But the rumors of big changes in the political universe reach even the depths of the Academy. Distrust and secretiveness invade the minds of all of the cadets. Something dark and tumultuous hangs over all of them, and not just the ever-present storms of Oymyakon.
Then someone finds a body in the lower levels, and the accusations fly. A murder, but committed decades before. Long before the time of any of the cadets.
But not before the time of the instructors. In fact, exactly at the time Colonel Hansen was Cadet Hansen.
Can Ritchie and Fitz solve the coldest of cases and prove the colonel innocent? Or worse, guilty?
Kate MacLeod has written stories which have appeared in Analog, Strange Horizons and Mythic Delirium, among other places. She is also the author of two young adult science fictions series: The Travels of Scout Shannon, and The Ritchie and Fitz Sci-Fi Murder Mysteries. She also contributes to a serialized science fiction podcast called The Tales of the Chai Makhani Trio. She currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. You can learn more about her work at KateMacLeodWrites.com.