Free Space 1999 #5 - Lunar Attack by John Rankine

‘Does it matter what it is or where it came from? The important tiling is that it is here among us. How do we control it?’
    Something of the same query was troubling Laura Adams as she moved into Hydroponic Unit Two for a duty stint. What had always seemed a pleasant and congenial work place was now ominous and scary. There was a light shining from the Unit lab and she went towards it partly to check it out and partly because she wanted company.
    Through the glass screen, she could see Mateo, working feverishly like a man on a race against the clock. He was reassembling the gear for his experiment and his stubborn determination to go on with it made her suddenly angry.
    She whipped round to the sliding hatch and went in. He looked up, reading her face before she spoke and treating her to a hard glare before he went back to work.
    Voice tight, she said, ‘You’re . . . deliberately . . . disobeying . . . orders.’
    ‘I know what I’m doing.’
    ‘I’ll tell you what you’re doing. You’re destroying everything you’ve worked for.’
    ‘You don’t understand.’
    She was close to tears. ‘Warren was right. This work is dangerous. You’ve got to stop it right now!’
    He reacted to her tone and some of the hardness went out of his face. He stopped work, left the table and put his hands on her shoulders.
    ‘Listen to me carefully, Laura. It’s possible something did happen in here. If Bergman did record that wave pattern then we’re on the brink of some tremendous breakthrough. How it happened I don’t know . . . but don’t you see I must pursue it?’
    She was searching his face trying to convince herself that nothing had changed in him. She said hesitantly, ‘Dan, I’m frightened . . . for you . . . for all of us.’
    ‘I have to go on. I must try to recreate what happened—to locate and identify this force if it exists. Don’t you see that?’
    ‘No!’
    His grip tightened on her shoulders as he tried to force her to agree, ‘But it’s the only way we can understand what’s happening here.’
    She pulled free, backing away from him and shaking her head.
    ‘You leave me no choice. I’ll have to tell Commander Koenig.’
    Mateo’s face darkened. He said seriously, ‘Don’t, Laura. Don’t do that.’
    ‘Dan, there are other people on this base and they have a right to know what you’re up to here.’
    She had not moved far enough before she spoke and one quick spring had him close enough to grab her again and she winced with pain as he shouted, ‘I’m asking you, Laura. Please don’t do it.’
    She twisted free and ran for the open hatch, but he was there before her, blocking the way out and seizing her round the waist.
    Using an old technique she hacked at his shins, but he was outside the reach of normal reflexes and hurled her back into the room. She tripped, hit the edge of his table and she fell on it scattering some of the equipment to the floor. It was in fact, the one thing that could sidetrack him. With a cry, he was on his knees gathering it together and the way out was open.
    At the hatch she stopped. He had forgotten her. Working feverishly he was reassembling the device. She said, ‘You’re not responsible for your actions any more.’
    Without looking up, he said, ‘Get out! Get out of here.’
    She turned and ran down an aisle of luxuriant plant life making for the exit of the section. Behind her, he was watching her go, breathing hard, eyes narrowed and intense.
    Blinded with tears she reached the main hatch and almost collided with a figure on the way in. As she looked up at the face to speak, she was suddenly gagged by horror. Seen plainly it was a creature of nightmare, the ultimate in dread made flesh. Twisted and mutilated by scar tissue, mouth in a grin of living death, claw hand reaching for her, hissing like an obscene snake.
    Her scream of mortal terror tailed off and was followed by the blare of Red Alert Klaxons as computer in Main Mission reacted to the