Murder on Metro 4 Read online

  Table of Contents

  Murder on Metro 4

  Book Details

  Dedication

  The Splice Explainer

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Murder on Metro 4

  MATTIE HOPE

  Jax has been fascinated by splices—genetically modified ambassadors to humans from a civilization known as 'the Fusion'—from the moment they made first contact. On insular Metro 4, though, his chances of ever actually meeting one are slim. Then one day he discovers a body...

  As part of a diversity program, splice detective Zheng is transferred to Metro 4. From the moment he arrives, he's already counting the hours until he can go home. Anti-alien prejudice is gathering momentum, and a recent murder is only fanning the flames...

  Murder on Metro 4

  By Mattie Hope

  Published by Less Than Three Press LLC

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the publisher, except for the purpose of reviews.

  Edited by James Loke Hale

  Cover designed by Jennifer Gavens

  This book is a work of fiction and all names, characters, places, and incidents are fictional or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is coincidental.

  First Edition September 2018

  Copyright © 2018 by Mattie Hope

  Printed in the United States of America

  Digital ISBN 9781684313471

  To all my readers, but especially my first.

  Thanks to James Loke Hale and Amanda Jean, who helped to make this book immeasurably better; to my mother, without whose support this would have been impossible; and to my wife, who did the typing. No, not really.

  Q. What are "splices"?

  A. They may look more like a cross between a rooster and a peacock (except over 1.5 meters tall), but "splices" are actually genetically closer to what we would call dinosaurs—specifically, theropod dinosaurs, which are (you guessed it!) the ancestors of modern birds. It seems that the so-called "Fusion" created them from archived DNA which was picked up on Earth during the Cretaceous period by a now-extinct race of explorers. Just don't call them bird-brained: their DNA has been edited using CRISPR-like technology to make them much smarter than the average birdy.

  Q. The "Fusion"?

  A. Yep—it seems to be a kind of macro-UN, made up of sentient species from across the galaxy. At least, that's what we're being told.

  Q. Why dinosaurs? Do the "Fusion" want to open up some sort of Cretaceous-era zoo?

  A. Fortunately not, since any classic vid fan can tell you that dinosaur theme parks never work out. These splices were apparently created specifically to make contact with us humans (since the "Fusion" didn't have any human DNA in their archive, which…is probably for the best). They seem to think that we're more likely to respond to them because they're organic, carbon-based, and from our home planet (sort of). Which raises the question, if we're more likely to respond to dino-clones than to the "Fusion," just how freaky are these aliens? The mind boggles.

  Q. What do they want?

  A. They claim to come in peace, to encourage humans to join the "Fusion." So far they've proven themselves able to communicate fluently in several Earth languages, including English, Mandarin, Spanish, and Arabic.

  Q. Wait, they can talk?

  A. Well, yes and no. Theropods didn't have syrinxes (the bird version of a larynx), so they can't physically speak. They communicate with the aid of a special device designed by the "Fusion." We're not yet sure whether it's an electrolarynx, a silent speech interface, or something else entirely.

  Q. So, they're basically interstellar Jehovah's Witnesses?

  A. That's one way of looking at it, but not everyone is keen to slam the door in their faces. UN Secretary-General Noor Handal was quoted as saying: "Though caution is necessary, we must not succumb to cynicism. At this watershed moment in human history, we have an opportunity to determine how we will be remembered—not only by our children, but by the children of peoples scattered throughout the stars. We should greet these visitors by opening our arms, not by opening our armories." Stirring stuff.

  The UN is currently in talks to open embassies on the space habitats Metro 1 and Cosmograd Gagarin, with others possibly to follow. The idea seems to be that it'll be easier for the splices to integrate—and easier to keep an eye on them—on the relatively newly-established, and considerably less populous, space habitats than it would be on Earth.

  Q. So does this mean Xenu is real, too?

  A. Hey, anything's possible, right? But…probably not.

  —from 'The Splice Explainer' by Jerome Cox

  Query Magazine, 'First Contact' edition, March-April 2097

  Chapter One

  Jax had already made it from his bed to the kitchenette, via the bathroom, before he realized there was an octopus in his suite.

  "How the hell did you get in?" he asked it, not expecting an answer, and not getting one. Well, not a verbal one, anyway. It did change colors at him, but since Jax didn't know shit about octopi, it wasn't much help.

  Doctor Gershon lived right across the hall, though, and she studied them. Even if it wasn't one of hers, she'd know what to do a lot better than he did.

  He wasn't sure if you were supposed to touch octopi or what, but when he walked to the door it followed him. He propped his door open with a shoe as he left, and watched as it slithered its way through the gap after him, its weird structureless head listing and lolling as it went.

  He knocked, hard, on Doctor Gershon's door, and waited. When she didn't answer after about a minute, he knocked again, even harder this time, and shouted "Doctor Gershon?"

  Still nothing. He looked helplessly at the octopus. This thing was his responsibility now? Screw that. He figured the chances of it not being hers were pretty much zero. He'd just get in there, put it back in its tank and get out. Probably nobody would ever find out about it, and if they did, he was really just being a Good Samaritan.

  It wouldn't be the first time he'd hacked one of these doors, although it was a while since his last straight-up B&E. He was trying to go straight, these days. It took him a while to get through, and the whole time the octopus was there next to him. It was almost like he could feel the impatience coming off of it. "Give me a chance," he muttered. It really wasn't that long at all before he was in, though, despite being out of practice, and the fumbling that came from being watched by a strange octopus.

  He'd been in Doctor Gershon's suite before. When she first moved into the tenement, she'd invited him in and proudly shown him around. She'd spent a long time talking about each octopus, using a lot of words he didn't understand. She obviously loved them all. She was kind of strange—maybe everybody from Earth was strange, he didn't know—but she had treated him like somebody who was worth a damn, which was more than pretty much anybody else did, except Kath. Well, Kath used to. Jax had tried not to ruin it, nodding politely, acting like a nice boy with manners and half an education, instead of the scumbag he really was. So he wasn't surprised when the door opened into a makeshift lab, rather than the living room/kitchenette setup that was standard in the suites. There was a hotplate and a microwave, and a desk chair to sit on, and a desk with a monitor, but every other spare inch of space was taken up with tanks and equipment.

  He made sure the octopus was in before he s
hut the door, then he looked around to see if he could figure out which tank it belonged to. Octopi were good at hiding, he remembered that much from Doctor Gershon's tour―it had taken him forever to spot one of them, all curled up in a dark corner of its tank―and he didn't want to put it in with a bigger octopus that would eat it. He also looked around for a net or something, so he could get it in there without having to touch it.

  It was while he was looking around that he saw one tentacle disappearing around the door to Doctor Gershon's bedroom, which was ajar. He had not been in there, thanks (Doctor Gershon's private quarters hadn't been part of the tour, which had been a relief, honestly). Could he just…leave? It was in here now. It wasn't his problem any more. Right?

  But then he thought about how nice Doctor Gershon had been to him. He couldn't just let an octopus run loose in her suite without at least trying to do something about it.

  "Doctor Gershon?" he called. "I'm coming into your bedroom now, okay?"

  He knocked, then pushed the door all the way open. At first he thought the room was empty (apart from the octopus)―the bed was still made―and he couldn't see her. Until he could. Just her foot, at first, poking out from behind the bed. Then, as he approached, the rest of her. She was face down, and there was a little puddle of vomit next to her (he could smell it, a little, as he got close enough). The octopus was on the other side of her head, touching her face with one tentacle. It moved out of the way as he got closer. He didn't want to, but he felt like he had to―to check she was alive. He touched her shoulder, gently. There was no warmth through the sweater she was wearing. He shook her, and there was nothing, so he rolled her over. It was then that he saw her eyes: wide open, staring, and fogged over.

  Was that what his mother had looked like? Was it a memory, the image that flew into his mind, or just his imagination? He didn't know, he just ran from the room and into the lab.

  Probably he should have called the medics or the Guard Quarters directly, but instead, he found himself dialing the person he'd always turned to when he was scared. Almost always.

  "Kath," he said when she answered, barely keeping his voice under control, "it's Jax. I need your help."

  "Jax?" she repeated, surprised. He couldn't blame her. They hadn't spoken for a while, and that was down to him. She lowered her voice. "Do you need me in uniform, or out? Tell me exactly what kind of trouble you're in."

  *~*~*

  Jax wasn't entirely sure exactly what kind of trouble he was in, but Kath came in uniform, with a posse―some kind of medic, someone whose job it seemed to be to take pictures, and another detective: a splice.

  "This is Zheng," Kath told Jax.

  Jax could tell by the coloring on his throat and his long, fanlike tail that Zheng was a male splice, and a particularly brightly colored one. Unlike some splices, who clipped their tails and wing feathers to try and seem more human or take up less space, this one wore his proudly. Jax had never seen a splice guard before, but he figured that the single prosthetic arm extender and voice modulator were standard-issue—there was nothing fancy or personalized about them at all. He wore his badge on a lanyard around his neck, because he didn't have any clothes to attach it to (splices didn't have to wear clothes, since they were covered with feathers anyway, but a lot of them did, to try and fit in). That meant that Jax could see his long, strong legs, ending in claws filed down to regulation length and not a hair shorter. His reddish-brown crest lay flat against his skull, and when extended, Jax could tell that it would be upright and a good size. He stood at roughly Kath's height: average for a woman; tall for a splice.

  Jax tried not to look directly at him.

  "I didn't even know she was sick," said Jax uncertainly, and watched as Kath and the male splice―Zheng―exchanged a look. "Or…you think it was, like, murder? There's no blood, or―"

  "The pathologist will determine that," said Zheng.

  Zheng's voice had the slightly synthetic quality that the voice box gave to all splices, set at a medium-low pitch. But splices did all have slightly different voices if you really listened for it, Jax had seen online somewhere (he hadn't exactly had the chance to test the theory, though). They could also put a little inflection into their voices, but not as much as humans could, so it made it hard to read their tone sometimes, people said.

  Jax couldn't help it. His eyes flicked over to him, and then up, to his crest. He willed them back down to somewhere safer, but there was nowhere safe―his iridescent neck feathers that looked so soft and caught the light so brilliantly, his legs, his bright tail. Looking him in the eye would be worst of all. Jax looked quickly away, instead, and just thanked the stars that he'd outgrown blushing. Mostly.

  "Zheng, do you mind looking around while I take Jax's statement?" asked Kath.

  "Of course," said Zheng, and went through into the bedroom, where the other two were.

  Kath pressed 'record' on her watch. "Don't take this the wrong way," she said, "but I have to ask you where you were last night."

  Jax raised his chin and looked her right in the eye. "I was out drinking," he said. Then he looked down and away, his bravado crumbling. If he just could have gone a little longer without seeing Kath again, just until his business was on its feet and he had his shit together a little more, so he wasn't a goddamn embarrassment…

  "Okay," said Kath, voice carefully free of judgment. "Was anyone with you?"

  "No," said Jax quietly. He was a little light on friends right now, as a matter of fact.

  "Don't worry," said Kath, "the cams will have picked you up. Do you remember what time you got home?"

  "Uh," said Jax, "some time after two, maybe?"

  "Okay," said Kath again. "So talk me through what happened today."

  Jax took a deep breath and told her about finding the octopus. She looked at him dubiously.

  "You don't believe me?"

  "I didn't say that," said Kath. "Go on."

  He went on with the story, hesitating at the part about hacking the door. But how else was he going to explain it? Kath pursed her lips but didn't say anything. He carried on, telling her about how he'd reluctantly followed the octopus into Doctor Gershon's room.

  "And then," said Jax, "I saw her lying on the floor, so I went over to see if I had to do CPR or something―"

  "Since when do you know CPR?" asked Kath.

  "Well, I don't," admitted Jax, "but I mean, I've seen it in vids, you know? I thought I could probably figure it out."

  "Okay."

  "So then I rolled her over, and―"

  "You touched her?"

  "Well, yeah. I probably shouldn't have done that, I guess? But I didn't know she was dead!"

  "When did you realize she was dead?"

  "After I rolled her over, just―I don't know, you can just tell, can't you? I mean, her eyes were open, and…cloudy. She was cold."

  "Did you check her pulse, or for breathing, anything like that?"

  "Uh, no," said Jax uncomfortably. "I guess I should have, but I was just so sure she was dead, and I kind of―freaked out a little bit. And that's when I called you. God, did I fuck up?"

  "You're fine," said Kath. "You did your best. Maybe you could stand to take a first aid course, but listen, it sounds like she'd been dead a while when you found her. There's nothing you could have done."

  "What about, uh, touching her? Was that bad? Did I, like, fuck up the crime scene?"

  "Jax, we don't even know whether a crime has taken place at this point," said Kath. "Other than your B&E―but I'm pretty confident we're going to let that go, okay? And if we do end up treating this as suspicious, that means someone probably poisoned her. So the fact that you handled the body isn't going to have a lot of bearing on our investigation."

  "And you do believe me, about the octopus thing?"

  "I mean, I don't know why you'd make that up," said Kath. "It is a little out there, though."

  "I swear," said Jax.

  "I'm not saying I don't believe you. I'm j
ust not sure if…" She trailed off, gaze flicking away from Jax to something behind him. He turned. Zheng's head was poking around the door between the lab and the room with the body.

  "You two done?" he asked.

  "I think so," said Kath, glancing at Jax for confirmation. He shrugged. "You need something?"

  "I finished checking out her bedroom," said Zheng, "but I could barely turn around in her bathroom, it was so small. You think you could take a look?"

  Okay, so splices were kind of bulky—they were shorter than most humans, but longer, too—and they had those big tails, but the bathrooms in these suites weren't as small as all that. Especially compared to the one he'd grown up with. Guard suites must be pretty nice, Jax thought irritably.

  Kath glanced at Jax like she was checking with him. What was he supposed to say, 'Don't leave me alone with the splice'? How the hell would that sound? He nodded, and she left him alone with the splice. Zheng.

  *~*~*

  The octopus was still out of its tank.

  "That's the one you found in your suite?" Zheng asked.

  Jax nodded, not quite meeting his eyes. "Shouldn't it go back in the water?"

  "E," said Zheng.

  "What?"

  "Shouldn't e go back in the water."

  "Oh, sorry. He. I didn't know if it was a male or a female."

  "'E' is a gender-neutral pronoun," said Zheng. "It's the preferred pronoun in English for use with sentient beings with no gender, or whose gender we can't determine."

  "Uh," said Jax, "okay."

  "You're not familiar with gender-neutral pronouns?"

  "Kind of," said Jax. "We don't really…get a lot of people like that on 4. But I thought it was supposed to be 'they'?"

  "'They' is one of them, but it's mostly humans who use it. And the occasional splice. But when the Hives had to choose a singular pronoun in English, they decided on 'e,' and the Fusion chose to extend that to sentient Earth creatures with whom we can't communicate well enough yet to ask about gender identity."

  "Oh," said Jax. "I mean, it's mostly humans around here, we don't have any Hives. I didn't know octopi were sentient, anyway."