[Danny]

I've decided to post some of this, in the hope that you will give me greater pressure to write some more...

It's rather long...

Chapter 1

The worst thing about it was the stench. Visk’s nostrils began to close up as he gagged in the foetid air. The windows were sealed shut, preventing any circulation of the relatively fresh air outside, which might have made the atmosphere more bearable to the senses. The smell may have been the worst thing, but the sight wasn’t much better, and Visk found it difficult to look directly at the corpse. But he had to. It was his job.

“The deceased is mudokon, fairly well nourished, dark skin. Cause o’ death: hanging. Prob’ly suicide. Time o’ death uncertain, but the body is in an advanced state o’ decay. Forensics could narrow it down further, but I’d estimate about two, three days.” Frack, one of Visk’s fellow officers, stopped talking into his radio and held it up to his ear, waiting for orders. Visk looked up at him, his eyes glad of a relief from the bloody corpse.

“How can yer talk so calmly about something like this?”

Frack smiled at him thinly. “Yer’ll get used to it after a while. You kinda become desensi-” His radio bleeped, and he listened to it, nodding. “Yeah… Okay… Yes Boss…” He turned back to the younger slig. “The Boss says we should treat it as Suicide, and get back as soon as possible.”

Visk frowned slightly. “So we’re not even to investigate to see if it is suicide? What if it isn’t?”

“Look, this mudokon wasn’t anybody. Why would anyone want to kill him? And if there’s no motive, why would there be a crime?”

“But why would he kill himself?”

Frack shook his head. “Who knows? Maybe one of his friends died, maybe he lost his job, or maybe he just couldn’t face being relocated when they build that Dam. There could be any number of reasons.”

“I just feel we should look around,” Visk said, feebly, “Just in case, yer know?”

Frack sighed and put his hand on Visk’s shoulder. “Well, I guess the car might’ve broken down, meaning we couldn’t get back to base on time…” He looked down at his friend, smiling. “A moment ago, yer couldn’t wait to get out of here; what’s changed?”

“I just find it hard ter believe that someone’d kill themselves on purpose.”

“Well, if it makes yer feel better, we can have a quick look around, okay?” Frack smiled as Visk’s face lit up. “At least it’ll give yer a bit more practise in Forensics…”

“So where do we start?”

Frack smiled slightly. “You tell me.”

Visk’s brow furrowed as he thought. “We could dust for fingerprints?”

Frack shook his head. “Too late fer that; this hut isn’t very well built, and weathering’ll have wiped most of the fingerprints. Besides, a lot o’ the villagers have been in here anyway. The only thing we can really do now is to examine the corpse.”

Visk drew a sharp breath, and his tentacles clenched in disgust, but he tentatively approached the suspended figure, looking at it but trying not to see.

“Get used to it, kid. Ye’re gonna be seeing a hell of a lot more o’ these in this job.”

“Do hangings usually give this much blood?” Visk was reaching out towards the bloody neck, trying to steel himself to touch it.

“Sometimes. If the rope’s very coarse.”

“Actually, I don’t think this was the rope…” Biting his lip, Visk reached up and lifted the rope from the neck a little. “There are fingernail marks on the neck; that’s where the blood’s come from: he was trying to get the rope off!”

Frack was unimpressed. “So he changed his mind, so what? His fault: if he’d used a proper noose his neck’d have been broken instantly, and he wouldn’t have had time to struggle.”

Visk turned to his superior, disgusted. “How can you speak like that? Someone else was obviously trying to hang him, and he was trying to escape!”

Frack shook his head, his expression resembling nothing more than sympathy. “Visk, ye’re looking for conspiracy where there ain’t none. This is just wasting time; let’s get outta here…”

Visk was about to protest, but then thought better of it, and sulkily made his way out of the hut. On the floor outside, however, he saw something that rekindled his zeal…

“Frack! Take a look at this!”

Visk’s superior rushed out of the hut and looked over his shoulder, anxiously.

“How many mudokons can afford shoes like that? For that matter, how many mudokons have feet that big?” Visk turned to Frack to gauge his reactions. The footprints were slightly washed away by the rain, but it was still clear that they were very expensive shoes, on very big feet. Only Glukkons could wear shoes like that…

Frack swallowed and backed away. “We have to go. Now.” His breathing getting faster, he frantically began to kick mud over the footprints. At first confused, then angry, Visk tried to hold him back.

“What are yer doing? That’s the only evidence we have that this wasn’t suicide!”

Frack turned to Visk, his eyes full of fear. “Visk, yer don’t understand. This was suicide! The evidence doesn’t matter!”

Visk’s eyebrows raised, confused. “What? But- But this proves that something dodgy was happening! That’s the truth! Why else would Glukkons come to this hut?”

“Visk, ye’re gonna have to learn one o’ these days that Truth isn’t an absolute. It depends on who you are, and in this case, Our Truth doesn’t matter! Neither does his” Frack chucked a thumb at the dangling corpse in the hut. “If we went back to the Boss and said that one of his fellow Glukkons was a murderer, do you think he’d believe us for a second? No, and we’d be out of a job, and probably ‘disappeared’ completely, or at least arrested for something. Anything. It doesn’t matter, they’d find something to get us on!”

“But-”

“Visk,” Frack visibly calmed himself. “We have to go. Apart from anything else, we were disobeying orders simply by investigating this. Nobody cares about some mudokon drifter, and they’re especially not gonna listen to us if we blame a Glukk for his murder. There’s no point in losing your career over something you can’t make a difference over anyway. Now just get in the car.”

Visk blinked back his frustration, and nodded, reluctantly. They got in the car and drove almost to the edge of the Shanty Town without a word, but when they were near open ground, Visk gestured at the mudokons who had stopped to look at the car. “What about them? Does their truth not count?”

Frack shook his head, smiling humourlessly. “Buddy, from the city’s point of view, they don’t even have a Truth….”

* * *

“Deep thoughts?”

Visk didn’t reply, but continued staring into his drink. He sensed Frack sitting beside him, but did not acknowledge him.

“Come on, Visk, ye’re not still mad about that mud, are yer?”

Visk still didn’t look up. He was too busy fighting to keep his fists where they were. “You know full well that wasn’t suicide…”

“Visk… Crimes are committed every day, by everyone. We can’t investigate every one of them.” Frack paused, but continued when Visk didn’t reply. “We have ter be able ter prioritise. The death of one mudokon is not really that important, in the grand scheme of things.”

Visk looked up at Frack for the first time. “How can you say that? If someone’s been murdered, it’s important, no matter who they are!”

He saw his superior shake his head. “Yer’ve got a lot ter learn, kid. Being a Policeman isn’t about righting all the wrongs of the world. It’s a Job. Yer first priority should be ter keep it. And yer keep the job by doing what the Boss deems is a good job.”

Visk looked down again. “And the Boss doesn’t think Muds’re important…?”

“It’s not just that. He’s a Cartel Executive, and he doesn’t want his fellow Glukkons implicated in a murder. Which is what you’re tryin’ ter do…”

Visk downed his drink and stared listlessly at the dregs. “I just want justice…”

Frack smiled. “And so yer should. But yer’ll learn, eventually, that Justice isn’t the same as Truth. Come on, let’s get yer home…” He helped his drunken companion to his feet, and they set off out of the bar…

[ January 18, 2002: Message edited by: Rettick ]