In the nick of time, we found mister Maulus.
In a trash compactor. These are large chambers inside the station, used to collect trash. After a certain amount of time the collected garbage is crushed with hydraulics to a small volume to be disposed more easily.
Mister Maulus was alive! The compactor has not been working for ages. It is connected to the scene of the crime via a trash chute - I should have thought about this before. It was not a neutrino signal but a faint twittering sound that led us to the chute! Lady Adelath praised God, the Empress, and all the saints.
The only way into the compactor was via a service tunnel. It took a bit of time to open the maintenance hatch that sealed the tunnel. And it was quite uncomfortable to crawl through, I have ripped my monk's robe. Meanwhile while lady Adelath was hovering impatiently outside, calling her pet every ten seconds, alternating with calls instructing me to hurry up.
When I finally came through and entered the compactor, mister Maulus lept up at me. At first I thought it was attacking but it merely wanted a hug. I have never seen a happier furrier, or heard happier tweets. Mister Maulus then went to retrieve his trophy: a piece of captain's uniform, torn from the murderer's pants. I had always thought these animals to be stupid, but here I stood corrected...
At that moment, the compactor started working, its walls closing in as it loudly grinded ancient trash into small pieces of debris. Perhaps I accidentally set it off? I clambered back to the service tunnel entrance, which was about to disappear behind one of the moving walls. I was able to pass mister Maulus through, carrying the evidence in his beak, but by then the entrance had become too small to let me through.
Having died and recloned already a few times, this situation did not panic me. I accepted that this clone was doomed. I found myself pondering whether this was an engineering design flaw - one cannot enter the compactor for repairs if the service tunnel is blocked by the wall.
-to be continued-
