“Goddammit, Captain!” she said, and started to give CPR to the clone.
“Let her go. She can die in peace now,” Katrina said from the floor.
Joanna ignored her, pressing into the clone’s chest, but nearly jumped as she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. Wolfgang stood there, looking uncharacteristically gentle. “CPR doesn’t work in this gravity, Joanna. Is there a defibrillator anywhere?”
“Why do we need a defibrillator on board when no one cares if someone has a heart attack or not?” Joanna cried. “Just wake up a new clone, right?” She whirled on the captain. “You are now a murderer. I’m naming you medically unfit to lead this mission.”
Katrina laughed. “What authority gives you that right? I just dispatched an illegal clone. Don’t you know the Codicils, Doctor? I am the legal clone of Katrina de la Cruz on this ship. I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Then I arrest you for stealing medical supplies,” Wolfgang said, lifting her to her feet and propelling her back to her bed. “Regardless, Katrina, you’re relieved of duty until we figure out what to do with you. Now get back into bed.”
Katrina’s eyes stayed on her dead clone as she climbed into bed. No remorse was there. “It had to be done.”
Joanna pulled a sheet over the old captain’s face. “As of right now, Captain de la Cruz, you are on mandatory medical leave until I am assured of your mental state. Wolfgang will act as captain of the Dormire.”
Katrina shook her head. “You can’t do that. You won’t want to when you know who he is.”
“I have the right as medical officer on this ship. And IAN is programmed to back me up if you resist.”
She looked at her second in command. “And you? Are you going along with this mutiny? When you know what I am about to say?”
Wolfgang crossed his arms. “The doctor is right. You just attacked someone on the ship. Do what you must.”
“He’s the Clone Who Hated Himself! He’s a murderer! He hunted his own kind! Don’t you think that we can point the finger at him for all this chaos? He hates clones!”
Paul and Maria wandered into the medbay and pulled up, staring at them. They spoke at the same time.
“Who hates clones?” Paul asked.
“IAN told us to come here. What happened?” Maria asked.
Katrina pointed her finger at Wolfgang. “He’s that priest whose murder caused the Codicils to pass! He hunted clones, and hackers, for years!”
“Wait a second. If you knew who he was, why were you so eager to wake up your clone to find out what she knew?” Hiro asked. “You’re full of it.”
Wolfgang stood straight and met Katrina’s eyes. “No, she’s right. That is the criminal past that put me on this ship.”
“Oh. Huh.” Hiro looked liked he wanted to move away from Wolfgang, but he was strapped to a bed.
“So?” Katrina said. “Are you going to out me, now?”
“No,” Wolfgang said. “I have control of the ship. Outing you would just be spiteful.”
Katrina looked at Joanna. She waved her hand at Wolfgang. “What about you? Are you comfortable putting the ship in the hands of a murderer?”
“I knew who he was before,” Joanna said. “It’s interesting that the only person to tell me of their violent past has been someone who has shown no violence yet on this trip. So yes, I’m more comfortable with him in charge.”
“You’re no better than me right now,” Hiro said cheerfully. “None of you! Except you, maybe, Joanna. Don’t worry about the bed straps, Kat. While tight, they’re quite comfy.”
“Wait, how am I bad?” Maria asked, looking hurt.
“We will talk in a moment,” Joanna said. “IAN, do I have your backup on this?”
“Sure, Doctor, whatever you like,” he said.
“All senior officers on the ship are in agreement,” Joanna said. “Wolfgang is acting captain of the Dormire.”
“Oh, come on, she needs to be strapped in too!” Hiro called from his bed. “Don’t tell me you trust her more than me.”
“We know her, Hiro. We’re still not sure who you are,” Joanna said. “But you’re right about the straps.”
“Clearly you don’t know her, if you didn’t expect her to attack her own clone.”
“We had IAN watching you all.”
“Snitch,” Hiro said.
“Hey, I told them you were lying bleeding in the cargo hold. I could have told them you were dead and you maybe would have died down there,” IAN said.
Hiro relaxed back on his bed. “Well, this is exciting. I hope if anyone comes in to murder me, you’ll be able to stop them.”
Katrina allowed Wolfgang to strap her into bed, not meeting anyone’s eyes.
Wolfgang secured the straps and then looked at Maria. “We need to talk.”
After checking Hiro’s wounds and allowing him a bathroom break, Wolfgang and Joanna left the captain sedated and both she and Hiro strapped to their beds. Maria had gone to the kitchen to make some tea.
“I can’t help but be glad we have a lead,” Wolfgang said on the way there. “But that wasn’t fun to watch.”
Joanna had been holding back hopeless tears. She was glad to let the emotion turn to rage. “Are you kidding me? You’re glad a woman died with only an accusation on her lips? What if she’s lying? We will never know.”
“We’ll know after we talk to Maria,” Wolfgang said. “I’m not saying I’m glad she’s dead. I’m saying I’m glad to have a lead.”
“Whatever, let’s just go get Maria.”
Maria sat in the kitchen, waiting for them.
“I half expected you to be hiding,” Wolfgang said.
“I haven’t done anything”—she paused, frowning at their faces—“that I know of. What’s going on?”
They sat across the table from her and told her what happened in the medbay with Katrina and the old captain, and what she had said before dying.
Maria nodded. “All right. Well, I don’t know if what I have will make you feel any better. But, well, recently—” She interrupted herself to hold up a finger to stop them from saying anything. “—and I mean recently, IAN told me he got past some computer securities I had. They were so deep I didn’t know I’d put them there. So he found some of my personal logs. IAN, will you play the logs you found for Joanna and Wolfgang?”
They listened as Maria’s personal log discussed the incidents of the final days aboard the Dormire. “Is there any chance this is forged?” Wolfgang said, frowning.
IAN spoke from the kitchen speakers. “No, the time stamp is correct.”
“How come IAN and you and Paul didn’t find this earlier?” Wolfgang asked.
“I secured it. I’m very good at what I do,” she said.
“Which is?”
Maria looked surprised. “I’m a hacker, Wolfgang. You didn’t get that? I am the one who stole and kept backups of our first mindmaps on the ship. It’s a habit I’ve always had. I hoard data. I remember that before we left, I promised myself I’d stop once we left Luna. Starting the new life and all that. I guess I had to steal one more backup for old times’ sake.”