Page 2 - Extraterrestrials, Foreign and Domestic

Remains to be Seen

(Fantastic Transactions 1, 1990)

Acting chief district superintendent Bauser arrived on Vomisa
fifty-nine hours after Agency headquarters had received an urgent
request for assistance. The alien air flooded his lungs with exotic
gases and his consciousness with memories of a tour of duty spent
on the Earth-type world in the early days of his police career.
He smiled benevolently at the locals as he strolled from the
spaceport to the nearby Agency administration building, but his
finely-developed sense of paranoia told him something was not
right among the Vomisans: he saw no Scavvies begging for scrap
metal, and the Chanters at each intersection fell silent when he
passed, resuming their gossipy recitation behind his back.
Nevertheless, it was a pacified planet and a sunny day, and
Bauser had abstained from consuming any of the harsher
beverages offered by the cruiser’s galley. Thus his joviality had not
totally evaporated when he checked through Security and sought
his contact, watch commander Soznizot, in the executive offices.
The post was staffed by the usual mix of locals and Agency
personnel, the latter spending limited tours of duty learning the
ropes from the former. Bauser had briefed himself en route on
Soznizot’s career, learning little of interest beyond the facts that
the policeman was relatively young and inexperienced, that he had
arrived on Vomisa barely one month earlier, and that his local
counterpart had recently died of old age.
The visitor found his man hard at work in the crime lab,
synthesizing evidence reports through an old-fashioned inference
engine. Soznizot’s hands were trembling as he superimposed gene
maps on the luminous template.
“Commander? I’m Bauser. You sent for help?”
The younger man looked up, his face and manner torn between
reluctance and relief.
“Yes. Yes, I did. And I’m sorry I did. This won’t look good in
my record, I know that. But it could get a lot worse if you can’t
help me crack this case. I’ve tried, but so far it looks like a perfect
crime, and now a rebellion is on the verge of breaking out.”
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