Moon Shot

by J. Alan Hartman

  Cassidy looked up from his screen. “Was he responsible for the influenza outbreak? And the measles?”

  Parker nodded. “He also brought chicken pox and polio to the Moonbase.”

  “How many people died?” Cassidy sat back in the chair and rubbed his eyes.

  “Kevin Copp, Maggie Winters, Perry Larkin, Claire Martin, and Sabrina Wells. Five. Do any of those names ring a bell?” Parker scanned the other report and added, “Pat Kramer.”

  “So six people,” Cassidy said. “I know we have strict quarantine regulations, but anyone could…”

  “According to the logs, the person became sick on the flight to the Moon, the infirmary was notified, but the people were allowed to leave the shuttle without checking with the hospital.”

  “Do you have the names of the sick passengers?” Cassidy asked.

  Parker flipped through pages and pages of logs and stopped. “Oh no.”

  “What?”

  “Robert Egan started the influenza epidemic killing five people.”

  “And he lived? How could that be?”

  “It appears he was provided with an antidote, an antiviral that cured him, but the remedy was lost in the infirmary, which caused the others infected with that strain to die.”

  “So there is a connection between two of the victims. Hellwig was the one who let the sick Egan onto the Moonbase.”

  “Kate, can you cross reference all the people involved with the victims of the epidemics and see if there are any crossovers?”

  “Will do Parker.”

  “Kate, is there a problem? You seem distant today.”

  There was a long silence and finally she said, “I knew the first two men.”

  “What?” Cassidy said.

  “I dated both men once, but nothing came of it. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything earlier.”

  Cassidy and Parker looked at each other stunned. Cassidy mouthed, “Now what?”

  Parker shook his head and turned back to Cassidy. “What have you discovered about Wayne Jacobson?”

  “He’s married with two little kids, a boy and a girl not yet in school. He has been in maintenance and cleanup, but decided he wanted to move to recycling and work on eco-friendly strategic planning for the Moonbase.”

  Cassidy wrote on a touch screen on the desk, “She had access to the airlock codes and is a computer genius.”

  Parker nodded. “Jacobson has worked pretty much in all of the areas of the Moonbase. He has switched jobs a lot and positions. He tends to have radical ideas on waste and pollution, so he tends to irritate his bosses.”

  “He was fired from two posts due to standing on his principles,” Cassidy pointed out.

  “Which jobs were those?” Parker wrote on the screen, “We’ll keep Kate in mind.”

  “The mail room for shipping and receiving errors resulting in lost medical shipments, and from housekeeping as a result of repeated complaints of bad smelling cleaners that are bio-friendly, but not pleasant to humans.” Cassidy laughed. “I wonder what he used to clean the guest rooms with.”

  Commander Cross burst into the room. “Have you found anything out?”

  Cassidy sat up straight and stopped laughing. He shook his head.

  Parker started to say something, but shook his head also.

  “Nothing?”

  “We may have a link between two deaths, but it is a stretch, but there isn’t any physical…” Parker was cut off.

  “Evidence? That’s what I wanted to tell you. There seems to be something at the shuttle bay doors, and I wonder if it is the same substance as in the last airlock you inspected.”

  “The dust?” Cassidy asked.

  “Have you had the sample analyzed yet?” Cross asked.

  “The results aren’t back yet.” Cassidy stood and picked up a few swab collection packets.

  “We’re still waiting for results.” Parker looked down at his monitor.

  “I found something I think you need to collect. Now.”

  Cassidy and Parker looked at each other and followed Commander Cross out the door.

  * * *

  As Cassidy ran the swab over the shuttle door airlock seal, Kate’s voice asked, “Cassidy? Parker? Where are you guys?”

  “We’re in the shuttle’s airlock swabbing for evidence. What do you need, Kate?” Parker answered as he watched Cassidy work.

  “Parker, check your readout screen for a list of the outbreak victims,” Kate said into his earpiece.

  “Cassidy, are you finding anything?” Parker asked as he pulled out his UV camera. He typed on his wrist keypad and read the list of names as they scrolled by.

  “You guys need to hurry up,” Commander Cross said. “I want to announce this…”

  The cover for the lens slipped out of Parker’s hand and bounced away from the shuttle door. It rolled under a tool chest on wheels.

  A familiar name appeared on his wrist screen, just as Parker dropped to his knees. He looked up at the Commander.

  “Forget that cap, just take the pics…” he pulled a silver vial from his pocket and flipped the lid off.

  “Cassidy!” Parker yelled, “Watch out.” He crawled forward and pushed Cross with all his might.

  Cassidy dodged and rolled out of the way. He flipped the swab at Cross.

  The vial flew out of Cross’ hand and hit the wall. An explosion of Moon Dust blew back as it floated around the airlock.

  Parker dove for the wall and grabbed onto a cable, a hose, and a coil of rope. He wound his wrist around the cable and felt his hand go numb as the blood was cut off.

  “Kate, deactivate…”

  “A-CHOO!” Cross sneezed. He covered his nose and mouth as he frantically typed on his forearm keypad.

  Warning lights started to flash and swirl, which drowned out Parker’s request.

  Parker grabbed the coil of rope and tied a noose at one end. He tossed it to Cassidy. “Wrap it around your waist.”

  “A-CHOO.” Cross grabbed for Cassidy’s leg, and his fingers curled around his fabric.

  The airlock hissed as the door pulled in out of the track.

  Cassidy tried to kick his leg free as Parker pulled the rope.

  “Parker? Cassidy? What’s happening?” Kate’s worried voice called.

  The airlock released, and the air rushed out of the garage. All three men slid along the cement floor.

  Cassidy kicked, but Cross’ hand wouldn’t let go.

  The rope started to slip through Parker’s hand, and he twisted his wrist, winding as fast as he could to take up the slack. He felt his other arm pull against the cable and made his hand throb. “Kate, close the door.” But he wasn’t sure if she could hear him over the violent sucking of air out of the garage.

  A metallic rattle sounded over Parker’s head, and he looked up. The rolling tool box started to shake and move toward him. It rocked back and forth and started to tip.

  Parker rolled over onto his back to get out of the way.

  The tool box crashed on its side and shot across the floor.

  Cassidy rolled and kicked.

  Cross clung on for dear life. He rose up onto his knees to try and crawl over Cassidy. As he reached over to get a grasp with his other hand, he looked up and saw the tool box hurtling his way. He screamed as the metal corner hit him in the face, blood flooded his eye, and the mass of the tools pulled on his fingers.

  “I’m closing the doors,” Kate shouted.

  Cross’ hand opened, and momentum of the tool box pushed him out the door.

  The lights flashed and spun, as the shuttle doors started to close.

  Cross slid faster and faster. The metal box rolled over his arm and blood sprayed across the floor. His hand brushed against the door and caught it for a second, but the weight of the box pulled his body through the door. His nails dug into the rubber seal, slowly ripping from their nail beds. He reached with his other hand and just as his fingers grabbed on, the door closed. He lost his grasp and floated away.
>
  Atmosphere rushed back in, and Cassidy and Parker were able to breathe again.

  “Parker? Cassidy? Commander Cross? Are you guys alright?” Kate’s worried voice asked. It echoed through the shuttle bay. “Scanners show a man has been released from the airlock. Can you hear me?” Her usually calm voice took on a frantic tone.

  Parker coughed as the oxygen came back into his lungs. “Commander Cross was sucked out into space.”

  Kate gasped.

  “Commander Cross has been the one killing men on the Moonbase.”

  Cassidy looked at Parker with a confused look on his face.

  “As far as I can figure from the files, Jeffrey Hellwig didn’t pay close enough attention to the travel log and allowed a sick man from the shuttle onto the Moonbase. Robert Egan was carrying a strain of influenza that hadn’t appeared on the base. He infected Maggie Winters.”

  “Commander Cross’ fiancée?”

  “Yes. Robert Egan recovered, but Wayne Jacobson threw away the lab reports and the influenza antidote by mistake. The three men never knew each other, but they all played a part in Maggie getting sick and dying.”

  “But they were all accidents.”

  “Commander Cross lost the love of his life, and he hated the men involved. He changed the command on the airlocks and by adding a little Moon Dust, he insured the men would sneeze and let the airlock do its job.”

  “And he tried to kill us,” Cassidy said as he stood up and reached over to pick up the vial that had been wedged into a crack in the wall.

  “I ran a scan of the airlock and voice system, and you are correct. Commander Cross changed the code to open when a man sneezed. He could turn that option on as needed,” Kate said. “That’ll take me a little while to delete.”

  Cassidy started to slip the Moon Dust vial into a plastic sleeve when a puff of dust came out. He tried to close the package, but the Moon Dust floated to his nose.

  “AAA—” he started.

  Parker grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the shuttle area and to the doors into the corridor.

  “—CHOO!”

  Alarms sounded as the lights flashed on.

  Parker pushed Cassidy to the side and hit the close button on the corridor’s airlock. The doors closed, and the shuttle bay opened again.

  Parker pressed his back against the wall, as he watched the rest of the loose items get sucked out into space. “Cassidy, you really need to learn to cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze.”

  Cassidy tossed the evidence packet to him. “Then you get to collect the samples from now on.” He clapped his friend on the back as they headed back to their office to start filling out the paperwork.

  About the Crew of the Space Shuttle Moon Shot

  Suzanne Berube Rorhus

  Suzanne Berube Rorhus writes from the arctic clime known as Michigan, though she still guards her Southern accent carefully. Her work includes “The Golden Ganesh,” which appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Cereal Killer (available from Untreed Reads) and Cuffed, a series of true tales written with a police officer coauthor. She is now working on a police procedural novel.

  Elizabeth Hosang

  Elizabeth Hosang is a Computer Engineer who wants to be a writer when she grows up. She has been writing stories for fun, if not for profit, for over ten years. While she has several unfinished novels in various stages of development, lately she has been working on short stories. She enjoys mysteries, science fiction and urban fantasy and has stories in all of these genres. In 2012 she made the short list for the Audrey Jessup short story contest.

  Jack Bates

  Jack Bates writes crime fiction from his man-cave loft in an old house north of Detroit. He has a lot of credits that include award-winning screenplays and nominated short stories. He got his first rejection at the impressionable age of 18. He still gets them from time to time. His most recent release with Untreed Reads is the young adult zombie novel Running Red.

  Laird Long

  Long pounds out fiction in all genres. Big guy, sense of humor. Writing credits include: Hardboiled, Thriller UK, Damnation Books, Bullet, Robot, The Dark Krypt, Albedo One, Baen's Universe, Space Westerns, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, Plan B, and stories in the anthologies F/SF, The Killer Wore Cranberry, The Mammoth Book of New Comic Fantasy, The Mammoth Book of Jacobean Whodunits, The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes, Impossible Mysteries, The Big Book of Bizarro, and Action: Pulse-Pounding Tales. Laird also appears in the Untreed Reads anthology The Killer Wore Cranberry.

  Jeremy K. Tyler

  Jeremy K. Tyler was a professional copywriter for ten years before beginning his career as an author. Jeremy has penned the novels Smoking Ash and The Rivers Webb for Untreed Reads, as well as the short story collection Orlin Wood. This is his second anthology appearance, the first being Untreed Reads’ horror anthology Year's End: 14 Tales of Holiday Horror.

  E. Lynn Hooghiemstra

  E. Lynn Hooghiemstra has been dreaming up stories and exploring “what if” for as long as she can remember. She settled in the Pacific Northwest after many years in Europe and writes short stories and books for all ages, with an interest in both science fiction as well as historical fiction. Her most recent release with Untreed Reads is the novella Tales from the Fountain Pen.

  Toby Speed

  Toby Speed is a mystery writer, children's book author and poet living on Long Island, NY. Her first murder mystery, Death Over Easy, is just out from Five Star. She is hard at work on the sequel, Death Under the Radar. Toby is the author of seven children’s books, including Two Cool Cows, an American Bookseller Pick of the List and an IRA-CBC Children's Choice Book, and Brave Potatoes, which was on both the Publishers Weekly and The New York Times children’s bestseller lists. She has also written many stories for Highlights for Children and other magazines. Toby will be the featured poet in The 5:2 Crime Poetry Weekly in November 2013.

  Wenda Morrone

  Wenda Morrone first met Little J. while she was working on a thriller with a protagonist whose history resembled her own—New York fashion magazine career side-railed by cancer—only in the heroine’s case, someone was meddling with her chemo. She had a few ideas how it might go. None included a homeless, streetwise ten-year-old, but Little J. popped up on her computer screen—complete with leather jacket, Rolex watch, dinosaur t-shirt, and passion for BMWs—and took over. She had to learn what Little J.’s life was like and how he came to be who he is. Three or four times a year he’ll let her sneak a look.

  Little J. and the moon? Not an immediate fit. But then Wenda realized one of her own heroes, Buzz Aldrin, had participated at an event at the Museum of Natural History—Little J.’s stomping ground, with, he claims, the best bathrooms in Manhattan—the rest, as they say, is…alternative history.

  Suzanne Derham Cifarelli

  Suzanne Derham Cifarelli has been a lifelong fan of mysteries. She has worked in Health Information Management for over twenty years and is now fulfilling her dream of becoming a writer. She currently resides in Albany, New York with her husband and daughter.

  Andrew MacRae

  Andrew MacRae is a misplaced Midwesterner who rolled downhill to California a quarter of a century ago. He writes stories of mystery, slipstream, and the occasional piece of poetry. Untreed Reads has published his collection The Case of the Murderous Mermaid and Other Stories and appears in the anthology The Killer Wore Cranberry: A Second Helping.

  Jeff Howe

  Jeff Howe lives and works in the scenic Black Creek Bottoms area near St. Louis, Missouri, where he writes things that would have made his grandmother blanch, or at least blush. You can find his two short stories XXXmas and D.C. al fine at Untreed Reads, and his other stories appear in the quarterly anthology The First Line, and at other ebook sellers. He ruminates at his Wordpress blog, Merciless Idioms.

  Percy Spurlark Parker

  Percy Spurlark Parker is a former president of the Mystery Writers of America's midwest chapter, and a current mem
ber of the Private Eye Writers of America. His published works thus far totals two novels and sixty-five short stories. Born and raised in Chicago, he now resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. His novella An Unrefusable Request is published by Untreed Reads.

  Mary McCarroll White

  Mary McCarroll White is a former elementary teacher and freelance writer for Scott Foresman & Company. She published her first mystery novel, Do Unto Others in 2009. She is currently a member of Mavens of Mayhem, a chapter of Sisters in Crime and Words in Progress, a creative writing group. Mary lives in Niskayuna, NY.

  Lance Zarimba

  Lance Zarimba lives in a haunted house that the man who invented Old Dutch potato chips built. He is an occupational therapist living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has a mystery, Vacation Therapy, and three children’s books: Oh No, Our Best Friend is a Zombie, Oh No, Our Best Friend is a Vampire, and Oh No, My Brother is Frankenstein’s Monster. He has over 100 short stories in print and can be found in Mayhem in the Midlands, Pat Dennis’ Who Died in Here? 25 mystery stories of crimes and bathrooms, Jay Hartman’s The Killer Wore Cranberry, Anne Frasier’s Deadly Treats, and Jenni Rector’s Shadow Masters.