Phobos Station Read online

  Phobos Station

  D.M. Pruden

  Copyright © 2020 D.M.Pruden

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  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

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  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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  D.M.Pruden asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

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  ISBN: 978-1-989341–05-6

  ISBN-13: 9781989341056

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

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  About the Author

  Chapter One

  I pause to check my surroundings and rein in my fear.

  Focus, Mel.

  I’m a doctor, not a spy. How did I allow myself to be conned into this? Something I’ll reflect on later...if I live through this...

  If not...

  Well, I must survive. Otherwise, nobody is going to remember anything worthwhile about me. My headstone will read, Here lies Melanie Destin, too stupid to mind her own business.

  If I were as smart as I pretend to be, I’d admit I’m in over my head and return to Requiem.

  Calm down, Mel, and try to keep your wits. Now is too late to start second-guessing.

  I resume walking. Trepidation growing with each step, I head farther into this dimly lit tunnel. The place hasn’t been used for some time. Half the ceiling lights are burned out, and the electrical cabling along above my head must be a hundred years old. The deeper I go, the farther I am from being able to call for help. These walls are solid rock. My cortical implant won’t connect to anyone, and radio communications are impossible.

  There is no sign my quarry is aware I’m tracking them, but I keep my eyes on my HUD, just to make sure the signal remains a constant distance ahead, but I can’t guarantee they aren’t on to me.

  This is a dumb idea.

  I catch myself hyperventilating. My heart is trying to set a new speed record, and my throat aches because I’m breathing through my mouth.

  I was trained to deal with this better than I am. Inhale slowly through the nose and exhale past the lips is one of the first things they teach you in EVA training. Admittedly, it was some time ago, but all the same, I need to calm down and stay on task. All these random thoughts aren’t helpful.

  Perhaps now is the time to dig the pistol from my pack. I’m not sure why I accepted the damned thing. I could never use one on a person.

  It slips from my grip and tumbles slowly to my feet. I lunge for it, missing. My helmet bangs into the rock wall, and I fall clumsily to the ground.

  Shit! Really graceful, Destin.

  Keeping one hand on the wall of the cavern for balance, I pick myself up and lean forward to retrieve the dropped gun.

  And then I spot the boot, connected to someone pointing a weapon at me.

  Shit!

  Chapter Two

  Four months earlier...

  * * *

  Bleary-eyed and barely awake, I stumble into the empty galley. According to the wall clock, we are in the night cycle, a designation meaningless to my fucked-up circadian rhythm. Except for our copilot, Miller, and young Shin, the ship’s mate, everyone aboard Requiem is fast asleep.

  The rest of the crew has adjusted to space travel. This is only my second tour. I’m still having trouble adjusting to day and nighttimes with no visual cues. Even on Luna, with its month-long day, the rotation of the Earth in the lunar sky marks the passage of time.

  Out here between the planets, day and night are arbitrary concepts. I check out the window and see nothing but stars, which don’t change position, no matter what the clock indicates. All I want to do is sleep when I’m supposed to be awake, and vice versa.

  Being temporally challenged, along with the discomfort of menstrual cramps, makes me grumpy.

  I’m the ship’s doctor, which is the irony of my predicament. Of anyone aboard, I should enjoy the best sleeps given my access to the drug cabinet. Sadly, I am immune to all the nonaddictive sleeping aids because of a weird genetic anomaly. Growing up on Terra, I never had an issue, because I had no trouble sleeping. I discovered the problem when I moved to Luna. I gradually taught myself to get my regular eight hours of beauty rest, but in space aboard Requiem, aside from getting roaring drunk and passing out, the only thing I can do is to endure while I make the gradual time adjustment, usually accomplished just as we arrive at our next port of call, where I’m forced to begin all over again.

  Of course, I can always use stimulants, which would give my shipmates the false impression I am alert when they come see me for their little medical complaints. They take their toll, though, so I avoid using them and fake things as much as possible, stifling my yawns and hoping nothing major walks through my door. In case an injury requires my full attention, I maintain a hypo spray nearby loaded with enough stims to keep a small platoon awake. Thankfully, the need to use drugs hasn’t arisen.

  Regardless of what the clock says, my stomach informs me it wants breakfast.

  One of the unexpected perks of flying with a group of smugglers is the availability of real, honest-to-god coffee. This shit is prohibitively expensive, even on Terra, but somehow Chambers, our captain, manages to maintain a supply of the blessed bean for us.

  I note the time and sigh when I realize the steaming contents of the cup I hold will do nothing for my screwed sense of time.

  But fuck it. My body thinks morning has arrived, and I won’t be able to go back to sleep anyway. Might as well start my day early.

  While the coffee is genuine, the shit masquerading as bread is some sort of chemical experiment gone wrong. Practically inedible unless toasted, several layers of fake butter and jam are still needed to make the abomination palatable enough to swallow.

  Today, however, I discover a problem that threatens to make a bad start to my day even worse. The damned toaster does not want to work.

  Normally, I would call my buddy Schmaltz, the ship’s engineer, to come and fix it for me, but he just finished a long night shift repairing something with our artificial gravity and is fast asleep in his quarters. This is the first time in days none of us needs to tramp around the ship in magnetic boots, and I don’t want to wake him for something so trivial.

  Besides, I paid attention when he fixed the toaster last time, and the procedure is far less complicated than the emergency surgeries I use
d to perform when I worked in the hospital on Terra.

  I retrieve a toolkit from the medical bay and pry open the ancient appliance. It belongs to Chambers. He claims it is a family heirloom, but it could just as easily be found in one of the flea markets on Earth, or Ganymede, or any of a dozen stops along Requiem’s usual route. I think he just likes toast. He says it does a better job than modern processor ovens, and I agree with him.

  But the thing is a museum piece, which is not entirely bad. Its construction is incredibly simple, but much of it is fragile with age and centuries of use.

  As I suspect, the heating coil is disconnected, the old wires corroded. There is nothing available to replace it, but on examination I conclude a small weld will do the trick.

  Moments later, I return with a surgical laser in hand. After a couple of minutes, everything is reconnected.

  Satisfied with my effort, I close it up, plug it in, and insert the bread.

  While my back is turned as I rummage through the refrigeration unit, I smell something burning.

  Seconds later, an ear-piercing alarm blares. When I recover from my initial shock, I rush to the flaming toaster, my eyes stinging from the acrid smoke filling the galley.

  I manage to disconnect the power just as Schmaltz, dressed only in his boxers and wearing a respirator, rushes in carrying an extinguisher.

  Without a word, he sprays down the burning appliance until it is entombed in a thick pile of bubbling foam.

  Coughing, I ask, “Why didn’t the automatic fire suppression system kick in?”

  Schmaltz lifts the mask and says, “Because it detected you in the room. If it went off, you would be suffocated.”

  “What the hell is going on?” Chambers bellows as he storms through the door. On his heels follows Shin, fully garbed in firefighting gear.

  His gaze fixes on the remains of the appliance, white goo dripping from it onto the deck.

  “My toaster!”

  He turns to find the miscreant responsible, and his eyes settle on me. “What happened?”

  “I fixed it and...”

  “With that?” he points to the surgical laser still in my hand. I uselessly try to conceal it behind my back.

  “It was an honest mistake, all right?”

  Chambers isn’t impressed. “Do you realize how dangerous a fire aboard a spaceship can be, Mel? Requiem is basically a flying, pressurized oxygen bomb waiting for a spark!”

  “I already told you I’m sorry, what more do you want?”

  “How about a little common sense?”

  “I made a miscalculation, Roy. I thought I could fix the toaster myself.” I want to remind him I’m not an idiot, but given the circumstances around the conversation, my case isn’t a strong one.

  “Cap’n,” says Schmaltz, “it wasn’t much of a deal. We got the fire put out with minimal damage. Everything is okay.”

  “Quit defending your pal. She almost got us all killed trying to do something she should’ve called you for.”

  Chambers rounds on me, working up to a full head of steam. He’s never seemed so pissed with anyone. “Only being with us for a few months doesn’t excuse you for not understanding we all depend on each other for survival. This is a crew, Destin, and you are not a team player.”

  He doesn’t wait for me to respond and storms out. I stare at his back, almost as angry with him as I am with myself. In his wake, the galley becomes as silent as a tomb—a disturbingly appropriate simile given what might’ve happened.

  I turn to my crewmates. Both Schmaltz and Shin avoid looking directly at me, their expressions a mixture of relief and anger.

  “I’m sorry, guys. I really fucked up.”

  “No problem, Doc.” Shin is eighteen and clearly embarrassed and confused somebody my age, especially a doctor, could do something so stupid. Unable to find anything else to add, he slinks from the room.

  “How about you, Schmaltzy?”

  He frowns. “Chambers ain’t wrong. Everyone is responsible for his own job. I don’t try to stitch anyone up...”

  “Yeah, I get it. I shouldn’t be fiddling with the machinery. What else can I say?”

  The lines across his forehead soften. “Just make an effort, Mel. You and I are kind of unique on this ship. We’re specialists with a lot of education—more than Chambers or any of the others. It tends to intimidate them. Humility and trust can go a long way in such a confined space, if you understand what I’m saying.”

  Schmaltzy is right, of course. Most doctors tend toward arrogance without realizing it, but me, with my dual doctorates...shit, I must be practically unbearable.

  I offer a weak smile. “I promise to do better.”

  He appears tired. “I know you will. All the same, I’d avoid Chambers for a while if I were you. He’ll eventually get over it, but he’ll need time.”

  “But will he ever trust me to turn on a light?”

  “We’ve all done some bonehead things at one time or another, even the captain. The danger comes from people who don’t learn from their mistake.”

  “So, you’re saying there isn’t much chance of me being spaced for this?”

  “Not unless you can’t be taught. I don’t think it will be an issue for you, Mel.”

  Chapter Three

  After I clean up the mess by myself, I slink back to my quarters, hoping to avoid everyone for a few hours.

  Chambers calls out to me as I pass his open door. “Destin, a word?”

  This is the part where he tosses me out the airlock.

  Forcing what I hope is a disarming smile, I stand outside the doorway. “Yes, Captain?”

  He winces. “I told you never to call me that. Come in.”

  The small room, which also serves as his office, is cramped because of the desk and bookshelf crammed in it. He moves a pile of clothing to make the only other chair available. His bunk is unmade, and I realize he was asleep when the fire alarm sounded.

  He refers to the data pad in front of him, as if all is normal between us. “I want your input about our next steps, if you don’t mind.”

  Surprised, I reply, “Of course.”

  He glances up and studies me momentarily before offering a slight nod. “I think our best chance of finding Nan is to go to Terra.”

  “Oh?” I pause to formulate my response without appearing to.

  Chambers’ sister ran away from home years ago, and he hadn’t heard from her since. I think he gave her up for dead until Chloe recently showed up on our doorstep with a story of how she and her friend were kidnapped. As things turned out, Chloe’s girlfriend is Nancy Chambers. Now, because rich little Miss Cabot is financing the search, he is obsessed with finding Nan. Given the circumstances around her abduction, though, I’m not optimistic we’ll be successful. Still, because this is putting money in my pocket, I should at least appear hopeful, otherwise there might be one more reason for our captain to believe I’m not a team player.

  “Why Earth?” I say.

  “There, we’ll find a clue about where she was taken.”

  His logic—or lack of it—confuses me, but given recent events, I hesitate to say so. “Is that really necessary?” I don’t add how much I hate the place.

  “I’m not finding success trying to pry information from the owners of the vessel Nancy and Chloe were abducted from. I need to speak to people in person; grease a few palms.”

  “What do you believe you can learn? Callisto’s Star was attacked by pirates and scuttled. As far as we are aware, those two women are the only survivors. Those who could be connected to the incident were tracked down and killed by Chloe’s father.”

  “With all vessels now randomizing their routes through the belt because of pirate activity, the only way the ship could be located would be if someone tipped them off.”

  “You think it was an inside job?”

  “It makes the most sense.”

  “Surely someone’s already thought of this. Anyone not murdered while in custody was killed
before they could be arrested. Cabot is a well-connected gangster, after all. This is a fool’s errand.”

  He scowls at me. “Terran authorities won’t give a shit, and he can’t operate in his usual manner within a police state. You’re from Earth, so you, of all people, should realize as much. The last thing he wants is attention on his modest operation there. More likely, he bought the information just as I’m planning to.”

  “Okay, but if we are following the same beaten path as him, what will it lead us to? As I said, he’s eliminated anyone he believes is involved with his daughter’s abduction.”

  “You might be right, and it is a dead end, but Terra is the only place I can think to start.” There is an uncharacteristic strain in his voice.

  I nod. “You’re right; we can’t afford to overlook anything. Cabot possibly missed something.”

  His shoulders relax. “I’m glad you agree. We touch down on Earth tomorrow.”

  My eyebrows shoot upward involuntarily. “So soon? How did you acquire the permits to enter Terran space?”

  “I was contacted about a transport job from Terra to Phobos. I accepted it, and the shipper expedited the approvals.”

  “He sounds connected. Is the client anyone I know?”

  His hesitation is disconcerting, but not as much as his reply. “Parvinder Singh.”

  “Seriously? The asshole almost got us killed the last time we took a contract from him.”