Murder on a Moon Trek

Chapter 9: Toying with the Truth

I woke up in the holding cell. I was on the narrow cot clutching a canister of pure O2. Pika the Stowaway was curled up in the shadows in the corner of the cell. She still wore the gray flex crew uniform I'd given her, but the grime was gone from her face.

"How did I get here?" I asked warily. This was the second time the pink Gremlon had shown up in a place she shouldn't have been and that alone was suspicious. I wasn't ready to trust her yet.

"You're awake! You're awake! You're awake!" Pika said. She jumped up and bounced back and forth from one foot to the other. "Shhhhhhh," she said. "We have to be quiet."

I shifted my weight and sat up. Someone had removed my boots, and they sat along the wall at the back of the cell. My feet were cold against the painted black floor. "What happened?"

Pika dropped down to a squat and looked at me. "I went looking for you. You were in the engineering room. The giant picked you up and carried you here."

"Did he see you?"

"No. I'm good at hiding." She smiled sheepishly. "I followed him so I could see where he took you before."

I wasn't ready to trust her, but, at the moment, she knew more than I did about my circumstances. I leaned forward and looked out of the cell. The beams hadn't been activated, and Neptune wasn't at his security station. "Where did the giant go?"

Pika shrugged. "I don't know. He carried you in here and put you on the bed and then left. Uh-oh!" Pika dropped down to the floor and rolled under the bed. Seconds later, Doc Edison came around the corner with Yeoman D'Nar and Neptune.

"Lt. Stryker," Doc said. "I've been expecting you in the medical ward. When you didn't show, I went to your supervisor."

Yeoman D'Nar stood next to him, unsmiling. I wasn't particularly in a smiley mood either. The ship had departed less than twenty-four hours ago, and already I'd determined my three least favorite people on the ship. Worse, they were all in front of me. I looked back and forth between the doc and my boss, and then at Neptune, who stood slightly behind them. His surprise-you're-going-to-lockup visit had been the main reason I'd never made it to the medical ward, but my boss and the doc didn't seem to know about that. Why not?

Neptune moved forward and held out my helmet. "I found this in the uniform ward. I trust it's yours."

"Thank you." I took the clear plastic bubble and wrapped my arms around it. Until I had a chance to check that it wasn't cracked and reattach the oxygen hose, it wasn't going to do me any good. And as long as I had an audience of people who could potentially have me booted from the ship, I was going to pretend I wore the helmet for cosmetic reasons. Hey, it could happen. I'd seen stranger accessories in a catalog of Venusian fashions.

I felt weird sitting on my cot while the three senior officers stood in front of me, but I also knew Pika was underneath my cot, and there was a better chance of her staying hidden if I didn't stand up. Pika was the only one of the four of them who hadn't yelled at me or accused me of something. That put her on my side.

I got the feeling Doc Edison and Yeoman D'Nar expected me to say or do something, but since I wasn't sure of what (the BOP didn't have a protocol for post-passing out after discovering sabotage aboard the ship), I didn't say or do anything. Seconds passed. My hands grew sweaty on the plastic bubble of my helmet and slipped down the convex surface. I wiped my lavender palm on the side of my aqua dress and then wrapped my arms around the helmet again.

Yeoman D'Nar spoke first. "Security section has advised me of your assistance in the engineering room. Dr. Edison will check your vital signs."

"I'm all right," I said. "Nothing a good night's sleep in my quarters won't fix. I'll be good as new tomorrow."