Martian Dawn

Part 4, Chapter 10: Bootleg Kombucha

MY 54, Sol 372, (January 3rd, 2056)

"Thank you for agreeing to speak with me," Captain Ortíz said, from the video call screen. "I know this is hard for you."

"I want to help," Dawn told him, "I'm ready to help. Actually, at this point, I am more interested in who didn't do it. I want to know if either of them can be definitely cleared, so maybe I can have one of my friends back."

Ortíz nodded. "Quite frankly, it's our focus, as well. We know the crime was committed; we have only two suspects with opportunity. Right now, they are effectively both being punished."

"How so?"

"We have them isolated," Ortíz said, simply. "From each other and from anyone not involved in the investigation."

"Where?"

"Waystations 5 and 7. That entire stretch of highway is closed until we decide what to do with them."

"Sounds like a gulag," Dawn observed.

"Oh, please don't say things like that. We're trying to give them as much freedom as possible until one or both are proven guilty, while preventing them from interfering in the investigation."

"Uh-huh," Dawn agreed. "Well, I'm not sure what else I can tell you. I already gave a full statement."

"I have no intention of making you rehash the sequence of events. My questions lie in different directions."

"Ok, shoot," Dawn said.

"Bad news first: Neither your mother's nor the doctor's investigations yielded the definitive evidence we were looking for. There was no DNA in the sample Doc took from you. There was latex and lubricant, though, so they're searching the station for a condom."

"Do you think you'll find one?"

"No," Ortíz said, sadly. "There was plenty of time for the guilty party to dispose of it before we finally got there, even though a buggy was sent out as soon as word of the crime started to spread."

"Ok, and my mom wasn't able to pull any video off the rovers?"

"Some, but not as much as we could have hoped. It was dark, so the rovers were filming in IR. You can see three people, but you can't ID them. And it's not a continuous video--more like short little chunks that we've been trying to stitch together."

"So you weren't able to get anything?" Dawn asked in disappointment.

"Well, this is where my first question for you comes in," Ortíz explained. "Your rovers were equipped with some fairly dangerous tools; I believe you actually prepared yourself to use one as a weapon, correct?"

"Yes."

"Did your grandparents know about those tools, and did they have access to them?"

"Oh yeah, why?"

"Because they didn't use them. One of the clearer bits of video your mother extracted shows the rover patting on a supine figure with the flat side of its claw-hand. It's not a particularly vicious attack, though it did seem to get harder, over time."

"So what does that mean?" Dawn asked.

"I have an idea, but I'm not yet prepared to say. My next question pertains to the wetlab. I understand that you were in there a few times. Can you describe any equipment you saw in there?"

"Not in any detail. I was focused on the pieces of the rovers."

"But you are familiar with chemistry equipment, due to your father's training. If you can recall anything you might have seen out of the corner of your eye..."

"What are you looking for? That might help me remember if it was there."

"I don't want to lead you; it could cause you to answer inaccurately. Just anything you think you saw will be fine."

"Alright, ah... there was a pan, for washing rock samples, and a sieve, and hm... something more chemistry-oriented, like a distiller."

"Are you certain that's what it was?"

"I think so. There was the coiled piping, and the round bottom flask over the heat, and the collection tank. Yeah, the more I think about it, that's what it was. Was that not there when you searched?"

"It was not."

"Why do you ask about it?"

"Well, we did find Danny's jug of fermenting tea under one of the counters, and we found some ready to drink kombucha in his fridge. It matched the story that both boys gave--lightly fermented, about like you would find for sale in the USA, according to your father and a few other North Americans. However, a few road workers came forward after we'd begun the investigation and turned over some bottles of a much more powerful brew--about 20 proof. Said it was being sold on the Black Market, and they thought we should know about it, in light of what had happened."

"Sold? Sold? I can't even come to grips with the idea! What were they using as currency?"

"Apparently, mostly a barter economy, but these bottles have become something of a currency in their own right--like cigarettes in prison." He began to warm to the topic. "It's actually rather interesting. The bottles themselves are very distinctive. They're vacuum bottles, manufactured here on Mars, but the label has a distinctive design of a happy face with three eyes, two of them drawn as x's, but the extra one wide open. The workers who brought them in said that you can trade empties for half off the price of the full, which suggests a highly limited supply of bottles."

"So you're saying that there is this entire underground economy going on, and Danny was at the root of it?" Dawn said, incredulously.

"Someone was, but Danny denied he was selling any of his product. He said he might have given away some SCOBY's, which is the culture that ferments the tea, and someone else must be brewing and distilling it. But, if you're sure you saw a still in his wet lab..."

"Which he disassembled before his station was searched--that doesn't look good for him," Dawn finished. "Do you think that's what he served me?"

"Not according to Emilio. He says he'd have recognized it if Danny had offered him any sort of guaro. Of course, he could be lying."

"It seems like the more you investigate, the more crimes you uncover, but you never actually make any progress on my case."

"No, that's not entirely true. We're getting a picture together, and you've helped a lot, just now. Anyway, in another week, we'll be able to question your grandparents, and the case will probably be solved."

"Almost begs the question why you're investigating so hard, now?" Dawn pointed out.

"People need to be doing something," Ortíz said, frankly. "There are quite a few people who will take it as a personal failure if we don't solve this before we hear from Earth."