Ares 13

I wrote this long before the Martian came out. Now it feels a little like this has been done before, except, the Martian had no one with which to ease his tension. Nor was there a monster on the loose.

*****

"No" Monica murmured. Still, she tilted her head exposing her neck.

Brian brushed her blond tresses aside and trailed kisses down that deliciously vulnerable flesh to her collar bone. He nuzzled her a moment then continued to slowly nudge her jumpsuit from her shoulder.

"Brian," she moaned breathlessly. "We gotta stop. I promised."

Brian chuckled. "John's outside. Besides, you knew when you made that promise you couldn't keep it."

"It's not right." Tears welled in her eyes. "We're married."

"We've been in this tin can for four months. It'll be another month and a half before we get out. John deals with the stress by going outside. Donna and Judie take their pills. You and me, we rut. Only Andy seems to be coping okay." He planted a kiss atop her breast.

Monica gasped, a shiver racked her athletic figure. She hated to admit it, but Brian was right. Being locked in Ares 13, nearly thirty million miles from Earth, never feeling the sun, never feeling the wind, never smelling the trees, was beginning to drive her nuts. Going outside was no help either. A space suite was just another tin can.

And the dullness was killing her. She needed release. She needed excitement. John couldn't provide that. Their marriage was too safe.

She wrapped her legs about Brian and pushed off the wall before she drifted into it. Entangled in each-other they spun slightly and floated across Ares 13's small medical bay.

"What about the others? What about Donna?"

"My wife's busy. So are the others. Besides if anyone walks in on us I'll just say I was performing an exam." He slipped his hands around her waist, inside her jumpsuit. It was unzipped all the way now and stripped down to her elbows.

"This does not feel like an exam Dr. Barnsworth," she simpered. "It won't look like one either."

"I should hope not" he replied, huskily.

The only warning was a slight popping in her ears as the medical bay's pressure equalized with the hall's. Donna, pretty, tall, dark haired Donna, shoved her head through the hatch.

Monica and Brian leapt apart. Half turned, blushing scarlet Monica wrangled her jumpsuit back on.

"She thought she might be pregnant," Brian blurted at Donna. He didn't quite meet her eyes. "I was, I was checking for her."

Donna's eyes, initially wide with fear, narrowed and her lips compressed as she looked from her husband to Monica to her husband again. Donna's face turned an angry shade of red.

Donna visibly wrestled down her instinctive response and rather snapped, "John's in trouble! He needs a doctor, a wife, not whores! God knows he deserves that much!" She turned and pulled herself into the hall not bothering to look back.

The blood drained from Monica's face.

"What's wrong with John?" she cried, launching herself after Donna. She really did love John, or she thought she did. She couldn't imagine her life without him.

"He's not breathing!"

When Brian arrived in the crowded little maintenance module that housed the vessel's primary airlock Monica was already tearing at that seals that held John's astrohelm in place. Andy, still suited up himself, held Judie, his red-haired wife, who was so pale her lips looked blue. Brian suspected she was going into shock. She'd always been delicate that way.

"John. John! JOHN!" Monica screamed. There was no response. Futilely she peered into his faceplate. It was so fogged his face couldn't be seen. At last her shaking hands popped the last seal and his helm pulled free.

White mist drifted from the helm, from John's suite and even his stiff lips. The stench of ammonia filled the room. She and the other women shrank back in horror. John, high-school quarterback, valedictorian, air-force pilot, commander of Ares 13, friend and companion of the past many years and Monica's husband, was unmistakably dead.

"How?" she sobbed.

"Ammonia, he clearly died of ammonia inhalation. But it doesn't make sense," Brian mused. "If the ammonia was in his oxygen tank it would've frozen and not been a problem. If it'd been anywhere else he'd smelt it before he gone out the hatch."

"Not if his tank was nearly empty," Andy supplied.

"He wasn't out there that long. His tank couldn't've been empty," Donna said.

"That's not even his SCBA." Monica's eyes grew wide with horror. "That's mine."

"Why'd he use your pack?" Judie squeaked. "He's never breaking regs."

"Here's why." Andy picked up another SCBA, John's. The breathing regulator was missing. There was one, in pieces, stuck on the magnetic work bench. "John mentioned he was having trouble with it yesterday."

"You're all missing the point," Donna screamed. She wrung her hands nervously. "It doesn't matter how John died. What matters is who murdered him!"

Judie squealed. Her hands flew to her mouth. She blanched still further.

"Or," Brian added, turning to look at Monica, "who was tryin' to murder Monica? And," he said after a pause. "When will they try again?"

Judie threw up.

Monica felt like throwing up too.

***

Funerals were simple in space. Say a few words and ship the body out the air lock. They'd all seen in done in Sci-Fi movies. Truth was, John's was the first deep space burial ever.

Afterward, Andy, sent them all back to their quarters while he radioed Earth. He'd had a hard time pealing Judie, his wife and commanding officer, off him in the quarters they shared. Monica imagined the terrified bitch still sobbing.

Strange that she'd rather liked Judie just a few hours ago. Now Monica wondered whether if it was Judie or Donna who was trying to murder her. God knew they both had enough reason to hate her. After all, she was rutting with Donna's husband and she, not Judie, had been Andy's first choice for wife. Not that Monica had ever really been interested.

As Monica was contemplating this, shouting broke out down the hall. Brian and Donna were fighting. She could hear them despite the hatches separating them from her.

She remembered how she and John had fought when he'd first discovered her infidelity. Now she missed his shouting. For the first time in a very long time her bed was going to be cold come her sleep shift. Between that, the terror she felt, another month or so to Mars, then nine years on Mars followed by six more back to Earth her bed seemed very lonely indeed.

It'd seemed so much more reasonable when they'd all been back home. At twenty-two she'd felt invincible. She'd felt anything was possible. At twenty-three she wondered if she'd live to see twenty-four. If she did, she wondered if she'd be sane.

There was a slight popping in Monica's ears and the airlock to the living module swished open. If you could storm down halls and slam airlocks in space Monica imagined that's exactly what Brian would have been doing. His face was beet red and he was clearly fuming.

"That pill sodden adict bitch!" he bellowed, as he floated into Monica's room. "She thinks I did it!"

"Well, you do have motive," Andy said, floating in behind him.

"I didn't do it!" Brian roared, whirling on Andy. Brian had quite a bit more bulk than spindly Andy and for a moment it looked as though he might try and strangle him.

"I didn't say you did it," Andy replied, floating around Brian to position himself between Brian and Monica. "I said you had motive."

Brian's face burned an even hotter red. Andy's arm twitched nervously. Both Brian and Monica's eyes flew to his side arm. Only the senior officer and the first mate had them, and, up until now, they'd both been locked away. Monica figured it made sense that Earth had given Andy the access code to the captain's weapon seeing as Judie already had access to the first mate's.

Brian opened his mouth to say something when Judie's scream reverberated throughout Ares 13's hull. All three pushed off the walls and raced to the room she shared with Andy. She wasn't there.

The scream reverberated through the vessel again.

"My bunk," Brian gasped.

They pulled themselves another airlock down the hall. Judie rocketed out so fast she yelped when she slammed into the opposite bulkhead.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," she gasped.

"Get a grip on yourself!" Andy cried, grabbing Judie. "What happened?"

"That happened," Brian said, in a leaden voice.

Monica looked to where he was pointing. Within the living module he shared with his wife Donna floated limply, her face drained of emotion, her eyes dead. Monica didn't need to see the pills floating about the room, bumping off the floor, walls, and ceiling to know she'd O.D.'d.

"These aren't Donna's pills," Brain said, catching one out of the air. He pulled one in half, letting the little grains spill out into the air.

His face drained of all color. The shadows of shock, and then horror, passed over him. "These aren't hers, with the amount of blissticain she's got in her system these'd kill her."

The barrel of Andy's gun nudged into Brian's temple. Monica gasped. Judie screamed.

"What the hell!" Brian bellowed, jerking away. Andy followed him smoothly. "Get that thing away from me!"

"It was you," Andy said, speaking softly. "I don't know how you pulled of John's murder but this time you had both the motive and the means, Dr. Barnsworth."

"I didn't kill my own wife!"

"Only you have access to the meds."

"No! That's not true. Judie's on phlandrothal. See the blue grains, its phlandrothal, just, just, just packaged in wrong case."

"But Judie has no reason to kill Donna," Monica whispered.

"No! Monica! Don't say that," Brian cried, grabbing her and shaking her. "I didn't do it. You know that!"

"Let go!" Monica screamed, punching, hitting, and trying to fight him off.

"John's my best friend! Donna's my wife! I didn't kill them!"

"Strange way you show it," Andy sneered. "I'm sure John thanked you personally for bangin' his wife. I bet Donna loved that too."

Brian let go of Monica with one hand and backhanded Andy, sending him spinning. Monica kicked Brian while he was distracted. He half doubled over his crotch and flung Monica away.

She smashed into the bulkhead. Her head rammed into a strut. Pain blossomed in her skull. Something red, hot and sticky spurted from her brow. Nausea swallowed her and then blackness pounced. Something loud thundered through the ship and then she knew no more.

***

"Wha...what happened?" she moaned. Her voice sounded like thunder in her head. It seemed like some sort of asteroid drill were delving into her skull. Every now and then something dabbed at her forehead setting off quasars of fiery pain in her brain. Everything hurt, even her eyeballs ached.

"It was Brian," Andy said. "He went berserk and was trying to kill you. I...I shot him. Both he and Donna are already gone."

"But why? It doesn't make sense."

"I think it was because you tried to deny him. John was in the way of your relationship so he killed him. Donna figured it out. He had to get rid of her."

"No, ouch, god that hurts."

"Here, you're awake now so I can give you this." There was a sharp pain in the fleshy part of her thigh. Almost immediately the throbbing in her head went away. A strange tingling warmth took its place.

"Andy, I'm naked," she giggled. "Oh!" she exclaimed her hand flying to her mouth. She felt so good now. Nothing really mattered. The whole affair suddenly seemed funny. Briefly she wondered if she were going hysterical. It was all she could do to keep from laughing.

Andy snorted.

"Yah, philandrothal has that affect Judie too. Only the shot works faster I'm thinking. I might have given you too much."

"Gods Andy," Monica said. A little laughter stretched her ribs, when it spilled out her mouth the asteroid drill fired up in her head for a moment, helping to douse her mirth. "Why am I naked?"

"You're not. Your briefs are on." Andy smirked. "Though, I admit, they don't hide much. They aren't air force standard issue are they?"

Monica blushed hotly and looked down. She witnessed Andy's arousal. She fought a smile, and failed.

"Gods, why am I smiling," her mind screamed. Almost giggling again she said, "You're not answering my question."

"I had to check to make sure you weren't injured anywhere else. You've got quite a few bruises, " he replied more seriously. "Now that Dr. Barnsworth is gone someone had to fill his role. You saw Judie. She's hopeless right now. I bet she's more hopped up on philandrothal than you are."

Just then Monica's ears popped again. They both jerked their eyes to the air lock. Judie flew in. Her red hair frazzled, her green eyes wild and if she was dosed up on philandrothal it wasn't working. Her gun was pointed right at them.

"You did it!" she screamed. "You killed them!"

Andy kicked off of Monica, flinging the two of them apart. Judie's gun thundered. There was a flash of light and the shattering of glass. The module went dark, liming Judie in the glow of the open airlock. Andy's gun spit, once, twice, three times. Judie corpse tumbled back into the hall.

When the lights came back on Monica was trembling against the bulkhead. Her body jerked and spasmed as the chemical rush of philandrothal warred with the horrors she'd witnessed that day. When Andy floated up she clung to him, her skin, raw against his jumpsuit.

And he crushed her close while she sobbed. Then he kissed her on the neck.

The effect was like lightening in an alfalfa field.

Philandrothal, horror and the kiss ignited in a conflagration of sensation that locked her heart and made her gasp.

When the hammering of her heart reasserted itself, Andy was already trailing kisses down her collar bone. He kissed her right where Brian's hot lips had emblazoned their passion less than an hour before.

Brian, she'd met him on a ski trip. Judie, John, Andy and Donna had all gone up to Snow Basin while on leave from Hill Air Force Base. Donna had brought her new boyfriend, a doctor. For Brian and Monica, it had been lust at first sight. He'd followed her into a deserted restroom and bent her over a marble counter.

Upon leaving her illicit tryst she'd bumped into Andy. Somehow he'd known. He'd been angry. She could see that he seethed. Still, she'd begged him not to say anything and he hadn't.

Andy's lips moved up to hers. He kissed her, long and deep, bringing her back to the present. He saddled her in his lap.

Judie had once teased her about how she sat her saddle. Donna, Judie and Monica had all been together at Saltair Farms practicing their equestrian.

Monica had been doing particularly good. Finally, after years of practice, posting was coming naturally. Judie had said it was from all the off the field practice with John. Monica had turned scarlet. Andy, always on the sidelines, had scowled. Donna had laughed.

Just remembering, Monica blushed. Andy chuckled in response. Then he welded his lips to hers. He thrust his tongue into her mouth.

Taken by surprise, she let him. His breath was hot, moist and full of need. It filled her. She felt herself respond and twined her legs about him. Tangled together they drifted back and bumped into the wall.

The first time John had kissed her they'd nearly fallen over too. It had been homecoming game; the Layton Lancers versus the Redridge Knights.

The Lancers had won and John, their quarterback, had, in his excitement, grabbed up the nearest cheerleader and kissed her. He'd staggered several steps as Monica, equally excited, had wrapped herself about him.

When she'd come up for air, Andy had been standing there, a devastated look in his eye and a mangled rose in his hand. She had known then that it had been for her.

But he was kissing her now; again, again and again. The lack of air, not to mention injury to her head, was reigniting her headache. Something small, hard and cool drifted into her hand. She caught it, and pressed it to her aching head.

Several years before Judie's joke, Monica had fallen off her horse. She'd hit her head. It was the worst headache she'd ever had. She'd first met Donna when she'd brought the Tylenol and ice.

Donna had helped Monica to a filthy couch that was only marginally cleaner than the dirt she'd landed in. It had smelt more of horse than most horses. Still, Donna had held her hand while Monica cried. Peeking through her tears and from under the bag of melting ice, she'd seen Andy standing there wringing his hands.

The cool metal she held pressed up against her head felt good. Not so, the cold breath of air upon her cheeks as Andy stripped her bikini briefs. He explored her with his hands and then pressed her close. It hurt. Not physically, but deep within her breast.

The last time she'd let Andy explore her they'd been playing doctor. He was the boy next door, a brother she really didn't have, a strange mystery.

They'd been doing something naughty. They'd known it. It excited them, though they didn't know why. Andy had claimed then and there that as her best friend and doctor, that she should always be his. She'd agreed.

Andy's excitement went into overdrive as he took possession of Monica. Monica's body pulsed. Pain passion memory regret tore at her ravaged senses. Trying to dull the pain, she pressed cold metal into her arcing temple.

Andy grunted.

Monica sobbed. She pulled the trigger.