rather than take the shotgun with him, he left the weapon propped just inside the door as he reentered the building.
Once inside, the first thing Cato noticed was the blaster burns on the inside surface of the front door. He brought the camcorder up to document the scorch marks while resuming the narration. “The burns visible on the inside surface of the door seem to support the thesis that the person or persons who shot Officer Larsy were already inside the building when they opened fire,” Cato said grimly.
Then, having noticed the bloodstains near his feet, Cato tilted the camera down. “Here, just inside the front door, is what appears to be a large quantity of dried blood. And, given the absence of a body or bodies at this particular location, there is a distinct possibility that one or more of the intruders were wounded or killed and removed from the crime scene subsequent to a firefight. That theory will be confirmed,” Cato continued, “if I can account for the rest of the team members.”
The next thing that caught Cato’s attention was the glaring absence of both Fiss Verafti and his containment. “The prisoner’s cage was located right here ,” Cato commented grimly, as the camcorder’s light panned a section of empty floor. “And it’s missing, which would seem to suggest that rather than escaping on his own, Verafti was freed . Or if not freed, then removed to another location, cell and all! If that is true, it raises the question of why , given how dangerous the prisoner is, not to mention how since the cage is large and heavy.”
But Cato knew that, fascinating as such questions might be, they would have to wait while he examined the rest of the crime scene. The nauseating task required him to cut fluid-soaked sleeping bags open in order to identify the bloated bodies cocooned within, then poke and prod at three rotting corpses to determine which ones were which.
Finally, having positively identified Tonver, Batia, and Honis, Cato allowed himself to go back outside, both to get some fresh air—and to find more bodies. For, assuming his preliminary identifications were correct, both Sivio and Moshath were missing.
It was midafternoon by that time, the sky was clear, and Cato could feel the heat that came off the stone stairs through the soles of his boots as he climbed onto the wall and paused to look around. It was quiet, almost eerily so, with nothing more than an occasional rumble of wind to break the near-perfect silence. But even though Cato couldn’t hear anything, he could “feel” the same presence that had been evident earlier in the day, and knew he was under surveillance.
So Cato opened a pouch, removed a small but powerful pair of binos, and began a painstaking sweep of the horizon. At first there was nothing to see other than the shimmer of a distant mirage, but the moment Cato tilted the glasses upward, he spotted what looked like a black cross circling high above. Except that the object wasn’t a cross but a living being, and far too large to be a bird.
Having seen them on other planets, Cato was fairly sure that the airborne creature was a Lir. This was sufficient to remind Cato of what Pasayo had volunteered back in Solace, that the massacre might have been carried out by Lir bandits. The theory made quite a bit of sense since the team had been largely unprepared for an attack from above.
But what about Verafti and his cage? Both were far too heavy for the Lir to fly away with, unless they had some sort of transport, and where would a group of bandits obtain something like that? And who would put them up to such a thing since it was hard to imagine how the Lir would profit from such an abduction?
Still, the presence of a Lir scout seemed to suggest that the mountain dwellers had some sort of interest in Station 3, otherwise, why keep it under observation? So Cato put the binos away and continued along the walkway until he came to what he immediately recognized as
Once inside, the first thing Cato noticed was the blaster burns on the inside surface of the front door. He brought the camcorder up to document the scorch marks while resuming the narration. “The burns visible on the inside surface of the door seem to support the thesis that the person or persons who shot Officer Larsy were already inside the building when they opened fire,” Cato said grimly.
Then, having noticed the bloodstains near his feet, Cato tilted the camera down. “Here, just inside the front door, is what appears to be a large quantity of dried blood. And, given the absence of a body or bodies at this particular location, there is a distinct possibility that one or more of the intruders were wounded or killed and removed from the crime scene subsequent to a firefight. That theory will be confirmed,” Cato continued, “if I can account for the rest of the team members.”
The next thing that caught Cato’s attention was the glaring absence of both Fiss Verafti and his containment. “The prisoner’s cage was located right here ,” Cato commented grimly, as the camcorder’s light panned a section of empty floor. “And it’s missing, which would seem to suggest that rather than escaping on his own, Verafti was freed . Or if not freed, then removed to another location, cell and all! If that is true, it raises the question of why , given how dangerous the prisoner is, not to mention how since the cage is large and heavy.”
But Cato knew that, fascinating as such questions might be, they would have to wait while he examined the rest of the crime scene. The nauseating task required him to cut fluid-soaked sleeping bags open in order to identify the bloated bodies cocooned within, then poke and prod at three rotting corpses to determine which ones were which.
Finally, having positively identified Tonver, Batia, and Honis, Cato allowed himself to go back outside, both to get some fresh air—and to find more bodies. For, assuming his preliminary identifications were correct, both Sivio and Moshath were missing.
It was midafternoon by that time, the sky was clear, and Cato could feel the heat that came off the stone stairs through the soles of his boots as he climbed onto the wall and paused to look around. It was quiet, almost eerily so, with nothing more than an occasional rumble of wind to break the near-perfect silence. But even though Cato couldn’t hear anything, he could “feel” the same presence that had been evident earlier in the day, and knew he was under surveillance.
So Cato opened a pouch, removed a small but powerful pair of binos, and began a painstaking sweep of the horizon. At first there was nothing to see other than the shimmer of a distant mirage, but the moment Cato tilted the glasses upward, he spotted what looked like a black cross circling high above. Except that the object wasn’t a cross but a living being, and far too large to be a bird.
Having seen them on other planets, Cato was fairly sure that the airborne creature was a Lir. This was sufficient to remind Cato of what Pasayo had volunteered back in Solace, that the massacre might have been carried out by Lir bandits. The theory made quite a bit of sense since the team had been largely unprepared for an attack from above.
But what about Verafti and his cage? Both were far too heavy for the Lir to fly away with, unless they had some sort of transport, and where would a group of bandits obtain something like that? And who would put them up to such a thing since it was hard to imagine how the Lir would profit from such an abduction?
Still, the presence of a Lir scout seemed to suggest that the mountain dwellers had some sort of interest in Station 3, otherwise, why keep it under observation? So Cato put the binos away and continued along the walkway until he came to what he immediately recognized as
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