“I don’t think that is a proper method of preservation,” said the man as he adjusted his horn-rimmed glasses. “The authorities will want to inspect all evidence, including the body.”
“Quigley is right, Dan,” said Henderson. “You should try to preserve the body somehow. Maybe refrigerate it.”
“Tom, you know how we’re equipped up here. Do you think we have a walk-in freezer?”
Freddy chuckled.
“You could put the body in an EMU,” said Henderson. “The air conditioner will help it keep better.”
“I don’t believe this,” muttered Dan. Then he said to Henderson: “I may need all my suits.”
“Are you expecting trouble?” said Henderson.
“I have a murderer on board! Does that sound like trouble to you?”
Quigley started to protest, but Henderson pushed him out of the screen.
“Okay, Dan, it’s your ball game,” said Henderson.
“The auxiliary airlock’s in shadow almost all the time,” Dan said. “We can keep the outer hatch open, so it stays in vacuum. That ought to be as good as a refrigerator. Maybe better.”
Quigley looked skeptical. Henderson said, “I hope you know what you’re doing, Dan.”
“I’m the only one who can do anything, Tom. We’re going to blackout in five minutes. I’ll talk to you as soon as I know something. Out.”
Dan broke the link before Henderson could acknowledge.
“That was helpful,” he said to himself, then turned to Freddy. “Five minutes enough time?”
“You got it, boss,” said Freddy.
After Freddy reported that all the comm links between the station and Earth were shut down, Dan announced over the loudspeaker that an extremely dire emergency had arisen. All personnel, regardless of their current activities, were to assemble in the rumpus room immediately. He expected that everyone would comply; the heavy tone of his voice was obvious.
Five minutes later, Dan pulled himself into a rumpus room that seemed to have shrunk around the press of floating bodies. The Japanese contingent was neatly dressed and wide awake, hovering by the big centrifuge in order of their rank. The Americans, Canadians, and Europeans seemed to have been taken by surprise. Some obviously had been rousted out of their sleep. Bianco hovered up at the front in a pair of handsome red-and-gold silk pajamas.
Kurt Jaeckle and Thora Skillen accosted Dan and demanded to be told the nature of the emergency. Dan was preoccupied with taking a head count and suggested absently that they wait along with everyone else. When the two scientists pressed him, he nodded toward Freddy. The crewman sliced between Jaeckle and Skillen and placed his powerful hands on their shoulders.
“You listen to the man, eh?” he said.
Jaeckle and Skillen backed away, then sought out Bianco. The Italian listened to them and nodded, but made no move toward Dan. Yet their insistence had affected Dan. Most of the people on the station had been through the emergency power-down. Some had grumbled and some had complained, but most simply rode out the three hours of semidarkness. Today he had called them without explanation into the rumpus room. This mysterious emergency was not a power-down that would disappear after tinkering with the mainframe computer. He could not bring Aaron Weiss back to life.
Dan stopped counting heads. The people who were here deserved an immediate explanation. Then he would seek out any absentees.
“We have had a very serious and tragic incident,” he said. “Aaron Weiss, the CNN reporter who has been visiting the station, is dead.”
A current of shock coursed through the ranks. Dan could read it on their faces; stunned surprise that made eyes go wide and cheeks pale. He could hear it in the collective gasp of indrawn breath followed by the eerie silence that fell over the rumpus room. The silence deepened for a long moment. Everyone was shaken. Then a murmur rose as people whispered among themselves.
“The crew and I will be conducting an investigation until the authorities arrive,” Dan said, silencing the whispers. “We intend to keep our interference with your science projects to a minimum, but we expect your full cooperation if and when it is requested.”
Stanley, Muncie, and Lorraine entered the rumpus room. Lorraine’s nod indicated that the body had been stowed in the auxiliary airlock.