“I understand what you are trying to say,” the chief said, slowly rolling his head in a circle from left to right. “But you are implying that no matter who was sent, the same thing would have happened.”
“Correct,” I nodded with my answer.
“You next case better have some different results from Noguros—” the chief let out another deep sigh, and picked up a thick plastic folder off his desk. “— because the Central Computer has chosen you two out of all the Crime TCs available right now. And to be honest with you, it frightens me. No matter who the boss is on this case, what happened on the last one could easily happen again with you two at the helm.”
Grr. The chief’s fears weren’t unmerited. Almost everything he said was on the money.
“Snff. Unh-hunh”
Yuri was still crying.
“Enough, all right?” I nudged Yuri with my left elbow.
“Okay.”
Yuri gave a little nod, and returned her hands to her knees and gave a little giggle. That little… Her eyes weren’t red at all, and her makeup hadn’t run one bit. The chief’s shoulders sagged in surprise.
“All right, then…” I said, trying to get things back on track (and off of Noguros). “So, what do you plan to do with us? Are you going to ignore the Central Computer’s orders and take us off duty?”
“I cannot do that,” he said, weakly waving his hand. “That’s why I asked you here right now. It’s been decided that you are the best to resolve this case. I can only pray that you solve this case peacefully and without incident, and then quietly come back home.”
“Is this because of that boy’s message?”
“Well, sure, that’s a part of it.”
“He sure was cute!” Yuri said out loud. This time the chief and I both almost died together.
“On that note, let’s get to our next case—”
After a moment of recovery, the chief collected himself and was able to give us the scoop on the latest incident.
“The location is planet Chakra.”
“Chakra?” Yuri and I said in unison, tilting our heads. During the intense WWWA training a wide variety of information was pounded into our brains, so Yuri and I have almost every planet-state’s name memorized. We had never heard the unique name of Chakra.
“It’s not surprising that you aren’t familiar with it,” the chief said softly, noticing our reaction to its mention. “Chakra is retained by Mandala strictly as a mining planet.”
“In the Constellation Cancer…”
“Correct.”
When it comes to planet-state Mandala, then we know plenty. It actually has several mining colony planets in its possession, making it a very large state, in its own way.
Year 2111. Mankind achieves warp speed transport technology. It was a supreme gift from the heavens, as mankind’s explosive population increase had all but saturated its living space at the time. Humans went to space to search for Earth-like planets, and colonization began.
Thirty years pass. Mankind has reached the far corners of the galaxy, and has colonized planets in over three thousand solar systems, creating new states in the process. Now independent of the Earth, the colonists gave each colonized planet the designation of “planet-state.” Within a planet-state rich in natural resources, allowances were made in the state’s budget to assist in more emigration, and separate governing bodies were created. What was most scooped into these larger governing bodies were mining planets rich in valuable minerals and chemical elements.
Over time, rich states got richer, and the United Earth Commonwealth started developing a small group of super-powers. Mandala, which had taken possession of Chakra, was a pretty representative model of those kinds of super-power planet-states.
“Chakra is still considered a fairly recent development,” continued the chief. “It’s in a remote area of the southern part of the Cancer Constellation, and it just sat there, undiscovered, for a long, long time.”
“Isn’t that the outer rim of the galaxy?” Yuri asked. Finally, she said something worth listening to. She certainly was right, the southern area of Pisces would be right on the edge of the galaxy. From the WWWA Headquarters on Lyonesse, Chakra is over 110,000 light years out.
“The population is somewhere around fifteen thousand. There is one city located smack in the center of the continent. From the outside, Aslaville looks like a real city, and the majority of the population in concentrated there.”
“It’s a mining town. There isn’t a nightlife or any decent men,” Yuri whispered into my ear. That wouldn’t do. It’s pure insanity!
“By standard time, the incident took place twelve days ago in Aslaville.”
As the Department Chief spoke Yuri and I shot quick glances at each other. It seemed he was aware of Yuri’s whispering, and I tried to cover it up by sitting up straight and smiling adoringly. He responded only with a scowl.
“This was not an altruistic incident,” said the chief after clearing his throat. “A miner was bit on the leg by an unidentified animal.”
“Wha—?”
I couldn’t believe what I had just heard.
“Bitten. Deep into his leg.”
The chief reiterated his statement slowly, one word at a time.
“Did he live?” I asked.
“He is alive.”
This time Yuri asked the question. “Was his leg torn off or anything?”
“No, it’s still very much attached.”
“Well, then it must have been a terrible wound.”
“It was completely healed in three days’ time. There were still teeth marks, but those disappeared after a week.”
“What’s the big deal then?” I said, raising my voice.
It was true that when called to examine even the most trivial of cases the Central Computer selects a WWWA Crime Trouble Consultant to investigate the scene. Be that as it may, it didn’t happen very often. This wasn’t in our job description. This was better left to local hunters and the police.
“I know you might be a little surprised…,” the chief said, wearing a solemn expression.
Hmph. I wasn’t surprised. I was mad.
“There are two factors by which the Central Computer made its decision. One is the shape of the teeth marks found on the victim. These are the teeth marks of an unknown life-form, and that’s after comparing them to all known life-forms in the galaxy.”
“What’s the other factor?” I asked in a firm tone.
“The circumstances surrounding the incident. The event took place just before noon. In broad daylight. The location was downtown Aslaville. The street was full of people coming and going. The man who was bitten—a middle-aged miner named Landis —well, there were at least ten people within five meters of where he was when he was attacked. This came from the police investigation.”
“And so?”
“And so, no one, not even Landis himself, witnessed the creature that attacked him.”
“What are you saying?” I asked, leaning forward without realizing it.
“If you believe the report, Landis was walking in Section Five of downtown when suddenly invisible fangs bit into his leg.”
“It’s the monster from the stories!” Yuri screamed in a high-pitched voice. “It must be the monster from the stories!”
“It’d be more helpful if you made your conclusions after you check out the scene.”
The chief was good at quieting the screeching Yuri.
“Departure is at 0930 hours,” he said, glancing at his wristwatch.
“Lovely Angel is at the space port and on standby, ready to go.”
The chief stood up.
“And as you do your work, don’t forget what that boy said in his message, all right?” added the chief.
Hmph, this is what he was leading up to the whole time. My only response was a grouchy scowl.
Yuri hopped off her stool. The stool sunk down into the floor. She was wearing a top with a neckline that barely covered her chest, and hardly there V-cut hot pants, along with knee-high boots that gave off a bright silver glow, reflecting in the light. Hanging from her belt was a jumbo-sized ray gun. I was wearing almost the exact same outfit, but on my hip was a heatgun.
“Just let me live a long, full life,” said the chief, extending his right hand to us for a handshake. After that sermon he expects a handshake? My heart wasn’t in it, but I responded accordingly.
That’s when it happened.
We sensed “life.”