“Don’t get me wrong, Sam. I’m not a fan of nuclear dependence, but I don’t see any other alternative to power all the communes that suddenly sprang up in the last few years. It seems harnessing energy via solar panels just doesn’t work on a grand scale.” She turned to look at Sam. “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m probably boring you.”

“No not at all. I wanted to say I’m glad to be working with you. I liked the way you handled the publicity end of the case yesterday. You hopefully saved a lot of newcomers from a lot of anguish.”

Sharon’s face turned dour. She bit her lower lip before speaking. “But what good will postponing the inevitable do if we can’t confirm Flavin’s the killer?”

Her query silenced Sam for the remainder of the journey.

Upon landing, the investigators went to work bagging soil samples.

“That’s odd.” Sam felt the consistency of soil extracted about one meter below the surface.

“Here look at this Sharon. It’s kind of damp.”

“Did it rain out here?”

“It could have. Come to think of it, the rover did seem to be carrying some kind of condensation of its roof. I just didn’t give it much thought. That explains why there are almost no footprints to be found here.”

Sam continued peering at the bag.

“So what do you think this will tell us?”

“Maybe nothing; maybe everything.”

Sharon responded to a signal chiming on Sam’s datanet. The communication device lit up, and an automated voice announced an incoming transmission from prosecutor Dale Brugman. The device accepted Sam’s audio command to display a video/audio image.