The Speculative Short Stories of Barbara Paul by Barbara Paul

Author:Barbara Paul
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: http://www.archive.org/details/midnightlouiespe00doug

SPACECAT

Barbara Paul

Published in Feline and Famous anthology, February 1996

The very dead man had invaded McCat’s space, cramming himself into the nice hollow made by the oblique juncture of two mock computer banks. What’s more, the very dead man was leaking blood all over the place. Someone was going to have to do some serious housecleaning before McCat would use that space again.

He leaped to the Captain’s chair and switched his tail at the two strangers to show his annoyance at the present revolting state of affairs. Like most humans, they didn’t notice.

His humans weren’t paying any attention to him either. They clustered around the two strangers, quiet in a way McCat had never beard them be quiet before. Finally Male Stranger looked around and said, “What’s this supposed to be? The bridge of a spaceship?”

“That’s right, Detective,” Boss Human said nervously. “We’re shooting a flash-and-dazzle space adventure called CyberTime.” He stared glumly at the dead man. “We were shooting it.”

“You’ll have to cancel?”

Boss Human grunted. “Nathan was in eighty percent of the scenes we’ve got in the can. I don’t know if we can get the financing.”

“To start over?”

“To start over.”

Female Stranger spoke. “And this happened right after he’d shot a scene? How long from the end of that to the time he was found?”

“About fifteen minutes,” Boss told her. “Twenty at the most. We’d just stopped to make a minor adjustment on the set... a prop was missing. We weren’t shooting here—we were over on the engineering deck.”

None of this was solving McCat’s problem. He wanted his space back, but all these humans were doing was talking. He let out a low growl to remind them of his displeasure.

“What was that?” Female Stranger asked.

“Just the studio cat,” Boss said. Just? “Why was Nathan’s body stuffed in there? Crammed into that little nook like that? He’s not really hidden.”

“You weren’t shooting here, you said. Then the lights were off?”

“That’s right, Detective.”

“Then most likely this was only a temporary hiding place. You weren’t using the set—it was convenient. Maybe the killer meant to move the body later.”

“Yeah,” Male Stranger added. “And that makes if sound spur of the moment. Which of you found the body?”

“I did,” said Tinyvoice Human.

Female Stranger walked over to her “What were you doing on this set... when everybody else was on a different one?”

“I was looking for the missing prop,” the other woman said so softly as almost to be inaudible. “It wasn’t in the prop room, and this was the last place it was used.”

“You’re in charge of props?”

She murmured something.

“I can’t hear you.”

Tinyvoice raised her volume to a whisper. “Not in charge,” apologetically. “I’m on the properties crew.”

“Did you find the missing prop?”

“Yes... oh! I think I dropped it when... when I saw Nathan.” Tinyvoice started looking around.

“Here it is,” said Groomer Human, picking up a plastic gizmo from the floor. “It doesn’t do a damned thing—but oh, it does flash pretty lights and it looks high-tech as all get-out.” He held the prop out to the two strangers.

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