You and Jack Bartelle walk with ease across the cheap tile flooring, almost not even seeing a little purple-grayish alien shuffling around behind the counter. At first, you don't say anything, wanting to confirm your suspicions that this was who you wanted to talk to — Julius Bradford, the prison chef.

Bradford was especially short and stout for a Xer, with an unusual odor to him. His file told you that he is one of the best chefs that the intergalactic jail of Planet X had ever had. Though he has terrible eyesight, Julius has gained respect from the various inmates, which is somewhat of an accomplishment considering the ingredients that they get. Hoping to work his way up to go to culinary school, Julius took this job to earn extra cash to become a real chef. However, with the warden cutting his pay in half, a note in the file said that Julius has become "angrier and stinkier."

You notice in the file that Julius holds extreme anger and resentment toward the warden, and he states that frequently. You can't help but wonder why as you and Jack approach him, with a wafting smell of rotting food becoming stronger.

Finally, the Xer speaks with his back still turned to you. "If you're looking for decent food, I would suggest going to a diner about 15 minutes from here," Julius says, turning around, taking frozen food out of its package, squinting while looking at the directions written on the label.

You and Jack glance at each other, trying to decide who should talk first.

"How long have you been working here?" you ask, swaying back and forth, observing the musty kitchen.

"About a year now," retorts Julius, throwing the cardboard box into the recycling.

"You like the job?" questions Jack, looking around the kitchen, seemingly uninterested.

"How much would you like working in a kitchen at an intergalactic jail?" Julius mocks, rubbing his purple hands against his chef's coat. He ponders for a moment, sighing reluctantly. "Look, this isn't my dream job, just simply a stepping stone to get into culinary school. The job market sucks, you know? As long as I work with food somewhat, I would say I'm content. I don't really cook, but I'm getting some small amount of hands-on experience. Plus, the coworkers are decent."

"And your relationship with the warden?" you ask quietly, eagerly waiting for Julius's response, pen and paper tapping quickly on his open file.

"Nonexistent," Julius turns his back to you, putting the food in the oven. "Besides for the fact that he cut my pay in half. You know, I don't blame half of the inmates in here for hating him. I would, too. He rules this place with an iron fist. I can't say I'm shocked that he got killed; I mean, look at the way he treats everyone, including the people who are here voluntarily."

You glance over at Jack, though Jack doesn't seem to care much about Julius's statements.

Julius continues, "I can’t even see very well. I’m going blind, and I need money for eye surgery as well. I told the warden, but he doesn’t even seem to care. I’ve been making so many mistakes recently, but I can barely see. Glasses aren’t even strong enough, so I gave up. If anything, I hope the new warden is more understanding.”

Jack asks casually, “Where were you at the time of the murder?”

“Well, here, of course,” responds Julius, “though it wasn’t like I could do much. I can’t see in the dark, so I just sat on the ground until the power turned back on. I ate some of the leftovers, too.”

"How do the humans and others who need water to survive get it?" you ask.

Julius grabs a wickedly sharp-looking knife and starts chopping some sort of pink vegetable so rapidly, the blade becomes a blur. "They get a carefully controlled daily ration. It comes in a water bomb."

You blink. That doesn't sound good. "A water bomb?"

The little alien stops chopping and grins at you. "Oops. That probably sounded alarming. That's what we call the spherical water containers the government ships from the surface for them." He reaches down into a cabinet below and brings up a black metal ball that mirrors his own shape. Embedded in one side is a small control panel with several blinking lights. "The humans and a few other species who require water each get one of these with every meal. They have to go into a special locked chamber to drink it." He gestures to several doors lining the wall of the cafeteria, which is visible from the kitchen. "They have to input their prisoner number, and a straw pops out so they can get at the water. The chamber doesn't unlock until our sensors confirm that they've swallowed their water and the bomb is empty."

"But you do have access to the water supply?" you prod.

Julius turns around to them and smirks. "I have access to the water bombs. I'm the one who hands them out! But I'm not going to try and do something stupid. That stuff is deadly to us aliens. I openly bash the guy, but it's not worth my time to try and get revenge for a pay cut. Half of these inmates in here have stronger vendettas for the warden. I would say you're wasting your time here." Julius starts as the oven timer goes off. "Unless you want some lunch before you keep investigating."

After finishing your conversation with Julius and politely declining the lunch offer, Jack tells you that the two of you need to get through interrogations of the staff if you want to have time to question the prisoners today. You give a list of people you wish to speak with to a nearby guard and then head over to the interrogation room. You are surprised to see a robot standing in the corner of the hallway nearby. You and Jack begin to approach it.

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