“Harvest Wallbanger, I hereby charge you with the crime of grievous bodily harm with a musical instrument, attempted murder and collusion in the murder of the lead singer of Harmony Who. Please could you respond with your plea and in your statement inform us of the details surrounding your actions at the time of the crime,” Angelina stated, reading from her notebook. She was sitting opposite Harvest at the table in the small white walled space that had been previously used by the special agents as a games room. It had just been set up as the interrogation room - Damian had had to unscrew the pinball machine from the floor and replace it with a table and two chairs. He stood behind his partner, observing the suspect closely for signs of guilt, just as Angelina had asked him to do.

“The fact that Roxy was a robot should go in our favor, surely?” Harvest suggested. She had been brought to the interrogation room without her bandmates to record a formal statement now that the members of Harmony who were to be formally charged. It was ironic that these recordings might be the last this band ever made. Damian was happy that Angelina had taken this in hand. The special agents had been asked to formalize procedures and present a report to MSSV about criminality on board and how to deal with those who contravened the rules, but none of them had even started to do so.

“What do you mean?” asked Angelina, “Androids have had similar rights to humans since the signing of IDHR 2037, the Intercontinental Declaration of Humanoid Rights.”

“But Roxy was a robot, right?” argued Harvest. Wallbanger, either playing dumb or adopting a very clever approach to her defense. Damian thought it was clear she knew androids had rights, but robots didn’t.

“Roxy wasn’t a robot,” Angelina said, “it was a new type of humanoid or android that Intelaxative corporation developed just before Harmony of the Stars left Earth.”

“Excuse my ignorance,” Angelina said, “but what’s the difference?”

“I find it difficult to believe you don’t know the difference, but for the record, I will state it,” Angelina said wearily, “Androids are a type of humanoid robot designed to look and feel like human beings and…”

“So, you admit Roxy was a robot, then…” Harvest interjected.

“…Roxy,” Angelina continued, “was a new model of android developed by Intelaxative with lab grown organic material and tech implants, very difficult to distinguish from a human being…”

“So that’s why we thought Roxy was human,” said Harvest, “they walked and talked like one, that’s for sure.”

“You do realize what you’ve just stated,” Damian interjected, “weakens your argument against us charging you for murder, don’t you?”

“MSSV, take special note that suspect believed victim was human at the time of the incident.” Angelina said, more for Harvest’s benefit than MSSV’s.

“You got me,” said Harvest, spilling the beans like he was a cast member of a poorly-made cop show, “there was something about Roxy that irritated us all. It was such a perfectionist. Now I know why. Roxy wasn’t rock n’ roll like the rest of the band, and that started to needle us. We weren’t getting the crowds in to see us, either. Only three people came to see us for our first gig! It was Stinger’s idea. He said if our singer died then that was a tried-and-tested way of encouraging people to come and see us. I shouldn’t be saying this, but that’s something Biff and Stinger have done before with their other singers.”

“That’s not a surprise to us,” Angelina said, “to lose one lead singer may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose two looks like carelessness. To lose five smacks of foul play.”

“So, it seems knocking off the lead singer became a surefire way for the Strolling Bones to continue having a career,” said Damian.

“You can go easy on me, now I’m cooperating, right?” Harvest suggested.

After that confession, there seemed no need to continue interviewing Wallbanger, so Damian led her back to the cells and brought the others out one by one. Both Biff and Stinger ended up admitting their guilt too. Angelina didn’t push them about the Strolling Bones’ other singers. There was no need. Earth was far behind them, and so was bringing anyone to account for crimes committed there. The crimes on Harmony of the Stars, though, that was another matter. Or at least that’s what Damian and Angelina thought.