introducing  an excerpt from the first of a new Grant Parachor series:

THE DIAMOND ASTEROID

a Savage and Jones mystery

Becky Savage senior partner of the investigative firm Savage and Jones could smell trouble. She's always had a good nose for trouble. The tubular wall architecture here helped.

“Gosh that's a horrible smell!” The air flow was in her face. Smelly trouble directly ahead. “That Chevrolet!” She thought. The image of her co-partner Chevrolet Jones relaxing at Steel Beach on the other side of the moon stuck a manicured finger in her eye. “I get all the dirty work and she has all the fun!”

A tap of a tab. “Chevrolet. Chevrolet. What are you doing?”

Chevrolet Jones's accepted the call video only.

“Hi Becky. Pedicure. Then a wax and buff.” She was wrapped in towls.

“Check this atmospheric.”

“Yikes! Becky that must smell terrible!”

“Can you holo call me back and go in first?”

“Um what?...you're breaking up...sunspots...gama raysss...Becc”

“I got great pings here.” Becky knew Chevrolet could hear her. The diagnostics showed good coms both ways.

She could still have a decoy by projecting a recorded holo and send it ahead to get shot first. In skins available was one that matched Chevrolet. She gave it Chevrolets face. Looped a six meter sashay walk with a progressive stop/start sequence. Would the image pause be too close? Depends on the trouble.

Hood up, visor closed, air filters testing and scrubing Becky followed the projection warily into the gloomy tube.The curved walls were raw rock with a thin crust of dirty ice. The floor flatened to the limit of the curve for some vehicle.

The holo strode ahead with some fashion model attitude. At ten meters did a shoulder throw turn with the hip thrust of a styling program that knows it looks good. A millisecond flicker then it turned back toward the trouble to resume its loop.

Becky hugged as close to the wall as she could. She crouched like a gunfighter to present a smaller target. It here occurred to her that perhaps she should draw her weapon since she prolly looked like she was about to shoot somebody. A sleek flat black acu-zap appeared in her right hand. The sleeve drop neuro holsters held much more; devices small and expensive she secured anywhere not necessary to her stylish cutaway blast suit. They moved forward another sequence. The acu-zap target aquire scanning saw nothing ahead but round empty.

“ooo” She murmured. The sniffer lami at her collar spiked a reading that was still flashing numbers. Smelly trouble was coming right at her for sure. It seemed like the thick air had gotten under her suit. “Suit air on.” But if she had to run for long she knew it would overload the re-breather membranes and the suit would let the smell back.

The holographic Chevrolet Jones cat-walked the papparazi gauntlet to the pause turn reset.

“Becky.”

What now? thought Becky touching the tab that let the call thru.

“What Chevrolet? Are your coms okay now?”

“Becky wait!”

“Look I'm trying to sneak here. You're not making things easier.” She had to move to catch up with simulated Chevrolet whose last pause turn had to be getting close to the projectors limits.

“Abort! Abort! Get out of that tube tunnel now!”

Becky couldn't help but think: “She's always doing this...interrupting me with dire warnings. Here we go again...” She spoke on coms: “I took this job and you were too busy to help and now here I am sneaking up on trouble and you gotta call and butt in again!”

“It's no trick. I'm not sure you know what you're up against.”

Huh... she used the word 'trick'? Becky wondered ...are we in the 'trick' code mode? Time to move another ten meter chunk. That code word means coms are compromised. No doubt she has been zeroed by some targeting program. Her suit starts the emag spoofing routine to shift her biosignals closer to the holo.

“I know it really stinks. Hey. You could help by calling back on a holo line and go up with the other you to draw more fire.” The acu-zap made her trigger finger tickle, which means a target in range. Too far to tell what? Animal or deadly kill-bot in a very straight tunnel moving at four KPH. Dark Shadows camo starts its magic. Becky becomes a section of curved rock.The fashion model Chevrolet is put on pause standing with one beautifuly shoed foot raised to step back into the sequence looking saucily toward the unknown.

Another holographic Chevrolet twinkled into conversational mode in front of Becky. She appeared armed with several weapons systems.

“Turn around and step to the side please. They shoot at you I'll get hit.” Real Chevrolet, as usual safely hundreds of kilometers away. ”Can you see ahead of me?”

“You got to get a better cam lami. It's like looking through soup.”

“That's the air.”