Chapter 4

Chisato Madison addressed the survivors gathered in the hotel lobby. "Ladies and gentlemen, I've found another clue to last night's killing. Remember how Leon had been working on his Heraldry book? Well, I found another star ruby with an amplified silence crest carved into it."

"In the bathroom?" Bowman asked.

"And why did you call us here at this awful hour?" Celine asked.

"Yep," said Chisato, ignoring Celine. "It was hidden under the bath water. Out of sight."

"Interesting," said Bowman. "You know, it wasn't the only thing we could learn from the water."

"Really? Did you find something?" Chisato scratched her chin.

"I did. Something I wouldn't have been able to see without taking sample of the water back to my room for analysis."

"Analysis?" said Celine. "How much junk have you been carrying around with you this whole journey?"

"Enough, my dear," said Bowman

"Don't call me dear, darling," said Celine. "That was a long time ago. Just tell us what you found."

"Oil!"

The gathered crowd began to murmur.

XXX

"It doesn't prove anything," Precis told Ashton as they went back to their room. "I mean, don't you think Rena has really oily skin? Maybe it came from her."

"Chisato said it was the kind or oil you use to lubricate Bobot's limbs when he walks," said Ashton. "I know that doesn't prove anything, but it's still not a good sign."

"But Bobot was with me all last night!" Precis insisted. "I'm sure of it."

"I believe you," said Ashton, "but I don't think Chisato does. We need to prove her wrong."

"I'm sure Bobot is innocent. He can't kill anyone I don't program him to kill, and I never programmed him to kill Noel. Machines aren't evil. They can't be. Only people misusing them can be evil. Machines are just things. Even Bobot."

"I already said I believed you." Ashton put his arm around Precis's shoulder and squeezed. Precis relaxed.

"I know. I know. I just don't know what to make of all this."

"We'll think more after we go back to bed."

"I want to work a little more on Holo-Holograph first," said Precis.

"More?" Ashton reached for the doorknob, opened up the room, and stood aside to let Precis in first.

"More. I want to feel perfectly safe."

"I want you to, too." Ashton entered and picked up his swords. Gyoro and Ururun, tired of worked out, grumbled.

XXX

Precis finally managed to fall asleep, but only after an hour of tossing and turning. Her dreams troubled her nearly as much as the events of the previous two days. In one, she found herself sitting in an eerily pleasant green meadow next to a five-story tall Bobot, who smiled a toothy smile at her, frolicked for a while, and treated her like she was his best friend. Then the sky grew dark, Bobot's eyes turned red, several helicopters flew by, and Bobot began shooting lasers out of his eyes at the helicopters. The dream ended just as an earthquake caused Precis to fall into a large crack in the ground. In her next dream, pretty much the same scenario played out, but her five-story tall buddy was Ashton instead of Bobot.

Precis finally woke up to something even more horrifying.

"Bobot!"

Standing in the closet, arms stretched upward, body and daggers covered in blood, Bobot made a disturbing sight. His pose took a second to register in Precis's mind, but she soon recognized it as the triumphant flourish at the end of the Holo-Holograph routine.

"Ashton, wake up!"

Ashton rolled out of bed and onto the floor. "Precis?"

"Ashton, there's something wrong with Bobot!"

"What is it this time?"

"I think someone's been misusing him. He's… just come look for yourself."

"Aiiiee!" Ashton seemed to find himself shaken fully awake. "He's… Is that blood?"

"I think so. Bowman will be able to tell us for sure."

Precis began breathing heavily. Her composure slipped away, and she curled up on the floor.

"The killer was here last night!"

"Precis…"

"He was here! Why didn't you stop him?"

"I had no idea he was even here. How could I have?" Ashton blushed. "But he didn't attack you, right?"

"What if he did? You didn't do anything about it. He could have slit my throat in the night, and then I would have died. That would serve you right, too. You said you'd protect me."

"And I will. Precis, you know I will."

"How am I supposed to know that if you can't even stop him from walking right by me?"

"He must be sneaky. Bobot didn't notice him, either. Maybe he's using that silence crest."

"Ashton, you're so useless. You're supposed to love me, but you can't even protect me."

"I do love you. And I will protect you."

"Why didn't you, then?"

Ashton's face betrayed a hint of annoyance. "I have to sleep, too, you know. If I'm awake all the time, I won't be much of a bodyguard. You need to think of that."

"You're not much of a bodyguard anyway, you know? I can't believe you let a crazy killer walk right by me."

"I don't know how he did it, Precis."

"That's no excuse. You can't keep your promises at all, can you?"
"Precis." Ashton assumed a slightly calmer tone. "You remember our wedding day?"

"I remember."

"Remember when I promised you I'd always be with you? I'd always protect you? I still mean that. That was my vow."

"Yeah, well, you didn't seem to care much for me yesterday when you were staring at that tramp Rena. What were you thinking? I'll bet you let the killer in just to knock me off. When death does us part, then you can have Rena without any of this."

"Any of what?" Ashton looked confused until Precis hopped up and slapped his cheek with as much strength as she could muster.

"I hate you, Ashton. I'm sorry I ever married you. You're a lousy, good-for-nothing excuse for a husband and protector."

"Precis," said Ashton, looking worried, "did it ever occur to you that maybe the reason the killer got in was because Bobot is the killer?"

"How dare you say that? How dare you? Trying to excuse your own incompetence by blaming Bobot."

"I'm just saying that there's nothing I could have done."

"Get out of here! Now! I don't want to see you today."

"Precis, you're overreacting."

"Out! We'll talk about this later, when I'm in a better mood."

"If you're going to be that way, then fine. I'll leave, but I'll be back later."

"You'd better get yourself one of those rollaway mattresses, because you sure won't be sleeping in my bed for a long, long time."

Ashton said nothing. He hung his head in shame and frustration, dressed himself, picked up his swords, and walked out the door like a defeated contestant at the Lacour Tournament of Arms. Precis scowled as he exited

Then, to her surprise, Ashton came back in the room.

"Precis, you'd better come with me. I don't want to leave you alone with Bobot until we figure out what's going on here."

Precis spat out her tongue, felt around the floor of her closet for the nearest shoe, and hurled her shoe at Ashton's face. It hit the door. At the last second, Gyoro turned his head back toward Precis and hissed.

XXX

"What have you found?" Bowman asked Chisato. "Any clues?"

The two looked over the mangled and gashed body of Dias Flac, master swordsman and professional wet blanket. Rather, they looked over part of it. Other parts of it lay strewn about the walls of the hotel gym.

"This has to be the worst one yet," said Chisato. "Quite violent. He must have suffered, and he definitely knew it was coming."

"Who could have done this?" said Bowman. "Dias was nearly invincible. He made the foul beasts of Eluria Tower look like domesticated kittens. Er, dead domesticated kittens. You know what I mean."

"Someone sure handled him here," said Chisato. "Look at this! It must have been quite a fight. There has to be another one of those star rubies with a silence crest somewhere, I'd wager. Otherwise, wouldn't someone have heard?"

"Maybe," said Bowman, "or maybe not. Dias usually got up early to work out. A couple of times, I joined him, and I noticed he got pretty noisy."

"There would have been screaming."

"Okay, I see your point. Unless the killer cut his throat or something."

"From what I can tell, the killer cut him pretty much everywhere. No mercy. To be honest, I'm getting a little nervous."

"Me, too. That's why we need to solve this case."

"We'd best find Precis. I need to make sure her Bobot was turned off last night."

"Can Bobot use a sword?"

"I don't know. I've seen that thing do some pretty strange things in fights, but really, I haven't seen anything to make me think it could have done something like this to Dias. Poor guy."

Chisato felt her eyes get misty, so she turned away from Bowman and wiped her face on her sleeve. There would be time for emotions later, once she was sure no one else would be dying. As much as she hated to seem cold, she had a duty to protect her friends.

"I need to step out and think this over for a while. Will you be okay by yourself?"

"I don't particularly want to be. This has me pretty spooked, but I think I'll be fine if I stick around Ernest."

"Scary stuff, you know. There's someone or something extremely powerful out there, and it has wanted at least three of our group dead. Maybe more."

"Chisato, I know you're pretty good with uncovering the truth. I know that because it was my job back when I was a researcher. I trust that, working together, we can catch this guy."

"Thanks for the optimism. Really. And I promise I'll get to the bottom of this. You'll be able to go back home to Nineh."

"I hope so."

XXX

Ashton met Chisato in the hallway. The first thing he noticed when he saw her was that something seemed to be bothering her nearly as much as something was bothering him.

"Chisato? You okay?"

"Ashton! Just the fellow I was looking for. Have you seen Precis?"

"Um, yes."

Chisato's eyes flashed. "Where? I need to see her."

"I left her back in our room. She's a little cranky right now, so…"

"Ashton, you idiot! You left her alone with Bobot?"

"She threw her shoe at me!"

"We're going over there, right now. Come."

Without waiting for any protest, Chisato snatched Ashton's arm and dragged him down the hallway.

XXX

The first thing Ashton noticed when he got back to his room was that Precis wasn't talking. She didn't seem to be up for doing anything other than curling up on the bed, half hiding under the blanket, and sobbing her eyes out. He tried placing a comforting hand on her back, but she slapped it away. Gyoro hissed at her again, but she hissed back even more fiercely.

"Ashton!" Chisato called from off to the side of the room. "Did you see this?"

"See… Oh, yeah," said Ashton. "The blood?"

"Why the heck did you leave her alone when her robot is sitting here, covered in blood?"

"I told you, she tried to hurt me."

"You're going to get her killed with your carelessness. Don't you ever stop to think?"

"But what if it's not Bobot? Someone could just as easily be sneaking in the room and trying to frame him to throw everyone off the scent."

"Ashton." Chisato adopted a level, gravely serious tone. "You have the body of Dias Flac lying in several pieces in the other room. You have a robot sitting here with two bloody swords. What more do you want? Do you want Bobot to sign a confession?"

"Bobot was turned off! He couldn't have done it. I tell you, someone is trying to use him to get away with murder."

"Did Precis sell you that line? I'm not convinced."

"Look, did you stop to ask yourself if a little robot could outduel the third greatest swordsman on Expel?"

"Third greatest?"

"Well, behind Claude and, well, Precis always makes me say I'm the best. I don't really believe her, but she insists. Now I'm saying it out of habit."

"I see what you're saying, though, and it bothers me. I can't imagine Dias losing a fight to what looks like a little blue cookie jar with legs. Certainly not a sword fight."

"Then what now?"

"I'm going to have a look around. But Bobot is still my number one suspect. There's too much evidence pointing to it to let me lower my guard."

Chisato began scouring the closet for clues. While she did so, Precis poked her head out from under the covers of the bed.

"So, you're bringing other women home with you, now that I'm angry? You're despicable."

And that was the last thing she said to anyone for the rest of the day.

XXX

"I deactivated Bobot and took out its power source," Chisato announced to the gathered crowd. "I'm at a loss to explain how the latest killing could have taken place, but I want to play it safe for now. I also found some more clues that make no sense whatsoever.

"Like what?" asked Celine.

"Like some of the clothes hanging in the closet. There was an outfit distinctly belonging to Precis, and it was covered head to toe in blood. Bowman identified it as Dias's blood. I don't really know what to think. I can see how Bobot or some other killer could have tracked it back to the closet, but that doesn't explain how it could get on something hanging up. It was just one outfit, too. And it was not the one Precis was wearing yesterday."

"Precis couldn't be guilty," said Ashton. "I saw her go to sleep, and I know she didn't wake up."

"Precis has been unstable lately, Ashton. I need for you to keep watch over her tonight."

"I intend to. I think she needs me now, and I have to keep her safe. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to her."

"You really should go to her now," said Opera. "She's not safe by herself."

Ashton nodded. Inhaling deeply, he stood up and headed back to where Precis was.

XXX

When he got back to his room, Ashton found the door locked, with a note taped to the outside:

Ashton,

I don't want to see you tonight. You are worthless. Go away.

-Precis

After fifteen minutes of banging on the door, Ashton finally walked away, pondering whether Ernest or Bowman would make a better temporary roommate.