“None of this makes any sense,” I said swiping all the screens away with a gesture. “I've read The Czarina's blog posts; I've read the local news reports after I finally found them; and I've read about New Byzantium City and the planet. I can't figure out why she wants us to come.”

My name is Ronnie Camberwell. I'm currently on a small spaceship with my lover Captain Star Runner. They are a fuchsia-colored Pantheran, owner of the Ride and perhaps the only stability I have in the galaxy. From time to time I undertake investigations. Star often involves me in their adventures.

Star has their own moral code. I do not subscribe to it in general, but I have come to accept it and just keep on being emotionally involved with them. I have tried to stay in monogamous human relationships, but I always go back to Star. Because above all Star is loyal to me and a few others. Currently these others are spread out on distant worlds. Star is carrying some important cargo which is probably illegal. I haven't asked them what it is. It's better that way. Once I worked in law enforcement in Ptolemy City. The laws there were minimal but the people there had a keen sense of protecting the weak against the strong and a lax attitude about business regulations. They did not, for example, approve of physical violence but were happy to smuggle weapons to conflicts on other worlds.

Star came into the room where I had been working. About the size of a small pony, human beings often refer to Pantherans as cats. They look like cats with soft silky hair, whiskers, four legs and a magnificent tail which they carry high.

“What doesn't make any sense?” Star asked with their sibilant whispery voice.

“You read The Czarina's message,” I said.

“She wants you to investigate the murder of an unidentified person,” Star said.

“That's right. Here are the items that don't make any sense. I've made a list but it's probably not complete.”

I brought up a screen at a comfortable eye level for Star to read. Here's what it said:

• The Facts:
  1. The dead female is unidentified.
  2. The New Byzantium City police are investigating.
  3. The Czarina refers to this deceased as a girl, but she is clearly a woman in her early twenties.
  4. NB City in particular and the planet in general is a lawless and violent place. Murders are frequent.
• Questions:
  • In this day and age, how can a person be unidentified?
  • Why isn't she in any of the databases?
  • Why is The Czarina reaching out to me personally and on her social media accounts to investigate?
  • What's her interest in this woman?

“I don't know anything about this planet,” Star said.

That is not entirely a true statement. Star probably hasn't heard of this planet until now, but Star is linked to the spaceship's AI. In fact, Star could not live without the AI regulating their body and storing their memories outside of their brain. One is an extension of the other. Star has immediate access to all the AI's databases.

“What does Ride say?” I asked.

In the past, the AI had personality and a name, but some very nasty malware had seriously compromised Star and they preferred to have a basic AI interface with an emphasis on analysis. Although there are cameras all over the ship, I no longer have the feeling I am being spied on. For the sake of Star's memory, everything is recorded even our most intimate exchanges but this AI doesn't review them unless either of us ask for that review.

“Ride suggests that perhaps The Czarina is trying to promote interest in the story or lure us to go to New Byzantium.”

“I don't need an AI for that,” I said. “I basically came to that conclusion myself.”

“Coincidentally,” Star said, “my cargo is going to that system.”

I thought they were going to say more, but they stopped.

“What am I missing here?” I asked.

Star sighed. “It's complicated,” they said.

This is what Star typically says when they don't want to tell me something they think I will not like. I braced myself for the bad news.

“My cargo is for a station in the Black Sea,” Star said. And before I could ask what the Black Sea was, Star continued, “The Black Sea is an asteroid belt in the same star system as New Byzantium City. I got this consignment indirectly. Captain William Kidd was the intermediary.”

Star stopped speaking.

That Star had told me this much was surprising. They could be very secretive about their business affairs. Captain Kidd had been the president of the League of Hypatian Pirates back on my home world of Hypatia in the Pharaoh Star System just outside of Coalition space. Apparently, he and his partner The Czarina were operating in the same star system. Since I was already en route

The Czarina was making a play to have me involved somehow. It was going to be painstaking. I would have to pump Star for information. They would volunteer little more.

Back on Hypatia, Kidd and the League had made Star an honorary member. Star believes this makes them a real pirate.

At this point, I should probably take a step back to explain a few things about Star.

Yes, they are my more or less forever partner.

Yes, Star is an alien, but tt is more complicated than that. Star is both binary and genetically modified. Star's species consists of males, females and genetically modified individuals like Star. These individuals lack personal rights. They are designed for a specific task and can be terminated at any time. Star was designed to pilot a military starships.

There is a belief among the Pantherans that a fuchsia-colored Pantheran is special. Star's designers and the military command thought they could harness Star's specialness to their advantage. Star's specialness resulted, however, in Star's ability to think independently. They broke away and operated outside of Pantheran control. Star figured out that their unique gifts as a starship navigator and pilot made them an excellent currier. To survive outside of Pantheran control, Star had to relocate to the frontier and work exclusively for humans. The underground economy was an obvious choice.

For a lot of reasons, we are far from our home space, operating far from the Coalition and the frontiers of that part of space.

“I think we need to pool our resources,” I said very carefully. “None of this is on the up and up. Your deal with Captain Kidd may be straight forward, deliver the goods and get paid, but The Czarina's request complicates the picture.”

The Ride AI can think much faster than I can and Star can receive its calculations instantaneously, but it often takes Star a reasonable amount of time to sort through all of the data unless Ride packages it for them. Ride doesn't tend to do this unless speed is essential. This is one of the safeguards that Star and the Fungusian software engineers have put in place to avoid a takeover of Star's integrity.

“I had not thought about that possibility,” Star said. “Captain Kidd said it would be a straight forward delivery. There would be a return cargo of unrefined material from the asteroid miingg facilities. All things being equal, there would probably be a new contract. All straight forward. Pick up the goods elsewhere and bring them here. Earn a profit. Do it again and again. The Black Sea is a long way out, but other than that it's simple. Most shippers think the return isn't worth it, but they have have to stick to the known routes through the jujp gates, but I am not limited to them which makes my delivery times shorter.”

“Do you know what the cargo is?” I asked.

“No,” Star said. “But I don't think it's mining equipment, at least, nothing big.”

“And you didn't pick it up from a legitimate supplier,” I said.

“No,” Star said. “That's another reason this is profitable.”

“So we have people in an asteroid belt importing black market items and an unidentified woman on a nearby planet who has been murdered. Did I mention she had two gold coins in her pocket? They are unidentified, too.”

“Really?” Star was curious. “Does that happen often?”

“I don't know,” I said. “I don't have any experience with gold coins or physical items of exchange of any kind.”

Star wanted to be part of the investigation.

“Won't you be busy with unloading and fetching new cargo?” I asked. “I don't think I can wrap this up quickly.”

Star's body rippled, the closest they can come to a shrug. “I can spare some time. It's not like you can get from the station to the planet by yourself.”

I had to admit they had a point.

(figure out what these two want to ask the Fungusians.)