by D. M. Pruden
I think if Owen could see me now, he might be proud of me.
I don’t intend to let him down.
Preview of Rhea’s Vault
Two standard days without sleep wasn’t a record for him. If Tarek Fuentes didn’t accomplish much else on this rotation, he took satisfaction from the prospect of setting a new personal best. Another sixteen hours would win him the bets he and his buddies wagered before he left Titan.
His assigned task for this unscheduled maintenance trip to Rhea would ensure his victory. A sophisticated artificial intelligence ran the place, so there was little for him to do on one of his routine visits. Normally, his duties amounted to running a few diagnostics and swapping out some memory modules. The rest of a typical shift consisted of catching up on sleep and playing VR golf over the omni-net; a vacation he looked forward to every year.
But when the bosses decided to host a solar sailing race among Saturn’s moons, a lot of finicky work presented itself for him. The requested changes also threatened to bugger up what he considered to be a masterpiece of security design.
His genius conceived Rhea’s network of armed satellites and coordinated them to function together perfectly, like a fine orchestra. A decade before, when the Jovian Collective tasked him to develop the most secure facility in the solar system, Tarek outdid himself. Hyperion’s security coverage rivalled even Terra’s global defence grid in sophistication. Nothing could slip through.
And now his bosses wanted him to change things; all to ensure Hyperion didn’t fry any racer who approached Rhea too closely.
He’d foolishly challenged his employers about the wisdom of weakening the coverage. They told Tarek, in no uncertain terms, that the Collective considered the event to be important, therefore he should as well; a polite way to remind him of the consequences if he didn’t shut up and perform his duties as instructed.
He didn’t push the matter. In another couple of years, he planned to cash out and retire someplace in the inner system; Mars, perhaps. Crossing anyone in management tended to be a poor move, especially if one held aspirations to live long enough to collect a pension.
Replacing the blown-out modulator, he shut the panel and turned the power back on. His initial self-satisfaction with quickly troubleshooting the unusual failures vanished when the board indicated the fault persisted.
Frowning, he resigned himself to the necessity of trekking across the massive facility to locate the source of the malfunction. Muttering, he closed his toolbox and walked to the door. Finding the problem might take a lot longer than sixteen hours. At least his winnings might pay for a real vacation to make up for this buggered up situation.
Arriving at his destination level, the elevator door opened to blackness. When he stepped out, and the lights didn’t turn on, he realized the failure extended beyond his original diagnosis.
The nature of the failures puzzled him. On his arrival, everything worked flawlessly. They developed only after he changed the satellite sensitivity settings and response algorithms. Since then, repairing one thing resulted in two more popping up. There should be no connection between mechanical operations and the orbital network.
He worried about the possibility that someone slipped down to the surface while he made his changes. But the security net was offline for only twenty minutes, and his check of all the long-range scopes and sensors beforehand assured him nothing floated out in space, awaiting an opportunity to get through.
Tarek rationalized that his fears were due to the darkness. The place seemed as silent and creepy as a mausoleum. His chastised himself for his foolishness. No one could have entered the facility. A fault existed in the power grid; nothing more.
Digging a torch from his toolbox, he shone the light around to assure himself one last time that nothing lurked in the shadows. Chuckling at himself, he began walking down the long, empty corridor.
He whistled; partly, because he liked how the sound echoed about him, but also because it distracted him from his shaky nerves. He decided he would feel better when he found the junction box and got the lights working.
A thunderous boom rang off the walls. Tarek froze, every muscle locked.
After what seemed like forever, he relaxed enough to wipe the perspiration from his brow. He couldn’t think of what machinery on this level would make a noise like that.
With a sweaty hand, he pulled his data-pad from a pocket and started to scroll through the floor plans. Obviously, a major system failed. He needed to figure out what broke down before he determined his next move.
A second, louder crash came from the blackness ahead of him.
Tarek’s pad fell with a clatter as he fumbled with is torch. Shaking hands shone the beam into the dark, revealing nothing.
Then, something metallic, and hulking glistened in his searching light.
Frozen with fear, he watched helplessly as two, brilliant crimson beams flashed in the darkness, and a simultaneous wall of unbearable heat struck him…
* * *
Saturn’s moon, Rhea, hides many secrets…
Rhea’s Vault is the most secure archive in the Solar System, or so everyone believes. Melanie Destin desperately needs to get inside and knows someone who can help her.
But when she gains access to the facility, what she discovers should not be possible.
Something has destroyed the archive, and now it hunts her.
With her ship destroyed, Mel must survive long enough to escape Rhea with the secret she’s uncovered.
If she fails, a force will be unleashed that will kill millions, and forever change the balance of power in the Solar System.
Melanie Destin will need to use every trick at her disposal for any hope to get out of this one, but will it be enough?
Get your copy of Rhea’s Vault here.
Free eBook Offer!
As a way of saying thank you, I want to offer you a free ebook of the prequel novella, Requiem.
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Other books by D.M. Pruden
The Shattered Empire Series:
Kaine’s Sanction
Kaine’s Retribution
Kaine’s Reparation
The Mars Ascendant Series:
The Ares Weapon
Mother of Mars
Child of Mars
Legacy of Mars
Requiem’s Run Series:
Requiem
Armstrong Station
Phobos Station
Rhea’s Vault
Ganymede Station
Europa Colony
Dark Run
Callisto’s Song
The Jovian Collective
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About the Author
D.M.(Doug) Pruden worked for 35 years in the petroleum industry as a geophysicist. For most of his life he has been plagued with stories banging around inside his head that demanded to be let out into the world. He currently spends his time as an empty nester in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his long suffering wife of many years. When he isn’t writing science fiction stories, he likes to spend his time playing with his grandchildren and working on improving his golf handicap.
You can find Doug at these social media links:
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