- "Kai" redirects here. For the Bromden Psychiatric Hospital patient, see Kai Gruber.
| “ | You see, all this engine really needed was a loving touch. | „ |
| —Kai Malano |
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.
In his quasi-suspect appearance in A Slice of Death, he sports a merchant's outfit consisting of a blue kimono with white lining under a green cloak.
In his suspect appearance in The Wrath of Khan, he continues to wear his merchant's outfit. It is known that Kai is fit, drinks rice wine and bites his nails.
| Height | 6'6" |
|---|---|
| Age | 33 |
| Weight | 220 lbs |
| Eyes | green |
| Blood | B- |
Events in Criminal Case
Meeting Kai
Following Julius Caesar's murder investigation, the player first met Kai after being stranded in Ancient Gaul, 37 BCE. Kai concluded that something went wrong with the time machine's reactor, before introducing himself as the "tech dude" to the player.
After discovering the killer, Kai announced that the time machine needed gold for its repair, resulting in the team's travel to Rome via the time machine's thrusters in order to retrieve the gold from Octavian and return home.
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 who was very accomplished in medicine during the ancient times. However, once in Greece, Zara and the player witnessed him being arrested by a city guard for the murder of High Priest Pelagios.
After arresting Pelagios' killer and acquitting Theophilos, Zara and the player took Kai to visit the doctor. Theophilos then diagnosed Kai with an imbalance of humors and told them that he was missing an ingredient for his remedy, a plant called Sideritis. 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 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, whose sickness was totally cured, 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 then called a red alert.
Seeing that five hours after arresting Segan's killer, the T.I.M.E. rescue team had not picked up the team yet, Kai told Amy and the player about his backup plan 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.
Pride Comes Before the Fall
After arresting Vizier Ibrahim's killer, Kai asked Nebet and the player for help as he had lost Leonardo. He informed the team that Leonardo had gone to the Sultan's library to study and that he had lent Leonardo his phone to take pictures of scrolls, but he had not returned. When Nebet and the player found Kai's phone, the two interrupted a private personal interaction between Kai, Zara and Theo. Kai then informed Nebet and the player that Leonardo had taken photos of the imperial baths, which was where the team found him.
Fool's Gold
Due to Kai's technological expertise, the palace guards kept him locked up during the murder investigation in order to keep him from retaking the time machine.
After arresting the Pharaoh's killer, Kai set up an explosion in order to break the resistance free from the prison. After Zara and the player found Kai's tank top stained with blood, they discovered (per Theo) that Kai had gotten into a fight with resistance spy Ravi Jabari. After Ravi revealed that Kai had punched him in the face after learning about Ravi's plot to betray the resistance in order to kill the Pharaoh, he informed the team that Kai had made a run for the throne room. There, Zara and the player found Kai with a bullet wound in his arm. They took him to Janis to remove the bullet and she informed the team that, despite his concussion, his injury was not too serious.
Fountain of Death
While chasing Ptolemy loyalist and time machine saboteur Ammon Bast through Medieval Asia, the team eventually had to leave Mongolia (where Ammon was) for China. Amy then tasked Kai and Penelope to stay behind and follow Ogedei Khan's army in order to get to Ammon and keep an eye on him, with Kai chosen due to his physical strength.
A Slice of Death
After arresting Shogun Yoshinobu Gojo's killer, Zara and the player checked in with Kai and Penelope. Zara asked them if Princess Torgoljin was okay, to which he told her that the princess seemed great. Zara then revealed that Theo was fading away, shocking them. Amy took the conversation over, revealing that he was vanishing from existence. Kai told the team that he was coming back to be with the team, to which Amy instructed him to remain in China and keep and eye on Ammon.
The Wrath of Khan
In a shocking twist of events, Kai became a suspect after Jack and the player found the silk bundle that the victim, explorer Santiago Sanchez, had gifted to him along with a friendly letter. Kai told the team that he had mentioned in passing that he was looking for a gift for Theo and Zara, so Santiago offered him the silk. He then told the player that he had no idea that things were so close to breaking point with the Great Khan.
Kai was spoken to again about the cause behind Theo's disappearing. He revealed that he had learned that Santiago was falling in love with Princess Torgoljin, altering Theo's ancestry, after Penelope alerted him to their blossoming romance. He tried to convince Santiago to end his romance, but he would not listen and revealed that he was determined to marry Torgoljin. Thinking that he had let Theo down, he drank himself to sleep. He then told the team that, while he had not killed Santiago, he was glad that he was dead. Later on, Princess Torgoljin told Jack and the player that she witnessed an argument between Kai and Santiago and threatened to have her father kill him if Kai was found guilty of killing Santiago. Jack then pleaded with Princess Torgoljin to bring Santiago's killer to justice and prove Kai's innocence. She then allowed the team to do so, and urged them to hurry or see Kai forfeit his life.
Despite the threat and the accusation, Kai was thankfully found to be innocent after the team incarcerated Ammon Bast for Santiago's murder. He later helped the team create neutralized gunpowder to provide to the Mongolians in order to give the Chinese a fighting chance in the war.
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)
Case #10: Crime and Punishment
- Fingerprints (09:00:00)
- Da Vinci's Treatise (06:00:00)
- Plutonium Vial (06:00:00)
Case #14: Pride Comes Before the Fall
- Phone (06:00:00)
Case #15: Till Death Do Us Part
- Calculator Data (06:00:00)
Case #16: Back to the Future
- Modem (12:00:00)
- Chief's Phone (09:00:00)
- Camera (09:00:00)
- USB Drive (09:00:00)
Case #17: Rebel Without a Pulse
- Open Box (12:00:00)
- Fingerprints (06:00:00)
Case #18: Bash of the Year
- Audio Bug (12:00:00)
- Smart Glasses (09:00:00)
- Hard Drive Label (06:00:00)
Case #19: Fake News
- Phone (12:00:00)
- DVR (09:00:00)
- Map (06:00:00)
- Picture (09:00:00)
Case #20: Fool's Gold
- Handmade Remote (03:00:00)
Case #22: A Pirate's Death for Me
- Gun Case (09:00:00)
Case #23: Shipwrecked!
- Guano (06:00:00)
Case #25: Going Once, Going Twice, Dead!
- Candle (09:00:00)
Case #26: A Mongolian Tale
- Ammon's Phone (09:00:00)
Case #27: Fountain of Death
- Gear (06:00:00)
Case #30: The Wrath of Khan
- Gunpowder (06:00:00)
Case #31: Time's Up
- Access Badge (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 main characters to be flagged as a suspect in a case.
- Kai is one of the characters to appear as a quasi-suspect five times.
- 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.
- Kai is one of the characters (aside from the victims) to have appeared as a clue in a crime scene.
- Being 6 feet, 6 inches tall, Kai is one of the second tallest characters in the game.
- He is also one of the tallest male characters in the game.
- He is also one of the two tallest characters (along with Martha Jefferson) in Travel in Time.
- 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)
- A Tudor Murder (Case #11 of Travel in Time; mentioned)
- Hell to Pay (Case #12 of Travel in Time)
- Murder Is No Joke (Case #13 of Travel in Time)
- Pride Comes Before the Fall (Case #14 of Travel in Time)
- Till Death Do Us Part (Case #15 of Travel in Time)
- Back to the Future (Case #16 of Travel in Time)
- Rebel Without a Pulse (Case #17 of Travel in Time)
- Bash of the Year (Case #18 of Travel in Time)
- Fake News (Case #19 of Travel in Time)
- Fool's Gold (Case #20 of Travel in Time)
- Anchors Aweigh! (Case #21 of Travel in Time)
- A Pirate's Death for Me (Case #22 of Travel in Time)
- Shipwrecked! (Case #23 of Travel in Time)
- Going Once, Going Twice, Dead! (Case #25 of Travel in Time)
- A Mongolian Tale (Case #26 of Travel in Time)
- Fountain of Death (Case #27 of Travel in Time)
- For Whom the Bell Tolls (Case #28 of Travel in Time; video appearance)
- A Slice of Death (Case #29 of Travel in Time; video appearance)
- The Wrath of Khan (Case #30 of Travel in Time)
- Time's Up (Case #31 of Travel in Time)
Gallery
Screenshots
