Rebirth Read online

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  "Tyler, I know it might be a little late to raise the matter, but I thought that I should remind you that it is the President of Earth who is asking for your help. The same President who has no reason to like you, I think that you should be very careful in this matter not to let him be in a position to put any blame that might come from this investigation squarely upon your shoulders." Appolon warned his friend.

  "Appolon, I appreciate your thoughts on the matter, but a crime has been committed here, and should we walk away from it then this would also look bad for us, and anyway I want to find the people who murdered some of my friends and almost killed another of them." This last reason was the most important one behind Tyler agreeing to help President Michaels. He now turned to Paul Johnson.

  "All right Paul, you and I will have a quick look at the crime scene first. I would appreciate your thoughts on the crack in the panelling that allowed the toxic gas to seep into the area where the two agents were sleeping, and if you would look at the damaged section of pipe that Alice tells us, she has put next to the crack in the wall. Now Alice I will need your help to show us around and to introduce us to everyone. The rest of you can get to know the ship, and Appolon, Caroline if you two would keep a clandestine eye on the Claytons, they should be on the middle level deck, but you all have the photographs of them that Alice kindly supplied, so you should be able to locate them. I will speak to you all later and not a word to anyone about tomorrow`s plans regarding the re-enactment."

  Their arrival had not gone unnoticed, although who these oddly dressed new comers were, and what they were doing on board the Constellation nobody knew. Tyler and his friends were dressed as all warriors on Orion were. A buckskin jacket over cotton trousers and shirt, it was only the two colonists amongst them who were dressed in clothes of a similar material to those on board the Constellation. As Alice passed by one bold individual, he up and asked Alice what was going on to which Alice replied that Tyler Burrows had come aboard the Constellation to look into recent events, and that the ship would once again be moving off to Persephone in just a few minutes time.

  The news that the now famous Tyler Burrows had come onto the Constellation to find the person behind the mysterious attacks soon reached the Claytons, but not before Caroline and Appolon had reached the mid-level deck. Once there they began to talk to the colonists about the attack by the Defender upon the pirate vessel and the follow up attack upon the ground forces that ended the battle.

  The two Orionists added to the many myths about Tyler while keeping an eye on the Claytons, who were also listening to the tales with sinking hearts. Appolon could read them like a book, and it would not have surprised him had they surrendered themselves there and then, so bleak were their faces. Caroline could see that Colin Ryan was talking to the doctor in front of the small clinic where his friend Charles Bragg was so very ill.

  Tryon had been strolling up on the upper deck but was soon stopped by the colonists up there who also demanded that he tell them the tale of their recent adventure, and what Tyler Burrows was like, and how soon would everything be cleared up. Tryon told all who would listen to him of the legend that Tyler fulfilled when he came to Orion, of Tyler`s arrival and his subsequent successes against all of their enemies, and of course of the battle against the space pirates. As to when Tyler would sort out the current problem Tryon could only reassure them that it would be sooner rather than later. Tryon was never happier than when he was talking of the deeds of his friends, Tyler and Appolon, but he never once forgot why they were all there.

  Tyler, Paul and Alice were looking at the small broom cupboard where the murderous attempt had been made on the lives of the two agents.

  "The doctor had the bed sheet put up to keep people out of the crime scene Tyler, a couple of the colonists have been keeping a watch on it, night and day, to ensure that no one so much as breathes near it, so this area is just how it was yesterday morning."

  "Good then let`s go in and see what we can find. Paul, that seems to be the crack over in that corner, along with the damaged length of pipe, check them out and see what they can tell you about themselves. These plastic cups here Alice, were our two agents messy or could it be the delivery system?" Tyler enquired.

  "Delivery system, what do you mean?" Alice asked, just a little baffled by the question.

  "Well if your doctor is right about the toxic gas not being responsible for the two agents condition, then what was responsible had to be delivered to this small confined area somehow, and these cups could be the delivery vehicle." Tyler explained.

  "I don`t know Tyler, I don`t think they were untidy, I know that some men can be a little messy but I would not expect Charles or Paul could ever fall into that category, especially Charles who as you know was a Colonel in the marines, and so hardly the type to leave three empty cups on the floor." Alice replied to his question.

  "Ok Alice then we will have to assume that as there is no sign of coffee in any of the three cups that they carried something a lot more deadly. There is one way that may tell us a lot about them, and if we visit the clinic, I suspect the good doctor will have just what we need to reveal it. First though we need a pair of surgical gloves so that we do not leave any of our own finger prints on the cups, could you ask someone to bring us two pair down from the ship`s clinic Alice?"

  "Yes of course I can, Simon is there by his cubicle I will ask him." Alice asked a very interested Simon Holmes who was very glad to assist them and one minute later he appeared with two pair of surgical gloves.

  "Alice please put a pair of the gloves on and I put the other pair on." As soon as they both had the gloves on Tyler continued with his instructions. "Now will you pick two of the plastic cups by their rims while I will pick up the other cup but be careful not to touch the rest of the cup or you might smudge any finger prints that may be present?" Nearby Tyler saw the two suitcases that belonged to the agents.

  "We had better take these up to the clinic as well to keep them safe, Paul Divine or Charles Bragg may have kept records about their investigation, and they might be of some help to us." Tyler said thoughtfully.

  "Simon, would you mind bringing these up to the clinic?" Tyler asked indicating the two suitcases.

  "Of course Tyler, I will gladly help out." The young man replied.

  Simon Holmes picked up the two suitcases and with that Tyler, Alice and Simon left Paul Johnson to his crack and they walked up to the mid-level deck and the clinic, and on the way, he collected another two identical plastic cups to help him with his test.

  They arrived at the clinic to find Doctor Schwartz at the door talking to one of the colonists.

  "Good morning Doctor." Alice said. "This is Tyler Burrows and he would like your help on something."

  "Good morning Alice." Schwartz said and then turning to Tyler. "And how may I help you Mr Burrows." Schwartz was a little surprised on meeting the now almost mythical Tyler Burrows, for he had half expected him to resemble the Norse god Thor at least, instead he found himself helping an all too mortal man.

  "First can Simon leave these two cases with you for the moment until I can find a secure storeroom?"

  "Simon just put the cases over by the cabinets for the moment." Schwartz said. Simon put them down and then realising that he would be in the way if he hung around said goodbye and returned to his cubicle.

  "My name is Tyler, Mr Burrows makes me sound old, and I am here to ask for your help in first finding out if these plastic cups have any finger prints on them."

  "And how do we do that Tyler, I`m a doctor of medicine not of forensics?" Schwartz asked, puzzled that the famous Tyler Burrows could have made such a mistake.

  "It is hopefully quite simple Doctor, for I saw it done on a television series back in the twenty first century. First of all, do you have any super glue?"

  "First of all if I am to call you Tyler then you had better call me Chris. Secondly, yes I do have some super glue; we still use it occasionally in p
lace of stitches."

  "Good, we will also need the following; a box or a glass tank with a lid on, a small heat source, some tin foil, the sort that is used in the kitchen and lastly some cling film also from the kitchen. Can you help us with all of that as well Chris?" Tyler asked.

  Within five minutes, all these items were sitting upon the worktop of the clinic. The glass tank was one that the doctor`s son normally used for his pet gold fish, but they had died just days before the Constellation departed and so Schwartz and his wife had promised their son to get him some new native fish as soon as they arrived on Persephone. The rest of the equipment came from the small kitchen that catered for the colonists who were berthed on this deck.

  "Alice if you will deliberately put your prints on the two extra cups that I collected, they can be our test models to ensure my experiment works, oh and fill one of them with water." Tyler now began his experiment.

  "Right we put the plastic cup of water in one corner of the glass tank along with the second cup with Alice`s fingerprints on it. The small heater goes in the corner diagonally opposite the cup, we put a bowl made out of the tin foil on top of the heat source, the three plastic cups from the crime scene can go in the other two corners, and finally we turn the heater on. We then put a small amount of super glue into the tin foil bowl, close the lid and seal it with the cling film that you also kindly provided Chris, and then we wait ten minutes for it to work."

  The Doctor decided to check on his patients instead of watching the experiment, and Tyler and Alice decided to join him. Unfortunately, the two patients were still unconscious.

  "Well the medical scanners tell us that both of them are improving gradually, maybe soon we will see them begin to recover." Schwartz said.

  "Let`s hope you are right Chris, and then we will only have to worry about the Aldebrans." Alice said.

  Ten minutes soon hurried by and so they returned to the experiment. There on the two plastic cups that Alice had touched with her fingers were two sets of white finger prints, Alice`s fingerprints of course as she was the only one to handle them without gloves on. On the three plastic cups that they had taken from the crime scene there were not any traces at all and certainly, none of Alice`s or Tyler`s for they had both worn gloves when they had carefully handled the cups.

  "It failed Tyler; there are no finger prints on the cups we took from the crime scene." Alice said disappointedly.

  "Alice you are wrong, for if you look upon the two cups that you touched with your fingers you can plainly see your finger prints, but whoever placed the cups in the crime scene must have had gloves on, so that no trace of their fingerprints were left behind to incriminate them. This indicates that it wasn`t the toxic gas that knocked them both out, but maybe something that was in the plastic cups and put into the small enclosed space where the two agents were sleeping in order to kill them." Tyler explained to Alice.

  "Yes of course Tyler for if the cups had been used by either of Charles or Paul then we would have seen their finger prints on at least one of the cups, they have made a mistake haven`t they, our murderers I mean." Alice said excitedly.

  "Yes Alice, a minor one, but without Tyler here they would never have been found out." An interested Doctor Schwartz said.

  "If we are handing out Kudos then we can all take a portion, for without you keeping the crime scene preserved intact, and Alice of course ensuring that it was kept under guard at all times, then I couldn`t have put on my little show. Tyler said. "Chris as you can see these plastic cups are empty, no sign of coffee or tea or toxic chemicals, is there any way that you could test them to see if there is any residue left behind?" Tyler asked.

  "If you leave one of them with me I will try, but as I said before this is a small clinic not a forensic laboratory, it may have all evaporated away in any case, if indeed it was the substance that struck Charles and Paul down." Doctor Schwartz replied.

  "Well see what you can do Chris, if you cannot find any trace of whatever was in the cup, I will ask Brian Goddard on Orion to try." Tyler said and then he changed the subject completely. "Right then it must be time for dinner, for I am starved." Tyler said.

  Alice however had a further question to put to Tyler. "Are you sure that you don`t want me to let everyone know about the re-enactment that you have planned for the morning?" Alice asked.

  "While it might help the colonists to go over the mornings events, I don`t want to forewarn our suspects in case they try to pre-empt it and do something drastic. I would rather they think that we are no further forward with our investigation, and that they also believe that we have no thoughts at all about how to proceed."

  "Tyler we have progressed a little though haven`t we, for you have now found clues that lead us to believe that murder was indeed attempted, and also we do know how to proceed up to a point." Alice said.

  Paul Johnson chose this minute to appear at the door of the clinic. "Tyler, I have inspected both the crack and the hole in the section of pipe, and have come to the conclusion that they are both man made, that is to say they were deliberately made by a small laser. The edges are both too perfect for it to be anything else."

  "We now have a little extra to add to our pool of knowledge, maybe tomorrow we will be able to add just a bit little more. It also tells us something else; Paul Devine and Charles Bragg must have spooked our murderer, for why else would they have taken such a drastic action as to attempt to kill the two men. It makes the Claytons look all the more likely as our prime suspects, for our two agents were quite satisfied that the other suspects were innocent. But enough talk about our investigation, as I said before I am starved."

  "Tyler you are always starved." Caroline said. She had just joined them, to which they all laughed. Alice thought back to the last piece of laughter she had joined in with, it was with Paul Divine, it seemed to be so long ago.

  "First though Alice is there anywhere secure that you can store both the plastic cups and the piece of pipe? And the cups had better be put into a bag or a box to ensure their lack of fingerprints doesn`t change due to some curious person touching them." Tyler asked.

  "I will ask the captain of the Constellation to store them away in his safe; they will be secure there." Alice said first putting on her pair of the surgical gloves that the doctor had provided, and then carefully picking up the items, she put them all into a plastic bag, which she sealed and headed away to the bridge of the ship.

  The evening went by quickly with many tales of the adventures the Orionists had all taken part in, and the Rigors never even noticed that someone was always watching them closely. However, as the night drew on they all went to their beds, one by one until Tyler was able to depart with Caroline and Alice, to end up at Alice`s office, leaving Tryon to keep watch on the Claytons.

  "Alice will you please send a message to Brian Goddard on the planet of Orion, I want to know if he can manufacture a simple device that will pick up the energy signal of Crystillium, and if he can, that we will pick it up when we arrive there?" Tyler asked.

  "Of course Tyler, I will do it now." Two minutes later the message was sent.

  "Alice I want the three of us to go to the ship`s hold. As you know it seems more than obvious that our alien spies have hidden the device that we seek down in amongst the goods in the hold, they may have even put it there under someone else`s name, will you act us our guide?"

  "Tyler the hold is massive; they could have hidden it anywhere amongst the masses of goods that are down in the hold."

  "Yes I understand that, but whatever problems will affect our finding it will also have impeded them, if they only hid it after the arrival of the two agents, and anyway for the moment I really just want to see the problem so that if Brian Goddard can come up with something I will know what I am up against." Tyler replied.

  "Ok then let`s go down into the hold and see what we can find then." Alice said.

  When they got to the hold, this door into it was locked.

  "Has this door always been
locked Alice?" Tyler asked.

  "No only since the attack on Paul and Charles, now it is locked and alarmed so if anyone forces an entry into it without notifying the bridge first they will bring the crew of the ship down on them."

  "How soon after the attack was it locked up Alice?"

  "Oh maybe six hours Tyler, it didn`t occur to anyone to lock up everywhere that the colonists didn`t need to go until after the event, and even then it wasn`t locked until later in the morning." Alice replied.

  "Then tomorrow we can also ask the colonists with a view of your office and this staircase if they saw anybody on the staircase some time during the voyage. Right, Alice, if we can have a quick peek into Aladdin`s cave for now."

  Alice called the bridge of the Constellation and the doorway before them opened to reveal Aladdin`s cave, a massive room double the height of the decks above and full with the goods needed to colonise a planet. There was no corridor in between the myriad of items for the goods were stored so as to be able to remove them via the massive doors that were set on the outer wall of the ship, this entrance was just there in case access was needed while the ship was in flight. There was though a way to clamber over the wall of goods, and Tyler pulled himself up to a manmade ledge to see if it would have been possible for anyone else to do so. There before his eyes was a fresh greasy footprint. Tyler called down to the others.

  "Look about the floor, are there any patches of grease down there?"

  Caroline soon found it. "Yes Tyler here it is, quite a large bit."

  "I think that it must have been spilt there shortly after we left Earth, Tyler, because it wasn`t there prior to that because I was down here myself on that morning exploring my new home for the seven days of the trip, and it was certainly not there then." Alice said.

  "Then we have an idle crewman on board, but for once he may well have been of some help to us Alice. I will need a camera to take a photograph of an oily footprint that is on the boxes up here, do you have one Alice?"

  It took Alice only a minute to run back to her office and return with her own camera. While she was away, Tyler looked across the hold, full to the brim with goods, yes, he needed the help of Brian Goddard, and there was no point in continuing to search tonight.

  "Here you are Tyler, this is my camera, and all you have to do is press the silver button on the back of it to take a picture." Alice said turning the camera part of the electronic tablet on before handing it up to Tyler.

  Tyler took a number of pictures of the footprint before handing the tablet back to Alice and dropping back down onto the floor beside the others.

  "It really is an Aladdin`s cave Alice." Tyler then had to explain to the Caroline who Aladdin was.

  "It is now time to see Mr Peterson." Tyler said. George Peterson was resting in his cubicle when Tyler, Caroline and Alice found him.

  "George I am sorry to bother you but I must. This is Tyler Burrows and his wife Caroline, Tyler needs to speak to you about yesterday morning." Alice explained.

  "Of course Alice, I am fine now, hello Mr Burrows, what do you want to know?" Peterson asked. Alice thought that he seemed visibly better than yesterday.

  "If you can just go through yesterday morning Mr Peterson, from the time you woke up."

  "I think that I can manage that, let me think for a moment, a lot of yesterday got scrambled up in my brain."

  "I can quite understand that Mr Peterson." Tyler replied sympathetically.

  "I woke first and then Rosalyn, Rosalyn decided to have a shower and walked across to the showers about eight thirty, she got back about nine fifteen and dressed and then we both had breakfast in the galley at about a quarter to ten. After that we both returned here and the two agents turned up and then my poor dear wife died." Peterson broke down now and Alice moved over to him and comforted him until he felt able to continue.

  "I am sorry Mr Burrows, is there anything else?" Peterson asked.

  "Don`t apologise for being human Mr Peterson, and I am sorry to press you but did nothing else happen?" Tyler pressed.

  "Rosalyn complained about being bitten by a mosquito on her leg while she was in the shower, but nothing else, it started out as just another dull day, and how I wish it could have remained so." Peterson replied.

  "I think that will have to be enough for now Tyler, George had better rest now." Alice said.

  "Yes of course and I am sorry for your loss and for making you go through it again." Tyler said but Peterson did not hear, he just lay down on his bed and looked up into space.

  "Poor guy, I know how I would feel if I lost you Caroline." Tyler said.

  "Don`t worry Tyler; I will always be at your side, but what now, where do we go from here?"

  "We are going to the clinic to talk to the doctor." Tyler replied mysteriously. Caroline looked across at her husband quizzically, but all he did was smile at her.

  Tyler and Caroline walked along the corridor to the clinic while Alice took the chance to catch up on her own work, which was beginning to pile up. They found Doctor Schwartz tending to his two patients.

  "Chris I need to ask you a question about Rosalyn Peterson." Tyler said on entering the clinic.

  "Of course Tyler ask away and we shall see if I am allowed to answer it." Schwartz was referring the confidentiality that all patients had with their doctor.

  "George Peterson said that his wife was bitten on her leg by a mosquito while in the showers, did you notice the mark left by it?"

  "Bitten by a mosquito on the Constellation, well I suppose one might have slipped aboard when all the goods were loaded back on Earth. I didn`t see a mark but that doesn`t mean that I didn`t miss it, let`s look again." Schwartz turned his computer onto the section dealing with the death of Mrs Peterson. Pressing a couple of keys quickly brought up the photographs that had been taken of her legs, and moments later.

  "Yes there it is one mosquito bite." Doctor Schwartz announced.

  "Or one mark left by a needle with which she was given a lethal injection Chris." Tyler said.

  "Well it would explain her death but there is no proof either way." Schwartz argued "But why would someone want to kill her?" Schwartz asked.

  "Why, to stop her from talking Chris. Regarding which of your two explanations is the correct one, unfortunately you are right Chris, either one could be. Without an autopsy and a toxicology, done by a modern forensics laboratory we will have to rely on finding the stolen technology, hopefully our friend Brian Goddard back on Orion will come up with a bit more of his technical wizardry. It is that or hoping that Special Agent Formby turns something up."

  "Tyler, are you still going ahead with the re-enactment." Caroline asked.

  "Yes we might as well see where it leads us, and then we can question the Claytons who will lie about their involvement and we will have to let them get away with it, unless Richard can trip them up, or as I say Special Agent Formby can come up with something." Tyler said glumly. The way that civil rights had progressed had made detective work almost impossible in this century. Alice chose this moment to enter the clinic with news.

  "Tyler, I have some terrific news from the Defiant, the Aldebran ship has turned away and is returning back towards her home planet, just as you said it would." Alice declared, delighted that at least one worry was no more.

  "They have given up already, I felt sure that she would have accompanied us for a little while longer. After we hold our little re-enactment we must be sure to broadcast that fact over the entire ship so that our two spies get to hear of it, for nothing is more likely to dent their spirits than the knowledge that they have been left to fend for themselves." Tyler said, and then a moment later he asked.

  "Alice what did Rosalyn Peterson look like, I need to know so that we can have someone who resembles her, no matter how superficially, to do the re-enactment for us?"

  "I have a picture of her on the computer; if you come down I can show you." Alice said. Tyler followed Alice and Caroline down to the lower deck and Alice`s office.<
br />
  "Here you are this is the picture she used for her application to come on the trip to Persephone. She is a bit like you Caroline, same build and colouring." Alice remarked.

  "Yes she is. Caroline would you mind doing the re-enactment for us, you will do nicely as our stand in Mrs Peterson?" Tyler asked.

  "No I don`t mind, I will be your stand in Tyler." Caroline said smiling at her husband.

  "Tyler will I be enacting both the trip to the showers and the galley where Mrs Peterson had her breakfast?" Caroline asked.

  "Yes we had better, for the mosquito might have been just that, a mosquito."

  It was early the next morning, about five local time, when they had arrived back at Orion, and the Defender landed first at the village of the red plains to allow the six warriors who made up the landing party to leave the Defender and head for home. Following an earlier request by Tyler, Dave Reynolds next hopped over to the town of New Eden to meet a tired Brian Goddard who was there to greet them, and after congratulating them for stopping the space pirates he approached Colin Freeman and gave him a small electrical device.

  "Colin, please see that Tyler gets this, it is the detection device he requires to help him locate the piece of stolen Crystillium technology, if it is in fact there, tell him the device works in three ways. The needle on the gauge will show the strength of the signal, a small light should also begin to glow when he nears anything emitting an energy signature, the nearer he gets to it the brighter this device will glow. It also hums and the volume of the hum will increase with increased proximity. There are two settings built into the device, number one will react to any energy signature but number two is tuned into the particular energy signature that Crystillium sends out."

  "No problem Brian, I will see that he gets it and explain how it works."