Mothership - Titan

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Inspecting the body Finn confirms the cause of death as suffocation, given the general bloated appearance of the face, but more specifically the pinpoint hemorrhages on the victim's eyes and face.
However there is bruising all over the face consistent with the victim being crushed to some degree.
 
The guard, seeing them near the body, retracts the field enough for Finn to scoop up a small bit of the soil.
Lassiter then analyses the soil with his survey kit in short order. It's not poisonous. In fact according to the kit it's quite fertile and healthy.
Lassiter knows that soil this good can only be from Earth. Terraforming doesn't produce dirt of this caliber
 
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Cooper carefully records the gouges before advising his colleagues that something very heavy had been dragged along the right side of the altar near the pews.
 
"This might have been a message." Lassiter says quietly, gesturing at the soil in the victim's orifices. "This isn't local soil, that's for damn sure."
 
"Looks like the victim was somehow...crushed? Almost like a constrictor, I suppose."

Looking towards the guard, Finn calls out: "Do you guys have anyone on staff who qualifies as a medical examiner? I'd like a chance to search the body for personal effects and such if we can get gloves, tweezers, bags and access to the victim."

To his companions: "What do you guys think, should be safe if it's just soil, right?"
 
"No problem" the guard calls back to Finn before speaking into a comm system embedded in his jacket arm, requesting a pathologist from Colony Medical.

"Should be here in about half an hour" the guard announces.
 
"Like I said, the soil either suffocated him or was put inside the victim post-mortem as a message. It's earth soil, too good to get locally. We should check the import manifests for how often they get that kind of soil for.. I dunno, farming purposes."
 
Cooper frowns, "I imagine the cost to ship Earth soil would be astronomical and am guessing this is some kind of message." He rubs his temples.

OOC: Is there a way I can assign a program to search the cult lore for the relevancy of Earth soil while we continue the investigation?
 
Cooper frowns, "I imagine the cost to ship Earth soil would be astronomical and am guessing this is some kind of message." He rubs his temples.

OOC: Is there a way I can assign a program to search the cult lore for the relevancy of Earth soil while we continue the investigation?
The program returns its search results pretty fast as the cult seems to have been careful with not putting a large amount of their mythology on the net. Earth doesn't seem of any particular importance to them according to the results.
 
Half an hour later the pathologist arrives. A young woman roughly mid 30s with black hair tied in a bun and quite tall, you'd guess 6' 2''.

She extends a hand to Finn as she heads in.

"So you're the off worlder who called me in?" She looks down at the corpse "And I'm here to look at Mr. Papadakis. I was kind of interested in this one from what I heard.

So will I do the examination or..." she holds up her medical kit "...you want to do it and I'll oversee? Anything in particular we're looking for?"
 
Finn extends his hand and a warm smile to the medical examiner.

"You are quite correct. Finn Shah at your service. Although I have a medical background, I'm not a trained pathologist, so it's best that you conduct the examination. We will observe and ask foolish questions."

Finn turns to gaze on the body.

"Well, we've obviously got an unusual case here, so even cause of death is going to be interesting. Keep an eye out for any incidental injuries that may have not directly contributed to that. Mr. Papadakis wants to tell us a very interesting story, but I suspect we will have to listen closely."

Turning up to look at the doctor again, Finn cocks an eyebrow.

"Ever seen anything like this before?"
 
"You are quite correct. Finn Shah at your service"
"Well Mr. Shah, I'm Dr. Kristina Blix.

Although I have a medical background, I'm not a trained pathologist, so it's best that you conduct the examination. We will observe and ask foolish questions."
No problem...heh was kind of hoping I get to take a look myself to be honest."

The pathologist signals to the door guard for the stasis field to be completely deactivated for a short period.

"Well, we've obviously got an unusual case here, so even cause of death is going to be interesting. Keep an eye out for any incidental injuries that may have not directly contributed to that. Mr. Papadakis wants to tell us a very interesting story, but I suspect we will have to listen closely."

Turning up to look at the doctor again, Finn cocks an eyebrow.

"Ever seen anything like this before?"
She begins looking him over.

"Soil?" she mutters to herself, then turning to Finn "No, never seen anything like it. The most unusual deaths have been drownings in the lake, sort of crystallizes tissue...oh wait..." she makes an incision in the throat "...I hope you all have strong stomachs..." she pries open the larynx and surrounding tissue to expose the airway revealing still living worms moving around in the soil.

Picking one up with a pair of tweezers she offers it to the group.

"Anybody know much about these?"
 
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She continues and finds a small stone statuette in the victim's pocket.

fb tanokami clay bell.jpg
 
Squinting at the worms.

"Not yet. That seems...improbable."

Finn snaps a few photos of the statuette and runs an online image search.

"We could probably get some prints off that, or even genetics, in case it was left behind. This all feels very...ritualistic."

Turning back to the pathologist.

"Dr. Blix, I assume we're looking at suffocation? I expect a man would need to be restrained for such a thing; any sign of incidental bruising or ligature? Defensive wounds? Or perhaps he was sedated - we're going to need blood work in any case."

Turning to his comrades.

"Any thoughts, gentlemen?"
 
The image search returns that it's a statue of a Japanese Kami, specifically a Ta-no-Kami, a god tied to a place of agriculture such as a rice field or farm.

"Dr. Blix, I assume we're looking at suffocation? I expect a man would need to be restrained for such a thing; any sign of incidental bruising or ligature? Defensive wounds? Or perhaps he was sedated - we're going to need blood work in any case."
"Definitely suffocation. No wounds or bruising consistent with being restrained as far as I can tell..." she begins trying to find a vein "...I'll take a sample now and do the works on it back at Colony Medical. Should have the results within the day"
 
Cooper is absorbed with the small statue as he angles his scanner for a database lookup. Distractedly he says, "This looks like a case of your bog-standard ritual killers. I'm guessing a few of them did it under orders from a charismatic nutcase."
 
Cooper is absorbed with the small statue as he angles his scanner for a database lookup
The database confirms that it's a statue of a Japanese Kami, specifically a Ta-no-Kami, a god tied to a place of agriculture such as a rice field or farm.

Cooper however, due to his archeological training, cross references with academic journals. Statues like this were only ever made on Kyushu island and the statue is made to look a bit like a Buddhist monk holding a rice bowl.
 
Finn meets Cooper’s eyes and glances briefly at Blix and the guard. “So far it looks pretty limited in scope, if a bit baroque.”

To Dr. Blix. “Doctor, we will need your office’s assistance with the other two bodies. Is that possible? If so, do you need a day or two?”
 
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"Possible without a doubt..." she says moving cult leader's head from side to side while holding his cheeks "...and no I believe there's no need to wait. This takes priority over my regular duties. The lab results for any blood samples or tissue analysis might take a day. But I can gather them all today"
 
"Is your lab capable of analyzing the soil or these worms?" Finn asks.

"Would my colleagues like to move to the next crime scene, or does anyone want more time here or need a little downtime?"
 
OOC: Are there any other indicators in the room of a struggle, or that the areas has been cleaned post-mortem?
 
OOC: Are there any other indicators in the room of a struggle, or that the areas has been cleaned post-mortem?
Looking around there are no obvious signs of a struggle.
Lassiter's survey kit picks up none of the typical trace aerosols to be found when a place has been cleaned recently.
 
"Is your lab capable of analyzing the soil or these worms?" Finn asks.

"Would my colleagues like to move to the next crime scene, or does anyone want more time here or need a little downtime?"
"Capable certainly...I can get it to run a standard suite of chemical tests. Anything in particular you're looking for?"
 
"Anything that you can do to identify the origin of the soil would be great. If you can find traces of fertilizer, I'm thinking we might be able to determine something about its intended use, and we can compare it to later samples. Same with the worms, actually."

Finn pauses in thought.

"If this came from gardens on Titan, I would expect that everything is carefully tailored to its intended use and thus very traceable. If it didn't come from Titan...well that would be interesting, too, wouldn't it?"

To his comrades...

"Where next, guys?"
 
"If this came from gardens on Titan, I would expect that everything is carefully tailored to its intended use and thus very traceable. If it didn't come from Titan...well that would be interesting, too, wouldn't it?"
"It would..." Blix says staring at the corpse "...it'd lead to some pretty serious questioning for quarantine. It's a pretty hygienic environment here for the sake of the native microbes. Something like this being brought in is usually flagged well in advance for our environment teams..." she gives Finn a concerned look and then starts packing up her equipment.
 
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"Where next, guys?"
Blix turns to Finn.

"Dr. Contos was found dead in her lab. It's a good bit away from here, you'll have to take the tram to the research lab. There's one just up the street. That diplomat...Renner was his name, he was found in his apartment. It's near the top floor of the Xanadu tower in the center of town"
 
"Let's hit up the closest scene first then, be efficient." Lassie says, his jaw set in a grim fashion.
 
The trio and Dr. Blix arrive at the base of the Xanadu tower. The lobby itself is somewhat lit by the grey light of the distant sun coming in the large wall windows and is filled with the sounds of the traffic outside. It's a typical corporate building, browns and whites with some cheap abstract art on the walls.

A white guard desk sits between a pair of elevator doors facing the exit. As the trio enter the guard is reading a door stopper of a novel, but upon looking up quickly closes it and stands to attention with an extended hand.

"You're the investigators right, here to see Mr. Renner's place?"

wacker-before.jpg
 
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Cooper nods in acknowledgement and, gesturing at the book, asks why the Xanadu hasn't tightened up security standards after the murder of a high-profile guest.
 
The guard goes red faced for a moment, holding out his hand awkwardly.

"I...well...They've the place upstairs locked up tight and it has been a few months since the murder, so..."

He gives Blix a worried look, but she responds sternly.

"Don't look at me, I'm with the offworlder on this one. One murder should be enough to make it obvious that you can't be so lax"

The guard tries to compose himself and dismiss the group as quick as he can.

"Well anyway his room is on the second floor...eh it has the special seal on it, it'll stick out..."
 
Cooper heads to the crime scene unless anyone has questions for the guard.
 
OOC: Assuming everybody else comes along

Heading up in the elevator the trio and Blix arrive on the second floor. A fairly featureless corridor adorned with red and brown striped wallpaper. There are only three apartment doors and as the guard said Renner's one is pretty obvious.

A large rectangular black device with a hand scanner is mounted over where the keycard slot would normally be.

OOC: Again assuming nobody is particularly interested in the corridor. Can edit if necessary

Blix puts her hand on the scanner and the door opens. A high pitched sound is heard as it does, another stasis field deactivating. The apartment is a bit disorganized with clothes, disposable coffee cups, ready meals (some in an advanced state of decay) and books strewn everywhere.

raul-rosell-apartment-concept.jpg

The stasis field is still active over the corpse in the kitchen (but can be shut off from the panel on the door).

Renner is in a much worse state than the previous victim. His body is split in half at the waist. The legs and pelvis lie against the fridge, where as the torso lies up on the counter. The head is missing.

EDIT: Spelling
 
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"I have a few questions." Lassie says, his eyes still darting around the room. "The scanner, who else had access? The head, was it found? The rest of the apartment," Lassie gestures outside of the stasis field, "why was it also not put into stasis? Just because his body is here doesn't mean that there wasn't evidence elsewhere in the apartment."
 
While his companion asks questions Cooper mumbles "Sloppy work," as he carefully pokes around the apartment so as not to disturb any evidence. He's looking for anomalies and keeping the corpse out of his LoS for now. Are there any drag marks on the floor? What kind of books did this guy read?
 
"I have a few questions." Lassie says, his eyes still darting around the room. "The scanner, who else had access? The head, was it found? The rest of the apartment," Lassie gestures outside of the stasis field, "why was it also not put into stasis? Just because his body is here doesn't mean that there wasn't evidence elsewhere in the apartment."
"Nobody else should have access besides yourselves and some higher ranking law enforcement staff like me" Blix states, though with some uncertainty in her voice.

"The field should have covered the whole room..." she says half whispering as she brings up the original investigation team's report on the scanner "...the head was found..." she goes a bit white in the face "...it was still attached when they found it..." she says looking at Lassiter with a tremor in her voice.
 
While his companion asks questions Cooper mumbles "Sloppy work," as he carefully pokes around the apartment so as not to disturb any evidence. He's looking for anomalies and keeping the corpse out of his LoS for now. Are there any drag marks on the floor? What kind of books did this guy read?
Cooper spots slight burn marks around the base of the bed and one on the ceiling. There is a clear drag mark near the sofa opposite the bed.

The books mostly relate to Jovian history or are bulky monographs about trading and mining on the moons of the outer planets. However Cooper does spot a little book of about forty or so pages concerning the "Inner Way" cult's beliefs.
 
Cooper waits for everyone to digest Blix's statement before announcing his discoveries (see previous spoiler) If there is any way Cooper can read the cult book without disturbing the crime scene or ruining evidence he will do so immediately.
 
Cooper sees that Renner had obviously been reading the book a bit, some passages are underlined here and there. The text's central point is an experience Dincer Bulut, the cults founder, had while part of a mining crew. It seems a being appeared to him and told him parts of the everyday world around him were illusions and others were more real than he could imagine. Bulut later says the being was himself and God and the Other. None of this is really explained, more presented in a deliberately confusing way suggesting the reader think about it.

Renner seems to have been particularly interested in the exact location where the vision happened. He underlined details given about how far out Bulut sailed, what colour the stalactites were and so on, as well as adding margin notes. It doesn't seem a definitive conclusion was reached.
 
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