She grabbed the handholds and started pulling herself up over the cylindrical pod to check the panels on the other side. Glancing back behind herself, she caught a beautiful view of the planet below.
Harper stopped and made herself take it all in. The orange, white, and cream bands of Jupiter could take your breath away. Today, she could even see the famous superstorm of the Great Red Spot. She’d been on the Fortuna Research Station for almost eighteen months. That meant, despite the amazing view, she really didn’t see it anymore.
She turned her head and looked down the length of the space station. At the end was the giant circular donut that housed the main living quarters and offices. The main ring rotated to provide artificial gravity for the residents. Lying off the center of the ring was the long cylinder of the research facility, and off that cylinder were several modules that housed various scientific labs and storage. At the far end of the station was the docking area for the supply ships that came from Earth every few months.
“Lieutenant Adams? Have you finished those checks?”
Harper heard the calm voice of her fellow space marine and boss, Captain Samantha Santos, through the comm system in her helmet.
“Almost done,” Harper answered.
“Take a good look at the botany module. The computer’s showing some strange energy spikes, but the scientists in there said everything looks fine. Must be a system malfunction.”
Which meant the geek squad engineers were going to have to come in and do some maintenance. “On it.”
Harper swung her body around, and went feet-first down the other side of the module. She knew the rest of the security team—all made up of United Nations Space Marines—would be running similar checks on the other modules across the station. They had a great team to ensure the safety of the hundreds of scientists aboard the station. There was also a dedicated team of engineers that kept the guts of the station running.
She passed a large, solid window into the module, and could see various scientists floating around benches filled with all kinds of plants. They all wore matching gray jumpsuits accented with bright-blue at the collars, that indicated science team. There was a vast mix of scientists and disciplines aboard—biologists, botanists, chemists, astronomers, physicists, medical experts, and the list went on. All of them were conducting experiments, and some were searching for alien life beyond the edge of the solar system. It seemed like every other week, more probes were being sent out to hunt for radio signals or collect samples.
Since humans had perfected large solar sails as a way to safely and quickly propel spacecraft, getting around the solar system had become a lot easier. With radiation pressure exerted by sunlight onto the mirrored sails, they could travel from Earth to Fortuna Station orbiting Jupiter in just a few months. And many of the scientists aboard the station were looking beyond the solar system, planning manned expeditions farther and farther away. Harper wasn’t sure they were quite ready for that.
She quickly checked the adjacent control panel. Among all the green lights, she spotted one that was blinking red, and she frowned. They definitely had a problem with the locking system on the exterior door at the end of the module. She activated the small propulsion pack on her spacesuit, and circled around the module. She slowed down as she passed the large, round exterior door at the end of the cylindrical module.
It was all locked into place and looked secure.
As she moved back to the module, she grabbed a handhold and then tapped the small tablet attached to the forearm of her suit. She keyed in a request for maintenance to come and check it.
She looked up and realized she was right near another window. Through the reinforced glass, a pretty, curvy blonde woman looked up and spotted Harper. She smiled and waved. Harper couldn’t help but smile and lifted her gloved hand in greeting.
Dr. Regan Forrest was a botanist and a few years younger than Harper. The young woman was so open and friendly, and had befriended Harper from her first day on the station. Harper had never had a lot of friends—mainly because she’d been too busy raising her younger sister and working. She’d never had time for girly nights out or gossip.
But Regan was friendly, smart, and had the heart of a steamroller under her pretty exterior. Harper always had trouble saying no to her. Maybe the woman reminded her a little of Brianna. At the thought of her sister, something twisted painfully in Harper’s chest.
Regan floated over to the window and held up a small tablet. She’d typed in some words.
Cards tonight?
Harper had been teaching Regan how to play poker. The woman was terrible at it, and Harper beat her all the time. But Regan never gave up.
Harper nodded and held up two fingers to indicate a couple of hours. She was off-shift shortly, and then she had a sparring match with Regan’s cousin, Rory—one of the station engineers—in the gym. Aurora “Call me Rory or I’ll hit you” Fraser had been trained in mixed martial arts, and Harper found the female engineer a hell of a sparring partner. Rory was teaching Harper some martial arts moves and Harper was showing the woman some basic sword moves. Since she was little, Harper had been a keen fencer.
Regan grinned back and nodded. Then the woman’s wide smile disappeared. She spun around, and through the glass Harper could see the other scientists all looking around, concerned. One scientist was spinning around, green plants floating in the air around him, along with fat droplets of water and some other green fluid. He’d clearly screwed up and let his experiment get free.
“Lieutenant Adams?” The captain’s voice came through her helmet again. “Harper?”
There was a sense of urgency that made Harper’s belly tighten. “Go ahead, Captain.”
“We have an alarm sounding in the botany module. The computer says there is a risk of decompression.”
Dammit. “I just checked the security panels. The locking mechanism on the exterior door is showing red. I did a visual inspection and it’s closed up tight.”
“Okay, we talked with the scientist in charge. Looks like one of her team let something loose in there. It isn’t dangerous, but it must be messing with the alarm sensors. System’s locked them all in there.” She made an annoyed sound. “Idiots will have to stay there until engineering can get down there and free them.”
Harper studied the room through the glass again. Some of the green liquid had floated over to another bench that contained various frothing cylinders on it. A second later, the cylinders shattered, their contents bubbling upward.
The scientists all moved to the back exit of the module, banging on the locked door. Damn. They were trapped.
Harper met Regan’s gaze. Her friend’s face was pale, and wisps of her blonde hair had escaped her ponytail, floating around her face.
“Captain,” Harper said. “Something’s wrong. The experiments have overflowed their containment.” She could see the scientists were all coughing.
“Engineering is on the way,” the captain said.
Harper pushed herself off, flying over the surface of the module. She reached the control panel and saw that several other lights had turned red. They needed to get this under control and they needed to do it now.
“Harper!” The captain’s panicked voice. “Decompression in progress!”
What the hell? The module jerked beneath Harper. She looked up and saw the exterior door blow off, flying away from the station.