Work Text:
Memory transcription subject: Larissa McVale, Forensic Pathologist, Skalgan Center for Forensic Reclaimation
Date [standardized human time]: October 12, 2137
The file for the individual I was calling Venlil Doe #15 was extremely thin, barely a few pages. Typical work from a Fed Exterminator's office. Jonain would be fetching the case from cold storage, but it would take him some time. Time I could use to review what little information there was about him.
Doctor Makid would be my note-taker. The Venlil pathologist was more qualified for this kind of work than almost any other alien, but that didn't make him qualified enough. His profession had been completely geared towards diagnosing the causes of natural death. Anything else went to the Exterminators. For now, he studied and observed mostly, although he had been able to diagnose a death by ruptured esophageal varices in an extremely unfortunate Zerulian 'predator attack victim'. I figured if he could handle the crime scene pictures from that one, I could make a real forensic pathologist out of him yet.
Jonain, on the other hand, was only qualified to work for the Center by virtue of his species and my personal recommendation. As a Jaur, he could work safely in cold storage for hours at time without harming himself. On the flipside, an environmental suit is a necessity for comfort when he's working in the Green and safety in the the Burning. He assured me that his home on the border of the Twilight and Night zones was perfectly comfortable for him, and he didn't mind the commute, but I still worried.
And then there was the fly in the ointment. The young adult Venlil sitting in a motorized wheelchair in the corner.
Nirsit was a Junior Exterminator, an observer sent by the Office to watch our work while she recovered from corrective surgery on her legs. She could analyze our work to improve the work of the Exterminators as a whole, and collect money from the guild while she recovered. Of course, some darkly said that the Office was just trying to learn how to better cover up their own murders. Fun fact: the people employed at an institution dedicated towards righting the wrongs wrought by the Exterminators did not tend to be fans of Exterminators. The thing that baffled me the most was that Nirsit never seemed to realize how hated she was by pretty much every alien employee of the Center. And after she'd opened her mouth a few times, a not-insignificant portion of the humans.
Of course, her own office sent her here, so maybe she wasn't just hated here.
Speaking of which, I'd better get her out of the room before Jonain gets here. No need to get my best buddy in trouble for assault.
The room was sterilized, the table polished, Makid and I had helped each other into sterile garb. We were ready for Jonain to bring in the patient.
I hadn't even needed to find a make-work task for Nirsit. I was having her cover her wheelchair in a sterile covering, something that would take assistance. Assistance Makid and I couldn't provide, since we were setting up the room for our patient, so she had been sent to see the pathology assistants to get her kitted out. Happy to receive an order, the speckled Venlil had wheeled out of the room with an almost military bearing.
Jonain, by contrast, was positively civilian in comportment as he wheeled in a trolley from cold storage. The Jaur greeted me with a friendly sweep of his tail. I tried to reciprocate, approximating the gesture with my off-hand. Jonain chuffed in delight, his heavy tail beating against the ground. Only the need to keep a sterile field kept me from facepalming.
"Don't tell me I just flirted with you again."
Jonain lifted the case from his cart, and set it on the examination table, ears still canted in amusement. I groaned, "Of course I did. Well that's just great. I can see the headlines now: 'Respected Human Scientist Sexually Harasses Alien Colleagues'."
He chuffed with Jaur laughter, "'Jury Acquits Scientist, Jaur is Just That Handsome'."
"'Handsomeness of Jaur Potential Emergency Order 56 Violation, Promotes Rude and Lascivious Behavior'."
My friend's ears and tail dropped back to neutral, a contextual sign of shock. "You're kidding me."
"I wish I was. The first human partners in interspecies couples got put through the wringer in all sorts of directions."
"Ouch."
"There was this great expose -I'll send you a link after work- about the whole mess."
"I'd like that," the Jaur chirped, "see you later, Larissa."
"Bye Jonain," I said, to his retreating back. I wasn't offended by his swift retreat. Jonain really, really didn't like Nirsit. Spending any amount of time in a Predator Disease facility would do that to a person. Best to keep them apart if at all feasible. Anyway, we'd be going to an art exhibition next Rest Paw.
Before I opened up the casket, I decided to review the facts of the case. I opened the file on my plastic covered tablet, as the door swung open and Nirsit rolled in, now looking like a small vinyl snowdrift.
Unknown male Venlil discovered at approximately [[October 30, 2126]], deceased in Spring Dawn Park.
Note to self, find Spring Dawn Park on map. Actually, have Makid or Nirsit do it, we may be having name translation problems.
Victim was a medium grey, fur uniform in color. Fur was worn long and was slightly matted at time of death. Eyes were yellow. Height approximately [[131 centimeters]].
Well that description was basically useless. They didn't even bother to mark his fur or eye color on their equivalent of a RGB scale. Average height, average wool color, average eye color, hell it could be describing Makid or a good third of the Venlil I pass on the street.
I scanned forward-
Cause of death determined to be predator attack. Victim was disemboweled in a single strike with sharp claws or talons.
Dammit.
The rest of the thin report was devoted to a few witness accounts of a Venlil who may be our decedent in life, as well as describing the Exterminator's attempts to remove any trace of 'Taint', by essentially burning down the entire park.
No more stalling. Time to get to work.
"Brace yourself, you two," I called out to my observers, "this Venlil died a violent death." Then I unsealed the casket lid.
Empty sockets stared blankly at the ceiling as I tilted the long-dead Venlil's skull, examining the underside.
Missing teeth, with bone loss around the sockets. Missing in life, most likely. Less common in Venlil than in humans. May be distinct enough to ID him on it's own. Of course the Exterminators didn't bother to mention this in their report.
I told Makid, and he made a note to have the skull examined by Dr. Wong, our dental expert.
The dead Venlil had been lain out in anatomical position to the best of our ability. A few of the smaller bones were adhered to each other with calcined flesh, and we'd elected not to forcibly separate them. Nirsit had looked a little sick while we discussed logistics, but Makid seemed to take it in stride.
I carefully began measuring the distance between the gouges on the dead Venlil's ribs. Makid hovered over with a sterile tablet, periodically snapping pictures. I sighed a little, huffing through my mask. "No way to tell right away if this is really a predator attack. These claw marks could have been inflicted by a shadestalker or a young kelach, but there are plenty of sapient species with claws of the right size and the power to cause this kind of damage."
Makid's tail twitched with barely concealed agitation. "There's no signs that he was-" Makid swallowed, "-eaten. Doesn't that indicate a murder?"
"Normally I'd agree with you, but there are a lot of factors that point to a real predator attack. He died in a rural area in the Twilight zone, where there actually are predators that might attack a lone Venlil. Second, if it was a predator, it simply may not have had time to eat. The report said he was still warm and his eyes weren't clouded when he was found. The predator could have been scared off by the herd," I gestured to the file with disgust, "and the Exterminators found tracks in blood leading away from the body. Of course they don't describe them, and there are no pictures, but you'd think a sapient murderer would have the presence of mind to wipe their feet before running off."
Someone scoffed.
"If it was a murderer."
We both looked at Nirsit, surprised, as the quiet observer spoke up. She held up a copy of her own report, ears lofted smugly, "No one got his name, but we have a few witness accounts of this person accosting people in the park."
"The report said he was proselytizing in the park."
"Exactly," Nirsit chirped triumphantly.
Makid's ear flicked awkwardly. "The word is a bit stronger in context, Dr. McVale. 'Accosting' is probably the better translation. It wouldn't quite be considered 'predatory' aggression- sorry- but it's not exactly good behavior."
"Look at the report. Everyone he approached was alone- and look at what he was carrying! Several fruit knives, kept sharp," she gestured to the line in the report, "It's pretty clear that he was living as a vagrant, and how do you think he was supporting himself without the herd?"
"You think he was a thief!" Makid yelped.
"More than that," I noted, "She thinks he was a mugger, and she has a point. Someone panicking after a self-defense killing wouldn't be thinking about covering their tracks as much as a calculated murderer. Damn the exterminator's office, we need a picture of those tracks. We can check for foreign hair or claw fragments in his wounds, but it probably all got burned with the rest of him," I wanted to rub the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache try to settle in, "We probably aren't going to get a definitive cause of death on this one, let alone a conviction if it was a deliberate act, but we can still give him his name back."
"'Unnatural Death, Unspecified Cause'", I specified to Makid, who dutifully wrote it down, "I'll check his wounds for foreign DNA, but I doubt anything will be useful after being bathed in fire, then buried for ten years. In fact, you two can go early. I'll have to take a bone marrow sample from him to get usable tissue for a DNA test, and I know it'll make you squeamish."
Nirsit had happily excused herself to do... whatever she did for fun. I still couldn't really imagine her having friends. But Makid had stayed, and had even fetched the tools I would need to cross section the bone.
"Are you sure you want to be here, Makid?" I checked.
"I've used a bonesaw before," the Venlil gently reminded me.
Right. Oops. As backwards as the Federation could be, I had to remind myself that in many respects Makid was just as qualified as I am. More, in some ways, since he had trained on alien anatomy. I knew my blush was visible over my surgical mask, and I was about to apologize to the pathologist for infantilizing him when his tail flicked upwards, indicating a desire to speak.
"Dr. McVale-" he corrected himself, "Larissa. This Venil, what if Nirsit's right? What if he was robbing people and someone fought back?"
I shrugged. "Does it matter? He still was a person. He deserves to have his name back."
"If he was hurting people..."
I frowned behind my mask, "So if he deserved what he got, you think he's not worth our time?"
Makid's ears went back, his eyes widened. I decided to press the point.
"Think about it this way: someone loved this Venlil. He had parents, maybe siblings. Even the people who went to school with him, or passed him on the streets. Someone has to have wondered where he was, or what happened to him. Do they deserve to hurt because you can't conceive of helping someone who might be a criminal, who might have brought his fate upon himself?"
"I guess I never thought of it that way," Makids ears drooped, shamefaced.
I shrugged, "Different cultural mindsets. I'm not offended. But this is a human-run facility, and it will be until we can get enough pathologists and administrators trained to our standards. And with human pathologists," I sighed, "Makid, we're here for the dead. Everyone deserves to be treated with some form of respect. No matter who they are. Because when you start drawing lines between people-"
"I'm sorry," he almost whispered.
I wished I had a way to signal my forgiveness without movable ears or a tail. "It's a mindset thing. You'll get there." I offered him the instrument tray. "Would you like to take the sample, Doctor?"
Makid accepted the bonesaw, and the pathologist went to work.