Aaron Conners - Tex Murphy 02

by Under a Killing Moon

  It was a body. A heavy set, middle-aged man stared up at me with unseen eyes. He had a massive wound in his chest, and his white shirt was stained dark brown with dried blood. I pried my eyes away from the corpse and saw eight others, all within twenty feet of each other. Every one of them had been shot. It looked like a mass execution.

  Immediately, I thought of the missing prisoners. But these people didn’t look like convicts. I bent down and went through the pockets of a dead woman. Keys, a pen, a pack of chewing gum…and an ID card. It read, “Janice Bergman - Genetic Research Systems.”

  So this is where they’d ended up. Now, the question was, what had they been doing?

  And why had these people been murdered? Was there a mutiny of some kind? I stood up and looked around. The room was semicircular. Along the left side, the wall was rounded, and the ceiling rose up at quite a steep angle. To my right was a long, straight, high wall of Plexiglass. Up against the Plexiglass was a series of workstations and chairs. It looked like the engineering booth in a large recording studio.

  I walked toward the clear glass wall. On the other side was what appeared to be the interior of a biosphere. There were trees, grass, flowers, and plants of all types. I estimated the size of the garden-like area to be at least the square footage of a football field. It would have been a beautiful site, except for one thing. The floor was covered with dead bodies.

  The scene was nightmarish. There were literally hundreds of men, women, and children.

  It looked like old pictures I’d seen of the Holocaust. I pressed my face against the glass and stared at the corpses nearest to me. These people were probably the missing prisoners. As I looked over the carnage, I was especially horrified at the presence of children. For a moment I wondered why children were here, but then I remembered hearing that minimum-security prisoners weren’t automatically sterilized and that male and female prisoners were allowed to mingle. Sometimes, even marriages were allowed.

  So, it wasn’t just incarcerated scum that had been slaughtered here, but entire families.

  Why had the prisoners been murdered? And how? Unlike people on my side of the wall, the victims in the biosphere hadn’t been shot. In fact, there was no visible cause of death.

  I decided to take a closer look. There were doors at either end of the Plexiglass wall. I walked to one of them and was about to open it when I noticed a row of

  decontamination suits hanging on the wall. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to enter the biosphere.

  I turned away and began searching through the workstations for details on what had happened to the prisoners. There was no power for the consoles, so the contents of the computers were off-limits. I opened drawers and looked in wastebaskets for some time.

  Eventually, I found a printout that provided some information.

  ATTN: Project Supervisor

  RE: Length of Process

  The virus will be introduced into the atmosphere via dispenser satellites. With maximum flight-path alignment and a minimum of one thousand dispensers, Earth’s atmosphere will be thoroughly saturated within twelve hours. We estimate that eighty to eighty-five percent of the population will expire within the first twelve hours, an additional 10

  percent within thirty-six hours, and the effective remainder within seven days.

  I read the message several times. If it meant what I thought it did, the cult was planning on fumigating Earth with some kind of virus. And if the biosphere full of corpses was any indication, the billions down below wouldn’t stand a chance of surviving. I didn’t know anything about chemistry, and most of the other things I found were too technical for me to understand. As far as I could determine, the GRS scientists had spent the past few years developing the virus referred to in the message. How it worked was beyond me, but it was quick and lethal.

  That left only one question. If the virus was to be released from dispenser satellites, from where would the satellites originate? Not from the moon, seeing how the complex was abandoned. There was only one logical answer: The cult would attack from the Moon Child. But when? Maybe it had happened already. Ching and I might have

  escaped just in time. Or maybe there was still time.

  I turned on my communication device and paged Ching. After a moment, her voiced piped through my speaker. “Find anything?”

  “Yeah. GRS was definitely here.”

  Ching’s voice was excited. “Stay where you are. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Don’t bother. There’s not much here to see except a bunch of dead bodies. The GRS

  scientists were working on some kind of virus. It looks like they came up here to use the prisoners as test subjects. Since the place is abandoned, I’m willing to bet they’re all finished and, from what I can piece together, they’re planning on dumping the virus into Earth’s atmosphere. Unless I’m way off, they’re going to do it from the Moon Child.”

  Ching didn’t respond immediately. “I guess we need to get to the Moon Child.”

  There was another pause. “All right. Let’s all meet back at the op-center and get out of here.”

  I was about to leave when I took another look at the nine bodies by the door where I’d come in. For the first time, the thought occurred to me that the CAPRICORN mole might be among the victims. I crossed the room and began searching the bodies. If the mole was one of these people, maybe he was carrying a message, or something that would help us. It was disgusting, horrible work, but I was desperate. After ten minutes, I decided there was nothing to find.

  Hopefully, the mole was alive and well. Maybe he’d gotten onto the Moon Child and would find some way to stop the cult. There wasn’t much else to hope for. I decided to return to the transport tunnel.

  Inside the compartment, I pressed the button by the door and began moving back toward the op-center. Suddenly, my communication device crackled to life, and I heard Ching’s voice.

  “If I go down, one of you is going with me!”

  An unfamiliar male voice spoke up. “Just put down your weapon, and no one’ll get hurt.”

  Ching wasn’t buying it. “I don’t think so. You put yours down first.”

  Ching had turned on her communication device to warn me. I reached up and hit a button to stop the compartment, and then hit another one to reverse course, moving away from the op-center. Ching continued to argue with several male voices. They seemed to be in a Mexican standoff. I tried not to panic. Over the communication device, I could hear Ching obviously trying to buy time. Then there was silence.

  The compartment stopped, and I exited back into the GRS dome. I didn’t want to be discovered, but it would be just as bad to be marooned. I decided to look for another exit from the dome and try to get back to Voorman’s shuttle. At best, Ching would end up captured. At least one of us had to get out.

  I hadn’t seen an exit door the first time around, so this time I turned left and sprinted down the hallway, still cradling the gun Ching had given me. I’d gone maybe a hundred yards when I reached a door marked Emergency Exit Only - Alarm Will Sound. With the power cut off, I hoped that there would be no alarm, but I didn’t have any choice. I pushed with my shoulder against the door and stepped outside.

  As far as I could tell, nothing went off. I glanced around, trying to get my bearings. It seemed to me that the fastest way to the shuttle would be around the right side of the op-center dome, and I set off in that direction. I covered ground quickly, bounding ten feet or more with every stride.

  As I came around the side of the dome where Ching was trapped, I saw a transport tunnel straight ahead. Unless I went all the way around another dome, I’d have to go over the top of the tunnel. I gathered all my strength and ran straight toward the tunnel, then leaped. The tunnel had a rounded roof. I hit it about two-thirds of the way up, somersaulted over the top, and then landed in a soft heap on the other side. The collision had made me drop my gun - on the other side. At least I was uninjured. I stood up and made sure my rebreather was OK, then con
tinued on toward the waiting shuttle.

  There was no one in sight as I approached the escape vehicle. I opened the hatch and crawled inside. I checked the cockpit, but Voorman wasn’t there - a bad sign. If he’d been caught as well, I was as good as dead. At that moment, I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye, through one of the windows. Four men were emerging from the door of the op-center. One of them was Karl Voorman. There was no sign of Ching, Lou, or Felipe. It appeared that we’d been set up.

  I rifled through the storage bins, hoping that Ching had left a weapon on board, but I couldn’t find one. I glanced quickly around the interior of the shuttle. There was no place to hide, except for the lavatory. I hurried inside and locked the door, trying not to breathe too loudly.

  A minute later, I heard the hatch open, and the men climbed in. One voice spoke up. “I say we go find the fourth one.”

  A second voice responded. “Don’t worry about it. What’s he gonna do?”

  A third voice joined in. It was Voorman. “We haven’t got time to look for him. We’re supposed to be on the Moon Child in a few hours.”

  The first man gave in. “All right. Are we gonna take both vehicles?”

  Voorman spoke again. “No, let’s all go in this one. It’s faster.”

  “Fine by me. Let’s get going.”

  I hunkered down and hoped fervently that none of the men had a weak bladder. Maybe there was a chance I’d get to the Moon Child without being discovered. Through the door, I could hear them moving around. One of them found Ching’s second bottle of whiskey and chortled. “Look what the bitch left us. I guess we can drink it, seeing as how she’s not going to.”

  One of the other men laughed. Suddenly, the lavatory door moved slightly. A voice yelled from no more that three feet away. “Hey, Karl? What’s with the bathroom door?

  It’s all locked up!”

  I heard Voorman’s faint voice from the other end of the shuttle. The door rattled again.

  “I’m telling ya, it’s locked!”

  Everything went silent. A few moments passed, and then I heard the sound of something metallic tapping against the other side of the door.

  “Open the door. Or I’ll blow it open.”

  I considered my options briefly, then unlocked the door and pushed it open. In front of me was a large blond man with a buzz cut and a large firearm pointed at my face. I raised my hands meekly. The man with the gun smiled. “C’mon out. Nice and slow.”

  As I stood up, the shuttle lurched. The blond man staggered and lowered the gun. Seeing an opportunity, I stumbled forward and grabbed the rifle barrel. Again the shuttle pitched, and I slammed against the wall across from the lavatory, losing my hold on the end of the gun. As the shuttle stabilized, the blond man regained his balance and aimed at my chest. “Don’t try that again.”

  He motioned for me to step into the passenger area and sit down. The brute stood in front of me, the gun still pointed at my chest. “You should’ve stayed in the complex.

  Could’ve stayed alive a little longer.”

  He raised the gun. Suddenly, I heard Voorman. “@#%$ it, Brody! Don’t shoot him in here! You think I want this place messed up? Not to mention maybe putting a hole in the wall! Use your head, man! If you’re gonna kill him, strangle him!”

  Brody paused and looked at me over the top of the gun, then lowered it. “I wanna shoot him!”

  Voorman stepped in from the cockpit. “Fine! Just wait until we get to the Moon Child.

  All right?” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Voorman approaching, a length of cord in his hand. “I’ll tie him up, and you do what you want with him later.”

  Brody stepped back grudgingly and set his rifle down. As Voorman had me stand up, I noticed him checking out my watch. For a moment, I thought he might take it from me, but he seemed to decide against it. He tied my hands behind my back, then pushed me back down into my seat. I looked up at the man who’d set me and Ching up. “You son of a bitch.”

  Voorman looked down at me apathetically, then headed back toward the cockpit. Brody moved, and I turned to see the butt of his rifle flashing toward my head. I flinched, then felt the white hot pain, and everything went black.

  UAKM - chapter twenty-three

  When I came to, my head felt like an axe was buried into it. I hadn’t experienced such pain since the last time I’d had wine, beer, and Metaxa all in the same evening. Even the headache in Brownsville couldn’t compare. I slowly opened my eyes just enough to look around at Voorman’s three cohorts. It appeared that they’d had their way with the bottle of Black Bush. I closed my eyes and pretended to still be out.

  For quite a while, I eavesdropped as the three drunken men talked about various women and their body parts. It seemed that they were excited to get to the Moon Child. From what I could understand, there was going to be some kind of large celebration the next day. A bad feeling welled up in my gut.

  One of the men announced that he could see the Moon Child. I shifted slightly and realized my hands had fallen asleep. I moved a little more, and the painful tingling began in my fingertips. After a minute, I’d regained enough feeling to start testing the tightness of the cord on my wrists. It wasn’t particularly tight. Trying to move as little as possible, I woked the cord. Slowly, it began to loosen.

  By the time we landed inside the Moon Child, I’d gotten the bonds loose enough that I was sure I could get my hands free. As the shuttle powered down, I opened my eyes.

  Brody was leering at me, obviously intoxicated. It looked like he was about to attack me when Voorman stepped in from the cockpit. “All right. Let’s go.”

  Brody looked up in protest. “What about this guy? He’s mine, damn it.”

  Voorman was all business. “I know he is. You can have him. Kust get off my shuttle and go check in. I’ve got a few things to do, then I’ll give you a call. We can take him somewhere private, and you can do whatever you want with him. All right?”

  Brody pouted as he climbed unsteadily through the hatch. The two others followed, leaving me alone with Voorman, who went back into the cockpit. The men had taken their weapons with them. I looked around for something useful. The only object within reach was the empty bottle of whiskey. I slipped one hand out from the loosened cord, grabbed the bottle, and hid it behind my back.

  A second later, Voorman reappeared. He walked straight toward me and grabbed my left arm. “C’mon. You and I need to have a talk.”

  Voorman helped me up with both hands, leaving himself wide open. As I stood up, I was able to wind up and bring the bottle down on the top of his head with full force. He fell to the floor, as limp as a motician’s handshake. I used the cord he had put on me to tie his hands behind his back, being careful to fasten it more securely than he had.

  Finally, I tore off one of his shirt sleeves and gagged him.

  Before leaving, I looked around quickly for a weapon. I’d never been comfortable with firearms, but I figured I could make an exception this one time. Unfortunately, there wasn’t one to be found. Apparently, Brody and his buddies had taken them off the freighter.

  The hatch door was still open. I took a peek outside, then crawled out. When I reached the floor, I straightened up and stretched, then had to bend over, hands on knees, as a wave of pain crashed through my head. I reached back and felt a large, oblong bump on the side of my skull. At leaste it wasn’t visible. Nothing made someone stand out like a huge facial bruise.

  As the pain receeded, I stood back up and surveyed my surroundings. I seemed to be in some sort of immense cargo bay, dimly lit with huge florescent lights. The ceiling was at least a hundred feet high, and the interior was big enough to hold a small town. As far as the eye could see, there all kinds of vehicles, from ordinary speeders to large industrial freighters. I also saw various types or machinery, from tractors to bailers. It looked like what you’d take if you were colonizing a new Earth-like planet. Of course, as far as I knew, that was exactly what these people had in mind.r />
  Some distance away, a lone tower rose up above the sea of metal. It appeared to be a watchtower, and I could see several figures inside. I walked casually toward a nearby shuttle and ducked behind it. I glanced around, looking for an exit, and found one several hundred yards away, in the opposite direction of the watchtower. Keeping low, I moved from one vehicle to the next, slowly covering ground. Luckily, there didn’t seem to be anyone wandering around the area.

  Until someone discovered Voorman or he managed to get loose, no one on the Moon Child, other than the three drunken thugs, had any reason to know I was there or to suspect that I was an outsider. Considering the size of the satellite, the odds of me running into Brody or one of the other men were pretty remote. At least I had one set of odds on my side.

  I eventually reached the door on the far side of the cargo bay and opened it. On the other side was a small foyer containing nothing but a set of elevator doors. Now what? I’d escaped from the freighter and was safely on the Moon Child, but had absolutely no idea what to do next. There was just one thing going for me, and that was temporary.

  Realistically, I had nothing to lose. The elevator panel had only one button, and I pushed it.

  After a long wait, the up light went off, and the elevator doors opened. No one was inside, so I stepped in. The panel displayed buttons for levels LL through twenty-four.

  There was also a button for level thirty-six, but none for levels twenty-five through thirty-five. I closed my eyes and pressed a button, a method that had worked surprisingly well for me in the past - especially at the racetrack. The elevator started to rise, and I saw, with some superstitious apprehension, that the button for level thirteen was lit up.

  At level three, the elevator came to a stop, and three drop-dead gorgeous women joined me, without acknowledging my existence. One of them, a tall redhead, with cropped hair and large brown eyes, was talking as she pressed the button for level nine.

  “You have to try the lasagna. I don’t know what they put in it, but it’s unbelievable.”