Lunacy

Speculative Crime Fiction By Margaret Karmazin

“Who saw Lucy Beard this morning?” Inspector Margot Waite asked the cafeteria crew behind the counter this first Tuesday of the month, which meant Veggie Day. Not the most popular on Toronto Moon Base on Peary Crater, the moon’s newest installation. Toronto was quite up-to-date, though lacking some of New Beijing’s famous amenities.

“We’re here to work, not party,” was Toronto’s first commander’s comment when criticized for the base’s barebones ambiance. Residents didn’t argue since they knew that, give it time, they’d cozy up the place and they only served up to six-month terms as it was.

Terri Lozano adjusted her hairnet and said, “She said she had to see a man about a horse. I think that was maybe three hours ago, I can’t remember. She never came back.”

“An unusual errand on the moon,” said the inspector dryly. “Would you have any idea why she’d need to disappear early in her shift like that? Or go outside at all, for that matter?”

Terri stopped setting fruit dishes in the display case and got a serious look on her cherubic face. “Outside? She never said anything about going outside! Wait a minute. Is Lucy okay?”

Inspector Waite set her generous mouth in a hard straight line and said, “She was found deceased .2 kilometer from here, heading toward or returning from Goat Rock with a crack in her helmet.”

“OMG!” yelled Terri, “Not Lucy, no, not Lucy! Did she trip and hit her head or something?”

The inspector said, “Someone created a fiberglass path with a railing to Goat Rock. She was on the fiberglass when found. No evidence of anything to trip on.” She let that sink into Terri’s head.

“So, you’re saying…”

The inspector nodded. “It’s not a given, but it’s a definite possibility that she was murdered.”

Terri grabbed the counter to steady herself. “But who on…on the moon would want to murder Lucy?”

Waite shook her head. “Apparently,” she said, “getting away from Earth does not mean escaping dangerous people. Everywhere the good ones go, the bad are sure to follow.” This actually made Margot Waite very sad when she allowed herself to dwell on it.

Terri was quiet.

“If you think of anything that might relate to the situation, buzz me,” the inspector told her.

Toronto Base had been in full scale operation for just over a year. Its main purpose was mining, though a smaller section, Blue Zone, so called due to the uniforms, was for Medical and scientific research. This sector housed and contained work spaces for doctor and nurses, medical equipment, research labs, scientists and their students. These did not mingle much with the other three zones. Red was for those who physically ran the base, consisting of administration, maintenance and police. Yellow was mining and the smaller Green Zone military. Those in Green hailed from various nations since no one country was permitted to run its own base, though this was overlooked by the Chinese who had already established their base before this law was put into effect.

Every section, indeed every building, had a “wall of death,” around it, a curved, rotatable inside wall like those from old amusement parks, upon which every person on the base was expected to run around inside four times twice a day, using enough speed to prevent themselves from falling down. The moon’s light gravity allowed them to do this. Possibly, this would prevent bone loss and other negative effects on the human system. The problem was that not everyone followed the rule, but Margot Waite definitely did as she had no plans for becoming a physical wreck from the moon. She had only signed up for this since it offered a very hefty pay and promised her a high-ranking job upon return to Earth. Those who were lazy and did not follow this protocol could pay later with destroyed bodies.

Waite’s office was in Red and she was expected to wear a police-designated red uniform but she refused and would only go so far as to put on a red jacket over her usual black outfits. “I like black,” she told Red Zone’s boss, Jack Merlin, “and what are you going to do about it?”

He had not argued, not wanting to have her stick her investigative nose into everything he did. Besides, he more than liked her – they knew each other from before coming there.

So, Inspector Waite strutted her long, lanky figure about in well fitted black slacks, black turtleneck, black leather boots, big silver earrings and the token red leather jacket. She was some conglomeration of Danish, Jamaican, Italian, Navajo and Chinese. Her family history was complicated and involved royalty, scientists, artists, pirates, politicians and a serial killer. She did not talk about her family. Her long, black hair, she wore in a braid down her back and her only makeup was eyeliner which she enjoyed putting on thick. No one knew anything about her personal life unless they were intimately involved and the only person on the base who fit that description was Jack Merlin. Though Jack was head of Red Department, he respected her autonomy as Security Chief. In other words, Jack did not bop into Margot’s office without knocking first.

He knocked now. “Please come in,” Margot told him and he plopped into her stuffed visitor’s chair, a thing no one else on the base had.

“What’s going on?” he said. “You know I need to know these things. It was one of my cleaners who saw the body out that window. It was he who brought her in.”

“I was going to tell you later but since you’re here, the body is in Blue Zone and they’re performing an autopsy. Something cracked her helmet but we don’t know if it was accidental. Waiting to hear if they can determine anything. And where is Sergeant Rice, for crying out loud? He didn’t show up for his shift and isn’t answering my buzz.”

“I heard from Peters in heating that he saw him in his quarters this morning retching his guts out. Can’t you use Tony Burr? He’s just wandering around Yellow Zone.”

“Burr is an idiot. I need Rice, puking or not.”

Jack buzzed Medical to see if Rice had gone there and yes, he was there.

“What would I do without you?” Waite said to Jack.

“Be forced to remain horny?” he quipped

She rolled her eyes, but smiled. “I’ll fill you in later,” she said.

A stroll to Medical produced the results she was looking for. Sergeant Rice was being discharged, his brown face resembling that of a disappointed child sent back to school in the middle of the day. “Sergeant!” Margot exclaimed warmly. “So good to see you up and about! We have a lot to do, so you’re just in time.”

He let out a soft little groan.

“What was it, Montrell? Beer or something stronger? You know what I told you about drinking on a work night.”

He shook his head, looking for all the world like he was only eighteen. “It was the fish casserole in the cafeteria. It tasted all right.”

“Now anyone with half a brain should know not to eat fish on the moon, Sergeant. Don’t let it happen again!”

“Don’t you worry, Boss,” he said.

“I’m wondering if you heard the news. Lucy, the little blonde who worked breakfast and lunch was found dead this morning. Possibly murdered.”

Sergeant Rice got a terrible expression on his face and looked as if he might burst into tears. In a flash, Margot understood that he must have been a bit in love with Lucy. “Oh, Montrell,” she said softly. “I had no idea.”

He didn’t seem able to speak, like someone who’d just been punched in the stomach. When he could manage, he said, “I-I just talked to her early this morning on my way to Medical. She was fine. I think. No wait, she looked kind of worried. She said she’d see me later.”

“Rushed, then?” said Margot.

“Yeah, yeah, she seemed rushed.”

After a pause, Margot said, “Look, I’d normally let you have the day off, Sergeant, but I need you. This is the first and only murder on Toronto Base, possibly the first on the moon at all, although who knows what goes on in New Beijing. It’s imperative that we–”

“I know,” said the sergeant in a steely tone. “I want to solve this. I want to find out who did this so I can kill him.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” said Waite. “Grief makes people say strange things.”

Sergeant Rice looked sick in soul and body.  “I-I was just getting to the point of…” He stopped.

“Making a move?”

“Yeah,” he said. He wiped his eye roughly.

“Well, let’s go question Mining,” said the Inspector and he followed her down hallways until the wall markings were yellow. They entered the office of Veer Orlov.

Waite hated Veer Orlov. Russian asshole, is how she thought of him, sexist and stupid. Though of course, he wasn’t really stupid or he wouldn’t have landed the position of Mining Manager. He was medium height (she was taller) had a slightly protruding belly on an otherwise mesomorph frame and wore his hair in a military haircut. He wore a perpetual smirk, especially around women. She flashed her ID, just to remind him, though everyone on base knew who she was.

“We have a few questions, Mr. Orlov,” she said.

“You’re looking hot as usual, Ms. Waite,” he slimed.

“Inspector Waite,” she corrected firmly. “Take a seat, we need to talk.”

He lowered himself into his desk chair and the sergeant went to pull two chairs over but she signaled for him to stop. It was better stand and tower over the sitting Orlov.

“Mr. Orlov, explain to me what’s going on at Goat Rock.”

“Goat Rock?” he said, sitting up straight. “Currently, nothing I know of. Why?”

“It doesn’t appear to be nothing. But no mining, you say?”

“That is not a good spot for drilling. Or much of anything for that matter.”

“Geophysical surveys have not shown that area to be rich in any currently sought after minerals?” She saw his eyes drop to her breasts and entertained a fantasy of removing his penis by uncomfortable means. “Up here!” she commanded, pointing to her eyes. “Are you a grownup? Answer my question.” She thought she heard a soft snicker from her sergeant.

“To the best of my knowledge,” said Orlov, “the area under and around Goat Rock is not recommended for mining of any type. That could change, of course.”

“All right then,” said Waite. “Tell me why someone has put in a partially finished walkway to the rock.”

“I’m going to have to say I don’t know, Inspector. Whoever is doing it is not under my command. The walkway has nothing to do with mining.”

“Thank you,” Waite said and shot a glance at Rice. “For now, that’s all. Wait. Where were you this morning between six and nine am?”

“I got up at five-thirty, ate breakfast in my quarters and had a meeting with my titanium and magnesium managers. We were in there until just now before you came.”

“I see,” said Waite. “Give me their names and I’ll be on my way. For now.”

He told her and she put them into her communicator.  

Just as she was going out the door, a young man entered. She remembered seeing him before, possibly in the cafeteria. He was movie star handsome. Tall, slim, well-formed and dark blond. Beautiful green eyes.

“Who’s this?” she couldn’t help asking.

 “This joker?” said Orlov. “He’s my nephew, Georgie Seese. My sister’s boy.”

“What’re his credentials?” Waite asked, immediately suspecting nepotism.

Orlov looked a bit affronted. “A degree in mining engineering. From University of Alberta. “Nineteenth in his class of two thousand.”

“Ah,” said Waite. “Well, good job, Georgie.” She gave him the onceover and nodded to her sergeant to get going.

Back in the hall, Rice said dryly, “His nephew seems to be a majorly popular guy. Doesn’t want for female attention, that’s for sure.”

“Hmmmph,” said Waite. “He is definitely a looker. Okay, let’s go to the cafeteria and question the vic’s coworkers more and then head to Blue Zone.”

Rice’s eyes filled up with tears again. “Do you think you had a chance with her?” Margot asked him.

He shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “She had a lot of men interested. She was kind of anxious to go home too. I think she was worried about maybe not being able to have babies if she stayed here too long.”

“She had a point,” said Waite. “The insulation suits and hardcore gravity workouts can only do so much. I’m only here for three more months and then I plan to take them up on that job they promised. I advise you to do the same timewise. Those pills we take and the radiation clean once we get back is still experimental. I don’t want any babies, but I don’t want a shorter lifespan either. They pay very, very well, but not enough for that. Oh, and if you need a job when you get back, give me a call.”

“Thank you,” Rice said. “I appreciate it.” Then he added, “I would have kept in touch with her when she got back, I would have done anything to see her.”

“Why do you think she’d go outside?” Waite asked. “Cafeteria workers do not go out unless taken for a tour. She was supposed to be working.”

He shook his head. “I can’t imagine why she’d do that. Or for that matter, how she found a suit the right size. She was only one and a half meters tall.”

“I know several short people on the base,” Waite said. “One is a miner. And they do have suits for them.”

“But don’t they have their own personal suits?” said Rice.

“They do but there are extra suits available. At eight different gates. You know that from the safely instructions when you arrived here.”

“I just assumed they’d be watched. You know, like someone would check you out.”

“They’re not,” said Margot. “Anyone can use a suit. In case of needed escape.”

“But there are cameras,” said Waite.

“We’ll check the hatches after the cafeteria,” said Waite. “On second thought, you can do that now. I’ll see you back in the office.”

The full day crew was manning the cafeteria by now, including the manager, Arnold Skrit, a person Waite found irritating. He was tall, slightly bent over and bony with pale yellow hair, shifty gray eyes and a scraggly goatee. “All right, Mr. Skrit, I’m going to need you to give us some privacy.”

He took her into his office and offered her a chair. She sat down. “Lucy Beard, as you may have heard, was found dead outside at 0815. Do you have any idea why she went out there?”

“Absolutely not,” Arnold said firmly.

“Did she ask you for permission to leave?”

“Actually, I wasn’t here early this morning.”

“Where were you?”

He looked annoyed. “Well, I do have things to take care of! I had to accept a shipment of frozen goods at Gate Five. The shuttle came in at 0620. I was back inside by seven and sent Sammy out to bring in the stuff.”

“Who’s Sammy?”

“One of the kitchen robots.”

“This isn’t near Goat Rock, right?”

He shook his head. “Nope. In another direction – southeast. Gate five. Goat Rock is out Gate three.”

She jotted the business about the shipment down. She still wrote things down, preferring everything laid out visually instead of having to search through recordings to locate something. A woman came up beside Arnold and whispered into his ear. She had a face like that of a used-up prostitute. “And you are?” Waite said.

“Hana de Vries,” she said. “We don’t know why Lucy went outside. She didn’t say nothing. We didn’t even know she was gone.”

“Okay, Hana,” said Waite. “Where were you when it happened?”

“Me?” said Hana. “Don’t look at me, I wouldn’t go outside if you paid me double. I just do my shift, work out, relax a little, collect my pay and in two more months I’ll go home with a nice wad.”

“So where were you then, Arnold, when you say you got back?”

“Well, here in my office.”

“I assume there’s a recording of this?”

“There aren’t any cameras in here. None that work anyway.”

 “Did anyone see you come in?”

“I don’t know,” he said.

She made a mental note to have cameras installed pretty much everywhere.

 “Do either you or Hanna know if Lucy had a romantic interest and if so, did she see this person often?”

Arnold and Hana looked at each other. “One of the electricians had the hots for her, I think,” Hana said. “Now if she returned that feeling, I wouldn’t know. She didn’t talk about it. But he kind of uses any excuse to come in here. And then he gets her to go with him when he ‘checks the wiring’ someplace.”

“You know his name?” Waite asked.

“No, but he has a weird little finger,” said Hana.

 “Um, I really need to get back to work if you don’t mind,” Arnold said. “The lunch crowd is going to start coming in twenty minutes.”

Waite nodded. “You can go,” she said. “I know where to find you.”

“How is the finger weird?” she asked Hana.

“I don’t know, just weird.”

“What does he look like?”

“Kind of weird,” Hana said.

“Black, white, Asian? Hair color? Height? Thin, chubby? What?”

“White, and just weird.” That seemed to be the limit of Hana’s descriptive talents.

Now Waite was curious and hightailed it back to Red Zone. Rice was just returning himself after speaking with various workers in gate areas and ready to search for video evidence of Lucy leaving the building. “Enjoy yourself,” she said and headed out to find Jack Merlin.

He was, after a search, deep in the bowels of the heating system.

“You happen to know an electrician on base with a weird little finger?” She called down to him.

“Zak Conroy,” Jack yelled back. “Got it smashed once.”

“Where would I find him?”

“He’s in Blue today. Dr. Patel’s unit.”

“Gracias!” she shouted and took off.

Jack called out, “See you in my quarters tonight? I’ll cook?”

But she was already gone.

Blue didn’t seem to be busy, which was good, so she found Dr. Patel at his desk, still dressed in his workout clothes after his Wall of Death run. She explained what she’d come for and he pointed to an exam room where a man was high on a ladder fiddling with a ceiling light. Right away she could see why Hana said Zak Conroy was weird.

He was medium height and skinny with a prominent Adam’s apple. Pasty white skin and lank, greasy black hair. He wore a regulation red uniform and a big gold watch that looked like a Rolex but was probably fake. His amber eyes were slightly buggy. He didn’t look too healthy, but then did anyone on the moon?

“Zak?” she said. “We need to talk.”

He clamored down the steps.

“A little birdie informed me that you were romantically interested in Lucy Beard.”

“What?” he said, his voice as irritating as his looks. “Uh, why?”

“Seems that she’s dead,” said the inspector. “Know anything about that?”

“Dead?” He looked like a deer in the headlights.

“Where were you this morning between 0600 and 0900?”

“Um, sleeping till six, in our room till 0645 and at work by 0700.”

“You didn’t go to the cafeteria?”

“I made a peanut butter sandwich in the room.”

“Which you share with how many men?”

“Three,” he said.

“Were any of them present?”

“One had already gotten up and left and the other two work nightshift and hadn’t come back.”

“I see. So, you have no way of proving that you were in the room from six to when you left for work.”

“Um…” he said. “Cameras in the hall?”

“We’ll check that,” she said. “What do you know about Goat Rock?”

She thought for a moment that he paled a little but she might have imagined that since he was pale already.

“Goat Rock?” he repeated.

“Out with it,” she said.

“Can’t talk here,” he whispered. “I don’t want my throat slit in one of the back halls.”

She wrote in her pad and showed it to him, “Say you don’t know anything loudly and angrily and to leave you alone, then come to see me in my office in fifteen minutes.”

“I don’t know anything you’re talking about!” he bellowed. “Now leave me alone!” And he went back to work. But ten minutes later, he left the room and headed to Red Zone. No one seemed to notice.

Somehow, when he arrived at her office, she liked him a little better. Weird how when you start liking someone, they get better looking. So, when he came to her door just as she herself was coming in, she noticed that his hair wasn’t greasy after all but just shiny like a crow’s wing.

 “Have a seat and tell me what you know,” she said.

He was nervous. “I’m kind of risking a lot coming here.”

“When you go back to work, tell people someone robbed you in your quarters. Make something up,” she said. She gave him the go ahead look.

“I-I kind of have, well, I had a thing for Lucy.”

“She sure was popular,” said Waite.

“Yeah, well, she wasn’t really interested, but she led me on a little.”

Waite nodded.

“Okay, Maybe I kind of hung around the cafeteria too much and someone noticed.”

“Who?”

“That guy she worked for.”

“Arnold?

“Yeah, Arnold Skrit. He came to my room and threatened me.”

“Arnold? He doesn’t look like the threatening type.”

“Oh, believe me, he is. My roommates weren’t there at the time. He threatened to take me outside.”

“You mean, on his own?”

“Yeah. I got the impression he meant I could end up having a little accident if I didn’t keep out of his way. And keep my mouth shut.”

Waite shook her head in disbelief. “We’re talking about Arnold in the cafeteria?”

“Yes!”

“Why on earth would that guy threaten you about anything?”

He sighed. “I think it has something to do with drugs. Maybe Lucy was involved. Maybe he didn’t want me near her for some reason.”

“Explain.”

“People get stuff from someone connected with the rock. I don’t know what’s out there. I never go out there. I’m only here for one more month and I don’t want to fuck it up. Right now, I wish I’d never come.”

“You don’t like it?”

“Does anyone?” he said.

“Maybe the scientists and the military,” she said. “I need more details about Goat Rock and this ‘stuff’ they get. Trust me, I won’t let it be known that the information came from you.”

 Suddenly the door opened and Sergeant Rice stuck his head in. “I finished with the videos.”

She held up a finger. “I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.” She turned to Zak. “What kind of ‘stuff’ are we talking about?”

Zak shook his head. “I don’t know much but enough to be scared. I’ll say one word and then I really want out of here.”

“What’s that one word?” she said.

“Mash,” he said.

The inspector felt as if someone punched her in the stomach. There was no escape from this shit, she thought. Everywhere you go people are selling things to give people the illusion of escaping reality. The moon was a harsh reality for sure, but did not the people who came here choose to come here? As far as she knew, no one was forced to come to the moon. It was a period of time you signed up for and it was understood that anyone who used recreational drugs would be on the next ship back to Earth and potentially see the end of their career.

And then along came Mash, an artificial form of heroin with triple the power in a tenth the dose. One grain of had the potency of fifteen milligrams of normal heroin. It was very easy to hide it in tiny places. You could wear it inside an earring, a button, a pen, anything at all. Enough to sell for many users.

Waite continued. “What exactly does Arnold have to do with Mash?”

Zak looked away.

“So, he’s a dealer then?” said Waite.

“You didn’t hear it from me,” Zak said.

Waite thanked him and sent him on his way, then went to the video room. “What do we have?” she asked Rice.

He showed her. “Here Lucy is at Gate Three at 0617 getting into the gear. She’s rushing, looks like she’s upset. She’s clicking the helmet into the suit. She rushes though, clearly wound up about something. Seems to be doing everything correctly, but why is she even going out? I wonder what she planned to claim as her reason for going out there. Surely, she must have known that eventually, someone would see the vid. Although I’m beginning to think that no one ever checks them.”

“She seems in a great push to get out there. Enough to override her common sense,” said Waite.  

The inspector thought for a moment. “What might make a young women so desperate?” she asked.

Rice shrugged. “Lots of things, I suppose. Fear that something bad is going to happen, worry about someone, trying to protect herself or someone else.”

“Love,” Waite said.

“Love?”

“Willing to risk her life to save a lover from something.”

Rice didn’t say anything.

“Who went out before this?” Waite asked. “Out this gate?”

“No one,” Rice said.

“How hard it is to walk from Gate Five to Goat Rock?”

Rice pulled up the standard map of the base and said, “Guess it would take about ten minutes or less. Especially if you did a moon hop. Wouldn’t be too strenuous.”

“Check Gate Five for that time period.”

And there he was, Arnold going out, supposedly to sign for a delivery, which shouldn’t take that long, but he doesn’t return for thirty-five minutes and when he does, it’s through Gate Three.

“Well, well,” said Waite. “Copy that.”

She paused while Rice worked and then said, “Have you heard anything about Mash around here?”

Rice looked surprised. “They’ve got Mash here? On the moon?”

“Nobody said anything to you? In your quarters. Your roommates or anybody?”

He chuckled. “I’m a cop. People that aren’t cops don’t share much with cops. Certainly not something like that.”

“You must be lonely,” she said.

“Aren’t you?” he countered.

She did not say that she had Jack Merlin to talk to. When their terms were up, both of them were spending time together in Puerto Rico before they went to their promised jobs. It was best, however, to keep her personal life to herself, especially in such close quarters as the base.

“You’re not friends with anyone in other zones?”

He shook his head. “Nope, no one. I’m pretty much counting the days. The money is considerable to come here, but…well, my mother keeps reminding me of what the gravity could do to my health. I’ll see my friends when I get back home.”

“I hear you. By the way, the autopsy is done and her body is being released from Blue Zone to be stored for transport back home in three days.”

“What’s the report?” asked Rice.

“Nothing new. The crack in the helmet did the job. Otherwise, she was healthy.”

“She simply fell then? Or was pushed,” said Rice. “Would just falling on the moon with its weak gravity and having your visor hit that railing be enough to crack your helmet?”

“It’s possible if it hit just right,” said Waite. “But it’s hard to imagine what she tripped on. Being that she was not used to going out there, I imagine she’d have walked slowly and carefully. It appears that the crack in the visor was a bit larger than would result from just falling and hitting the railing.”

“You mean,” said Rice, “it was right for maybe someone having taken hold of her head and bashed it once against that railing.”

“That’s what I mean,” she said.

“What happens at Goat Rock?” Rice asked. “If anything does happen, wouldn’t there be cameras out there?”

“It’s time for a visit to Green Zone,” said Waite, though she fully expected it to be fruitless. The military did not talk with nonmilitary unless Red Zone when they had a problem with power or plumbing. At first, she was going to take Rice with her but decided against that and sent him instead to Blue Zone to question the medicos about Mash. “See if they’ve treated anyone with related symptoms?”

Rice headed to Blue and she to Green and after a red tape hassle, Green let her in.

This military was a combined Canadian, Northeast American, Brit and French affair and what they were on the base for was kept from the general population. She liked to imagine that it was to protect them from aliens, but so far, no aliens had appeared to bother them. There were areas that residents were not permitted to go near, however, and neither she nor anyone she could normally talk with knew why.

“What I want to know,” Waite now said to Captain Izard, the provost marshal who was young and not unsusceptible to her striking looks, “is why is there a walkway going in from Gate Three to Goat Rock? What happens at Goat Rock?” She had explained about the apparent murder.

“I think you’re probably talking to the wrong person,” he said. “The military has nothing to do with whatever you’re referring to. Goat Rock? What’s that?”

Did she believe him? “Put up the map of the base,” she said.

He pressed something and the map appeared on the wall. She pointed to Goat Rock.

“Didn’t know that had a name,” he said, “but I assume it resembles a goat.” He was silent a long moment and then leaned forward squinting. “What the hell?” He stood up and said, “I’ll be right back.”

He was gone a long time and Waite was growing annoyed. When he returned, he looked upset and she held back making any remarks about the wait. “I don’t know how we missed this,” he said. “But we don’t use that area for our maneuvers and we are not in constant communication with Mining. We assumed that the miners are in their designated areas north and northeast of Peary crater and that machinery runs to and from those places and to and from the base here. This Goat Rock is east. There should be nothing going on there, but according to a clearer vid, that apparently no one bothered to look at, a mining vehicle did head there this morning. The vehicle stopped there for about ten minutes and then turned around and returned to Mining Two. We’ll be investigating this, believe me. The map you see is updated every twenty minutes.”

She smiled. “Does this fall under your jurisdiction or mine, Captain?”

He considered this. “I only have jurisdiction from the military standpoint while you have it for the rest of the base. We might need each other.”

Well, that was unexpected.

Back in her office, after telling Rice about this, he said, “It’s kind of weird that the military would not know exactly what goes on at Goat Rock.”

“I thought that too,” she said, “but then remember that everything is fucked up. I’m forty-two and you’re what? Twenty-nine? By the time you’re my age, you’ll see that. Human civilization is one huge snarled ball of string. Possibly God is a giant cat playing with it.”

“Wouldn’t they have on video someone going out there?” asked Rice.

“The military vid starts and stops every twenty minutes. Whatever happened must have been in one of those periods. Then the next one showed Lucy on the ground and that’s when someone went out to check.”

“By the way, no one in Blue has treated anyone for an overdose,” Blue told her.

“Yet,” Waited said.

That evening, Margot took Jack Merlin up on his invitation to dinner in his quarters. While they were sipping their wine, she said, “Jack, what do you know or suspect about recreational drug use among Red Zone workers?”

“They’re not going to tell me anything, of course. But they know that if I even suspect that about someone, that person will be on the next flight out of here.”

“Tomorrow,” she told Jack, “I want you to order every person in Red Zone to pee in a cup. I’ll have Blue Zone send the cups over and pick them all up. Don’t let a single person get out of it.”

“Gonna take a bit of work.”

“I appreciate it,” she said.

“You owe me,” he said.

The drug testing caught everyone by surprise and eleven people from Red Zone were positive. Inspector Waite held all of them together in one rigged up cell in a locked storeroom. Bathroom facilities were nonexistent. New Toronto base had simply not planned for criminals. Stupid of them, she thought.

The inspector took the suspects out, one at a time, and with Sergeant Rice, interrogated them. Only one cracked, a tall, thick bodied cleaner named Ronald Nagy, who broke down and cried.

“I-I hate it here, wish I’d never come! Can’t go outside, nothing to do after work’s done, not enough females, I’m sick of looking at men. Can’t wait to go home, but I needed the money. And I hate that damn Wall of Death but you gotta do it. I just needed some fun, needed to feel good before I lose it entirely. I felt like I was cracking up!”

“Okay,” said Waite, “I’m not going to prosecute you but you have to cooperate. And once you get home, don’t even think about coming back here and don’t ask anyone for a recommendation. You’ll be on a list.”

Rice was eyeing him like it was his fault that Lucy died and maybe he would take care of the guy later. Waite noticed and whispered, “Cool down.”

To Nagy, she said, “What I need to know is how did you get the drug; who is distributing it?”

She was not all that surprised when he gave her the information. All the evidence stacked up now.

She did not let the prisoners go, figuring it would be fun to torture them a bit longer so they either had to hold in their waste products or go in a bucket in front of each other.

Then she made a quick visit to the cafeteria to speak with Lucy’s fellow worker, Terri, and with a bit of prodding, learned that Lucy had been crazy about a tall, blond, movie-star-handsome young man from Yellow Zone and very upset about him possibly getting into trouble.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” Waite demanded.

Terri looked nervous. “She told me not to tell anyone ever. She said he was married to someone important or maybe her father is or something. But he wanted a divorce. She said she heard someone was going to hurt him and she went outside there to warn him.”

“So, you knew full well why she went out there. Not to ‘see a man about a horse.’”

She looked scared and ashamed. “That’s what she said, but I knew.”

“Who was going to hurt this person?”

“I-I don’t know,” Terri said.

But the inspector felt that she did.

“Liars are so annoying,” Waite said to Rice. They were now heading to Yellow Zone and walked rather arrogantly into Veer Orlov’s office where he happened to be chatting with his nephew. “Well, hello beautiful,” Orlov said.

She instantly felt like she might explode. Her eyes flicked to Rice and he was watching her almost with fear. “It has come to our attention,” she said to Orlov, “that someone here is dealing drugs to workers. It also seems that a murder has been committed by someone involved.”

The nephew looked alarmed and stood up. “Well, I’ll leave you guys alone,” he said, heading for the door.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” said the inspector.

Georgie Seese kept going but Rice grabbed him, yanked him back into the room and into a chair and slammed the door. He took his stun gun out from his pocket and held it ready.

“What’s going on here?” said Orlov, standing up.

“Your nephew has been dealing Mash and selling it to people in various zones, Red for starters. I imagine Yellow too. I’ll check with my contact in Green.”

Orlov looked at his nephew. “Georgie, is this true?”

Georgie’s face took on an expression of incredulity. “Seriously?” he yelled. “You’re going to pretend you had nothing to do with it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Orlov said, sitting back down smugly.

Waite stood up and signaled to Rice, who snapped handcuffs on Georgie Seese and the two of them led him to her office. Georgie was more than ready to talk. In fact, he was almost frothing at the mouth.

“That son of a bitch! He was running the whole thing!”

“Well, now,” said Waite, shooting her eyes to Rice, “you’ll need to explain exactly about all that and how did Lucy get killed? Did you witness that?”

He looked down and started to cry. He was not the sort of young man she would have ever expected to do that. “Lucy was a sweet girl,” he said. “She was kind of gone on me and I liked her back. Maybe not as much as she liked me, but in time I might have.”

“Wait a minute,” said Waite. “Aren’t you married?”

She felt Rice tense up next to her.

Georgie Seese shook his head. “We’re getting a divorce. She sent me the forms.”

“All right,” said Waite, somehow actually believing him. “Explain everything to me.”

 She and Rice learned what was going on and how the drop-offs were made at Goat Rock, using a rover from Mine Number Two. Apparently, the drugs were brought in on the ore shuttles and the Earth contact was a known distributor from a South American cartel.

 “At the last minute,” Georgie said, “Lucy heard from someone in the cafeteria that he was going to rob me on the walk back and she risked everything to go out there to warn me. In fact, she was out there ahead of me, thinking I was already there. But then that bastard got there first and pushed her into the railing. I saw it happen from inside. He kept on going and intercepted the drop off. I ended up never going out. Got sick of it anyway, picking up my uncle’s shit.”

“Who was it, Georgie?”

“That guy she worked with. Arnold Skrit. He had his own thing going, apparently and didn’t like the competition.”

It took a week to sort out the mess and for more cops to arrive at the base to help round up those involved: Arnold Skrit, two of his employees, one of those in Red Zone and of course Georgie Seese, Veer Orlov and six more in Yellow Zone.  Someone else in mining had to take over as mining manager. Neither Blue nor Green was involved, something that made Captain Izard very happy. Replacements were in transit from Earth for the now removed workers. Dr. Patel in Blue Zone immediately put into effect a drug program and Inspector Waite sent out a bulletin to all of Toronto base to the effect that recreational drug use would not be tolerated and all offenders immediately sent home with total loss of their salaries from day one of their term. Amendments would be made in moon base brochures and recruitment procedures on Earth. And Arnold Skrit was charged with murder, sent home under armed guard and imprisoned awaiting trial.

“I’ll be glad to get home,” said Rice. “I think I’ll take that job out in Vancouver.”

“And here I was hoping you’d take over as Chief Inspector here sometime,” joked Waite.

“Hell no,” Rice said. “I want trees and grass and blue skies. And lakes and rivers and birds. This place is depressing.”

And it was, thought the Inspector. It could drive a person crazy. She couldn’t wait for her and Jack to go home and bask in the Caribbean. The earth was a gorgeous place and how she did miss it.

---

Bio:Margaret Karmazin’s credits include stories published in literary and SF magazines, including Rosebud, Chrysalis Reader, North Atlantic Review, Mobius, Confrontation, Pennsylvania Review, The Speculative Edge, Aphelion, AnotherRealm, Tough and The Worlds Within. Her stories in The MacGuffin, Eureka Literary Magazine, Licking River Review and Mobius were nominated for Pushcart awards. Her story, “Principally Dead” was published in The Yard in 2025.

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