Early autumn, and the trees were just beginning to be touched with yellow in among the green. Eloise Hudson stood on the porch for a moment, admiring the view, before she turned and went into the house.
"Martin?"
No answer from her husband. Eloise slipped off her shoes and padded across the carpeted floor into the living room. If he was home, Martin would usually be reading here....
"Martin?"
The room was empty. Eloise shrugged. Martin hadn't said he was going out... but perhaps something had come up, over at the college. Or perhaps he was just out for a walk, on this beautiful day. She smiled. Or perhaps he had other plans - it was, after all, their anniversary tomorrow. He might easily be cooking up some sort of surprise. It was like him.
Then she saw the PADD, lying on the settee. Martin didn't leave things like that lying around - he was a careful, neat, man, it was one of the things she liked about him. She picked it up. It activated the moment it felt the touch of her hand, and words glowed on its glassy surface
grau
she did it again
it was grau
im sorry love
cant do anything about it
got to go
grau did it aga
---
The man from the police was calm, kind, and reassuring. Eloise told him what had happened, showed him the PADD, tried very hard to keep the strain from showing in her voice.
"So let's check the obvious things first," he said in a deep, soothing voice. "You've called your husband's workplace? They don't have any answers for you?" He consulted a PADD in his hand.
"I've called the college," said Eloise. "He - he teaches math there. He left, um, after his last class. At the usual time. He didn't seem -"
"Help me out here a moment, will you?" The policeman was frowning. "There's something wrong here, on my records... about your husband's date of birth?"
"Oh," said Eloise. "Oh. No, that's - um - that's probably right. He was in Starfleet, a long time ago. He was caught, caught in some sort of time warp. For more than ninety years." She choked back a hysterical laugh. "Our friends said, they said, such an age difference, we'd never make it work - but we did, we do - it's our anniversary tomorrow -"
The policeman smiled. "Which one?"
"Six. We've been married six years."
"Sounds like you're doing just fine." The policeman was still frowning. "Starfleet... have you been in touch with them? This message -" he pointed to the PADD, still lying on the settee where Eloise had dropped it "- might it mean something to them, maybe?"
"I think -" Eloise's voice caught in her throat. "I think it must do. Grau - when Martin was caught in the time warp - his captain, her name was Veronika Grau. It can only mean her." She shook her head, helplessly. "Martin is - is very bitter. About her. Grau."
"So... it says 'she did it again'. Any idea what this Veronika Grau is doing, now? What she might be up to?"
"She - she stayed with Starfleet." Eloise looked at him pleadingly. "Maybe they'd know. Maybe they can tell us -"
"We'll get forensics up here to do a scan for transporter signatures," the policeman said. "Perhaps Starfleet, you know, beamed him out. Though it's kinda strange they wouldn't warn folks in advance.... But we'll call them."
---
The man from Starfleet was neither reassuring, nor a man: he was a Vulcan, small, neat and dapper in appearance. He did not give his name, and he watched Eloise with calm, appraising eyes.
"Your husband did not attempt to make contact with Captain Grau recently?" he asked.
Eloise shook her head dumbly. "They haven't spoken in years. Martin - Martin blames her, I think. For what happened."
"Captain Grau had command responsibility," the Vulcan observed. "She was cleared of negligence, though, in the matter of the USS Goshawk's misadventure in the Stygmalian Rift. I appreciate, of course, that there must have been emotional accretions concerning the incident."
He didn't sound as if he understood emotions, Eloise thought.
"It is impossible to avoid the inference," he went on, "that your husband has some knowledge of Captain Grau's current activities. This is cause for some concern on numerous levels. It is imperative that your husband's whereabouts should be established, for this reason alone."
"You think - you think Martin's done something to Captain Grau? But how? And why?"
"We do not know. We must consider all possibilities."
"Can't you - can't you talk to Grau, herself? Find out what she's doing - if she's seen Martin, or -" Eloise stopped. She didn't know what Grau might have seen, where her husband might have gone.
The Vulcan paused for a few moments, his eyes calculating, his expression remote. "It is not possible to contact Captain Grau," he said, at length. "The message left - presumably left - by your husband may relate to this. Captain Grau's vessel was assigned, at her own request, to chart and investigate the temporal anomaly known as the Stygmalian Rift. She did not check in at her last scheduled subspace radio contact time, and there is no sign of her vessel on long range scans. It is, therefore, conceivable that the repeated action of which your husband speaks -"
He kept talking, but Eloise no longer heard him. All she felt was an unending sense of horror, at the realization that something out of the void had reached into her life and taken the man she loved... and, as the Vulcan's voice droned on, she knew in her heart that she would never, never understand why.
No comments:
Post a Comment