."


    "[Which then allowed whoever is behind this to slip us a note of their own and set up the trap,]" said Rgrarshok. "[At least, that''s my current theory. But there''s still no sign of Tk''Serk, even with her clutch-mate killed.]"


    There was a discreet teeth-click at the door, the Dorarizin equivalent of clearing their throat. Everyone turned to see Grawreh in the doorway.


    "[I apologize for intruding, but I must speak with you.]"


    The pack leader''s haughty demeanor faltered as the captain moved for the door in an inevitable and final manner which reminded Oscar of continental drift. Rgrashak''s voice was eerily calm. "[If I find you had anything to do with this, I will not rest until I have eaten your heart.]"


    Grawreh rallied and she drew herself up again. "[On what authority? The one invested in you by the Senate?]"


    Rgrarshak maintained her unsettling quiet tone. "[You don''t think that''s enough?]"


    "[Maybe, maybe not. I have a...proposal for you.]"


    The captain''s paws clenched into fists with an audible crackle. "[Speak and then be gone.]"


    Grawreh looked past Rgrarshok''s shoulder at Oscar and gave him a leering grin as she spoke to the captain. "[Rgratz is dead, thanks to some brave efforts by your crew. It''s clear he was the one who murdered my poor Hrzharh. He''s the one who killed [Ti''Etka], and who has almost certainly killed [Tk''Serk].]"


    "That''s some theory," said Oscar.


    "[Not a theory. Given his clear addiction to Green, Rgratz must be the one who was smuggling it. And he was the only Dorarizin involved. [Tk''Serk] was his partner, and they had a falling out. He killed her, took one of her feathers, and planted it in our apartment. After he''d killed Hrzharh.]"


    "[Are you finished?]" asked Rgrarshok. "[You said something about a proposal.]"


    "[It''s simple. We all agree on that as the official story. It wraps up everything neatly and you can report success to your superiors.]"


    "So we let the conveniently-dead junkie take the fall for this whole shit-show?" growled Oscar. "Bullshit. Why would he kill Hrzharh?"


    "[Why does a Green user do anything? He tried to kill you, after all.]"


    The human didn''t let up. "If he was so out of his gourd on drugs, how did he have the presence of mind to plant that feather? That idiot couldn''t find his ass with both hands and a roadmap."


    Grawreh''s triumphant leer grew wider. "[You may think so, [Human]. But this story makes everything less complicated. If your captain doesn''t agree, then I fear I''ll have to propose something else. Something that will make your lives much more complicated.]"


    Rgrarshok folded her arms, a move which made the muscles in her substantial shoulders stand out. "[Give your threats and leave before I make you leave.]"


    Grawreh shifted her eyes back to the captain. "[I have my own influence in the Senate, Captain. And I''m sure that there are Senators who would be very concerned to discover that a [Human] nearly died here. I might have to tell them about it, out of concern for the [Human''s] safety, of course.]"


    She pointed at Oscar with a claw. "[I''m sure there would be quite a thorough investigation into exactly how such a small and fragile creature was allowed to join your team in the first place.]"


    Oscar bared his teeth. "Fragile? I''ll show you fragile, you overgrown fleabag!" He moved for the door, but Myyreh put her good paw on Oscar''s shoulder and gave a little shake of her head.


    Rgrarshok''s ears twitched, and for one moment Oscar really did think the captain was going to take a swing at Grawreh. "[Is that all?]"


    Grawreh nodded. "[I''m giving you a day to think it over, Captain. Accept my version of events and leave. Or stay and face the consequences.]" She peeked past the glowering captain and gave Oscar another triumphant grin before turning and sauntering away.


    Very slowly, Rgrarshok lowered her fists to her sides. Oscar waited for the inevitable rage-fest, but instead she turned to look at the others with the same unflappable calm as in her voice.


    "[Can Myyreh be moved?]"


    Kgrashak looked up from the wounded crewmember. "[Yes but would be better for her to remain here.]"


    "[No. I''m sorry, Myyreh, but I want you safely up on the Claw. Along with the rest of the crew, especially [Oscar].]"


    The human couldn''t believe his ears. "What?" He waved a hand at the door towards the recently-departed Grawreh. "We don''t have time to waste. We''ve gotta nail that bitch to the wall before she can drop the hammer on us! She''s up to her neck in this whole bullshit, I know she is!"


    Rgrarshok shook her muzzle. "[No, Trainee. I''ve indulged you too much. I nearly lost you and Myyreh as a result. I''m not risking you or any of the other crew. Bgrarh, call Grawfren and tell her to warm up the shuttle. I''ll collect the others.]"


    <hr>


    The bandages on Oscar''s fingers meant that he had to use a pick to strum on his guitar. He could still use the other hand unaided, but only for simple chords.


    The team sat and regarded the main display in the Claw''s rec lounge, which showed their current diagram of the Hrzharh murder. They were all there, even Myyreh. The wounded Dorarizin rested on a portable version of her hospital bed and stared with furious eyes at the ceiling.


    "[When was Kergrakh released from the hospital?]" asked the captain.


    "[About [two hours] before I retrieved the note,]" said Ngralh. "[So she still could have coordinated the trap with Rgratz. We can''t eliminate her as a suspect.]"


    "[I''m trying to backtrack Rgratz''s movements through the camera system,]" added Egwreh. "[But it''s difficult. A lot of them have been disabled.]"


    "That junkie bastard was going nuts with that disabler toy," growled Oscar. "I bet whoever killed Hrzharh handed it to him and told him to go wild. Speaking of which, how''s Jeeves?"


    "[The drone''s a total loss,]" replied the engineer. She gave a sad half-smile. "[Do you want to hold a memorial for it? That seems like something [Humans] would do.]"


    Oscar smiled back. "Remember, yer dealing with a barbarian from the wastelands here. Did you get anything off of the bulkhead doors into the docks?"


    "[No, whoever hacked them was good. They were physically rewired, and there were no traces in any of the colony network.]"


    The human felt like shit in spite of surviving another brush with death. He''d only survived through quick thinking and sheer dumb luck. And even so, his friends were now in trouble because of him.


    "Captain, I hate to ask but is that bitch Grawreh right? Did you cut corners to get a human on board the Claw?"


    The captain stirred out of her thoughtful trance. "[Not exactly.]"


    "What the hell does that mean?" he snapped.


    Her tone still kept that same eerie calm as in the colony hospital. "[It means not exactly.]"


    Oscar stared at the floor and figured this was as good an opportunity as any to try and get a straight fucking answer to Martin''s question, the one that had forced him out of retirement. "Can you please tell me why?"


    The crew all looked at him as he set aside his guitar and stood. "I''m not as strong as you, or as fast. Yeah, I can figure shit like this out." He waved a hand at the main display. "But you guys can do that too. Why put yourself out there for someone like me? You don''t need a human, we''re useles..."


    "[Not useless,]" said a firm voice from the nearby bed. Oscar looked over at Myyreh, who stared steadily back. "[Never useless.]"


    Rgrarshok didn''t look at either of them. She just continued to examine the main display. "[We can''t waste time discussing such things. We''ve only got a day to figure out what''s going on.]"


    "[We get the pack isolated from each other and lean on each of ''em in turn,]" said Ngralh. He added a little snap of his jaws for emphasis. The XO''s normally placid demeanor was now one of somebody itching to deal out some payback.


    "[We don''t have time and they know it,]" said Rgrarshok with leaden finality. "[All they have to do is stay silent and wait for us to get pulled off of this case.]"


    Bgrarh hugged his knees to his chest and gave a little clicking whine. His ears were flat against his head. ["We''re missing the clue.]"


    Oscar sighed and picked up his guitar again, hoping that playing it would calm him. But what he really wanted to do was fly back down to the colony and smash his guitar right across Grawreh''s smug fucking face.


    "What clue, Benny?" he asked.


    "[I don''t know, but there must be one! The one clue we missed, the one that explains everything.]"


    The human let out a sad chuckle. "You''re too pure for this world, Benny. I wish it was that simple, but it never is. You never stumble across the size-fourteen boot and the left-handed fingerprint that tells you exactly who the killer is. You don''t get to say ''Aha!'' while pointing a finger skyward. The universe doesn''t work that way." Oscar glanced up at the main display as he gave a few random strums on his guitar.


    The strumming slowed and then stopped as Oscar''s eyes widened.


    In his mind''s eye, the whole interrelated web of relationships that made up the murder case shifted and then locked into a new and faultless crystalline pattern. Oscar''s hand fell away from his guitar and dangled at his side. The pick fell un-noticed to the deck as he worked through all of the permutations in his head. Yes, it made sense.


    Now it all made sense.


    He pointed one finger skyward. "Aha."


    The crew all looked at him with curiosity.


    "[Are you okay?]" asked Kgrashak. "[Do you need another pain med?]"


    Bgrarh''s ears rose. "[You''ve thought of something.]" It wasn''t a question.


    "You bet your tail I did. I know exactly who killed Hrzharh. More importantly, I know why."


    Oscar then told them.


    The crew all looked at him with shock.


    "[So that''s why-]" began Bgrarh.


    "Yep."


    "[They were-]"


    "Sure as hell were."


    The rest of the crew shuddered.


    "[Eww, that is so wrong,]" muttered Ngralh.


    The captain stared at the display in wonder,"[It fits, though. It all fits.]" She shifted her eyes down to Oscar. "[By The Pale Moon, what made you think of such a thing?]"


    Oscar turned towards his superior as he rested his guitar on his shoulder with casual aplomb. "Because I''m a human, Captain, and if nothing else we are perverted little bastards. Now y''all need to move your asses. We gotta lot of shit to get set up in the next few hours."


    Bgrarh bounded to his feet. His ears now stood straight up and were all a-quiver. "[Is the game afoot, [Oscar]? Oh please oh please oh PLEASE say that the game is afoot!]"


    Oscar grinned and gave the huge alien a finger-gun with his free hand. "It is indeed afoot, amigo. But yer thinkin'' of the wrong author. This isn''t Doyle, it''s Christie!" He turned away and trotted out of the rec lounge.


    Bgrarh stood stock-still in shock as he stared after the departing human. "[He''s not Sherlock Holmes after all,]" whispered the brick-red Dorarizin.


    Rgrarshok looked askance at him with one raised ear, only to start backwards in shock as Bgrarh thrust his paws over his head and gave a barking roar of joy.


    "[HE''S POIROT!]"


    The captain blinked. "[Who? What?]"


    Bgrarh grinned at her but didn''t drop his arms. "[He''s gonna do the SUMMARY THING! This is gonna be AWESOME!"]

 Chapter Nine

    Grawreh-of-Rrelren, Alpha of her pack, kept her face carefully neutral as she walked into Chief Kergrth''s station with the rest of her den-mates in tow. The message from ''We Who Hunt Between The Spaces'' had been brief.


    Meet at the station at midday. We will present our findings.


    That message had to represent Rgrarshok''s capitulation, it simply had to be thus. The Senate team hadn''t held any other interrogations or done any other snooping. Instead they''d holed up on board their vessel for half a day, probably trying to come up with a report that put the best spin on things.


    Due to all of that, Grawreh knew she''d won. Still, she felt a duty to be magnanimous in victory...at least in public. Rgrarshok would present the ''official'' story, there would be no further investigation, and outwardly Grawreh would give them the gravest of thanks for all of their efforts.


    But internally she''d be gleeful. And the gigantic captain would know it, which made it even better.


    The chief and Grawreh''s advocate stood waiting in the front lobby of the station. The pair bowed to the four Dorarizin as they entered.


    "{Gentlemen, I thank you for being here as well,}" she said after giving each of them a regal nod. It was best at this point to appear aloof yet welcoming. Welcoming to those who agreed with her, of course.


    "{I don''t like it,}" said Brsau without any preamble. "{We don''t need to be present for this presentation. If they want to make their summary public then they can send it via implant.}"


    Grawreh smiled. "{Now, now. They have expended quite a bit of effort to uncover this whole sad affair. Not to mention two of their number nearly died in the pursuit of justice. I say we let them show their hard work publicly while we watch.}"


    "{While that is a noble sentiment, this meeting still exposes us to too much risk.}" replied the advocate.


    "{What risk? There was a murderer, and now he is dead. Justice is served, even if it will not bring my poor den-mate back to life.}"


    The chief straightened up, and there was a strange set to his eyes that gave Grawreh pause. "{We should be going. I''ve got the auditorium set up.}" He pushed past them and began loping down a nearby hallway.


    The Alpha raised an ear at the man''s sudden brusque demeanor, but chose not to snap at him for his rudeness. She motioned to her pack and they swept off after Kergrth.


    "{Still, you don''t need to be present,}" Grawreh muttered to her pack-sister Kergrakh. "{You''re still recovering from a serious injury.}"


    Kergrakh put a hand on Grawreh''s shoulder. "{I need to hear this. It will be good for me to see this to the end.}"


    The other pack-sister, Zreshak, piped up from behind them. "{My only regret is that we can''t kill Rgratz-of-Arznor again.}"


    "{The [Human] did us all a favor, I''d say,}" added Nrgeth-of-Arzerghr. The sole remaining male of the Rrelren pack gave a dark chuckle. "{For someone so small and weak, I''m surprised at how thoroughly he killed Rgratz.}"


    "{He''s a sapient tool user and therefore by definition dangerous,}" said Zreshak. "{Don''t ever forget that, just in case you run into another [Human].}"


    Nrgeth snorted. "{Fine, next time I see one of the little bastards I''ll step on ''em before they can get any bright ideas. Should be easy, given how slow they move.}"


    "{I still say we should''ve kept them quarantined to their planet,}" said Kergrakh. "{They''re too fragile and they have no business being out in the galaxy at large...}"


    Grawreh waved her paw to shush them all as the party strode into the auditorium. The ''audience'' portion of the room was a sloped floor that led to a low stage at the far end. A closed door at the back of the auditorium was the only other exit from the room. The place felt empty since the only ones present in the audience were the four pack-members, Brsau, and Chief Kergrth.


    Upon a low stage at the far end stood Captain Rgrarshok and an equally large red-furred male whom Grawreh didn''t recognize. A box sat between them, and Grawreh tilted her head upon seeing it. What was its purpose? It appeared to be an overturned crate. Maybe something was hidden underneath it?


    Grawreh seated herself. Whatever the crate was for didn''t matter. The investigators had nothing solid other than Rgratz''s corpse, a feather, and a few bits of random DNA. If they tried some last-minute trick both she and Brsau had the necessary messages set up and ready to go via implant. Within less than a [week] she''d have a team here to investigate the investigators.


    She might go ahead and send the messages anyway even if they went along with her ''suggestion''. Then those clawless bastards could find out how it felt to have someone interrogating them for a change.


    Her vengeful musing was interrupted by Rgrarshok''s mild and businesslike voice. "{Thank you for coming. We have a few more joining us. [Ta''Stak''qa], if you please?}"


    The yellow-feathered officer trotted through the door followed by four other Karnakians that Grawreh didn''t recognize. She noted with growing unease that they were wearing armor. The four unknown Karnakians spaced themselves around the seated pack with smooth efficiency. She glanced back and saw Chief Kergrth standing at the door, his bulk acting as an effective barrier.


    "{Who are these people?}" asked Brsau as he stood again. "{We were not told they''d be here!}"


    "{This case involves several [Karnakians]. It is only right that Chief [Ta''Stak''qa] be present.}"


    "{And these others?}"


    "{They are associates of the Chief,}" replied Rgrarshok. "{Given the recent killing of a [Karnakian] by one of our species, she thought it was prudent to have a security detail. May we proceed?}"


    Brsau looked over at Grawreh with a silent question on his face. She shook her head, and he seated himself again with a barely-audible grumble.


    Rgrarshok motioned at the multiple camera drones hovering at the corners of the auditorium''s ceiling. "{I''m sure I don''t need to tell you that these entire proceedings are being recorded. To summarize...there was and is evidence of Green smuggling originating from this colony, the details of which are known to you all. During the course of our initial investigation a Dorarizin that we were questioning, one Hrzharh-of-Azrehs, was found dead. His pack-mate Kergrakh was seriously injured and nearly died. A sweep of the apartment revealed a feather that was identified as belonging to one Tk''Serk, a Karnakian now under suspicion of Green smuggling. She has subsequently vanished. In spite of a great deal of effort by Chief [Ta''Stak''qa] she remains at large.}"


    Rgrarshok bowed to the Karnakian, who gave a quick bow of her own in reply.


    The captain continued. "{However, the most likely suspect for the murder is not Tk''Serk. During the investigation, a Dorarizin by the name of Rgratz-of-Arznor attacked two of our team. Fortunately they were not killed, and a subsequent autopsy of...what was left of Rgratz showed significant amounts of Green in his system. We have additional evidence that he was involved in the smuggling ring, as well as hard evidence that he killed another Karnakian named Ti''Etka. Given his murderous behavior, he is the main suspect in Hrzharh''s death. Tk''Serk is also most likely dead by his claws, and he planted a feather from her to divert suspicion. However, his Green use got the better of him and he succumbed to a fugue state after an overdose. His death during the attack on my crew brings an end to this whole sad affair.}"


    Grawreh let out a breath she didn''t realize she was holding. It was working, the captain was showing her belly and obeying her demands.


    Rgarshok looked down at the Karnakian police chief. "{At least, that''s one version of events. What do you think of it?}"


    "[It is very tidy,]" replied Ta''Stak''qa. "[But your usage of ''one version'' surely implies that there is at least one other?]"


    "{There is.}" The captain reached up and touched her ear. "{Hit it, Egwreh.}"


    Fear grabbed hold of Grawreh''s guts, and she stood. "{What do you mean?}" She looked over at Brsau, hoping that the advocate was quick on the uptake and already sending his messages.


    He looked back at her in a panic. "{My implant''s not working.}"


    Grawreh concentrated as she stared off into space. Her brain gave a mental lurch as the expected feeling of a successful network connection failed to arise. She snarled and extended a claw at the stage.


    "{This outrage will not stand!}"


    Rgrarshok''s voice was still mild. "{Please, contain yourself and be seated. Chief [Ta''Stak''qa] is here as an official and impartial witness to ensure there is no mistreatment of you by myself or my team. We merely wish to present everyone an alternative version of events. This version is one that you will certainly find interesting.}"


    Grawreh did not sit down. Instead she glared at the captain. "{Why have you blocked our implants?}"


    "{Because I wish you to listen without any distractions. Now, as you may know we have a trainee in our team, and in the spirit of giving him some on-the-job experience I''ll have him continue this presentation.}"


    The door at the rear of the stage slid open and the little figure of the [Human] trotted out accompanied by the floating metallic sphere of a security drone. He hopped up and stood on the box at center stage as the two Dorarizin stepped off of the stage to join Chief Kergrth at the rear of the auditorium. The chief gave them both a curt nod and walked out of the door, leaving the pair of investigators guarding the entrance.


    The human held a curious little metal-and-glass contraption in one hand, one that Grawreh couldn''t quite make out. He spun it in his fingers as he smiled at those present.


    "[Thank you kindly, Captain. So, where shall we begin?]"


    <hr>


    Oscar spun the magnifying glass in his bandaged fingers while ignoring Grawreh''s icy stare.


    "[What is this nonsense?] she growled. "[You can''t trap us here.]"


    "Who said anything about trapping? We''re only here to brief you on our findings."


    "[This is pure nonsense!]" said Brsau as he also stood. "[It''s mere theatrics to unsettle us. The captain gave the true version of events, there is no need for another.]"


    "Maybe. But Chief Ta''Stak''qa was very interested when I outlined for her another theory about this case. One that she believed should be discussed publicly. You know, in the spirit of ensuring that justice is done."


    The advocate waved a dismissive paw. "[Captain, I will be registering a formal complaint about this treatment. It''s bad enough you summoned us here, but even worse that you''re making us listen to this prattling from your pet.]"


    From the rear of the room, Bgrarh bared his fangs in what was clearly not a smile.


    Oscar raised a finger. "Ah, ah, ah! Trainee Junior Investigator, if you please. Let''s keep things precise. And right now, precisely, you are surrounded by a Karnakian security detail. Both the captain and Bennie are at the rear door and will prevent any attempts to leave. I have Jeeves Junior here in case anybody gets any bright ideas about bum-rushing the stage. Get the picture, Mister Lawyer?"


    The advocate gave a reluctant nod.


    The human pointed an imperative finger at the much larger lawyer. "Good. So why don''t you Sit. Your Fuzzy. Ass. Down."


    The two standing Dorarizin seated themselves with ill humor.


    "Now, where was I? Oh yes, drugs! Drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs, drugs. Drugs are the issue. They''re the reason we came here. And they''re the reason that we didn''t understand what was going on until now. See, we were all convinced that the reason Hrzharh died was because of drugs. Initially we thought Tk''Serk killed him to keep him from tattling about her involvement in the Green smuggling. Or that some rival in the drug trade killed Hrzharh to take over the pipeline. Or even that one of his pack-mates found out about the drug dealing and murdered him in anger."


    He shook his head. "But that''s not it. Hrzharh didn''t die because of drugs. It was because of a far older sin than smuggling."


    Oscar slid his gaze along the seated pack members, finally stopping at Zreshak''s bright green eyes. Those eyes narrowed as he held her gaze.


    "Infidelity," said Oscar.


    "[What?]" gasped Grawreh.


    Zreshak didn''t move, didn''t blink.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Come on, that word must translate. Adultery, cheating, stepping out, making The Beast With Two Backs with somebody who isn''t one of the pack."


    "[You disgusting little ezret!]" yelled Kergrakh. "[How dare you make such accusations of the dead!]"


    Zreshak still didn''t speak.


    Oscar stopped spinning his magnifying glass and kept his eyes locked with hers. "You found out, didn''t you? You''re brighter than the others. You found out he was using his obvious crime to cover up the non-obvious one. Going out at all hours to meet up with Tk''Serk while claiming it was just to get the latest Green shipment. He started cleaning himself regularly, didn''t he? Showering, polishing his claws, and wearing perfume to get rid of any trace of Tk''Serk''s scent. He told you and the rest of the pack that it was to remove any evidence of Green. But you didn''t buy it, did you?


    "I''m guessing you set a camera drone to follow him. Thanks to your day job you''re handy with a drone. You knew how to program it to keep out of his sight while he met with Tk''Serk. I can only imagine your fury when you saw the video. An exchange of money for drugs, followed by an exchange of a different sort. Maybe she let him take charge, eh? You Dorarizin females are pretty dominant, and perhaps he wanted to be on top for once. I can picture you watching that video, grinding your fangs in anger while Tk''Serk bends over and lifts her tail, letting Hrzharh grab her hips and-"


    "[SILENCE!]" Zreshak was suddenly standing, which earned her a warning blare of sound from Jeeves Jr. She seated herself more slowly, but her relatively small frame now trembled with rage and her bushy tail stuck straight out behind her.


    "[I didn''t kill him,]" she said in a shaky voice. "[I was with you when he died.]"


    Oscar began pacing, pointing one finger towards the ceiling like a lecturing professor. "Yes, and that brings up one of the big questions that''s been bugging me about this whole case. This murder was clearly planned well in advance. So why did the murderer do it now? Why take such a huge risk with a Senate investigation team sniffing around? And then I wondered if maybe our presence actually made things easier. Which led to another question. Why did you approach Myra and I in that scent bar? After all, we were investigating your pack for a serious crime.


    "You see, I realized that the same reason answered both questions. That reason was me. I''m the new weird thing around here. While I was in the scent bar everybody was looking at me. Therefore they''d all be looking at you as well, giving you an iron-clad alibi for the murder."


    Oscar then stared hard at Kergrakh. "And you have a damn good alibi too, don''t you? An injury that you couldn''t have inflicted on yourself, given by some mysterious intruder."


    The Beta didn''t respond, she just glowered at him.


    "Another thing I noticed in the scent bar is that you and Zreshak weren''t exactly friendly with each other. At the time I chalked that up to Zreshak being disgusted with Hrzharh''s drug dealing while you were cool with it. But that wasn''t the case, was it? Zreshak had just sent you via implant the video of Hrzharh and Tk''Serk going at it. And Zreshak had also given you a nifty little gadget to disable his drone along with a nano-cloned feather. There were also some detailed instructions on what to do. She knew you''d be angry enough to do it."


    "[You miserable pervert...]" Kergrakh growled.


    "Your tail was fuzzed out when you left the scent bar, something I''ve never seen in a Doarizin except when Rgratz attacked me and Myra. You were in an state of utter rage, and not because you were using Green or because Nate was bothering you. It was because you''d just found out about Hrzharh''s canoodling."


    Kergrakh''s claws twitched in and out of their sheaths, but she stayed seated.


    "Then you went home, zapping cameras as you went in accordance with Zreshak''s instructions. And when you arrived, you zapped Hrzharh''s drone and smashed in his skull with it. There was no intruder after all. You were the only other one in that apartment."


    Brsau twitched as if to stand, then eyed Jeeves Jr. and settled back down. "[She couldn''t be! Ask any of the doctors, her wound was not self-inflicted!]"


    "Oh it sure was. Ya see, we had a couple of theories on the drones in that apartment. One was that somebody had reprogrammed them to attack Hrzharh and Kergrakh, and the other was that somebody had disabled the drones  first and then used ''em as blunt objects. But the truth is that both happened."


    He pointed his magnifier at Zreshak. "Like I said, she''s handy with drone programming. Zreshak also had direct physical access to Kergrakh''s drone. She reprogrammed that drone so that when triggered it would inflict a severe but non-lethal injury on its owner."


    The magnifier shifted to Kergrakh. "How did it feel, I wonder? You standing over Hrzharh''s cooling corpse, your rage subsiding at last. But then as the rage died, you had the growing and awful realization that you''d have to hurt yourself badly to deflect suspicion. I can picture you rushing around, slipping that feather into the air conditioning vent and then setting up the spilled scent glass as if you''d been waylaid. Then psyching yourself up to speak the trigger-word to your drone that would send you into a coma...if you were lucky."


    He now pointed at Grawreh. "Zreshak timed this whole affair very well. Grawreh was already on the way back to the apartment, so Kergrakh was pretty sure she''d be found before she could bleed out and die. But it wasn''t a sure thing, no matter how much Zreshak reassured her. Though in the end it worked out. Kergrakh was alive, and no one suspected her."


    Oscar grinned with zero mirth at Zreshak. "You''d gotten your vengeance. The adulterer was dead and his paramour was framed for his murder. It was really quite elegant. I suspect you even tipped off Tk''Serk about the feather just so she''d run. It would make her look even more guilty. I''ll bet you also have some other manufactured evidence ready to go. Maybe a packet of Green with Tk''Serk''s DNA on it plus some of Hrzharh''s blood? Such things could be ''discovered'' once we''d caught Tk''Serk. Just in the event the case against Tk''Serk needed shoring up."


    He dropped the magnifying glass to his side with a sigh. "But then things started to go wrong, didn''t they? Tk''Serk didn''t just run, she vanished. She''s been smuggling Green for a while so I imagine she has set up a few little bolt-holes just in case she feels the heat. Then you received word that we weren''t just searching for Tk''Serk, we were taking feathers from random Karnakians. You feared your little nano-fabrication project had been discovered."


    Oscar shook his head. "We tried to come up with a plausible cover story for taking those feather samples. But you didn''t buy that either. You''re simply too smart. So you got together with Kergrakh to puzzle out a solution. And that solution was, once again, me."


    He clasped his hands behind his back with a professorial air. "No human in the integration program has died yet. Given what I know of galactic politics, none of the Senate species wants to be the first to have that happen on their watch. Therefore if you put me in danger, or better yet killed me, that would cause enough of a stink to get ''We Who Hunt Between The Spaces'' off of your back. But how to get to me? That''s when you decided to get rough.


    "If we were trying to surreptitiously get in touch with Tk''Serk, her sibling was the most obvious point of contact. There was no time for finesse. You sent out your muscle to beat on poor Ti''Etka until he confessed that we were exchanging notes and where the drop occurred. Rgratz then killed Ti''Etka as per your instructions. You left a note of your own for us. That note couldn''t tell me to come alone, that would have much been too obvious. I''d have to be allowed my security detail. So to counter that you gave Rgratz that drone-disabler along with a nice big dose of Green. He was a tough sonofabitch, and you hoped that having him in a berserker rage would make up for me having both a drone and a skilled bodyguard."


    Oscar glared at Zreshak. "It nearly worked, and that''s the one thing that I won''t forgive. You hurt Myra. For that I''m gonna see you nailed to the fucking wall."


    Zreshak finally dropped her eyes, but her tail remained fuzzed out behind her.


    "In any case, that murder attempt gave you the leverage you needed. After Rgratz was dead, you went and whispered in Grawreh''s ear that now was her chance to get some revenge on us annoying cops. She could use me as an excuse to get our team pulled. And so she went to the hospital and delivered her, or rather your, ultimatum. We leave, or she''d call the Senate and let them know what happened to me."


    There was a long silence, and then Oscar shrugged.


    "Anyway, that''s pretty much it."


    There was another long silence, broken by Zreshak''s derisive snort. Brsau and the other pack members simply sat with stunned expressions, but she looked back up at Oscar with clear defiance in her eyes.


    "[You have no proof of any of this. It''s just a made-up story.]"


    "I''d say that''s for Ta''Stak''qa to decide." He looked at the Karnakian sitting off to one side of the stage. "Well ma''am, what do you think?"


    The Karnakian fluffed herself out as her crest rose. "[It is certainly an intriguing theory. It does explain everything, but I fear I must agree with the [Dorarizin] in the matter of proof. What physical evidence do you have?]"


    "If you''ll indulge me, ma''am, I think I''ll have a response to that very shortly. Ah, there we are..."


    He touched his ear and nodded a few times. After a long pause, he took his finger away with a smile.


    "My apologies, everyone. I just received word from Emma and Chief Kergrth. They''re in Zreshak''s lab right now and examining her nanofabrication facilities. They''ve been purged of any physical residue of course, and the files are mostly deleted. But they did recover a few file fragments which show that Zreshak was creating synthetic Karnakian DNA in her lab. That''s proof that she created that fake feather, which in turn ties her to the murder scene."


    Zreshak''s tail relaxed back into normalcy. "[I see. So that''s it, then?]"


    "That''s it."


    "[You have my congratulations, [Human]. You were right about almost everything. You made two wrong assumptions, however.]"


    "I''m always ready to learn. Please, enlighten me."


    Zreshak held up an extended claw. "[First, you assume that only myself and Kergrakh are involved. Second...NOW!]"


    In one frenzy of motion, the other Dorarizin threw themselves at the security detail in a tornado of motion. Just as Oscar tensed with his pitifully slow reflexes, Jeeves Jr. gave an all-too-familiar squawk and then began to fall. Zreshak became a white streak heading for the stage, barely visible in the human''s vision; the captain and Bgrarh were similar streaks but much further away...


    The drone hadn''t even reached the floor before Oscar found himself hoisted into the air by a white-furred paw clamped around his neck. Zreshak''s other arm was clamped tight around his arms and torso in an unbreakable hold as she held him against her chest. He gargled and wriggled in her grasp, which earned him a warning nip on the ear.


    "[I HAVE THE [HUMAN]!]" yelled Zreshak. The fighting in the room paused upon her shout, the combatants looking at the stage and then at each other. Bgrarh and Rgarshok stood crouched in mid-sprint halfway between the rear door and the stage, but they stayed rooted to where they were.


    "[I''ll slice his throat if anyone so much as twitches. Understand?]" She pressed a claw into Oscar''s neck, dimpling his flesh.


    "[Now where was I?] she purred into his ear. "[Oh, yes. Your second wrong assumption was that we only had the one disabler device. But those were the only two errors you made. Overall, you were quite clever.]"


    Oscar gave a pained grunt as she nipped his ear again, this time hard enough to break the skin.


    "[But not clever enough.]" She raised her head and addressed the stock-still figures in the room. "[This is what will happen next. My pack and advocate will leave. Leave in a ship which you will provide for us. Otherwise I''ll kill the [Human]."


    "[You won''t get far,]" growled Rgarshok.


    Oscar could hear the sneer in Zreshak''s voice. "[I''m sorry, did you think we were negotiating? No. The [Human] comes with us as a guarantee of your good behavior.]"


    The scientist brought her muzzle close to Oscar''s ear again and whispered. "[And perhaps we''ll find a use for this ''useless'' little [Human]. If nothing else, you''ll make for good entertainment when we chase you.]"


    Oscar swallowed and tried to speak, but all that came out was a hoarse gasp due to her hold on his neck.


    "[You''re strangling him!]" yelled Bgrarh. "[Let him breathe!]"


    "[Tsk. Such fragile little things.]" But the paw clamped around his throat did relax a little, enough for Oscar to get in a good breath.


    "Well Chief, does this count as sufficient evidence?" gasped the human.


    Ta''Stak''qa currently lay frozen in the middle of her trying to disembowel Brsau. She looked down at the stock-still advocate, their arms locked in a mutual grapple. The Karnakian looked back up to the stage.


    "[I''d say this is as good as a full confession, [Oscar],]" she piped.


    "Thought so. Junior, take out the trash."


    Zreshak had time for one puzzled "[Eh?]" before the auditorium was filled with a huge metallic ''TWANG'' that sounded like someone smacking a taut steel cable with a sledgehammer.


    Oscar was suddenly free, but he was also suddenly in the middle of the air with nothing supporting him. He did have enough presence of mind to tuck and roll as he hit the stage, but as he struck earth he knew he''d managed to get another bruise on his backside.


    "Well, at least now both of my asscheeks match," he grumbled as he rose to his feet. He looked down at the wriggling and trussed-up figure of Zreshak. Her green eyes blazed with fury, but thanks to the silver ribbon around her muzzle she couldn''t speak.


    Oscar put his fists on his hips and shook his head as he gazed down on her. "Ya know, threatening to cut my throat is something I might let pass. But thinking I was dumb enough to let the same thing happen twice? That hurts, Zreshak. It cuts deep."


    He tapped his chest with his fist as his voice choked up in mock distress. "It gets me right here, it really does."


    Grawreh was closer to the stage than either Bgrarh or the captain, and she took advantage of the distraction to fling aside the Karnakian guard she''d been wrestling. She screamed in fury as her gray form blurred towards the stage...


    There was another ''TWANG'' and that blur became a tumble. Grawreh rolled to a stop at the foot of the stage, struggling uselessly in the silver ribbons which now bound her.


    Oscar pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "People, people, people. Can we please keep this civilized? You''re all very totally seriously completely exceedingly utterly ridiculously busted. Now behave like nice Dorarizin and let the local cops arrest you...otherwise, Benny and the Captain back there will give y''all a whuppin'' to remember."


    Bgrarh clenched his huge paws into fists and growled in a voice that came from somewhere in the abyss. The captain folded her arms and gave a growling counterpoint of her own that made the room sound as if a league of hellhounds was approaching.


    Faced with the spectre of the two furious and gigantic Dorarizin, the various pack members went limp. The Karnakians began to truss them up with a quick efficiency. Even Brsau didn''t so much as mutter a complaint as Ta''Stak''qa bound his paws behind him.


    Oscar gave the drone''s skin a pat. "Nice shootin'', Jeeves Jr. Yer a credit to the family name."


    The drone beep-booped in reply.


    Bgrarh hopped up onto the stage and grabbed up Oscar, and before the human could protest he shoved his nose into the crook of Oscar''s neck and sniffed.


    "[You smell uninjured. Are you hurt?]" Bgrarh asked in the midst of his snuffling.


    Oscar sputtered and tried to fend off the huge Dorarizin''s nuzzling with little effect. "I''m fine! Just a little...ack...bruising, nothing..oof, okay, that''s enough!"


    Bgrarh set him back down with a grumble, then glared down at Zreshak. "[You threatened my friend. You''re lucky I''m a policeman, or I''d let you know exactly how I feel about that.]" He turned to Oscar. "[That was too risky.]"


    "It''s all right, Benny. We needed to do it. After all, we didn''t have any real proof."


    Zreshak''s eyes widened upon hearing that, and she began wriggling and mumbling into the muzzle on her snout.


    Oscar winked at her. "Oh yeah, that whole thing about pulling those file fragments from your lab was purest bullshit. Emma''s still here in the station. She was scanning for the signal from your disruptor. We had it narrowed down to a few different frequency ranges, all of which we had Jeeves Jr. here shielded against. She sent a message to the drone the moment she picked up your disruption attempt. An attempt which was witnessed by Chief Kergrth, by the way. Emma''s message made the drone act as if disabled. Junior waited for either a code message from me or for you to try and carry me off of the stage."


    He shrugged. "You''ve used me as a pawn in your scheming a couple of times. I figured you couldn''t resist the urge to do so once more. And you proved me right."


    Zreshak slumped back against the stage floor and stared at the ceiling in utter defeat.


    There was a nudge at Oscar''s ribs, and he turned to stare into the multiple eyes of Ta''Stak''qa. He must be getting used to being around xenos, because this sudden face-to-face meeting didn''t even make him flinch.


    "[A very clever ploy, [Oscar]. But I agree with your colleague, it was much too risky for you.]" The Karnakian sounded agitated for the first time that Oscar could remember.


    "That''s why I couldn''t tell you about that part in advance. I knew you''d put the kibosh on it. Anyway, shall we get to the next bit?"


    The Karnakian''s crest rose in pleasure. "[We shall.]" She turned and addressed the auditorium.


    "[Tk''Serk, I know you''re tracking the movements of the Dorarizin team. I know you''ve got access to these camera drones. With these arrests, the threat to you is ended. I promise that if you turn yourself in and give the names of your other Karnakian associates we will show leniency in your sentencing.]"


    Ta''Stak''qa darted her head back to face Oscar. "[I wonder how long it will be before she...]"


    The door at the rear of the auditorium slid open, and in strode Chief Kergrth with a familiar pearlescent blue Karnakian in tow. Tk''Serk kept her head down and crest flat against her skull in obvious embarrassment.


    "[Well look who''s decided to grace us with her presence!]" announced the Dorarizin police chief with a very wide and toothy grin.

 Chapter Ten

    Oscar was back on board the medbay of the Claw and in a very familiar position, namely being poked and prodded by Kgrashak. Her paws oh-so-gently squeezed at his neck while she sniffed. "[You''ve got some strained tendons here to go along with the injury to your ear. If you keep this up I''ll have to turn to a more complete form of protection.]"


    "That sounds ominous."


    "[I was searching for what humans use for protective gear. It was all so shockingly inadequate. So I cast my search wider, and I found a great idea. It''s what you use for those, ah, what do you call those little furry animals? They''re about this big.]" Kgrashak held up two of her digits a few inches apart.


    "Mice?"


    "[Not exactly, they were called [hams], I think? No wait, that''s a kind of meat.]"


    "Hamster?"


    She pointed at him. "[That''s it! Yes, they have these balls that you can put a hamster in so they can roll around safely. I can make a big one of those for you.]"


    Oscar gave her a level and unamused look. "You wouldn''t dare put me in a hamster ball."


    "[Don''t test me and you won''t have to find out.]"


    He sighed in mock dismay just as the door slid open. Myyreh walked in, with only a slight limp hinting that her leg had once been injured. Her arm and shoulder were still wrapped in bandages, but otherwise she appeared whole. Oscar smiled at seeing her, a smile that Myyreh readily returned.


    "[How''s our little monkey-boy doing?]"


    "[As reckless as ever,]" replied the medic. She looked back-and-forth at the two of them and cleared her throat a trifle too dramatically. "[I need to report to the captain. You keep an eye on him, all right?]" Kgrashak moved to the door and fixed Oscar with a steely glare. She pointed two fingers at her own eyes and then at his.


    "[I mean it. Behave yourself, or it''s the hamster ball for you.]"


    Oscar responded with only a cheeky grin, which made Kgrashak shake her head as she left.


    Myyreh sat next to his bed. "[I saw the video of your ''Summary Thing'', and I agree with Kgrashak. It was far too risky. You should have waited until I could be there.]"


    "You were still recovering. Besides, Jeeves Jr. was just playing possum. We''d programmed it so that if any of the others in the pack rushed the stage he''d whack ''em. We left it so that only Zreshak could actually reach me. I knew she''d go all melodramatic and try to use me as a hostage. I had to show her guilt beyond any doubt."


    She placed a careful paw on his stomach. "[The term [playing possum] doesn''t exactly translate, but I get your meaning. It was still too big of a chance. Zreshak wasn''t trained in how to handle humans. She could have seriously hurt you by accident.]"


    Oscar gave a causal wave. "Eh, it all worked out in the end." He tried to keep his voice also casual, but his guts were uneasy. He sensed that there was a certain conversation approaching, one that he''d still hadn''t figured out how to handle.


    He sat up and began to get off of the exam table. "Anyway, let''s head out. The sevice for Ti''Etka is..."


    Myyreh leaned forward and placed her head on his chest, pinning him back onto the table. "[Not yet. We need to talk.]"


    Oscar took in a deep breath. "Yeah, I guess we do. I was gonna wait until you were all healed up." Which was true for the most part, although there was also some fear underneath his reluctance. He didn''t doubt that she cared for him, but a little doom-laden voice kept whispering in his ear that Myyreh could hurt him badly if things got physical. That was even assuming he wanted things to get physical.


    "[I''m healed enough.]" Myyreh nuzzled her head into him with more force, but not hard enough to hurt. "[I have to confess, I started teasing you because of what you said in that scent bar. About feeling useless. At first I thought you were just exaggerating to throw Zreshak off, but then I realized you weren''t.]"


    "Nah, you were right the first time. I was just bullshitting her."


    She looked back up at him and placed a careful finger against his cheek. "[Really?]"


    He couldn''t lie, not to those deep blue eyes. "No, not really. I told her the truth."


    Her paw-pad stroked the side of his face. "[So after I realized that, I tried teasing a fellow denmate out of his funk by treating him like I would any other attractive male.]" She gave a cheeky rolling click with her teeth. "[It made it better that you''re so [frickin''] cute when you''re all out of sorts. But then you saved my life.]"


    Oscar started a reciprocal rubbing of Myyreh''s furry cheek. He was careful to keep away from her ears. "You saved mine too, just like I told Benny."


    "[You got in the killing blow. You attracted his attention and put yourself in mortal danger, and what''s more you did it for me. That made me realize how unfair I''d been.]"


    She pushed herself up along his chest and tucked her muzzle under his chin, or at least as much of it as she could. Her paw now all but encased the side of his head. "[It''s not an easy thing to change your life. But it was worse than that for you. You changed your life and you put yourself among a pack of ferocious beasts, far from any others of your kind. You threw yourself so bravely into the void, just like you threw yourself at that bastard. So I''m not going to tease you any more, my brave little warrior.]"


    Oscar was going into damn near sensory overload from the fur and paw pads swaddling his face. Her body now half-covered his, and under the soft fur and slight padding of fat he could feel her rock-hard muscles pressing down on him. They shifted and moved in interesting ways as she rubbed her muzzle along his neck.


    He tried to sound casual. "Oh?"


    She picked up her head and clasped his face in both paws, holding him inches from her snout. "[I''m going to straight-up ask if you want to be my mate.]"


    The room didn''t seem to have enough air. His entire world was narrowed to her piercing yet warm blue gaze. Back when he''d been among his own Oscar had always been the big Alpha, always the pursuer. Now the shoe was most definitely on the other foot and he realized with some surprise that he was just fine with that.


    But that little voice of doom kept whispering at him. How the hell could this even work physically? The phrase ''throwing a hot dog down a hallway'' kept springing to mind; it wasn''t a slam on Myyreh, it was just that she was so damn big.


    He had to admit, the fact she could break him in two with one paw was also a turn-on.


    But he was also constantly lying to the pack by not telling them of his real mission. Given what had happened to Hrzharh, did he really want to take the risk of an even deeper emotional invovlement?


    "I..."


    Myyreh touched her nose to the tip of his. "[Shh. Don''t speak. Just think it over, all right? It''s a big decision. If you say yes, this won''t be some casual fling. We''ll be together. And don''t worry about the size difference. You''re a smart guy, we''ll work it out."


    Her voice acquired a growling subtone that rattled his chest, and she bared all her teeth. "[And if you say no...]"


    Oscar held his breath until she closed her mouth again and winked at him. "[In that case, I guess we''ll just have to settle for being good friends.]"


    Myyreh licked the tip of his nose, then released his head and stood. "[See you dirtside, [Oscar].]" She strode out of the medbay without a backward glance, her tail wagging the whole time. Oscar watched her go while realizing he now sported a very confused boner.


    <hr>


    Oscar hadn''t seen much of the Karnakian portion of the colony during the investigation. The walls in their section were still cheerful, although more of an earth-toned color scheme than the Dorarizin pastel.


    When it came to funerals, the Karnakians went all Viking. Open flames were a big problem in an enclosed environment with recycled air, and so Ti''Etka''s funerary pyre was located in a purpose-built cavern with very precisely engineered ventilation to keep the smoke going in the right direction, i.e. into the cavern''s generous filtration system and not into everyone''s lungs.


    The Karnakians also went all freakout when it came to possible danger to Oscar. For a little bit it didn''t look like he would even be allowed to attend Ti''Etka''s service until the Captain put her substantial foot down.


    The raptors still insisted on additional precautions, and so Oscar had to watch the proceedings while he and his crewmates were surrounded by a ring of protective raptors. It made him wonder. Keeping a human safe made political sense for the dinos, but this caution seemed overboard even for that.


    The cavern was filled with what looked like every Karnakian in the colony. Here and there a few Dorarizin stood head and shoulders above the general sea of multicolored feathers.


    Tk''Serk approached the pile of synthetic wood while carrying a proper Olympic-style torch. She bent at the base of the pile and applied the flame, which caught readily. She backed up and handed the torch to Ta''Stak''qa. Oscar looked back at the pile and saw a few sky-blue feathers peeking from the top as bright orange flames began to lick upward.


    The smoke pouring out of the pyre twirled into a vortex that spun up into the filter units on the far-off ceiling. As the flames consumed the wood the Karnakians bowed their heads . Oscar followed suit and bowed his head as well.


    Then, at some unspoken signal, the raptor-like aliens raised their snouts towards the ceiling and trilled in unison, a high-pitched sound that rattled Oscar''s bones. The wordless chorus rose with the smoke and ululated up and down in pitch. It was an eerie noise that made the hairs on his neck stand up, and something about it told him that this was an old, old ceremony.


    He pictured Karanakians long ago, grouped around a similar pyre on their homeworld. They clutched stone spears while one of their own was consumed by fire. The Karnakians raised their voices, singing into the endless sky above to let the universe know that this person had once existed.


    They''d been just like humans once upon a time, and had thrown themselves into the immensity of the universe with a heedless abandon that was also very human. Against such an infinity, did anyone''s size really matter?


    The trilling died down, and all stood in respectful silence while the blaze swirled in the cavern''s center. It took a long time, but eventually there was nothing left but a mound of glowing coals.


    Tk''Serk approached the ring of Karnakians surrounding Oscar. Ta''Stak''qa and a few in her security detail kept pace with the ex-smuggler. Oscar half expected to see some sort of restraints on her, but none were visible. After a brief muttered exchange with one of the human-protecting raptors, she and Ta''Stak''qa were allowed to pass. The pair trotted carefully up to the crew of the Claw.


    "[I wished to thank you for bringing justice to my poor clutch-mate.]" said Tk''Serk.


    "[It''s our job,]" replied Rgrarshok.


    "[And I wanted to apologize for not turning myself in earlier. I just didn''t know whom to trust.]"


    "[You could have trusted us,]" said Bgrarh. "[We would have given you a fair hearing.]" But he sounded sincere, not snippy.


    "[I know that now. If I''d approached you sooner, perhaps Ti''Etka would still be alive. If only...Well, in hindsight there are a great many things I would do differently.]" She gazed off at the still-cooling mound of ash in the cavern center. Her face didn''t change, but from the set of her hips and tail Oscar knew she was feeling regret.


    Tk''Serk then peered with all four eyes at Oscar. "[I understand you were one of those who pushed for my innocence in [Hrzharh''s] murder from the very beginning.]"


    "We just wanted to make sure," he replied.


    She gave him a slow bow of her head. "[Nevertheless, I am grateful. Seeing how you are willing to treat with me fairly, even after what happened when our species first met...it gives me hope. I''ll need that hope where I''m going.]"


    "I''m sorry for asking, but where are you going?"


    "[To a prison on one of our core worlds. My sentence is only for [six decades].]"


    "Only?" Even given a Karnakian''s much longer life span a sixty-year stretch seemed harsh to Oscar.


    "[Yes. It''s shorter than usual, since I''m cooperating with Ta''Stak''qa and the other authorities.]"


    Ta''Stak''qa floofed her chest feathers out and her crest stood up. "[We already have started rolling up the pipeline from the core worlds. That should make your job easier.]" The police chief gave Rgrarshok a bow which the captain gravely returned.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Tk''Serk''s crest remained flat against her head. "[I can only hope it will do some good. I''m responsible for my clutch-mate''s death. That is a burden I''ll have to carry even after my sentence is finished.]"


    <hr>


    Now that he finally had some down time, Oscar figured it was a good opportunity to catch up on his sleep or at least get some alone time. The door control for his room aboard the Furious Claw of Inquiry was thoughtfully set at a proper human height. But as he reached for it Oscar suddenly found himself floating in midair, the control now out of reach.


    The reason for that floating was obvious. Myyreh had her paws clasped on each side of his torso and held him in mid-air with casual ease.


    Oscar tried to bend over and reach for the door control, and in response she held him even higher.


    "Um, can I just check my email...?"


    "[Email later. Party now.]" She trotted off down the hallway, holding him aloft like a religious icon being paraded towards the altar.


    He felt a little relief when he heard that. In spite of much soul-searching he still didn''t have the faintest idea how to respond to her offer. Oscar didn''t care any more about the size difference, but he didn''t want to lie to her about his real job, even if it was more lying by omission.


    The rec lounge door slid open, revealing the rest of the crew arranged in a semicircle around the door. They held large glasses of something...purple.


    Myyreh placed him with great ceremony on the floor, in the center of his crewmates. Bgrarh handed him a human-sized glass full of the same purple liquid, a bright and very eggplanty hue. With equal deliberation Rgarshok handed Myyreh a larger glass of the same.


    Oscar looked askance at the glass in his hand. "I''m assuming this is safe for human consumption?" He gave a tentative sniff. The smell of it speared through his nose, into his skull, then coiled around his brainstem while whispering its evil intentions.


    "Gah! What the hell is this?"


    "[It''s wine,]" replied Myyreh.


    "Buuuuullshit. My nose ain''t that bad."


    "[Fortified wine, then. Stop being a whining pup and drink it.]"


    "[First we toast,]" said the captain. She raised her glass, a gesture that was quickly mirrored by the others. "[To a successful hunt, and to our newest pack member bringing down his first prey!]"


    They all drank. Oscar''s sip was more exploratory, but he found the purple drank quite tasty. It was alcoholic as all hell, judging by how much it burned his throat and nose, but it did go down smooth. He''d have to pace himself, seeing as how he was out-massed by at least a factor of three by his co-workers.


    After that initial toast, things got a lot less formal. Oscar paced his drinking, and to their credit his denmates didn''t push him. As the booze flowed his crewmates got a little more rambunctious with each other. He was in the middle of chatting with Kgrashak when Myyreh waved him over to where the XO and the engineer faced each other with equally confident grins.


    "[C''mere. Ya need to ?[error, slurring]?, er I mean referee these guys.]"


    "Wait, what? What are they doing?"


    "[Wrestling!]" said Egwreh brightly. "[This fool thinks he can pin me.]"


    "Shouldn''t Myra be the ref? You guys can move too fast for me to see."


    Myyreh shook her head. "[No speed for this. It''s more technique. And yer the most unbiased one here, so you''re ideal.]"


    "I haven''t had near enough booze yet to make this seem like a good idea..."


    He didn''t know until this moment that Dorarizin could pout. Myyreh added in a little whine and tucked her paws under her chin as she blinked down at him with eyes that were suddenly big and soulful.


    "...all right, fine, I''ll do it. Stupid puppy-eye routine."


    The resulting match was close, but ended with Egwreh pinning Ngralh. From the way she looked down at the XO, Oscar was pretty sure some other type of wrestling was going to happen in the near future.


    That led into a discussion of the intriguing human not-quite-a-sport known as ''pro wrestling''. He wound up sitting in Myyreh''s lap while the crew watched one beefy guy whack the other in the head with a metal folding chair.


    "[So it''s all choreographed?]" she asked.


    "Of course it is! Half of those moves need the other person to work with you, and the other half would just flat-out break their spines if they really did it."


    "[But they act as if they hate each other. There was all that yelling back and forth before the match began.]"


    "It''s all part of the drama."


    "[And the audience knows this?]"


    "Yeah, everybody knows."


    Bgrarh tilted his head. "[So it''s like a play?]"


    "Sort of, but it''s not explicitly called fiction. Everybody''s in on the gag, even the audience."


    Myyreh regarded her half-empty glass. "[I haven''t had near enough booze for this to make sense.]"


    After the match was over and the heel had gotten his due comeuppance, the captain took to the floor and motioned for Oscar to rise.


    "[I don''t think anyone would argue that [Oscar] can drop the ''Trainee'' from his job title. I''m exercising my right as captain to also take off the ''Junior''.]"


    "So just ''Investigator'', then?"


    Rgrarshok nodded with a rare smile. "[I didn''t think you''d argue with that either.]"


    Oscar was surprised at how elated that news made him feel. It was a feeling of belonging, something he hadn''t experienced for a long time. He wordlessly toasted the captain again just as his earpiece gave a little ''bong''.


    The captain chuckled, since hers had just done the same. "[Time for your mandated [Human] media consumption, Investigator.]"


    Oscar rolled his eyes. "You know, I was just on my way to do that when Myra waylaid me. Can''t it wait until later?"


    Rgrarshok tilted one ear forward. "[Check your messages, then. I''ll log it as the proper four hours. But once we''re underway I''m not cutting any more corners for you, understand?]"


    "Of course, Captain."


    <hr>


    His half-brother''s return email was full of questions, most revolving around if any of his crew had tried to eat him yet. Oscar dashed off a quick reply that yes, he was still alive and no, there had been no cannibal attempts. He wasn''t about to mention the incident with Rgratz.


    Oscar stood and stretched, feeling his spine give a nice little crackle. His world had a pleasant boozy sheen over it as he walked for the door, then paused. Fuck, he''d almost forgotten to check the other thing. He went back to the terminal and called up the day''s horoscope for Virgo from a certain news-blog.


    Feeling grouchy? It might not just be you. A change of scenery may be in your future!


    His pleasant alcohol-induced haze vanished. It was a message from Martin.


    Mission compromised. Watch your ass and be ready to GTFO.


    Oscar closed his terminal as his mind raced through his options. They weren''t good. He''d just asked the captain to bend regs so he could get back to the party, so they''d be expecting him. There wasn''t another human in at least ten light years, so fading into the crowd was out of the question. He couldn''t even fly the shuttle let alone pilot the ship, so simply running was also not gonna happen.


    No, he''d have to just gut it out and hope that Martin was just being a paranoid bastard. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, then headed for the door.


    When he got back to the party...was it his imagination, or was everybody now facing towards him? They were still chatting or, in the case of Egwreh and Ngralh, going through another wrestling competition. There was no refereeing going on, so this was probably just an excuse to feel each other up.


    Myyreh walked up with an empty glass and her tail wagging. "[Hmmm, I''m actually feeling that drink. How''s your brother doing?]"


    "He''s doing good. Asked if I had any tooth marks yet."


    "[I hope he was joking,]" said the captain from behind him. Oscar started and looked back and up at her. How in the name of fuck could somebody so big move so silently?


    "I think so, but with his sense of humor it''s hard to tell." Oscar smiled in spite of his heart now beating just a little faster. He told himself to relax. If they''d found out about him, they would have done something about it, right?


    Unless they were waiting for him to drop his guard.


    Like he would at a party, with some alien drink in him and a fresh promotion.


    His paranoia kicked into overdrive as the captain took gentle hold of his shoulder and turned him to face her. She looked down at him with an unreadable expression.


    "[And did your [horoscope] have anything interesting to say?]"


    Oscar thought about bolting, but only for about two nanoseconds. He realized that he was suddenly surrounded by a ring of furred giants. They all had that same neutral expression, even Myyreh. He almost would have preferred seeing obvious anger.


    He chuckled and tried to play it cool. Maybe it was just a coincidence. "Yeah, I know it''s a silly thing. But my mom was a big believer, and I guess I just got into the habit of checking. It''s a way to remember her..." Oscar trailed off as the captain stepped back, leaving Myyreh as the one closest to him. The other crew crowded closer as Oscar turned back to look up at her.


    "Not gonna buy it, huh? I must stink of fear. And you can hear my heart rate."


    Myyreh stepped towards him, and the ring of muscle and fur around the pair contracted further. Oscar swallowed as his heart beat ever faster.


    "Myra, I am so sorry. It was just a mission, they forced me out of retirement. It wasn''t personal."


    Myyreh said nothing, and her face didn''t change. He looked around at the others, hoping to see some sort of friendly face or gesture, something that would tamp down his panic. But he saw nothing but huge staring eyes and raised ears as if the crew was bearing down on some cornered rabbit.


    "Please say something, okay? Somebody say something."


    Oscar kept talking as the ring of wolves contracted in on him. "I like you guys, I really do. I like this job...well, except for the nearly getting killed part. But I''ve been through that before, it''s just a occupational hazard. Can we just sit down and talk this over, please?"


    In the middle of Oscar''s panic, he had time for one bemused thought.


    So this is how I die. Torn apart by alien wolves.


    Oscar looked up at the huge xeno standing in front of him. "Myra? Please..."


    With blinding speed she reached for him just as the ring snapped shut.


    Oscar found himself encased in a cocoon of warm fur. His face was smashed so tightly against Myyreh''s chest that he found it difficult to speak. He thrashed without effect, and managed to worm his head around so he could at least breathe a little. "Uh, guhs, whah''s gahin ahhn? Peauh, wha..."


    Multiple paws grabbed his various limbs, pulling him into a spread-eagled position. The ball of fur squished in and around him, encasing him completely.


    "Guhs! Whuddafug!"


    The grip of the paws turned into pats and strokes. From somewhere in the middle of the ball of fur he heard the captain''s voice.


    "[Shhh, it''s okay packmate. We''re all here. We''re here for you.]"


    This must be some sort of pack calming ritual? He twisted his head into a position that cranked his neck awkwardly, but at least he could now talk.


    "Please, I really am sorry! Can you let me go now? I''m fine, I''m not freaking out anymore, really I''m not. You guys were really looming a lot just now. I need to tell you...okay, somebody''s grabbing my ass! Myra!"


    Myyreh chuckled from deep in the squishy ball of warm bodies. The molesting paw gave his glute another healthy squeeze and then withdrew. The pile fell apart, leaving him sitting in Myyreh''s lap with both her arms wrapped around him.


    "[Feeling better?]" she whispered.


    He took in a proper breath. "Yeah."


    "[Sorry for surrounding you like that,]" said the captain. "[But I didn''t want you running off in a panic. And I figured a little scare would make up for the lying.]"


    Oscar sighed. "How much do you know?"


    Rgrashok squatted casually in front of him while Myyreh stroked his head. "[I was wondering from the start why someone like you would be allowed off of your homeworld. Even judging from your redacted service record, you must hold a lot of secrets in your head. Then, as I watched you at work, I realized that you were even more experienced than I expected. So I became curious.]" She grinned. "[And I just so happen to have a few colleagues who can gain access to the [Human] information network.]"


    "You got ahold of my service record. The full one."


    She gave a Dorarizin nod. "It showed that you had been called back into service just before applying to the placement program. But you weren''t acting like a spy. You weren''t prying into any military or political secrets, you were merely performing your duties. At first I thought you were an undercover observer. They send them through the placement program from time to time, but they''re registered with the Senate just in case they''re discovered. You had no such registration.]"


    Oscar shrugged. "I don''t think my boss wanted to risk that as a cover story. He''s pretty paranoid."


    "[It comes with his profession. I figured that you were communicating with him somehow, either through coded phrases in your emails or via the [horoscope]. The latter seemed the more likely, since you are otherwise free of superstition. So I accessed your unredacted file again, but this time with less finesse. I figured that your superior would discover my intrusion and warn you. When you returned to the party just now, your scent and heart rate gave you away.]"


    The human gave a sad chuckle. "Martin''s gonna be so pissed that he got played."


    "[Who''s [Martin]?]"


    "Martin is Martin."


    "[Ah yes, I''ve dealt with similar types from my time in the Inquisition. So. Why are you here?]"


    "I''m an undercover observer, but not for the placement program. Our government got ahold of a Dorarizin message fragment. There was no hacking or anything nefarious on our end, it was just a mistake. We were able to partially translate it on our own, and it indicated a huge demand for humans. A lot more than we''d realized. I was sent to find out why."


    Oscar gently shrugged out of Myyreh''s embrace. "Look, you guys have been great. I don''t regret coming here, and I''m sorry it didn''t work out." He wriggled out of her lap and stood. "If you drop me off at the nearest human outpost I can probably hitch a ride back..."


    Rgrarshok stood. "[If you so much as take one step for that door I will bust your tail right back down to Trainee. Understood?]"


    He stared up at her, his forehead wrinkled in puzzled wonder. "But...but I''m a spy."


    "[Not really. I would count it more as simple observation, performed under duress. Besides, we haven''t been entirely forthcoming to you either.]"


    Oscar snorted. "You mean the deep dark secret I was sent to discover?"


    "[It''s not dark. I''m a little disappointed, [Oscar]. I thought for sure you would have figured it out by now.]"


    "Are you kidding? I have no fuckin'' clue what use humans are. Especially after seeing how much trouble you go through to have me here. You guys have to have special training just to avoid injuring us. You remodeled your whole damn ship to accommodate me. Not to mention you went and put your careers on the line, and for what? Just so you can say you have a human on board? It doesn''t make any sense!"


    "[It doesn''t? Maybe I should keep your title as Junior Investigator after all.]"


    "But-" Oscar stopped as the penny dropped.


    He remembered the constant cuddling from the Dorarizin, even from a murder suspect. The way the Karnakians fussed over him as if he was....as if he was an infant needing protection.


    That half-baked idea he''d had was right after all. He turned to look at Myyreh.


    "We''re cute, aren''t we?"


    Myyreh nodded and set a big warm paw on his shoulder.


    "[We''ve avoided telling [Humans], of course,]" said the captain.


    "Why? We deserve the truth."


    The captain sighed. "[What purpose would it serve? Your species is already suffering from an inferiority complex. Your technology is still primitive compared to ours, through no fault of your own. The circumstances of your first contact don''t help either. We want [Humans] to be strong allies, and thinking of yourselves as pups won''t achieve that.]"


    Oscar''s shoulders slumped and he buried his face in his hands. Myyreh give a little whine and squeezed his shoulder.


    The captain''s voice was heavy with regret. "[I''m sorry, [Oscar]. I know this is hard to hear, and we should have told you from the start..."


    A long, loud snort resounded through the rec lounge, making the entire crew tilt their heads. There was more snorting from behind Oscar''s hands until the human threw his head back and howled in laughter, making Myyreh flinch away in surprise.


    "This is fuckin'' great! Oh, this is too precious! That little bastard Martin is gonna shit himself!"


    The captain tilted her head until it was almost sideways. "[What? You can''t tell him.]"


    "Oh I sure as shit can and I sure as shit will. He was expecting something to use as leverage on you guys, but to do that he has to make it public. There''s no way in hell he can make something like this public."


    "[You could just keep quiet,]" said Myyreh. "[Tell him he was just mistaken and that we haven''t discovered your mission.]"


    Oscar put his hand on top of her paw still resting on his shoulder. "Won''t work. He''s a paranoid schmuck, and if I say there''s no problem he''ll wonder if I''ve been turned. I''ve got to tell him, even if the secret is useless to him."


    "[But you can stay here after you tell him, right?]" Myyreh clicked her teeth with worry.


    "Probably not. Once I report he''s gonna want me back on Earth. Like the captain said, my head''s too full of secrets."


    "[So ignore him,]" said Ngralh. "[He doesn''t have any influence out here.]"


    "He doesn''t have pull here, but he''s got a lot back on Earth. I have family there and I don''t want the bastard making their lives difficult. Especially my half-brother; he''s done some, er, unwise things in the past."


    Myyreh scooped him back into her lap and hugged him. "[If he so much as touches them I''ll deal with him myself. I don''t care, I''ll go to Earth if I have to.]"


    The captain rubbed her jaw thoughtfully. "[I agree with the sentiment, Specialist, but I don''t think we need to resort to treaty violations to get [Martin] off of [Oscar''s] tail.]" She grinned at him. "[I''m assuming our newest crew member wants to stay on board, yes?]"


    The human was shocked to feel a sting of oncoming tears in his eyes as he leaned against Myyreh''s chest. "I would really like that, captain."


    "[Then we are all in agreement.]" Rgrarshok winked. "[Now let''s go give your superior a call.]"

 Chapter Eleven

    Rgrarshok claimed that the comms unit on the bridge could call just about anywhere. Oscar was about to put that to the test.


    The screen lit up, showing a man wearing a pleasant and very artificial smile. "Galactic Fruit Exports, this is Kevin. How may I direct your call?"


    "Operator confirmation code Zero Two Niner Seven Six," replied Oscar. "Project code JADE CLERIC."


    The other man''s plastic smile slipped a little bit, and he vanished to be replaced with a black screen. After a minute, an older woman''s voice spoke in a flinty, no-nonsense tone, but the screen remained blank.


    "We cannot trace your location. Where are you calling from?"


    "Hey, Janice, it''s been a while."


    The woman''s voice betrayed her surprise. "Oscar? What the hell, I didn''t know you were working again..."


    "Get him on the line. I don''t care if he''s in the middle of a dump. Tell him that Charlie''s gone and danced the Foxtrot. He''ll want to talk to me."


    There was a moment of silence, and then the screen lit up again to show Martin''s office. It was beige and boring, just the way the chief spook liked it. He leaned closer to the screen and tried to peer around Oscar, who knew there was nothing visible behind the human but a big gray wall.


    "Where the fuck are you?"


    "Nice to see you too, boss."


    "Are you in a secure location? How the hell did you get off of their ship?" A look of dawning horror crossed Martin''s features as he started to figure out what that wall was. "What is that you''re sitting in front of?"


    "Not what. Who. Martin, this is the Captain. Captain, Martin."


    Rgarshok brought her head down into view while Oscar leaned over to make room for her massive noggin.


    "[Greetings, [Martin]. I assume you do not have any official title.]"


    Oscar had to give Martin credit; the little bastard only blinked for a few moments before replying.


    "Okay, let''s everyone keep calm here."


    Oscar grinned. "We''re calm. I''m calm. Are you calm, Captain?"


    "[Exceedingly.]"


    "See, boss? We''re all calm."


    Martin rubbed an eyebrow. "Oscar, what is going on?"


    "What''s going on is that you and I got played like fuckin'' fiddles."


    Martin stared for a moment at Oscar, than slumped. His gaze shifted to the Captain.


    "You let me discover that intrusion, didn''t you?"


    She nodded.


    "All right. What do you want?"


    "[I''m letting you know that [Oscar] is staying on board the Claw indefinitely.]"


    Martin gave a single bitter laugh. "Sure, as a hostage. Are you looking for leverage?"


    Rgrarshok''s eyes narrowed. "[I am insulted that you think we would mistreat a fellow sapient. Besides, [Oscar] has proved himself a worthy addition to my crew and we are proud to have him. No, I merely wish you and I to come to a mutual...understanding. Myself and my crew will not report [Oscar''s] true mission to anyone. In exchange you will release him from this and any future obligation.]"


    "That''s it?"


    "[That''s it.]"


    "I''ll throw in a bonus," said Oscar. "I succeeded in my mission. Take the deal and I''ll tell you the answer you were looking for."


    Martin stared at him for a moment with a deadpan expression. Oscar knew he was looking for any tell or signal that his agent was under duress. "You want this, Oscar?"


    "I do."


    "All right, Captain. We have an understanding, as you put it."


    "[Excellent. I should add that we''ll be keeping a close eye on [Oscar''s] family back on Earth. Our newest denmate is so very worried about them, you see.]"


    Martin''s jaw tightened. "That sounds like Oscar. He''s a worrier."


    "[I''m glad you understand. Of course, if we were to hear of any problems involving his kin then we''d have no choice but to pay a visit to Earth. And what with all the excitement of that visit, certain secret missions might be mentioned by accident to certain parties in the Senate...you know how these little glitches can happen.]"


    One could almost hear the gritting of Martin''s teeth through the screen. "Yes, I certainly do know."


    "[Excellent. Well, it was a pleasure to meet you. I''ll leave you two alone so that [Oscar] can make his report.]"


    She picked Oscar up off of her lap then set him down on his feet before loping off of the bridge.


    He smiled and shrugged at Martin''s stormy expression. "Come on, man. They made me so bad it wasn''t even funny. I''m in the middle of a bunch of giant aliens who can literally smell when I''m lying. There was no choice but to roll over and show my belly, as they would put it."


    "Just make your report. What did you find out?"


    "It''s simple, so simple that I looked right past it for the longest time. Two word summary, we''re cute."


    "What?"


    "Did I stutter? Humans are adorable, precious, darling as all hell. That''s why the aliens like having us around."


    Martin slumped further and stared unseeing at the surface of his desk. "All of them think like that? Not just the Dorarizin?"


    "The Karnakians as well. They fussed over me like a hatchling with me none the wiser. I don''t have any first-hand experience with any Jornissians, but from what the Captain said they find us cute too. Nice and warm."


    "Aw, fuck. How am I...this is a political nightmare. We''re having a hard enough time as it is keeping people motivated."


    Oscar shrugged. "That''s why they don''t tell us. Hey, in the grand scheme of things it could be a hell of a lot worse."


    Martin rested his forehead in one hand. "Oh sure. Just one more way they can infantilize us."


    "There''s no nefarious scheme on the xenos'' part, Martin. It''s just one of those things. It''s a funny old universe, isn''t it?"


    "How can you be so accepting?" snapped Martin. "What the hell am I supposed to do with this info? I can''t tell anyone about this! We were hoping for some kind of mental advantage, or some unique physical trait. Instead we''re just a bunch of...of space-kittens!"


    "Eh, you''ll figure something out. You can still use it for leverage, just not in a way you''re used to."


    Martin peered out of the screen at him. "Easy for you to say. You''re gonna be off playing detective."


    "Not playing. I''m a full-fledged crewmember now, and the Captain doesn''t hand that out on a whim."


    The smaller man snorted. "Or they want you to think that. Sooner or later you''re gonna get tired of being treated like a little kid."


    "It''s not like that. Sure, I''m no longer the biggest badass around, but coming out into space reminded me that I can still be useful in other ways. In a weird way I''m grateful that you made me burn down my bar. Now please give Henry my warmest regards, have a very nice life, and fuck the fuck off forever."


    He clicked the screen off before Martin could retort. Oscar looked around. There was nobody else on the bridge; the coast was clear. He seated himself with great dignity in the only human chair on the bridge, then slouched manfully to one side. The red-swirled gas giant outside filled the screen, with the smaller marble of Pak''tahl floating in front of it.


    It was a gorgeous view, and very appropriate for what he had in mind.


    Oscar began to intone. "Space. The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship...Enterprise. Its five year mission, to explore..."


    Myyreh poked her head through the bridge door. "[By the Pale Moon, are you doing [Kirk] again? Get your tail back in here! You''re missing the party!]"


    <hr>


    He awoke with a head that was surprisingly free of pain from all the drinking. As usual, he also awoke swaddled in a furry embrace. Although he had a merely human nose, Oscar had gotten pretty good at picking out individual scents. This didn''t smell like Ngralh, or Bgrarh...wait a minute.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    The human looked up at Myyreh''s sleeping, peaceful face. She stirred and blinked as he moved, then looked down upon him with a gentle smile.


    "[Good morning.]"


    "Is it morning?" He looked around the lounge, which had several piles of dozing crewmates.


    "[I think it''s morning. So, ah, did you have a chance to think over my little proposition?]"


    "I did, and I''ve made my decision."


    "[Oh?]"


    Oscar reached up and gently grasped one of her big ears, then rubbed it between thumb and forefinger.


    The huge alien stiffened and gave a tiny squeak that was way too high-pitched to have come from somebody her size. Myyreh proceeded to melt into a furry puddle. She let forth a dolphin-like stream of constant clicks as Oscar brought up his other hand and went in for the double-ear-rub.


    She bent her head down to lick and nibble at his neck. The feel of her teeth prickling against his vulnerable flesh but never quite breaking the skin made him squirm with nervous anticipation.


    He looked around and saw a few amused eyes peering at them from the other cuddle-piles.


    "I think we need some privacy for this," he murmured.


    "[I agree,]" she whispered in his ear. "[I have just the place in mind.]"


    <hr>


    "It figures you''d pick the gym."


    "[Nobody will be in here for a while, not after that party. Plus I can make the floor nice and soft. Hang on a moment and I''ll get it all set it up...]"


    A few muted beeps sounded out from pressed controls, followed by the soft padding of large paws to the room''s center.


    "[Please come on out here, [Oscar]."


    There was more padding, this time of smaller feet.


    "Just, ah, go easy on me okay?"


    "[Are you nervous?]"


    "Oh hell yes. I trust you, but you are kind of intimidating."


    "[Even if I lie down like this? Now I don''t look so threatening, do I?]"


    "You look...amazing. You sure got the bedroom eyes down pat."


    There was the patting of a paw against the mat-like surface. "[Come right here.]"


    The smaller feet padded nearer. A human throat was cleared.


    "Soooo...how about a kiss?"


    "[I thought you''d never ask.]"


    There was a long mutual hesitation.


    "Er, how should we do this? Our faces don''t line up like I''m used to."


    "[I''m not sure either.]"


    "Well, how do Dorarizin kiss?"


    "[We both open our muzzles and...here, I''ll show you. Don''t move.]"


    "Shit that''s alottateeeethulmmmnnn!"


    There was no speaking for a while, only wet sounds and muffled human mumbling that rapidly turned from complaining to passionate. Those sounds were in counterpoint to the equally muffled and lustful basso growling from a turned-on Dorarizin.


    The gym resounded with the wet slurp of two mouths breaking apart.


    "[You liked that?]"


    "Hooo boy...you are one hell of a woman."


    "[I''ll take that as a ''yes''.]"


    "Yeah, I''m feeling pretty good."


    "[Only ''pretty good''? This will make you feel even better.]"


    There was a rustling as a female''s uniform was removed with inhuman speed.


    There was a long pause.


    "Holy shit."


    "[Oh. I hope my body looks pleasing.]"


    "You''re gorgeous! You''ve got muscles on your muscles. What is that, a twelve-pack? I gotta feel that...huh, this is softer than I expected."


    "[Oooohhh...}


    "Oh, so that''s where your mammaries are. Does that feel good?"


    "[Grrrahhyesss...]"


    "Would you mind rolling onto your back?"


    "[Just don''t stop touching me there...]"


    "I won''t, I just want get a peek down at...oh, yeah."


    "[It''s...hhhrrr...it''s not too different, is it?]"


    "No, looks like another win for convergent evolution. Hey, I wanna try something. Trust me, this will feel even better."


    "[But I want to see you naked. I want to pleasure you too.]"


    "Ladies first. Now it''s your turn to hold still, and don''t squeeze your thighs."


    "[What does that mean? OH!...you little...ooohhhh!...]"


    There was the dull scraping noise of claws digging into the deck, along with an alien voice devolving from words into happy growling. There was no commentary from the human, as his mouth was occupied.


    After a while, there was a shout of "[Hhhhraaaaah!]" followed by pleased panting.


    "I hope you found that to your likingeeep. Uh, Myra? Put me down? Please?"


    The alien panting was not subsiding, if anything it was becoming even more lustful. "[If you''re not going to get yourself naked, I''ll just have to do it for you!]"


    "Whoathereeasywiththeclaws!"


    There was more rustling...well, tearing, as another uniform was removed with a few precise swipes.


    Another long pause, followed by a Dorarizin''s giggle.


    "Hey, now! That''s just the size it is, okay?"


    "[It''s not that, it''s your proportions. Our men are bigger than you but not as...sizable as compared to their body. You look like a fertility idol. Are all {Humans] like you?]"


    "I guess so? I never did any detailed comparisons....Ohhhh, wow, your paws are softer than I expected..."


    "[Hmm, this is also lot smoother than those of our males. But I think I can work with this. It feels like you''re ready as well."


    "Mmmm...mmmmaybe I should be on top, just to be safe..."


    "[No, for a Dorarizin couple''s first time it''s a tradition that the woman is on top.]"


    "Really?"


    "[Well, it''s sort of a tradition. Pleeeaase?]"


    "You''re gettin'' way too good at at that puppy-eye look. All right, just watch the pelvisoooof."


    There was a thump as a smaller body was placed with haste onto the floor, followed by an anticipatory growl.


    "[I bet you''ll make the cutest noises when I ride you, my cheeky little [monkey].]"


    Some rustling ensued, followed by a mutual wordless shout as two bodies joined.


    "And...ooh...and what if I don''t?"


    "[Then I''m...unf...going to ride you until you do.]"


    <hr>


    One thing that never changed about policing was its obnoxious amounts of paperwork. Even when Oscar was surrounded with alien tech advanced by several thousand years over the human norm, he still had to sit and grind through form after form. The only saving grace was that it was all electronic instead of physical, probably out of necessity. Trying to store all of this crap on paper would run the risk of creating a black hole.


    At least he had a nice view while he worked. The bridge was quiet once more after all of the fuss and bother of going back into warp, and he and the captain were the only ones left.


    He sighed and looked over at Rgarshok, who was crouched at her workstation in the middle of her own endless form-filling. "What should I put for throwing that stun baton? Does that count as a weapon discharge?"


    The captain flicked one ear in thought. "[Deployment of a less-lethal weapon in the line of duty, Form 476-Y8-B12."


    Oscar tapped in the code and groaned at seeing the quite detailed form that now occupied the screen of his terminal. "It''s a good thing Emma didn''t make that Beretta for me. I''d hate to see the paperwork I''d have to wade through if I''d fired that."


    He shifted a bit in his chair and groaned again, this time from pains due to his recent ''exertions''. His hips and legs in particular felt like he''d swum ten miles.


    The captain snorted a laugh. "[So how are you feeling, Investigator? You don''t seem too injured. Myyreh must have gone easy on you.]"


    "Ah. Yeah, I''m good. I forgot to ask...is that okay? Myra and me, I mean."


    "[We are much more a family-pack rather than a work-pack. You''re both consenting adults, so there''s no violation of regulations.]"


    "Good. I should have checked with you first, but Myra was, um... And to be fair, I was also... Well, we both were, you know?"


    The captain chuckled. "[Oh, I know.]"


    There was a companionable silence while Oscar finished filling out the form and clicked it closed forever. Until the next case, of course. Oscar was pleased to feel a familiar mental itch from long ago, one which occurred when he was between cases and jonesing for a new one.


    "So what''s next? Tracking more of the Green pipeline?"


    "[Not right now. We''ve taken care of one of the smugglers'' main interfaces between [Karnakian] and Dorarizin space, so now we wait for the law enforcement of each species to keep rolling it up within their own jurisdictions. We''ll only get involved if there''s another gray area like [Pak''tahl].]"


    "That''s good. I''d rather not deal with Karnakians again....oh shit. I don''t like the way you''re grinning."


    "[Be careful of what you say, Investigator. The universe is always listening. Somebody high up in the Senate just contacted me in a panic. It appears a Karnakian reliquary got itself stolen.]"


    "Shouldn''t the Karnakians take care of that themselves?"


    "[The sect which owned the reliquary is in conflict with another sect that claims it as well. There are accusations of robbery and favoritism flying back and forth, and the Senate wants an impartial group to investigate.]"


    Oscar groaned and leaned his head against the back of the chair. "So not only do we have to deal with raptors again, we have to plop ourselves right into the middle of a religious debate. Fuckin'' wonderful."


    <hr>


    The nanofabricator ''dinged'' softly and its lid popped open, revealing a solid white puck. Bgrarh leaned forward and inhaled. Yes, this was a very pleasing scent, much like that described in his extensive reading of [Human] texts.


    Getting a sample of the real thing from [Earth] would have been very hard. The shipping costs alone would be astronomical. Bgrarh didn''t mind resorting to this method, however. Synthesizing the stuff on his own was more of a challenge, and he liked a challenge.


    What nobody realized, not even [Oscar], was that Bgrarh was not merely smart.


    When it came to certain aspects of chemical analysis and applied nanotechnology, Brgarh was more properly described as a genius. Most of the time that genius went un-noticed thanks to his naturally retiring nature.


    But one constant about geniuses is that they tend to become...obsessed. Now that Bgrarh had some downtime, a new obsession had taken full hold of him.


    The Dorarizin first scoured what he could of the [Earth''s] Internet to determine what the [Humans] used for ingredients. Unfortunately, many of them were compounds that naturally occurred on [Earth] but which had no Dorarizin analogue. So he''d made his own analysis to determine the most likely substitues in his laboratory''s feedstocks. There were also aromatics and complex hydrocarbons to synthesize, all of which he''d done with gusto. Bgrarh eschewed any use of dyes, however, as he liked his fur''s color.


    His blue eyes gleamed as he reverently removed the puck of material from the nanofabricator and gave it another thorough sniff. He pinched off a bit of it in his fingers and rolled the waxy material between his paw-pads to check its consistency.


    It was perfect.


    Bgrarh smiled as he trotted off to find a comb and some brushes.


    <hr>


    The Dorarizin ship Furious Claw Of Inquiry popped back into normalcy again. Somewhere the ghost of Albert Einstein took one look at the ship, shook his shaggy head, and pulled the cap off of a fresh bottle of Jack Daniels.


    The wedge shape of the Claw cruised serenely on towards a distant green-and-white globe while deep inside the ship''s hull there was one more inspection underway on the hangar deck.


    Captain Rgrarshok-of-Ngraz stalked along an invisible line on the deck plating, giving micro-adjustments to her crew''s uniforms as she did so. As always, her crew''s foot-claws all just managed to touch that invisible line without going over it. But now there was a pair of small gray boots amid the much larger line of paws, and those boots hit the same invisible line with equal precision.


    She smiled ever-so-slightly at Oscar and reached out to tweak his uniform as well. He gave her a responding slight grin. The captain continued on with an added spring to her step. Her good mood lasted until, of course, she came to Bgrarh-of-Arhraz at the end of the line. The captain first glanced at his head and was surprised to see no sign of his hat. Then she looked down at his face.


    "{Specialist Bgrarh,}" she started, then stopped. "{What...what have you done to to your face?}"


    "{My face, madame Cap-tin?}"


    "{The fur. On your face. Why is it combed out on each side like that? And what is that goop?}"


    "{Ah, Cap-tin, zat ''goop'' is ze wax for my moustaches! I synthesized it myself! Zis is, how you say, a cultural hairstyle as allowed by regulations of both ze Empire and ze Senate.}"


    The Captain''s brain nearly shut down in protest at what it had to deal with. "{But..but why do you have moustaches? What in the name of the First Pack are moustaches?}"


    "{Ze are a hairstyle which as a bonus also act as antennae for ze little grey cells!}" Bgrarh winked at her and tapped the side of his head.


    Rgrarshok took a deep breath. "{Let''s start over. Why are you talking so strange?}"


    "{Zis accent is ze closest I could get to [Belgian], madame Cap-tin.}"


    The captain face-palmed. "{This is a [Human] thing, isn''t it? [OSCAR]! What did you do to my Specialist?}"


    "[Aw, c''mon, Captain! You can''t blame this on me!]"


    "{You did something, you little menace! Some kind of sneaky underhanded [Human] mind-control...Bgrarh, listen to me very carefully. You. Are not. [Belgian]. You''re not even the right species!}"


    "{But madame Cap-tin, ze true sprit of [Belgium] resides in ze heart, not in ze body!}"


    "{GAH!...}"


    The Furious Claw of Inquiry cruised off towards its next assignment, while all around it the galaxy got on with the business of living.