almost certainly the result of Captain Munk insisting that I was never left unguarded or on my own since the attempted murder, presumably in case I took it upon myself to seek vengeance on Michaels. Lieutenant Shue was doing his best to be subtle about it, but I knew about the guards outside the hospital door while I pretended to sleep.
“You are imitating their voices too much. Use your own voice,” he said. “Come on down to the mess.”
“You may well be right,” I conceded, but I might have sounded just a little too surprised at his insight.
“I am allowed to be,” he replied. “Once in a while.”
So I went down to the mess with him. I was interested to see how he would manage to fill the next two and a half hours with conversation with me.
2.18. The diamond theft
“My diamonds have been stolen.”
“I told you to hide them,” Lieutenant Shue said.
“I did.” I had put them in the middle drawer of the bedside cabinet. “And some-one still stole them. At least, they stole some of the white diamonds. Seven of them.”
“They left the rest?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know who it was?”
“I wasn’t actually there when they stole them.”
“Do you have a way of finding the diamonds?” he asked.
“Using my X-ray vision?”
“Or any similar skill you might happen to possess.”
As it happened, I did have a way of looking for their chemical signature. There were many more diamonds on board than I had expected, in engagement rings and watches, but generally these were in small quantities or minute sizes. The one place where there was seven of any size all in one place was the hem of some work overalls belonging to an analyst called Henry Wilkinson.
He was taken away and questioned, and Lieutenant Shue brought my diamonds back.
“The Captain suggests she looks after your diamonds from now on,” he reported.
I put the returned stones back into their green velvet pouch along with all the other diamonds and handed it over to him.
“Does she want the others as well?” I asked.
“The others?”
“I had a go at making some rubies.”
“I’m pretty sure she’ll want the rubies as well.”
I took them out and handed them over, and quietly closed the drawer on the bags of emeralds and sapphires. He might not be best pleased I had been making quite so many gems.
“Why did he only take seven?” I asked.
“He thought you might not notice they were missing,” he said. “And he only took the white ones because he didn’t realise the coloured ones were also diamonds.” He paused. “He came into your room looking for something personal to steal, something belonging to you, so he could sell it when he reached Camp Munro. He just got distracted by the diamonds.”
“I thought the crew aren’t allowed to mention me.”
“We can monitor their comms while they are on board ship, but as soon as they step off they can talk face-to-face to any-one they like. Every-one is going to know about you approximately half an hour after our arrival.”
That would explain the increase I had noticed in surreptitious photos the crew had been taking of me, although I couldn’t imagine any-one being impressed by a photo of an alien who looked exactly like a human.
“Hmm.”
“There’s nothing we can do about it,” Lieutenant Shue said. “You just need to be prepared.”
“I don’t see why any-one should be interested in me.”
“You’re really not that stupid, Ben.”
“OK, so I can see why they might be interested. I just don’t want them to be.” I considered. “If only there had been a method to stop them talking about me, some way to command them to silence, a way of insisting on perfect obedience from them.” I looked sideways at Lieutenant Shue. “You know, like if I had been a god.”
2.19. The reducing coupling endfeed
Captain Munk was not pleased that because of me her once orderly ship now contained a would-be murderer and a diamond-thief. She was, on the other hand, pleased that soon such problems would no longer be hers. She was even more pleased when, a few days out, I announced I would not be going down to Camp Munro. I would stay up on the Bonaventure as it orbited the moon hosting the base, and wait on board whilst the ship was restocked and the new crew assembled.
“With all that has been happening recently I don’t think it is a good idea for me to go down there. I am here to investigate you, not the other way round,” I said. “I don’t want to be followed, photographed or pestered with questions. Nor have my possessions stolen.” My artwork had been disappearing piecemeal until Lieutenant Shue locked it all away for me. “My personal property.”
Every-one thought staying on board the Bonaventure was an absolutely excellent idea.
At the first opportunity I presented Lieutenant Shue with a shopping list. I did not actually know whether he was planning on leaving the ship at Camp Munro or become part of the new crew, since he had become very careful in his use of comms - unlike the rest of them - but I thought it likely he would stay. His bosses had worked out what little they knew about me came from our conversations, so he was under a lot of pressure to remain.
“Can you buy these for me?” I asked. He looked at the list. “I wanted to go shopping at Camp Munro, but won’t have the chance now. I’ve never been shopping.”
I may have put too much pathos in my voice.
“Apart from in our shop,” he observed dryly.
“Apart from in the Bonaventure’s shop,” I agreed. “I meant proper shopping.” I paused. “I don’t have enough money for everything on the list. But I could always make some money, if that would help.”
“No,” he said instantly, and then added: “I’m sure we can work something out.”
He looked again at the list of 15 items. I didn’t need half the things on it, but I knew the list would be handed over to their scientists for analysis. I thought it was about time they had something to do, and hoped they might enjoy working out why I wanted a potato peeler, a tub of synthetic graphite powder and a reducing coupling endfeed. It would hopefully keep them busy for a while.
2.20. The shape-shifter hypothesis
When the Bonaventure settled into orbit round the moon housing Camp Munro, Captain Munk summoned me to the conference room for a farewell meeting. Since she was pleased that, contrary to expectation, every-one had arrived back safely, her speech was rather mild and mainly taken up with exhortations to obey the next captain.
The crew were sent down to the surface in a relay of shuttles, and the first mention of my presence on board the ship appeared in the slipstream 4.75 minutes after the first wave reached the base. The professional press picked it up four minutes later, and the first queries directed to the ship were being fielded within six minutes.
Lieutenant Shue came in to say good-bye, and to introduce me to the latest New Lieutenant Shue. Or maybe the New Sundae Lelaurie. Every-one made it very clear he was only a temporary liaison officer, purely for the duration of the re-provisioning of the ship, as if this was somehow important. The Temporary New Lieutenant Shue was a Lieutenant Belgatti. He was newly made up in rank and was young and keen to impress his superiors, and had clearly been told to be unobtrusive but watchful. The friendly and forward Sundae Lelaurie hadn’t taken, so now they were trying quiet and retiring. Lieutenant Shue departed and the ship gradually emptied until only a skeleton orbit crew was left behind and the Bonaventure grew quiet.
I kept a curious eye on the developing story on the slipstream. The talk about me was now evenly divided between reports about my part in the destruction of the Invincible and on explanations of how I was actually a shape-shifting alien even though I looked just like a human being. I did not think any of the surreptitiously-taken photos showed me at my best.
Lieutenant Belgatti and ate together in splendid isolation n the officers’ dining r
oom. We played chess all evening and he did not ask me a single question the whole time, although he did maintain a close eye on the notes I mysteriously jotted onto my nexus once in a while and tried to read them upside down. He also kept an accurate count of the number of alcoholic drinks I got through.
At the end of the evening I put my Ben-body to bed at the usual time. I then went down to the moon, created a new Haroon-body from some rocks and ice, and went off to investigate Camp Munro all by myself.
~~~~
Connect with Lindsay Tomlinson
For Ben of the Bonaventure’s on-going stories go to:
https://www.greendiamaundfloor.blogspot.com
Website: https://www.lindsaytomlinson.com
includes free character short stories
Novels
See me with my soul divided
The cease-fire is about to end. Resistance leader Hester is sent to the neighbouring city-state of Sickle Bush, run by a Freelander called Reever, to set up an alliance against the Eden-seekers. The Union States funded Reever’s rescue from a kidnapping and arranged his reinstatement to power, and in return want his help. Reever agrees to work with Hester, but has his own battles to fight.
The empty part of the grave
‘Queenie’ Mab, ex-inmate of the notorious Charity Island prison, is employed as a poorly-paid trouble-shooter. She accepts the chance to make extra money by helping to escort the Zampigli party to the backwoods to witness the recovery of