Skyler was waiting for him in his office. Her face looked grim.

“What?”

“We have a problem.”

Teague clicked his teeth, then held up his hand to stop her. “This sounds like what our old friend Mike calls a two-finger problem.”

Ignoring his ex-wife’s questioning glare, Teague moved around his desk and opened a drawer, pulling out two shot glasses and a bottle of Kentucky bourbon.

Skyler shook her head in mock disapproval. “From Mike’s personal stores no doubt.”

“For medicinal purposes,” Teague said, uncapping the bottle and carefully pouring the contents into the shot glasses. The alcohol seemed to float for a long moment between the mouth of the bottle and each glass, like an amber waterfall on pause, and for a second Teague half expected it to go floating toward the ceiling in a big brown bubble like it would have on board the ISS.

Teague took a shot glass and downed it, gasping as the burning liquid hit his throat and lingered there. “OK. What is it?”

“I examined Morrison’s wound,” she said, taking the other shot glass and draining it. She shivered and slammed it back down on the desk. “Hit me again.”

As Teague refilled both glasses she continued. “There were foreign particles in the wound. I figured it was part of whatever that person, or whatever he was, killed him with. It’s very strange. Like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

Teague leaned back in his chair. “Is it dangerous?”

The doctor scowled. “I don’t think so. It seems to be completely inert. But complex. Exotic. As in completely beyond our current materials science. I think it’s some form of programmable matter.”

Teague shook his head. “I’m going to need another two fingers. Want a refill?”

Skyler turned her shot glass upside down and planted it on the desk between them. “Harry. This is serious. I think someone up here is playing around with this stuff.”

“Weaponizing it,” Teague added.

“Yes. And god knows what else. Chief Badawi said a naked man was running around on the surface of the Moon covered in this stuff. There’s no telling what else this substance can do.”

“And you’re sure the stuff you pulled from Morrison’s wound isn’t dangerous? Toxic?”

“I don’t think so. But I can’t know for sure. I don’t know what this stuff uses as a catalyst.”

Teague considered pouring himself another shot, then capped the bottle. “Be careful handling it. Full PPE. No one touches it but you. And quarantine Morrison’s body.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Way ahead of you. Want me to destroy the samples?”

Teague swiveled in his chair toward the window and the ashy lunar landscape, the blue-green curve of the Earth just beyond. “No. I need to call Steen, and we’ll need proof that I’m not crazy.”

Teague pondered the flat gray expanse of the Sea of Serenity. Once the ultimate destination, the Moon had been conquered. It was staid. Boring. At least it had been a few hours ago. Now it held new, hidden dangers Teague could barely wrap his mind around. He half expected to see a naked man covered in silver-black goo leap out of a shallow crater. He turned from the row of windows, hitting a button on his desk. Metal shades slid down over them.

“So what happened out there?” Did you find the body?”

“No. It was gone. Someone took it, and we think we know where. There’s an airlock out in the middle of nowhere, beyond the solar farm. Our chief of security thinks it’s part of another, older facility.”

Teague could see the chill pass through her as she slumped into the chair across from him. “This just keeps getting deeper and darker, doesn’t it.” It wasn't a question.

Teague nodded. Skyler took her shot glass and flipped it upright once more. “Hit me again.”

“OK,” said Teague. “Let’s see if we can figure this out. Someone up here is experimenting with programmable matter. Maybe trying to use it to make a weapon. They were doing a field test when their subject is spotted, and it kills Morrison—and tries to kill Chief Badawi—to cover it up. Donovan was in on it, perhaps using his authority as base commander to cover everything up. Only he was found out and sent home to be interrogated to find out what is going on."

“So they killed him before he could testify,” said Skyler. “And this sinister show, whatever it is, is still going on.”

“And they don’t care who they hurt or kill to keep it a secret,” said Teague. He sighed. “This is not what I signed on for. I’m sorry I dragged you up here.”

Skyler fixed him with a bemused grin. “You didn’t drag me anywhere, Harry. You never have. I came because I wanted to. And because you can’t do it without me. In eight months I’m going to deliver the first child born on another world. I wouldn’t miss that for anything. Silver metal Moon monsters and all.”

“I just hope we can last that long,” said Teague.

His desk chimed, startling him. The decryption was finished.

“I need to take care of something,” he said. His expression told her it was important, and she nodded once before leaving the room.

Teague moved to his desk, locking the door and calling up the drive’s previously encrypted contents. The data flickered into existence on his screen.

“Maintenance schematics,” Teague whispered. Only not of Luna 1, but another complex buried underground nearby. A chill fled up his spine.

He pinged Jasleen. A moment later her face appeared in the corner of his view screen.

“I have something to show you,” he said.

“Send it to my slate.”

Teague hesitated, considering her request. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Can you come to my ready room?”

“I’ll be right there,” she said, signing off.

Ten minutes later she was standing before him, her dark hair in a ponytail. She was wearing navy blue sweats and a thin bead of perspiration. That reminded Teague he needed to hit the gym. Physical exercise was more important in space than it was on Earth. It was easy to lose muscle tone even in one-sixth gravity.

“What I’m about to show you cannot leave this room.” He swung his screen around.

“Schematics,” she said. “Of an underground facility?”

“Nearby,” Teague added. “Look familiar?”

She shook her head, then her eyes grew wide. “The thing that killed Morrison came from there.”

“That’s what I’m guessing.”

“Where did you get this?”

“Donovan slipped this to me in an encrypted drive before he dashed off to meet his maker. It took this long to decrypt.”

“What do you think it means?”

“I think it means that we’re in big trouble.”