To the Stars -- And Beyond

by Robert Reginald

  Mr. Matsuda’s voice was loud in Toshikawa’s helmet. “You told Mr. Sumiyoshi that you dreamed of Miss Inada last night.”

  Toshikawa said, “Yes.”

  “Do you dream of her often?”

  Toshikawa did not reply. He saw Mr. Okubo begin to move toward him, as if to strike him. Mr. Matsuda raised a hand. Mr. Okubo stopped.

  Mr. Matsuda said, “Toshikawa, where is Miss Inada?”

  Toshikawa made a helpless shrug. He was standing on the rim of the Stickney crater. He could see its far edge and the old Russian station beyond. The bottom of the crater was still in shadow, but in a little while the sun would penetrate to its depths. Toshikawa wanted to throw himself into the crater, to disappear into the deep regolith on its bottom, but he dared not move.

  Mr. Okubo said, “Maybe Miss Inada is safely inside the station, sir.”

  Mr. Matsuda said, “You think this man dreamed that he found her here? Are you sure he was even outside the station before now, Okubo?”

  “He disappeared from his work.”

  “Hiding somewhere to drink some sake or to take a nap.”

  Toshikawa could see Mr. Okubo shrug, even through the spacesuit. What would become of him? They might ship him back to Mars, worse yet, back to Earth. The home planet was crowded and poor, life there was short and unpleasant. Everyone knew that the future lay on Mars. On Mars and beyond. He had tried to enter the Mars Service as did so many young people...and so few were chosen. It must have been an error that had got him selected. Yet, here he was. He did not wish to return to Earth.

  Mr. Okubo faced Toshikawa. His face was angry. His eyes burned like the eyes of a demon in an old piece of art. “You must tell the truth,” he commanded.

  “It is true,” Toshikawa said. “I put on a spacesuit. I went for a walk. I knew it was wrong of me, but I could not work. I will tell you the truth now. I was so upset by my dream that I could not stay with the others. I could not do my work. That is why I left. Then I found her. Miss Inada. I know she was there. I know someone killed her.”

  Mr. Matsuda walked slowly around the area marked by dragging footprints. He stood for a long time over the larger area where the dry regolith was smeared like damp soil. He squatted and studied the ground there. Then he rose and faced the others.

  To Toshikawa he said, “You will return to crew quarters and remain there except for meals until you are summoned.” To Mr. Okubo he said, “You will accompany this man and see to it that he obeys. You will hear from me when there is any change. In the meanwhile, carry out your duties. You will say nothing about this matter, to anyone.”

  * * * *

  Matsuda watched as the others bowed and left him. Then he returned to the marred regolith once again. He gazed across the bowl of Stickney crater at the old Russian space station. Sunlight glinted off a glass surface and Matsuda smiled, wondering for a moment if some Russian ghost had returned to haunt the abandoned station. He turned and walked back to the airlock and re-entered the research base.

  Sumiyoshi was waiting in Matsuda’s office. He stood as the senior official entered the room. He said nothing.

  Matsuda lowered himself into the comfortable seat behind his desk. Like everyone and everything on Phobos, he weighed only a fraction of one percent of his normal weight. He had struggled through the adjustment that all newly arrived on Phobos had to. It was not the same as the weightlessness of space travel, but a different condition.

  He studied the information screens in his desk, flicked a few keys and switches, and read more information. Finally, he looked up at Sumiyoshi. “I don’t know what to make of this.”

  Sumiyoshi grunted. “A crazy one. To be ignored.”

  Matsuda shook his head. “There were marks.”

  “So? Maybe he made them himself. Better not to ask too many questions, Mr. Matsuda.”

  From where he sat, Sumiyoshi could see a face appear on a screen before Matsuda. To Sumiyoshi the face was nearly upside down. Yet he recognized it as that of Tamiko Itagaki. A widow of many years standing, Mrs. Itagaki was the highest ranking woman at the Phobos research station. She was the chief of the research group studying exobiology and exoarchaeology on Phobos.

  Matsuda said, “Miss Inada works for you.”

  Sumiyoshi knew that Mrs. Itagaki could hear Matsuda’s voice. If she was at her desk or near another screen, she could see his face as well.

  Mrs. Itagaki said, “Yes, Mr. Matsuda. A very good worker. A very good scientist.”

  Matsuda said, “Do you know where she is at this moment?”

  Sumiyoshi could see the expression on the face of Mrs. Itagaki, could see the lips move on her image on the screen as she spoke.

  “She has been working on the surface. I believe she is outside the station now.”

  “Please contact her,” Matsuda said. “I will break contact with you, but please call me as soon as you hear from her. Or if you fail to contact her.” He tapped a key built into the surface of his desk and the screen went blank.

  Sumiyoshi said, “You’re taking this seriously. Do you really think someone murdered Miss Inada? Why would anyone do such a thing?”

  Matsuda shrugged. The jug of sake that he and Sumiyoshi had been sharing earlier was now empty. He said, “This is absurdly melodramatic, isn’t it? I suppose this will make history, if Toshikawa is right and Miss Inada was murdered. The first murder on Phobos!”

  Sumiyoshi grunted again. “Such is immortality.” Then he added, “Do not pry too deeply into this.”

  The screen on Matsuda’s desk brightened. Sumiyoshi watched as Matsuda studied the face before him. After a minute Matsuda said, “You reached her?”

  Mrs. Itagaki said, “I can’t reach her. If she’s anywhere on Phobos, I should be able to. Unless she is deliberately not responding. Or—unless something terrible has happened to her!”

  Matsuda groaned. “I think something terrible has happened. Please come to my office in fifteen minutes.”

  Mrs. Itagaki agreed.

  Matsuda ordered Sumiyoshi to summon the other section managers to the same meeting. They were Eitaro Sekigawa, who as general crew chief for the Phobos Research Station was Wataru Okubo’s boss; Yuzuro Takano, a single woman who was in charge of the station’s carefully tended chemical farm; and Mitsuro Shigemura, who was chief scientist for technology development. These four represented the next level of management under Kakuji Matsuda. Eiji Sumiyoshi, as Matsuda’s deputy, was theoretically in charge of no one, but he often acted in Matsuda’s name, and was regarded as exercising more influence on Matsuda than any of the four managers.

  Matsuda welcomed the four managers to his office. He apologized for the crowding of his office. He ordered another jug of sake and cups for the four managers. When they had all paid their respects and each had downed a cup of hot sake, Mr. Matsuda addressed them.

  “One of our crew members left the station a short time ago. When he returned he claimed to have found a body lying on the ground. He says that he examined the body and found signs of a wound. The victim was dead.”

  There were hisses of indrawn breath.

  “Each of you must check on all personnel. See if anyone is missing.”

  “Was the body recovered?” Mr. Shigemura asked.

  Mr. Matsuda said, “The crew member could not find the body when he returned. No one could.”

  Mrs. Takano said, “Did the crew member identify the body?”

  Mr. Matsuda said, “I’m not sure there is a body. That’s what we have to find out.”

  Mr. Shigemura said, “We can perform an automated personnel check. Perhaps you would ask Mr. Sumiyoshi, sir.”

  Mr. Matsuda said, “That could be done, yes. But I want actual, personal verification of every person in the station. Please proceed to your sections. Have your subordinates check up on their subordinates, until every person is physically accounted for. When you have your results, you will communicate them to me. Act promptly. You may report in via the desk.”

&n
bsp; The section managers left the station manager’s office.

  As soon as they were gone, Sumiyoshi asked Matsuda, “Do you think they’ll find her? Or do you think she is really dead? Where is the body? Who moved it after Toshikawa found it? What do you plan to do?”

  Matsuda smiled grimly at Sumiyoshi. “What a change from your former attitude, Eiji.”

  Sumiyoshi noted his superior’s use of his personal name. He waited for Matsuda to continue.

  “You seemed convinced that poor Toshikawa was out of his mind. That he had hallucinated finding the body.”

  “Mrs. Itagaki tried to contact Miss Inada.”

  “Should I give it a try myself?” Matsuda didn’t wait for Sumiyoshi’s recommendation. He touched the keys embedded in the top of his desk. He waited briefly. Then he said, “Nothing. I’m afraid that something terrible has happened.”

  “Then Toshikawa killed her.” Matsuda looked from the screens and keys embedded in his desk, and watched Sumiyoshi closely. Sumiyoshi continued, “The man is dangerous. You know what he is. He had dreams about Miss Inada. He admitted that he tried to make advances to her and she rejected him. No surprise in that! He became obsessed. He dreamed about her. Finally he killed her.”

  Matsuda leaned back. He made a figure of his hands, lacing the fingers except for two that he kept upright. He said, “I had Christian friends in Nagasaki. One of them taught me this.” He chanted, “This is the church, and this is the steeple.” He swung his thumbs apart. “Open the doors.” He turned his hands so that his laced fingers rose between himself and Sumiyoshi. “And out come the people.”

  Sumiyoshi said, “I have no idea what that means. I don’t like Christians.”

  A light flashed on Matsuda’s desk. He gestured to Sumiyoshi, touched the desk, took Eitaro Sekigawa’s report. All the station’s crew were accounted for, including Toshikawa, who was lying happily in his bunk looking at stories.

  Matsuda thanked Sekigawa. In rapid order he received similar reports from Miss Takano, Mrs. Itagaki, and Mr. Shigemura. The only exception was in Mrs. Itagaki’s report. Miss Inada was still missing.

  Matsuda now ordered a physical search of the station. This caused disruptions to the station’s assigned tasks, but Matsuda ruled that the location of the missing Miss Inada took priority over all other matters. However, there was no sign of her anywhere in the station.

  Toshikawa was questioned again by Matsuda. He stuck to his story, insisting that he had found Miss Inada’s body while walking, and that it had disappeared when he returned to show the body to Okubo and Matsuda. He was released and returned to duty under strict orders not to leave the station under any circumstances. The only exception would be if he was directly ordered to do so, and was accompanied by a person of higher authority.

  Mr. Matsuda’s next step was to communicate his quandary to his own immediate superior. This was Toshimitsu Matsuzaki, the manager of the main experimental settlement on Mars. In this capacity, Mr. Matsuzaki was the person in highest on-site authority in the entire Mars enterprise. His superiors were on Earth.

  The experimental settlement was located beside the greatest dry riverbed at Nirgal Vallis. Large enterprises were planned for Mars, including self-sustaining settlements. At present, most food was still sent from Earth, a hugely expensive and inefficient enterprise. Great machines burrowed into the Martian surface, seeking the ancient water that had once flowed across the planet. If it could be reached and exploited, natural farms could be established in place of the small and unsatisfactory chemical farms that operated on Mars and Phobos, and the settlements would take a major step toward self-sufficiency.

  Communication between Phobos and Nirgal Vallis was possible whenever the little moon was above Nirgal’s horizon. A transit of Mars’s sky took four and a quarter hours. From Phobos’s orbit, near the lower Roche limit, communication with the planet was practically instantaneous.

  Mr. Matsuda spoke directly with Mr. Matsuzaki. He told him, speaking as directly as he could, what had happened.

  Mr. Matsuzaki had a technical background and was highly regarded by all concerned with the Mars enterprise. He was an older man from the northern island of Hokkaido. He had worked his way up through the ranks and his every year and every travail showed in the form of a line in his face. When he heard what had happened on Phobos, another line seemed to appear on his face.

  He asked Mr. Matsuda to repeat in greater detail his interview with Toshikawa. Then he asked him to review the steps he had taken to find Miss Inada.

  When Matsuda finished his explanations, Mr. Matsuzaki sighed softly. Despite the 6,000 kilometers that separated Mr. Matsuda from Mr. Matsuzaki, the sigh could be heard on Phobos.

  Mr. Matsuzaki said, “What was the nature of Miss Inada’s work on Phobos?”

  “She was assigned to the exobiology and exoarchaeology group. Her manager was Mrs. Tamiko Itagaki.”

  “And her work—was it satisfactory?”

  Matsuda was not sure how to answer. He finally decided to attempt a joke. “You know what they say. Exobiology is a discipline without a subject, and exoarchaeology is an idea whose time has never come.”

  Matsuzaki said, “Yes, I have heard as much.” The expression on his face revealed no trace of amusement.

  Matsuda said, “Excuse me. My levity was inappropriate. As far as I know, Miss Inada’s work was satisfactory. There is, of course, the frustration of working in a field with so little to show.”

  “There is the Face,” Matsuzaki said.

  “But I thought that was discredited.”

  “Yes.”

  “Cydonia was visited and the Face was found to be a random jumble of rocks. The resemblance to a human face is remarkable, but it is just an accident of nature. Just as there are faces seemingly carved on mountains on Earth.”

  “You know of Mount Rushmore in North America?”

  “Are you telling me that the Face at Cydonia is an artifact?”

  “You know Mr. Hajimi Ino of my staff?”

  Mr. Matsuzaki’s startling change of subject left Matsuda nonplused. He stammered, but was finally able to say, “I know his name. I do not believe I have ever met him.”

  “You will meet him shortly. I will send him up. Please offer Mr. Ino every courtesy. He acts in my name. He will report back to me.”

  Mr. Matsuzaki cut the communication between himself and Mr. Matsuda.

  * * * *

  Mr. Ino’s balloon rose from the surface of Nirgal Vallis shortly after Phobos next appeared over the horizon. Mr. Ino traveled alone. He was known as Mr. Matsuzaki’s protégé. Perhaps it was the proximity of their homes that brought them together. They were both from small villages on Hokkaido, so remote that the local dialect was practically unintelligible to other Japanese. It was a local joke that residents of this region, when they moved south, had to learn standard Japanese as a second language. On occasion Matsuzaki and Ino conversed in their native dialect, reminiscing about life on their island.

  They made a strange team. In childhood, Hajimi Ino had been teased by the others for his short, round body, his round, pudgy-cheeked face, and his sparse hair. They had called him Jizo. Curiosity piqued, he had found a Buddhist monk who told him tales of Jizo-bosatsu, a Bodhisattva who lived by the bank of the river Sai-no-kawara, giving consolation to the souls of dead infants. Thereafter, Hajimi Ino had taken secret pride in the name Jizo, and in his resemblance to the deity. Still, he would have liked to be taller, slimmer, and possessed of hair on his poll; he did his best in that regard by growing a moustache that joined his muttonchop whiskers.

  As for Toshimitsu Matsuzaki, he more closely resembled the Shaka-nyorai, ascetic nearly to starvation, yet unconcerned with his bodily form. Yes, Ino and his superior Matsuzaki, like Jizo and Shaka. One sometimes wondered if laughter at the contrast was appropriate.

  When Mr. Ino’s balloon could rise no higher, its low-powered rockets brought it the rest of the way to Phobos’ orbit. Spring-loaded javelins like anc
ient whalers’ harpoons punched into the rock beneath the thin regolith, and the balloon winched itself to contact.

  Eiji Sumiyoshi met Mr. Ino as he entered the research station. “You’ve come to search for the missing Miss Inada,” Sumiyoshi growled.

  Mr. Ino, carefully removing his spacesuit, said, “I will need an office from which to work, quarters, of course, and your full cooperation.”

  Sumiyoshi frowned. “What is the point of this? What do you think you’re going to learn?”

  Mr. Ino turned, an expression of annoyance on his round face. “I am going to find Miss Inada. She did not leave Phobos, did she?”

  Sumiyoshi said, “How could she?”

  “Then I will find her.”

  “In behalf of Mr. Matsuda, I pledge you our full cooperation.” Sumiyoshi’s eyes flickered away as he spoke.

  Behind the polite words from both parties, there already lurked a mutual distrust, almost a hostility: a kuroi kiri. A cloud of suspicion like a black mist hovered between them, obscuring each from the other.

  Sumiyoshi summoned Eitaro Sekigawa, who saw to it that Mr. Ino was settled in quarters and working space. As soon as this was accomplished, Mr. Ino paid a formal call on Mr. Matsuda.

  With the limitation of space and materiel, he could not dress for the occasion as he would have wished. Instead, he stood outside Mr. Matsuda’s office in his working costume. He was relieved, when Mr. Matsuda summoned him into the office, to see that Mr. Matsuda also wore ordinary clothing.

  Mr. Matsuda offered Ino a comfortable seat, and asked if he would care for some sake.

  Ino was uncertain how to respond. This was hardly the moment for a purely social visit. Matsuda might have in mind a sakazuki. In this case, the sharing of the hot beverage would be symbolic. Cups would be placed before Matsuda and Ino, and sake would be poured into them. If the quantities were equal, this would indicate that Matsuda and Ino regarded each other as equals. But if one received more than the other, then that person was regarded as the greater of the two—their inequality proportionate to the level of the sake in their cups.