House of the Morningstar: Chapter 17
Created | Updated Mar 12, 2023
House of the Morningstar: Chapter 17
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Slowly things seem to be more normal again. Everyone got back to work after not getting much done for some days. Only a few people have decided that this was too much for them. They packed their bags and will leave with the caravan in two days. This is maybe due to rumors getting more and more hairiraising. Instead of faulty machinery and falling rocks, some people now whisper about curses and ancient ghosts haunting the underground. I asked some of them where they thought these ghosts were supposed to come from? Were they the ghosts of rocks and stones or what? This is all just getting crazy.
The boss sent a message. After he received the new plans for the changed bathrooms (which we have worked on for 5 days now) he decided not to change them after all. Although maybe we will come back to the idea later. He also remembered a version of the plans from two years ago where the penthouse had more bedrooms. He found a print full of coffee stains of this somewhere on his desk and now wants us to find the files. We put Nina and Melissa on the case. They are thrilled...
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In Transit
Just a few hours ago, Tanja Labovsky of the Katastropolis police received a call from Elanor Wolff, an old acquaintance. She had requested help with locating a missing person – Angela Morgenstern, who had been on her way to Katastropolis and was missing for four days already. Because of this, Tanja had taken the tramway to the Katastropolis transit hub and from there a transport up to Ares Station. She was wearing her rusty-red-and-white police uniform which clashed with her short, vivid pink hair.
She got out of the small shuttle, happy to be out of the uncomfortable seat and away from their fellow travellers. The man across from her had spent the whole journey eating pickled onions from a jar while the woman next to her had a long and loud call with her daughter. Tanja now knew everything about Uncle Tom's medical conditions and grandma's new household appliances.
She stepped out from the narrow gangway to a metal gallery at about half the hight of a large hall. Through the large transparent roof above she had a view of the dusty ball of rock she called her home. For a moment, Tanja stopped to appreciate the view. Down on the lower level there were lots of people coming and going. Between them there were several merchants selling over-priced knick-knack, alcohol and sweets without taxes. All around the open space there were cafés and restaurants selling snacks for the price of a small apartment.
Tanja did not take one of the stairs down to the hall but walked around it on the corridor. She read the displays next to all the exits to gangways until she found the ship she was looking for. She had actually had enough foresight to announce her coming in advance, therefore she was immediately waved through by security onto the Baroness of the Stars.
On board the ship, a woman in a dark blue uniform and sparkly blue-and-silver cap was already waiting for her. She led Tanja to the cabin which had been booked by Angela Morgenstern. It was of course one of the relatively spacious first-class cabins with sitting area and not an economy class one with bunk beds and hardly enough floor space to turn around in. The carpet design however was still hideous, Tanja noticed.
The room had been locked and not touched by the cleaners so far. Angela Morgenstern's suitcase was laying open on the floor, its contents scattered on the bed as if searched. The bed itself did not look like it had been slept in and in the bathroom all towels were still folded and soap and toiletry items were still in their original packaging. Angela had apparantly arrived in her room and then disappeared. This meant two things: Angela had definitely been on board and had reached Ares Station as the ship had not stopped anywhere else – because where would it stop? Also, there was no body, so Angela was hopefully alife.
After searching for clues in Angela Morgenstern's cabin, Tanja was brought to the security control center. Unfortunately security cameras in the corridor in front of Angela's cabin had malfunctioned shortly after the departure of the ship and it had taken the technicians a few hours to repair them – what a coincidence. By this time Angela was probably already gone. It was confirmed that she had not been on record of any cameras on board from that point onwards. Tanja was already about to leave when she suddenly had an idea.
'Were there any other mysterious malfunctions at any later time?' she asked.
The man who monitored the cameras nodded, 'Shortly before our arrival the cameras in front of the VIP suite failed. The whole corridor down to the exit was off.'
Records showed that the VIP suite had been booked by a Mr Spencer and two business associates. Some questioning of the assembled crew revealed that all three of them were 'very nice men' but had also hardly left their rooms. They had also always ordered food to be brought to their cabin. Fortunately footage could be found of when Mr Spencer and his friends had first entered the ship: they were three rather large men who seemed to hardly fit into their suits. Tanja got a copy of the footage and took her leave.
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