With thanks to Tim McCleerey and Anita Madson, still the only people who ALWAYS read my stories.

I am sitting on my desk perch in the Lian Ambassadorial Offices. I should be reading my docs, but Kitty is asleep on my Ambassadorial com screen.

Yeah... who wants to read docs anyway? Not me...

Clmntr, my associate Ambassador, is outside the front door. She is a great gardener and has talked the Agriculture Minister into granting her some soil.

Soil is not "native" to Luna. The surface regolith, which sort of LOOKS like soil, is composed of particles with edges too sharp to grow plants - they nick the plant's roots. Regolith also doesn't contain organic nutrients needed by plants.

When the Earth refugees first came to Luna, they brought gadgets they call "cement mixers" to artificially weather the regolith and mix organic compounds (basically "poop") in to create soil suitable for agriculture. Even after 60 years of almost constant "mixing," soil is a scarce commodity on Luna.

Clmntr is a very persuasive person.

Luna City, being an artificially hollowed-out "cave" does not contain regolith. Our surfaces are solid rock. This is actually fortunate because regolith, in addition to being hazardous to plant roots, does awful things to mechanical devices if it gets into the works. When anyone goes onto the Lunar surface (which happens VERY rarely - it is quite hazardous) or transport ships enter the space dock, there is a lot of vacuuming of feet and surfaces to ensure clingy regolith does not enter the city. (Too bad SafeGuard cannot help against regolith!)

Most Lunar gardens are in raised pots, but Clmntr wants to dig out an underground "planter" so that the soil is level with the walk up to the Embassy front door. She has an operator with an excavator excavating a basin in the rock to accommodate her plans.

Sudden bedlam: Clmntr and the operator run into the Offices. Kitty wakes up - she doesn't want to miss any of the action. The operator is looking pale - I wonder if he's injured himself. Clmntr grabs her com but apparently is contacting Luna City Administrative Law Enforcement, not an ambulance.

"Lt. Forbes, please! Forbes!! Lieutenant? Clmntr. Please come to the Embassy. We've found a dead body buried outside our front door!"

What? Another dead body?? If this is going to continue, I should negotiate an annual contract with the Lunar shaman who smoked the Embassy last year.

Because... yes! It is my-life-on-Luna day 2,096 - almost exactly a year since the blaster incident in our lobby that necessitated the first smoking...

Clmntr disconnects the com and looks at me dazedly.

"A dead body?" I ask.

"Yes..."

"Human?"

"Appears so... A little hard to tell..."

The operator is getting sick in one of our trash bins.

Clmntr sags onto her desk perch.

"We do this once a year," I tell her. "Get used to it..."

"Damn!" she says.

I have never heard her curse... and... a Lunar curse?

***

Lt. Forbes and his forensics team are once again blocking our front door, although on the outside this time.

Clmntr, Juan, Wan, and I are also outside, peaking over their shoulders. The operator (and Kitty) are still in the Offices.

The body appears intact but completely desiccated. Lt. Forbes tells me it is mummified. The medical examiner reports a human male, about 40 years of age, estimates the time of death as about 60 years (!) ago, so about the time humans came to Luna. The body is in a hollowed-out grave filled with regolith and covered by a large flat stone, so that, before Clmntr's excavation, it LOOKED like an undisturbed Luna City surface. Part of the grave is under the edge of our Embassy building, so it had to have been dug before our Embassy was constructed.

The Lieutenant mutters something darkly about a "cold case." The temperature seems the same to me, however. Perhaps he meant something else... The Lunar language is pretty complicated.

But, yes, once again, we have a mysterious death on our property, although not NECESSARILY a murder this time.

And, at least THIS time it's not someone I know personally. And I'm not suspected of murdering him.

***

"Why are ALL the murders on Luna done at your Embassy?" Yaeyeia enquires.

"Just lucky, I guess." Clmntr, Yaeyeia, her omnipresent aide, the Xx and I are sitting on or behind our favorite bench in the Park, although only the aide is sitting on it "properly."

Clmntr disagrees. "Wasn't there a murder in Parkside about a month ago?"

"SUICIDE," spells out the Xx.

"And we're not COMPLETELY sure it is a murder," I add.

Yaeyeia assures me, "Oh, it is. The guy was stabbed."

"How DO you find out these things?" I demand.

"The techs eat lunch here in the Park. They were talking about it. The trees told me."

Hmm. Apparently Yaeyeia has gotten the hang of communication with the local foliage. Even without root contact.

Clmntr likes mysteries. She spells out the evidence so far: "OK, so it is a human male, stabbed about 60 years ago, about the time humans came to Luna. And buried in a hollowed-out grave filled with regolith and covered with a huge paving stone."

"There was a small container on a chain around his neck, like a pendant, but it opens to a space inside. There was a paper in it with unknown writing on it," Yaeyeia contributes.

Those techs are a chatty bunch!

"Unknown writing!" says Clmntr. I can tell she wants a look at that paper.

Actually, so do I, I've always loved deciphering codes!

"Right about the time humans came to Luna... must have been a wild and crazy time..." ruminates Clmntr. She hasn't been on Luna long enough to know a lot of the history, but "wild and crazy after landing" is a safe assumption.

"It would explain why his body wasn't handled in the way it's done now..." I agree.

"But digging out a compartment, filling it with regolith, covering it with a huge stone so it would look like undisturbed rock..."

"Still, it had to have been done after that part of the cave was excavated..."

"Obviously... but no Embassy building built yet..."

Yaeyeia adds, "I thought the original buildings were parts of the original stone left unexcavated, then hollowed out inside..."

I agree. Most of the buildings in our neighborhood are of this type.

"Then the Embassy wasn't one of the original buildings. It was built later."

I agree. "It must have been."

"So your Embassy stands on a part of the City that was originally open space..."

"Maybe the original transport docks?" Clmntr suggests.

"Naw... the docks have always been the docks. They were excavated first, immediately inside the landing crater. The City was excavated off to the side of the docks so that environmental controls could be constructed between the City and any opening to the Lunar surface." Yaeyeia is a student of Lunar history. "And it would also be more defensible in case of invasion."

"Maybe our Embassy is on what was an early version of the Park," I suggest. "And then they brought in DANGEROUS regolith for the burial. On purpose..."

"They might not have known how dangerous it was to machinery," suggests Clmntr.

"Oh, they knew. Remember, Earthers had been coming to Luna for decades before the refugees fled here," said Yaeyeia. "They had some mining operations and solar and nuclear energy plants."

"Why DID they come here, if they were fleeing Earth, and the Earthers came here all the time?" Clmntr asks.

"I think they came here as a stopping-off place. Their ultimate goal was the next planet out from their star: Mars. But something happened, and they stayed here. They settled on the space-side of Luna. All Earther activity on Luna had always been on the Earth-side to allow for communication with Earth. Maybe on this side they just hoped to stay under the radar."

"It must have been pretty scary for the settlers. I wonder why they didn't go on to Mars?" Clmntr asks.

We look at each other.

"Dr. Madison," I voice our thoughts.

***

Dr. Madison Forbes, Lieutenant Forbes wife, is Professor of History at New Harvard University. New Harvard is the city-state nearest to Luna City, where the Embassies are. She commutes there daily.

She agrees to meet us at our usual spot (the FastFood) to answer our questions about Early Lunar History. Lnbršr joins us.

"Of course, all Lunars' ancestors lived on Earth. In the mid-20th century, Earthers first came to Luna, which they called "the Moon" at that time, strictly on exploratory missions. Then there was a long period when no voyages from Earth to Luna were made. In the mid-21st century, they returned to set up automated mining operations with solar and nuclear powering them. There still were no Earthers living on Luna permanently. Everything for the mining operation was controlled remotely from Earth.

"And at this time, Earth had never been contacted by any non-Earth visitors. There were rumors, but nothing official.

"But Earth was in political upheaval. Governments fell; countries were conquered; most of Earth was under autocratic rule. Educational institutions were targeted, the military was sent to subdue cities governed by an opposition party, and individual supporters of previous governments were sued. Members of minority groups were arrested and resettled or deported."

Clmntr and I look at each other. We'd experienced similar situations ourselves under the governance of Our Great and Sacred Leader. Autocracy, and its symptoms, must be universal.

"Because there were few nations on Earth that did not have an autocratic government, and movements between nations were restricted, citizens in targeted cities and universities began, covertly, to plan to flee Earth. They gathered supporters, built ships, purchased necessary equipment, and when they were ready, over the period of a few days, fled the planet. Most went to Luna, landing on the far side. This was to be a temporary settlement. A few ships were designated to go to Mars and create settlements where the Lunar refugees could join them later."

"That never happened?" asks Yaeyeia.

Dr. Madison shakes her head. "We don't actually know what happened to prevent it. A couple of the ships never made it to Mars. Those that did started building the settlement but stopped communicating in less than a year. I've always suspected they succumbed to perchlorate poisoning, but we really don't know."

"No one ever went to investigate?" Lnbršr asks.

"Initially it seemed too dangerous. If the Mars mission had failed, how would any Lunar rescue mission fare any better? So, the Lunar refugees started building their settlements in earnest on Luna. The result is the 23 Lunar city-states we have presently."

"And still no one has gone to investigate?"

"Lunars, as you may have noticed, do not travel off-world."

"Ever?"

Dr. Madison smiles. "I cannot guarantee NO Lunar has ever left Luna. But, I have never heard of anyone who did. Of course, we can't be sure what the three unconnected City States are doing..."

"But," Lnbršr notes, "you have sensors that alert you to every transport landing and takeoff..."

"We do," agrees Dr. Madison.

"So you track landings versus takeoffs. If you had more takeoffs than landings, that would indicated Lunar ships taking off."

"It would... and it hasn't happened."

"And Lunars could be leaving on off-world transport ships..."

"Well, we have no evidence that they are. No one has ever requested an off-world passport."

Lnbršr nods. "That would be good evidence that no one is leaving Luna for LEGAL purposes."

Dr. Madison nods. "Yes, but there is more to it, actually. You see, while Earthers had traditionally been great explorers on our own planet, our exploration of space was done mostly using probes. Humans were not making great space voyages when we fled to Luna, and Luna had been a place Earthers came to only rarely for short visits. We had never set foot on Mars, although we had several probes orbiting and exploring the surface. When the refugees tried to navigate to Mars, two ships could not do it successfully and were lost. That doesn't speak well for our skills."

She leans forward and wraps her arms around her knees. "My hypothesis is that we have lost our instinct for in-person exploration. The survivors on Luna would not leave even for a short voyage of investigation because they were so afraid of an imminent Earther invasion. They felt Luna would need every fighter to repulse the enemy. I believe that perception continues to this day."

I nod. "I saw how terrified the Lunar Government representatives were of "invasion extinction" a couple of months ago when the Ratihinaconaxemuwezo tried to set up a mining operation on the Earth-side of Luna."

Everyone agrees. We've all seen it. I suspect it is the reason the other three City States do not join the tunnel-linked cities. They (probably) are hoping to avoid detection should the invasion come.

Lt. Forbes joins us, bringing with him a mega-grande-size order of chicken nuggets, an enormo fries, and a super-gargantuo soda. He sits and sighs deeply.

"How is the mystery coming?" asks Dr. Madison.

"I'm afraid this one will remain a mystery," he says. "It's too long ago. We can't even identify our mummy - his DNA doesn't match any in the Original Settlers list."

"From ANY Landing city?" she enquires.

"Checked with all 20 connected cities. Not a match."

"So it COULD be from one of the Three..."

"It could..."

"What about the paper?" Yaeyeia asks.

The Lieutenant stops eating a moment, digs around in his pocket, and drops a yellowed scrap onto the table. We all lean forward eagerly.

"It looks like a smuggler script," observes Lnbršr.

"It is," Lt. Forbes nods. "It appears to be an order for weapons."

"Did the early settlers have contact with smugglers?" Clmntr asks.

"Not that we know of," both Forbeses answer together. They laugh.

"The first documented contact Lunars had with an off-word species was, as we all know, the Gilgot, and that happened about 18 months after First Landing," the historian-Forbes continues. "And that was a legal trade ship, soon followed by our first off-world diplomatic mission."

"And the Gilgot don't trade weapons. They want to keep them all for themselves," I add sarcastically.

The Lieutenant, having finished his nuggets, settles down to report their findings. "The settlers - actually just refugees at that point... they had no intention of settling on Luna - would have landed at the bottom of their chosen crater, unloaded the excavator units, and immediately started digging a tunnel on the side of the crater to make the docks. They would have wanted to get the ships hidden from any possible Earther probe as quickly as possible. The ships were moved into the docks with the intention that the settlers would live on the ships until they heard from Mars. But Mars was delayed. And living in a crowded ship is not something that can be done indefinitely. They decided to create a sort of flat, excavated camping site beyond the docks. This would be connected to the docking area through a narrow, defensible entryway. When it became clear that Mars was not going to be a resettlement site after all, the camping area was expanded, including the earliest buildings. Your Embassy was constructed later on this early camping area."

"But, if people were LIVING there, CAMPING there, the burial, especially hiding it under a huge slab of rock, couldn't have been done secretly!" I gasp.

Lt. Forbes nods. "It wasn't. It would have been a public burial that everyone knew about."

"Why the regolith?" I ask.

Dr. Forbes knows this one. "On Earth, one of our ancient civilizations, the Egyptians, observed that the dry sand of Egypt would mummify people buried in it, preserving their bodies. Regolith on dry, dry Luna would work the same way."

"So, they wanted to preserve this individual...?" I ask.

"Probably so."

Clmntr seems puzzled. "But he WAS murdered... stabbed?"

Lt. Forbes nods. "He was."

"Maybe it all happened later... after the Gilgot came, when they might have had contact with smugglers?" Dr. Forbes suggests.

"Then why isn't he on the settler lists?" Lt. Forbes asks reasonably.

Dr. Forbes is thinking out loud. "It seems more likely that he might somehow have been missed from the Original Settlers DNA list than that he was buying things from smugglers before the Gilgot arrived."

Lt. Forbes nods. "I agree."

"And he IS human, not humanoid?"

"He has human DNA."

"So, another human, one not on the Original Settlers transport lists. Maybe from one of the Three unconnected Cities... Maybe from a later transport from Earth... Maybe from one of the lost Mars transports that came back..."

"Maybe," he cocked an eyebrow at his wife. "At least that's another hypothesis to test!" He wadded up his debris, tossed it in the trash bin, hopped in his skimmer, and left.

***

So Dr. Madison solved the mystery of the identity of the Lunar mummy.

Lunar forensics pathologists do not routinely test for perchlorate - it is too rare on Luna.

After Lt. Forbes request for this test, it was found the body was almost saturated with perchlorate. Something that would only happen on MARS.

The victim's DNA was not in the Original Settlers DNA list because he had originally settled on Mars, not Luna.

And there was now good evidence why the Martian settlement did not succeed: too much perchlorate. And they didn't have SafeGuard to keep it away from their buildings, their food, their air.

But there were still mysteries to be solved:
       How did he get back to Luna?
       Why the weapons order?
       How did he get stabbed?
       Smugglers??

***

We have an Ambassadorial visitor to the Embassy. Not being a delegation from one of the important planets, this NEVER happens. I assume some Ambassador's transport has broken down on the way to the docks, and the dignitary needs a comfortable place to sit until the Road Service arrives.

But, no, it is a REAL Ambassadorial visit, and it is the Senior Gilgot Ambassador.

Juan and Wan (with their official Lian Embassy Staff name badges prominently displayed) usher in the Ambassador with pomp. Clmntr and I rise from the perches behind our desks and move toward the Conference Chamber (a pile of chairs in the corner of the room.) Juan and Wan get chairs de-piled and set into a more formal arrangement. They realize their error and reposition them so the BACKS of all the chairs are facing each other. They have become really good at meeting the needs of non-humans.

We all sit.

Well, that is, WE sit (backwards on the chairs - they are HUMAN chairs after all) and the crocodilian Gilgot propels himself up so his front paws are grasping the back of the chair and his back legs are clinging to the front edge of the seat of the chair, so he is sort of describing a hypotenuse to the chair's right angle.

Human chairs are stupid...

"Ambassador Heresh, what an honor to have you visit us," I burble. It IS a true honor for us - the Gilgot, as the first delegation on Luna, have a LOT of respect from the other Ambassadors, and Ambassador Heresh is their highest-ranking diplomat on Luna.

"So honored," echoes Clmntr.

The Ambassador nods and says nothing. But the Gilgot are not renown for their verbal skills. Their mouths are more often used for skills involving teeth...

Finally, he seems to assemble his strategy. "I feel it would be a, um, courtesy to provide some information relative to the body recently found at your Embassy."

Clmntr and I make encouraging noises. That is, they would be encouraging to us. Hopefully the Gilgot interpret them the same way. It would be tragic if he thought we were making "Please eat us" noises.

Of course, I think that one-on-one, two Lians could take on an elderly Gilgot.

I think...

They are pretty fast...

And they have more teeth than even we do...

He is composing himself to speak again.

"In our records of dealings with off-world species, I have found some entries that have relevance to this situation."

More encouraging sounds.

"I found an entry by a Gilgot trading vessel that came to this system, the Lunar system, about 60 Lunar years ago."

We nod. This sounds promising, "Gilgot trading vessel" being synonymous with "smugglers."

"The first planet in the system was a burned-out cinder, the second was broiling and pressure-flattening, neither promising any trade opportunities. They made contact with the third planet; I believe it is called (not very creatively) "Earth."

We nod. Although many sapient species call their planets "Home" in their own language, and some call it "Planet", not many of them call their planet "Dirt" or "Soil." We've all commented on that.

"On Earth, they initially contacted a species similar to our own, but discovered, to their disappointment, that they were not sapient. Upon further investigation, they found the sapient species on Earth, the same species as the Lunars, to be very violent."

And that coming from a Gilgot!

"They decided there would be insufficient beneficial trade opportunities with Earth to risk the dangers imposed by the violent governments. They left the third planet and went on to investigate the fourth.

"There they found the remains of an Earth settlement, only two survivors. The planet's soil was poisonous to them." He leaned forward and fixed us with his beady eyes. "The settlers should have investigated that possibility before they went there."

I was nervous to say anything, but did want to share something of the history based on what Dr. Madison had told us. "They were fleeing the violence on Earth. They knew about the perchlorate, but probably hoped the problem would not be as severe as it, apparently, turned out to be."

"Foolish," said the Ambassador.

The Gilgot are renown for not EVER doing anything foolish. Violent, yes; foolish, no.

"Our traders agreed to rescue the survivors, who said they had members of their species on the moon of the third planet. While en route, one of the survivors died and was sent into space."

I know the Gilgot eat their dead; to send a tasty morsel out into space... possibly they, too, find perchlorate poisonous?

"Upon arrival in Lunar orbit, the traders sent the remaining survivor to the surface in one of their escape pods. They did not wish to land in case the Lunars were as violent as the Earthers."

We nod. Again, nothing foolish about the Gilgot.

"The traders reported their finding sapient (although dangerous) life on Earth and the settlements (of unknown danger) on Luna to our Government. Our Government sent probes to Earth and Luna, verified the dangers of Earth but documented that Luna was peaceful and could benefit from our trade."

We nod. The early settlers would have needed EVERYTHING. Even air as they expanded out from their ships. But especially weapons, should the Earthers invade. The smugglers' paper for a weapons order was probably a receipt for a future delivery of weapons obsolete for Gilgot purposes but which would be invaluable to the Lunars. But what would Lunars have had to trade? The Gilgot are not known for charity.

"I believe that the remaining fourth planet survivor was the body found at the edge of your Embassy."

"It certainly sounds likely," I agree. "The body was buried about 60 years ago and was soaked in perchlorate, as a Martian settler would be."

"I hope this helps your investigation." The Gilgot slithers backward off the chair.

We thank him profusely as he belly drags out the door.

"Whew!" Clmntr observes.

"Agreed!" I am already on the com to the Lieutenant.

***

We are all back at the FastFood with our updates.

"What would the Lunars have had to trade with the Gilgot?" I ask. "They don't develop a relationship with any species unless it is beneficial to them."

Dr. Madison nods. "They certainly don't. Humans had AI. The Gilgot brought us, basically, EVERYTHING we needed to survive on Luna until we became self-sufficient. We provided them AI."

"Ah," we all nod.

"DANGEROUS FOR THE FOOLISH" the Xx spells.

"Ah, but the Gilgot are NEVER foolish!" I assert.

"AGREED" spells the Xx.

"So now, the only thing we DON'T know is who stabbed him, and why..." Lt. Forbes is, naturally, focused on the crime.

"Whoever did it must not have realized that he was dying anyway from the perchlorate," says Yaeyeia

"But we DO know why they honored him - the only survivor of Mars," I say.

"But why was the story forgotten?" Clmntr asks.

"I don't think it was," says Dr. Madison. "I did some research, and there is a legend in Original Settler Tales on Luna of "The Last Arrival." I think that was probably him."

"I never heard that one," says Lt. Forbes. "Tell us the legend?"

She smiles and shakes her head. "It is a tragedy. Soon after starting to build the permanent settlements, Lunars go to the Earth-side to retrieve the nuclear power station and the solar generators, and to re-purpose the communication and monitoring systems. They find a crashed escape pod with a dead man in it. They don't recognize him. They don't recognize the Gilgot escape pod. They bring him back to Luna City and bury him with honors as the last arrival from Earth."

We are all silent and thoughtful.

"But how did he get stabbed?" asks Lnbršr.

"Oh, he didn't get stabbed. When the pod crashed, he was impaled on a piece of bent metal."

"How sad," Clmntr says. "Dying from perchlorate poisoning, and then he gets stabbed by his rescue ship."

"And if he hadn't died from that, with a breached pod on the Lunar surface, he would have died within minutes of decompression and loss of air," says Lnbršr.

We nod. We all know, usually from close, personal encounters, how dangerous space can be.

"But now," says Dr. Forbes, perking up, "although we don't know his name, we know who he was and can honor him and bring his story back to life."

Lt. Forbes smiles, "I see a Project looming..."

Dr. Forbes also smiles, "Luna NEEDS history. We NEED a historic monument. We NEED a project!"

We all smile.

I just wonder if they'll put this great, new, historical monument out in the boonies where the Last Arrival stayed peacefully for so long, and where the earliest buildings still stand, or if he'll be relocated to a more posh neighborhood (where sightseers are less likely to be mugged...)

We'll see...

I have to contact our shaman...