Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (wip)

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Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (wip)

Post by Destructionator »

"Hey, El, wanna join the zero-gee club?"

"ahhh" she pointed at the big window looking out to space.

"C'mon, there's no one here but you, me, and the stars."

"no, look!" she pointed again.

He finally turned around and saw a DEAD BODY flying by his spacecraft.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

<opening title sequence>

----------

ooc: My work schedule is insane for the coming weeks, but I've been pondering a lot of ideas and decided to write one down. I'll be updating somewhat slowly and definitely in small chunks. TV episodes pwn novels.
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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Heretic »

It's short, but it feels so right... I am looking forward to this.
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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

backdrop:

SPACE

a nearby supernova is causing LENS FLARES

two men, in space suits, float into the screen

the camera pans back, revealing the previously seen dead body and the space ship from the prior scene floating behind the two men in space suits (who floated into the screen)

all around them, police tapes have surrounded the scene of the crime

"so H, what do you make of this?" the first astronaut asked

"looks like he ended up in... dead space." replied the second astronaut

then he put his sunglasses on. his space helmet

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhh

8-)

CRIME SPACE INVESTIGATION: MIAMI
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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Destructionator »

Shroom, shh, spoilers! :D

Though the image of Horatio Caine in a space suit is too funny. With the way he always stands sideways with his head down... it'd look absurd with a giant helmet. With sunglasses. I love it.


Though, this opening is totally ripped off inspired by NCIS.
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Lucca: Ain't it the truth! ... Oh, um...I mean...
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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

I needed a nearby supernova to emulate the yellow filters used in CSI: Miami. :P

God, David Caruso. :lol:
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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Destructionator »

[cue music: The Blue Danube, just like in 2001]

The Shummer (space hummer :) ) slowly positions itself in the path of the body, with its back hatch open.

Ever so gently, the body glides in. With a short burst of its thrusters, the Shummer matches speed with the corpse, bringing it to a relative stop in the cargo bay.

The back hatch closes, then the bay airlock opens and the investigators come out in space suits.


"This your first space crime scene, Special Agent Jones?"

"Yes, sir, sorry, yes Lieutenant Horatio, first one." Agent Jones could hear a chuckle from one of the other agents - she couldn't tell which one - in her helmet radio as she bumbled out the words.

"Same as any other. Photos, measurements, just more angles. Get to it."

"Yes, si-- Lieutenant." She starts meticulously across the walls of the bay, taking pictures of the body from all around without touching it.


"Doctor," Lt. Horatio said, "what happened to our victim?"


The corpse is that of a naked woman. Her looks like a baked mummy with what's left of its skin peeling off.


"The sun." Doctor Sulysi answered briefly. "Constant exposure, no protection. Combine that with the low pressure, and," she waved at the body. "Not as bad as I'd expect actually, couldn't have been out there for too long."

Once the photos were taken, she moved in to take a closer look, taking temperatures across different organs.

"Time of death?"

"...between three and seven days." she continued her visual examination. "Hmm, here, signs of sexual assault."

"So a perv who dumps his victims..." Lt. Horatio adjusted his visor, "...out the airlock."

"Yeah."


-------

OOC:

Yes, the same mr and mrs author-insert are here. I figure they are canonically hundreds of years old; plenty of time to try out several careers.

Another thing too is space isn't as nice an environment as fiction might lead you to believe. (Nor is it as nasty!) It is very cold, yes, but only if you're in the shade!
His Certifiable Geniusness, Adam D. Ruppe (My 'verse)
Marle: Lucca! You're amazing!
Lucca: Ain't it the truth! ... Oh, um...I mean...
Marle: Enough with the false modesty! You have a real gift! I would trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!

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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Destructionator »

Autospy room, back at the station

"Doctor," Horatio cocked his head, "what have you got?"

"Cause of death, Lieutenant. Take a look here," Dr Sulysi pointed to an x-ray, "her hyoid is fractured, and you can see bruising on the throat, here, and here, see the impressions?"

"She was strangled."

"Exactly."

"Can you lift fingerprints?"

"Uh, yeah, it's easy. Any first year stude-"

"From this body!"

"No, afraid not. If there were any, the sun destroyed it. Still looking for other trace."

"Let me know when you get more."

"Wait, that's not all! I was wrong about my initial time of death: it was Monday night. See, I-"

"Only a day and a half ago."

"Yes, the damage was accelerated by mirrors! See, here, I measured-"

"That's good work, Doctor," Horatio said while leaving the room.

"...but don't you want to know how?" Doctor Sulysi mumbled to herself as the lieutenant walked away.

* * *

Squad room

Agent Jones slowly tapped her keys with a bewildered look on her face. "She's not in the system. You sure about that trajectory?"

"Not completely," Agent Ruppe [ZOMFG TEH AUTHOR INSERT!!111!!! yeah, sue me] said from across the desk, "the ship that dumped her could have come from just about anywhere. But, I doubt it."

Jones looked at him, her face asking for details.

"C'mon newbie, think about it. Who would burn out of his way to dump a body on a common trajectory, where it is most likely to be discovered?"

"Someone trying to throw us off?"

"It'd be smarter to never have us on the trail at all. The simpler answer usually the right one."

"OK, but, why isn't she in the system?"

Lieutenant Horatio walks over to his cube from the stairs, interrupting. "ID our victim yet?"

"Working on it boss," Ruppe answered, "We're thinking she's an illegal who was living in the Chaumont cylinder."

"Then why are you still here?"

He heads toward the door, motioning for Jones to come with.
His Certifiable Geniusness, Adam D. Ruppe (My 'verse)
Marle: Lucca! You're amazing!
Lucca: Ain't it the truth! ... Oh, um...I mean...
Marle: Enough with the false modesty! You have a real gift! I would trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!

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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Somes J »

Looks cool. I like it.
Destructionator wrote:Another thing too is space isn't as nice an environment as fiction might lead you to believe. (Nor is it as nasty!) It is very cold, yes, but only if you're in the shade!
Or far away from any strongly luminous bodies. But that's just an obnoxious nitpick.
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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Destructionator »

Yes, the outer solar system would surely be cold. I crunched the numbers, and I figured a dead body in the sun at Earth would heat up, pretty rapidly too. (After the initial heat loss brought on by the pressure reduction carrying away fluids.) But, by the time you get to Mars, the solar power is smaller, and the body would actually cool down.

And by Jupiter, of course, the sun doesn't even melt ice anymore.

Still, it isn't like the 3 K number people like to throw around like gospel! You don't get that cold unless you are in very deep space.

Fun fact: I'm really split on if I want the setting here to be inner or outer system. (it is ase-verse canon, where I'm still undecided) That's one reason why I'm shying away from any actual numbers, aside from the time of death, which is relevant to the crime itself.
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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Destructionator »

BEHIND THE SCENES


Investigating a crime scene in space requires a very large, yet fuel efficient vehicle. The Shummer is a perfect fit!

Image
(not strictly to scale)

Much of the Shummer's payload volume is the open Crime Scene Bay. In space crime scenes, there are no sidewalks on which to draw chalk outlines. That's where the CSB comes in.

Positioned all over the vehicle are precision thrusters, which allow it to match speed exactly to an incoming piece of evidence, so it can gently glide into the CSB's hatch and be captured, without being disturbed, preserving everything for the investigators. Sensor equipment and gimbals in the front record the vehicles exact location in time and space, as well as its exact relative movement and rotation to its home base. This data can be used to plot exactly where the evidence was when dumped, or would have gone if left.


Behind the CSB, on the top of the vehicle, is the docking hatch and cargo elevator. When they get back to the station, the Shummer docks on the outer hull. Once attached, they are under gravity, so an elevator is necessary to carry the heavy items up through the hatch.


Below the CSB and elevator shaft is the crew section, where the investigators ride and can perform preliminary tests, right on scene. It carries all the equipment needed to get accurate, detailed reports suitable for use in court.


Finally, at the bottom, is its rocket engine and fuel tanks. The Shummer gets a whopping 9 miles to the gallon, 12% better than the department's previous vehicle, the venerable 6000 SUX. The savings on gas now allow the department to hire a REAL forensics tech to join the team!
His Certifiable Geniusness, Adam D. Ruppe (My 'verse)
Marle: Lucca! You're amazing!
Lucca: Ain't it the truth! ... Oh, um...I mean...
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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Destructionator »

OOC: This one was meant to be longer, but bed time creeped up on me too quickly, so I've gotta leave it here. Enjoy space travel! This description will hopefully help you solve the case too down the line. Physics pwn.

---


Agents Ruppe and Jones leave the squadroom and head down.

Once out of the boss' earshot, Jones speaks: "We think she's an illegal?"

"It fits. Besides, we're gonna have to do some legwork to track her down anyway... and this gets H off both our backs for a while."

"Ooooh."

They walk over to the garage, sign in, and go downstairs to its sub-basement. The sub-basement has several hatches and elevators in a line on the floor.

They go past the larger elevator hatches, instead opting for one of the smaller and faster transports. They open the hatch and go down the ladder into the top of a space vehicle. The stars are visible out the cockpit window, rotating ever so slowly, right along with the stationary "ground" of steel that looks to stretch on almost infinitely.

Ruppe takes the pilot's seat, and straps himself in. Jones takes the other seat.

"Fasten your seatbelt," he says, while flipping on the vehicle's equipment.

"Ok," Jones starts strapping in, "so how are we going to do this?"

Ruppe holds up a finger. He's mumbling off a checklist to himself: "radar clear, nothing visually, O2 partial pressure, check, LH2 pressure, check, LOX pressure, check, hatch seal, check, rotation rate..... check, clock, check."

"The computer has the evidence," Jones says, "no need to abort."

"Eh," he grunts and keeps checking readings. Once satisfied, he turns the authorize key.

About a minute later, on a precise computer timer, the clamps holding the spacecraft to the habitat hull release. The spacecraft starts zipping away, suddenly moving at about 180 m/s relative to the habitat's axis.

Inside, the only difference they felt was the gravity suddenly stopped. No movement; nothing floated, no forces; it was just their weight was lifted as if by magic.

A mere 18 seconds later, what had just looked like an endless expanse of steel was behind them.

Ruppe once more checks his instruments and eyeballs the stars. Confirmed: the computer had executed yet another perfect launch.

"Okay, now, let's get to work."
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Lucca: Ain't it the truth! ... Oh, um...I mean...
Marle: Enough with the false modesty! You have a real gift! I would trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!

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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Somes J »

Destructionator wrote:BEHIND THE SCENES

Investigating a crime scene in space requires a very large, yet fuel efficient vehicle. The Shummer is a perfect fit!
Now there's a specialized space vehicle I'd probably never have thought of the need for. I like the part about how it's designed to capture evidence without disturbing it.
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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Destructionator »

I pretty certainly made a big mistake there: the crime scene bay should be at the center of mass, so it can actually match rotation rates around the thing it is grabbing. Flipping the top box upside down would be close enough for a Paint picture.

So on top is the cockpit and crew area, then below is the CSB, and finally the bulk of the fuel. There might have to be some propellant tank wrapping around too, so as the fuel is burned, it can keep the same balance.

It came from the silly image of the CSI:Miami hummer actually floating through space, hence the cargo hatch in the top back, but that's not really ideal.


Oh well.
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Marle: Lucca! You're amazing!
Lucca: Ain't it the truth! ... Oh, um...I mean...
Marle: Enough with the false modesty! You have a real gift! I would trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!

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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Magister Militum »

I just stumbled upon this little gem, and, I have to say, I like what I'm reading. Keep it up, D.
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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Destructionator »

Fear not, the next installment will be written shortly. But I have to scribble down some notes for other ideas coming up:

Space Rescue!

What happens if a space car screws up and flies off into nowhere?

Beeep booom. Tug 51, stranded spacer, 81 north, cross J and 12th.

The space tug, operated by the fire department, naturally, runs out to rescue them. Pretty simple procedure.


But what happens if a space car screws up and flies into the habitat? Now, we're talking. It just grazes it, so the passengers are still alive, and the car's clamps engage, so they're trapped. Best of all, they are clamped to a spinning hull - moving, and above the rescuers. Think of someone tied to a spinning ceiling in a giant, empty space.

DHM, SFD, and ORI are all on their way. (alphabet soup which you'll see rolled out casually in the story, but it is Department of Habitat Maintenance, the Space Fire Department, and the Office of the Royal Inspector. Workers to fix the damage, rescuers to get the people, and cops to investigate what went wrong.)

So you have this scene of a whole crapload of dudes starting to show up and they talk out the options.

Tell them to release the clamps, reducing the situation to a solved problem (stranded spacer). But, the car is so damaged that doing this might cause them to lose all their air. Fuck.

Have DHM's repair robots roll out and attempt to pull the people out of the car. Problem is that they isn't designed to rescue people from cars nor to even dock with them, and the passengers don't have their space suits, so this won't work.


Maybe one of the space fire trucks could match velocity with the rotation, either by doing an inter-cylinder transfer or by burning their engines and pick the people up. Nah, the window would be too small before they ran out of fuel.


Perhaps they could get in somehow and seal off the damage to the car, making it safe to release for the tug to pick up? Problem is that damage is right where the clamp is (luckly, that clamp is forming a tight seal, keeping the air in)... you can't get to it without risking it disengaging.



The best method I've come up with is to rescue the people from inside the habitat. Find where they are attached, and dig down to the hull. Outside, seal off the clamp somehow and then cut through the hull, past the clamp, and into the car. Pull the people up and out.

Problem is cutting past the clamp. If it disengages, you have a dangerous piece of space junk going who knows where, and the people inside are doomed. And, the rescuers are going to have a nasty wind too trying to blow them into the hole they just cut to space... very risky for them.


Oh, by the way, don't take too much longer figuring it out. One of the people inside needs medical attention, fast. Pick a plan and hope for the best.


Would make for great television!
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Marle: Lucca! You're amazing!
Lucca: Ain't it the truth! ... Oh, um...I mean...
Marle: Enough with the false modesty! You have a real gift! I would trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!

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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Invictus »

Personally I would open the access hatch that leads to the outside of the habitat (there is one, isn't there?), walk a magnetized rescue crew across the surface of the hull to where the space car is clamped, set up a sealed tent over the whole mess, pump the inside full of atmosphere, then cut open the car and rescue the passengers at my own leisure. After the passengers are out, you take down the tent and cut the space car loose. Drilling through the habitat hull from the other side sounds a little...drastic to me.
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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Destructionator »

Invictus wrote:Personally I would open the access hatch that leads to the outside of the habitat (there is one, isn't there?)
Yes (that's how the maintenance bots got there), but it isn't in a convenient location. Long walk.
, walk a magnetized rescue crew across the surface of the hull to where the space car is clamped
That would not be a fun walk either - walking on the outside of the hull would be like walking on a ceiling. Your head points down, and if your misstep and fly off, you're now a stranded spacer... without a ship!

One thing that might work is taking a surface bus. This is a vehicle that is attached to the hull, but can drive down it. The passengers can sit inside on the bottom, so they feel right side up. The tricky part would be keeping it attached as it moves (remember, still like driving on the ceiling) - maybe tracks or magnet wheels? The same thing the maintenance bots use, but it'd have to hold a lot more weight.

Perhaps the weight limit could add to the danger.
set up a sealed tent over the whole mess, pump the inside full of atmosphere, then cut open the car and rescue the passengers at my own leisure. After the passengers are out, you take down the tent and cut the space car loose.
That's a good idea. The problem though would be making that tent air tight, but I like it.
Drilling through the habitat hull from the other side sounds a little...drastic to me.
That's what makes it good television :D
His Certifiable Geniusness, Adam D. Ruppe (My 'verse)
Marle: Lucca! You're amazing!
Lucca: Ain't it the truth! ... Oh, um...I mean...
Marle: Enough with the false modesty! You have a real gift! I would trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!

"I still really hate those pompous assholes who quote themselves in their sigs." -- Me
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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Invictus »

Destructionator wrote:That would not be a fun walk either - walking on the outside of the hull would be like walking on a ceiling. Your head points down, and if your misstep and fly off, you're now a stranded spacer... without a ship!
Magnetized grapnel-clamps and attachment points at set distances on the outside hull, my man. The rescue crew would be like goddamn firefighters, except they would be swinging their way across the outside of a rotating space station!
That's a good idea. The problem though would be making that tent air tight, but I like it.
It doesn't have to be a perfect seal; just a good enough one to maintain the atmosphere until the extraction is complete - so maybe a day or so? I admit, this means that "at my leisure" isn't so leisurely any more. Valuable time may also be spent matching pressure with the inside atmosphere of the space car, and raising the ambient temperature is another problem. Of course, even inflating the tent with its own atmosphere first may not be necessary - cut open the space car and just let the tent catch the escaping atmosphere from inside the car for long enough to get the passengers suited up.

Speaking of which, why doesn't the space car have emergency space suits/survival cocoons which heck, all habitat inhabitants should have been trained from childhood to use?
That's what makes it good television :D
Hey, my solution is perfectly dramatic as well! :)
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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Destructionator »

WTF thought it would be a good idea for a browser to just eat a post because your log in session expired while typing it? I loathe the web.
Invictus wrote:It doesn't have to be a perfect seal; just a good enough one to maintain the atmosphere until the extraction is complete - so maybe a day or so?
I'm thinking the army might have equipment on hand to do this kind of thing. A short term, quick to build seal would be useful for boardings and invasions. I'd be all the more fun to add them to the party! I like it.
Speaking of which, why doesn't the space car have emergency space suits/survival cocoons
Same reason why Agent Jones had to be reminded to put her seat belt on: sure, accidents happen, but not to me. There's millions of space trips every, and, what maybe ten or twenty accidents nation wide*? The odds of it happening to me, ever, are absurdly low. Only crazy, old technophobes don't trust the flight computer. (And of course, for most of them, the right move is to just sit tight in your car for the rescue teams to arrive, so even so, you probably don't need a space suit.)

Thinking like that, why would I fork over the cash for a suit that I'll never need anyway?

* Very low accident rate, much lower than cars in the US, but remember, space travel is different. For one, computers and inertia are in control rather than distracted or drunk people. You let go, fly the straight line, then clamp on when you arrive. Everyone goes at the same speed, in parallel paths, with the always attentive flight computer keeping an eye on everything. If it sees something wrong, it knows how to nudge the ship to a safe path (toward deep space, so it doesn't worry about collisions) and call for help.

Where accidents would still occur, excepting the people who fly manually (surely needs a special license too), would be when too much shit piles on at once or when equipment fails. Scenario one is when there's another accident already, shoving crap your way, and your own computer is forced to choose between bad and worse: emergency burn right now or collision. It picks the burn. If you didn't already have your seat belt on, well, better bruised than dead.

Examples of bad equipment would be a thruster getting clogged and not firing properly. The computer does its job properly, but you didn't get your scheduled rocket cleaning, so it doesn't respond correctly. Now, you're off course. Or, your docking clamp is old and decides to pick today to lose its grip, or close just a second too late.

The pre-flight checklist is supposed to avoid this (which the flight computer, bring programmed to be a conservative pilot, checks every time, and refuses to launch if anything fails), but sometimes you can do everything right and still have stuff go wrong.
which heck, all habitat inhabitants should have been trained from childhood to use?
I don't think they would need it. A person can live his or her whole life never even leaving the habitat, and if they do, the accident rate in space travel can realistically be very low. The average person probably doesn't think anything of it.

(What if there's a disaster in the habitat? Rather than going for individual suits, they'd probably want to run to disaster shelters. These might exist for nasty solar flares, so people can wait out the radiation, but might not in the main cluster. Why not? You'd need to protect commuting people too, so a large magnetic ring or something may protect the whole cluster from these storms, meaning special shelters are unneeded.

But, if the risk is big enough, that's the way I'd do it. Everyone runs to big shelters and waits out the problem in there.

I had one little image in my mind a while back of an outer starbase, which is just a small habitat away from the main cluster. They used an air-raid siren like thing to warn of disaster (can be solar flares or incoming missiles, being a military target), and then big orange balloons go up from the roof of each shelter. They serve to warn the deaf of the disaster, and to remind people where the nearest shelter can be found. Just look to the sky.

But, since they don't protect folks space travelling, something else is needed in the main habitat cluster. Odds are someone will be out there when a flare hits, and you can't just let them get irradiated, but at the same time, putting storm shelters on every little space car doesn't seem cost effective. I'm thinking the magnet loop plan might work, though it is a huge ass loop.

I guess I'll have to think about it, but in any case, regular citizens probably won't be concerning themselves too much about space suits. They just should never need them during their lives.
Hey, my solution is perfectly dramatic as well! :)
[/quote]
Aye.
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Lucca: Ain't it the truth! ... Oh, um...I mean...
Marle: Enough with the false modesty! You have a real gift! I would trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!

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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Somes J »

For solar flares and the like I imagine, if possible, you'd want some way of protecting the whole habitat.

Didn't you suggest a while back filling the habitat windows with water? Would that work?

Incidentally, you mentioned the problem with that being the possibility of getting stuff growing in there, I imagine one way around that might be to use pure water (or as close to pure as you can economically make it). Living things would need carbon and minerals to grow. Maybe some exotic forms of life could survive in such an environment, if they were really good at retaining their carbon and other elements they needed for their metabolism that they couldn't get from water and got all their energy from sunlight, but their growth would be sharply limited if there wasn't much in the way of available raw material in the environment.

Apologies to anyone who thought this was an update and is disappointed it wasn't.
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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Destructionator »

Somes J wrote:Didn't you suggest a while back filling the habitat windows with water? Would that work?
Not really for solar flare protection - the particles there can shoot right through the hull. But, they are charged so a magnetic field should deflect them quite well.
Incidentally, you mentioned the problem with that being the possibility of getting stuff growing in there, I imagine one way around that might be to use pure water (or as close to pure as you can economically make it).
A problem there is stuff would work its way in naturally as time goes in. Atmospheric pressure would force some CO2 (which is a nice benefit, since it naturally stabilizes it), and rain would carry in minerals. It probably would be limited though, since it would be diluted and time limited.
Apologies to anyone who thought this was an update and is disappointed it wasn't.
Oh, I take my sweet time updating things and get sidetracked very easily... odds are I'll be slow. (The next part is half written, but I don't like the flow - even by my low standards - and get sidetracked anyway so blargh.)
His Certifiable Geniusness, Adam D. Ruppe (My 'verse)
Marle: Lucca! You're amazing!
Lucca: Ain't it the truth! ... Oh, um...I mean...
Marle: Enough with the false modesty! You have a real gift! I would trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!

"I still really hate those pompous assholes who quote themselves in their sigs." -- Me
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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Destructionator »

SPACE MURDER FINALLY CONTINUES

In the space car

"Jones, go ahead and check related crimes in the Chamount area, both solved and unsolved."

"To look for a pattern."

"Right."

Agent Jones started working her computer and telephone. Meanwhile, Ruppe dialed his own phone.

It rang. It rang a litle more. After a few more rings, it finally picked up: "Autospy, Sulysi."

"Hey Leila, its me. Catch you at a bad time?"

"Nope, just wrapping something up."

"Oh?"

"I got something that might help with the ID. Her body was pretty beat up by the sun, but the worst damage was old. There were several scars in the tissue and the bones showed several old breaks."

"She was abused."

"Yes, over many years, but it seems to have stopped in recent years."

"Might explain why she so desparate as to illegally immigrate."

"Which is conjecture, but yes."

"Mmhmm. Leila, did you see anything in there that might identify her?"

"I'm getting to that; don't rush me! Horatio. While looking at the x-rays, I noticed some smoothing over of the facial bones. Excellent work, but definitely done by a surgeon, and not in response to an injury... my gut told me to run a quick karyotype. I just finished the getting results when you called."

"Let me guess. XY."

"Yup. The transition was about three years ago. It wasn't in the NHS database though. Not officially anyway, but someone did it."

"This is fantastic. You're the best, Lei."

"I know it!"

"...Say, by the way, how exactly did you refine that time of death?"

"Hehe, it was really cool. I used a--"

fade out for passage of time

* * *

fade in

We see the space car do a brief thruster burn, then it glides right into a new cylinder. While this is smaller than the one they left from, it is still incredibly huge.

The vehicle is lined up exactly to be mere centimeters above the habitat hull at one precise point, where its forward movement is the same as the cylinder's rotational speed. A computer timer closes the car's docking clamps at perfect speed, attaching it to the hull.

Inside, the passengers feel their weight return and they know they have arrived. Jones leaves first, through the car's top hatch. Ruppe hands her up their stuffand then follows.

Outside, they are met by a local police officer.


"Special Agent Jones?"

She smiles and nods at the officer.

"I'm Detective Dick Ellsworth, we talked on the phone."

"Detective," she answers, "this is my partner, Special Agent Ruppe."

"Your boss called ahead too," Ellsworth says, "we got a car and office ready for you to use while you're here."

Ellsworth motions for them to follow. They begin a Walk and Talk.

"We appreciate it," Ruppe replies.

"Hey, I'm glad you're not here to investigate a cop this time!"

"So are we... All right, Detective, you and Jones were working on a pattern."

"Yeah, I got that file you asked for," he passes a folder to Jones.

Ruppe looks at her. She answers: "Missing person from four months ago. Student at Weatherly University, matches our vic's general description. Her DNA is on file though, so not our girl. Probably coincidence, but..."

"Read it, keep it in mind."


They keep walking through the building until they reach a door marked 'visiting officer'.

"Here we are," Detective Ellsworth opened the door and gave Ruppe a card and a set of keys. "those will open this door and the car in spot 15."

"Thank you."

"If you need anything else, call me."

Ellsworth leaves them. Ruppe and Jones put their stuff down in the office, except for a couple files, then head out to the parking lot.

They find spot 15, and Ruppe tosses the keys to Jones.

"Why don't you ever drive?" she asks.

"I'm not licensed," he answers.

"Wait, let me get this straight. You fly starships, but you can't drive?!"

"What? Is that weird?"

"Yeah, a little. How did you get by so many years in law enforcement without ever learning it?"

"I never needed it," she gives him a look. "Driving is what junior agents are for!"

She rolls her eyes. "The computer does most the work anyway."

"Exactly."

"That doesn't even make sense."

"Sure it does." She keeps staring. "...Just drive, newbie!"


They get in the car, buckle up, and tell the computer where to go: the downtown NHS complex. While Jones was in the driver seat, the computer actually did the driving; she was only there if something extraordinary came up.

Traffic is light, so the drive only takes about ten minutes. They head into the outpatient office building.
His Certifiable Geniusness, Adam D. Ruppe (My 'verse)
Marle: Lucca! You're amazing!
Lucca: Ain't it the truth! ... Oh, um...I mean...
Marle: Enough with the false modesty! You have a real gift! I would trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!

"I still really hate those pompous assholes who quote themselves in their sigs." -- Me
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Re: Space Murder, a short story about murder... in spaace! (

Post by Destructionator »

Damn, I had all the ideas thought up (I have the majority of the story in my brain already) and after three hours of going at it, I still didn't write up much length.

Gah, this is hard yo.
His Certifiable Geniusness, Adam D. Ruppe (My 'verse)
Marle: Lucca! You're amazing!
Lucca: Ain't it the truth! ... Oh, um...I mean...
Marle: Enough with the false modesty! You have a real gift! I would trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!

"I still really hate those pompous assholes who quote themselves in their sigs." -- Me
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