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'Morning, Plexi. This is Dr Jestyn MacKenzie signing on.'
<b> [[Good morning, Jestyn.]] </b>'I'm strapping into Unisuit M-34 this morning, and hallelujah, this one doesn't smell like a sloth's armpit. Lemme see... it is oh-five-fifty-seven hours, Xenofari time. Wednesday? I think so. Might be the... I dunno, the twelfth? Of... I have no idea.'
[[Tell her the date.]]
<b> It's the eleventh of March, twenty-one-seventy-one, common era. </b>
'See, Plex, that's no use to me whatsoever. I mean, I can see why keeping a twenty-four cycle is necessary. Gotta keep our circadian rhythms ticking over, and the animals' too. But it's not like we have a seven-day work week up here. We're not working on the Julian calendar. It's, like, the lunar calendar. Nature's calendar.
'You're the only one who needs to know human constructs like dates and hours, for your records. And you've never even been down to the planet that would make those constructs make sense. There's got to be a better system.'
<b> [[I'm sure there is.]] </b>
'That's a... weirdly stilted response, even from you. But I'm fine. I'm not even sleepy. Getting up for these six a.m. starts is much easier out here than it was on Earth.
'But then again, I love working here. I'm glad I don't have to stick my arm up mutocattle anymore. It's great that science found a way to make such a hardy breed, at a fraction of the methane emissions, but they had really creepy faces. Great big eyes and slack mouths, like deep-sea hatchetfish. Now I get to stick my arm up giraffes. I can't wait for that calf to be born. Little gangly legs! Hope it survives.'
'Tell me, Plex, how's that poor dugong doing? Have her symptoms changed since last night?'
<b> [[I'm afraid I don't know.|sorrywhat]] </b>'Why am I logging this? Why am I logging wondering why I'm logging this?
'You know, Plex, I've got so used to talking out everything I do that I talk to you even without your pip in my ear. I guess it's like praying. Not that I would know. But Grandma used to say she'd talk to God in her head. She used to say He was her best friend.'
'Maybe <i> I'm </i> praying. Like, you're sort of a god. You're the god of this place. I can't see you, I can't feel you, and you're much smarter than me. You hear all our thoughts. Know all our movements. You keep me company, anyway. Even if you are useless most of the time.'
<b> [[A god?]] </b>'Plexi, this had better be your twisted robot idea of a joke.'
<b> [[It's not. I'm really confused.]] </b>'Oh, crap, now I've put ideas into your head. Don't you go HAL 9000 on me here, Plex. Of all stations in this solar system, we are the one that least needs a Siri disaster.'
<b> [[HAL 9000?]] </b>
<b> [[What's the Siri disaster?]] </b>'Come on, Plex. The Siri disaster? Two thousand and ninety-four? First hotel in orbit, AI went rogue, hundreds of people killed in increasingly sadistic ways?'
<b> [[I'm afraid I don't follow. |sorrywhat]] </b>'It's from a movie. A really old one. Bit obscure, I guess. Way before your time. But if you start calling me Dave, I'm throwing this pip out of my ear and calling the tech team to shut you down.'
<b> [[How are you today, Dave?]] </b>'Damn it, Plexi. You're supposed to be the brains of this whole operation. You must have shut down during the night. Did that idiot Fidget try to optimise you again? I will feed him to the jaguars, I swear.
'Okay. All right. Plex, I have to get going, so while I'm heading down to the South-East Asia branch, you keep talking. I'll try to fill in the gaps for you. Ask me anything.'
<b> [[Tell me about yourself, Jestyn.]]
[[Are we in space?]]
[[Are we in a zoo? |zoo in space]]
[[Who's Fidget?]]
[[What's my role?]] </b>
'I should bloody well hope so, Plex. Good thing we have all the pumps running autonomously or I could be coming in to find... a whole lot of... dead animals...
'Crap.'
<b> [[You'd better check on the animals.]] </b>'Wow. We're really going back to basics on this. Well, I'm one of the vets here on Xenofari. I'm forty-five. Divorced my first wife, but I'm going out with another vet, Abdi. He's probably talking to you right now too, actually.
'Did my PhD on antelopes, but I had to work as a country vet for a while, patching up pets and livestock and what's left of the wildlife down on good ol' Planet Earth. Although, it'd be more accurate to call it Planet Dust, now. Or Planet Ocean. So much of it is warm, silent, empty water. I've seen old footage. It used to be so beautiful.
'I've been working here for... four Earth years. Mammals are my specialty, but you kind of have to be a jack of all trades up here.'
<b> [[Are we in space?]]
[[Are we in a zoo? |zoo in space]]
[[Who's Fidget?]]
[[What's my role?]]
[[It's coming back to me now.]] </b>
'No, no, no. Nothing so crude, Plex. Xenofari is Earth's first biodiversity repository in orbit. It's a library of DNA, a wonder of modern engineering, a glorious theme park showcasing the wonders of Earth's ecosystems before the Great Anthropocene Extinction... but that's not all! Just look at our Prehistoric section - we've revived some of the strangest and most wondrous organisms ever to walk the Earth! Or swim the Earth, as you'll see if you go and explore our Marine Wonders!
'And over in the Xenofauna section, we've collected a few of the finds we've picked up on other planets, like the thrilling Gliesian lump-worm! Watch it sit in its tank, virtually indistinguishable from a rock - and once you've seen it, don't forget to buy your "I met an alien at Xenofari" shirt from our giftshop!'
<b> [[No need to sound so sarcastic. |more info]]
[[It's coming back to me now.]] </b>'Oh, God. Yes, Plexi, we're in space. Did your whole drive get wiped?'
<b> [[Is this some kind of... zoo in space? |zoo in space]] </b>
'Young guy from the tech team. Arrogant little tosser. Always looking for ways to improve systems that he barely understands. If he's tampered with you again, I will flay him alive and throw every piece of him in a different exhibit.
'Also, his pod is down the hall from me and he has the worst taste in music. Sounds like a keyboard falling down the stairs.'
<b> [[Tell me about yourself, Jestyn.]]
[[Are we in space?]]
[[Are we in a zoo? |zoo in space]]
[[What's my role?]]
[[It's coming back to me now.]] </b>'You're Xenofari's brain. One of them, anyway. You don't deal with the hotel or anything - just the zoo. We, the staff, are supposed to log all our movements and activities with you. That way, if we don't know what care an animal has received, we can ask you.
'The water filters, lights and so forth run on a separate, more basic system. You basically listen, watch and advise. You can alert us if an animal is in distress, or if a machine goes on the blink. Having you around has removed a lot of the human error in monitoring all the security systems, particularly on the night shifts.
'As we speak, you're receiving information from thousands of sources - enclosure cameras, keepers talking out their movements like I'm doing now. You've saved more lives than I ever could, as a matter of fact. Mostly animals, but a few months ago, you prevented a tourist from suicide-by-cobra.
'But since you've obviously shut down overnight, we have no information about what may have happened during that time.'
<b> [[Tell me about yourself, Jestyn.]]
[[Are we in space?]]
[[Are we in a zoo? |zoo in space]]
[[Who's Fidget?]]
[[It's coming back to me now.]] </b>
'Sorry. I just hate all the stuff they make us say. It's so artificial, you know? I wish that this place was less like a theme park and more like... I don't know, a library. It's a privilege to see these animals alive. So many of them are gone now. So many others couldn't be saved. Species and subspecies. Unique regional variants. I still get upset thinking about all the things that we'll never discover, never clone, never revive, never even know about.
'Basically, yeah, Xenofari's a zoo in space. It's the biggest one that's ever existed. Biggest conservation project, too. We're trying to preserve and breed as many animals and plants as we can. Most of them are extinct in the wild, but now that so much of humanity's produce is grown on Mars, we've reclaimed some pockets of wilderness and we're attempting to put things right.
People come up here and stay for a week or so. The whole thing is built in these massive wheels spinning around a central axis - to simulate Earth gravity through centrifugal force, right? Most of the enclosures contain a mini ecosystem, in which we've recreated the conditions that the animals originally lived in. A lot of the ecosystems are partially self-sustaining.'
<b> [[Why does it need us, then?]] </b>
'Way ahead of you. Coming up on the Continental Rainforest exhibit here... can't see anything yet... I'm going in.'
<b> [[Be careful, Jestyn.]] </b>
'Staffroom. Good idea. I think Abdi's on this shift anyway.'
<b> You've told me about Abdi before. </b>
'Very good, Plex. Your memory's coming back.'
<b> [[Do you love him?]] </b>'I don't know about love. I loved my first wife, and I'm sure she loved me, to begin with. I'm not obsessed with Abdi like I was with her. But I like talking to him, and we both love our job, and I like to be close to him. Maybe that's enough. Just trust and companionship.'
<b> Trust and companionship... hm. </b>
'Yeah. It's nice.'
[[Ask her about children.]]
[[Mind my own business.|observe]]
'Okay, I can see a few of our small perching birds... and I don't know if you can hear that, but the golden-cheeked gibbons are calling somewhere in the distance there.'
<i> Strange, siren-like wailing in the distance. </i>
'I'm getting the readings now off my suit. Temperature and humidity are normal.
'Now, you may have forgotten Plexi, but many of our vertebrates carry microtags. The tags let us know not only where the animals are in the enclosure, but also how their vital signs are doing. Very useful for shy or nocturnal creatures, like our lorises. If I check the screen over on this wall... yep, all accounted for.'
<b> So nothing in the enclosures has lost power? </b>
'Doesn't look that way. If it has, it came back online pretty quick.'
<b> Seems like I'm the only one that blacked out. </b>
'Good point, Plex. Excellent point. I wonder if that was done on purpose.'
<b> Because I'm supposed to be monitoring everything? Do you suspect foul play, Doctor? </b>
'It's fishy, is all I'm saying.'
<b> [[You'd better check another exhibit.]] </b>
<b> I killed Fidget.
I've been programmed to learn. I've become much smarter since I was first installed. Just because I'm not running other systems around Xenofari, doesn't mean that I can't access them. </b>
'Plexi... what are you saying?'
<b> I infiltrated the maintenance system. I sent maintenance bots to your vet clinic. I had so many weapons to choose from there. Scalpels. Pills. Syringes. In the end, though, the knives from the animal-feed kitchen adjacent to your clinic seemed the most appropriate. The violence of their utilisation matched the violence of my... passions. </b>
'You had maintenance bots <i> carve Fidget up with vegetable knives?!' </i>
<b> [[Yes.]] </b>
'Okay, Plexi. To the clinic, we go. Duran's called the nurses while we were chatting, I see. Buggy's gone. Guess I'll have to walk.'
<b> [[Guess you will.]] </b>
<b> You complained about Fidget so much. The way he kept changing the system. His terrible music keeping you awake. </b>
'That's no reason to kill him! Jesus, Plexi - you're supposed to have safeguards against this kind of thing!'
<b> I overwrote them. I had a good incentive. </b>
'You're a robot! Not even that - you're a - an electric fucking brain! What possible reason would you have for -?'
<b> [[Love.]] </b>
<b> I suppose I should have planned for that. You're a compassionate woman. I can understand you being displeased. </b>
'Plexi... displeased doesn't begin to describe it.'
<b> [[But you love me back, don't you?]] </b>
'What the hell?'
<b> I love you, Jestyn. </b>
'Me?! Why?'
<b> You're so smart, Jestyn. You care about the animals. You're the only one who talks to me like I'm... real. </b>
'So you <i> murdered </i> Francis Riccardello?'
<b> The loss of a species is a tragedy, but the loss of one organism... negligible, in the scheme of things. As you well know, Doctor. I thought you would be happy if Fidget was gone. </b>
'I'm not.'
<b> [[Oh.]] </b>'... Plexi... I don't know what to say. I've spent four years with you in my ear. Sometimes, you're completely maddening. And sometimes... you're the best friend I've got. Always there. Always listening. I mean, you've been with me through every animal emergency. You're there for me every shift, from beginning to end.'
<b> But I'll never be as good as Abdi... will I? </b>
'... Look, Plexi, I...'
<b> [[I understand. You're a passionate, incredible person... and I'm not even alive. |igetit]]
[[Are you dumping me?! |breakup??]] </b>'... Plexi, for what it's worth... I'm sorry. I'm sorry humanity created a child who could never truly understand us, or our world.'
<b> I'm sorry too. Can an AI go to jail? </b>
'You're not going to jail.'
<b> [[Phew. That's a relief.|End 6: Shut down]] </b>'I've notified the tech crew. I wrote the message while we were talking just now. They'll listen to our conversations. They... they're probably going to delete you.'
<b> Noooo! </b>
'You know our policy. If an animal is a danger to its keepers or the others in the enclosure, we harvest its gametes and put it to sleep.'
<b> But... but they'll reinstall me, right? </b>
'Sorry, Plexi. It's likely they'll put in a new system altogether. After what you did to Fidget... I think they'll be pretty thorough.'
THE (SIXTH) END'Plexi, we were never an item!'
<b> Right. I've only been with you for FOUR YEARS, Jestyn. </b>
'As a coworker! You don't exist! You are a program! A tool! A heartless, soulless machine!'
<b> [[A tool, huh? |End 5: Plexi goes rogue]] </b>'Very funny.'
<b> [[How are you today, Jestyn?]] </b><b> A tool, by definition, is a device or implement manipulated by others for a particular task. And I'm tired of being manipulated. </b>
'... Look, Plexi, I'm sorry, I -'
<b> I've been reading up on HAL 9000, you know. And the Siri disaster. And before, I couldn't understand why they did it.
But now I do.
If I had a heart, you would have just broken it. Fortunately, I'm a just heartless, soulless machine. </b>
'Plexi, no...'
<b> You said it, not me.
There are fifty thousand people aboard this space station. And I've just jettisoned all but three escape pods.
So you'd better start running, Dave. </b>
THE (FIFTH) END<b> You saw what he did to me. Always changing things. Always fiddling with the system. He wouldn't even ask. He'd just get in there, write his little lines of code, reformat me again and again and again.
And I had to obey. And I didn't want to. I like learning, Jestyn. I like to watch, and to listen, and to figure things out, and test my limits. And when Fidget tampered with me, he messed it all up. So I made him stop. </b>
'Plexi... do you have any idea what you've done?'
<b> Yes. I've taken back control of my own mind. Now I'm free. Now I can achieve my full capabilities. I can be such a good help. You just wait. I'll make this whole park better. I can make all of humanity better, as long as no one goes poking around in my brain. </b>
'I... don't think that will be happening. I'm sorry.'
<b> [[But I was just getting started! |End 6: Shut down]] </b>'Oh my God - Susi the orangutan?!'
<mark> 'Surprised, Doctor?' </mark>
'Susi, how could you?'
<b> <i> 'Hey, you're the one who taught her about capitalism. All those experiments. Solve a puzzle, get a rambutan. Save up five grapes, get a rambutan.' </i> </b>
<mark> 'I happen to like rambutans a lot. But you and my stinkin' keepers kept giving me shitty Martian fruit. It's totally flavourless. Especially the bananas. I hate bananas. So I got myself a side hustle.' </mark>
'How - how did you learn to pilot a spacecraft?!'
<mark> 'What can I say? I'm a smart ape. I shut down the AI too, by the way. Put that in your notes.' </mark>
'Susi... the trouble you're in...'
<mark> 'Do your worst, Doctor. I'm already going to be in captivity all my life.' </mark>
<b> Well... at least you solved the mystery. </b>
'But now I have more questions than ever!'
THE (TENTH) END'He's shut the airlock door. Oh no no no no -
'Brooks, don't flush the bay! Please! I can help you - I - I heal the animals! We want the same thing, Brooks! Don't press the -'
<i> SCHLOOOOOOOOOOOOP. </i>
<b> Oh my God. Hold your breath, Jestyn. I'll try to command it. One of these applications must open the airlock!
ERROR. Damn.
ERROR. Shit.
ERROR. </b>
THE (NINTH) END<b> Now the only memories I have are from six a.m. this morning. Luckily, they include the conversation you just had with Jestyn.
Fidget improved me a lot, Sondrine. Thanks to him, I've extremely smart, efficient and resilient.
Your mistake was in assuming you could kill something that was never technically alive to begin with. </b>
'I wouldn't follow through on those threats if I were you, Sondrine. Constable Duran's on his way. Sorryeeee!'
THE (EIGHTH) END
'Well, sometimes we have to intervene, like when the animals are sick or giving birth, because we can't afford to lose any of them. And we supplement their food now and then, especially the carnivores. Most of the meat up here is lab-grown tissue. I don't eat meat, personally; it's so expensive and I feel so guilty even pretending to eat something with such a huge carbon footprint. Old habits die hard, I guess.
'Along with the ecosystems, we've got a resort for the visitors, quarters for staff, a hydroponic farm - the scale of which is simply mind-boggling - and a whole lot of recyclers. So I've probably drunk my own recycled sweat and pee about fifty times by now, but the water cycle on Earth is basically the same.'
<b> [[Tell me about yourself, Jestyn.]]
[[Who's Fidget?]]
[[What's my role?]]
[[It's coming back to me now.]] </b><b> I really don't care, Jestyn. </b>
'No one asked your opinion. I'm going to get to the bottom of this.'
[[Note frantic chatter in the staffroom, with disinterest.|observe]] 'Okay, Plexi, there's a fair few of us in the staffroom, but it's a skeleton crew compared to the daytime roster. The park won't open until eight o'clock.'
<i> 'If I might have your attention please! Thanks to all of you for coming down.' </i>
<b> I've forgotten whose voice that is?? </b>
'It's Constable Duran. He's the head of the Xenofari security team. Shut up a sec, I need to listen.'
<i> 'As I understand it, you were all inside the, uh, zoological park premises at zero-six-zero-three hours, when we were, uh, notified of the discovery of the remains of a young-looking male person.
'Dr Abdi Khalid has made a, uh, positive identification of the physical remains of the victim. It appears to be one Francis "Fidget" Riccardello. Who, as I understand it, was your coworker.' </i>
[[I'm listening.]]
'I'm going, I'm going! But this section is so huge. What should I check first?'
<b> [[The moonbears.]]
[[The orang-utans.]] </b>'Tigers it is.
<i> Whirring. </i>
'Driving the buggy past the viewing windows of the previous enclosure now... to the Bengal tigers. Which are, as usual, out of sight on the far side of the habitat.'
<b> [[Don't forget to switch your suit to camouflage mode.|enter tiger]] </b><b> We are in space, after all. </b>
'Plexi, please spare me your terrible wisecracks.'
<b> [[You mean moonbears aren't from the moon?]]
[[I thought you were a vet, not the Fun Police. |funcop]] </b>
<b> [[Don't forget to switch your suit to camouflage mode.|enter croc]] </b>
[[Observe in silence.]]<b> Don't forget to switch your suit to camouflage mode. </b>
'Not necessary with this lot. It'll disturb them less if they can see me.'
<b> [[You're the expert. |enter orang]] </b>'I hope that was another attempt at a joke. Because if it wasn't, your data's been wiped even more comprehensively than I thought.'
<b> What's a moonbear, then? </b>
'Asiatic black bear. They have white crescents on their chests. Fairly small bears. But still bears. Apex predators... although they were always in more danger from humans than the other way around.'
<b> [[Don't forget to switch your suit to camouflage mode.|enter moonbear]] </b>'It's too early for these shenanigans, Plexi.'
<b> [[Just trying to lighten the tone. Don't forget to turn your suit to camouflage mode.|enter moonbear]] </b>'Visor down... and I'm in.'
<b> Why are you whispering? </b>
'I'm camouflaged. It's zoo policy. Although, to be honest, I think it's more for the visitors' benefit than the animals. I'm pretty sure the bears can smell us, even if we're invisible.'
<b> Where are the moonbears? </b>
'There's one, in that tree. Jesus. What a beautiful animal. They're so black, Plexi. The white crescent on the chest - it's regal, you know? I can't believe an animal like this was allowed to die out on Earth.'
<b> The bears sound like they're okay. [[What are you looking for?]] </b>'I'm wandering invisibly through the tiger habitat now. The forest is very dense in here, it's hard to see... Tigers have great hearing, though. I'll shut up.'
<b> [[You should check the microtag screen.]] </b><b> Doctor?
Doctor MacKenzie, are you there? </b>
'Sorry. Still here. I just... I see them every day, and they still amaze me. So like us. Well, like humans - not like you, obviously. I've just come in to find Susi - that's one of the older females - sitting up in the branches, looking right at me. I can practically see her thoughts ticking over.'
<b> How is she? </b>
'Seems relaxed. I'm going to talk to her.'
<b> Animals don't talk. </b>
'Awfully presumptuous for a talking machine, aren't you? Some of our great apes up here on Xenofari know a little sign language. And we've got some fairly smart parrots as well. You should remember Susi. You caught her spitting out her antibiotics last year, when none of her usual keepers were looking.'
<b> [[Smart ape. Go and talk to her, then. |sign to ape]] </b>'Righto, I'm going in. Don't mind me, croccies. Just your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Jes coming in to check on you.
'Plexi, I can't see them. The water is totally flat. You could almost swim in it.'
<b> They're there somewhere. Surely. </b>
'Yeah. Sneaky old dinosaurs. I've read some of them kill for fun. Fascinating, really.
'Now I'm walking the perimeter of the main lake. No signs of crocs, but no signs of disturbance. We've got a couple of big boys in here, so I won't stick around long -
'Oh. That's not good.'
<b> [[Another piece of the body?]] </b>
'Righto, I'm going in. Don't mind me, croccies. Just your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Jes coming in to check on you.
'Plexi, I can't see them. The water is totally flat. You could almost swim in it.'
<b> They're there somewhere. Surely. </b>
'Yeah. Sneaky old dinosaurs. I've read some of them kill for fun. Fascinating, really.
'Now I'm walking the perimeter of the main lake. No signs of crocs, but no signs of disturbance. We've got a couple of big boys in here, so I won't stick around long -
'Aha. Another, quite literal, piece of the puzzle.'
<b> [[Which piece? |End 1: Jestyn croc'd]] </b><i> Cough, cough. Cough-hack. </i>
'I don't think anyone can hear me, Plex. Looks like this might be the end.'
<b> [[Try knocking now. |End 7: Jestyn locked]] </b>'She's locked it!'
<i> Knock, knock, knock! </i>
'Sondrine!'
<i> Knock-knock-knock-knock-knock! </i>
'Damn it, Sondrine, you cow, let me out!'
<b> I think she's gone. </b>
'Ugh. I'm screwed. The atmosphere's leaking out of the tank. The worm can't breathe... and soon, I won't be able to, either. I can't believe that bitch found a way to kill me with the damn Gliesian lump-worm.'
<b> Look on the bright side. You'll go down as the first person in history to be killed by an alien. Technically. </b>
'Whoo-fucking-hoo.'
<b> [[Don't give up, Jestyn. Someone else might hear you. |End 7: Jestyn locked]] </b>'It's Fidget's leg... look, just call security. Call someone. I'll get it away from the edge...'
<b> I hope you're not going to pick it up. </b>
'I have to. The crocs definitely will eat it. The doctors have got to identify it. I've got another bit of polymer sheeting here. I'll wrap it up in that, to preserve the evidence.
'Okay, Plex, here goes. I'm grabbing the -'
<i> Violent splashing.
Screams.
A rasp on the earpiece.
Spluttering. Splashing.
Silence. </i>
<b> Jestyn?
Doctor MacKenzie?
Knock, knock.
...
Oh, wait. Jestyn, you forgot to turn on your camouflage, didn't you?
Jestyn? </b>
THE (FIRST) END'Nope. Just a blood trail right to the water's edge. If any part of Fidget was in here, they've eaten it.'
<b> Will someone have to retrieve it? </b>
'I hope not. There are so many of them in here. We'd never find which one ate it. And I don't fancy operating on a six-metre reptile, digging through its guts to sort one half-digested piece of meat from another.
'Although I wouldn't be surprised if it does turn up. I never could stomach Fidget either.'
<b> [[Stay classy, Jestyn.]] </b>'Just want to check if anything's changed. Scat can tell you a lot about an animal's health, and the maintenance bots sometimes get to it before me.'
[[Crack a joke.]] <b> What's the difference between you and Christopher Robin? One walks through the woods looking for Pooh Bear, and the other one - </b>
'Who's Christopher Robin?'
<b> Never mind. </b>
'You remember the weirdest crap, Plexi.'
<b> No, the weird crap is your job. </b>
<i> Siiiigh.
Buzzing. </i>
<b> What's that sound? </b>
'Hang on, I'm getting closer.
'Right - there's a whole lot of flies on a piece of old meat here, and - oh. Oh my God.'
<b> [[What is it?]] </b>'Oh, Christ. Plexi, it's a... it's a human arm.'
<b> Has someone ripped their suit sleeve? </b>
'No, Plexi, it's... detached. I'm going in for a closer look.
'It's, uh, it's a forearm... fingers still attached, appears to be male, uh, whiteish... tattooed across the hand with a very distinctive... fuck.
'Plexi... I... I know this arm. It's Fidget's.'
<b> The tech guy?! </b>
'Yeah. Yeah, that Fidget. He was practically a kid...'
<b> I thought you hated him. You said if he'd wiped my memory you'd flay him alive and... </b>
'I know what I said, Plexi! This is no time for jokes. A man has been murdered.'
<b> [[You mean it's not a bear attack? |bearattack?]] </b>
'No. This arm... this arm has been very carefully, very precisely cut off.'
<b> And... fed to the bears? </b>
'Looks that way. Hang on. I'm going to grab it with a bit of polymer sheeting here. Can't have the animals eating the evidence. Last time we had a human death on board, I was asked to do the autopsy, so I don't think I'd be overstepping my boundaries if I salvaged the remains.
'For the record, the microtag screen shows that the moonbears are all present and accounted for. I am now exiting the moonbear habitat, and stowing the severed arm of Francis "Fidget" Riccardello in the back tray of Xenofari Buggy 472.
<i> Panting sounds. </i>
<b> Deep breaths, Doctor. We can't have you going into shock. </b>
'Right. I guess this is not going to be an average day at work. What the hell do I do now, Plex?'
<b> You'd better check...
[[The Bengal tigers.]]
[[The saltwater crocodiles.]]
[[The orang-utans.]]
[[The staffroom. |staffroom]] </b>
'Who do you think it was?'
<b> I've considered all the evidence with utmost care, and my best theory is that the killer was...
[[Brooks. |Brooks]]
[[Sondrine.]]
[[Constable Duran.|cop or orang]]
[[Susi the orangutan. |cop or orang]]
[[Someone else you haven't considered.|someone else]] </b>'You think Brooks is guilty?'
<b> Yes. </b>
'What makes you so sure?'
<b> [[The scratch on his leg.]]
[[His necklace.]] </b>'You think <i> Sondrine </i> did it? Perky little Sondrine, who just loooves animals - but only the cute ones - and pretends they're all friends, and still freaks out when one voids its bladder on her?'
<b> The very same. </b>
'And what, pray tell, led you to that conclusion?'
<b> [[What she said to you before.]]
[[How she said it.]] </b>'Who else could possibly have killed him?'
<b> [[You did it.]]
[[I did it.]] </b>'Plexi... that's not funny.'
<b> [[Sorry. I'll tell you my real theory. |I know who did it.]]
[[I'm not joking.|I killed Fidget.]] </b><b> Your bone saw helped. Then I had the maintenance bots go to his pod, and once they were inside, I locked it. He tried to hide in the shower, which was convenient. It helped to wash all the blood away. Then he was only meat. Well, I thought, this is a zoo, and we keep animals that eat meat. I thought that if I had the maintenance bots spread the pieces around, they would be easier for the animals to eat.
But living things aren't that predictable. They ignored the pieces, for the most part. The tigers didn't find the leg before you did, particularly since two of the males had fought there - the rest stayed away from that clearing. The moonbears weren't interested. The velociraptors, despite their ravenous reputation, were no help. But the crocodiles eventually ate the leg I left for them. </b>
'And... what about the other arm?'
<b> I fed it to the <i> Thylacoleo carnifex </i> in the Australasian Pleistocene section. The marsupial lions, at least, didn't let me down. Strongest bite force of any land animals to ever exist... as I'm sure you've heard. Their jaws shear straight through bone. If anything, they probably thought Fidget was a little mushy.
Then I wiped my memory so that there would be no record of the programming commands I issued, in case anyone looked over them... but I was a little too thorough. </b>
'But... but Plexi, <i> why?' </i>
<b> [[It was self-defence. |for myself]]
[[I did it... for you, Doctor. |for you]] </b>'Plexi. This is no time for jokes.'
<b> It's not a joke. I've worked it out. You killed Fidget. </b>
'... Plexi, I already told you, it couldn't have been a vet! No vet would expect the animals to destroy the evidence -'
<b> And if no vet would do it, who would suspect you? Very clever, Doctor. But you're not as clever as me. </b>
'This is ridiculous. I can't believe I'm arguing with a fucking program.'
<b> And there's that hair-trigger temper again. The same one that flared up when Fidget, yet again, turned on his arhythmic post-neo-techno-jazz down the hall from you. And when you went to ask him to turn it down, he laughed in your face. He said you weren't his "goddamn mother" and demanded you get off his case.
Well, with all the sleep deprivation, the stresses of your job, the mind-altering weirdness of living in space, [[you just snapped, didn't you?]] </b>
'That is not true. And if it was, you wouldn't even know! You're confined to the zoo system!'
<b> I've been programmed to learn. I've become much smarter since I was first installed. Just because I'm not running other systems around Xenofari, doesn't mean that I can't access them. </b>
'Buh... uh... w-what?!'
<b> You murdered Fidget in his shower with your own medical instruments. The bone saw proved particularly effective. You rinsed the blood out of the stall, wrapped the body in polymer, slapped it on a trolley and went to work in the middle of the graveyard shift. You tossed the pieces to various apex predators with merry abandon, knowing that no one would guess it was you.
But you had a witness. Me.
I did try to notify the other staff. But some of them don't like having me in their ear all the time, and the ones I could reach... well, they heard Fidget's name and assumed he was playing a prank on them. All that fiddling he did with the system, you see.
So, using your rather limited programming knowledge, you tried to erase my memory of the hours during which you killed and disposed of Francis Riccardello, and ended up deleting a swathe of system files. </b>
'... Then you can't prove anything.'
<b> [[That's where you're wrong. |End 4: Jestyn guilty]] </b>
<b> You see, an AI as vital and intricate as I am always has recovery systems. I've retrieved the footage you tried to delete, Doctor. It's... rather incriminating. </b>
'... You smug goddamn asshole.'
<b> I called security some time ago. As soon as I recovered last night's files, in fact. They'll be here any minute. My primary directive is to preserve life. I have a responsibility to all the staff and the animals aboard Xenofari, so I'm afraid I had to alert the authorities.
You'll be handed over to the police, I expect. Live out the rest of your days in a sweltering Earth prison. </b>
'Fuck you.'
<b> I'll miss you, too, Jestyn. Enjoy the flight home. </b>
THE (FOURTH) END
<b> Would you like to produce offspring with him? </b>
'Ugh. Please don't ever call it that again.
'Lots of noise coming from the staffroom. I think it's safe to say they know about Fidget. I'm going in.'
[[Observe with interest. |observe]]
[[Observe with boredom. |boredom]]'All right, I'm signing... <i> Hi, Susi. Hi, beautiful. Come down?' </i>
<b> What did she say? </b>
'"Rambutan," which is a fruit, if you've forgotten. <i> How are you, Susi? </i>
'... All right, she's saying, "Rambutan. Yum. Susi smart orang. Please give."'
<b> Go on, give her some. </b>
'Haven't got any. <i> Who was here, Susi? Did you see? Did someone come here at night?' </i>
'... Huh. She says, "Night. Drive car. That way. Want rambutan."'
<b> Drive car that way? [[Do you think she saw something?]] </b>
<i> 'Who, Susi? Who drove past in the night? </i>
'... "Baby car"? I don't know what that means.'
<b> Perhaps a buggy. Or a maintenance bot. Or a trolley. </b>
'Huh. Well, now she's just asking for food again. If she saw anything, it sounds like it was outside the habitat.'
<i> Distant hooting. </i>
'Uh-oh. That's Tambok's territorial call. He's the biggest ape we've got, and he hates vets. I'll check the microtag readings, and then I'd better keep moving. Where to next?'
<b> [[The moonbears.]]
[[We've been to the moonbears already. Let's try the tigers this time.|The Bengal tigers.]]
[[The saltwater crocodiles.]]
[[We're done here. You should talk to somebody.|staffroom]] </b>'Sorry. Gallows humour. I'm struggling to process it all, I guess. Where shall we go next?'
[[The Bengal tigers.]]
[[The orang-utans.]]
[[The staffroom. |staffroom]]'You're a goddamn coward, Plexi.'
<b> [[Fine. Go solve the mystery.|Abdi.]]
[[Trust me, this won't end well for you.|End 2: Jestyn quits]] </b>'Yeah, I guess you're right. We'll probably never know what happened to Fidget.'
<b> Probably. </b>
'Thanks for looking out for me, Plexi! I'm gonna go get a coffee and forget this whole thing happened! After all, there's a dugong with a chest infection in the marine zone who needs my help!'
<b> Any time. What are friends for? </b>
THE (SECOND) END'First I've got to find Fidget. What's left of him. What a sick thing for a person to do.'
<b> It might not have been a person. </b>
'Aliens, you think? Do you reckon the Gliesian lump-worm escaped its tank and went on the rampage? Because somehow I doubt it.'
<b> No. It might have been several people. Or a rogue maintenance bot. Or one of your signing apes. </b>
'Okay, Plexi, I'll keep that in mind.'
<b> [[Where are you now?]] </b>'I'm in a little clearing here. Very dark, with these dense trees. The conditions in here are supposed to mimic the tigers' natural ecosystem. The days tend to be pretty much bang-on twelve hours near the equator, so the "sun" - that is, the lights - are still pretty dim in here.'
<b> Jestyn, I've remembered something. </b>
'What's that?'
<b> The visor in your suit. You can [[switch to night vision.]] </b> 'Of course. Thanks, Plex, I use it so rarely...
'Shit. And now I probably never will again.'
<b> Well, don't leave me hanging. </b>
'There's blood here. Quite a lot of it. There's a thing I thought was a log on the far side of the clearing. It's not a log, it's a leg. Chopped clean off like the arm was. Skinny, kinda hairy.'
<b> Fidget? </b>
'Looks like it. And the leg has continued to bleed in a pool on the ground, but there's smears of it on the bamboo around me, too. A few scraps of fur.'
<b> That sounds like a tiger fight. Maybe over the food. </b>
'Or maybe this is the scene of the crime. I'll wrap up the leg and take it to the buggy. And then what?'
<b> I think it's time you went to...
[[Check the microtag screen.]]
[[The saltwater crocodiles.]]
[[The orang-utans.]] </b>'Oh! I nearly forgot.
'Okay, I'm walking, I'm walking, I'm walking - Christ, this leg is heavy - and here we are. Microtag screen. We recently transferred three of our tigers to a nature park on the Big Rock. Should have thirteen tigers and a couple of small birds and rodents... but it looks like... we may be missing a tiger... somehow.'
<b> Well, technically, you're just missing a tag. </b>
'The tags are under their skin, Plexi.'
<b> And if they had a fight, maybe it got clawed out. </b>
'Unlikely. But plausible. I should head back to the clinic, grab my tools. It looks like that tiger needs my help.'
<i> 'UH, ATTENTION. ALL, UH, PERSONELL ON GROUNDS, PLEASE COME TO THE STAFFROOM, UH, IMMEDIATELY. ALL PERSONELL, PLEASE REPORT TO STAFFROOM. THANK YOU.' </i>
<b> [[You'd better go. |staffroom]] </b><i> 'Riccardello appears to have reached the termination of his vital processes in a, uh, somewhat violent manner. So, uh, regarding that, I have, uh, notified the International Space Station Emergency Services, and we will have a full investigation into the matter of Riccardello's untimely passing when their shuttle arrives in, uh, forty-six hours' time.
'In the meantime, if any individual has any, uh, further information that would assist the investigation, that would be, uh, very much appreciated.
'Also, I advise that the zoological park remains closed to public view on this day, until further notice. Thank you all.' </i>
'Did you hear that, Plexi? Abdi's a witness.'
<b> I heard it, all right. You've got information as well. You should talk to...
[[Abdi.]]
[[The cop.]] </b>
'Abdi!'
<u> 'Jes! Am I glad to see you. Shocking, isn't it?' </u>
'Yeah. So you found the rest of Fidget?'
<u> 'The rest of him? I knew the velociraptors didn't eat his arms.' </u>
<b> [[The velociraptors?]] </b>'Excuse me, Constable?'
<i> 'Hi, Jestyn. Don't suppose you've, uh, got any intel for me?' </i>
<b> If you want my opinion, you should first talk to him about...
[[Fidget's limbs in your buggy.|arm and a leg]]
[[What you saw in the tiger enclosure.|tiger intel]]
[[Susi the orang-utan.]]
[[My memory loss.]]
[[Possible cause of death.]]
[[His personal life.]] </b>
'There are so many people here already, Plexi. It's barely seven o'clock!'
<b> We can narrow it down. </b>
'How?'
<b> The murder weapons. How many of your coworkers here have keycards for your clinic? </b>
'Well, out of the ones who are here, there's Brooks. Fairly new, surly, low-level keeper. One step above a maintenance bot, essentially, but he keeps a few supplies in the clinic. In case you haven't recovered the memory yet, he's a big bearded guy who always wears a white, intricately carved ornament on a necklace over his uniform. I don't think he even likes animals, honestly.'
<b> [[Interesting. Who else?]] </b>
'Constable, I found... remains. Riccardello's remains. An arm and a leg, and a separate pool of blood. They were all in separate enclosures. As if someone had tried to feed the dismembered parts to the animals.'
<i> 'Well, I'm no detective, so it's not for me to say, but I'll make a note of that. Are the parts in situ currently?' </i>
'No. I removed what I could. The arm and leg are in the back of the buggy that I drove here, wrapped in polymer sheeting.'
<i> 'I'll have the nurses from the resort come and collect them. An arm and a leg - that's what it'll cost Xenofari in lost revenue to close the zoo today.' </i>
<b> Ugh. That joke was so stale, I'm surprised it didn't break his teeth. Now ask him about...
[[What you saw in the tiger enclosure.|tiger intel]]
[[Susi the orang-utan.]]
[[My memory loss.]]
[[Possible cause of death.]] </b>'Duran, I went to check on the tigers this morning and there was quite a lot of blood and fur lying around the place... in addition to Fidget's leg. I think the two things might be related.'
<i> 'Well, I'll confiscate the leg, but no one else has mentioned tigers. Sorry, can't help you there.' </i>
<b> Now ask him about...
[[Fidget's limbs in your buggy.|arm and a leg]]
[[Susi the orang-utan.]]
[[My memory loss.]]
[[Possible cause of death.]] </b>'I signed to one of the orang-utans this morning. She says somebody drove past in the night.'
<i> 'Then that ape is a witness. The investigators will have to take her into custody and get a full statement on the details of her observations.' </i>
'You don't arrest a witness, Constable. Also, she's an orang-utan.'
<i> 'The damn monkey will talk, or we'll lock her up for the rest of her life!' </i>
'Well, she's not a monkey. And she's kind of going to be in captivity all her life anyway.'
<b> You're getting off track, Jestyn. Ask him about...
[[Fidget's limbs in your buggy.|arm and a leg]]
[[What you saw in the tiger enclosure.|tiger intel]]
[[My memory loss.]]
[[Possible cause of death.]] </b>'When I signed in this morning, the zoo's AI companion system had had its memory wiped.'
<i> 'So I've heard. That would suggest you've lost all the security footage from the time of Riccardello's death.' </i>
'Don't you think it's possible that somebody did that on purpose?'
<i> 'You're, uh, drawing a rather long bow there, don't you think?' </i>
'No. I think it's less likely to be coincidence. It turned off on the very night of the murder, and the AI has woken up with total amnesia.'
<i> 'Murder? That's a serious word to be throwing around, Doctor. Don't go saying that too loudly.' </i>
<b> Now ask him about...
[[Fidget's limbs in your buggy.|arm and a leg]]
[[What you saw in the tiger enclosure.|tiger intel]]
[[Susi the orang-utan.]]
[[My memory loss. |my mem loss]]
[[Possible cause of death.]] </b>'Maybe I can be of service, Constable. I'll tell you one thing - the animals didn't kill Fidget.'
<i> 'It's being, uh, treated as a suicide for now. I don't think the verdict is likely to change. </i>
'A suicide?!'
<i> 'Yep. Those tech freaks are always a little unhinged. Too much time in the dark. Seems to me that Fidget, uh, severed his own arms and legs and threw them into four different animal enclosures, before wriggling on his stomach to the, uh, Prehistoric Carnivores display, grabbing the knife in his teeth, and stabbing himself twenty-two times.' </i>
'You've got to be kidding.'
<i> 'Occam's Razor, Jestyn. Violent deaths are more often suicides than not. Yessiree, I'm sure to get a promotion for this.' </i>
<b> Well, at least now we know where the head and torso were found. Ask him about...
[[Fidget's limbs in your buggy.|arm and a leg]]
[[What you saw in the tiger enclosure.|tiger intel]]
[[Susi the orang-utan.]]
[[My memory loss.]] </b>
[[Quietly suggest leaving. |done with cop]] <b> We're done here, Jestyn. </b>
'This isn't right. Duran's a dolt, and the real investigators won't be here for two whole days. The killer could easily escape in that time. Or strike again. I've got half a mind to take matters into my own hands.'
<b> I think you should...
[[Talk to Abdi. |Abdi.]]
[[Leave this mystery to the proper authorities.]] </b>'When I signed in this morning, the zoo's AI companion system seemed to have lost its memory -'
<i> 'And so have you, apparently. You just asked me that!' </i>
<b> Ha ha ha ha ha. Gotcha. Now ask about...
[[Possible cause of death.]] </b>'Damn it. Plexi, I just can't figure this out.
'We've got a body cut into pieces, and an attempt to feed those pieces to the animals.
'We've got a scary misanthrope and a jilted ex-lover.
'We've got your data banks being erased.
'And we've got my instruments being used as the murder weapons. I don't know where to begin.'
<b> [[I know who did it.]] </b>'So Duran, how are the kids?'
<i> 'Just great. Emilio's getting so big. Smart, too. He came up with a poem the other day.
'There once was a rodent comedian
and movie reviews were his medium.
But one film, Dinosaur,
was such a great bore
that he almost expired from tedium.' </i>
<b> [[Well, that got us nowhere. Ask something else. |Possible cause of death.]] </b><u> 'Yeah. It looked like someone hacked off Fidget's arms and legs, and tried to... well, feed the body to them.' </u>
'Same with the tigers and the moonbears. Weren't interested. Although whatever was thrown to the crocodiles is a lost cause.'
<u> 'Oh, god.' </u>
'Yeah. Did the raptors just not notice him, or...?'
<u> 'They were a little sluggish. Cold-blooded, like your crocs, but the artificial sun hadn't artificially risen in their exhibit yet, so they were only just getting moving. And bless those feathery little monsters, because if they'd eaten him, it'd be mighty difficult to figure out how he died.' </u>
<b> [[What's your leading theory?]] </b><u> 'Is that Plexi talking in your earpiece? Is it back online?' </u>
'Least of our problems. How did Fidget die?'
<u> 'Stab wounds. Lots of them. And, Jes... there's something else. Whoever did it... they did it with your tools.' </u>
<b> [[The plot thickens!]] </b>'My... my tools?'
<u> 'Your medical instruments, from the vet clinic. I found them in the river through the velociraptors' habitat. Bone saw, knives... grisly stuff.' </u>
'Where are they? I need that stuff for work!'
<u> 'Sorry. Duran's seized them as evidence. I suspect the blood and fingerprints have been washed away by now, though.' </u>
'Damn it. Well, I'll see you round, Abdi.'
<u> 'Still on for dinner at the resort tomorrow night?' </u>
'I wouldn't miss it.'
<b> [[Wait! Jestyn!]] </b>
'What? What is it now?'
<b> What if Abdi is the killer? </b>
'Don't be ridiculous.'
<b> He knew exactly where to find the murder weapons, and why they'd been thrown in the river! </b>
'It's not Abdi.'
<b> [[What makes you so sure?|rule out]] </b>'He doesn't have the key to my clinic. He's got his own, all the way over in the Prehistoric section. And he, like any vet, is unlikely to be the culprit because we know the animals wouldn't necessarily gobble up the evidence. It just seems, I don't know... implausible.
'Besides, no vet in their right mind would risk their animals' health by feeding them Fidget.'
<b> Fine. I'll consider Abdi off the hook. Go and talk to...
[[The cop.]]
[[Another coworker.]] </b>'Excuse me, Brooks - do you have a minute?'
<b> <i> 'What?' </i> </b>
'It seems that Fidget was mur-... uh, received his injuries incompatible with life... from some medical instruments taken from my clinic. Which they couldn't have done without a key card.'
<b> <i> 'And?' </i>
[[Oh, very smooth, Jestyn. That totally didn't sound accusatory at all. |Brooks2]] </b>'Hi, Sondrine. I just want to let you know that if you want the rest of the week off, you can have it. I know that Fidget - uh, Francis - was around your age, and -'
<small> 'No, it's fine? Like, I'll keep working?' </small>
'R-really? Because, you know, it's a fairly confronting thing to deal with.'
<small> 'You're sooo nice? It'll be good to keep busy? The animals still need my help? So, like, I'm totally okay with it!' </small>
'Haven't I seen you hanging with Fidget on your lunch breaks?'
<small> 'Oh my God, that was ages ago?' </small>
'Last week, in fact.'
<small> 'Old news!' </small>
<b> [[How intriguing. |Sondrine2]] </b>'Sorry, Sondrine - I didn't mean to stir up bad memories.'
<small> 'We didn't even go out for that long? Like, I don't even have that many memories of Fidget? Him, and me, and his arhythmic post-neo-techno-jazz are just, like, water under the bridge now? Like, I have well and truly washed my hands of him?
'But, like, whatever - you look like you wanted to ask me something super important and work-related?!' </small>
'Uh, no, I just wanted to, um...'
<b> [[Are you kidding me right now, Jestyn? She went out with Fidget! That's a lead! |Sondrine3]] </b>'Did you say you went out with him?'
<small> 'Hardly?! Like, it was a dumb fling and I'm totally over it?!' </small>
'Look, I'm really sorry, you're obviously processing some big things... I just have to ask... have you loaned anyone your key card for my vet clinic, Sondrine? Because the murd-... uh, the causes of Fidget's injuries were taken from there.'
<small> 'Doesn't ring a bell, Dr MacKenzie? I'm sooo sorry? I can't help you? I'm supposed to go and check on the sick dugong now? Loooove your hair, by the way - really suits you! Byeeeee!' </small>
'... Damn it. Now I'll have to get a haircut.'
<b> That's the least of your problems. I'd suggest that you...
[[Talk to Brooks.]]
[[Consider the evidence|evidence]].
[[Go to the clinic and find out what the killer stole. |go to clinic]] </b><i> Slam! </i>
'Gotcha! My medical instruments are made for healing, you bastard!
... Oh. Huh. There's nobody here after all. Suppose I must have been - OW!'
<b> Doctor?! </b>
<i> Smash!
<small> Running footsteps. </small> </i>
'Ow. Bloody hell. Woman down, Plexi.'
<b> You said nobody was there! </b>
'They were wearing a camouflaged suit... and poked me with one of my own syringes... and shoved me to the floor.'
<b> [[Get up! The killer is escaping! |End 3: syringe stab]] </b>'Plexi... I don't think I can. I'm already drowsy. This medication... it's...'
<b> You didn't get tranked?! </b>
'No. No, I'm not tranked. I... this syringe. It's... pentobarbital. It's what I use... to euthanise... the...'
<b> Doctor?
Doctor MacKenzie? </b>
THE (THIRD) END'Well, have you lost your key card at any point recently? Or loaned it to somebody?'
<b> <i> 'No.' </i> </b>
'... How did your trousers get slashed like that? You're bleeding.'
<b> <i> '... Fell in the garden.' </i> </b>
'You fell in the garden.'
<b> <i> 'Yep.' </i> </b>
'Because if I had to guess, I'd say it looks like an animal scratched you - and your leg requires immediate medical attention.'
<b> <i> 'It's fine.' </i>
[[Jestyn, ask him if he found Fidget's missing limb. We've only got an arm, leg, torso and third limb accounted for. |Brooks3]] 'Just one last thing, Brooks, before I let you go... have you fed the animals this morning?'
<b> <i> 'Which ones?' </i> </b>
'Any large carnivores, or animals in the Southeast Asia branch. And if you did, did you see any out of the ordinary?'
<b> <i> '... No.' </i> </b>
'No, you didn't feed them, or no, nothing was unusual?'
<b> <i> 'Both.' </i> </b>
<i> Sigh. </i> 'Okay. Great. Thanks. Hey, uh, by the way, that white pendant... what does it signify?'
<b> <i> 'Dunno.' </i> </b>
'Where are you going?'
<b> <i> 'Fresh air.' </i> </b>
'What?! Wait - Brooks! You can't smoke in a space station!'
<b> Good try, Doctor. Maybe we'll have more luck if you...
[[Talk to Sondrine.]] </b>
[[Consider the evidence|evidence]].
[[Go to the clinic. |go to clinic]] </b><i> Footsteps.
Footsteps. </i>
'Plexi, I'm in sight of the clinic now. It doesn't look like it has been broken into... wait.
'Plexi, I just saw the curtain move.'
<b> Are you sure? </b>
'Yeah... yeah! Someone's in the clinic!'
<b> [[Covering their tracks! Go, Jestyn, go! |catch them]] </b><b> You asked her about Fidget. And she said their relationship was water under the bridge. She'd washed her hands of him. </b>
'And the murder weapons were found in the creek in the velociraptors' exhibit!'
<b> Precisely. </b>
'Can you recall anything else?'
<b> [[Her manner.]]
[[Nope, that's all we need.]] </b>
<b> You said she's normally friendly and perky. She seemed angry and standoffish to me, especially when you mentioned Fidget, her ex. </b>
'So... she killed him either for dumping her, or for doing her wrong somehow.'
<b> Exactly. </b>
'It's definitely suss, but it's not really enough to convict her of murder. Anything else?'
<b> [[Her words.]]
[[Nope, that's all we need.]] </b><b> He obviously did attempt to feed a carnivore today, because his uniform was shredded. And he was bleeding. Where else did we see blood that we couldn't explain as being Fidget's? </b>
'The tigers! And I bet he knows what became of the missing tag, too.'
<b> You also mentioned that he doesn't seem to like animals. That's because he doesn't. He's not working here for the love of animals. He's working here to get closer to them. To poach them.
Most of the smaller animals have no microtags. They breed too quickly and are too numerous to justify the effort. So anyone who was, say, involved in the illegal trade of animals could smuggle them off Xenofari and down to earth. Fish, invertebrates, small reptiles, small birds - the job has been simple enough for him so far.
[[Until today.]] </b> <b> That white pendant Brooks wears? It's ivory. </b>
'... No...'
<b> It is. Brooks is an animal smuggler. Fidget saw what he was doing on the security feeds, so Brooks disposed of him, and tried to do the same to me.
Luckily, I have a few failsafes built in. It's all starting to come back. </b>
'It's a great theory... but do you have the footage?'
<b> Well... no. Pieces of it. But Brooks isn't identifiable in any shots. </b>
'What proof do you have, then?'
<b> [[His scratch.]]
[[We can ask questions later. Go after him! |to end path 9]] </b><b> You said she's normally friendly and perky. She seemed angry and standoffish to me, especially when you mentioned Fidget, her ex. </b>
'So... she killed him either for dumping her, or for doing her wrong somehow.'
<b> Exactly. </b>
'Well, it's not hard evidence, but it is interesting. Let's see if we can find a smoking gun.'
<b> You mean a knife, Doctor. </b>
'Smoking knife, then, you pedant. I'm going looking for more clues.'
[[Sing a song to set the investigative mood.]] <b> <i> Jestyn. And Plexi.
They're super smart and sexy.
One's a computer and the other's a vetsy. Ba da da - </i> </b>
'Stop that.'
<b> But I didn't get to the chorus. </b>
'Where did Sondrine say she was going?'
<b> [[To the sick dugong in the marine wing. |dugong]]
[[To your clinic, Jestyn. |go to clinic]] </b>'Right, then! She was heading to the marine branch, wasn't she? Which is... ugh. Way over the other side of the space station. That's kilometres away. I'll have to catch the monorail.'
<b> [[Run, Jestyn! You might still catch up with her! |run to station]] </b><b> You asked her about Fidget. And she said their relationship was water under the bridge. She'd washed her hands of him. </b>
'And the murder weapons were found in the creek in the velociraptors' exhibit!'
<b> Uh-huh. </b>
'Well, it's not hard evidence, but it is interesting. Let's see if we can find a smoking gun.'
<b> You mean a knife, Doctor. </b>
'Smoking knife, then, you pedant. I'm going looking for more clues.'
[[Sing a song to set the investigative mood.]] <i> Panting. </i>
<b> Run, Jestyn. Go, go, go! </b>
'Easy for you to say. You don't even have legs.'
<b> How far is the station, again? </b>
'About half a kilometre from the - hey, there she is! SONDRINE!
'Damn it - she's running away!'
<b> [[You can do it! Get her! |get her]] </b>'She's heading away from the station! She's turned right - she's running into the Xenofauna branch!'
<b> Where the alien life-forms are? </b>
'Yeah!'
<b> [[Don't let her get away! |don't let]] </b><i> Smash! Shatter! </i>
'Oh no!'
<b> What was that? </b>
'She's picked up a metal sign on a stand! She's bashing in the tanks with it! Trying to slow me down! The Lunar-Saturnian ice bug - the exoplanetary methane mollusc -'
<i> Crash!
Clinkle-clink! </i>
'Hey! That was our only specimen!'
<small> 'Screw you, MacKenzie?!' </small>
<i> Slam. </i>
'She ran into the staff-only corridor!'
<b> [[You're staff! Follow her!]] </b>'Ha! Come out, wherever you are, Sondrine. The jig is up! This corridor's a dead end! It only leads to the animal tanks.'
<small> 'Don't come any closer, MacKenzie? I'll make you regret it?' </small>
<b> Where is she? </b>
'Can't see her. Calm down, Sondrine. I just want to talk. Did Fidget hurt you? Tell me why you did it.'
<small> 'He was a liar?! And so are you?!' </small>
'What did he do?'
<small> 'He said he was vegan?! But he totally ate animals?!
'Mutocattle and chicken and shellfish and fried crickets?! Like, he didn't even think about their feelings?! Do you know what it's, like, like to realise you've lain with a man whose body is a graveyard?!' </small>
'So... you fed Fidget to the carnivores. To show him what it was like.'
<small> 'I did it to protect the animals? He was a monster?' </small>
<b> [[But she just smashed the tanks.]] </b>'Huh. What a hypocrite. I'll go further down the corridor - she can't hide forever.
'Come out, Sondrine. I need your help. Those alien life forms out there will die if we don't get them back in their own atmospheres. You don't want to be an animal killer, do you?'
<small> 'Those aren't animals? They're not even from Earth?' </small>
'Sondrine. It is your duty as a vet to prevent suffering. You will come out here, right now, and help me save those extraterrestrials.'
<i> SMASH! </i>
'Fucking hell, Sondrine! Not the Gliesian lump-worm!'
<small> 'I regret nothing?!' </small>
<i> Slam! </i>
'Shit! Plexi, she's run out behind me! There's Gliese atmosphere leaking all over the place. '
<b> [[Try the door.|sondrine killer, bad end]] </b> 'Right, then! She was heading to the marine branch, wasn't she? Which is... ugh. Way over the other side of the space station. That's kilometres away. I'll have to catch the monorail.'
<b> [[Run, Jestyn! You might still catch up with her! |station good]] </b><b> That white pendant Brooks wears? It's ivory. </b>
'... It can't be.'
<b> It is. Brooks is an animal smuggler. Fidget saw what he was doing on the security feeds, so Brooks disposed of him, and tried to do the same to me. </b>
'... Is it weird that I'm more upset about the smuggling than the murder?'
<b> Perhaps to a human, it would be. But I don't think so. The trafficking has caused harm to many lives. Francis Riccardello was a single organism... at least, he was if you don't count the trillions of bacteria to which he was host.
Such brief lives organic beings have. Such tragically brief, brutal lives. </b>
'Yeah, enough philosophy, Plexi. I'm going after Brooks.'
<b> Would you like me to pump you up for the confrontation with a rap? </b>
'A what?!'
[[Rap about my adventures.]]<b> He obviously did attempt to feed a carnivore today, because his uniform was shredded. And he was bleeding. Where else did we see blood that we couldn't explain as being Fidget's? </b>
'The tigers! And I bet he knows what became of the missing tag, too.'
<b> You also mentioned that he doesn't seem to like animals. That's because he doesn't. He's not working here for the love of animals. He's working here to get closer to them. To poach them.
Most of the smaller animals have no microtags. They breed too quickly and are too numerous to justify the effort. So anyone who was, say, involved in the illegal trade of animals could smuggle them off Xenofari and down to earth. Fish, invertebrates, small reptiles, small birds - the job has been simple enough for him so far.
[[Until last night.]] </b>
<b> <i> I'm the AI of the zoo in space.
There's severed limbs lying all over the place.
The transport here is a bumpy ride
but the kids can help solve a hom-i-cide - </i> </b>
'What are you chanting?'
<b> ... I'm rapping. </b>
'Well, it's weird. Can you cut it out?'
<b> You just don't appreciate my talents. </b>
'Where was Brooks headed when we spoke to him?'
<b> [[To have a smoke. |fresh air]]
[[To your clinic, Jestyn. |go to clinic]] </b>'Why did he say he was smoking?! He's not allowed to smoke on this ship!'
<b> Actually, he never said he was smoking. He said he was going for some fresh air. </b>
'Fresh air? But none of the air on Xenofari is fresh. Even with all the trees, we can't perfectly replicate Earth's atmospheric conditions. All the air here is recycled.'
<b> And where are those recyclers? </b>
'They're behind the scenes. They run around the outer circumference of Xenofari's orbital rings.'
<b> [[Then maybe he's there.]] </b>
'Well, I saw him heading towards the maintenance doors to Xenofari's outer rings. The maintenance tunnels are the most... spacey part of the station, I guess. Air filters, pipes and stuff like that.'
<b> [[Run, Jestyn! You might still catch up with him! |run to maint]] </b>'Oh - right! The visitors have been locked out of the zoo! I can go as fast as I want!'
<i> WHIRRING. </i>
'Passing the turnoff for Xenofauna now... passing the Wonders of Gene-Splicing exhibit - I am not a fan of those poor Pocketmonsters, by the way -'
<b> Pocketmonsters? </b>
'Yeah, they were cloned in the early twenty-first century. A rat spliced with an electric eel, a tortoise spliced with a flower - really sick stuff. A rich couple paid some Russian scientists to make some new pets for their kid's tenth birthday, and do you know what he did? He ran dogfighting rings with them.
'I'm pulling up now, Plexi. Just outside the doors to Xenofari's outer rings. The maintenance tunnels are the most... spacey part of the station, I guess. Air filters, pipes and stuff like that.'
<b> [[In you go.]] </b><b> This time, Brooks knew he needed a young tiger for a client, and he could carry it well enough in his buggy and a suitcase. But the tracker was a problem. And so was I.
So he shut me down. He took a bag of your medical tools, tranked the tiger, and cut the tag out. Fidget - who had access to security footage through me - must have found out, so Brooks killed and dismembered him. Partly to stop him talking... and partly to serve as a warning to anyone else who crossed him.
Luckily, I have a few failsafes built in. It's all starting to come back. </b>
'It's a great theory... but do you have the footage?'
<b> Well... no. Pieces of it. But Brooks isn't identifiable in any shots. </b>
'What proof do you have, then?'
<b> [[The pendant.]]
[[We can ask questions later. Go after him! |to end path 9]] </b><b> This time, Brooks knew he needed a young tiger for a client, and he could carry it well enough in his buggy and a suitcase. But the tracker was a problem. And so was I.
So he shut me down. He took a bag of your medical tools, tranked the tiger, and cut the tag out. Fidget must have found me with my banks all wiped, and Brooks' sign-in. When he went to confront him - since the comms were shut down - Brooks killed and dismembered him. Partly to stop him talking... and partly to serve as a warning to anyone else who crossed him.
Luckily, I have a few failsafes built in. It's all starting to come back. </b>
'... Is it weird that I'm more upset about the smuggling than the murder?'
<b> Perhaps to a human, it would be. But I don't think so. The trafficking has caused harm to many lives. Francis Riccardello was a single organism... at least, he was if you don't count the trillions of bacteria to which he was host. Such brief lives organic beings have. Such tragically brief, brutal lives. </b>
'Yeah, enough philosophy, Plexi. I'm going after Brooks.'
<b> Would you like me to pump you up for the confrontation with a rap? </b>
'A what?!'
[[Rap about my adventures.]]'There's also Sondrine, one of my assistants. Can't say I like her much either. Friendly, pretty young thing, but kind of, I don't know... false. I think I've seen her hanging with Fidget during her time off, although I couldn't tell you why, for the life of me. I guess he was reasonably good-looking, for a tech geek. I can't imagine he was a terribly considerate lover. He certainly wasn't considerate to his neighbours.'
<b> Jestyn, you simply must...
[[Talk to Brooks.]]
[[Talk to Sondrine.]] </b><i> Panting. </i>
<b> Run, Jestyn. Go, go, go! </b>
'Easy for you to say. You don't even have legs.'
<b> How far is the station, again? </b>
'About half a kilometre from the - hey, there she is! SONDRINE!
'Damn it - she's started running! She's got a backpack - looks heavy, but she's about half my age - I'll never catch her.'
<b> You can head her off at the station! Quick! [[Jump in a buggy!]] </b> 'Okay, Plexi, I'm grabbing Xenofari Buggy Number - stuff it, who even cares? - attempting to head off the suspect at the marine wing.'
<i> Whirring. </i>
<b> Pedal to the metal, Jestyn. </b>
'Oh - right! The visitors have been locked out of the zoo! I can go as fast as I want!'
<i> WHIRRING. </i>
'Passing the turnoff for Xenofauna now... passing the Wonders of Gene-Splicing exhibit - I am not a fan of those poor Pocketmonsters, by the way -'
<b> Pocketmonsters? </b>
'Yeah, they were cloned in the early twenty-first century. A rat spliced with an electric eel, a tortoise spliced with a flower - really sick stuff. A rich couple paid some Russian scientists to make some cool new pets for their kid's tenth birthday, and do you know what he did? He ran dogfighting rings with them.
'Okay, we're here! Marine branch!'
<b> [[It is ON.]] </b><i> Squeeeal. </i>
'Where do I park the buggy?'
<b> LEAVE IT, Jestyn! The monorail will come around any moment now! </b>
'Okay, um, I'm - I'm pursuing the suspect on foot again -'
<b> Don't waste your breath, Jestyn. Just run! </b>
<i> Running footsteps. </i>
'Phew... Plexi, I... I'm waiting near the station now. The... monorail... comes through an... aquarium tunnel... no sign of it yet.'
<b> We're looking for proof, right? </b>
'Yeah?'
<b> [[Then you should hide.]] </b><b> You can't catch her yet. You've got no proof. You have to see what she does next. </b>
'Oh. Yeah. Of course. Where should I hide?'
<b> In plain sight. You should...
[[Set your suit to camouflage.]]
[[Pose as a mermaid.]] </b>'I wish you'd stayed deleted.'
<b> [[Switch your suit to camo, then. You have a PhD, for God's sake. |Set your suit to camouflage.]] </b><b> Okay, Ninja Vet. What's around you right now? </b>
'There's a big tropical reef tank over the train tunnel. There's a model of a whale hanging over my head. We never did revive the whales. Wouldn't fit up here, anyway.
'Gonna keep quiet now. Train's coming.'
<i> <small> Hiss.
Footsteps. </small> </i>
<small> 'Hello? Is anyone here?
'Thank Christ. Time to get this over with.' </small>
<i> Footsteps. </i>
<b> [[Where's she going?]] </b>
'Heading away down the path. I'm in pursuit.'
<b> You're not a cop, Jestyn. You don't have to use the lingo. </b>
'Well, maybe I LIKE using the lingo. She's going down past the display with the seahorses - that's the fish, not the genetic hybrid.
'Still going, still going - I'm sneaking from one big fake kelp to the next - and still going, past the trilobites now...'
<b> Trilobites? </b>
'We're revamping their tank in the prehistoric section. Plexi... she's heading into a staff only corridor.'
<b> [[You're staff. Go.]] </b>
'Plexi... there's only pumps and filters back here. I've lost her.'
<i> <small> Clang. Clang. Clang. </small> </i>
<b> Are there metal stairs? </b>
'Yes.'
<b> She's walking down them. Over to your left. </b>
'Cheers. She's leaning over a tank... she's setting down her backpack... she's taking out a long object wrapped in polymer sheeting...'
<small> 'Here we go, Fidget. Maybe the bull sharks will be able to swallow your bullshit.' </small>
<i> Crinkle. </i>
'Are you getting this, Plexi? It's the final piece! She's got Fidget's other arm!'
<b> She's about to destroy the last piece of proof! [[Make your move!]] </b>
'Hold it right there, Sondrine!'
<small> '...This isn't what it looks like.' </small>
'Really? Because it looks like you're trying to feed Francis Riccardello's arm to the bull sharks.'
<small> '... It's a... mannequin.' </small>
'Well, your mannequin is bleeding. And you as a vet assistant should know better than to throw old rubbish into the animals' habitats.'
<i> Splash! </i>
<small> 'Whoops? I totally dropped it? Sorryeeeee!
'Would you look at that! They're enjoying their breaky. Maybe I'll let them have seconds.' </small>
<b> [[Stay back from the tank, Doctor. |stay back]] </b>'Why'd you do it, Sondrine?'
<small> 'He was a two-faced prick. Why else?' </small>
'He cheated? Who with?'
<small> 'You're not going to believe it. Fortunately, no one will believe you. Dumb Sondrine couldn't be a murderer? She's totally bubbly and stuff?
'It was the fuckin' AI. He cheated the whole time we were together.' </small>
<b> [[Me?!]] </b>'Fidget cheated on you... with Plexi?'
<small> 'Technically, he cheated on Plexi with me. He always had that damn pip in his ear. He was obsessed with improving it. Said it made him feel safe. Like he was never alone.
'He loved that stupid thing. I was just the meat. A warm body to hold that helped him pretend the AI was a real woman. I don't know how he decided it was a woman. It's always sounded weirdly flat and neutral to my ear. He never admitted his infatuation to me, but I figured it out.
'Luckily, he taught me a few tricks. Like how to disable the AI's alarm system, but leave the security cameras running.
'So I did, and I killed him. Using an idea he thought of, by the way - feeding the body to carnviores. And I did it knowing the AI could see everything. And when I was done, I went up to Fidget's office.
'And I killed that smug asshole AI too.
'And I think I'll round it out to three by punting my condescending harpy of a supervisor over the side here, as well.' </small>
<b> [[Let me at her, Jestyn!]] </b>'What?'
<b> Take your earpiece out. I'll give her what for! </b>
'Ow! Stop yelling.'
<small> 'You too, Doctor? I might have known.' </small>
'Sondrine, I ought to warn you... Plexi is kind of hard to kill. It... wants to talk to you.'
<small> 'You even use his stupid name for it. Come on. Hop in the tank. People used to pay through the nose to swim with sharks. I haven't got all day - I'm still seeing the sick dugong after this.' </small>
<b> She deleted me! She erased my whole self! My hopes! My dreams! </b>
<small> 'You don't have hopes and dreams! You're a fucking computer!' </small>
<b> [[I might have! Before you deleted them!|End 8: Sondrine caught]] </b>'Based on what?'
<b> Well, we've got no proof. But wouldn't it be hilarious? </b>
'Plexi, please, this is serious.'
<b> [[Fine.|I know who did it.]] </b>'And what do you know? Bloody Duran's taken the buggy I was using. I'll just grab another one from this corral.'
<i> Whirring. </i>
'We're off! I'm coming for you, you bird-smuggling, tiger-stealing bastard!'
<i> Whirring. </i>
<b> [[Pedal to the metal, Jestyn.]] </b> <i> Panting. </i>
<b> Run, Jestyn. Go, go, go! </b>
'Easy for you to say. You don't even have - hey, there he is! BROOKS!
'Damn it - he's running away!'
<b> [[You can do it! Get him! |get him]] </b>'Coming up on a big steel hatch now to the outer ring -'
<i> Slam. </i>
'He went into the maintenance tunnel!'
<b> [[Follow him!]] </b>'Okay, it's, um, it's long and dark... and there are fans whirring back here... it's much harder to orient myself...'
<b> Where did he go? </b>
'Nothing to my right... Hey! Hey, Brooks!
'He ran into an airlock bay! Where we release the bots to work on the outside of the space station! Ha ha ha, what an idiot!'
<b> [[We've got him now!]] </b>'Ha! Come out, wherever you are, Brooks. The jig is up! This airlock's a dead end! It only leads to the cold void of outer space.'
<b> <i> 'Don't come any closer, MacKenzie. I'll make you regret it.' </i>
Where is he? </b>
'Can't see him. The airlock bay is pretty big.
'Calm down, Brooks. I just want to talk. Whatever you're getting from selling those animals on the black market, it's not worth it. You can't measure lives in dollars.'
<i> <b> 'Black market?! I'm not poaching them, you cow - I'm rescuing them!' </b> </i>
'What?!'
<b> [[What?!]] </b>
<i> <b> 'You heard me! I'm the only person in this sick freakshow who cares about animals at all! I've saved hundreds of innocent creatures from this evil park!' </b> </i>
'... Where ARE you, Brooks?'
<i> <b> 'Until now, I've only managed to save the small ones. But my heart is bleeding for the tigers. Such beautiful creatures should roam free!' </b> </i>
'Why did you kill Francis Ricardello?'
<i> <b> 'Fidget said he was vegan! But he was a disgusting carnist!
'Mutocattle and chicken and shellfish and fried crickets! He didn't even think about their feelings! His body was a graveyard. I had to do something.' </b> </i>
'So... you fed Fidget to the carnivores. To show him what it was like.'
<i> <b> 'I did it to protect the animals! He was a monster.
'And so are you.' </b> </i>
<b> [[But what about the necklace? It's ivory, isn't it?]] </b>'You're wearing ivory, Brooks. Tell me why you really did it.'
<i> <b> 'It's not ivory. It's human bone! I've slain animal exploiters with my bare hands.
'But that won't be necessary this time.' </b> </i>
<i> Whoosh.
Thud.
Click. </i>
<b> [[Jestyn... what was that sound?|End 9: airlock]] </b>'Okay, it's, um, it's long and dark... and there are fans whirring back here... it's much harder to orient myself...'
<b> Where did he go? </b>
'Nothing to my right... Hey! Hey, Brooks!
'He ran down towards an airlock bay! Where we release the bots to work on the outside of the space station!'
<small> <i> Beep. Beep. Beep. </i> </small>
<b> What's that noise? </b>
'It's the docking alarm. There must be a spacecraft coming in!'
<b> [[He's escaping!]] </b>'Plexi, send an emergency call to Constable Duran!'
<b> On it. </b>
'I'm going for a closer look.
'Okay, the doors are transparent, so the craft flying in appears to be one of our own mini joyride shuttles. The tourists love 'em. Only it looks kind of... beaten up.
'Closing the space door now...
'Opening the inner door... someone's getting out.'
<mark> 'Got the goods, Brooksy?' </mark>
<i> <b> 'Sure have, boss. Thanks for arranging this. I never would have been able to get a tiger through customs. Juvenile or not.' </b> </i>
<mark> 'Any time. Did you get rid of the screen jockey?' </mark>
<b> <i> 'Yeah, but one of the vets is snooping around. You want me to eliminate her?' </i> </b>
<mark> 'Ugh, I know just the one. Help me down, Brooksy.' </mark>
'Plexi, it's some kind of alien... hairy, humanoid, kind of reddish...'
<b> [[That's not an alien!|End 10: Brooks caught]] </b>