The Case

Helen's Journal
02 Feb

I arrived at Mr Barlow's office for my first official day on the job. The case he had secured my services for was one of the best kept secrets of Rajah-4. Every year for the last three years, three women have been found strangled between the months of January and April, all strangled with a single piece of purple silk that was left at the scene. No other signs of struggle at all were present. While the families were, of course, quite distraught, they gave no indication that their daughters had made any enemies. Upon further questioning, it did seem the majority of them were quite taken with "The Blush." The Blush, I am coming to learn, is not a flowery, poetic idealization of the libido, but a very real affliction affecting nearly all that live in the colonies; and Rajan society has had to adapt to deal with it as discretely and pragmatically as possible.

The "rules" of Rajan life are a labyrinth of customs that are quite foreign to us lowly Terrestrials. For instance, voyeurism is not only not a crime, it is a form of entertainment rivaling only the great plays and operas in its popularity. Similarly, custom demands that appearances be maintained, but adultery, sodomy, and even fornication with the native species are not viewed with the same eternal condemnation as they are on Earth; but rather are either quietly acknowledged or quickly explained away.

It is to this end, it seems, that I am to be put to use. Mr. Barlow needs a woman inside the ladie's circles to glean information about the case that would otherwise never make it into an inspector's notebook. When I asked my employer why he didn't simply find a bored young debutante to assist him from the native population, he informed me that a number of factors went into his decision to acquire an indentured servant; namely that I could merge with many aspects of Rajan society a custom-bound lady, even one on this glowing Gomorrah, would simply find impossible, and that unlike an employee who could simply find another profession, I was bound to his orders lest my contract be voided and I sent to the mines at Graylatch.

To this end, I've been instructed to frequent public houses, bars, taverns, brothels, infirmaries, etc and inquire to about any gentlemen with a fondness for silk or strangulation. When asked how I suppose to accomplish this, I was told to "blend in as best you can". It was then I realized just how **** of a situation this was. He had no leads. There had yet to be one this year, it seemed; and his goal was prevention and suppression. Seems I was also to be honey pot, attracting the predator out in the open so the hunters could fire upon him, as it were.

In preparation for this, I was taken to a small, but wonderfully delightful Hindu salon, where the lovely young women bathed me, massaged native oils into my skin, and trimmed my body hair in the typically scandalous Rajan way. To assist in my integration with Rajan society, Mr Barlow observed the process. It was a bit uncomfortable at first, but as the lovely Hindu girl began to intimately massage me, I simply ceased to care. If even an inspector's assistant can enjoy such delights here, I can only imagine what the new elites are up to.

Once I was properly prepared, I was dropped off at my hotel with the instructions to wait an hour, and then choose an establishment where I would find women who could assist us in the case. This was to give them time to go incognito as to provide escort to me while maintaining their secrecy. I opened my makeup box, and looked at myself in the mirror. What sort of face was I to put on today? Shall I be a lady, or a whore?