Carriage 374

Carriage 374

I looked upon the little man who sat ever so still on my desk, clutching his hat with both hands tightly to his chest. He was very careful not to meet my eyes and I could tell he was sweating under his plaid flannelette shirt. Man, I hate it when people won’t look me in the eye.

I didn’t think less of him. Most of my human clients are this way when they first meet me. Being more than ten times their size, humans tend to be pretty frightened of Repsorians they don’t know. Though once you’ve “proven” yourself the good ones can be exceedingly loyal.

I guess he hadn’t had many dealings with Repsorians but then that was to be expected. I knew that humans were still being kept as pets and hunted for sport less than 200 years before I was born. It was only fifty years ago humans were offishly recognised as sentient beings and thus had rights under the law. When I was in school they taught us that the Repsorians settled Earth about 1000 years ago. Now the textbooks say it was invaded, which I have come to believe is closer to the truth.

Though most Humans hadn’t had a lot of experience with Repsorians, I had had quite a bit of experience with them. You see my husband, bless his tiny heart, is a human. When that got around a lot more humans were suddenly willing to approach me, funny that, huh?

“Would you like a cup of tea, or a glass of water? I’d give you coffee but you look jittery enough as it is.” I leaned down, tilting my head just a little to meet his eyes.
“Mr Finnegan, You can look me in the eye. I don’t bite.” That got me a little smile. Sherry, my human receptionist, got the man a glass of water and he began to tell me his story.

His wife was Repsorian. She’d been killed in a big train wreck a few weeks back. Being one of the worst disasters in years it was in all the papers and broadcasts.
“Well, that’s a sad story Mr Finnegan, but I’m not sure what you wont me to do about it.”
“Her body’s been stolen!” OK, that got my attention.
“Haven’t you approached the police?”
“They said they had better things to do than chase after a corpse. When there are tons more missing people who might still be alive.” Most of the cops are Repsorians. And we don’t bury our dead. We do mourn them but unless I die before my husband you will never see a grave bearing my name.

I was kind of surprised they hadn’t investigated further. You don’t steal a body unless you’re crazy or want to fake someone’s death.

“All right Mr Finnegan, I’ll see what I can do” Mr Finnegan left my office. I lay back in my chair contemplating my next move. Picking up my phone I dialled an all too familiar number, the Brams City morgue.
“Hi.”
“Gwen?”
Oh great, they know my voice. Just goes to show the kind of year I was having. I remember when all my cases were insurance fraud or missing jewellery, my how times change.
“Yeah Vic it’s me. Can I come down?”
“Well that depends, if you want to look at one of the bodies then no. If it’s about the disappearance…”
“It is.”
“I guess that would be ok. But you know you can’t just keep coming down here and demand to see bodies that you don’t have permission to view.”
“You could just say I intimidated you.” The last thing I heard was Vic’s deep laugh as he hung up the phone.

“Janice, have all my calls routed to my mobile. And take the rest of the day off.” Grabbing my gun I clipped its holster under my arm and made for the door. Off to the morgue we go. Hi, my name is Gwen Sadoprro and I’m a P.I.







The Brams City morgue was a relatively large (depending on who you asked) underground complex under the Brams general hospital. The air was freezing, probably close to 10 degrees (were Vic liked it). The thick overpowering smell of disinfectant stuck to your mouth, stung your eyes and closed around you almost like a physical presence. The neon lights tinted your vision blue and managed to be both dull and harsh at the same time, giving the whole place an air of surrealism.

Vic was a tall and gangly human who worked as an intern at the hospital. He must have screwed up pretty bad, because somehow he’d ended up permanently stuck down in the big concrete room full of corpses. Or perhaps he liked being down here.

He got around on a mechanical strut, a bulky yellow hydraulic monstrosity of robotics, which allowed him to deal with both human and Repsorians victims. He approached me as I rounded the corner, the rattling mass of steel wheezing and hissing with every step.

“So how’s the little man in your life?” he said with that mischievous grin he often gets.
“He’s an accountant, Vic. He’s sweet and boring, the way I like him.”
“Well if you ever get bored of being bored you know where to come.”
“Hey, I’m a happily married woman. Being bored makes a nice change from being shot at every couple of months.”

I know you’re probably wondering why I’m in so much trouble all the time. Well most of my cases are now from humans and Repsorians who have had a loved one, usually a human, go missing. And a lot of them turned out to have been murdered by racist or jealous Repsorians. It’s funny how I’m always worried about my husband; we live in the Repsorian part of town, which is very hazardous for humans. Yet he’s not the one who gets shot at for a living.

“So, what’s the story with Ms. Finnegan’s body?” I said.
“Well I wasn’t there when it happened, but I can tell you that it never made it down here.” Something must have shown on my face because he suddenly got very defensive.
“Hey, what do you think, I’m just lounging around here half asleep? Like I’d just let some chump come in here and steal something on my watch?”
“Sorry Vic, I didn’t mean anything. Do you know anything about what happened?” Vic sighed and relaxed back down into his struts. He was a pretty easygoing guy. He’d get angry pretty quickly and then it would subside even quicker.

“Well the way I here it is they went missing at the crash scene.”
“They?”
“Didn’t you know? There isn’t just one body missing. There’s twenty.
The way I hear it is, when they were pulling the bodies out of the wreck they zipped ‘em up in bags and lined them up along the track ready to be ponied over hear. But later when the ambos arrived, some of the bags had been torn open and the bodies were gone.”

“So there are twenty bodies missing? Does that happen a lot when a disaster occurs?”
“Can’t say, I’ve never seen this many dead Repsorians all in one go. I know you guys use each other for fertiliser but I still can’t imagine they’d steal a body for that reason.” Most humans find that fact disturbing; I just thought it was practical. After all most of the farms in Europe are built on old battlegrounds. Where the dead were just left to rot in the sun. Why let all that good nurturance go to waste?

“They wouldn’t. Anyway, thanks Vic you’ve been a real help.” I decided to make a speedy exit before Vic gave another one of his apparently lurid complements, which I wouldn’t quite get. And besides the smell was finally starting to overpower me.

Once in hopping in my car I ordered the AI to drive down to the Department of Buses, Rail and Ferries. So it was time to test out a few theories that were swimming around in my brain.

While the car drove I went over the list of names Vic had given me. First of all they weren’t all Repsorians and only a few of the humans were married to any of the Repsorians who were missing. This led me to discount some kind of hate crime, for now at least. The car pulled up to a small brick building with a sign that read “Department of Buses, Rail and Ferries”

Being a government building, the DBRF has to make allowances for both species to use the facilities. Three paths, one Repsorian and two human, led into the bland structure. Inside, the building had several mezzanine stories where hundreds of humans moved to and from the various departments. All the information desks were half facing into the gap and half facing into the floor. So both humans and Repsorians could have access. I approached the information desk in the centre of the Repsorian area and asked about information on the train crash. The clerk pointed out one of the desks on the second floor. I had to get down on my hands and knees so I could see whom I was talking to. Good thing the floor was soft.

After waiting only about fifteen minutes one of the little clerks turned to serve me.
“Hello, how may I help you?”
“My name is Gwen Sadoprro. I was hired by one of the survivors of the recent accident to investigate the…”
“I’m sorry ma’m but if you’re looking to file a liability suit you need to go to talk to management.”
“No it’s not like that. The body has disappeared and I think it might have something to do with one of the other passengers on the train.”

I continued to explain that more than one body was missing and that I was there to see if there was a connection between them. After half an hour of arguing between the clerk and I, he finally gave in and sent the info over to the printer. Grabbing the print out from the Repsorian clerks, I headed for my car, asked it to take me home, and began comparing it to the list Vic had given me at the morgue.

I first thing that really stuck out in my mind was that all the passengers that had gone missing were in the same carriage. Other than that none of them seemed to have anything else in common. In the morning I’d have to start looking into their backgrounds for more information. Perhaps something would jump out at me.

I took a deep cleansing breath in and tried to clear my mind. Tonight is Dave and my seventh anniversary. I was thinking dinner, a movie and maybe a little romance to top the night off. Yeah, Dave was pretty easily pleased.






Dave and I had had our meal and exchanged our presents. Now it was time for my special surprise. We both sat nude, kneeling in front of one another. I remember when Dave first saw me naked in the shower. He was very surprised to see there was nothing between my legs.

“So how are we going to do this again?”
“I’m going to insert you into my Cardionucleus. Then our minds will become one.”
“And I won’t drown?”
“No Dave. My heart blood comes straight from the lungs. It’s super-oxygenated, you can just breathe it in.”
“Ok, I think I’m as ready as I’m going to be.”
I gently scooped my little man up into my palm. And I was suddenly aware of how much different he felt bare. He was softer somehow. I lifted him up, across my body, over my midriff and onto my left breast. I let him linger there for a while. This part of me was soft, warm, but most of all it was familiar. I gently worked him into my soft tissue. He kissed and hugged me back. He could probably hear the quiet thud of my heart beat. It was about to get a lot louder.

I brought him right and just a little down. There in between our breasts was the key to every Repsorian’s heart.
“I don’t know if anyone’s ever tried anything like this before.”
“I trust you Gwen.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and slowly pushed down on his back. When he entered my heart I knew instantly. It was like a wave of heat flowing through my body. Dave’s essence spread from the centre of my heart to the tips of every extremity. Then all of a sudden my sight began to blur.

My head swam with visions of myself. I saw through the eyes of my lover. Our wedding day, vacations, everyday things like being harassed by my boss. I began to feel his emotions, hear his thoughts.

My pleasant feelings were shattered by a scream from deep inside me. Suddenly my vision turned red. The walls began to pulsate in and out around me. I was stuck in a great torrent of water. No It wasn’t me. It was
Dave. He was terrified.

I tried to focus my thoughts, to comfort my little man.
“Dave, Dave I am here.”
“Gwen, help me!”
“Focus on my thoughts Dave. My heart won’t hurt you. It protects you” Dave hadn’t experienced anything like this before, I had to guide him through.
“Dave, close your eyes. See through me, let yourself go. I am here, do not be afraid.”
As soon as Dave closed his eyes the room returned to normal colour and I was suddenly aware he was seeing through my eyes.

As he calmed down I could feel our minds finally beginning to merge into one. A perfect union where he and I could finally understand all that was once incomprehensible to one another.






When I opened my eyes my mind was swimming with thoughts of the day’s activities. I could still feel Dave flowing through my veins and for just an instant I thought of keeping him inside me. Repsorians share the link for a short while and then it is over, until next time. Dave could live inside me, be one with me, my blood sustaining us both.

A whisper came from deep inside my mind. Dave’s voice came like a whisper on the wind.
“I don’t think I’m ready to give up on being a separate entity.”
Slowly I dug my hand into my Cardionucleus. Dave was there waiting for me. Gently pulling him from my chest, a quick spurt of blood shot out as he reached the surface. The link was severed.
“Well, I have to say that’s the most alien thing we’ve ever done together.”
Something must have shown on my face because he then added “honey, it was wonderful. Better than you said it would be. But I don’t think I’m ready to be absorbed by you just yet.”
I kissed his body, licking some of my blood off his chest.
“I understand.” And for the first time, I truly did.

When I left my apartment I was wearing my brand new body armour that Dave had given me for our anniversary. It had been specially made to protect all my vital organs while still being able to fit under my clothes without showing. That was my David, stylish but practical. My old vest was getting a bit worn from all the abuse.

The last place I went was Mrs. Finnegan’s workplace. She was a “firewoman” who worked in the human part of town. She carried the fire engine to the scene and would douse the flames while the human teammates would go in to rescue anyone trapped in the fire.

I walked up to the Repsorian entrance of the firehouse and was met by a thin human dressed in a grey shirt and black pants.
“Are you here about the vacancy?” the man said.
“Umm… no I’m here about the Mrs. Finnegan. She worked here right?”
“Yeah, damn shame. She was a good sort. Are you a relative or something?”
“No. Her body has gone missing and Mr. Finnegan hired me to find it.”
“Well anything for Sherry. What do you want to know?”
“Was there anyone who might have held any ill will toward her?”
“You mean any humans… I don’t think so. She was pretty well liked.”
“Had you noticed her acting strangely prior to her death?”
“No, not really, would you care to tell me were this is going?”

I don’t know what it was. Perhaps being joined with Dave so long had changed me somehow. Our minds are both very analytical but they still work very differently. Yesterday the facts I had were intriguing but the more I turned them over in my head the more I got the feeling that something nefarious was about to go down.

“I think the train wreck was not an accident.”
“Do you have any proof?”
“Not yet. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to help me get some?”
“What do you need?”
“A diversion.”

I told my car to head for the warehouse on Bercats street, then dialled the number for the morgue. “Yo, Brams County morgue.”
“Vic”
“Oh hi Gwen. What do you want?”
“I need to collect some evidence and I need to do something not entirely legal to get it.”
“You got it, what do you need me to do?” Vic sounded far too enthusiastic for my tastes.
“I need you to slip into the warehouse were the train wreckage is being kept and let me in. The firemen will be there to create a diversion.”
“Firemen?”
“Vic I don’t have time to explain right now.”
“Ok, I’ll be there, just tell me the address.” I gave him the address and he said he’d be there in fifteen minutes.

I stopped the car about half a block away from the warehouse and waited until I heard the sirens before continuing around to the rear side entrance. From here I could vaguely make out the firefighters kicking up a stink. Mostly about how they are busy men and that prank calls can be dangerous, if there is a real fire that needs dousing. The guards of course were insisting that they never called anyone and that the firefighters should “push off”. All in all it was a pretty good distraction. Now were was Vic?

A few seconds later I heard the lock on the door pop open. Opening the door, Vic and I ventured inside.







The warehouse was dark. The twisted remnants of the train lay strewn across the concrete floor. Some carriages were whole. Others were nothing but piles of scrap.

With Vic securely in my palm we silently walked the maze in search of carriage number 374. And in the far left corner of the building we found it. Stepping inside, the carriage was not damaged like the others. Most of them had been crushed or twisted but this one was blown away. A large hole in the side of the car bent outwards and also lifted parts of the roof up. I’d bet my last credit that’s where the explosion originated. I walked up to a place near the edge of the dent and dropped Vic to the floor.

“What am I looking for?” Vic asked
“I don’t really know. Bomb parts, chemical residue. Just evidence of foul play.”
“Don’t you think the cops are doing that already?”
“I don’t know Vic. I would have thought they would have said something to the press about it by now. This whole thing stinks of conspiracy”
“I think you’ve been hanging around us too long. You’re starting to get paranoid.”

We began to comb the interior of the carriage. It was pretty hard going. I’d studied a little bit about forensics to qualify as a P.I., but everything just looked like one big pile of ash to me. Then just as I was about to give up I saw it. A little burnt leather case lay there in the ash. The leather was mostly burned away to reveal the steel frame of the case. It was tiny to me, human sized. I picked it up with my thumb and forefinger.

“I think I found something.” I whispered. Vic was halfway down the carriage but I knew my voice would carry. He came running down the floor.
“Oh, what did you find?” I held the case out for him to see.
“You gonna let me have a look?”
“No, I’m going to let Dave go over it. He’s got legal expertise. Besides I don’t want him to feel left out.”

Scooping up Vic we exited the same way we had come in. I dropped him off at the rust bucket he called a car and called the fire chief to tell him that I had gotten what I’d come for.

Back at my apartment Dave opened up the case and began to examine the contents. I could see it was full of papers and photographs (which had been protected from the fire) but that’s about all my eyes could make out. I sat there, arms folded on the table waiting for my little man to finish his appraisal.

At first he was excited to be involved in one of my cases, but as he began to make his way through the pages his expression quickly turned to fear.
“Well, what does it say?”
Pausing for a minute it seemed he was trying to figure out what he was going to say. But the look in his eyes said it all.
“They’re trying to kill us.”
“Who’s trying to kill us?”
“Not you Gwen, my people, the humans. These documents describe a neurotoxin specifically designed to kill us. Its even outlines the way they’re going to spread it over the world.”
“He must have found out about it and tried to warn some one” I said
“How do you know it’s a he?”
“One of the people who went missing was a chemical engineer. I assume the documents are all marked Retpor Tech?” Dave nodded.
“Do they say where the stockpile is?”
“Ye, it’s all right here.”
“So I guess it’s time to take it to the police.”
And that was precisely what we did. We left out a few details about how we stole the briefcase and broke into a “secure” evidence facility. They moved in on it pretty quickly. The relationship between humans and the police has always been pretty frayed and I practically handed them a decade’s worth of good PR on a silver plater.

The CEOs of Retpor Tech denied any involvement in the terrorist actions. Unfortunately for them, their DNA was on a lot of the documents inside that case.

I suppose you thought I was going to just brazenly waltz into the storehouse, guns blazing. Well let me tell you that it just doesn’t work that way. I’ve exchanged fire with a few sociopathic racists. A lot of them have really big guns but have no clue how to use them. You don’t know how many times I’ve seen some one with a machine gun hold down the trigger, wave it around and expect to somehow hit something. It’s a lot different from dealing with professional soldiers.

Anyway, Dave and me continue to meld, for days at a time. Some people say I ‘m crazy for marrying outside of my species. They don’t know what they’re missing.