A small candle, a sack of clothing, a couple of pieces of paper, and several small vials were lined up on a countertop under a hood. The adjacent screen displayed a cryptic, coded log. Lucinda was sitting on a barstool as they entered. Savanna positioned herself closest to Lucinda, and Maricia positioned Raul farthest away. “What’s up, Luc?” asked Savanna.
“I feel like a TV detective.” She took a deep breath and exhaled to prepare for her presentation. “OK. You see the things under the hood. Suresh had been pestering me with sexual overtures for a couple of weeks. He came into my room in the middle of the night for two weeks just long enough to leave a stupid love note without waking me up. Every morning after a visit, I woke up sexually stimulated. Four days ago in the early morning, he came to my room, knocked on the door, gave me that candle,”—she pointed—“lit it, and left. Within minutes, I became extremely aroused. This is so embarrassing.” She paused and looked away to regain her objectivity. “I could not understand why. I went to work out, to burn off the energy, and then, well, Raul came in, and you know what happened.
“I tested all these items in the lab, looking for something that would have driven both Raul and me crazy. This morning, I found it. There are traces of a compound that is both a synthetic pheromone and a phosphodiesterase inhibitor found in everything here. I have not found it in anything else.”
“A pheromone is a sexual attractant,” Maricia said slowly as she dragged her pharmacology out of mental storage. “A phosphodiesterase inhibitor increases blood flow to sex organs and increases desire in women and function in men. That would sell on the streets as an aphrodisiac.”
“According to the work log for the lab, Suresh was working on this ever since we started. Here is an entry from mission day three. This unknown abbreviation here, PaLNS216c, has no meaning as far as the computer can determine. It appears every few days until about a week before Leila and Chen died. It then appears several times a day.” She showed page after page of reference as she continued. “After Leila died, PaLNS216c does not appear for a month. Just before he started delivering notes to me, it appears again, every day.
“The two notes that had not been recycled contain traces of this junk, but the candle is full of it. The smoke permeated my clothing, continuing to affect me as I exercised. I think it affected Raul because my sweater was on the machine he was using.”
“That would explain why I felt so turned on,” Raul said defensively. “I thought I had gone mad because I had no need for more sex that morning. I was empty.”
Maricia slugged him in his upper arm. “That’s enough, Raul.” He looked at her, raising both arms in a gesture that questioned why she would strike him. “Well, he’s right about being empty,” she admitted.
“It made me wonder if Suresh began by trying to stimulate Leila, who was a big tease,” Lucinda resumed, looking at Savanna as she spoke. “Perhaps she and Chen were under the influence.”
“That is almost unbelievable,” Maricia said. “Can you prove this?”
“I knew you and others would have reason to suspect that I came up with this for some self-serving reason. So every step is documented in Jekyll, who did all the work and backed it up in the system. I did none of the work myself.”
“It could make sense,” Savanna said.
Unnoticed by the others, Maricia activated her communicator and summoned the closest med-bot to come to Science. The emotional stress seemed like it was high, ready to make someone else break. She wanted one of the experts there to assess.
“We will recheck the log and the security features of Jekyll,” said Cyrus. “You’re positing that all this is unintended sabotage.”
“We don’t know about any larger intent. The twist is that he is the smartest of all of us,” Savanna said, “and still thinks with his gonads.”
“If this is true,” said Maricia.
“It’s true, Maricia,” said Lucinda with tears brimming in both eyes. “Take a couple of sniffs and see how you feel. I never would have done this to you. I don’t act out like this. You have read my profile and know this. We work together every day. We’re close like sisters. I swear to God this is the truth.”
Maricia put her head under the hood and her nose into a bag and inhaled twice and stood up. “How long does it take?”
“Not too long.”
Maricia smiled. “Not long at all. Oooooh.”
Stillness of anticipation was broken when Maricia looked back at Lucinda, the hostility starting slowly to erode in a sea of tears. She stepped forward and opened her arms. They embraced. “I’m starting to believe you, Luc.”
Savanna stepped in and put her arms around both of them. “Group hug.”
As the scrum of weeping women healed and rebounded, Raul pulled Cyrus aside. “Does this change how we handle Parambi?” he asked.
“Should it?”
Lola walked in from the stairwell, looking bronze and beautiful, saying nothing.
“Cyrus, he’s a danger to the crew and the mission!”
“We should all discuss it later.” He looked at the door. His jaw and fists clenched.
“I could understand the first mistake, or at least forgive it. The second time, he overcame our security and almost killed me. He should be chemically restrained until we sort this out.”
“I don’t know, Raul. But this could be good news for you. You might get lucky tonight.”
“I never thought I would say this, but that sounds so painful. But, yeah, I feel slightly less evil.”
“Redemption comes in many forms,” Cyrus said as if to himself.
“I felt just like this in Rec after the crisis. I thought I had gone bonkers,” Maricia said as her pupils pushed her blue irises into a rim, and pink glowed on her neck, disappearing down below her shirt.
“What does it feel like?” Savanna asked.
“It’s so compelling. It’s hard not to touch my—. Oh, baby. I need to be excused,” Maricia said. She disappeared into the stairwell.
“Proof,” Lucinda said. “Proof.”
Cyrus bumped and pushed his way to the hood and took several whiffs from deep inside. He glowered for several seconds with all eyes upon him. “Nothing there,” he said and then stomped out of the room. Lola wafted some of the fumes with her hand into her nose. Raul was left with Savanna and Lucinda. “Well, aren’t you going to follow Mar?” Lucinda asked Raul, gesturing for him to leave.
“I’m bothered by his attitude,” he said, nodding at the disappearing commander.
“You’re not alone,” Lucinda agreed.
“This is the same chemical present in Recreation at the time of the assault on Mr. Trujillo,” Lola announced.
“I don’t get why he seems more concerned with Parambi than with our safety,” Raul said. “It’s like he has taken sides with him against the rest of us. It’s really buggin’ me.”
“Every now and then, he makes these loony statements,” Lucinda noted.
“A few weeks ago, after Chen and Leila died, there was a notice that those two were at risk of a breakdown.”
“That was a classified document,” Lola said. “How did you access it?”
“It showed up on my monitor for a few seconds before it disappeared. Why are you here, Lola?”
“Maricia sent for me.”
“Savanna, you spend a lot of time with Cy,” Raul said. “What’s up?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t really gotten along well since liftoff. He doesn’t open up to me.”
“Lola?” Lucinda said.
“Our projection, based on data acquired to that point on the mission, was that he, as well as Dr. Parambi, was likely to experience psychological decompensation. We detect growing dissonance in the commander manifest by his statements, a change in pattern and distribution of delta wave sleep, an altered selection of entertainment type, as well as some other equivocal physiologic changes.”
“We should do something,” Raul said. “I think the rules are if three of the five competent remaining vote to change leaders, we can do it. Isn’t that right?”
“Technically correct,” Lola said. “It would add another stressor and exacerbate the severity of the problem.”
“It’s going to get worse regardless of what we do,” Savanna predicted. “There’s something about him, perhaps about his past, that he keeps hidden. Can you help, Lola?”
“There is nothing in his recorded life history of major concern. I could probe his memory but only with his cooperation. Given his current state, it is improbable he would consent.”
“As acting commander, did he receive the information about Suresh’s unbalanced state?” Raul asked.
“Affirmative.”
“He said nothing to me,” Savanna said. “To any of you?”
They all shook their heads.
“Is he violent with you, Sav?” Lucinda asked.
“Not yet,” she said with growing presentiment.