"Hold it!" yelled Gary as the elevator door was about to close. Dee reached out and stopped the sliding door. Gary pulled himself in and then landed his feet on the Velcro floor. "Why thank you very much Miss Brewer."

The door slid shut. The elevator began its journey out the arm to the A Spin Habitat. The closer they got to the end of their journey the more they weighed. Their clothing began settling in on their bodies. Gary could not help but notice how the jumpsuit was taking shape over her curves, "You ever miss the old days at MIT?"

Dee held up a finger and a smirk, "I like that term, old days. Let's just keep it that way Barringer."

He took the rejection in stride. Now that he felt gravity holding him to the floor he shifted the weight on his feet by leaning up against the wall of the elevator. He scratched at his short curly hair and then crossed his arms, "so, when do you plan on telling Jack and the others?"

The threat went unsaid but it was there. If she did not tell them then he would. Fire shot through her eyes, "Hey! You signed a civil non-disclosure Gary. Nobody is telling anybody, anything."

"Sue me. You are playing with all of our lives here."

Looking up Dee replied, "that's bullshit and you know it. I saw the pictures Gary. I didn't agree with Uncle Isaac. He can get carried away as you very well know. Probably half the reason you are here."

Reaching out, Gary ran his fingertips along the edge of her short hair. "I hated it when you did that. You have such lovely hair when it's long."

Dee pushed his hand back, "do that again and I'll do a lot better job than Pete did in the ring the other day."

The elevator door slid open and Harry Wu was standing outside. Gary strolled out past him and commented, "I'm going to eat, how about you?"

Dee just stood there, "No thanks, I suddenly lost my appetite."

Harry walked in and began strapping down loose objects to his clothing. "You all right Dee?"

The door closed again. She held back a swell of tears, "Just fine Harry."

McCandles looked at Larry who was now completely fitted into his space suit. McCandles looked right into the bubble helmet, "You need a valium?"

Larry only responded by tapping the glass. Red was working the air lock door but noticed the exchange or, more to the point, the lack of one. That told Red, "sounds like a good seal to me."

Red took the safety line and the slave cable. He then attached them on the inside of the air lock. The line was hooked by O ring to a clamp on the wall. The slave cable powered and aired the suit. Red tapped his buddy on the shoulder and talked into his headset. He acted like he was in an old television commercial "Can you me hear now?"

"Yeah," the voice crackled over the headset. Larry missed the joke or was in no mood for it. "What did you say Joe?"

"Want a valium?"

"You're funny wise guy," replied Larry. Apparently he was in no mood for jokes. He slid his way into the airlock hatch.

Red gave a nod to McCandles as the air lock sealed. The Sergeant Major keyed his intercom, "control module, we're ready here. You may depressurize and open the outer seal when ready."

Gina Fujitsu tapped out the commands on her keyboard. One by one she got ready signals for each of the air pumps that would drain the air lock. She activated them and watched a gauge on her screen that displayed the current pressure. In a side window, the video feed showed Larry pacing back and forth and waiting. "Sergeant Major, Larry, I'll be breaking the outer seal in five.... four... three.... "

Larry depressed the button on his wrist. He could not hear a thing. He walked over and checked the slave cable. He pushed in and out on the electronic connectors. There was not even any static. He must have a bad communicator. He sighed with relief that at least they had not started to pump the air out yet. He knocked on the inner hatch.

McCandles looked in the hatch window. He saw Larry tapping on his helmet again. The back hatch opened. Everything in the air lock shot out into the abyss like a rocket. McCandles jaw dropped. He called control, "Holy shit, the air lock's not depressurized! Say again, there's air in there!"

Gina looked on her screen, the gauges on her screen showed a complete vacuum inside the chamber and the outer seal broken. "That's impossible! Colonel Kelly! We have an emergency at Air lock two! Say again, we have an emergency at air lock two!"

Larry was spinning. If it was going to be like that every time then he was not going to do this again. He shot out of that air lock like a jet fighter! What was he suppose to do now? "Oh yeah, the undercarriage." Larry pulled on the safety line to get himself back to the ship. It was only then that he realized there was trouble. The line gave no resistance. It just kept coming towards him. Larry began to panic. He pulled and pulled at the line until the end reached him. The O-ring was still attached to the grip but it was not attached to the ship!

The slave cable was no longer attached either. He still had air and lights so the battery and emergency air must have kicked in. The ship was getting further away. He was tumbling into deep space! "Don't panic damn it! Maneuver jets, use the freaking maneuver jets on your pack!"

A computer in his suit controlled the jets. It would automatically find the ship and bring him back to the air lock should anything happen. Larry called his current situation, “anything.” He punched the code for the jets into his armband control pad. The emergency code number was rightly made, "911." Larry could feel the jets on his back begin to fire. Then he felt the heat.

Red used airlock control station to move the external camera around until he saw Larry. "Got him Sergeant Major! Good! He remembered and he's fired his jets."

McCandles looked from the air lock window to the video screen on the opposite wall. His eyes focused just in time to see the space suit, and Larry, be engulfed in a bright flame. McCandles reached for his head. There was no cap on it so he just tore off the headset radio, "Jesus God all mighty."

Jack slammed his fist on his desk, "How in the hell?!"

McCandles head was hung low, "the jets must have sparked his emergency Oh two sir."

This was a day that Jack had not been looking forward to. He had always realized that it could happen. That did not mean he would have to like it. Jack looked up to Pete who was sitting in the corner of the room, "have you started an investigation yet?"

There was no answer. Jack nodded to Red and the Sergeant Major. They were certainly not at fault here. They were also taking this hard. Those three, being the eldest members of the ships company, naturally had clicked together. "Gentlemen, don't let this eat at you. Take some time off. I'll get back to you. As for now if you'll excuse me. Colonel Winston and I have something to go over."

When the door shut, and the two Marine Colonels were alone, Pete rose from the chair he had been slumping in. "You know this was no accident Jack."

"Damn it Pete! Don't start with that paranoid bullshit on me now. We have a man dead here and the last thing I want to do is go running around looking for Kennedy's assassin."

Pete got up and knocked on the door. It opened. Vitosk and Harry Wu came walking in. Pete nodded to them and Vitosk took the floor. He pulled a small object from his pocket and tossed it down on Jack's desk.

Jack looked at it, "a screw?"

"Uh yes," answered Vitosk, "we took it out of the air lock. To be more exact, it was one of the four screws that held Larry's clamp to the wall."

"I don't see what you're driving at here guys," responded Jack.

Harry answered, "Jack that screw is made of industrial grade plastics. That particular polymer could take temperatures as cold as zero degree Kelvin and almost survive a trip through a star. There's almost no way to cut it and that one has been cut."

Pete added, "All four of the screws were cut Jack. There was no way in hell they just broke. Then there was the little matter of how the computer thought the air lock was a vacuum when the pumps had never even turned on."

"He was murdered Jack," said Vitosk with a stern resolve in his voice.

The fact that they might be right began to sink in. It was just too incredible to believe. For that matter why would anybody want to? Jack looked at the map behind him. There was the reason why. Larry was the best man qualified to keep the Landers running. He was the mission’s best shot at landing and getting back to orbit safely. Still, Jack had been working with these people so closely for so long that each and every man and woman on board was like family now. To think that one of them could have killed so easily was not just scary but, it seemed to Jack to be down right impossible.

"Who? What do you think? The Japs got a spy on board or something," said Jack rambling on.

Pete took that almost personal, "Not fucking likely Jack. I ran security checks on everybody. I know what everybody on board got for their first birthday and Christmas."

"So we don't even have a suspect,” Jack mumbled. “Who had access to whatever it would take to cut these screws? Who had access to the computer, the pumps, the space suit, the air lock?”

They all knew the answer right away. Vitosk simply stated the obvious, "anyone on board could have done it easily."

Jack sat down and slumped in his chair, "all right. First things first here. We keep this information right in this room. As far as everybody else is concerned it was an accident. I don't want everybody getting jumpy and turning on each other. That's the last thing we need right now. Pete, do you have any suspects in mind?"

That drew a smile from Pete because he did have three. The three men on board that never had a single check run on them. One of them was standing in the room.

"If we may all bow our heads in prayer," said Jerry standing in front of the entire ships company. They were holding the services for Larry in the gym. It was the only room big enough to handle everyone. Only the essential watch personnel were excused from the service. Not that Jack had to order anyone to come.

While everyone observed a moment of silence, Jack could not help but look out into the crowd. People that he thought he knew stood around him. Somehow they all looked different now. Their heads were bowed but Jack had watched each face throughout the ceremony. One of them had committed cold-blooded murder. They did so to a man that they had known quite well. It was also obvious that whoever did it had not done so for personal reasons. Unlike every one else on board, Larry had not so much as had a disagreement with anyone else. That made this killer a pro, and until he was unmasked, they were all very much in danger.

As they all raised their heads Pete pulled Julia closer to him. He held her tight as Joey and Pam tried to comfort her from behind. She had taken this very hard. It seemed that her crying had not stopped since she first heard the news about Larry. "It's OK baby."

Gary Barringer walked up, "Uh, Julia, Pete. If you need my help my door is always open."

Pete gave the ships psychologist a very nasty look as he answered, "I think she'll be just fine Gary."

Gary seemed puzzled about the look he was receiving, "are you all right Pete?"

Pete turned Julia and began to lead her out of the gym, "I'm just fine too Gary."

Gina stopped in the hallway. She wiped the tears from her eyes. "I can't believe this. I feel so responsible!"

Chief Petty Officer Billy Sams and Captain Bill Morton were walking along next to her. It was Sams who commented, "maybe it was."

Morton grabbed Sams by the sleeve, "Hey that was out of line Bill."

Sams lost his temper, "Oh it was? Was it? She was on duty in the command module. I bet the dirty little Jap did it on purpose!"

McCandles ran down the hallway when he heard the commotion. He found Sams doubled over and grabbing his crotch. Gina Fujitsu was beating him on the head even as Bill Morton was trying to pull her off. She was furiously screaming at Sams, "YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR SAYING THAT!"

The Sergeant Major spoke up. Gina stopped for a moment and Morton finally managed to throw her clear of Sams. Gina would not give up however. This time Morton had help pulling her back. Gina would not stop screaming though, "He said I killed Larry because my last name happens to be Japanese. I was born in Georgia you Red Neck son of a bitch. I'm a fucking Rebel!"

"That's enough!" Yelled the Sergeant Major. "Airman Fujitsu, you are confined to your quarters till I feel better. Sams! Can you walk?"

The Navy man fell over onto his knees. McCandles stepped in front of him, "Next time you have a bright idea Chief. I strongly suggest you wear an athletic supporter."

From behind the crowd Jack watched impassively. Pete wandered over after sending Julia back to their cabin with Pam. Pete shook his head, "Well Jack, it's started already. I told you we couldn't keep this a secret."

A hatch shut somewhere in the module. No, that was not quite right. The ringing it left behind meant it was slammed. Jerry looked back over his shoulder. Rumors were running rampant aboard the Hermes and you just couldn't be too careful. When he looked back from the direction of the sound, Jerry found that Sergeant Major McCandles was standing in the hall in front of him. He did not say a word or move. He just stood there and stared. That was enough for Jerry to move towards the second of the three doors that lined the hallway. Red Darby stepped out to block it off. Jerry turned to his last escape route and Pete Winston was there.

"Let's have a talk Jerry," said Pete.

Jerry tried to show no fear. He was bad at it, "bout what?"

"Oh, I don't know. How about who you really are maybe?"

As Pete walked forward Jerry kept taking steps back. He stopped with his back against the wall. Red and McCandles were pinning him on the flanks while Pete made the frontal assault.

"What do you mean Pete? You know who I am. You ran the security checks on everybody."

"Well you know what's kind of funny Jerry. When I ran you, I kept getting these roadblocks. I mean it would seem that Reverend Jerry Pullman just appeared in a small town in Indiana, fully grown, about fifteen years ago. Nobody at Seminary could actually recall him, even though they vaguely remembered the name. There were no high school pictures or a family member from Brooklyn with a cute story. So why don't we drop the bull?"

Jerry suddenly developed a backbone, "If you knew all of that Pete. Why did you hire me?"

"Lots of guys left over from the war Jerry. None of them want their pasts really known. I knew you were a military type the first day I laid eyes on you. Just the way you carried yourself. At the time I thought that was what I wanted. You know they had already told me that we had to take civilians along and all of that. I saw that spark in your eye Jerry. I liked it. I'm starting to regret that. Now who are you?"

The last sentence came out more as a command. Jerry let a breath out. "I'm not who I used to be Pete. I really was a reverend you know. Then some of my old habits started slipping back in. There was this girl, she..."

"I know about her already!" Pete was loosing his patience. "What did you do during the war?”

A tear began to swell, "My name is Gerald Reese Gardner, Colonel Gerald Reese Gardner of USPF."

Red's mouth dropped wide open. He had seen pictures of the man. He never would have believed that it was the same man before him now. Everybody thought that Gardner was dead! McCandles on the other hand reached out and grabbed Jerry around the throat. He pushed the reverend’s feet up off the floor.

There was a burning in McCandles eyes, "You bastard. I had friends and family in Indiana. You fucking butcher! I'm going to rip your heart right of your chest and feed it to you!"

"Sergeant Major!" yelled Pete. The old soldier released his grip and let the war criminal down. Then McCandles stomped off. Pete just stood there and rubbed his chin. "How many people did you kill? How many innocent men, women, and children did the Canadians and Provo's dig up in your mass graves?"

Jerry was on his knees. He was in tears now. "I wanted to die! You don't know what it’s like to live with those memories!"

"I kind of think that your victims would have loved to be around to have some bad dreams," replied Red.

"You fought for the Fed's Winston! Don't tell me that your hands were clean."

"I was a fucking pilot you ass hole," replied Pete. "What I did was in the middle of a war."

Standing up Jerry faced him, "Well then you can thank the lord above that you didn't ever have to see the faces of the children you dropped your bombs on. Tell me Pete, why do you think it was so hard for your thorough record check to figure out who I was? You couldn't do it at all. I'll tell you why Colonel Marine. Because the CIA are the people who hid me. They didn't want me around to testify against them after the war was over. That's why. I was following orders, and as you pointed out, I was fighting a war. I just didn't have the luxury of being so distant like you fucking glamour boy jet jockey's."

"I should kill you right now," said Pete. He wanted too. Not so much for being a war criminal but because Jerry had struck a nerve. He was right. "All I want to know is. Why did you kill Larry?"

"What!?" replied Jerry? "You think I killed him? Are you that stupid? You know why I'm here. I've got every reason in the world to want to get to where we're going."

That was the truth as well. He had not turned out to be what Pete had thought. Pete was looking for a Japanese plant and a wanted war criminal was not the type of man they would use as a mole. No one would use a man with Jerry's reputation. It also explained why a little trouble had caused him to run as far as he could get. Any serious look at his past would have caused more than enough suspicion. What was Pete going to do with him? Right now there was nothing he could.

"Jerry, if you spill one word of this conversation out to anybody..."

That was a stupid statement, "why would I want to do something like that?"

Pointing a finger, "Well when we get back to Earth. You can expect a trial. I promise you that."

"Pete," Jerry's face was stern. He was open and his voice said that he meant every word, "You don't know how many nights I've prayed for a firing squad. I've made my peace with god, if it's even remotely possible."

What did you say to that, "We'll see?”

The little bit of dirt in the box came from Julia's hydroponics garden. She did use potting soil for one or two plants. Jack bent over and drove his Tee into the soil. He reached into his bucket and took out his first golf ball. After placing it on the tee, Jack selected a driver from his bag of clubs. He got in his stance, pulled back with the driver, and then swung. The golf ball flew across the gym, hit the backboard of the basketball goal, and dropped into the net.

The clapping from behind Jack caused him to stop. Dee was standing in the doorway just watching. He nodded to her applause. She put her hands in her pockets and lazily walked over to his impromptu driving range. "Well, well, you should have stayed home and turned pro."

"Uh, well before Pete talked me into getting back into this mess I was thinking about it. Well kind of anyway," Jack left out that he suspected his free membership at the club had more to do with his lousy game than his status as a celebrity. The other members could hobnob with him and win all at the same time.

She stopped just short of him, "You must have been very good. That was a shot and a half right there."

Jack put his club away and began pulling off his gloves. "I wish. That shot, right there, is just practice, practice, practice. They don't give points for slam dunking a golf ball in the PGA."

He was actually human. Dee had spent a lot of time in self-imposed exile aboard Hermes. She had been too busy to care back on Earth. To her, all Jack Kelly had ever been was another Federal interloper in her family‘s business. "So, McCandles said you wanted to see me."

Jack hesitated and looked down at his feet. He rubbed his nose and then looked around the gym. No one else was there. The lights were dim as they did the computer-timed simulation of night and day. Most everybody was asleep or on duty. "I wanted to talk to you about Barringer. Pete wanted to be the one doing this but I thought I should first."

Dee began to get uncomfortable and started shifting from side to side. "What do you want to know Jack?"

"Well, for starters, who is he? I mean I know what you told me before, and everything, but right now I really need to know."

"Why?"

Jack really did not want to tell her. He should have all ready but, by the time he made his mind up it was far too late. She would have been pissed at him for keeping the secret from her for so long. "Well, I know I should have told you this sooner. We are ninety percent certain that Larry's death was no accident."

"What!" Dee's eyes were about to leap right out of their sockets, "you mean all those rumors flying around..."

"No," Jack put an end to that real quick. "Only a handful of us know about it for certain. Look Dee, it's just that we don't know anything about Gary. Pete never could run a security check on him. You and your company went in a real underhanded way to get him on board. Then Harry tells me this guy is a linguist and not a shrink. You tell me he is a shrink, but we didn't have time to check."

Dee was speechless! "I... I... I can't believe you thought Gary might do something like that. I mean what reason would he have to mur..."

"Would you keep your voice down," injected Jack.

Her voice dropped considerably, "murder Larry. Nobody on board would have. Everybody liked him."

"It wasn't personal Dee, we've got a spy on board."

A laugh escaped Dee's mouth before she covered it with her hand. "You think Gary is a Japanese spy or something like that? I tell you, there were times I wished he had been more like James Bond."

"Well prove it to me Dee," responded Jack. "Tell me who he is and what he's really doing here. Then we can drop this right now."

Dee developed that cocky attitude that she sometimes did. Her hands were on her hips and her head was cocked, "all right Jack, if you really want to know. He's my ex scumbag husband. Are you happy now that you've managed to pry into private life?"

It was Jack’s turn to be knocked over. His jaw dropped open. Just the thought of her married to someone seemed impossible. Jack never could remember meeting a woman that was as unapproachable as her. "What... How.... I don't get it?"

"What's to get? Yes Harry is right. I met him at MIT when he was a professor and I was a grad student. Yes his field is linguistics but, my uncle wanted him on this flight so I would have to be cooped up with him for ten years. You see Uncle Isaac was nice enough to plan out my entire life for me. When I divorced Gary, he didn't like it and he's been trying to get us back together ever since. It seems that Gary was just the right kind of guy for me."

Jack was still in shock, "You were married?"

Dee rolled her eyes, "Oh please, yes! I mean I know I'm an ugly duckling. I know that I was the least popular person in school as a kid. I know that when someone as handsome as he was, came along, well, I thought it was the only thing I was ever going to get. Problem was he was a lot better at charming Uncle Isaac than me. All he ever wanted was grant money. So I told him to take a hike."

Jack pulled his driver back out and began putting his gloves back on. "Sorry Dee. I didn't know. We'll leave you alone now."

Turning to leave, Dee began mumbling, "Well that was the point. I mean if I had wanted you to know you stupid jarhead I would have..."

"Dee," called out Jack. When she turned he nodded to her, "I think he was stupid. You're a hell of a gal."

There was no response. Dee just left. Jack went back to his trick shots.

"Now I believe what I was taught as a child. You Marines are as paranoid as Pravda claimed," said Vitosk sitting in front of Jack's desk.

Pete was pacing the floor behind him, "You are the only one on this ship with a devious enough mind to have pulled this off."

Vitosk grunted, "I was the one who bloody well told you!"

"Good way to cover your tracks. You're a Russian..."

Vitosk looked over his shoulder, "and don't forget a communist as well. Jack how long do I have to listen to this madness?"

Jack remained impassive, "Yurgani, you did tell me that you had apprehensions about the human race reaching other worlds to fight over."

"Oh Jack! How bloody long have you known me? Do you think me capable of such a fiendish act? I want this mission to be successful. It's the best way for me to be able to prove my theories correct."

Pete went on, "You were involved in waging a war against your own government Vitosk. Did you sell your buddies out or maybe were you planning on subverting our efforts for their cause? I mean they should have the plans for our engine by now. If we don't land on this trip, well, they will have a shot at it before us, maybe?"

"That's rubbish Winston and you know it. I was fighting a damn war because the Japanese had come in and bloody well bought the government right out from under the people. Then they deported my wife and child to Kazakhstan because they were not pure enough Russian for them. She had not been a practicing Muslim in years. They died in a cold train car on the way. All the while paid Japanese mercenary guards listened to their pleas for a little food and water, a damn blanket to keep them warm! I can't believe you are so smug as to sit here and question my reasons to fight."

Jack changed the subject, "Yurgani, do you think you can finish the work that Larry started?"

Vitosk shot Pete one last look and then turned back to Jack, "Most certainly. I already had realized the implications of his death. I pulled his plans out of the computer and started my evaluation of them yesterday, with Wu to help me."

Jack nodded, "finish it as quick you can."

That ended the conversation. Vitosk stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Pete rubbed his forehead and bent over a chair, "do you believe him, I mean that he didn't do it?"

"I never thought he did Pete."

"I know," said Pete taking a deep breath. "Problem is I don‘t either. Man like that isn't good at lying about things. He couldn't have made that story up, not in a million years."

Jack nodded and replied, "Yurgani's greatest liability in life is that he always says exactly what he thinks. Since he's head and shoulders above the rest of us nobody ever understands what it is he's saying. The problem comes down to the same thing though. We're fresh out of suspects."

"No," replied Pete. "We just eliminated the top three. Somebody had to have time to tamper with all that stuff. That means privacy on a ship that doesn't have any. What we have to do now is figure out who disappears from time to time. Only way to do that is start questioning the entire crew."

Jack had his reservations about that. They needed to be told. Only one of them was guilty, and maybe a little well directed paranoia right now would make for some decent security. "All right, tell the crew. Start your investigation, but... Pete, I don't want this to slow down the work one little bit. We'll be near the systems Gas Giant in a few days. I need everybody at their post then."

With a nod, Pete left the office. Jack folded his hands. It was not a good way to go. Something about dying alone, in that cold empty void that man called space, was just unsettling. That was what Jack was feeling in the pit of his gut at the moment, a cold unsettling emptiness.