text: Link to the prologue - Link to Part II - She sat stunned, looking at the readout on the monitor. She was not willing to, unable to accept the implication of the data. But Cassandra Alexander had rechecked her findings three times. She had read the notes. She had done the calculations. There could be no mistaking. "This explains the failure at the particle accelerator lab," she thought to herself. "And at the *Lovell Museum*. And, dear God, the *Sea of Tranquility Observation Dome*." But why? Professor Faith Carr was one of the most respected researchers not just at *Zenith*, but probably on the entire moon. Was she capable of going to such lengths to cover her tracks? Did she really hate Nick that much? "*Why*?" She opened another document on the data chip and read. "'*Hestia-3*.' She actually gave the damn thing a name," she whispered to herself. Cassie thought the name sounded like something from Greek mythology. She did a quick search on her PDA. *Hestia* as it turned out was the Greek Goddess of hearth and domestic life. How sickly ironic, she thought. Hestia-3 works at the molecular level. It slowly weakened a standard, five-inch thick haloplex window or container over 5 to 10 hours. Then, sudden failure. "This could be an assassin's wet dream for God's sake," she said aloud. The entire base had been on edge after the S.O.T.O. Dome failure. Everyone believed there was a logical explanation. Sure, there was loose talk about sabotage or a serial killer. However, such ideas were relegated to some obscure forums on the base network. The very idea of an off world serial killer, a first, was too farfetched to take seriously. But a jealous wife? "Why not?" Cassie asked herself as she mulled over the idea. Professor Carr has been intimating for months that she thought Nick was having an affair hasn't she? Cassie recalled dinner at the Carr's the month before. It had started out pleasant. The Carr's had very nice quarters. They were cavernous compared to her three-room hovel. It was one of the benefits of being a highly regarded, senior researcher. Cassie always appreciated being invited there. Things were fine until Faith made that remark about the "leggy brunet" she thought she saw leaving their quarters earlier in the day. Nick seemed amused and took it for a joke. "Not *her* again" he had said with a chuckle. He gave the impression this was not the first time the subject had come up. Professor Carr however showed genuine irritation at his dismissive attitude. For her part, Cassie had let the uncomfortable moment pass and immediately tried to forget about it. However, even if Faith was right. Even if Nick had become a lecherous, cheating, scumbag, she didn't have the right to kill him and his mistress. Nor the ten people who were victims of her "field tests." Under different circumstances, Carr's research and creation would easily have won her a Nobel at the least. She had meticulously documented her research like she was going to make a grant proposal. This brilliant woman had found a unique way to improve haloplex. Then, she turned it into a tool for murder. Safety protocols at *Zenith* and nearby bases had been strengthened since the decompression at *Tranquility* that cost those seven lives. Consensus seemed to be building that a flawed lot of haloplex windows had been produced and installed around *Zenith*. With the recently completed base expansion and renovations, it seemed plausible. Base authorities were assuring the populous that if true, any other windows or containers could be identified via serial numbers and replaced. Haloplex production was tightly monitored and controlled. Everyone knew that. Moreover, the fact two of the three failures had been at interior locations kept people from walking around in vac suits. The death of three people in lab accidents, while tragic did not hold the same terror as death in vacuum. Now, as she sat there alone in the Structural Analysis Lab, Cassie could not see an easy way forward. She could not just make a wild accusation. Carr was head of a major department. She was good friends with several of the base senior administrative staff. And she was her mentor. She wouldn't even be at *Zenith* if it were not for her.