by Joshua James
Of course this shocked and scared Ben. He turned to run away, and did. But he only made it a few steps before he was somehow in his room, standing next to his bed.
“Ben, please don’t be scared. I need to be quick. Otherwise they’ll find me. They’ll know,” said the yellow-eyed boy.
“Who…” Ben’s voice quivered. “Who are you?”
“I’m your father. Sorry, I’m one with your father.”
“What do you mean, you’re ‘one with’ my father?” Ben asked.
“That is not important. What is, is that he is still there.”
“What do you—?”
“He’s not dead. He’s not like the others. Which is why I can be with him,” the boy said.
If Ben wasn’t already confused and confounded by what was happening, he sure as hell was now. The yellow-eyed boy, despite his appearance, felt friendly. His voice, his presence, it didn’t have the same menace as the Pale Man or any of the Shapeless, though this yellow-eyed stranger was clearly not human.
“We weren’t always like this. We’re not all like it now. They shouldn’t be able to do this. They took it from us.”
“The Shapeless?”
“Find one. They need them to survive. Find the rock and you can separate me from your father. You can have him back. You can have them all back.” The yellow-eyed boy looked scared. “I have to go. Find it!”
With that, the strange kid turned into a puddle of black oil on the floor and seeped down through the floorboards and disappeared.
Okay? Whatever the hell that was. Ben tried to figure out who the yellow-eyed kid was and what the hell he’d meant by anything he said. Thing was, even though it didn’t make any sense, he felt that he would never forget what the kid had said.
Ben was back in the hallway. Both the bathroom and his bedroom doors were closed, bereft of light underneath. Once again he was on the path to his parents’ room.
This time pre-teen Ben had to open the bedroom door. He opened it slowly, as he heard noises he didn’t know at that age, but would come to know well later. He’d know the smell, too.
Ben cracked his parents’ bedroom door open and saw his father in bed, on top of someone, having sex. Only that someone wasn’t his mother. He’d later find out she was a fellow soldier that Lee had started seeing while posted in Europa. He’d also later find out that she wasn’t his father’s only mistress. What he never knew was how aware his mother was of her husband’s marital transgressions.
Without warning, Ben’s parents’ door flew open. Lee Saito and his mistress sat on the bed, calmly watching as the pre-teen was sucked towards their window by an unseen force. He crashed through it, body flailing as he plummeted towards the lower levels of Annapolis.
Instead of hitting the ground, Ben landed butt-first in a chair in the UEF Naval Academy. He almost hyperventilated, he breathed so hard and heavily. Sweat poured down his face as his heart raced, pulse pounding. Just moments ago, he’d thought he was going to die. Now he was in class.
Standing in front of the class was the Pale Man. Dressed in a UEF Naval uniform, the Pale Man looked the part. Behind him was a digital holographic chalkboard. All over it were drawn pictures, diagrams, and writing, all pertaining to the AIC.
“Nice of you to finally join us, Mr. Saito,” said the Pale Man. All of Ben’s classmates turned and looked at him in unison. It was creepy as hell. “Now we can get started. Today’s lesson is about our enemy, the rebels of the AIC and how we can destroy them. Mr. Saito, what can you tell me about planet-killing weapons?”
Ten
It’s Only Just Begun
Sydal rode in the passenger seat of the rover sent to take him to Aitken Basin Crater. The driver was Detective Janis. She was eating something from a paper wrapper. The chronically thin detective was always eating something.
“You sharing that?” Sydal asked.
She took another bite. “It’s synthetic chocolate,” she said. “You’d hate it.”
“Pass it over.”
She did, and Sydal took a bite. That and the sickly-sweet synthetic made him want to gag.
“Told you so,” she said, taking the candy bar back and taking another bite.
“How do you eat that shit?”
“I had to eat something. You think I planned to get dragged out here tonight?”
Sydal grunted. He couldn’t argue with that. “I’m guessing you had a couple beers, too.” He could smell it on her breath.
She shrugged, ignoring his question. “So when was the last time you came all the way out here?” Janis asked as she drove a little too fast across the lunar surface.
“I dunno. How’s about you slow down a bit, huh?” Sydal already had enough on his mind. The last thing he needed was having to worry about dying in a rover crash, although it might alleviate the torture of thinking his wife wasn’t really his wife.
Janis rolled her eyes. “I’ve got this under control. What are you worried about? Hitting another rover? Look around you, Rowan. Ain’t a damn thing in sight.” Janis popped the last piece of synth chocolate in her mouth and threw the wrapper over her shoulder into the back of the rover. Then she pulled out a pack of gum and popped a pungent piece in her mouth. At least it covered up the smell of booze on her breath.
Sydal couldn’t argue with his partner’s logic. When he looked out the rover windows, all he saw was the empty white and gray of the moon. In the distance, far away, he saw the Earth. It looked like a marble from here.
“Want a piece?” offered Janis.
“No, I’m good. How much further?”
“According to my HUD, we should be there any second now.”
The rover went up a hill, and when it reached the top, both of the detectives could see a truly awe-inspiring sight. Craters on the moon were usually reserved for the richest of lunar citizens. With their wealth, they built and lived in oasis communities far away from the hustle and bustle under the main Lunar Dome. In fact, they were so well off they’d built their own plasma dome over the whole crater. But their financial feats didn’t end there.
The Aitken Basin Crater was unique in that the people who lived there and had built it had made it into a greenhouse. High above them, at the top of the dome, was an artificial replacement for the sun, bathing the community in UV rays. That, mixed with a system that extracted water from under the moon’s surface, made it an oasis of green on a dead moon.
“Over there. That must be where we get in.” Sydal pointed at a small building right outside the Aitken Basin Dome. It served as an entrance and processing point, necessary for the tourists who came to see the community’s splendor, and also as a filter to keep out any undesirables.
“Right-o.” Janis drove the rover down the hill, straight towards the domed community.
When they pulled up, Janis stopped right before the front of the rover got rejected by the plasma dome. A holographic woman appeared in the window of the building, right next to their rover. She pointed at a sign on the window that had a frequency for the detectives’ HUDs to tune into so they could talk.
“Hello. Welcome to Aitken Basin Community and Nature Walks. I’m Irene, how may I help you today?” asked the woman.
“I’m Detective Janis, and this is Detective Sydal,” Janis said. “We’re from the LPD. We need to get in. Got a call about a homicide. Sending over credentials right now.”
“Very good,” the hologram said as the digital badges were processed. “Welcome, detectives. Please proceed along the red dotted line. It will take you directly to the scene. Our community leader, Fredrich Bausman, will greet you.” With that, the woman opened up a small section of the plasma shield right in front of the detectives’ rover.
“I mean, it sucks that we’re here on a homicide call, but damn, if this isn’t one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been,” whispered Janis as the rover slowly drove along the holographic red dotted line.
Vast amounts of vibrant green vegetation, trees, and flowers flanked the
m on both sides of the road. It wasn’t just plants, though. When Sydal lowered his window, he could hear the sounds of birds, insects, and small mammals. Every fifty yards or so, they passed the entrances of hidden driveways that led down to hidden homes, camouflaged by the thick green of Aitken Basin.
“Yeah…it’s something else,” Sydal said.
“C’mon, man, cheer up. People pay a hell of a lot of money to enjoy this place. We get to see it for free.”
“Because we’re investigating a homicide,” pointed out Sydal. “It’s not a damn holiday.”
“What’s got your panties in a knot lately? You’re never exactly a ray of sunshine, but you’ve been extra miserable lately.”
Sydal stared out his window. Through a small clearing of trees, he could see the other side of the crater. Homes were anchored into the lunar surface fifty feet deep, kept them from sliding down. No rain meant no mudslides, though a humid atmosphere was constantly maintained to keep the plants healthy. Sprinklers installed along the ground, under the soil, provided the water they needed to survive.
“Sorry, it’s just…got a lot on my mind.”
“There’s your problem, bud. Me? I make sure to keep the old grey matter empty. Leads to a much happier life, being blissfully unaware.” Janis took her attention away from the narrow road and looked over at Sydal. “A great trait for a detective, I know.”
Sydal chuckled. “Criminals beware.”
“Laugh it up,” she said. “This dumb detective gets a good night’s sleep.”
“I’m sure you do.” Must be nice.
The detectives’ rover followed the holographic path until it stopped at a line of trees and what looked like the entrance to a trail. There were other vehicles there: two, to be exact. One had no markings at all but was definitely expensive, a luxury version of a lunar rover. The other had the markings of Aitken Basin security.
“Is this it?” asked Sydal.
“Looks like it.” Janis pointed towards the trailhead. The holographic red dotted path led into the trees.
Both detectives got out of the rover. Sydal stretched his back. While doing so, he looked up. Past the artificial blue of the dome, he could see faint stars, a barely visible reminder that they were indeed on Earth’s moon, not on Earth itself.
“Detectives?” A squirrelly-looking middle-aged man emerged from the trail entrance. He was dressed in a track suit and had a slight limp.
“Yup. And you are?” asked Janis as she shook the squirrelly-looking man’s hand.
“Fredrich Bausman. I’m the community leader here at Aitken.” Fredrich moved on to shaking Sydal’s hand. He had a thick German accent, but spoke perfect English.
“Sydal. So, Fredrich, what do we have here?”
“Right to business, eh? Well, that’s good, because things like this…they don’t happen here very often, and we’d like to have this wrapped up as soon as possible. Every minute we’re closed is another lost tourist. Come, this way.” Bausman headed back towards the trail opening.
Both Janis and Sydal looked at each other for a moment before following Fredrich. They both had the same thought, which wasn’t necessary to verbalize: Why is this guy so worried about tourists when one of his residents was murdered?
“Usually, this time of year, this place is packed. People looking to escape the winter back on Earth, or spacefarers looking for a stop before returning home. We get all sorts of folks here. One reason they come here is to escape the problems on other parts of this moon, or in the galaxy. This is supposed to be a safe place, free from crime and violence, an oasis in the desert of space.”
Bausman seemed to love to talk. As he led the detectives down the trail, they let him speak as much as he wanted. They were investigators, and information offered to them for free, without probing—especially when the provider didn’t know that that was what he was doing—was perfect.
Sydal didn’t enjoy the green oasis of Aitken Basin. Where others might’ve found it an escape, he saw it as nothing more than an elaborate lie. Plus, he was well aware of the types of people who could afford to live here. In his view, the wealthy didn’t accumulate their wealth by being good people. All of it—the towering trees, vibrant wildlife, and colorful flowers—was built off the suffering of common men. Add to that the fact that some of those same common men actually paid to come here, and he found the whole place despicable.
“So what can you tell me, Fred? What are we walking into?” asked Janis.
“Of course. Of course. The victim’s name is Sophie Wright. One of our residents found her while out on a jog. We don’t know how long she was out here. This trail is rarely used by visitors, since it’s so far in, and this particular stretch was closed off due to some construction we were doing.”
“Construction?” inquired Sydal.
“Mmmhmm. We started a new project a little less than two years ago. More accurately, I started it. You see, one problem that we have out here is also a strength: we’re in the middle of nowhere, far from the Lunar Dome and the dark side. This started becoming a problem, as some of our supply deliveries and even tourists were getting hijacked by pirates. Which, is anything being done about that, by the way? A lot of our residents are scared to leave these days.”
“Pirates? Yeah, we’re working on it,” Sydal lied. Pirates were the least of the police department’s problems. Plus, they operated so far outside the Lunar Dome and the dark side that many on the force didn’t consider it their issue to resolve. They were the price of living on the lunar frontier.
“Good. Good. Anyway, where was I? Yes, that’s right. I commissioned the company to build a tunnel that led from the Lunar Dome to Aitken, and vice versa. That meant closing sections of the trails so that workers could safely work underneath. The last thing we need is sinkholes swallowing up our guests or residents. Since the section that Mrs. Wright was found in was one under construction, we think that she might’ve been there maybe for a day, maybe more. We don’t know how long she’s been there.”
“The company? Waterman-Lau?” asked Sydal.
“Of course. What other company is there?” laughed Bausman.
“Can we talk to them? The resident that found Mrs. Wright?” Janis switched from jovial borderline alcoholic to investigator.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” answered Fredrich.
“I’m afraid we aren’t just asking.”
“They’re gone.”
“What do you mean gone?”
“They were sent home.” When the detectives and the squirrelly German man turned a corner on the trail, they were met by a woman in an expensive-looking suit. With her were what looked like hired bodyguards. Lying there in the middle of the trail was a dead body.
“I’m sorry, you are..?” asked Janis.
“Hello, lady and gentlemen. My name is Anita Lau.” The woman in the expensive suit gave the two detectives a polite smile. There was no handshaking, though.
“Lau? Like the company?”
“That’s right. I’m Don Lau’s eldest daughter, and in charge of our operations here on the moon.”
I should’ve known, Sydal thought. The docks, their exodus, and now this? These bastards smell rotten. “I was under the impression that Waterman-Lau left the moon,” he pointed out.
“We have, for the most part. At least our offices. But we still have many interests here. After all, we built the lunar colonies.”
“Why move your offices?”
“I’m afraid that’s a corporate matter, and not terribly relevant to this current situation. And this is a situation that we have a vested interest in.”
Sydal gave Lau a sideways look. He raised one eyebrow. “The tunnels? What’s that about, anyway? Does the UEF know that you’re building secret tunnels underneath what’s still their moon?”
“Yes, they do know. They hired us. And no, the tunnels aren’t our immediate concern, Detective. What is, is that Mrs. Wright was our liaison between the company and the military operat
ions, specifically the ship docks. So naturally her death, her murder, is of grave concern to us. Especially since our contract with the UEF has never been more important ,in light of recent events.” The way Lau talked, it was almost robotic. She was a corporate robot.
“You’re so sure it’s a murder?” Sydal walked away from Anita while talking. He approached the dead woman in the middle of the trail.
“Please, take a look yourself, Detective. Give us your expert opinion.”
Sydal joined Janis, who was already investigating Sophie Wright’s body. “Shit,” he said. “What the hell is this?”
“Not much decomposition,” Janis said.
“That’s not exactly the first thing I noticed, Detective,” Sydal replied.
“I kinda figured,” she said.
Something or someone had torn Sophie Wright to shreds. Literally. She resembled pulled pork, only much bloodier and more disturbing. In fact, she was in such a horrendous state that Sydal wondered about the identification.
“How are you sure it’s her?” asked Janis.
“Sure as we can be until we get biotests back,” Lau said nonchalantly.
“All residents have implants,” Bausman said. “Similar to HUDs. They’re meant to make access to Aitken easier. Instead of having to deal with security, they simply approach the entrance; their implant is read, and the dome opens up. We scanned her as soon as we found her.”
Bausman, unlike Lau, was clearly disturbed by the dead body. He refused to look at it, and held a handkerchief over his mouth.
“I’ve seen this before,” whispered Sydal.
“The docks?” Janis asked.
Sydal nodded.
“Shit. I saw something like this too, a couple of days ago.”
“You mean the Flanders case?”
Janis nodded.
“Something stinks here. And I think the company is involved,” Sydal said, keeping his voice low.
“Agreed.” Janis winked at Sydal. They both knew it was time to divide and conquer.
Sydal stood up. “Okay, Fredrich, I need you to get a tarp or something, cover her up. There should be a meat wagon on its way.”