Five Days Later. November 10th, 2267. 10:15 First Precinct Morgue
The amount of paperwork the police and coroner required Elias and his team to fill out was truly astonishing. Elias estimated he had signed his name no less than one hundred and forty-five times. Then when they finished all of the paperwork, they had to wait a minimum of forty-eight hours. Because the local officials needed to review the paperwork and approve it.
Well, those two days very quickly turned into five long days of waiting. Eventually, the colonial bureaucracy finished doing what it needed or wanted to do. Elias knew one of the first things the Xenuians would do would be to eliminate this laughably inefficient government and overhaul the public services to be as efficient as possible.
Castor and Alberic were taking their box truck to the morgue. The bodies had finally been discharged and were no longer needed in any police investigations. Even Castor, who generally understood Elias’ decision to a degree, was deeply uncomfortable over the humungous insult of denying Daphne their people’s proper burial rights.
Unlike Alberic, the young Xenuian was going to voice his concern to his boss. Or at least he had made up his mind to do so before leaving. Now that they were pulling into the loading bay he was about out of options to speak up. After they exited the vehicle and began to walk up to the rear entrance Castor finally found his nerve.
“Sir, I don’t mean to speak out of place, but I feel that regardless of what she may have done, morally we should bury Daphne as well.”
Elias didn’t even look at his subordinate, “The decision has been made and it’s final. She was a traitor.”
“Misguided sure, but you exiled her. The choice she was given was not any choice at all.”
Elias paused at the door then turned and walked the three steps over to Castor, “Young man, whether or not she was given a choice or not is immaterial. We had a mission; she went to great lengths to avoid and outright betrayed her responsibility. Worse than that, she betrayed me in the most vile and disgusting manner. She didn’t take either set of her oaths seriously. She is getting her just deserts.”
“For her family, it will feel like a slap in the face if they find out…”
Elias put a finger in Castor’s face, “Pray that you never need to feel the betrayal that I did. I doubt very much any of the men would do otherwise were they to switch positions. She, and her family, deserve all of this. And yes, when we get home, I am going to tell them personally of her betrayal, both to our great nation and to me. I am personally going to see her family brought down several pegs for raising that waste of space they called a daughter.”
He paused to collect himself and then continued more calmly, “It was a mistake exiling her. I should have dealt with the situation myself. That was a mistake that I never got to rectify, a failing of mine.”
Elias took another deep breath, “Now then, I would like to acquire the two bodies of our fallen comrades and take them to our burial site and give them their final rites with the survivors. The sooner this is done the better.”
Castor nodded. He wasn’t entirely sold by the argument Elias was making, though one part stuck for him. While he wasn’t privy to all of the tawdry or questionable things she did to Elias, he had heard enough to know that he likely wanted to be as petty and vindictive to his former partner after being wronged in the manner that he was. He would want revenge too. And this was Elias’ revenge for the culmination of everything that she had done.
Elias had the look of someone who was just going through the motions. Castor followed him as dutifully as he could, but the concerns over what they were about to do were still with him. The two men entered the morgue and waited at the desk. A moment later one of the workers appeared.
“Good morning, how can I help y’all?”
“Morning,” Elias said dryly, “I’m here to get two bodies released into our possession and to give you instructions on the disposal of the third.”
The man nodded but said nothing.
“The name is Elias Mendicate.”
The man behind the counter continued to nod as he slowed and poked at different keys into the terminal. The man’s right hand worked but he only used his left hand to slowly go through the different screens.
“I see here that you want the bodies of Viviana Lupus and Heva Falto released for burial. You don’t want the body of Daphne Monet released for burial too?”
Elias answered immediately without a hint of emotion, “No, please cremate her and dispose of the remains.
“Very well, I presume you brought the white box truck outside?”
Elias nodded.
“Is it refrigerated? You will want to keep these bodies cold.”
“It is not, but we have cooling packs to place on the sides and tops of the boxes,” Castor said, “I called yesterday to confirm what was needed instead of a refrigerated truck.”
The man nodded, “Excellent. Why don’t you confirm the requests on the screen? We’ll get working on getting the two bodies loaded. Are you sure…”
Elias interrupted him as he complied with the request, “You could chuck her body in the dumpster for all I care. Neither I nor any of my family members want anything to do with her.”
The man took a deep breath and stepped back from the terminal. The vitriol that spilled forth was genuinely surprising to the worker, his face clearly showed that he was not expecting that response. Something had happened between the two, but it was neither his place nor time to pry into that. A decision had been made and no one was changing his mind.
“We’ll get the two bodies loaded in about five minutes. You can go back to your vehicles,” the man said, “If the packs are in the bed we will get them set up for you.”
Castor nodded, “Thank you.”
Elias had a blank stare going as he turned and left the room. The worker quickly ran to the back and got a couple of co-workers to assist him in getting the two bodies loaded onto their truck. This foreigner gave him the creeps and he didn’t want him around his workplace any longer than he needed to be.
Castor followed behind his boss and felt even more uneasy about the moral implications of what Elias had done. True, he’d feel bitter about it too, but denying a Xenuian of their burial rights was unheard of. But he was smart enough to know when and when not to poke the bear. Today was one of those days to have doubts but keep them to himself. Or at least, keep any more of his doubts to himself.
The bodies were loaded onto the bed of the truck and strapped into place. Then the cold packs were situated around the boxes. The back door was slid down into place and locked. One of the loaders knocked on the door three times loudly.
Castor then slowly drove the pair of them out of the loading zone. Their destination was three hours outside of the city. The makeshift Xenuian cemetery was in a flat treeless area near a rocky outcropping. Two graves should be dug by the time they reach there in the early afternoon.
A shift in their theological doctrine over a century ago placed an equal measure on the remaining physical body as it did on the person’s thetan, otherwise known as their spirit. The government had noticed the family's grieving process was longer than desired due to their callous disregard for the physical body. When proper respect and reverence are given to those who have passed on, families and individuals seem to move on from the loss much more quickly.
This was advantageous for the government in improving efficiency in their nascent civilization. The wealthier families then began to build large crypts to house and venerate their deceased. The government then built massive structures to enable the less wealthy families a means to do the same.
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The crypt here on this planet was woefully deficient. But they’d be forgiven for that as none were engineers nor builders. They didn’t have the means or resources to build a proper one. The group came together to bury their fallen comrades and give them a proper send-off, in their unique way.
Castor sped the drive up and arrived at the location twenty minutes earlier than expected. Right on time effectively as Alberic and Nemo had finished digging the second grave. When the truck began slowly backing up to them, the group got very quiet.
Viviana was first taken out of the back of the truck. Alberic, Castor, Nemo, and Ellie hauled the box over to the grave. The box was gently lowered into place. Then large rocks, which were harvested nearby, were placed gently over and around the box.
Elias then walked to the edge of the grave and knelt. He gently placed the final rock, a shiny black volcanic-looking rock, over where her head was. The rock was nestled into place, then he stood up. With one hand raised over the grave and the other pointing to the sky he spoke.
“Viviana, your thetan returns to the void awaiting its turn to walk the waking lands once more. Until then please find the peace in the void that you weren’t able to here. When you are born once again may you find joy and peace in your new form.”
Elias then stepped away. One by one the remaining team made the same gesture. Not more than a sentence was spoken by each. When the last surviving member was done speaking, they repeated the process for Heva.
Bacchus replaced Elias as one of her pallbearers. Heva’s death had brought him low, and seeing the box shook him to his core, sapping his strength from him. Once again, the box was lowered into the grave. Rocks were then placed around the body. Elias then picked up the final rock, slightly larger than the one used in Viviana’s grave, which he held very unsteadily.
The strength in his body was drained. Somehow Elias was able to maneuver the rock in place without dropping it on the box awkwardly. Once he did, he stood up and made the gesture. Unlike Viviana, both his hands shook strongly.
All Elias could muster was whispered, “I am so sorry, you didn’t deserve this fate…”
The rest of their team said their goodbyes to her. When Ellie, who was last, finished, Alberic and Bacchus stepped forward and began to lightly shovel dirt back into the graves. As is their tradition they started with their feet and worked their way up to the head.
When the rocks showed no more, they were replaced by Castor and Nemo. When the graves were once again level with the ground Elias had one final action to take. Two more rocks, one for each young woman, were placed at their feet.
The black crystal-like rock was the closest thing they had in the area that the spirit could use as a magnifier. The rock at the feet holds the body down, allowing their thetans to escape their bodies and escape back into the void. Awaiting the time for their eventual reincarnation after the spirit is healed of its wounds from the waking lands.
With the service over, the group returned to their home. There were precious few of them left. Elias couldn’t get over that point. The accidents, legitimate ones like the one that took Heva from them, had claimed so many of them. How was it even possible that so many were lost? The poor man sat quietly in the vehicle, allowing its autopilot to do the lion’s share of the driving, in contemplation. But no matter how much thinking was done, no answers would be found.
Thankfully there was very little work remaining for the team. Elias thought surviving was the only thing that they should focus on currently. A macabre view of things but not entirely inaccurate either. There was very little else on his mind.
When the crew returned home it was time to have dinner. During the preparation, there wasn’t much talking. Nor was there during dinner. Everyone was in a bit of quiet contemplation. Elias didn’t mind that a bit. He wasn’t in a mood to discuss anything.
After the meal, he retreated to his room. With the door locked and sealed behind him he sat down on the floor, back to the door, and just stared at the blank wall. Nothing made sense. An enemy agent is running rampant in this world and whatever God controlled luck or fate decided to play the cruelest tricks on him and his team.
Four Days Later. November 15th, 2267. 08:45 Elias’ Office
Somehow Elias had successfully drifted off into a deep and restful sleep the previous night. How he had accomplished that with as many lines of thinking that were going on in his mind was somewhat remarkable. Despite that rest, it had not given Elias any new profound understanding of the world.
He was still as annoyed and angry at how many of his peers had been taken away from them too soon. That was of course ignoring the enemy agent, or agents, that were actively working against them. Though again on that note, he remembered that his gut feeling was largely supported by the corroborating evidence, but no smoking gun proved that just yet.
The odds of there not being one were low though. Exceptionally low according to his estimations. Why hadn’t there been any direct attacks? Elias was leaning back in his chair and looking at the rising sun through the window.
“His risk calculus doesn’t allow him to do that,” Elias said out loud to himself, “Or he’s unaware of what we’re doing. Could be both too. Interesting, but if he’s not attacked us, he knows the rest of us are working, the only way to end the threat is to take us all out through.”
Elias paused for a moment, “Why wouldn’t he try to capture one of us to find out what we’re doing? Their absence would be detected. That would be too risky… Would that mean he’s a lone operative, without any sort of backup?”
That thought experiment terrified Elias to his core. It made sense to him that a small team could work counter to them and do so effectively, it is their world after all. But for a single individual to be capable of doing all of this? If only he had actual evidence of the threat sooner, what would have been?
Castor and Ellie then loudly entered the shared office space. They saw Elias sunning himself in the north-facing window deep in thought. Elias turned and was puzzled at their reaction. Castor was looking for the shared tablet that the group used to control the multiple television and holographic screens in the room.
Moments later he found it and began turning all of the screens on. Then it was changed to the local news channel they had found agreeable. Elias sighed as he slid his chair back to his desk and turned to face the nearest screen. The scrolling text was hard to believe.
“What?” Elias asked incredulously, “Am I reading that right?”
Bacchus and Alberic then appeared in the room.
“Did you hear?” Bacchus said.
“Dale Rosberg was murdered last night in a carjacking,” Alberic said.
Castor shook his head, “Heard it was done in his home.”
Nemo then shouted from down the hall, “Holy shit, Dale was murdered.”
Elias stood up and gestured to make everyone quiet, “What happened? Log in and review the police communications. Also, let’s look at the transition team’s communications as well. No more speculation, let’s look into the facts and determine for ourselves what happened.”
The assembled hodgepodge of employees got to work. Castor got to work intercepting the colony’s version of the Secret Service. Alberic and Bacchus tag-teamed their efforts in reviewing the police communications. Ellie sat down in a chair and looked pretty, her expertise was with the body, not electronic communications or surveillance systems.
Nemo joined and was looking into communications from William and his transition team. He was surprised by the candor of the recent messages. No one on that team liked Dale, but shock was the common response to the recent happenings. William sounded downright hurt by Dale’s murder.
“Uhm, if this was a hit it didn’t come from William’s group. No way they could act this surprised,” Nemo said as he was listening to one of the recorded voice conversations, “The voice analytics software seems to back this up too.”
“Wasn’t a carjacking,” Bacchus said, “His body was found in his home.”
“Suicide,” Alberic said, “The transitional government has requested the police do a thorough investigation of his home and of any security footage to verify the suicide. Signed by William, in his message he seemed skeptical of a suicide.”
Elias closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “What are the odds the brick shithouse of an enemy agent is responsible for his untimely end?”
“Well, the bad news is the cameras in his neighborhood, which is about as high class as it gets, are worse than the inner city,” Bacchus shook his head, “Their HOA has focused the use of their funds on planting flowers and making the common and shared areas pretty.”
“Crime was not an area of concern,” Alberic said, “The police are not happy with the HOA or its board members. But their displeasure with them doesn’t help us or them any.”
“Neither is William. I’m paraphrasing but he wanted all stones unturned, even the questionably legal ones,” Castor said, “He even intimated to the police to use the illegal or inadmissible sources.”
“The answer back was less than reassuring,” Bacchus said with a grin.
“Let me guess,” Elias said as he watched his team work together, “They have no leads on any source material or working cameras that could have recorded the attacker.”
Castor spun his chair to face Elias and shrugged, “It sure is weird that the cameras all fail like that during such an incident.”
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that isn’t at all surprising given the conditions,” Nemo said, “None of those cameras worked or had been serviced in nearly three years. Look, with his background, this could legitimately be a random act of violence perpetrated against him by an angry party. Or it could be him taking the easy way out to avoid responsibility for some transgression.”
“Or avoiding the fallout from more bad news,” Alberic said, “Let’s face it, he isn’t the most upstanding man we know.”
“Keep working on the problem. I’d like to know what happened by day's end,” Elias said.
With that command, the team continued its work. The surprise of the day turned into confusion and frustration. They had all the emails and voice coms to review. Videos of the crime scene were also accessible to them. Despite everything that they had, there was no sign of a second individual.
Elias, of course, knew otherwise. This was no suicide. But like everything else that had occurred to his team and him, there was no conclusive evidence proving this was the case. The work would continue though, the team had little else to do as the local void teams were putting the finishing touches on the slip gate. There was at least one bit of good news they took stock that day.