The Genius Asylum: Sic Transit Terra Book 1 by Arlene F. Marks

orders… Khaloub had been right to be concerned about morale.
    “All right, people, let’s begin our business,” he announced. “For those of you who are seeing me for the first time, my name is Drew Townsend, and I was sent here as Karim Khaloub’s replacement.” He waited for the swell of murmuring to subside before continuing, “In less than three station hours, Ranger Captain Bonelli will be on his way over here to continue his investigation into Karim Khaloub’s death. It is my intention to present him, when he arrives, with a fait accompli , a concluded case, giving the Rangers no further reason to visit this station. To do that, I need all your help. You don’t know me yet, so you’re just going to have to trust me to do what’s in the best interests of Daisy Hub and her crew. Knowing the truth and making a report are two separate items on my agenda.”
    The silence that deadened the air following his words was as much a challenge as Gavin Holchuk’s stare had been earlier. Finally, Ruby asked, “Where do you want to start, Drew?”
    “The cause of death is a good starting point. Doctor, you told me Karim had accidentally eaten something that disagreed with him. Have you been able to identify what caused his fever?”
    All eyes turned to Ktumba, who stood beside the door, white-clad arms crossed over her ample chest. “Not from the food samples I took from the caf. But I drew some blood for analysis, and in it I found an organic substance of unknown origin with molecular similarities to Human adrenaline. I would need to conduct further testing in order to confirm my hypothesis, of course, but I believe that it was this substance that caused Karim’s fever.”
    “I knew it! It’s my fault! I’m so sorry!” Fritz Jensen shot to his feet as though launched from a pad and stood in the middle of the room, wringing his hands. “He told me it was seasoning. It looked like ground pepper and smelled like oregano. I poured some into a small shaker and put it on Karim’s lunch tray as a surprise. Some surprise! I killed him!”
    “Whoa, slow down! Who told you it was seasoning?” Drew demanded.
    Jensen looked about to cry. “The Nandrian crewman. It was early. The caf wasn’t open yet. He came into the kitchen and traded it to me for a glass of lemonade.”
    Behind the chef’s tearful words, Drew heard Gavin Holchuk cursing.
    “Holchuk? Something to add?”
    “That stuff should never have left the Nandrian ship,” declared the Chief Cargo Inspector. “The Nandrians carry live food animals aboard their vessels and breed them as necessary. Nandrian seasoning accelerates the reproductive cycle of those animals, bringing them into season .”
    “So the crewman took the ‘seasoning’ into Jensen’s kitchen—?”
    “—because that’s where our food is prepared,” Holchuk replied. “And we do use seasoning, just not for the same purpose as they do.”
    Drew considered for a moment. “Sounds like an unfortunate misunderstanding to me. What do you think, Doctor?”
    Ktumba smiled. “Assuming that I could have kept the fever under control until the effects of the seasoning had worn off, Karim probably would have recovered fully from his — indigestion.”
    “All right, Jensen, you’re off the hook,” Drew informed him. “But from now on, stay away from alien foodstuffs, at least until the Doc has had a chance to check them out.”
    Speechless with relief, Jensen nodded enthusiastically and plopped back into his seat with a huge sigh.
    “So, the cause of death was exposure to extreme cold?” Townsend concluded, glancing at the Doc. She nodded. “Okay,” he sighed, “that’s the hard part. How, in God’s name, does a man freeze to death in his own bed? Mr. Smith, you’re the life support expert. Enlighten us, please.”
    A tall, lean man in gray coveralls stepped forward and snapped to attention. Terrific. After eight standard years aboard the Hub, surrounded by rebels and misfits,