Their Solitary Way (7 page)

Seth found Ariel on the job, working with one of her subordinates on deck nineteen. She had half her body inside the wall, yelling at the other engineer. “Careful with that! I don’t feel like waiting for you to go get another from storage.”

“Sorry!” said a muffled voice from inside the compartment.

“Don’t apologize! Just stop screwing up!”

“Excuse me,” said Seth, after a moment.

Ariel popped out of the hole. “Huh?”

He nodded. “Hey, Ariel.”

“Seth? What are you doing here?”

“Sorry to bug you like this. If you’ve got a minute, I could use your help.”

She nodded. “One sec,” she said, then leaned into the hole. “Bard, you better not screw this up or it’s back to inventory for you. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am!” said Bard.

Ariel dusted her jacket off and smiled warmly. “Alright, what can I do for you?”

“I was told you kept a list of work assignments.”

“Yeah, sure. Why are you asking?”

“I need to know who was working in a certain area during a specific time. Someone said you had the info.”

“They did, huh? Care to tell me who it was?”

“I can’t divulge my source,” he said, half-joking.

She laughed. “Fine. I
might
have a list. It only covers my team, though, and we’re one of six. You’d have to ask the other team leads.”

“I understand,” he said.

“Can you tell me what the reason for all this is?”

“It’s about the cameras in Security. There’s a possibility someone may have tampered with them. We’re looking into it.”

“I see…and you think it was one of my people?”

“No one’s pointing fingers.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, sure.”

He ignored the remark. “When can you transfer the assignment list?”

“Hang on,” she said, then tapped her wrist-com several times. “There. Check your inbox.”

He did, and found the list immediately.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, Seth, I’ve got some work to do.”

“Have fun,” said Seth, and watched as she crawled into the hole.

He walked a short way down the hall and stopped to check the list. It seemed to go back a full month, tracking all nine engineers under her command—every assignment they’d taken. According to the report, each engineer was assigned a specific area, with very little overlap. Tess was assigned to population bay 04, the area in question, along with two others: Edward Callis and…Cain Kadmon.

Seth stared curiously at his brother’s name. He had no idea his brother worked there. Why didn’t he say something to him after the accident? Actually, now that Seth thought about it, he hadn’t spoken to Cain since the other night, right before the explosion. Maybe with all the commotion in Engineering, his brother was simply too busy. In all likelihood, Cain was probably on a repair detail.

No matter. Seth could talk to him later. For now, he’d track this Edward Callis person down…ask him a few questions. He’d find Cain once he had more information. After all, there was no way he had anything to do with this.

Not a chance in hell.

Seth found Callis working
with several other engineers as they ran a sweep of one of the population bays. The assignment list was of little use today.

The bulk of Engineering was scattered across the ship, running around in search of malfunctioning equipment. Thankfully, Seth only had to ask Lilith where to find the guy, so the search didn’t take long.

Callis didn’t argue when Seth asked to speak with him. All he wanted to know was why. “So you think I accidentally corrupted the feed?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” said Seth. “Did you happen to work on the surveillance systems yesterday?”

“Nope. I was doing inventory down in Engineering. I always do my maintenance checks at the start of my shift. You know, before lunch.”

“I see,” said Seth.

“Besides, we were all off duty at that time. You’d have to talk to the guy on call for last night,” said Callis, scratching his chin.

“On call?”

“Yeah, sure. We switch off every week. It goes me, Tess, and then Cain. One of them has it this week. Let me think…” He snapped his fingers a few times, twisting his lip. “Oh! Yeah, I think it’s Cain. You should check with him about it.”

Seth stiffened at the sound of his brother’s name. “Hold on,” he said, getting the assignment list. He scanned it briefly. “I’ve got nothing here about an on-call sheet.”

“That’s because it’s not listed,” said Callis. “Ariel let’s us divide it ourselves. She says it’s better for us. You know, to learning responsibility or whatever. I think she’s just tired of assigning it. Anyway, this is Cain’s week. I’m next. You follow?”

Seth nodded. He remembered seeing his brother last night, right before the incident. He had his tools and had mentioned going to do a job. “Thanks,” Seth muttered. “I’ll let you get back to work.”

“That’s it?” asked Callis.

“I may have more questions later, but we’re good for now,” answered Seth. Without waiting for a response, he turned and left. He’d have to talk to his brother next, but what would he say? If Cain gave him reason to doubt him, it might damage their relationship. What if he slipped and said the wrong thing? Cain might take it personally and think Seth was against him. The last thing he wanted was to make Cain feel more isolated.

No, I have to do my job,
Seth thought.
Besides, I know him. He didn’t do anything wrong.
He took a few quick breaths.

Actually, he might not have to talk with Cain at all. If he could show where his brother was during each of the blackouts, especially the one from last night, he might be able to avoid this mess altogether. There were cameras everywhere on the ship, so all he had to do was follow his brother’s movements from last night. The moment he left his room to the time of the explosion. Simple enough.

Okay, then,
Seth thought.
Next stop, Security.

Seth had Uriel open the feeds so he could look through them. After an hour long tutorial, he felt confident enough to go at it alone.
I should have learned this stuff sooner,
he thought.

“Do you really think Cain had something to do with the incident?” asked Uriel.

“I’m just covering everything,” he said.

“But you think there’s a chance, right?”

“Anything’s possible,” said Seth, not wanting to condemn his brother without more evidence.

“Alright,” she said. “Do you need anything else before I take off?”

“You’re heading out?”

“Adam has me helping with the mission reports.”

“Just you?”

“Azura, too,” she said.

So that’s where she’s been all day,
he realized, thinking back to this morning when he awoke to find her gone. “I may need you here later. Think you can slip away?”

“Don’t worry. I’m only helping for a few hours today. Security’s my primary job. You call, and I’ll make an excuse to leave.”

“Thanks,” he said.

“Have fun,” she said, patting him on the shoulder. “See you when I’m done.”

Seth sorted through the footage of the other blackouts, starting with the first from several months ago. It occurred on deck six, section five, near a relatively empty part of the ship used mostly for storage. As the seconds ticked by on the digital clock, Seth saw what appeared to be a shadow against the hallway wall. Someone was there, moments before the blackout, slightly out of the camera’s reach. Seconds later, the feed cut off and everything went black. He reversed the feed and paused it, staring at the shadow on the wall. It was no good. He couldn’t make anything out.

Time to try another.

Seth pulled up the next incident, taking place a week later and in a different location. This time, the blackout occurred on the other side of the ship, near Medical. He watched the feed, waiting for any indication of movement. Again, he spied a shadow moving across the wall, but this time there was progress. This time, the shadow turned and stumbled, and the mysterious figure came into frame, but only for a second. Seth reversed the feed, freezing the image, trying to get a better look.

Cain appeared, dressed in his maintenance uniform. He was slightly out of focus.
It could be a coincidence,
Seth told himself.
He’s an engineer. His job takes him all over the ship. There’s no reason to jump to conclusions.

Seth scanned a third incident, spotting his brother once more. Again, moments before the blackout. As he went through the tapes—nearly three dozen blackouts across the ship—he found Cain on over a quarter of them.

In the incidents where Cain didn’t appear, only an occasional shadow surfaced. Seth cross-referenced the locations with his brother’s work assignments, but the results were mixed. Most of the time, Cain was working on another deck, far from the incident. Usually with several other engineers, too.

Seth didn’t know what to do. There was enough evidence here to arrest Cain on suspicion alone, but doing so would destroy his reputation. Seth couldn’t do that to him, not if there was room for doubt. Their father would be crushed.

I need more evidence
, thought Seth, staring at his brother on the screen.
I have to keep digging.

Seth sat in his apartment after taking a warm shower, finally feeling clean. He needed to relax—calm his mind a bit before returning to work tomorrow. He wanted to get some distance between himself and the video footage. He needed time to dissect what he’d seen.

He propped his feet on the sofa and closed his eyes. Within moments, his eyes had closed and he faded into sleep.

A loud buzz woke him, nearly an hour later. Wiping a bit of drool from his lip, he felt dazed and foggy. Who could be at his door? Was it Azura? No, she had her own key.

He got to his feet and checked the monitor. As he touched the pad on the wall, Abel’s face appeared. What was his brother doing here? “Seth, you there?”

“Hold on,” he said, hesitantly.

“I need to talk to you,” said Abel.

“About what?”

“Just let me in,” he insisted.

“I can’t talk very long.”

Abel stepped inside and shut the door behind him. “Thanks. Sorry if I woke you.”

“It’s fine. What’s going on?”

“Uriel and I had dinner a little while ago. She told me about the investigation.”

“I’m looking into it. We don’t know anything yet.”

“She said Cain was involved.”

“She shouldn’t be telling you anything,” said Seth.

“Still, what do you know about it? Do you think he’s the one responsible for what happened?” he asked, a little exasperated.

“Which part?” asked Seth.

“Don’t play dumb with me. You know what I’m talking about.”

“I don’t
know
a thing,” said Seth. “I’m still investigating.”

“What did you find in the video files? You have to tell me.”

“I can’t give you that kind of information. It’s an ongoing investigation.”

Abel scratched the side of his head, staring at Seth. “Tell me or I’ll go to Father. I’m betting you haven’t said anything to him yet. Imagine what he’ll do when he finds out.”

Great
, thought Seth.
This is the last thing I need right now.
“Go home, Abel.”

His brother scoffed. “There could be a terrorist running around on this ship, but you’re just sitting here in your room doing nothing. You need to arrest him. I don’t care if he’s our brother.”

“I can’t do that,” said Seth.

“Why not? What are you waiting for?” asked Abel. His voice was growing more annoyed.

“We need more evidence. Ask your wife and she’ll tell you the same thing. You can’t just go arresting people for no reason.”

Abel pursed his lips. “What did you find on the tapes, Seth?”

He said nothing.

“That’s what I thought!”

“Cain wasn’t present at most of the blackouts. He may have alibis for the others. You’re overreacting, based on something you know nothing about.”

“What about the last one?” asked Abel. “Does he have an alibi for that?”

“I don’t know yet,” admitted Seth. “I haven’t questioned him yet.”

“Why the hell not?”

“It took me ten hours to go through those tapes today. I’m only one person.”