Xi. When Xi turned up with a squeeze bottle of his homemade fingerprint powder, they blanketed every solid surface and produced a few dozen prints, most of them of sufficient quality to be read by an ordinary fingerprint reader they procured from Marsden’s desk.
While they worked, Michi Chen made an announcement to the ship’s company, confirming that Captain Fletcher had died and that Martinez had been appointed to fill his place. Martinez, on his knees peering at an eyelash he’d just picked up with tweezers, failed somehow to be overcome by the sudden majesty of command that had just officially dropped onto his shoulders.
“I regret to informIllustrious, ” Michi continued, “that Captain Fletcher’s death was the result of foul play. I ask any crew with knowledge of this event to report to the Constabulary or to an officer. As the lord captain was murdered between 0301 and 0501, the testimony of anyone with knowledge of unusual movement or activity around that time would be very useful.”
A new firmness, almost a ferocity, entered Michi’s voice. “The squadron is alone, moving deep in enemy territory. We are too vulnerable to the enemy to permit any kind of disorder and lawlessness in our own ranks. Any weakness on our part only makes the enemy stronger. I amdetermined ”—the word was almost a shout —“determinedthat the killer or killers of Captain Fletcher will be found and punished.
“Once again,” more subdued now, “I ask anyone with information to come forward before any more crimes are committed. This is Squadron Commander Chen, in the name of the Praxis.”
Martinez was impressed. The drinks had done her good, he decided.
Before long he began to envy Michi her cocktails. If anything were going to be solved this way, with fingerprint comparison and hair and fiber analysis, it would be through long and tedious work, and he had no time for that.
He had a warship to command.
When the job was finished, Martinez rose to his feet and looked at the office, the fine tile and elegant paneling, the martial statues of men in plate armor, and the glass cabinets holding objects of beauty, all of it smudged with fingerprints and covered with powder. If he’d set out deliberately to disfigure all the grace and perfection with which Fletcher had filled his life, he could scarcely have done a better job.
“Lord Captain,” Xi said. “May I have the codes to the ship’s fingerprint file?”
“Yes. As soon as I can find them.”
“I’ll return to my office,” Xi said, “and proceed as best as I can.”
Martinez thought again about Michi’s cocktails. “May I offer you a drink first?”
Xi accepted. Martinez paged Alikhan and told him to serve Xi in his old office. “I have a brief errand,” he told the doctor. “I’ll be with you in a few minutes.”
Martinez got a signed copy of the inventory from Marsden, then had the captain’s possessions transferred to a locker under his own key and password. He dismissed Fletcher’s servants to clean the captain’s office, a task he did not envy them, and went to his own cabin to find Xi sitting comfortably amid theputti, his forensic samples on the desk, and a glass of whisky in his hand.
Alikhan had thoughtfully left a tray on the desk with another glass, a beaker of whisky, and another beaker of chilled water, its flanks covered with glittering gems of condensation. Martinez poured his own drink and settled into his chair.
“Interesting whisky, my lord,” Xi said. “Very smoky.”
“From Laredo,” Martinez said, “my birthplace.” His father sent him cases of Laredo’s best, in hopes exposure would boost the export market.
“What it lacks in subtlety,” Xi said, “is more than regained in vigor.”
Martinez inhaled the fumes lovingly, then raised his glass. “Here’s to vigor,” he said, and drank.
The whisky blazed a trail of fire down his throat. He looked at the smoky fluid through the prisms of the crystal glass and contemplated his long, singular day.
“My lord,” he said, “do you have any idea? Any idea at all?”
Xi seemed to understand the point of this vague question. “Who’s responsible, you mean? No. Not the slightest.”
“Or why?”
“Nor that either.”
Martinez swirled whisky in his glass. “You’ve known Captain Fletcher for a long time.”
“Since he was a boy, yes.”
Martinez put the glass down and looked at the whitebearded man across his desk. “Tell me about him,” he said.
Xi didn’t answer right away. His thumbs pressed hard against his whisky glass, pressed until they turned white. Then the thumbs relaxed.
“Lord Gomberg Fletcher,” he said, “was exceptionally well-born, and exceptionally wealthy. Most people born to wealth and high status assume that their condition isn’t simply luck, but a result of some kind of perfect cosmic justice—that is, that any person as fine and virtuous as themselves should naturally take an exalted place in society.” His brows knit. “I would guess that Captain Fletcher found his position more of a burden than a source of pleasure.”
Martinez was surprised. “That—That was hardly my impression,” he said.
“Living up to the worlds’ expectations is a difficult job,” Xi said, “and I think he worked very hard at it. He made a very good job of it. But I don’t think it made him happy.”
Martinez looked at the pink-cheeked winged children who fluttered around his office wall. “The art collection?” he asked. “All this?” He waved a hand vaguely at the flying children. “That didn’t make him happy?”
“There are a limited number of roles suitable for someone of his status,” Xi said. “That of aesthete was perhaps the most interesting available.” He frowned, a narrow X forming between his brows. “Aestheticism took up the part of his life that wasn’t taken up by the military. Between the two of them, he didn’t have time to think about being happy or unhappy, or to think about much at all.” He looked up at Martinez.
“Did you wonder about all those inspections, those musters?” Xi continued. “All the rituals—dressing formally for every meal, sending notes to people he could as easily have called on the comm? If you ask me, it was all to keep him from thought.”
He’s as dull as a rusty spoon.Chandra’s words echoed in Martinez’s head.
Martinez took another sip of whisky while he tried to make sense of Xi’s words. “You’re saying,” he said carefully, “that Captain Fletcher was a kind of imitation human being.”
“People realize themselves in adversity,” Xi said, “or by encountering opposition, or through the negative consequences of their decisions. For Fletcher there was no opposition or adversity or negative consequences. He was given a part and he played it, more or less convincingly.” Xi lowered his head and contemplated the whisky glass that rested on his potbelly. “He never questioned his role. I often wish that he had.”
Martinez put his glass on the table. It made more noise than he intended, and Xi gave a start.
“There were no negative consequences for Fletcher,” he said, “until he killed Engineer Thuc.”
Xi said nothing.
“Was that something he did to fill his empty hours?” Martinez asked. “Cut a man’s throat?”
Xi peered at Martinez from under his white eyebrows, his dark eyes glittering. “I asked him, you know. The day it happened, at Lady Michi’s request. I believe she was hoping I could find Captain Fletcher insane and she could remove him from command.” He made the pursing movement of his lips. “I disappointed her, I’m afraid. Captain Fletcher was perfectly rational.”
Martinez tried to avoid shouting. “So why did he kill Thuc?” he demanded.
Xi licked his lips quickly. “He said that he killed Engineer Thuc because the honor of theIllustrious demanded it.”
Martinez stared at him. Words died on his tongue. He took a drink. “What did he mean by that?” he managed finally.
Xi shrugged.
“Were you his friend?”
Xi shook his head. “Gomberg didn’t have any friends aboard. He was very dutiful in the way he kept to his sphere, and he expected others to keep to theirs.”
“But you followed him.”
