"The Juliet Effect"

[Atoz 77]

THE JULIET EFFECT >>

Stardate 52188.2


When Commander Fawkes walked into the Captain's cabin of the starship Odysseus. he was surprised to see how sparsely decorated it was. Fawkes himself had accumulated quite a clutter of possessions, which he tended to either tack up onto the bulkheads or arrange on every available surface. Captain Atoz' room was Spartan in comparison.

The Captain was sitting in a comfortable chair, reading intently from a data padd, while his cat was asleep on the bed, oblivious to the light piano music playing from the library computer terminal. Two polished wooden feline silhouettes, elegant in their simplicity, were hanging on the inner partition. On the forward-facing bulkhead was a life-size moving hologram showing the face of a woman whose resemblance to the Captain suggested that she was his sister. The shelf space in between the two was bare except for a smooth white stone, a small stuffed bird, and one book – not a padd but an actual printed book with a black leather cover and gold lettering. Curious about the reason for this distinction, Fawkes tried to glance at the title, but at that moment Captain Atoz looked up from his technical journal.

"Yes, Commander?"

"I beg your pardon, sir," Fawkes said. Feeling a little awkward at being caught snooping, he cocked his head at the piano music. "Is that Mozart?"

"Tchaikovsky."

Fawkes offered a padd of his own. "This is my report on the security drill which Mr. Rosh and myself conducted this morning, Captain. As you can see, it's not entirely satisfactory..."

Atoz looked at the report. "There is such a thing as being too keen, number one."

The First Officer frowned. "But you can't have a ship that's too well prepared for emergencies, sir."

"I can't argue with that. What do you recommend?"

But before Fawkes could get very far, the comm system whistled for their attention. "Captain," said the pleasant voice of Ensign Penner, "we're receiving a message from a Dr. Fuerm on Ornoph IV. She requests a private conversation with you, sir."

"The Ornoph system," said Fawkes, thinking out loud. "Agricultural colony, isn't it? A joint venture with the Tellarites, if I remember. Not on our itinerary, but I expect we'd just be passing within sensor range."

"Pipe it down here please, ensign," said Atoz, getting up and moving to his desk with an apologetic nod towards the First Officer.

"She's Cygnian, sir," said Penner, as the Starfleet emblem on the computer screen dissolved away and was replaced by a face. It was a handsome face, even if not humanoid, strong yet graceful. Smooth curves and delicate golden skin suggested softness, while sinuous muscles in the powerful neck promised toughness. Her jaw and nose together were long and horse-like, but this added to rather than detracted from her beauty. Her enormous, liquid eyes almost held Atoz spellbound.

"Greetings, Starship Captain," she said, tossing her bushy white mane. "I am Fuerillla Fuerm, administrator of the robotics institute on Ornoph IV."

"Greetings to you, Dr. Fuerm," Atoz replied, stumbling slightly over the unusual stress of the vowels. "I'm Captain Seven Atoz of the starship Odysseus. I'm going to ask you in advance to forgive me if I mispronounce your name. I haven't had a lot of experience with Cygnians."

"You are doing wonderfully," she said smoothly. "This is a rather unusual request, Captain. I do not make it lightly, but I do not know where else to turn. You see, there has been a murder."

***

With the ship in standard orbit, Atoz beamed down, along with Science Officer Diane Weir and Security Officer Enir Rosh. They materialized on a paved terrace near the top of a hill, immediately in front of an attractive three-story building approximately twenty meters square, constructed out of enormous blocks of pinkish native stone with small slit windows. The three of them looked around, admiring the landscaping and noting the existence of three other buildings of similar construction. Behind them, spread out across the valley below, was a small agricultural town made up of thirty or forty dwellings, barns, silos and so on.

"Rather out of the way spot for a robotics institute," said Weir, raising an eyebrow, "wouldn't you say?"

"Now that you mention it," said Atoz. He was about to add something more, but he caught sight of Dr. Fuerm walking towards them from the building entrance.

"Welcome, Captain Atoz," the equinoid said with a toss of her magnificent mane. She looked at the other two with concern. "But who are these? I did not expect others."

"This is my Chief of Security, Lt. Rosh," said Atoz, with a gesture towards the tall Eminian. "He's here as a forensics investigator. Lieutenant Commander Weir simply expressed an interest in your research."

"One of my specialties is computer operations," said Weir, extending one hand in greeting. "We have an Artificial Intelligence on board the Odysseus named Arachne. And I have heard that Cygnians are in the forefront of research in the field. I hope you don't mind if I ask a few questions."

The Cygnian looked a little wary, but clasped Weir's hand awkwardly anyway. "One of our projects is in the field of sentient robots, yes. But... This is very awkward..."

"Yes, doctor?" prompted Atoz.

"That is precisely the project Dr. Repuo was working on, when he was murdered." Leaving that thought hanging in the air, she turned to lead the way towards the entrance of the building. "I have gathered his colleagues together so that you may question them. Please follow me."

"Speaking of awkwardness, Dr. Fuerm," said Atoz, walking beside her. "I'm not entirely certain about my jurisdiction here. Although Cygnet XIV is a Federation member, Ornoph is not. Surely you have your own police? Why involve Starfleet?"

"I am not concerned with jurisdiction," replied the administrator. "I have not informed the local constables because they are Tellarites. They are prejudiced against Cygnians. I fear that they will simply latch upon the most obvious suspect and let it go at that."

"There is an obvious suspect, then?"

Fuerm didn't so much ignore the question as pass over it. "What I want from you, Captain, is the truth. As an impartial third party, I want you to discover sufficient evidence of the real murderer that even Tellarites will be convinced." A gate led them through a passageway into a cool, central atrium around which the building was constructed. Waiting next to a glittering fountain were three people – a male Cygnian, a female Human, and finally a male Tellarite, who stood a little behind everyone else. "These are the only people who had access to the building at the time of the murder."

"I still insist, Fuerilla," blurted the male Cygnian, "that your assumption of murder is not necessarily valid." His skin, though golden, was darker than Fuerm's, his bushy mane more copperish.

"This is Askeollon Ruehk," the administrator explained, making the introductions. "If it was not murder, Dr. Ruehk, what else could it be?"

"An industrial accident," the other Cygnian stated.

"Impossible!" the Human woman scoffed with outrage. She was a mousy woman with a helmet-like cap of dark, limp hair, the type who would normally not stand out in a crowd.

"This is Darla Cairns," Dr. Fuerm introduced, "from the Daystrom annex on Rousseau V."

"What do you mean by an industrial accident?" said Atoz. "What kind of accident?" Almost as if answering him, something that looked like a huge stainless steel dinosaur skeleton came striding out of an adjoining corridor, making a fierce metallic noise with its joints. Standing seven feet tall, it walked on two large feet balanced by a tail. Its skull was a big, rather lumpy box, and it had two manipulating arms extended out the front of its massive chassis. Rosh reacted instinctively, darting forward with his hand on his phaser.

"No, no, don't bother him," said Cairns, standing between the Security Officer and the machine. "This is Fido. He's harmless."

"One of your projects?" said Weir, looking the robot over with interest.

"It looks dangerous," said Rosh, watching the thing closely as it turned towards the Science Officer.

"Fido was only built as an experiment in hydraulic articulation," explained Cairns, looking at the machine rather affectionately. "But all of our cybernetic control systems conform to the three laws of robotics."

"Excuse me?" said Atoz. "Three laws of...?"

"A robot may not cause harm to a sentient being, sir," said Weir, glancing appraisingly at Dr. Ruehk, "or through inaction allow a sentient being to be harmed. A robot may not disobey orders given by a sentient being. And a robot must protect its own existence."

Doctor Fuerm nodded her approval. "And the three laws are hierarchal, so that the first law about harming sentients takes precedence over the other two at all times."

"Which is exactly why," protested Cairns, "this nonsense about an industrial accident is idiocy. I would be the first to admit that I thought Dr. Repuo was a braggart, but I also don't want his death to reflect badly on our work."

Ruekh snorted impressively in response, but did not speak. Fuerm said awkwardly, "Perhaps we had better let you see the scene of the crime, Captain."

"Just a moment," said Rosh, turning to the short, round-bellied Tellarite, who had stood almost forgotten in the rear of the group. "Who is this?"

"This," said the Tellarite, blinking his beady eyes and turning his flat, upturned nose to point directly in Rosh's face, "is the person who keeps the place from falling apart, not that I get any credit. Got any more questions, horn-head?"

"That is Mr. Gehn, the caretaker of the building," said Dr. Ruekh dismissively.

[Atoz 77]

The workroom on the upper floor was roughly square, with narrow horizontal windows high up near the ceiling, providing light but not much of a view. There was a desk near the door, but the rest of the room was taken up with workbenches, lockers for spare parts, and equipment. In the middle of an empty space along the north wall was a dark spot approximately two inches in diameter where the pinkish stone had been badly burned and cracked. "This is where Dr. Repuo was found, last night at the eleventh hour," said Fuerm, her ears twitching nervously. "His body had been drilled straight through by that rubidium laser behind us." The object in question was an industrial model, about two meters long, set in a permanent emplacement bolted to the floor above a flat slab of laser-resistant duralloy. "According to the energy consumption records, it discharged at precisely 10:35."

"Is there any way he could have accidentally walked in front of the beam?" asked Atoz. "Perhaps while his mind was on something else?"

"Unlikely," said Ruekh. "The laser can only be operated from the panel behind the barrel. And there is a twenty second delay, as well as a verbal warning by the computer and a reminder to use eye protection."

"I'd like to have my Chief Medical Officer examine the body," said Atoz. "Can you have it beamed up to the Odysseus?"

"Well, yes, it's in stasis," said the administrator uneasily. "If you really think it's necessary..."

"I just want to make sure that nothing is overlooked."

"Good morning, Dr. Fuerm," said a soft, very polite voice. "How are you?" An android robot which had been lying inert on the laboratory table now sat stiffly upright. Clad in a form-fitting body suit, its overall shape was female, an attractive compromise between Human and Cygnian. The spherical shape of its positronic brain was partly visible underneath the pearly white, semi-translucent plastic of its skin, although it was for the most part concealed by a fall of artificial chestnut colored hair.

"Why is this machine at the scene of the crime?" asked Rosh suspiciously.

"This is Juliet, Dr. Repuo's pet project," explained Fuerm. "Repuo instructed her to never leave the laboratory without him."

"So this android was here during the crime?" said Atoz. "Did it witness what happened?"

"Technically, yes," said Fuerm, shaking her mane a little anxiously.

"What do you mean, technically?"

"What she is trying not to say," said Ruekh, "is that the android was found kneeling beside the body!"

"Your suggestion is absurd!" said Cairns. "She couldn't have killed him! The First Law would have prevented any such thing."

Rosh had been examining the laser. "Captain, the way this is mounted, it would not normally bear on the north wall at all," he said, consulting his open tricorder. "This aluminum yoke has been bent. My readings indicate that to bend it without ripping the mounting out of the floor would have taken approximately six hundred kilograms of pressure, more than the average Human, Cygnian or Tellarite could muster." He pressed buttons and looked again. "Fingerprint scans are inconclusive, but there is an inorganic residue consistent with the dermal layers of android construction."

"Do you see our problem?" said Dr. Fuerm.

"I think I'm beginning to," said Atoz. "It seems obvious that the android is the only one who could have done it."

"Juliet is the only one who couldn't have done it," said Darla Cairns. "If she had wanted to kill him, she could have simply broken his neck. Besides, apart from the First Law, she insists that she didn't do it."

Atoz walked over to the android and looked into its face. "And you believe her?"

"An android cannot lie," replied Juliet, looking back at him with a bland plastic smile.

"Then who did kill him?" said Atoz, using his most authoritative voice. "Tell us exactly what happened that night. Consider that a direct order from a sentient being."

The robot glanced across the faces confronting her. "I was specifically ordered not to tell anyone what happened. That previous order supersedes yours, sir."

Atoz looked around to find Dr. Cairns smirking. "We've already tried questioning her, Captain," she said condescendingly. "If it were that easy, we wouldn't need you, would we?"

"Who gave you that order?" asked Atoz, turning to face Juliet again.

"I was ordered never to tell anyone what happened," she replied. "Including who instructed me not to tell anyone what happened."

"Captain," Dr. Fuerm interrupted, "perhaps we should talk in my office."

Gehn, the Tellarite, grunted, turning for the door. "Do what you like, but I have work to do. I can't afford to stand around all day like some people."

Atoz could see his point. "I understand, Mr. Gehn. Give a statement to Lt. Rosh and you can go, but don't try to leave the building without telling someone. We may have more questions. Doctor Fuerm, if you'd like to show the way..."

***

The administrator's office was on the third floor, a comfortable room with several plush chairs. "I stopped you, Captain," said Dr. Fuerm, seating herself gracefully, "because there was a real danger that further questioning could damage the delicate circuitry of the android's positronic brain."

"I don't understand."

"Captain," said Weir, "we've been able to build self-sustaining android bodies for many years now. We can even program them with personalities, but they're like holodeck characters. They have a limited repertoire of behaviors, which pretty much limits their usefulness to entertainment."

"You mean like Pleasureland on Earth," said Atoz.

"Or simple, uncomplicated tasks," added Dr. Fuerm. "Perhaps you wondered why we established the institute on an agricultural world. The village in the valley below is populated almost entirely by our experimental androids."

"Yes, I had wondered about that," said Atoz. "So androids can be trusted with simple tasks."

"Yes, sir," said Weir. "The problem is building an android capable of independent thought."

Atoz nodded. "Like Lieutenant Commander Data, you mean."

"Precisely!" said Ruekh, showing some enthusiasm for the first time. "He is unique. An android recognized as a conscious, fully sentient being. But frankly we still have no idea how Dr. Soong accomplished it. The positronic trajectories are surprisingly fragile. Too many choices, too many pathways. We have to impose the three laws of robotics as a safety feature, to keep them from breaking down."

"I see," said Atoz, pacing. "One question suggests itself right away. Is it possible that Dr. Repuo succeeded in creating a sentient android, so that the three laws no longer applied?"

"He reported all new developments to me," said Fuerm. "He certainly would not have kept such a thing secret."

Ruekh also shook his head. "I worked closely with him as a systems engineer. As far as I could judge, he was a long way from accomplishing such a thing. It is extremely unlikely."

"Can we be sure that only you three, and Mr. Gehn, were in the building?" Atoz asked. "What about assistants?"

"We don't have need for any great security measures," said Fuerm. "But the computer does monitor both the front and rear entrances to the building. Although there are various workers in and out during the day, the record clearly shows that only the five of us were here from the eighth hour onward."

"And did you speak to Dr. Repuo at all that evening?"

Fuerm's ears twitched nervously. "Yes, I did speak with him at about the ninth hour -- about a purely administrative matter, which wouldn't concern you, Captain, since--"

"Oh, wouldn't it?" interrupted Ruekh. "I could hear you shouting all the way down in my laboratory, and it's on the other end of the building!"

"You exaggerate, Askeollon," said the administrator, flushing angrily. "We had strong words, I admit, because he was being quite unreasonable. But it could hardly be characterized as an argument, let alone--"

"What was your disagreement about, Dr. Fuerm?" said Atoz gently.

She held his gaze for a long time, her large, liquid eyes locked on his, but when he showed no sign of backing down, she lowered them. "It really is of no great consequence. He had been in contact with the board of trustees, back on the home planet. They were considering naming him to head the Institute."

"In place of you?" said Atoz.

Her magnificent white mane danced with emotion as she nodded curtly. "Twenty years of my life! I was the one who convinced the trustees to open this Institute in the first place. I was the one who planned it, oversaw its construction, assembled the technicians and scientists. And they were going to just turn it over to him! Naturally I felt annoyed that he hadn't even seen fit to tell me about his treachery. I had to learn it from a subspace message."

"I can understand why you'd be upset by that," said Atoz tactfully.

"But not upset enough to kill him," Fuerm insisted. "He was very much alive after I left him. And what about you, Askeollon? You saw him that night as well, didn't you?"

The male Cygnian jumped up from his seat. "I don't intend to be interrogated in public, Fuerilla. If you wish to ask me any questions, Captain, I will be in my laboratory." Stiffly he marched out the door.

Atoz paused for a moment in thought. "Okay, back to Square One. Is it certain then that the android is not fully sentient, and therefore subject to the three laws? Diane, would you... Diane?"

"I'm sorry, sir?" Weir said quickly, as though startled out of a trance. "I was... um..."

"You were staring after Dr. Ruekh," said Fuerm, amused. "Don't be embarrassed, commander. I've seen this before. The legend is quite true."

"Legend? What legend?" asked Atoz, as Weir looked away, blushing.

"Cygnian males exert a profound sexual attraction to most Human females, Captain," the administrator explained. "I believe it is similar to the effect that Green Orion women have on Human males."

***

"I'm so sorry, Captain," Weir blurted out, once the two of them had been left alone in the administrator's office. "I've not only embarrassed myself, but I've made us all look foolish. There's no excuse for--"

"Diane, don't be so hard on yourself," Atoz said sharply. He gave her a few seconds to compose herself. "I take it you knew about this legend?"

Weir, her face red, stood at attention with her hands clasped behind her. She took a deep breath, keeping her eyes firmly on the ceiling, the walls, anywhere she could avoid the Captain's eyes. "I had heard some such rumor, sir."

"And you were curious to see whether it was true?"

"I was curious about artificial intelligence," she said passionately, meeting his eyes briefly, then looking away again. She went on in a quieter tone, "Of course, if I did happen to meet a Cygnian... that would be interesting, too..."

"And was it? True, I mean?"

"Oh, yes sir!" she sighed, closing her eyes, her chest rising and falling as she breathed in and out. "When he's in the room, I can't keep my eyes off of him. I can't stop thinking about him. I just want to..." She broke off abruptly.

Atoz felt a swift stab of jealousy to hear her talk about Ruekh this way. Frowning, he struggled to shake the feeling off and cleared his throat. "Well. For what it's worth, commander, I don't think this compromises our investigation. Just... try and keep those feelings contained, can you?"

"I'll do my best, sir."

"Good. I want you to take a look at Juliet. Try to determine if there is any way she could have committed the murder. Or if there's any way to get her to tell us who did."

"But, sir," Weir said, "Dr. Fuerm and Dr. Cairns are among the foremost cyberneticists in the Federation. If they couldn't see how it was possible--"

"I don't doubt their word, commander," said Atoz. "But they're both suspects. I'd rather have a second opinion."

"Yes, sir. Where will you be?"

"Right now, questioning Dr. Ruekh."

[Atoz 77]

Ruekh's laboratory was slightly larger than Dr. Repuo's. Four assistants were working on three different projects – one making adjustments to an android leg, another to an arm, the remaining two testing the wiring of a full torso. "I suppose there's no point in my denying it," said Ruekh with a snort. "Fuerilla has probably already told you all the scandalous details."

Atoz merely fixed the Cygnian with a neutral stare and waited.

"Yes, I had a dispute with Dr. Repuo. He was a rake. He used women and discarded them when he grew tired of them. Normally I couldn't care less, but one of the women he used was my sister, Kerigh. She was one our assistants here, but when Darla Cairns arrived, he trumped up some excuse and had her dismissed. When I pressed him to do the honorable thing and at least recommend her for another position, he laughed in my face."

"That's all?" said Atoz.

"It's not enough? I assure you, Captain, we Cygnians are highly protective of our families. In the heat of the moment, I could cheerfully have dashed his brains out."

"And the night of the murder?"

Ruekh, clearly beginning to lose patience, began pacing around the work in progress, peering over his assistants' shoulders. "I was in here, working on a new input stabilizer. Repuo came to see me, at about half past nine. We talked solely of technical matters, which I will not bore you with. He left under his own power."

"And you didn't see him again that night?"

"No."

Atoz frowned. Was that answer a little too curt, a little too dismissive? Or was the scientist simply distracted and eager to get back to work? "You said Dr. Repuo had your sister dismissed when Darla Cairns arrived?"

"Yes," Ruekh replied. "And to anticipate your next questions, yes Repuo did turn on the charm to the new arrival, and yes he did unceremoniously dump her about three weeks later." He paused for a sardonic smile. "I would very much like to listen in on your interrogation of Dr. Cairns."

***
Darla Cairns' workroom, on the ground floor, was not as much a laboratory as it was an office. "I'm a programmer, Captain," she explained, scarcely looking up from her computer console. "I write algorithms. All the exotic positronic hardware in the world would be useless without them."

"I see," said Atoz, strolling casually across the room. "Since Dr. Repuo designed the positronic brain itself, you must have worked very closely with him."

Cairns looked up sharply. "What has that nag Ruekh been telling you?"

"It might be better," said Atoz, "if you didn't make any assumptions about what other people have been telling me, and just answer my questions."

She gave him a sour look. "Yes, we worked closely. I met him at a conference on Mariposa, and was intrigued by some of his ideas. I requested a leave of absence from the Daystrom Annex and came here nearly four months ago."

"I take it both of you worked on Juliet's programming?"

"Yes, she was a joint project. Bena had some amazing ideas about how consciousness works. If anyone could have eventually solved the von Neumann bottleneck problem, it would have been him. It's such a waste."

"Earlier, you described him as a braggart."

She flushed angrily. "That was a personal feeling. It had nothing to do with his qualities as a scientist."

"Murder is a very personal thing, doctor."

"Captain, I was in love with Bena. He was a man of very deep feelings, and a man who was often misunderstood even by people who worked with him. Even by people who loved him." She looked away, and Atoz was under the impression that there were tears in her eyes. "But he could never stay with one woman for long, once he found another who excited him more. That was just the way he was. I couldn't have killed him because of it."

Atoz could see that she was so distressed by this line of questioning, there was no point in taking it any further, at least not for the time being. He tried to think of a different subject at random. "Who found the body?"

She paused to rub something out of her eye. "I don't really remember. Doctor Fuerm, I think. Is it important?"

***

Weir had strung a umbilical from the testing console to a concealed port on the front of Juliet's skull, just above her right temple. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?" the android said.

"What sort of question?" said Weir absently, concentrating on the readings on the console.

"Have you ever been in love?"

The Science Officer nearly bit her tongue. "What?"

"I often have conversations with Dr. Repuo about such things," Juliet said. "He tries to teach me about emotions. He speaks of love all the time. Will he be returning soon, do you think? I miss him."

Weir frowned thoughtfully. The android had been found beside Repuo's body. Didn't she realize what had happened to him? Hadn't anyone bothered to tell her about death -- that dead people don't return? Or did she expect them to somehow repair him and send him back?

The door hissed open and closed. Weir glanced up and immediately her pulse began to beat faster. It was Dr. Ruekh. "I'm not disturbing you, am I?" the Cygnian asked innocently.

"Uh... no, doctor," she said huskily. "Not at all."

"Askeollon," he corrected, smiling disarmingly. "Forced formality puts up disagreeable barriers between people, don't you think?"

Weir cleared her throat, turning desperately back towards the console, even though she found it suddenly hard to focus on the diagnostic panel. "Um... yes. I quite agree. My name is Diane."

He stood behind her, looking over her shoulder as if he were interested in what she was doing, but at the same time brushing her short hair with his face. It seemed that she could feel the heat of his body like a volcano, the rush of his breath like the sigh of the night wind. "I need to ask a favor, Diane," he whispered. "Your Captain suspects me, quite wrongly I assure you. I need your help."

"I'll do everything I can of course," she sighed, as she felt his hand lightly touch her waist. "Captain Atoz is a reasonable man. I'm sure he'll listen when I explain... "

"No," the Cygnian insisted, his lips brushing her ear. "I don't think he will. I need you to help me escape."

She whirled around to protest, but it died on her lips as she met his huge brown eyes. Her knees felt weak and wobbly. "Please don't ask me to..."

"I need to get to the spaceport," he explained patiently, "two hundred kilometers from here. If I use the transporter terminal in the village, I'll be seen." He paused, flashing her a smile, a maddening smile. "But you could use your authority with your starship. Tell them you need to transport there, then let me borrow your communications device. By the time they sorted it out, I would be long gone."

"I couldn't do that," Weir argued weakly. "Please don't ask me..."

"Come," he said, wrapping an arm around her and leading her, taking her acquiescence for granted. "Most of the building is shielded; we must go down to the atrium."

***

As Atoz emerged from the short corridor leading from Darla Cairns' office, his comm badge chirped. He paused in front of the atrium fountain, across from the wide hallway which led back to the maintenance section. "Atoz here."

"I thought you'd want my preliminary findings," said the voice of Dr. Pierce, the ship's Chief Medical Officer. "The laser caught him in the center of the heart, coagulating his cardiac muscle pretty much instantaneously."

Atoz winced. "Sounds like a horrible way to go."

"Actually the nerve bundles would have been cauterized," the doctor replied. "So it would have been relatively painless. He would have gone into shock almost at once, and died maybe ten to fifteen minutes later." He paused. "I don't know if it means anything, but I also found some arthritic growth in his right patella. Nothing serious, it just would have been hard for him to bend over or sit down. Does that fit into your puzzle?"

Atoz sighed. "I don't see how. Did you find any signs of a struggle, DNA from the killer, anything like that?"

"Nope. But you know, he could have been forced to stand in place at phaser-point."

"If the killer had a phaser," asked Atoz, "why would he bother with the industrial laser?"

"You're the detective, Seven," said Pierce airily. "I'm just a doctor. Speaking of which, do you have any suspects yet?"

"Maybe," said Atoz, thinking of Cairns' statement that Dr. Fuerm had been the one to discover the body.

Tapping his comm badge off, he started up the stairs towards Repuo's workroom and found Rosh waiting for him on the landing. "Mister Gehn's statement is straightforward, Captain. He rarely spoke with Dr. Repuo, let alone had a disagreement with him. He says that he saw the deceased arguing with Dr. Cairns in the lounge at the eighth hour or a little later. He didn't hear what the argument was about, but it sounded like a technical matter. Later, at about ten, he passed Dr. Ruehk on the stairs, heading up. After that, he states that he was in the basement, working on the plumbing until eleven."

"Doctor Ruehk was heading upstairs?" asked Atoz.

"That is what Mr. Gehn claims."

Atoz sighed dejectedly. "Mister Rosh, I'm afraid that as a detective, I make a pretty fair starship captain. The one problem I can't get around is this: If Juliet were in the room, she would have prevented the murder. She simply wouldn't be able to stop herself. If she had witnessed a sentient being come to harm without preventing it, that knowledge would have damaged her positronic brain."

"And she was definitely in the room," said Rosh. "We seem to have a paradox."

"Maybe Commander Weir has some good news for us." But as they walked through the doors of Repuo's workroom, Weir was not to be seen. Juliet was standing patiently beside the testing console, the umbilical still plugged into her forehead. "Where is Commander Weir?" Atoz asked her.

"She left with Dr. Ruehk," the android replied.

Atoz pressed his comm badge. "Commander Weir? Where are you? Respond please."

The answering tone chirped. Weir's voice came over the line, sounding both surprised and relieved at the same time. "Captain? Captain, I--" And then her comm badge was abruptly cut off.

Now becoming alarmed, Atoz moved hurriedly out into the corridor, to the gallery which overlooked the atrium below. "They didn't pass us on the stairs," he said.

"There is a service lifter on Dr. Ruekh's side of the building, Captain," Rosh replied.

"You go that way then," said Atoz, jogging back towards the stairs. "I'll try to head them off this way."

"I suggest caution, sir," said Rosh, clearly in two minds about letting the Captain go alone. "He may be armed."

Atoz was well aware that although Rosh, as a security officer, carried a Type I phaser at all times, neither he nor Weir had brought weapons with them. "I'll keep that in mind."

[Atoz 77]

Atoz arrived on the ground level just as Ruekh marched out of the maintenance corridor, dragging Weir along with her arms pinned behind her. At sight of him, the Cygnian darted into the utility room with his hostage. Atoz hurried to overtake them, but as he reached the door, a massive stainless steel arm punched through the interior wall. A claw-like hand reached downwards, it's manipulators working with grinding metallic spasms, forcing Atoz to back away quickly.

Fido lurched forward on its two gigantic mechanical legs, ripping through the wall and scattering chunks of stone and bits of paneling. Atoz was about to breathe a sigh of relief for his narrow escape, but the seven foot robot wobbled over the rubble and struck him across the ribs with its arm hard enough to slam him into the opposite wall. "Captain!" Weir shouted, still struggling in the Cygnian's grasp. "He's disconnected the robot's hierarchal control system!"

Dazed and aching, Atoz picked himself from where he had fallen, just in time to avoid being trampled. Fido wasn't attacking; it was out of control, the hydraulic mechanisms of its arms and legs merely triggering at random, the mechanical equivalent of an epileptic seizure. Atoz rolled left, narrowly missed another jab into the concrete floor by the robot arm, then scampered backwards, trying to reach the atrium where he would have more room to maneuver.

He didn't make it. One piston-like leg came upwards, caught Atoz on his already bruised ribs, and sent him crashing into the brickwork of the fountain. The robot kept coming, demolishing more of the wall and stamping the floor in a blind rage of destruction.

Ruekh saw his chance, hauling the science officer through the gap and across the atrium. Weir planted her feet, trying to resist, but the Cygnian was larger and stronger. Seeing that it was futile, she suddenly reversed direction, leaping into his arms as if with a passionate embrace. Caught by surprise, Ruekh relaxed his grip, allowing Weir to wrench her hands free and slam the heels of both palms hard into the point of his chin.

Without hesitating, she jumped onto Fido's back, anchoring herself to its spinal column with one hand while reaching for the power assembly in the chest. The robot was beyond noticing her small body up there, but still its random whirling movements threatened to throw her off at any moment. Rosh came running down the maintenance hallway, tried to take aim with his phaser, but the machine was moving too erratically.

Atoz looked up just in time to duck as the robot's arm smashed into the side of the fountain. The massive arm raised again, just as Weir finally managed to switch off the power supply. Fido's servomechanisms ground painfully to a halt, the arm descended in a deadly arc, but Rosh's phaser beam sliced through the metal before it could connect.

***

"OW!" said Atoz, as Weir applied the synthetic skin dressing from the first aid kit to the abrasions on his side. He was sitting on a table in the lounge, stripped to the waist, as the science officer examined his various bruises and injuries.

"I'm sorry, sir," she said, wincing in sympathy as she gently touched his sore, battered abdomen. "How does it feel? I think you have one or more cracked ribs."

Atoz sucked in his breath, reaching for the top half of his uniform. "I think I'll live until Pierce gets a chance to poke at me, thank you." From where he was sitting, he could see Dr. Fuerm and Dr. Cairns out in the atrium, supervising as four assistants moved the damaged robot. As he and Weir watched, Rosh crossed the atrium and entered the lounge.

"Doctor Ruekh is in custody, Captain," the security officer announced. "I have him secured in a storage room until the constables arrive."

"Captain," said Weir, drawing a deep breath. "I don't think that Dr. Ruekh did it."

"Diane, if this is about--"

"No, sir," she said quickly. "This has nothing to do with my... infatuation. I've been thinking about what Juliet told us. Someone ordered her not to tell what happened, including who it was that gave her that order."

"Yes?" said Atoz uncertainly, not sure what she was getting at.

"Well, sir, you should be aware from your experiences with Arachne that an AI takes everything you say literally. Arachne is much more sophisticated than Juliet; so much so that she often corrects me. She often tells me that my instructions are impossible to carry out."

"I see what you mean," said Atoz thoughtfully. "If she was simply told not to tell anyone what happened, how was she able to tell us that someone told her not to tell what happened?"

Weir nodded. "Exactly, sir. Whoever gave her those instructions must have been very explicit. I don't think that a hardware engineer like Dr. Ruekh would have known what to say."

"With all respect, commander," said Rosh, "it seems very slim."

"But oddly persuasive nevertheless," said Atoz. "Who does that leave us as suspects?"

The security officer shrugged. "Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however unlikely, must be the truth."

And suddenly, like the pieces of a puzzle sliding into place, Atoz realized what had happened. "Have you been reading Sherlock Holmes, Mr. Rosh?"

"Never heard of him, sir."

***

"I must confess, this comes as a shock," said Dr. Fuerm, in her office. "I knew that there was a certain ill feeling between Askeollon and Bena, but I still can't believe he would kill him."

"That's because he didn't," said Atoz.

Darla Cairns, sitting in one of the plush chairs, looked startled. "He didn't?"

"No he didn't," Atoz replied, pacing slowly across the room. Rosh was standing by the door as though on guard, while Weir stood behind the female Cygnian's chair. "He panicked because he had been in contact with the trustees, and he would have been their second choice as administrator. He assumed that I would suspect him once I found out."

"Then I suppose we are back where we started," said Fuerm, shaking her lovely mane dejectedly. "The Tellarite constables will be arriving soon, and they will have to be told. I must at least thank you for trying to help us, Captain..."

"Oh, I have solved the mystery, Dr. Fuerm," he said firmly, causing both women to sit up straight. "Can you tell me who discovered Dr. Repuo's body? I think I know the answer, but I'd like you to confirm it."

The Cygnian paused. "Let me think. We were about to have our evening staff meeting. Repuo was always late, and one of us would always have to go and remind him." She paused again, turning. "It was Darla who found him."

Atoz nodded as though that was exactly what he expected. "I was completely in the dark for a time. But then I remembered a casual remark which turned out to be an important piece of information." He swung around to face Darla Cairns. "You told me that Dr. Repuo had found another woman who excited him more than you. It was Juliet, wasn't it?"

Cairns sat rigid with shock for a moment, then she nodded in resignation. "How I wish I hadn't given her that name! It was eating him up inside. But you see, she couldn't love him in return. We tried for months. I knew that he was depressed over our failure, but I swear to you I didn't know how depressed."

"Doctor Repuo killed himself, didn't he?" said Atoz. "He couldn't lie down on the duralloy slab, so he instructed Juliet to bend the yoke of the laser for him. Then he must have deleted the memory of doing so from her memory banks and deactivated her. He aimed the laser at the wall and during the twenty second delay, stepped in front of the beam."

"How horrible!" Fuerm whispered, aghast.

Weir sighed sympathetically. "Do you know the story of Romeo and Juliet, Dr. Fuerm? Juliet finds Romeo dead and kills herself in grief. Repuo probably hoped that his Juliet would do the same."

"She nearly did," said Cairns bitterly. "She must have reactivated shortly afterwards. I found her sitting beside him, trying to wake him up. Her positronic brain was already showing signs of breakdown. Well, what else could I do? I told her that he wasn't really dead, that we would be able to repair him. Then I instructed her not to tell anyone what had happened."

Atoz folded his arms. "But you were careful to tell her that she could say that someone had given her that order."

"I had to, didn't I?" the cyberneticist replied. "If she had refused to say anything at all, the obvious conclusion would be that she had suffered a synaptic break and run amok. She would have been disassembled."

"For goodness sakes," said Fuerm, "why didn't you tell us this?"

"I was thinking of Juliet," Cairns said. "She was just as much my project as his. Repuo had already killed himself. I couldn't let him destroy her as well."

***
The afternoon sun was low on the horizon as Atoz, Weir and Rosh stood once more on the paved terrace overlooking the valley. A lone tractor was making its way homeward, probably driven by an android robot.

"Sometimes I think Vulcans have the right idea," said Weir cheerlessly. "Emotions can be more trouble than they're worth."

"They have their uses, commander," said Rosh, his eyes fixed on the tractor in the distance. "I seem to recall you taking down a Cygnian who outweighed you by a good thirty kilos, then leaping onto the back of a berserk machine and wrestling it into submission."

The Science Officer turned on him angrily. "The Captain was in danger! What did you expect me to do? I..." She trailed off as if embarrassed at the vehemence of her outburst.

Atoz groaned softly as he thought of his injured ribs. But whatever personal thoughts he had to share with Weir on that subject were not for Rosh's ears. "I appreciate it, commander," he said, and pressed his comm badge. "Atoz to Odysseus. Three to beam up."

<<THE END>>

[commanderrob]

Great work everybody