INQUEST
“But what did he die of?” Professor Uhlrich demanded.
He was sitting behind his desk, as usual, his fingertips brushing against the desktop. Grant and Dr. Kapstein sat side by side at the table abutting his desk; Trudy sat opposite Grant, wondering where Carter McClintock might be.
“Asphyxiation,” said Dr. Kapstein.
Uhlrich’s brows knitted in a puzzled frown. “Asphyxiation? You mean he had no air to breathe?”
“That’s right.”
“But he was in a space suit, wasn’t he?”
Grant said, “I checked him out before he left with Dr. Yost. His suit was working fine.”
“Then how could he die of asphyxiation?” Uhlrich demanded.
Trudy volunteered, “He said he was having difficulty breathing when we left the shelter and headed back to the hopper.”
“His suit’s air tank was about half full when I got to him,” Grant said. “The suit didn’t decompress, there was air in it.”
“This makes no sense,” said Uhlrich.
“I’ve got Aichi and Zacharias checking out his suit,” Grant said. “There weren’t any obvious signs of a defect, but if anything’s wrong with the suit, they’ll find it.”
“And if they find anything wrong it will be your fault that he died. You checked his suit, you say.”
Grant’s darkly bearded face settled into a scowl. “The suit checked out fine,” he repeated sullenly.
“I don’t like mysteries,” Uhlrich muttered. “Especially when they involve the death of one of my staff.”
Trudy thought the professor looked as if he felt personally betrayed. By whom? she wondered. Grant?
“You must find out what happened,” Uhlrich went on. “We cannot have an unsolved death on our hands. The university is going to demand an investigation.”
Dr. Kapstein said, “I’ve conferred with the top people at Selene’s hospital. They’ve examined the body by video link and agreed with my finding of asphyxiation, tentatively.”
“Tentatively? What do you mean—”
“They want to do an autopsy, of course,” said Kapstein. “I’m having the body shipped to Selene on the next lobber flight.”
Uhlrich turned from the doctor to Grant, but said nothing.
Grant abruptly pushed his chair back and got to his feet. “Well, we’re not going to learn any more sitting here and talking. I’m going down to the maintenance center and see what Zach and Toshio have found.”
He headed for the door. Uhlrich started to say something, but snapped his mouth shut, staring at Grant’s back. He sure doesn’t look like he’s blind, Trudy thought.
Dr. Kapstein rose ponderously from her chair, as well. “If there’s nothing more…” she murmured.
Uhlrich waved a hand at her. Trudy watched them both leave the office, then started to stand up, too.
“Please wait, Dr. Yost,” said Uhlrich. “Sit down, please.”
She waited for several moments. Uhlrich said nothing, merely stared blankly ahead.
Trying to break the silence, she asked, “Um, shouldn’t Mr. McClintock be involved in this? I mean, he’s your assistant, after all, and—”
“Mr. McClintock,” said Uhlrich, “is here in an advisory position only. He is not involved in the administration of this facility.”
“Oh,” Trudy said, confused. “I thought … that is…”
Uhlrich glared at her, but then his expression softened.
“Have you given any thought,” the professor asked, in a calmer, softer voice, “to putting the Mendeleev telescope to use?”
“Put it to use?”
Uhlrich called out, “Computer, Mendeleev imagery on screen.” The smart screen facing Trudy lit up with the telescope’s view of the Andromeda spiral, covering the entire wall.
“The ‘first light’ images you obtained were very good,” Uhlrich said, obviously pleased. “Excellent, in fact.”
“How can you…” Trudy caught herself before she went any farther.
“How can I see the images with my blind eyes?” Uhlrich actually smiled. “I had some of the computer specialists at Selene develop a program that transfers visual data into tactile. I see with my fingertips, Dr. Yost. I brush my fingertips across my special tactile screen and pictures form in my visual cortex.”
“That’s…” Trudy searched for a word. “That’s wonderful.”
“It serves its purpose.”
Trudy didn’t know what to say.
But Uhlrich did. “Now. We have the Mendeleev telescope up and running. There is no sense letting it sit there doing nothing. I want you to develop a research agenda for it. How can we best use it while we are waiting for the other two telescopes to be completed?”
“It’s a very powerful instrument,” Trudy said.
“Yes. I think we should begin imaging Sirius C as swiftly as we can. That could produce favorable publicity for Farside and get the media’s attention off this unfortunate accident.”
“I suppose,” Trudy said hesitantly.
“The single telescope won’t be able to yield much detail about the planet,” Uhlrich went on, “but we can refine the estimates of its size and perhaps even get some rough spectroscopic data. Finding water on the planet would be a significant step. Or free oxygen.”
Uhlrich hunched forward, clasping his hands together and talking earnestly, eagerly about how they might use the Mendeleev telescope.
He isn’t concerned about Winston’s death, Trudy realized. Except for how it affects his plans. He doesn’t really care a rat’s ass about Win.