"[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.]"

----------------------------------------

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."

----------------------------------------

"[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.]"

----------------------------------------

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.]"

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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.

----------------------------------------

"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."

----------------------------------------

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.]"

----------------------------------------

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 clichés 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 façade 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.

----------------------------------------

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.

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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?]"

----------------------------------------

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."