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  Jack wondered why Captain Black hadn’t called him directly. Just then he received an alert tone on his smartcom. “Hold on, Tom. I think I’m getting the message.” He put Tom on hold and looked at a video message. Sure enough, it was from his boss. Captain Black said there was a new development and to come in ASAP. He didn’t give any other details. Jack put Tom back on the line.

  “I just got the message. Do you know what it’s about?”

  “It’s something to do with the incident on Ares. It’s on the news. They said someone was killed in an explosion. I’m trying to get more information.”

  “Okay. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” Jack terminated the call. He didn’t bother trying to find the news story. He finished his drink and walked to the bedroom to change his clothes. He picked out a clean suit and shirt. He grabbed a brush to comb his hair and looked in the mirror. Jack was sixty-nine years old. His birthday was coming up in August, which was in six Earth months or about three months in the Martian calendar. Jack planned to retire soon afterwards. Most police officers retired when they reached 80. He was leaving early. He wanted to do other things before he was too old to care.

  Jack rubbed his face. He had a straight nose and strong chin. His eyes were brown. His hair was turning gray and cut short. Jack didn’t feel like restoring it. He was six feet tall and in good shape. He worked out regularly to keep fit. His face was lined with years of stress from working long hours and from living alone.

  The thought of being alone brought back some unpleasant memories. His wife had died in a car accident ten years ago. They were living on Earth in Chicago at the time. They didn’t have any children, a fact he was beginning to regret. He was a police detective for the Chicago homicide division when the accident occurred. The loss of his wife had left him alone for the first time in his life. He decided he needed a change in scenery after the accident and decided to try something different.

  Jack accepted a new position with SLEA. His first assignment had been on the moon. A new city had sprung up for all the tourists who visited on vacations. Gambling and entertainment were the main attractions. It was a sign of the times. People were moving into space to work, live and play. Along with the people came crime.

  Moving to the moon seemed like a good idea at the time. For one thing, Jack made more money. Then there was the excitement of living in a new frontier. The excitement wore off soon enough. After three years living on the Moon, he accepted a promotion and a new assignment on Mars. Now, after seven years living and working on Mars, Jack was ready to return to Earth. He had enough money saved up. He planned to move somewhere warm near the ocean. He wanted to feel the sun and wind on his face and listen to the waves pounding the beach. Jack felt restless lately. He didn’t like the feeling. Work was the only thing he knew to keep that feeling at bay. He was hoping this next move would make him feel alive again. He was even willing to settle down in a real relationship. He was ready for that, he thought. After all, he wasn’t that old.

  Jack looked into the mirror one last time. He placed the gun in his shoulder holster and adjusted his suit. The gun was a standard police issue, fifteen-shot semi-auto handgun, specially designed for space duty. It was lethal and accurate at short distances. The bullets were designed to knock a man down without passing through him. He rarely used the gun. In all the years on the job, he had fired at an assailant less than a dozen times. Jack had only killed one man and that was in self-defense. Most of the new police officers carried laser-pulse guns now. Jack refused to replace his old-style handgun. He didn’t feel the lighter and smaller laser gun offered enough protection. He didn’t want to take chances at this point in his career.

  Jack turned off the radio, left his apartment and entered a covered walkway. The apartment was on the edge of Marineris City, the largest city on Mars with over 100,000 residents spread out over five miles in every direction. Pressurized, moving walkways and underground transportation subways connected every major building in the city. No personal vehicles were allowed inside the city. Outdoor vehicles were kept in pressurized garages and used for work or personal trips. It was dangerous traveling outside on Mars in this environment. There were a few rich residents who had separate retreat homes outside the city, mostly on ridges overlooking the canyons. They used ground rovers or flying shuttlecrafts to get from one place to another. It made life interesting for a few lucky souls.

  There were very few buildings in the city over ten stories high. Large dome structures were built over busy intersections. Some contained parks with real trees, grass, ponds and streams with wild birds, fish and other small animals running about. They reminded people of home. It even rained in some of them. Other domes included shopping and entertainment centers for the population. The biggest dome was located in the center of the city. It was called the Mars Space Depot and was the transportation facility for shuttle flights to and from Mars. The Mars Crime Division was located in a ten-story building next to the depot. That was where Jack was headed.

  Jack stepped off a moving walkway at the first dome park near his apartment. There was a sign pointing the way to the underground train platform. He took the escalator down and waited for the next train. It only took a few minutes. The train stopped and he hopped on. It was not very crowded this time of night. Jack took a seat for the short ride to the Mars Crime Division building.

  The train stopped under his building. Jack exited the train and rode the escalator up to the main lobby. He walked the short distance to the elevators in his building. He got into an elevator with two other people and punched the button. His office was on the eighth floor. He got off at the second stop. As he approached his office door, he saw Tom Wilkerson coming his way down the hall. He looked like he was in a hurry, but then, he always did.

  “Hello, Jack. Captain Black is waiting for us.” Tom was tall and lanky with dark black hair and blue eyes. His face was always smiling and Jack couldn’t help but like the man. They had become good friends in a relatively short time, which Jack was thankful for.

  “I need some coffee first,” Jack answered.

  “I’ll have some too. Did you see the news?”

  “No, not yet. What did you find out? Jack opened the door to his office and they both stepped inside. The office was small and contained one desk piled high with papers, a computer system and two chairs. Tom sat down in one chair facing the single window.

  “Apparently, one of the research labs on Ares exploded an hour ago. One person is dead. Security up there doesn’t think it was an accident. They want us to take a look. Captain Black is talking to the director now.”

  The Space Depot was visible next door and both men watched as shuttle flights took off and landed. The noise was barely audible through the thick window glass. It was getting colder outside now. Jack could barely see the tall mountain ridges from an ancient Mars volcano off in the distance. The landscape was barren and bleak. Colorless dust blew in the wind. Dust storm season would begin soon. Jack found the Colombian coffee packs he special ordered from Earth. He put one pack in the coffee machine and added water. When it stopped brewing, he poured each of them a cup. It smelled great, and the taste sure beat the instant stuff they made in the lunchroom. Then Jack sat down at his desk and turned on his computer.

  Jack thought for a moment as he sipped his coffee. Ares had its own security force that took care of local business concerns and manufacturing operations on the space station. There was also a small police force that handled routine crime incidences. Major crimes like bank robbery and homicide were handled by the crime division agency on Mars. It would make sense to get a call for help if a murder was committed on the space station. He remembered the last time someone got killed up there during a bank robbery. It wasn’t a pleasant memory. It was time to call the captain. Jack dialed the number on the deskcom. The line buzzed two times before Captain Black’s face appeared on Jack’s screen. “Hello, Captain. I’m in the office with Tom. Are you ready to see us?”

 
“Yes, come on up.” Captain Black abruptly ended the call. He sounded impatient.

  “I guess he’s ready to see us. Let’s go.” Jack picked up his smartcom and cup of coffee. They left the office. The captain’s office was on the tenth floor. They took the elevator to save time.

  The door was closed when they reached the captain’s office. Jack knocked twice and heard the captain’s voice to come in. Captain William Black was sitting behind his desk working. He was younger than Jack, but not by much. He probably would work until he died, thought Jack. The man was a workaholic, ambitious and very political. He was planning to run for police commissioner in the next election and he let everyone know it. He was a large man, slightly overweight with large hands, round face and piercing eyes. He spoke roughly and to the point. After two years, Jack still couldn’t get a good read on the man.

  “Evening, Jack, Tom. Close the door, please, and have a seat.”

  “Good evening, Captain. What happened?” Jack asked as he sat down in one of the chairs near the desk.

  “There was an incident aboard Ares tonight. One of the research labs blew up and someone was killed. The security director, Sam Connelly, called me. You know Sam. He’s still trying to figure out what happened. Sam doesn’t think it was an accident. He wants us to investigate.”

  “Do they know who was killed?”

  “They have a good idea. Sam thinks it was a man named Doctor Leif Johanson. The body was badly burned in the explosion. The doctor leased the lab and worked on experimental drugs. Nothing illegal as far as we know.”

  “What does Sam think happened?”

  “Someone broke into the lab, killed the doctor and caused the explosion. If so, then it’s a homicide case. That’s our jurisdiction.”

  “Have they sealed off the crime scene?”

  “Yes, Sam is handling the situation. He’s waiting for me to send someone up there. I’m sending you and Tom. You need to leave immediately.”

  “Of course. Anything else?” Jack asked.

  “Nothing much. The lab is in the outer ring. Sam is trying to clean up the smoke in the room so you can investigate. It was a mess. The air should be cleaned up by the time you get there. Keep me posted, no matter what the time. I need to inform the commissioner.”

  “No problem, Captain. We’ll leave now. Shuttles run every hour, so we should be on Ares by twelve o’clock. I’ll call you when we find out what happened.”

  They were dismissed. He and Tom left the room and headed back to Jack’s office. He had a funny feeling Captain Black wasn’t telling him everything. It wouldn’t be the first time, he thought. It seemed a little unusual that the captain had to call the police commissioner.

  “Sounds interesting. Do you really think it’s a homicide?” Tom asked as they rode the elevator down to the eighth floor. This would be Tom’s first homicide investigation.

  “We’ll know when we get there. Every case is different. Maybe it was just an accident.”

  When they reached the eighth floor, they split up to get the things they would need from their offices for the investigation. They were ready to go in ten minutes. The Space Depot Center was right next door. Jack wasn’t too excited about this trip. He hated shuttle flights, or any flights that actually left the ground.

  As Jack and Tom were on their way to the Space Depot, Captain Black made a call using a secure link; only it wasn’t to the police commissioner. Another man answered the call without giving his name. “Yes?” the man said.

  “Something went wrong up there. What the hell happened?”

  “Don’t worry. Everything is under control. Just do as we agreed.” The man abruptly hung up.

  Chapter 3

  Ares

  Jack and Tom caught the next space shuttle to Ares. It was a short flight, only thirty minutes, but Jack gripped his armrests the whole way. He only relaxed when the shuttle finally pulled into the docking station on Ares. Tom actually fell asleep on the way there. Jack had to nudge his shoulder to wake him up. It must be youth, he thought. The younger they were, the less they worried. Jack felt old.

  “Time to go,” Jack said as they both unbuckled their seat-belts.

  They followed the passengers off the space shuttle. They entered the main terminal in the central hub and looked for signs to the outer ring. They didn’t have far to go. It was up the escalators two floors. Space flights to and from Mars were on the lower level of the space station. The shuttle-car rail service to the outer ring was just above. The next shuttle-car was leaving in five minutes.

  Before boarding the shuttle-car, he and Tom had to attach special magnetized plates to the bottom soles of their shoes for the short trip to the outer ring. The central hub on Ares has simulated gravity. The outer ring did not. As soon as they left the hub, they would enter zero gravity.

  “I hate these damn things,” Tom complained as he put on the plates. He was always complaining about something.

  Jack didn’t respond. Instead, he looked out the window. Ares was just entering the sun side of Mars. Jack could see the planet’s surface below. It was still dark in Marineris City, but the city lights were visible. In the eastern horizon, Jack saw the beginning of the huge canyon system and numerous impact craters from ancient times. Ares would soon be in full sunlight. Jack’s mind told him it was morning, but his watch said midnight. It must be confusing to live up here, he thought. He wondered if people ever got used to it.

  Jack could clearly see the Valles Marineris hemisphere now. The hemisphere was named after Valles Marineris, the largest and deepest canyon system on the planet. Jack could easily see the deep gorges and dry riverbeds covered with blowing sand dunes and the high, sharp-edged ridges spreading out over the landscape. The canyon was far larger than anything found on Earth. Its length would extend across the entire width of the United States. It was over 4,000 kilometers long with individual troughs 50 to 100 kilometers wide. The canyon floor was up to 10 kilometers deep, which was 6 or 7 times deeper than the Grand Canyon. Huge, ancient river channels carved through the landscape and ran north. Three large dark red spots, old volcanoes each about 25 kilometers high, were visible to the west. Jack could see numerous impact craters covering the terrain to the south.

  The colors on Mars varied from hemisphere to hemisphere as the space station circled the planet. Thin white clouds caused by vaporized carbon dioxide gas could be seen over the northern hemisphere. A large circular area of sand dunes known as Arabia, bright yellow in color, lay between the northern plains and the southern highlands. A dark blue area to the right of Arabia was composed of basaltic material from ancient volcanic activity. The bright white area at the southern polar cap was caused by carbon dioxide frost (dry ice) that varied in size depending on the season. Dark red spots from old volcanic iron deposits could be seen at numerous locations on the planet’s surface, especially near the Valles Marineris canyons that were quickly passing below the Ares space station.

  Jack thought the view this day was spectacularly clear, since the vast dust storms that plague Mars have not yet begun. Soon the cold, raging winds from the frozen south polar cap would rush northward toward the warmer air near the Martian equator and the dust storms would begin. The planet would disappear in large red clouds of swirling dust that would engulf the whole planet and last for up to three Martian months. Since each month on Mars lasted from 47 to 66 days, it would seem like an eternity to many of the newer inhabitants. Jack knew the storms made life more difficult for everyone who worked and lived on the planet, and many depended on the Ares space station for supplies and materials.

  “How many times have you been to the ring?” Tom asked, breaking Jack’s concentration.

  “A few times. Usually, security and the local police force handle things up here. I worked on one murder case in the central hub two years ago. It was a bank robbery and a security guard was killed. That’s when I met Sam Connelly.”

  “What’s he like?”

  “An old timer, like me. He took ov
er the director’s job when the last man transferred home. Good guy. You’ll like him.”

  With a small jerk, the shuttle-car left the dock and quickly traveled the short distance to its destination. The shuttle-car was half-full of people who were going to work on a late shift. The passengers were talking quietly to one another. Jack could overhear their conversation. They seemed to know about the explosion and were speculating on what happened.

  When the shuttle-car reached the docking station, the recorded announcement signaled it was time to get off. The safety harnesses released and the door opened. Jack and Tom slowly walked off the shuttle-car. Sam Connelly met them as they passed through the security check. Sam was a small, thin man in his early fifties. He had curly red hair, neatly trimmed, and light blue eyes. He normally looked serious, but he smiled as he reached out an arm to shake Jack’s hand. “It’s nice to see you again, Jack. It’s been a while.”

  “Yes, it has. Nice to see you too, Sam. Let me introduce my new partner, Detective Tom Wilkerson. Tom, this is Sam Connelly, Director of Security on Ares.”

  “Nice to meet you, Tom. Welcome to the ring.”

  “My pleasure, Sam. Jack says you two worked together.”

  “Yeah. Jack helped us solve a murder case up here two years ago. The guy was a bank robber who murdered one of my men during a holdup. The guy almost got away, but Jack caught him. Jack was shot in the gunfight. He ever tell you about it?”

  “Jack said there was a robbery. He didn’t say anything about being shot.” Tom looked at Jack. “What happened to the robber?”

  “Jack killed him. The guy took a woman hostage and tried to escape. Jack stopped him as he tried to get on one of the space shuttles. The Mayor gave him a commendation.”

  Tom looked at Jack, but Jack just shrugged him off.