The Airlock Interrogation

Overview

The first time in three sessions anyone asked Marlo Petrak anything, conducted by the man who choked him unconscious on Thides III, in a ship travelling through hyperspace with nowhere for him to go.

Six began correctly: ungagged him, gave him water and one of Shackleton Magellan’s ration packs, and cut the chain between his Federal Marshal handcuffs with the vibro-axe in a single stroke, leaving the bracelets on. The electronic release needed a Marshal’s thumbprint and the only Marshal available was dead.

Petrak talked. He was a security-systems subcontractor for Kinetic Logistics, hired to wire the ship for decommission and destruction on an order from his supervisor Doug. The Alien Navigation Device was not his work — that was Gary Johnson, a former Pratrock Dynamics researcher who had moved across and was called in whenever the ship needed specialised work. Johnson had come from the Pratrock research facility on Corwin II.

It was not enough. Six walked to the nearest airlock, opened the inner door, returned, and took Petrak by the collar. Ronin Sanchez physically intervened and won the struggle, pulling him back from the threshold. Six explained that Petrak was not useful and was therefore a consumption of resources, and that the airlock was the logical solution. Petrak offered five credits and his ability to fix security systems. Ronin talked Six down and took custody of the prisoner.

Six closed the airlock, returned, produced a smile that had plainly been read about rather than practised, and welcomed Marlo Petrak to the crew as a probationary member.

Participants

See frontmatter.

Outcome

• Two names surfaced: Doug and, more importantly, Gary Johnson — the first individual to link Pratrock Dynamics, Kinetic Logistics and the alien technology in one person.
• Marlo Petrak joined the crew on probation, cuffs still on his wrists. He was immediately set to cleaning the ship’s toilet and then to welding hull patches on the exterior in hyperspace.
• A command question was answered before it was asked. Ronin overrode Six by force and Six accepted it. The drone incident later the same session settled the other half: Six shoots when Shackleton Magellan says shoot, over Ronin’s objection.