Located a short distance down the mountain from The Peak, I arrived at the vet clinic with my heart pounding.

I gazed down at Maori in one of the treatment rooms. A very sick dog lay before me.

“Oh, Tari, she looks so lifeless,” my mother said. Normally stoic, this situation proved difficult for her and, actually, for both of us.

“Let me talk to the vet,” I said. I needed to hear the words from him.

We found Dr. Cabin in his office. The vet ran his hands through his curly hair. He tried to be reassuring but his eyes showed concern. “I’ve operated and Maori is holding her own, but this is a very crucial time.”

“Is there anything we can do?” I asked, although I was pretty sure what his answer was going to be.

“No, we just need to wait and see. I’m here to stay with her.”

His expected answer didn’t cheer me up. I gave him a hug, and said, “You’re the best.”

Then I said to Mom, “Let’s go home. We both need some rest.”

At home, we went directly to bed. The night had mostly disappeared.

After a restless, short night, I had an early breakfast. “No news is good news, I hope,” I said to my mother, who looked as though she’d had a rough night as well.

“I believe you’re correct. I’ll drive over to the clinic shortly and let you know how things are.”

We hugged and I left for the office.

The squad room hummed with activity. Two murders needed solving. I settled at my desk and checked for reports, and then held my morning briefing.

“Let’s start with our most recent homicide. We’ll ignore the physical evidence gathered yesterday, because it’s too soon for any results. Harrison, what did you discover on the security recordings from The Peak?”

“I’ve made a list of everyone who used the washroom, and the times they entered and left, at least during the time of the banquet. I do have a problem with the downstairs disk; there are some fuzzy patches. So I may be missing some of the people who entered. And I need to confirm the identity of some of them.” He typed a couple of words and then said, “Brian was the last to enter. I’m sending the report now.”

We took a few moments to scan his report.

Dino piped up, “Who were the beings who entered after Skitem-Carry?”

Apparently the ambassador hadn’t received a copy of Harrison’s report, so he had a legitimate question. I nodded at Harrison to answer.

“Brian entered shortly after Skitem-Carry—at least from what I could view on the tape.” Harrison sounded reluctant to answer Dino.

“So Detective Chen killed Skitem-Carry,” said Dino.

“Hey! I’m a police officer; you can’t say that,” objected Brian.

“He’s right. You can’t jump to that conclusion for any reason,” I added in Brian’s defense.

“I want to look at the recording myself before pointing any fingers. There may have been others still in the washroom at the time Skitem-Carry and Brian entered.”

I looked at Harrison. He shrugged his shoulders, and said, “There may have been a person lurking in the stalls from earlier today, or perhaps the Bremen slit his own throat for reasons that are unknown at this time.”

Dino appeared crestfallen. “I am sorry; you are correct. I am not seeing the big picture. I must listen carefully and think before I speak.” A few laughs echoed around the room. “Although, I must say I have never heard of a Bremen taking his own life,” said Dino.

“Let me send you my report,” said Harrison. “Perhaps it will help your reasoning.”

“Yes. Everyone, make sure the ambassador receives your reports,” I continued. “Anything else about last night’s murder?”

“I contacted Simone, the restaurant manager, and she’s getting me copies of their other security footage. Perhaps we’ll get lucky,” said Harrison.

“Excellent. Now I’m going to put up two holographic images—one from each murder. Study them, and tell me what you see.”

The almost solid images resonated in the center of the squad room.

“Well, the most obvious comment is that male aliens are being murdered in men’s washrooms,” commented Harrison.

“You’re right. But you imply an interesting problem— why are only males being murdered? Of course, our sample is too small. Anything else?” I asked. I needed to remember to ask Dino about male/female distributions on other worlds.

“They were both pretty violent crimes,” said Raj. I hadn’t noticed the medical examiner entering the squad room.

“Okay, class. Tell me what type of weapon caused the second murder,” said Raj, injecting a little levity.

“Would a cutter be appropriate?” asked Dino.

“What do you mean?” replied Raj.

“A tool with a beam that cuts through things,” said Dino.

Harrison jumped in. “I think the ambassador is talking about something similar to a laser cutter.”

Dino nodded in agreement.

“You’ve nailed it, ambassador,” said the medical examiner. “Well done.”

Before Raj had a chance to leave, I said, “Dr. Inder, do you have any other medical results?”

“Nothing earth-shattering, I’m afraid.” After the room burst into laughter, he said, “Okay, maybe not quite the right description. Obviously, the Bremen have different internal organs than we do but again some of them perform similar functions. The most important detail is that they can’t lose much blood. They have a thick skin to retain moisture be- cause they originated on a dry planet. However, once that skin is pierced, they have a low tolerance to blood loss. Heaven help them if they lose a limb in an accident; it’s al- most always fatal.”

“In regards to the first murder, what can you tell us about the Rheinon?” I said.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, please, Ambassador Rare. The Rheinon are also from a dry home world. However, they developed a thick skin almost like an exoskeleton. For some reason, the loss of their blood is not nearly as serious. Because of this exoskeleton, a knife wouldn’t have been successful. But a blow from a heavy bowling ball was.”

I glanced at Dino.

“Ma’am, the medical examiner is almost correct.” He grinned. “The reason the loss of blood is not as significant is because our internal organs have their own blood supply, more or less. The blood doesn’t run about our bodies the way it does in yours. Actually, our heart is a pretty minor organ. Now a knife can do damage, but you have to have an excellent grasp of Rheinon anatomy.”

I didn’t quite understand his explanation of their bodily functions. Something else to research. However, Dino’s description triggered a question. “Raj, can you tell if both murders were committed by the same person?”

“I talked to the other doctors, alien that is, and we don’t think it was the same person but it’s difficult to prove. We have a meeting later today to brainstorm. I’ll let you know if we come up with anything.”

His answer didn’t improve my humor. I watched him walk out the door while I contemplated my lack of clues.

Harrison interrupted my thoughts. “I heard a rumor Tristor is pulling out of the tournament. They’re afraid another one of their people will be murdered.” Harrison had many sources and often heard rumors before the rest of us.

“Ambassador?” I said.

“The Tristorians are discussing that option, but currently they have decided to stay. You must remember, Tristorians are a non-confrontational species. So staying is a big leap of faith for their kind.”

“With four legs, running away should be easy,” I said. The Tristorians had such a strange look about them, but they were formidable bowlers. They could approach the foul line faster than any other race.

Dino appeared to have a reproachful look on his face, but I chose to ignore it. “Let’s go back to the murder of Keepe Style,” I said. “Brian, Harrison, have you found any patterns or details we missed in our original look at the sweep results?”

Harrison said, “As far as I can see, the results are one big ocean of unrelated details. The only thing that’s the least bit interesting is the sample of Rheinon DNA found on the bowling ball. But, as Ambassador Dino remarked, that could have come from the floor of the washroom. So it really doesn’t help us eliminate anyone.”

“You’re right.” I paused for a moment. Then Harrison brought me out of my reverie.

“I used our new STEP machine to follow the foot patterns of everyone that used the washroom during time-of- death plus or minus three hours, but all I got was confused.”

I had to laugh. The Simultaneous Tracking

Electronic Pattern machine somehow could read the layers of debris deposited by walkers and create a 3-D flow diagram. The STEP machine couldn’t put names to the lines—that fell to the detectives.

“I understand why you’re confused,” I said. “That’s also my experience with the STEP. But if you are successful in figuring out some of the participants, it can be as informative as a time machine. Send everyone your analysis, Harrison. I’ll take a careful look at it. Continue working on it, please.”

I turned to Brian. “Anything?”

“Nothing comes to mind except the subject of cameras.”

“Cameras?” I said.

“Revolutions has very few. It would possibly have helped us determine who had gone into the bathroom.”

I nodded. Something tickled the back of my mind about cameras, though.

“Did anyone check the outside cameras?” I knew Smith had cameras around the parking lot to keep an eye on accidents, break-ins, drugs, and such. No one spoke.

“Okay. Harrison, since you did such a good job with The Peak’s cameras, this one is all yours, too.” He held up his hand and started to say something but I spoke first. “You’re much better at this than I am.”

“Serves me right for being good at my job,” he replied. But I thought he caught the message I’d tried to send.

“You are good, and your summary of The Peak’s tapes was excellent.” I continued, “I spoke with Inspector Hayden this morning, and we have put extra surveillance and security on all venues. However, he has not agreed to metal detectors. While we wait for results from the lab for Skitem-Carry, we’ll all be scouting out today’s practice. So, everyone, on your way, and find some suspicious people.”

The room emptied, except for Dino. “Ma’am, I would like to say something undiplomatic.” His hands fluttered.

His comment surprised me. “Go ahead; I have a thick skin.”

“That is what I want to talk about. You seem to have a phobia or two about aliens. At least, it appears that way from some of your comments.”

I sighed. “I know, and I’m trying to curb my comments. However, in this case, thick skin had nothing to do with aliens. It just means I am trying not to be sensitive about criticism.”

Continuing, I said, “Although I love speculative fiction, in my youth I never thought I would ever see the day I’d be dealing with alien species—it was all pure fantasy. Then my mother and I became involved with the discovery of the listening post on the Moon. It was a difficult time for a teenager—a not quite adult. And now that the reality of aliens has crept into my life, I do find myself uncomfortable at times.”

I put my papers down on my desk. “I gave this a great deal of thought yesterday, and I believe I’ve started to adjust to the situation. It’s just going to take some time.”

Dino grinned. “Yes, I have noticed your adjustment, in the little time we have been together. Perhaps I should not have brought the subject up.”

“No, that’s fine. I do need to have these issues pointed out to me. Since you’re officially my sidekick, I expect you to pull me up short.”

“That is an interesting expression you just used, but I do think I know what you are saying.” Dino waved his right arm. “On another subject, I want to tell you about the underlying structure of the BRITE Alliance. You know I mentioned earlier I had something to look into?”

“Yes.” I straightened up.

“I had to get permission to discuss this subject with you.”

“Is this information you’re about to divulge, a secret?”

“Not really. It is just not widely advertised.”

“So, I don’t have to refrain from spreading the information?”

“No, but be selective in your dissemination.”

How did I keep finding myself in these bizarre situations? Dino was a little naïve, thinking what he was going to tell me wouldn’t circulate beyond a select few, but I wasn’t about to mention it. “Okay, please continue,” I said.

“The BRITE Alliance is run by a council. Each world designates an equal number of councillors by any means they wish. The council physically locates to the home planet of the president. This makes for some interesting situations,” said Dino.

I sat down hard. “Who’s the president?”

“The president is chosen from amongst the councillors of the world with the most points.”

His explanation started to confuse me, but I prided myself on my analytical skills. “I think I follow your explanations. How do worlds gain points?”

“That is the most interesting part.” Dino stopped pacing, and continued, “Points are collected in many ways. There are points for scientific accomplishments, artistic endeavors, competitions, and many other things. The list is quite long.”

“Okay. How often are the points added up? By that I mean, when and how is it determined the president should change?”

“Every three average planetary cycles. Cycles are measured by the time it takes each home planet to orbit its sun, and then this is averaged over all planets.”

“Did the average change when Earth joined the Alliance?”

“Not significantly.”

“So how close are we to when the president will be determined again?”

“Very close.”

“So, this competition is pivotal?” A bowling competition?

“Very much so.” Dino made a sound like a sigh. “The Tristorians are extremely close to leading the next council.”

“So perhaps other races may be trying to stop them?”

Dino nodded assent.

The reason for the murders became clearer—actually only Keepe Style’s did. The murder of the bowling official, Skitem-Carry, appeared to be another matter. And, actually, now that I thought about it for a moment, the murder of Keepe Style may have been for some other unknown reason such as finding a place on a bowling team.

“This sheds an interesting light on the competition and the murders. You’ve given me much to think about, Dino. I know I’ll have more questions but, in the meantime, let’s go over to the bowling alley. I need to clear my head.”

* * * *

Revolutions hummed with activity. I wandered about a bit, with Dino at my side. All teams were practicing today, which made our jobs easier. Then Chrissy saw me and waved.

“How’s your new ball?” I asked her. Her primary ball had been confiscated as evidence in the first murder.

“I quite like it.” Chrissy glanced around. “I need to ask you about something. There’s a rumor going around that the Itlans are getting extra practice time at night when the bowling alley is pretty empty. Is this true?”

“I wouldn’t think so. Ambassador, would you mind looking into this, please?” I needed a useful ambassador.

“Of course.” He walked away to have a bit of privacy for his calls.

I watched Team Canada practice. From what I observed, the whole team delighted in how they performed. My fingers started to twitch; I hadn’t picked up a ball in days.

Dino joined me. “I checked into the rumor. It appears the Itlans had asked if they could have some extra practice time, but they were turned down.”

“That’s a relief. Rumors are so insidious.”

We gave Chrissy the news and asked her to spread it around. If anyone could disseminate information, it was Chrissy. Dino and I walked down to the other end of the lanes to watch a different team. I needed to understand aliens a little better, so I decided to quiz Dino.

Before I got started, Mike Dakota ran over. “One of the Rheinon has collapsed and it looks like he’s unconscious.”