(You will want to read Part I before reading this.)
“Wouldn’t the sudden acceleration injure someone using this?” Lall asked, after looking at the specs for the magnetic-rocket device that the thief had used to escape from the substation with. They both fell forward into their seatbelts slightly as the hopper decelerated as it approached Luna City.
“The hardsuit he was using is designed to protect the occupant from extreme accelerations.” Coleman answered.
“This guy is not bright.” Friedman said in Coleman’s ear. Coleman smiled slightly.
“Well, what do we do now?” Lall asked.
“I suspect that our perpetrator would have jumped ship before the hopper reached its destination at Luna City, in order to avoid detection by people working at the landing area. Therefore, we follow the path of the cargo transporter, and have our hopper’s external ground surveillance cameras check for signs of his make of hardsuit on the surface below.”
“That’s quite a jump down to the surface, and just barely inside the limits of his hardsuit’s endurance specifications.” Friedman noted over the hopper’s speaker phone system, so that Lall could hear him too.
“I think our perp. decided he was just going to have to take a risk that the hardsuit would withstand the fall.” Coleman said.
“It looks like his gamble didn’t pay off.” Friedman said over the speaker phone. Images of the impact sight below their hopper appeared on the screens in front of Coleman and Lall. The image was too far out for Coleman and Lall to discern any trace of the hardsuit’s impact. Coleman noticed that the perpetrator had landed near a mass-driver facility used for putting cargo into Lunar orbit for shipment to Earth and the other colonies. He began to zoom in on the spot illuminated as the impact sight on his screen. “There are pieces of his hardsuit’s leg on the ground that must have come off when he hit.” Friedman said.
“Are you sure this is where he landed?” Lall asked.
“The pieces match the design specs of the hardsuit we know he was wearing, and the trail of prints away from the impact sight match the footprint for that type of hardsuit.” Friedman said. “Given the fact that we are fairly sure that he must have used the cargo transporter to escape from the substation, and the fact that this spot on the surface is directly over the cargo transporter’s scheduled flight plan, we can safely assume that there is no other logical explanation.” Freidman said with the condescension in his voice kept so minimal that only Coleman caught it.
“Where do the footprints lead to?” Coleman asked, as he began to zoom in on the impact site.
“Towards Luna City.” Friedman answered.
“Alright, let’s follow those in. Friedman, get us clearance to fly the hopper in near the city.”
The trail of footprints led directly to the nearest public airlock at Luna city. Coleman clearly saw from the pattern of the footprints that the suit had been damaged by the jump from the cargo transporter, and had probably been rapidly leaking air. Once they had cycled through the public airlock, they were greeted by its foreman.
“Your assistant, Mr. Friedman appraised me of the situation over the phone.” The foreman said. “We have the hardsuit for you right over here.”
“You didn’t happen to see the owner did you?” Coleman asked as they walked over to the suit.
“No, I just came on shift.” The foreman responded.
“Alright, we’ll need to get the names and numbers of the people who were working here at the time the owner came in.” Lall said, then he began to ask the foreman what Coleman regarded as a series of useless questions under the circumstances, like “What’s your name?” “Where were you last night?” As if the foreman had anything to do with this crime. Coleman knew that Lall thought everybody was a criminal who hadn’t gotten caught yet. He walked away from them, and over to the hardsuit. One of its legs was visibly damaged.
“I called for someone from the Luna City forensics lab, and she should be here in a couple of minutes.” Friedman told Coleman.
“Good.” Coleman responded. “I want DNA so that we can perform a database check, and find out who we’re dealing with. If we get a hit, then I want you to put out an APB for this guy in the city. Tell city patrol to double police presence at all public airlocks and at the maglev station.”
“You don’t think our perp. is sticking around?” Friedman asked.
“No. Coming to the city was not part of his original plan. He wasn’t planning on damaging his suit when he jumped off that cargo transporter.”
“Then where was he going?” Friedman asked.
“I have a theory about that…” Coleman began to explain when Lall came over.
“Why did you ask for doubling patrol at the airlocks and train station?” Lall asked incredulously, after hearing the APB over the city patrol WAN. “We should be telling city patrol to round up known black market fences -try to catch this guy selling the data.”
“Let’s get something clear.” Coleman said angrily to Lall. “You are here in a supporting capacity only. This case is a matter for the Property Crimes Division, which means I outrank you.”
“We’ll see about that, after I tell your Chief Inspector how you are screwing up this case.” Lall said, as he stormed away, dialing his phone.
“Let the Chief know what we’re up to, and that Lall doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about.” Coleman said to Friedman sub-vocally. “I don’t want this clown politicking his way around my authority.”
“Will do.” Friedman said.
The woman from the city forensics lab was able to get a DNA sample from inside the suit, and began running it through all available databases. “It shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes to do the search.” She said as she lit a cigarette.
“I told the Chief that Lall is an idiot and shouldn’t be listened to –but in a nice way.” Friedman said as they waited. Coleman didn’t respond, deep in thought.
“What is it between the two of you anyway?” Friedman asked.
“We were partners back when I was still a patrolman.” Coleman said. “And, we had –have- two very different approaches to law enforcement.”
When Coleman had first been partnered with Lall, he felt that there was something wrong with his method of police work, which was notably different from his own. It wasn’t anything he could put into words. Lall always followed procedure –to a fault. Coleman found Lall’s dogmatic approach off-putting a lot of the time. Lall never exercised any discretion or judgment. If an arrest could be made, he would make it. If a citation could be written, he would write it. At first, Coleman tried to convince himself that Lall’s single-mindedness was really an admirable trait, but a voice inside his head said that just wasn’t true. After a year of patrolling with him, Coleman’s could no longer even pretend to respect Lall. His resentment had festered into disgust. It finally came to a head after they had come upon a squatter camp while out on patrol.
The Squatters had been a problem even back then, although the problem was significantly worse now. Under UN law, no private individual could own land on the moon. All H-3 mining operations paid rent to the UN, which formed the bulk of its revenue base back on Earth. Luna City was the only officially sanctioned habitation on the moon. All Lunar colonists were, by law, required to live there, in order to maintain “controlled growth”, as the official UN Policy called it. But, while Luna City’s facilities were always being expanded, the permitted expansion was never at a rate fast enough to keep up with the growing Lunar population. This meant that the population density inside Luna City was far beyond the densest city back on Earth, and even the smallest apartment was beyond the financial means of the average family. The inhabitants of Luna City did the best they could under the circumstances. Most families shared an apartment with other families. People with different work shifts would split a single-room flat, so that when one was working, the other was off work and sleeping. Most people ate at public dining halls because their own apartment was too small to have its own kitchen. Bathrooms were mostly public as well. People with any type of apartment to live in were the lucky ones. Others just found a quiet corridor somewhere, and slept there when they weren’t working.
It was difficult for the UN back on Earth to understand the toll it took on a person’s psyche not to have a private space of one’s own. Coleman himself shared a one-room apartment with two other cops, and had for years. But, he knew he had it better than most people, because he was permitted to travel outside the city at will. About every other month, when he began to feel the pressure of all those bodies closing in on him in the city, he could use his status to suit up and take out a rover. He would bring a portable habitat, which was illegal for most people to own, and travel into the Lunar outback to camp out for a number of days. Camping outside the city was illegal for most, because people who did so for any length of time tended to make their “camping trips” permanent, thereby increasing the squatter population.
In fact, the squatters Coleman and Lall had happened upon back then had started out as “campers”. At that time, camping wasn’t illegal, you just had to get a permit. A lot of people got the permit, which enabled them to buy the necessary supplies, and then went out, and never came back. Coleman understood why the Squatters did what they did, and so long as they didn’t turn to banditry or commit what he considered a real crime, he tended to look the other way, -but not Lall. They had arrested several groups of squatters while they had been partners together, with Coleman only doing enough not to get into trouble with their superiors for dereliction of duty during the busts. Usually the squatters went quietly, but not this time. The global recession back on Earth caused by the UN Central Bank’s inflation of the UN Dollar had finally hit the moon, and many people could simply no longer afford their meager apartments in Luna City, forcing them to either be homeless or to leave the city illegally. When the shooting started at the squatter camp, Lall had called in a SWAT team that killed almost every adult in the squatter camp. Most of the children got caught in the cross-fire, and were also killed. Coleman had refused to fire his weapon, despite his orders, and had withdrawn from the site of the slaughter.
Coleman had received a reprimand in the following months for his dereliction of duty, and had been planning to quit the Lunar Patrol. But, before he could, he had gotten involved with the investigation of the kidnapping of the Campisi daughter. One of Coleman’s confidential informants had told him where he would find the girl, and, after she was rescued unharmed, Coleman’s role in her rescue was published in the newspapers. Mr. Campisi, a very wealthy and powerful man on the moon, had seen to it that Coleman was promoted to Detective, and given his choice of divisions. Coleman chose Property Crimes Division because he knew that he would only be arresting robbers and thieves, real criminals to his way of thinking, not squatters.
“I didn’t know you felt such strong sympathy for the squatters.” Friedman said as Coleman finished his story.
“When I was a kid in school, I told one of my teachers that I wanted to be a cop so that I could catch ‘bad guys’.” Coleman said with genuine affection for the innocent child he had been. “I guess that’s still what I want to do –and squatters aren’t…’bad guys’.”
“We got a hit on the DNA search.” The forensics woman said, walking up to Coleman. “A Dr. Andrew Lee.”
“A medical doctor?” Asked Coleman.
“No, a selenologist –former selenologist. He dropped off the grid about three years ago. Quit his job, and just disappeared.” Friedman said, as he read Lee’s file back at headquarters.
“Run a facial recognition check against all cameras in the city since the time he entered the public airlock here.” Coleman said.
The search was quick. “Got him.” Friedman said. “He’s at the maglev station now.”
“Lall.” Coleman yelled out. “Time to go!”
***
“I can’t believe the UN would actually attack one of our cargo ships like that!” A woman declared hysterically in response to the news on the bus’ radio, which was reporting that a ship from Earth had attempted to reach lunar orbit, and had been destroyed by the “Lunar Defense Network”. Coleman and Lall had decided to take one of the numerous busses that ran throughout Luna City rather than wait for a private car from police headquarters to arrive. The busses were computer controlled, so they were still running, despite the general strike in support of the secessionists –at least until they started to break down, since most of the mechanics and technicians were pro-secession and had walked out. Coleman knew that the name “Lunar Defense Network” was a euphemism for a group of unmanned, weaponized satellites in orbit around the moon, allegedly there to “protect” the lunar colony from any country back on Earth asserting political domination over the moon. In reality, it was there to maintain control over a population that was largely hostile to Earth governance. “These terrorists are going to get us all killed!” The hysterical woman declared. Several others on the bus took issue with the woman for calling the secessionists “terrorists”, and for her lack of patriotism.
“I heard that the members of the Lunar Assembly have fled to a secret secessionist city.” Coleman overheard someone else say to his traveling companion.
“That’s ridiculous, how could they construct a secret city without it being spotted from orbit.” The bus passenger’s companion answered him. They continued to debate as they exited the bus at the maglev station. Coleman and Lall headed for the city patrol substation.
“Where was Dr. Lee last seen on camera?” Coleman asked Friedman.
“On the camera located at baggage claim B-5. That was 10 minutes ago.”
“Has he bought a ticket?” Coleman asked.
“Not as far as I can tell.” Friedman answered.
“I don’t think he will.” Coleman said. “Watch the incoming 911 calls, and let me know as soon as there is a report of any theft or assault here at the station.”
“You are hot today.” Friedman said a few minutes later. “Just got a 911 for a purse theft. Some lady put her purse down, turned her back for a second, and when she turned back around, it was gone.”
“Alright, now keep an eye out for anyone using the complainant’s maglev pass, and tell me what train to get on.” Coleman said to Friedman. He then filled in Lall on what was going on while he waited to hear back from Friedman.
“The victim’s maglev pass was just used on train 34.” Friedman informed them by phone, about five minutes after the purse theft.
“Let’s go.” Coleman said as he and Lall ran to the boarding dock for train 34.
“Hey, you can’t do that!” Yelled one of maglev train 34’s attendants as Coleman and Lall jumped onto it, just as it was about to seal up for departure. Coleman worked on resealing the air hatch, since he knew Lall wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to flash his badge. “Official business.” Lall said to the attendant, then put his badge back in his pocket.
“We’re looking for this man.” Coleman said as he beamed a picture of Andrew Lee to the attendant’s personal computer. While the attendant was examining the picture, Coleman glanced outside. The maglev train had already taken them several miles outside of the city, at its usual high rate of speed.
“I don’t recognize him.” The attendant said.
“Check the train’s internal cameras.” Coleman said sub-vocally to Friedman, then paused for a few seconds, waiting for a response. “Friedman?” Coleman said again, this time aloud. He then turned to Lall. “See if you can dial out.” He said as he also tried to dial Friedman on his phone, which came back with a dead signal.
“I can’t get reception.” Lall said.
“I think somebody has just knocked out the overhead communications satellite.” Coleman said. “Looks like we’re on our own here.” Coleman realized that Andrew Lee would need to be part of a well-funded and well-connected organization to be able get a hacker to disable a communication satellite. “We need you to take us to the train’s security office.” Coleman said to the attendant.
The security office was a small 4x4 meter room, with a bank of monitors and a computer on one wall. When Coleman and Lall opened the door to the office, the security officer jumped from his chair, startled from sleep. After flashing their badges, Coleman sat down at the computer, and beamed Andrew Lee’s image to it. He then began the train computer’s out of date facial recognition program. The computer slowly cycled through all of the train’s internal cameras. After 5 minutes the program finished running without a hit.
“He must be hiding somewhere out of camera site, waiting to make a run for it at the next station.” Lall said.
“I don’t think so.” Coleman said.
“You don’t think that he’s hiding or that he’s waiting to run at the next station?” Lall asked.
“I think neither.” Coleman said. “Getting on this train wasn’t part of his plan. It was just a way for him to get out of the city. So, I doubt that he has any desire to go to the next station. ” Coleman turned to the security officer. “Does this train have external cameras?”
“Yes, a few.” The security officer said, as he reached over Coleman and punched a few keys on the computer. Coleman began cycling through the camera views by hand. The third camera view showed the roof of the train. A hopper was flying about 15 meters above the train, matching its speed.
“It’s a patrol hopper!” Lall declared.
“No…” Coleman said. “I don’t think so. Where’s the airlock for that car?” Coleman asked the security officer.
“There is an airlock at both ends of every car.”
“We’ll have to split up.” Coleman told Lall, as he headed for the forward airlock.
Coleman didn’t see Lee when he reached the airlock. He pulled a pressure suit out of a closet, and quickly put it on. After a quick pressure check, he stepped inside the airlock, and cycled through it. Once he was outside, he climbed up a ladder built into the end of the car. Coleman wasn’t particularly concerned about falling off because a Lunar maglev train was an extremely smooth ride, due to the lack of contact with the tracks and the fact that there was no air resistance. When he reached the top, he peaked over the edge, peering down towards the end of the car. A space-suited figure wearing magnetic boots was slowly walking along the top, towards the hovering hopper, which had lowered a cable. Either Lall had gotten to the other airlock too late, or Lee had neutralized him. Coleman momentarily wondered if he’d really be that upset if it was the later, although he doubted Lee would kill someone just to get away. Coleman didn’t bother trying to go out there. His suit had magnetic boots too, but he wouldn’t reach Lee before he was secured to the cable and lifted away by the hopper. He climbed back down the ladder, and cycled through the airlock.
Coleman found Lall regaining consciousness near the other airlock. “The bastard stunned me.” Lall said incredulously.
“Yeah.” Coleman said, less surprised, but fully amused, as he helped Lall to his feet.
