All That Glitters

All That Glitters - A Space Odyssey

Chapter Sixty-Two:

Investigations.

The IPPF investigates the assassination attempt.

© LACLarke 2023. This series 'All That Glitters - A Space Odyssey', in whole or in part, cannot be transferred to any other site without the prior authorizations in writing from the author and LAClarke must be credited for this work.

I claim sole responsibility for the story line. This story is a fantasy, with no basis in reality. Any similarity that you may perceive to current events, people, or situations real or imaginary is completely unintended. Look no further than the story line for its intent and purpose.

Enough ranting...Enjoy.

>Clot< (Imperial Palace), Asoc Shall (The Asoc's City), AsocAR, The Asocan Realm, 364 Light Years from Terra

The exquisitely made wooden bowl slammed into the wall on the far side of the office from the Asoc and splintered into a dozen pieces as the image on the monitor faded to black. Treäk> Mutt Herrtt, the Asoc's PA sighed gently, mollified by the fact that it was a cheaper bowl and not one of the rare pieces of art that dotted around the office.

"WHY TREÄK>, WHY!?" the Asoc thundered. "They are only children, barely Ultar!"

"They are not only mentioned in prophecy, Asoc, they are part of the prophecy of several races," Treäk> replied. "That can turn the hearts of many to envy."

"Yyyalllttta Eeerrrnissshh!" they heard from outside (in a mostly doorless society, people did not enter homes or rooms without permission. They ask for permission to enter an abode by calling out Yalta Ernish - Hello the House! - from outside).

"You do not have permission to enter!" the Asoc snarled at whomever was outside, only to hear a chuckle from that one.

"It woullld be diffficulllt forrr me to enterrr yourrr home, Asssoc!" came the voice that the Asoc instantly recognized as that of Shusshhttookkann, her friend and ruler of the Sandekk people.

The Asoc practically ran out into the courtyard of her abode with fury in her eyes.

"You knew!! You knew this would happen!" she accused Shusshhttookkann. The Sandekk had the ability to see people's destiny. It was a form of prophecy that they used to help the Asocan realm.

"Yyyesss, we knew, Asssoc. Howeffferrr, we coullld not sssayyy anyyything asss a turrrning point had not been rrreached," Shusshhttookkann, answered.

"A turning point! The children could have been killed yet you withheld that knowledge!" the Asoc yelled.

"Onlllyyy thossse named in prrrophesssyyy can alllterrr a prrrophesssyyy without seffferrre consssequensssesss! You know thisss Catalll!" Shusshhttookkann bellowed right back. "If anotherrr alllterrrs a prrrophesssyyy it willl brrring disssasssterrr!"

"And it did! Did you not see what happened to the children!" Catal returned.

"No, Theyyy did change prrrophesssyyy!" Shusshhttookkann informed the Asoc. "In the orrriginalll drrream, theyyy died, Catalll! The rrressason whyyy Ikekkiiiyyyaa ssstopped herrr drrream the moment that Rrrayyymond wasss killled isss becaussse in herrr drrream ssshhhe died sssoon afterrr he did! It had to happen thisss wayyy, Catalll, asss onlllyyy thossse two coullld hafff changed the outcomesss of theirrr fatesss!"

"What are you saying, Shusshhttookkann?" the Asoc asked.

"I know the orrriginalll drrream becaussse Annnarrrekkk sssaw it when ssshhhe went to sssee the chillldrrren durrring the time of the inisssialll drrream. Ssshhe ssshhharrred it with me.

"The Pallllda chillldrrren alllterrred theirrr dessstinyyy byyy theirrr own handsss! Had theyyy not, theyyy woullld now be dead!" Shusshhttookkann explained.

"You know that onllly thossse named in prrrophesssyyy can alllterrr a prrrophesssyyy. Thisss hasss been drrrillled into you byyy yyyourrr teacherrrsss alll offf yyyourrr lllifffe! The need to alllterrr dessstinyyy is grrreat within alll of usss but we cannot alllterrr the dessstinyyy off otherrrsss without grrrafffe consssequensssesss.

"If we had tollld you of thisss thing what woullld you hafff done, Catalll? Yyyou woullld hafffe been tempted to change theirrr dessstinyyy and disssasssterrr woullld hafffe ensssued!" Shusshhttookkann reminded her.

"Why tell me this now?" Catal asked angrily.

"Becaussse the motherrrsss need to know and underrrssstand thisss," Shusshhttookkann answered.

"And you want me to tell them?" Catal cried out.

"Theyyy hafffe shut down theirrr compsss, Catalll. But yyyourrr ssstafff isss on Lirrramorrr-23! Yyyou can get to them," Shusshhttookkann told her.

"They would not likely accept this information at face value, Shusshhttookkann," the Asoc explained in turn. "How do we get them to listen to what you would say?"

Treäk> smiled as a thought came to her mind unbidden. "We use tradition!" she told the two rulers.

Byandi Embassy Conference Room, Juliet Deck, Liramor-23 Mining Platform, 109 Piscium Star System, 106 Light Years from Terra

All in the Byandi conference room bowed low as the image of the Mylatrin Adriné, the supreme ruler of the Byandi, appeared not long after the image from the hospital faded to black.

"Daughter, how are you and those in the embassy faring?" Adriné demanded.

"We are doing well, mother, though some of us are quite upset. That can be said of the other embassies as well," Mylat Alafka replied. "The Piscium family is well regarded here on Liramor-23, the children more so."

"Do we have any news on the family?" Adriné asked quietly.

"We will not likely see them before tomorrow, mother, and they will probably have security demanding a lot of questions from them," Alafka replied.

"Mylatrin, we have managed to get hold of a copy of the incident in the Food Court involving the two children, if you would allow me?" Ambassador (Ambs.) Porra indicated. She played the brief incident which was less than five minutes total in duration. After watching the attack itself, which was remarkably brief, for a second time the Mylatrin sat up with a look of indignation on her face.

"Why would someone want to assassinate the children?" Adriné demanded.

"The children are named in several prophecies, mother. Asocan prophecies, human prophecies, Maha-Rrin prophecies, Pod-Drran prophecies, Sandekk prophecies, and those of our own people. On top of that, Ikekiya herself has been named a Prophetess, she now has the title of 'Soona-Patek', or Dream Reader, from the Pod-Drran and the Maha-Rrin.

"Because of these prophecies, the pair are considered 'essential' to the future of the Greater Community itself. Those who know this and oppose the integration of humans into Greater Community would do much to prevent this progress. Silencing the children could be seen as one way to stop it."

Adriné thought for several moments before she replied. "Please pass on to the family that our thoughts are with them and find out when we can call to speak with them. You are correct, Alafka. The children are important to the future of the Greater Community. Astalla (the premier prophet of the Byandi) herself has seen them in her dreams. The Byandi will offer assistance to the family." Adriné gave a curt nod and cut the connection as Alafka and those in the conference room bowed to acknowledge their instructions.

In many of the embassies on Liramor-23, the same event was occurring, the leadership of the Greater Community was calling their ambassadors and demanding answers to questions they did not yet have answers to. Fiona, Fayad, and Julliana, would be hard pressed over the next couple of days.

Interplanetary Police Headquarters, Liramor City, Liramor Prime, The Liramor System, Thirty Light Years from Terra

The image faded to black and everyone let out the breath they had been holding as they watched the incident unfold on the monitor. Immediately, the media hounds were hijacking the screen and putting their two one hundredth credit pieces in, speculating on everything even though they knew no more than what anyone else watching did.

"Where is Damion?" Maria Sanger, Director of Operations IPPF Liramor Prime snapped.

"Here, ma'am," Special Agent (SA) Damion Audette was the Public Relations expert and the mouth piece of IPPF on Liramor Prime.

"Put out a caution to the media and the public not to speculate on things until we know more about it, let the investigators do their work before they begin pontificating on this incident. Let them know that IPPF has been directed to look into this incident and that we will be leaving shortly for Liramor-23," Maria ordered.

"Annette, how soon can you be ready to lift?" she asked of Ms. Liramor.

"As soon as you can get here, Director. The Princess II can carry the load you have suggested without issue. I am sending directions to make accommodations available for your team on the platform. Their security director will greet us as we arrive," Annette informed them.

"Right, ground transportation?" Maria snapped at her team.

"Ready for you now, Director," SA Phillip Beausoleil, her PA, replied as he guided his boss and the team to the appropriate door where four vehicles were waiting. He already had his and his boss' jump bags in his hands. They boarded without preamble and were moving to the Liramor Holdings Space Port within seconds Senior police agents learned to pack light and act quickly when on the case.

Twenty minutes later, PV The Princess II was lifting off Liramor Prime...

VIP Reception, Liramor-23 Mining Platform, The Piscium System

The Princess came into Shuttle Bay Two at 15:00 hrs local time, some two and a half hours after the attack, and disgorged the people it was transporting into VIP Reception. They were met by Assistant Director Julliana Santos, Fleet Admiral (FAdm.) Fiona Marsh, and Claude Perron, Head of Security for Liramor-23.

"Good day, Fiona. I think you might remember Chief Superintendent Maria Sanger, Director of Operations for IPPF on Liramor Prime?" Annette said as she gave Fiona a hug.

"I do. We met the first time someone tried to kill me in La ville de Liramor," Fiona replied with a smile to Maria. "No reflection on you, Maria, but our meetings do not come under the best of circumstances."

"I understand completely, Fiona. I hope to make this as brief as possible but I suspect we will be here for a few days at least," Maria returned.

"How is the family?" she asked.

"They are under guard at the hospital," Fiona answered. "You will not get access to them until tomorrow and we are not sure when that will be. Ikekiya is under concussion protocol and Zarreniya is badly traumatized at the moment. It will be up to the doctors to determine when you can have access to them, though we may be able to get information to you through other sources."

"You mean security cameras and other witnesses?" Maria speculated.

"No. I mean we have telepaths on the platform that can touch the minds of the children and then answer your questions so as not to traumatize the children further," Fiona explained.

"You can do that?" a surprised Dr. Lauren Domuchelle, the Chief Medical Examiner of La ville de Liramor, asked.

"Yes. Such testimony is accepted in courts of the Greater Community and we have established protocols here on Liramor-23 to bring us up to par with the non-human jurisdictions in this regard," Fiona explained. "It will at least give your people a starting point if we cannot immediately access the children tomorrow.

"That is an excellent point," Domuchelle stated. "Fine, where are the bodies being kept?"

"In the hospital morgue," Fiona indicated, pointing to a runner. "Please take Doctor Domuchelle to see the Chief Medical Officer. She can take things from there."

"Maria, this is our Head of Resources Dianne Ancien. She will give you your quarters for your stay," Fiona said, pointed out Dianne.

"Our Head of Security, Claude Perron. He is yours until you complete your initial investigation," Fiona stated. "I will leave you to it, Claude."

"Maria, if we could have Special Security Agent Meteryea stay with you and your PA, I would appreciate that. He can advise me on when you need to speak to me or have me intervene with people on the platform if necessary, however, we have already stated that our workers will give you their full cooperation. If our workers cause you any problem call me through Meteryea immediately," Annette informed Sanger, getting a nod from her.

Fiona and Annette stepped aside and discussed things for a bit before Annette took her leave of the investigators and left with Fiona, Julliana tagging along behind them.

"How are you doing, Julliana?" asked Annette.

"Alright at the moment, Ms. Liramor, but this incident was quite a shock to myself and many on the platform," Julliana indicated.

"As it was for us. I have nothing but admiration for the Piscium family. This incident has badly frightened the entire Liramor family," Annette admitted.

************

The investigation team was given two small conference rooms on Juliet Deck for their use, which they immediately set up as a command post. They were given three runners to help guide them around the platform and two security people to guard the command post.

"The site has already been cleaned up," Claude Perron explained. We have excellent images of the scene before the cleanup and we have samples of the blood now at the morgue. All the pieces of evidence are under full watch at all times in order to keep a positive chain of custody on them.

Claude gave them access to the video imagery from the Food Court during the event and the team began to sift through it, establishing a time-line for the incident. They saw the assassins enter the Food Court separately about ten minutes prior to the event.

A few minutes later, the children arrived in a group of other children. At roughly the same time Raymond Clark, Liea Samson, Oshiiru Kimiko, known as 'Kim', and Gillaya, entered the Food Court talking animatedly. That's when the children reacted.

"Why are the children reacting so?" someone asked.

"Ikekiya Piscium is a Seeress, a Prophet. She sees the future in her dreams. She apparently saw this attack on Raymond Clark. But she informed him some time ago about this and he apparently took precautions to prevent his injury or death," Claude answered.

"A Prophet?" a sceptical police officer remarked.

"Ikekiya is the one who predicted the return of the Original Resestess and how to make it operational again. She had made several predictions that have come true including the sex and names of unborn children for some very influential people," Claude replied.

"While Prophecy in the human sphere is held in scepticism, it is highly regarded within the Greater Community itself. There are a number of people of differing races who are admired as Seers and Prophets and held in high esteem by their people and others," Claude told them.

"Seriously? A Prophet?" the same person responded.

"Hold your comments on that issue for now," Chief Superintendent (C. Supt) Marc Poilievre snapped. "Our duties are to remain objective during this investigation. While we may be sceptical about prophecy others - including some very high ranking individuals - may not share our skepticism. Regardless, we have all seen some rather bizarre motivations for criminal actions during our careers and prophecy can be just as powerful a motivation to some.

"Let's begin interviewing the list of witnesses for now and worry about these other 'subject areas' later," Poilievre ordered. His team quickly got to work.

Hospital, Liramor-23 Mining Platform, 109 Piscium System, 106 Light Years from Terra

Fayad was pacing the deck outside of the room where his children and his wives were fitfully sleeping. Twelve pairs of eyes, belonging to the bodyguards who had been sent by the privileged of the station, watched him as he travelled back and forth.

Finally Kim intercepted him. "You will do yourself no good worrying about things, Fayad. Either join your family in sleep or go to Central Control and do your job there," she entreated him.

"I would be of little use in Central Control, my mind isn't there," he replied.

"It isn't here either," Kim replied. "I can ask the medical staff to provide you with something to let you sleep if you would like?"

"No, that won't be necessary. What I need for sleep is to be beside my wives. But I need to think things through and everything seems to be eluding me," he stated.

"Of course it is, fool!" Kim snarled, surprising Fayad. "You don't have enough information to make an objective conclusion on this incident.

"I've just been informed that Liramor Holdings has requested the IPPF to intervene in this issue because of the fact that we have embassies on the station. They are on the way and will be here soon. Once they finish their investigation, we will have answers or more questions that need answering. Then, you can wade in on the issue.

"Now, go get some sleep," Kim ordered. She watched as Fayad nodded and entered the room with his family in it.

"As for the rest of you...we only need two people here during the day and one person on duty at night. It is not even supper time yet...figure it out between you and go get some rest as well," Kim ordered. She took her own advice and left the hospital.

It didn't take long to determine a roster and most of the bodyguards left, leaving only two behind, one of them Saalaa, who was trying hard to keep herself together. She had been shopping on the concours and had been one of the first bodyguards at the incident. She still remembered the sickly red coloured blood all over the deck and the children. The stench of human blood was unbelievable! She fervently wished that humans had proper coloured blood that smelled as it should, damn it! Byandi blood is hemocyanin, based on copper, as opposed to hemoglobin, based on iron. Human blood looked and smelled so different from proper Byandi blood.

The other bodyguard was a member of the Harradi and normally protected his ambassador. She needed a distraction, so...

"I am Saalaa, and you?" she asked.

"Bandu Rannit. I work for the Harradi embassy," he replied. "I have seen you around Mylat Alafka so I assume you are part of her detail but you do not have to answer that."

"Yes, I am part of her detail. The two males you might have seen work for the ambassador and the embassy," Saalaa confirmed. "Who is minding the fort?" Saalaa asked.

"Gullan Maarter, my counterpart," Bandu replied.

"How do you know the family?" Saalaa asked, nodding to the inner doorway.

"Everyone knows the family, Saalaa," Bandu answered. "Most of us have been in their dwelling for meals and business. The family is well connected and most of the embassy staff have enjoyed their cooking and their music. I myself have heard the little ones sing and have debated with them on different subjects. I am always surprised at just how intelligent they are for their purported ages."

Saalaa just harrumphed at that comment, giving a smile and a nod to Bandu. "When it is my time to be a mother, I hope to have children a fifth as brilliant as they are."

"I already have two. Mine are as dull as their father, unfortunately," Bandu replied with a smile.

The two settled in for the evening. They began to play a game of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' to amuse themselves. It was a simple game that all could play and required not props, just your hands. They would be spelled at midnight.

Offices of the Church of the People, Capital City, Terra, The Sol System

At the offices of the Church of the People, the Right Reverand John Joseph Dalman and his right hand man, James Leary, were hard at work preparing the weekend's sermon evoking the witch trials of the sixteenth century. Ever since Dalman had returned from Liramor Prime, he had been very vocal against witches, those with special powers that others did not have; some of which he named, such as Junelliya Herlan.