Kai Malano


 * "Kai" redirects here. For the Bromden Psychiatric Hospital patient, see Kai Gruber.

Kai Malano is a main character appearing in Season 6 of Criminal Case, where he serves as the Tech Expert of T.I.M.E.'s Temporal Crimes Division.

Profile
Hailing from Hawaii and 33 years of age as of 2029, Kai worked as an engineer prior to his transfer to T.I.M.E. He has black hair tied into a bun, a black beard, and green eyes. He wears a white tank top with a golden triangle pin, a beaded necklace with a white spiral pendant, and lab goggles over his head. He is heavily tattooed, has a mole on his right cheek, as well as a tragus piercing and a blue tunnel piercing in his right ear, and a circle piercing on his left ear. He is also seen wearing a dark yellow sweater, which is tied around his hip.

Kai had been honing his technical skills since his youth, when he always tinkered with things. Dubbed as "not one's average tech nerd", he is known to be gentle, patient, and protective of people from bullies. He likes complex electronics, cute animals, and watching dramatic telenovelas.

In his quasi-suspect appearance in A Greek Tragedy, Kai is seen wearing a blue and white Greek toga and sporting eye bags. Also, he ditches his lab goggles.

When in Rome
After arresting Flavia Pulchra's killer, Kai displayed progressive signs of illness, albeit brushing them off and persevering. At the end of the investigation, after the team congratulated Zara for her win in the chariot race, Kai collapsed.

A Greek Tragedy
After the team was unable to discover what was wrong with Kai, Janis suggested that they went to Greece to consult Theophilos, a doctor. However, once in Greece, Zara and the player witnessed Theophilos being arrested for the murder of High Priest Pelagios by a city guard.

After arresting Pelagios' killer and acquitting Theophilos, Zara and the player took Kai to visit the doctor. He diagnosed Kai with an imbalance of humors and told them that he was missing an ingredient for his remedy. After Zara and the player found the Sideritis for the remedy, Theophilos was able to brew his remedy and prompted Kai to drink the concoction.

Despite Kai's health showing signs of improvement, Theophilos recommended that the team also took him to consult the priestess Euterpe and the additional prayers would do Kai a world of good. With help from the team, Euterpe prepared an incense ritual and performed it on Kai, calling on the god Poseidon to help restore Kai's energy. The team then thanked Euterpe for helping to heal Kai, who was glad to be of their assistance.

Egypt is Burning
After arresting Mark Antony's killer, Zara and the player went to talk to Kai to see how he was getting on with the time machine's repairs. He told the team that the time reactor was starting to rust and that (per Orlando) the best protection against rust was an Ancient Egyptian plant resin. After Zara and the player found the resin, Kai was able to officially fix the time machine, prompting Zara to plant a kiss on his cheek.

Houston, We Have a Problem
Prior to the investigation, Kai had constructed a beacon to signal T.I.M.E. to help the team get out of the 1960s. Planning to set up the beacon at S.A.R.A.'s launch pad in Houston, Texas, the team uncovered the murder of engineer Thomas Segan and were waylaid by that. Impatient, Kai planted the beacon mid-investigation, only to be seen by mission chief Harold Fuey, who called a red alert.

After arresting Segan's killer, Kai told Amy and the player about his idea to help the team leave the 1960s. He explained to the team that the time machine's saboteur had broken the machine's coding formula. Since T.I.M.E. had based all of their research on Leonardo da Vinci's "Ruminations On Time", Kai suggested that they found the treatise in order to help him make sense of the formulas so that they could fix the machine. The team later discovered that the treatise was in the hands of Hollywood actress Lorna Westerberg, prompting them to head off to Las Vegas to find her.

Analyses
As the Tech Expert of the T.I.M.E.'s Temporal Crimes Division, Kai has the responsibility of taking care of all the necessary digital/technical analyses, and to inform the team of such results after a certain amount of time or a speed-up process using Criminal Case Cash. His task-wait rates vary depending on the difficulty of the task, but they all cost 1 Criminal Case Cash per 30 minutes.

Below is the list of analyses Kai performs throughout the course of the game:

Case #3: When in Rome
 * Chariot (09:00:00)

Case #5: Egypt is Burning
 * Open Jar (06:00:00)

Case #6: Summer of Death
 * Camcorder (09:00:00)

Case #7: Gone in 30 Seconds
 * Microfilm (09:00:00)
 * Beacon Part (06:00:00)

Case #8: Houston, We Have a Problem
 * Serial Number (12:00:00)
 * Unlocked Camera (09:00:00)
 * Hard Drive (06:00:00)

Case #9: What Happens in Vegas...
 * Audio Bug (06:00:00)

Gameplay
The player may choose Kai to join the investigation of each crime scene (in any case in Travel in Time) and provide hint bonuses. He is available as a 5-hint partner. (This feature is only available in the mobile variant of Criminal Case.)

Trivia

 * Kai is one of the characters to appear as a quasi-suspect thrice.
 * He is also one of the characters to appear as a quasi-suspect in two consecutive cases in Travel in Time.
 * Kai is one of the characters who animate (or move) during at least one cutscene in the game.
 * Being 6 feet, 6 inches tall, Kai is one of the tallest characters in the game, along with Gabriel Thompson and Martha Jefferson.
 * He and Gabriel are also the tallest male characters in the game.
 * Kai strongly resembles American actor Jason Momoa.

Case appearances

 * Stranded in Gaul (Case #2 of Travel in Time)
 * When in Rome (Case #3 of Travel in Time)
 * A Greek Tragedy (Case #4 of Travel in Time)
 * Egypt is Burning (Case #5 of Travel in Time)
 * Summer of Death (Case #6 of Travel in Time)
 * Gone in 30 Seconds (Case #7 of Travel in Time)
 * Houston, We Have a Problem (Case #8 of Travel in Time)
 * What Happens in Vegas... (Case #9 of Travel in Time)
 * Crime and Punishment (Case #10 of Travel in Time)