Delphi Challenge

by Bob Blanton

  “Of course, you know it melts all the ore down, but without gravity you have to do things differently. They spin the vat around on a dryer type of drum, so the centrifugal force will give everything a direction. The light, non-metallic material mostly burns off, what doesn’t, floats to the surface and can be skimmed off. It does all that at a low spin rate. Then it increases the spin so the metals will separate into different layers.”

  “Why would they separate?” Catie asked. “The centrifugal force on them would be the same.”

  “That’s right, but buoyancy isn’t.”

  “Buoyancy?”

  “Yes, everything’s liquid, so the denser metals force the lighter ones upward where there is less pressure. Brilliant, isn’t it?”

  “Then what do they do?”

  “They cool it all down. That’s really the secret. The metals each have a very distinct melting point so as they cool it down, the metals cool and precipitate to the bottom. They draw them out, feeding the liquid back in. That was my part of the design.”

  “That was very clever.”

  “Yeah, I think so. Of course, osmium mucked it all up a bit. We had to raise the pressure of the vat quite a bit because of it.”

  “Why?”

  “Because its melting point is higher than the boiling point of most of the other metals. I’m the one who cottoned to the fact that melting point isn’t affected by pressure.”

  “That was clever.”

  “I thought so.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  Braxton walked Catie to the park that was just spinward of the Four Seasons. It took up two levels and was sixty by two hundred meters, with small trees and grass. It even had a small pond with fish.

  “Wow, this is amazing,” Braxton said. “A park on a space station.”

  “It is nice,” Catie said. “It helps people keep from feeling too cooped up. The kids love it.”

  “How do you know so much?”

  “Oh, I read up on it,” Catie lied. She kept forgetting she was supposed to be a newbie like everyone else.

  “It is definitely a clever idea. What happens to the fish if the spin stops?”

  “The book said there was a cover that would come out and keep the water in. It’s just under the edge, rolled up like an automatic pool cover.”

  They wandered around the park for a while just chatting. It was getting late and Catie had to get back before Yvette came looking. “I have to go. I hope to see you next weekend,” Catie said.

  “Oh, it is getting late. My roommates will be wondering what I’m up to,” Braxton said. He pulled Catie into a hug and gave her a kiss.

  Catie melted into his arms, “A nice warm kiss. He does have nice lips,” she thought. Pulling away she smiled at him and said, “Have a good day tomorrow and call me.”

  “I will.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “How was your date?” Yvette asked when Catie arrived back at the cabin.

  “It was just fine. What are you doing, waiting up for me?”

  “I just wanted to be sure you were all right.”

  “I’m just fine, now go to bed, we have to fly home in the morning.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  Three weeks after Natalia and Paul went to the asteroid belt, the ice asteroids starting arriving in big numbers. Marc declared a holiday and arranged for a picnic celebration at the lake.

  “Natalia had them make two more asteroid pushers. They use them to catch the asteroids before they enter Artemis’s orbit. They slow them down and get them into a low orbit where the Skylifter can grab them and bring them down,” Marc explained.

  “Why don’t the catchers bring them all the way in?” Samantha asked.

  “Not enough power, and they can’t handle being exposed to the heat of reentry.”

  “Oh. You said that we’re getting ten a day, how can the Skylifter handle that many? It’s taking it over two hours to bring each one in.”

  “It’s dumping the smaller ones in the ocean,” Marc said. “It drops those from pretty high up in orbit. It’s only bringing the big ones down here to the lake.”

  “Cer Marc! How long will it take to fill the lake up?” one of the girls asked.

  “About four months,” Marc said. “But it will be a nice big lake in just two months.”

  “Will we be able to sail on it?” the girl asked.

  “And go skiing?” a teenager asked.

  “Yes, and yes,” Marc said. “I guess we’d better order up a few sailboats and a ski boat.”

  “Yes!”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Lieutenant Lantaq, adjust our course one pico-arcsecond to starboard,” Captain Shakaban ordered.

  “Sir, that will use up twenty percent of our reaction mass!”

  “I gave you an order; I did not ask you how much mass it would take to carry it out!”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I am returning to stasis. We will see what these so-called colonists say when I wake up.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Ms. Bowman, thank you for coming in,” Chief Nawal said.

  “Call me Mariana,” Ms. Bowman said.

  “Of course. Now can you tell me about your relationship with the deceased?”

  “We were just friends. We’ve lived across the hall from each other for two years.”

  “Come, please be honest with me. We have several reports that have the two of you going out to dinner together.”

  “We did dine together quite often. William would call or text me about a restaurant that he was dying to try. We’d go have dinner and talk.”

  “What did you talk about?”

  “Mostly the food, the latest movie or book, our travels. We were both doing a lot of traveling for our jobs.”

  “Are you saying there was not a personal relationship?”

  “Yes. I sometimes wondered if William wanted it to appear that way, but we were never anything more than friends. We occasionally met at a bar after work, but mostly it was at restaurants.”

  “Why do you say you wonder if he wanted it to appear that you were dating?”

  “I don’t know, he would mention someone he was seeing when he traveled to Vancouver or the west coast. But I wondered if maybe he was gay. Not that there is anything wrong with that.”

  “What makes you think he was gay?”

  “He was a good-looking guy. He always flirted with the ladies at the restaurant, but it seemed to be fake. He never flirted with me. I’m not sure why he wouldn’t be open about it, but maybe because of his job.”

  “Why, because of his job?”

  “Well, he was the sales director at Vancouver Integrated. That’s a high-profile position. Maybe the board would have had a problem with his being gay.”

  “Do you know that he recently got engaged?”

  “No, I hadn’t heard about that. Who to?”

  “A young lady from Vancouver.”

  “Oh, the poor thing.”

  “Yes, she was just informed of his death. She’s coming to Delphi City for the funeral. Can you tell me, are you dating somebody?”

  “Still wondering about William and me? No I’m not dating anyone right now. I was until about six months ago, but then he got tired of all my traveling and found someone else.”

  “You don’t seem to be broken up about it.”

  “Why should I be? If he can’t handle being by himself for a few weeks, then I don’t need him. Anyway, that’s one of the things William and I talked about, all the travel.”

  “You travel a lot for your job?”

  “Yes, I was Marcie Sloan’s assistant. Marcie left MacKenzies, so now I’m Sharon Bodiker’s assistant. She’s new, got a huge bonus to join the company, so she’s working long hours and traveling a lot. One can’t blame her. It’s a big company, and she wants to hit the ground running. I’m sure it will slack off.”

  “And you say Mr. Markham complained about his travel?”

  “Yes. He was on the road a lot. Said he was ge
tting tired of it. He asked me if I thought there might be a position for him at MacKenzies. I couldn’t see him coming on board. He would never get a position as important as the one he had at Vancouver Integrated.”

  “Since you lived across the hall from him, did you notice if he had any visitors?”

  “Not that I know of. I’ve never seen him have anyone over. That doesn’t mean he didn’t; I wasn’t spying on him or anything.”

  “Did he go out with anyone else?”

  “I’m sure he did. He went to things with his work mates. And he was out a few nights here and there from what I could tell. He never said anything about it, that’s why I thought he might be gay.”

  “Okay, please call me if you think of anything.”

  “I will,” Ms. Bowman said. She got up and left the chief’s office.

  “What do you think, Chief?” Constable Gamon asked once Ms. Bowman left.

  “I have no idea. He seemed to be a bit of a loner. What did you get from his mates at the office?”

  Constable Gamon consulted his notes. “Like you said. He was a loner. Went to the odd office function, stopped by the pub after work occasionally with his office mates, but mostly kept to himself.”

  “When does the fiancée arrive?”

  “Tomorrow at five.”

  “Okay. Call and tell Ms. Michaels that we’re finished with the office crowd.”

  “Yes, Ma’am.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Finally,” Sophia thought when Chief Nawal’s office had informed her that she could now freely interview anyone from the Vancouver Integrated office. She’d quickly scheduled an appointment to interview Markham’s boss, Dorothea Randall. She was the director of marketing and sales.

  “Thank you for allowing me to interview you,” Sophia said after Ms. Randall’s assistant showed her into the office. It was a large office, which was unusual for MacKenzie businesses, but Vancouver Integrated was independent now. Sophia was seated in a guest chair in front of an enormous wood desk. “This desk is as big as my bed,” she thought.

  “Not a problem,” Ms. Randall said. “We just hope to put this whole mess behind us. William was a valued member of my team; we will all miss him greatly.”

  “What can you tell me about him?” Sophia asked.

  “He was a private individual. Even when we traveled together, he never talked about his personal life. We were all shocked when he announced his engagement. Nobody even had an inkling that he was seeing someone. That poor girl. Three weeks after their engagement and he gets murdered.”

  “I understand the fiancée is from Vancouver. Did he know her there before he came to Delphi City?”

  “Mr. Markham came to us from Apple Computer. He was never posted to Vancouver. He did travel there for work, so I assume that’s how he met her.”

  “I understand he did a lot of traveling.”

  “He did. He was our sales director. That meant a lot of travel for sales, shows, meetings with the regional staff. He was on the road fifty percent of the time.”

  “Was there any change in his behavior before the murder?”

  “Other than announcing the engagement, no. I’m sure he stopped by the pub a bit more than usual. Everyone was willing to buy him a drink to toast his engagement. But other than that, he stayed diligent to his work.”

  “Thank you,” Sophia said. “Do you mind if I ask a few questions of his colleagues?”

  “As long as you do it outside the office, I have no objections.”

  “Thank you.”

  Sophia left Ms. Randall’s office and surveyed the array of desks in the outer office. William Markham, like Ms. Randall, had a separate office, but everyone else was working in cubicles.

  Ms. Randall’s assistant had provided her with the list of William’s associates, and Sophia had spent some time on the web looking into their backgrounds. Now she was looking for Nora Hale. Nora had just joined the firm six months ago; she was young and, more importantly, very good looking, and single.

  “There she is,” Sophia had spied Nora in the back corner with her head down, typing away at her computer. Sophia walked to the edge of the row of cubicles so she would walk by Nora on her way out. “Hi, I’m Sophia, I’ll buy you dinner if you’ll talk to me?”

  “Is this about William?”

  “Yes.”

  “I didn’t really know him.”

  “The offer still stands,” Sophia said, handing Nora her business card. “Today would be lovely.”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “Please,” Sophia said as she moved on. She didn’t want anyone to notice her talking to Nora.

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Thanks for agreeing to meet me,” Sophia told Nora when they met at Giorgio’s for dinner that night.

  “I’m happy to talk to you, but like I said, I hardly knew him,” Nora said.

  “Well, you might know more than you think. Anyway, let’s get our table and some wine before we talk.”

  Once they were seated and had agreed on a petite sirah for wine, they started looking at the menu while they chatted.

  “Have you been here before?” Sophia asked.

  “No, but I’m guessing you have since the maître d' knew you.”

  “I’m the owner and publisher of the Delphi Gazette,” Sophia said. “I review the various restaurants around town, so most of the restaurateurs in Delphi City know me.”

  “Oh, you’re the publisher, and you’re interviewing me?”

  “I’m the publisher, editor, reporter, and whatever. We only have me and a part time reporter,” Sophia said. “But we were the first newspaper in Delphi City.”

  “That’s still pretty cool,” Nora said. “So, what’s good?”

  “I love their osso buco, and the veal parmigiana is divine, and any of the pasta dishes.”

  “I think I’ll have the veal parmigiana. I haven’t had that in a while.”

  “Okay,” Sophia said as she closed her menu.

  The sommelier came to the table with their wine. Once she had served the wine, the waiter came to take their order.

  “Now, tell me about William Markham,” Sophia said.

  “Like I said, I hardly knew him. He was a nice guy, worked hard, mostly kept to himself.”

  “I’m sure he was a nice guy. But he was also gorgeous. Don’t tell me you didn’t flirt with him.”

  “Not in the office,” Nora said. “Ms. Randall is a stickler for decorum.”

  “What about outside the office?”

  “Well, at the year-end party, I did some flirting. He seemed to be a little receptive, but then Ms. Randall walked up and killed the mood.”

  “Why did she do that?”

  “I don’t know. He and I were chatting over by the bar. Something about how the Champagne was extra bubbly or something. Ms. Randall walked over to us and smiled at me. Scared the shit out of me.”

  “Why would a smile scare you?”

  “I don’t know, it felt like the kind of smile a tiger might make before it ate you. Anyway, I made my excuses and left. I wondered if they had a thing going, but I guess not.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Well, she just talked to him for a minute, then walked off. I didn’t see them interact after that. And when the engagement was announced, she looked shocked like the rest of us, but she immediately congratulated him. She told him to be sure and let her know where they were registered.”

  “Is that all?”

  “Yes. They traveled on business together about once a quarter, but that’s to be expected. I never saw any kind of flirting between them at the office.”

  “But the smile scared you. Did you feel she was staking her claim?”

  “Exactly. You remember the head cheerleader in high school and how she would make sure everyone knew who her boyfriend was, it was like that.”

  “Okay. Weren’t you with him the night he was killed?”

  “Sure, most of us were. It was an intro party f
or the new phone. We were all at McGenty’s drinking it up. They even had a live band.”

  “Was Ms. Randall there?”

  “At the beginning. She was all dressed up because she had a big charity event to go to. She gave a speech, then headed out.”

  “What did Markham do?”

  “He partied with the rest of us. Then all of a sudden, he left. I think he got a text message just before he left, but I’m not sure.”

  “Did anyone else leave?”

  “Not then. The party was really going.”

  “So. it was odd that he left.”

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “Anything else you remember?”

  “Not much. Hey, don’t be quoting me about Ms. Randall. I can’t afford to piss her off.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll keep your name out of it.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  Sophia headed over to Ms. Randall’s condo building. She’d been in Delphi City since the McCormacks had acquired the major interest in Vancouver Integrated and had established its satellite office here. Sophia’s research showed that she’d never moved from the first condo that she had gotten when she first arrived.

  Her first stop was the building supervisor. Each condo building had a supervisor who coordinated repairs and maintenance activities with the residents, managed the common areas, and hired and managed the cleaners who kept the place looking nice. Most of them also offered a concierge service on the side as one-stop shopping for all the services that could be had in Delphi City. They then would call the appropriate service, usually some preteen who was running a business on the side to supplement their allowance.

  “Mr. Colling, thanks for seeing me,” Sophia said as the supervisor let her into his office.

  “No problem. I’ve got plenty of time,” Mr. Colling said. “What do you want to know?”

  “I’m curious how much you know about Ms. Randall?”

  “Her, I know plenty about her. She’s always complaining about something. The hallways are not clean enough, the plants look too cheap, the boy bringing her dinner is too slow. That woman is sure full of herself.”

  “That’s what I’ve heard,” Sophia agreed. “She’s been here since she moved to Delphi City. I’m surprise she hasn’t moved or at least gotten a double unit.”

  “Oh, that woman has a triple unit,” Mr. Colling said.