Chapter 33: Mysterious Crimes on Todor
Calum Holmes was awoken in the middle of the night by one of his peers, Uktok to give him his Kylot name.
“What is it Uktok?” the somewhat startled Kylot co-leader asked.
Uktok was one of the oldest Kylots on Todor and a member of the Supreme Council like Calum. Unusually for a Kylot, he was overweight. Calum presumed it came from a penchant for Magdalorian dessert and not keeping with the strict Dukatec a diet. Everyday Uktok wore an identical black tunic. He was smaller than average for a Kylot at five foot ten and his reptilian skin was predominantly light green in colour.
“We found two dead bodies in the communications tower,” the overweight Kylot informed him. “You’d better come and see for yourself,”
Calum was shocked and horrified at the news. This could be the first fatality on the space station itself in its entire history. Obviously the underworld had its problems but on the rest of the space station there were little or no problems. Occasionally there would be the case of a drunken Kylot or human, but not much worse. A million questions raced through his mind. What or who could be behind this, was the most frequent of his thoughts.
“What about security. How could anyone get in and out of there without being spotted by security?” Calum asked in horror.
“Our men are retrieving the security disc as we speak. We’d better hurry. Time is of the essence if we want to catch the culprit or culprits.”
Erica was still asleep and Calum did not want to disturb her. He climbed out of bed and put on a blue tunic.
Without hesitating the two Kylot leaders headed in the direction of the crime scene. The corridors were virtually abandoned at this time of night and they did not speak much to each other in the intervening period such was their haste.
In any case Uktok and Calum were not by any means close friends. Uktok was a weak leader and was instead loyal to another of his peers by the name of Kersey. Uktok was not nasty, but his loyalty to Kersey clouded his judgement in Calum’s opinion.
When Calum and Uktok reached the communications tower there were three other members of the council congregated there as well as four security guards.
Calum knew both of the Kylots who were killed. They were good friends of his. Chapto and Kelran were their names. Both of them were friendly Kylots who always had a kind word to say.
“And have you examined the disc?” Calum asked
“The disc shows that the intruder was known to them,” a council member named Kersey replied. “It was you, Calum. The disc is playing now on the screen.”
Calum observed carefully every detail of the security disc. It did indeed look like him. It showed a Kylot in the guise of Calum approaching the communications tower and being friendly to the guards before taking them both by surprise and stabbing them with a knife. The murderer then entered the communications tower and it appeared that he disarmed the communications shield and relayed a message. It was not clear what the message was because it was in the form of code.
“This is not me,” Calum declared. “I was with Erica all night. There must be a Kylon in our midst. He’s clearly trying to alert the Kylon’s as to our location.”
“That might very well be the case Calum,” Kersey replied, “but as a precaution we will have to assign two guards to your station. I will carry out the investigation myself”
Calum had little or no confidence in Kersey’s ability to conduct a quick and thorough investigation. He was a bureaucrat through and through. He liked power and looking after his friends. Kersey was not very clever either or openminded. Calum expected Kersey to lay the blame at Calum’s feet.
Calum’s accuser was also overweight and fifteen years older than Calum. He stood six feet two inches tall and rarely if ever broke into a smile. Calum believed that Kersey was addicted to power and saw this as an opportunity to relieve Calum of his own influence on the Supreme Council.
“We have to abandon this space station, Kersey,” Calum declared anxiously. “If the Kylons discover our location we would be sitting ducks.”
“We’re perfectly safe,” Kersey replied calmly and dismissively. “There is no need to evacuate. As I said, I will carry out the investigation myself. Need I remind you that Kylots have lived on this Space Station for over a hundred years? Even if he or you tried to get a message out, there is no guarantee that it would reach the intended recipient. We are in a remote part of the Universe. I will assess whether the space station is in danger. Or should I say that I and the rest of the council will make the decision.”
Calum was frustrated as he was escorted away. He wanted to investigate the matter himself but under the circumstances there was nothing that he could do. He was powerless. Kersey liked power. He ascended to the highest position in the Kylot hierarchy but it was, in Calum’s opinion, nothing to do with ability, intelligence or hard work.
As he returned to his quarters Calum felt more downbeat and depressed than he had been. It was a long lonely walk back. He could not return to his bed. Instead he spent the last few hours of the night thinking. Almost two hours after he returned to his quarters, Erica woke up to find that Calum was not asleep. She climbed out of bed and opened the door to the adjoining room. She saw Calum sitting in a chair in pensive mood.
“What is it?” she asked aloud.
“Nothing you need concern yourself about,” he replied half-heartedly.
“Well whatever it is, you seem worried about it,” she responded in a concerned manner.
“They suspect I’m responsible for killing two security guards, Chapto and Kelron,” Callum answered despondently with his gaze focussed downward. “Somebody, posing as me eliminated them. Now Kersey is investigating and I’m confined to my quarters. Something is not right. I’m afraid that the Kylons may be aware of our position. It happened in the Communications Tower. The lives of everyone on this station may be in danger and I can’t do anything about it.”
Erica had never seen Calum as downbeat as he was not. He seemed utterly helpless. It was as if he thought his world was about to cave in around him.
“Is there anything I can do?” Erica asked, hoping that she could raise his spirits. “Surely they can’t confine me as well.”
Helpful as it was, Calum didn’t think that Erica could do anything. She wouldn’t have the same level of clearance that he had. If she went around asking questions she would only attract suspicion and she too would be confined to quarters. The more he thought about it the more depressed he became.
One day evening flight school Elliot decided to pay Calum a visit. In the intervening period since their arrival on the space station, they had very little contact. Their paths would cross sometimes in the canteen and sometimes they would have brief conversations or exchange greetings. In the past week or so, the young Earthling had not spotted Calum at all. Elliot was curious, and now that his evenings were relatively free, he had an opportunity to meet up with his friend who had helped him so much.
If it wasn’t for the hoverbus, Elliot would not have known how to get to Calum’s quarters. Outside of Erica and Calum’s room were two guards. To the young man, this appeared to be quite strange. On this space station, Elliot had not come across this before. When he entered he was surprised to find the high ranking Kylot in despondent mood.
“Hello, Calum,” Elliot said tentatively.
The Kylot was sitting in a chair, with his head for the most part, facing downwards at the floor in front of him. He only looked up briefly to see that it was the young human.
“Hi there, Elliot,” the Kylot responded meekly.
This did not appear to be the same leader Elliot had known. The Calum he had come to know was confident, inspirational and positive in his outlook.
“I hadn’t seen you in a while, Calum. Is everything ok?”
“Yes of course it is, Elliot,” the council member responded unconvincingly.
“What are those two guards doing outside the door?”
“Sometimes, that happens,” the Kylot responded dismissively. “It’s part of the job.”
Elliot detected a certain amount of hurt and pain in Calum’s voice and he wanted to do whatever he could to help.
“Are you under house arrest?” Elliot asked out of curiosity.
“Of course not.”
Elliot was still quite perplexed but did not know what question to ask next. He considered leaving but part of him felt that he somehow had to find out what was going on.
He paused while desperately thinking of how to phrase his next question. There was an ornament on a shelf that resembled a woodpecker in a swinging motion with its head and beak. This ornament made a quiet ticking noise like a clock. With each passing motion it seemed to be louder and louder. The more conscious he was of it, the more he found it hard to construct his next question.
Thankfully, Erica entered and she was far more pleasant and upbeat.
“Hi Elliot. How are you?” she said with a smile.
“Hi Erica,” he responded. “I just dropped by to see how Calum was doing. He says he’s doing fine… eh,” the young man said hesitantly.
“He’s not doing fine,” Erica responded. “He’s confined to quarters and he’s been moping about for the best part of a week. Two people were killed and they blame Calum because the individual took Calum’s form.”
“Erica, I told you not to say anything,” the male Kylot responded in a disappointed tone.
“Is there anything I can do.” Elliot asked.
“No, Elliot,” Calum responded, “but thanks for asking.”
Once more Elliot felt worthless and helpless due to his lack of physique and inability to change form.
“Perhaps there is a way I can help,” Elliot suggested.
Calum seemed barely interested in anything the Earthling had to say.
“Calum could take my form and I could stay here.”
Slowly, Elliot’s proposal seemed to register with Calum and gradually his mood improved.
“That might work,” he said eventually.
The male Kylot stood up. It was evident that Elliot’s suggestion had revitalised him and the old optimistic Calum returned. After standing up he changed the weight he put on either foot as if he was limbering up for a race. Within seconds he transformed into the earthling. Suddenly there was a smile on his face and he once again felt as though he had an influence on his own destiny.
After he left his quarters Calum made his way to the communications control room but altered his appearance to the likeness of Kersey. Kersey never worked late and so, Calum believed that it was the best solution.
When he arrived at the control room, Calum noticed that Reva was the highest ranking official there. Reva was a loyal supporter of Kersey along with Uktok.
“Good evening Kersey,” Reva responded, “we didn’t expect you to return so soon.”
“I couldn’t get to sleep. I’ve been thinking about the deaths of Chapto and Kelron. I’d just like to go over it one more time. Let me hear all that you know about it. I really need to rethink this.”
“But you said, Kersey that the case was closed and that you were confident that Calum was responsible,” Reva responded in a surprised manner.
Calum’s blood ran cold. He knew now, for sure that Kersey was using this opportunity to stab him in the back.
“I know what I said, Reva, but humour me. I want to make sure that the case against Calum is water-tight.”
“All the evidence we have is ultimately contained in the security tapes,” Reva informed him. “There are no eye-witnesses and we’ve found no murder weapons. You took the tapes to store in your safe.”
“Are there no copies?” Callum asked.
“You ordered the copies to be destroyed, leader,” Reva responded.
It was at this point that it occurred to Reva that Kersey might not be who he claimed to be.
“Hold on a minute there, sir,” he said before picking up a phone and talking to an individual on the other end of the line. “Hello Kersey, can you come to the communications control room, there is somebody I would like you to meet. It’s important.”
Once again Calum’s blood ran cold. He realised that he was in even greater difficulty than he was previously. Before Reva could order the guards to arrest him, he left the control centre.
The guards pursued him, and Calum ran as fast as he could. Thankfully when he rounded one of the corridors a large group of visitors were approaching him. These visitors were mostly from different parts of the universe and were taking a tour of the space station. He mixed with them and changed form once again so as not to be easily identified. His pursuers were mystified. They surveyed the crowd for half a minute before the real Kersey approached.
Kersey was shocked to find himself being arrested by the guards and failed to conceal his contempt. Calum decided to seize his opportunity. He swiftly made his way to Kersey’s quarters. His wife was lying on a couch watching a screen showing one of her favourite shows. She barely noticed a Kylot in the form of her husband enter and make his way to the bedroom. Calum swiftly opened the safe, using a code that he was aware Kersey used for most things. In the safe was a substantial amount of jewellery and documentation but only one recording. Calum recognised it as the recording that incriminated himself. The Kylot was bitterly disappointed. He hoped there would be other tapes that would exonerate him but he was badly let down.
Calum closed the safe and quickly made his way to his own quarters. He reverted back to Elliot’s form as he did so. On his way back he realised that he was now worse off than he previously expected to be. If it was discovered that it was him that entered the control room and Kersey’s quarters, he was in deep trouble. Kersey, evidently had destroyed the other tapes. Calum believed that Kersey craved power and grasped an opportunity to get rid of Calum instead of catching the person responsible.
“You’d better go now, Elliot,” Calum said, once he reached his room.
“Did you do what you set out to do?” Elliot asked.
“Not exactly. I’m grateful for what you have done for me, but right now the best thing you can do is leave. I will be ok,” Calum declared, in an attempt to be reassuring. Inwardly however, everything was not ok but he felt obliged to convince his earthling friend that everything would work out in the end.
Elliot left Calum’s quarters without the slightest quibble. He was not entirely convinced by Calum. To the young man, there were a lot of things going wrong for him at the present time. Sylvia rarely talked to him anymore, Calum was in trouble and flight school was taking forever. There was only one place he could go now to untangle the mess his life was in.