Galaxy's End: Book One by LeRoy Clary (pdf ebook reader txt) 📕

They didn’t care about the size of their prey. They swallowed small creatures whole. With larger ones, they used the hundreds of sharp teeth in their long snouts to rip a huge mouthful of flesh before throwing their heads back and swallowing. Nothing deterred them.

I looked at his eyes and found them surprisingly calm and serene. As I decided the killer couldn’t be him, I reconsidered. What better disguise than to appear innocent.

“May I get you something?” he asked politely.

“An unopened bottle of water, please.”

He made a slight frown, then cleared it off his face and said blandly, “Anything else?”

I wanted to ask for anything in a can, tin, or sealed container. Instead, I shook my head, listened to my stomach growl, and faced the table with the three people watching me. I said, “Good-day.”

“Join us?” the non-human asked, as it ignored the slight scowls of the others.

I would have refused the invitation on other days, but the scowls offended me. My way was to directly confront slights, insults, and poor manners. After all, their words and actions couldn’t hurt me. If they tried anything else, I intended to leave with two fists full of hair, one from each of them.

Forcing a smile to appear on my face, I stepped near them and introduced myself. They didn’t. However, they had questions. A lot of them. The steward brought my water. The cap had been removed, probably as a courtesy. I wouldn’t drink it.

It hadn’t been an invitation to join them socially, but to answer their barrage of questions. I provided sincere double-talk, contradicting my earlier answers. But my smile remained in place until I begged off, pretending I needed to complete chores.

Instead, I inspected the small kitchen. The cooler contained supplies. Nothing I would eat. In the cupboards and pantry were foods of all sorts.

Another steward entered from a side door. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

“Looking around,” I said. We had not yet made it known that we suspected a crewman as the killer of their captain and that it had probably been a steward.

“If you want something, ask one of us. Otherwise, this area is for us, not you.”

It would have been easy, but not appropriate, to take the rude woman’s attitude and translate it into the one a killer would have. Just as dismissing the quiet, polite one was wrong.

I left the kitchen. The three at the table watched me pass by without a word.

But my mind was racing. The earlier captain had been killed by an injection into the side of his neck as if someone had come up from behind and jabbed him. Someone he allowed inside the bridge area. Someone he trusted enough to turn his back.

However, despite the puncture wound, there had been other signs of a weapon, probably a hypodermic needle. While not wanting to kill anyone else by mistake, the killer may have taken the needle to his or her cabin for safekeeping. It might still be there.

I headed for the bridge again. Captain Stone could order all the stewards to the galley while Bill and I searched the rooms.

Before reaching the hatch, it swung open violently, striking the wall with enough force to vibrate the nearby floor. It was Captain Stone. Her eyes were wild, her face flushed. She pulled to a stop and growled, “Kat, have you used your empathy power again?”

“No,” I said with almost a stutter at the surprise question.

“Well, someone on this ship sure as hell has.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Captain Stone

Captain Stone faced Kat in the passageway outside the bridge and knew from the girl’s reaction she had not used her empathic powers on her or tried to. However, as an anti-empath, Stone knew that someone nearby had tried to enter her mind and sway her thinking, and that action both scared and infuriated her.

Kat said, “I didn’t feel anything.”

“Have you ever?” the captain snapped as she brushed past the girl.

Kat followed closely behind. “No. I guess I never thought about it. Either that or nobody ever tried doing it to me.”

“Remember how I knew when you touched my mind at the arena that you were a young woman and needed money?”

“Yes, that puzzled me. Still does.”

They stood at the door to the galley. Instead of opening it, Captain Stone waited and turned to Kat. She said, “This time it was a man. Over thirty, probable closer to forty.”

Kat said, “There are only two male stewards, one young. The other matches your description.”

“I know. We’ve deducted the killer is a crewman and a steward. We will go inside and order ice cream. You will follow my lead.”

“Yes, captain.”

Stone opened the door and entered as if totally calm. She sat at one of the vacant tables after nodding a brief hello to a few of the passengers, however, she turned her back to them, making it clear she didn’t want any of them to sit with her or ask questions. Kat took the seat opposite, where she could watch them.

A steward came up, a woman. Captain stone visibly relaxed and placed the order for two bowls of ice cream without looking around to find out if the steward they were seeking was nearby. He was. Kat fought to keep her eyes off him.

Nearer forty than thirty, the male steward deftly handled his duties while not bothering to look their way, or perhaps avoiding making eye contact. She couldn’t tell which. Kat leaned closer and asked, “Are you sure it is him?”

“Yes.”

The abrupt response pushed Kat back in her seat. The male steward flashed a wide smile to a woman he served as he whispered something for her ears only,