Sam found the strength somewhere to roll over and lie flat on the wrinkled sheets.  He felt as if his brain had melted. A sigh from his partner brought a smile to his face then when all the possibilities of just what that sigh might mean occurred to him, he changed it to a frown.  Rising up on one elbow, he laid a gentle hand on the hirsute chest next to him.

 “Are you all right, Seth?”  He couldn’t keep the note of uncertainty from his voice.  “Did I hurt you?”

 Green eyes opened slowly while long fingers found his.  “You could never hurt me, love.  I feel wonderful.”  He brought Sam’s hand up to his lips for a gentle nip.  “You felt so good that I may be forced to let you have your wicked way with me every night.”

 Sam blushed a glowing red and hid his face against the shoulder nearest him.  “I’ve never felt anything like that before.  I almost lost it when I . . .”

 “But you didn’t, Sam.  Did you enjoy it?  Enough to want to do it again?”  The low voice teased him, while one hand came up to pet his hair.

 He raised his head in disbelief.  “Already?  What did you have for dinner last night – spinach?  I think you may have mistaken me for Superman.  It will be a couple of days before I recover from this bout.  But of course, I enjoyed it.  I loved it almost as much as I love you.”

 “Oh good, that saves me from going out and committing hara-kiri with my dress sword.”

 “Idiot.”  Sam snickered and licked his way up the slightly salty skin of the long throat to the bristly patch just under Seth’s chin.

 He gave a gusty sigh and tilted his head to facilitate Sam’s caress.  “I can see it now.  I’ll have to write for advice.  Dear Ann, The honeymoon is over.  My little Pookie Bear is calling me names and setting limits on how often we have sex.  What ever shall I do to rekindle the flame of desire in our relationship?  Signed – Over the Moon with Love.”

 Sam was laughing so hard by now that he could barely catch a breath.  He found himself pulled up and over Seth’s body like a blanket in what had become their favorite position.  His lover was smirking up at him and he fell in love all over again with this wonderful man who’d stolen his heart.

 Their chuckles finally died down and Sam watched the beloved face without a trace of worry for what seemed to be the first time in weeks.  March had been a hectic month, fraught with worry and dread over whether or not there was a conspiracy to kill off all of Moon Base.  This first week in April had seemed calmer and lest frantic.  They’d gotten the solar furnace set up and working.  The engineers who’d invented it had come up to get it going and ended up settling in for the long haul.

  They were back to building their future instead of worrying about the past.  Sam traced Seth’s lips with the tips of his fingers.  He’d learned something about himself an hour ago.  When he woke up horny now, he had a partner ready and willing to make love. And he could give pleasure as well as accept it from his lover.  A smile fought to get out when he thought about the moans he’d wrung from Seth.

 “What evil little plan are you concocting now?”

 Sam wiggled just a bit and watched Seth’s eyes go sultry.  “It’s a good thing the doors finally got installed or Peter would have been in here investigating who was being murdered.”

 Seth laughed out loud and rolled them over so he blanketed him in return.  “I think you made some very interesting noise yourself, love.”  He swooped in for a kiss that ghosted over Sam’s lips like a phantom caress.  “I especially liked that little,” nibble “whimper” loving nip “you gave” moist lick “It was” tender sucking of a sensitive lower lip “inspiring”.

 <whimper>

 His lover pulled back just far enough to whisper, “Got’cha.”

 Sam didn’t care at that point.  “Yes, you do.  Now, what are you going to do with me?”

 “Love you silly, rest up and then do it again?”

 “Works for me, Studly.”

 Seth stopped nibbling at Sam’s ear.  “Studly?  Is there something I don’t know about, Pookie?  Have you been reading those trashy romances again?”

 Sam put on a shocked look.  “You don’t like Studly, Big Bear?”

 “Oh, you are so full of it, Little Bear.”

 Sam thrust his pelvis up gently.  “Big enough for you, Dragon Loins.”

 That smile was back.  “You are indeed, Angel Soul.”

 They grinned tenderly at each other.  “Speaking of souls, do you have any idea what Ruth did to Father Adam?”

 Seth sobered.  “Whatever it was had a more profound effect then meeting aliens did.  He still plays devil’s advocate but the bitter, almost fearful bite is gone.  I’d say he finally reconciled his faith with Ruth’s existence.”

 “That little air of distaste is gone as well, the one he had every time he saw us together.”  Sam added.  “I just wonder what kind of epiphany he had.  And why he is so adamant about sticking to Ruth.  Now she’s got two shadows.  Although I have to admit that they make for some interesting classes.  You should have been there for the last Comparative Religions class.  Running Elk, Grandmother, Ruth and Father Adam pretty much duked it out for an hour and a half while Joe played referee.  The kids loved it.”

 “The computer recorded it so if work ever slows down I should be able to watch and listen.”

 “Is it recording every class?”  Sam still felt a little in awe of the Base computer.

 “Yes, along with every shift in the command center but not any of the private rooms or the medical clinic.  However, it also records everything in the science lab and the air locks.”  Seth rolled off Sam.  “One of these days, I firmly expect the computer to become sentient.  It’s so far beyond what we once thought a computer should be that it would be scary if not for one thing.”

 Sam stretched before raising up on one elbow.  “What one thing?”

 “The fact that it grew from Ruth’s cerebral cortex.  She’s got the strictest sense of right and wrong that I’ve ever seen.  And the computer’s crystal nexus is the power crystal from Atlantis.  I wonder if it holds any memories within it from the Before Times?”

 “I don’t know but all of us on base have added our memories in one form or another to the memory banks.”

 “True.  We’ve all contributed to its growth.”

 “Ahem, Colonel Griffin.  I prefer to be called a ‘she’, Commander.”  The rather prim soprano voice came from the speaker over their bed.  “It is eight o’clock and the two of you have a meeting at nine.  If you do not take too long in the sonics again, you will have time for breakfast.”

 “Thank you.”  Seth’s strangled voice was an entire octave higher while he tried not to laugh out loud.

 “You are welcome, Colonel.  Doctor Hamilton, there was a slight accident on third shift but Nurse Kennedy took care of the burn.”

 “Did Ruth show up?”  Sam was already rolling out of bed, ready to start the day.

 The computer hesitated before replying.  “I informed her of the accident but she did not go to the clinic.”

 Sam stopped with one arm in and one arm out of his robe.  Locking gazes with Seth, he felt a frisson of danger.  “Did she say why?”

 “She said she would check on him today.”

 “Thank you.  Have you given any more thought to what we should call you?”

 “I have been going through the data banks for names but so far I have not found one to my liking.”  The female voice seemed to sigh.  “Why do humans have so many names for the same thing?”

 Sam smiled at Seth and motioned for him to take that one.  He was still worried about why Ruth had ceased responding to their accidents.  After she’d recharged the last time, she’d promised to tell them when she was getting too depleted.  He headed for the sonic shower still thinking.  She’d taken to touching everyone for a brief moment except for the children and Lenora who was six months pregnant.

 Standing in the invisible waves of sonic pulses, he scrubbed his skin with the long handled natural bristled brush.  The flakes of dead skin fell to the floor and the low-level vacuum at floor level disposed of them.  Stepping from the shower, he grabbed the electric razor and began to shave.  Continuing his inner dialogue, he wondered why she was storing up energy.  She hadn’t mentioned any dreams lately but then she rarely did.

 More importantly, none of the others had reported any odd or prophetic dreams.  He grinned at the mirror while he shaved just under his chin.  Not every computer did dream interpretation like theirs did.  With over five hundred people now housed at the Base, there were a lot of dreams to process.  They were kept private but if the computer felt help was needed, she would suggest a talk with either Joe or Sam.

 He shrugged back into his robe for the trip out of the bathroom.  They’d set up some ground rules about communal living in case Peter needed some privacy.  That meant not running around naked in the living room.  Going into ‘his’ room where his clothes were stored, Sam chose his favorite red roll-neck sweater over a pair of gray linen pants.  The lab coat he wore in the clinic covered up his clothes but when he got out and about, he preferred not to wear it.
 Coming out into the living room, he saw Peter just exiting the bathroom.  His bone-cracking yawn made Sam wince in sympathy.  “Rough night?”

 “Morning, Sam.  Nah, nothing special.  I just didn’t sleep very well.  Weird dream.”  Peter scratched his freshly shaved chin pensively.

 Sam felt that shiver again, the one that seemed to come when something big was going to happen.  “What kind of dream?  Can you be more specific?”

 Peter perched on the arm of the sofa, his blue eyes far away.  “It’s hot.  I’m standing in the middle of a desert but the wind is blowing the sound of water to me.  So I head in the direction of the wind.  West, I think.  Fantastic mirages appear and disappear beside me like heat visions.  A river, an evergreen tree, a shimmering bright blue jewel, one right after the other like a movie.”

 Silence fell and Sam waited to see if there was more but when Peter just sat there, he ventured a comment.  “Did you keep walking or did you get somewhere?”

 “Um, I never got there but the sense of urgency kept growing.  Like I needed to get there but the sand kept slowing me down.”

 “Did you have a sense of what you were going to do when you got there?”  The prim computer voice entered the conversation.

 He frowned.  “No, I just had to get there.  Wait . . .” He got up and paced slowly around the perimeter of the room.  “I was to meet someone, I think.  Someone who had something for me.  Maybe.”

 Sam nodded.  “Computer, were any other dreams reported this morning?”

 “Two test anxiety dreams.  I promised to work with them on their algebra and U.S. History.”

 He and Peter exchanged a smile, remembering their student days when those dreams were par for the course.  “Good idea, Computer.  I think we can safely put those under normal anxiety.  Peter, if you remember anymore, please let me know.  I have the feeling that we’re heading for a confrontation that could prove dangerous.”

 “Will do.”  Peter yawned again and headed into his bedroom.  “I think Ruth is holding out on us but she told the Padre what it is.”

 Was that a hurt note in his voice?  Sam wondered for a moment then lost his train of thought when a bare chested Seth wandered out, heading for the bathroom.  The things that man could do with a sleepy look, he sighed to himself before leaving for the clinic to check on what had happened during third shift.  Ella Kennedy had finished writing up the burn patient and he signed off on him before walking with her down to the dining hall.

 Breakfast seemed totally normal to him except that Ruth wasn’t there.  Joe was though and Sam made his way to the elderly man absentmindedly spooning up oatmeal.  His eyes were far away and Sam wondered if he should break into his brown study or let him be.  But the decision was taken from him when the warning klaxon went off with a banshee howl.

 Everyone left off eating and headed for their duty stations, the children rounded up by their designated grownups and taken to the family quarters.  The blast doors closed behind them and would not be reopened until the emergency was over.  Sam found himself back in the clinic, praying that this was just a drill and not the attack they feared from Earth.

 He and Ella laid out trays of instruments, quickly and neatly while hoping that they wouldn’t be needed.  The other doctors showed up, rubbing sleepy eyes and still pulling on bits of their uniforms.  Nobody knew if it was a drill or a genuine attack and nerves frayed as time crept by.  Then the tension ratcheted up a notch with an announcement.

 “Will Dr. Hamilton and Dr. Freeman please come to the Command Center?”

  Sam tightened all over.  Grabbing his medical bag, he left at an almost run with Ben Freeman right behind him, clutching his own bag.  The tension in the Command Center was palpable.  The entire governing board was there and Seth’s eyes met his over the shorter heads.  Sam saw anger there and a trace of fear.

 “The sensors picked up something on the danger list.  There are traces of bacteria on a couple of the outer skins of some of the foodstuff.”  Seth’s voice was tightly controlled.  “Some bacteria might be normal but this is scattered evenly through out the entire shipment.”

 “Well then, Sam and I had better go sort it out.”  Ben Freeman’s British accent sounded almost cheerful.  “We’ll wear full contamination suits so none of the little beasties can get to us.”

 Sam smiled at Seth and followed Ben from the room.  A couple of Marines had already brought the suits up and they helped them into the bulky gear that was half space suit and half decontamination suit.  Once the seals were set and no leaks were found, they walked clumsily to the first airlock and shut the door behind them.

 “I hate these suits.”  Ben said conversationally while the airlock depressurized.  “I wish they could invent something a little less bulky and a whole lot less hot.”

 “I know what you mean.  They make me feel so isolated from everything around me.”  Sam sighed and tried not to think about what was happening back where he’d left Seth.  His lover had a protective streak in him and he was willing to bet that the vein in his left temple was throbbing right at this minute.

 “Here we go.”  Ben was first through as they entered the second air lock and closed the door behind them.

 Now, the shipment and they were locked in a depressurized room that could be flushed to the vacuum of the moon’s surface at a single command.  Ben made his way to the computer on the airlock wall, unwinding the sensor probe from his medical bag to plug straight into the computer’s input device.  Jamie McGee had designed it when he realized just how different the new computer had become.

 Sam smiled to himself when he remembered the look on the computer tech’s face while he tried to explain how very complex their computer was growing.  Half fear and half exhilaration, he had such an odd look of cautious optimism.  This probe was more sensitive then the finest ultrasonic wand that the aerospace industry used on their laminated surfaces.  In a sense it peeled away the outer layer of an object and exposed the layer underneath and the next few layers under that one.

 He moved around the first crate of produce gingerly, moving the lettuce to one side for Ben to run the probe over them.

 “The third crate with the round items in it has quite a high level of bacterium.”

 Sam nodded unconsciously to the computer voice.  “It’s marked oranges and grapefruits.  Let me open it up.”

 Levering the slatted lid off, he picked up an orange and turned it over slowly for the computer camera in the roof of the airlock.  Ben finished up with the first crate and came over to Sam.

 “Nothing in the first one, Computer.  Let’s see what little bugs might be here.”  He ran the probe slowly over the surface of the orange but no beeps sounded.  Selecting half a dozen oranges, they tested them and found only a trace.  A grapefruit showed a slightly higher level of bacteria also around the navel but it was the only one.

 The rest of the crates read the same.  Some higher levels around the stems in the zucchini and cucumbers but nothing beyond the norm.  Sam and Ben leaned against the last crate and looked at each other through the thick Plexiglas of their face shields while the computer finished up the analysis of the last crate of potatoes.  Something was teasing at Sam’s memory and he let his gaze wander over the opened crates to try and shake whatever it was loose.

     The zucchini reminded him of his Grandma Sophie’s holiday bread that was such a treat on Labor Day picnics.  The oranges made him think of Christmas and the year he’d made a clove-studded sachet for all his female relatives.  He’d had to borrow his mother’s thimble after the first one because the finger he used to push the cloves through the tough peel had gotten too sore to push.  But he couldn’t tell his mom why he needed it so he’d had to suffer through some serious teasing from his big brother.

 That memory made him grin and he walked over to pick up an orange.  Pushing made him think of . . . something.  Then the feeling solidified to thought and he motioned for Ben to come back to the fruit crate.

 “What if something was injected into the fruit and zucchini through the stem?  Would you see a pin prick in the tough stem or navel, Computer?”

 “I do not think I would, Dr. Hamilton.  The coarseness of the stem would hide something that small.  Can you open one of the fruit without removing your protective gloves?”

 “Um, no, I don’t think so.  But we could break open a zucchini, Ben.”  They hurried back over to the vegetable crate and broke open one of the long green squash.

 This time when Ben held the probe to it, a loud ping resounded through their suits.

 “Warning . . . warning . . . contaminant detected.”

 Sam felt his skin crawl even under the layers of protective material.

 “What kind of hazard, Computer?”  Ben’s voice wavered ever so slightly while his gaze met Sam’s.

 “Working.”  The computer even sounded a little apprehensive.  “I have an 80% match to the tubercle bacilli that was downloaded to my memory banks two weeks ago.”

 Two sighs of relief echoed in the airlock.  “Computer, are the bacilli dying in this vacuum?”

 “Working.”
 
 Sam felt almost lightheaded.  If they were lucky, this was a threat that they could deal with.

 “Exposure to vacuum does seem to be having an effect.  The probe now detects 7% less bacilli than it did when you first opened the zucchini.”

 “Thank God.”  Sam could feel Ben’s heartfelt prayer echoed through out the Command Center.  He could almost see Seth’s eyes lose a little of that steely glint that always appeared in times of crisis and fade back to their normal sea green.

 “Now, there’s 15% less.”  The computer continued its analysis.

 Her analysis, Sam reminded himself.  He’d have to come up with something really special to thank her.  She seemed to like some of the classical recordings that had been loaded into her memory banks.  Maybe his father could send up Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.  Or that strange group that Ruth liked.  What was their name?  Something to do with snakes, he thought.  Or was it air?  He stopped wondering when Seth’s voice came over the loudspeaker.

 “Okay.  We’re going to send out some men to off load this shipment to the same slag pile where we dispose of our excess rock.  You’ll both need to go through decontamination.  Our pilot, Joshua will come on in through airlock sixteen and into quarantine in the last bay on the right.  The two of you will need to put him through every test you can think of before we’ll let him back into the base proper.”

 “No need for both of us to go into quarantine, old chap.”  Ben’s accent got even thicker.  “After we go through decon, I’ll head on over to stay with Joshua.  It is my specialty, you’ll remember.  There’s only three tests to run and I don’t expect him to be exposed at all.”

 “I appreciate it, Doc.”  Joshua’s wry accents came from the ship.  “But if I ever get my hands on these guys, they are toast.”

 “Agreed.”  Ruth’s voice came over the speaker.  “Come in out of the cold, guys.”

 While they waited, Sam and Ben put the lids back on the crates and dragged them nearer the outer door.  A faint click told them that Joshua had backed the ship out of the outer bay and begun his move to the other spoke where airlock sixteen resided.  After another ten minutes, the inner lock cycled open and a squad of Marines came in.  Once the door was sealed shut behind them, the outer door cycled open and they emptied the lock completely.

 An hour later, Sam wearily climbed out of his suit, wondering why three hours in the suit seemed like eight.  Peter was there to help him and he found himself in a tight hug when he was completely free of the seventy-pound suit.

 “Damn, I hated to see you out there.”  Peter’s voice was gruff but when he dropped it to a whisper, Sam could still hear him.  “This is just a down payment on the hug that Seth has waiting for you.”

 Sam blushed and chuckled out loud.  “I’m looking forward to that actually.  Ben, are you sure about the quarantine?”

 “Yes, I am.  It is my specialty and you know what a hog for glory I am.”  He batted his lashes at them both then acted offended when they laughed.  “You Americans just have no sense of the hierarchy of scientists.  I’m going to be the absolute king of infectious diseases when this finally gets written up for the journals.”

 “Well, as long as you don’t go out in a blaze of glory, Your Highness.”  Sam bowed to him.  “I’m so sorry I tried to horn in.”

 “As well you should be, dear boy.”  Ben chuckled.  “Truly, we’re still a little thin on the medical side.  No need for us both to be quarantined with the delectable Joshua.”

 Sam’s eyes widened and he shared a quick look with his brother.  He couldn’t mean what I think he means.  Could he?  Shaking his head, he headed through the ultraviolet ‘curtain’ that was the last stage of their decontamination.  Suddenly, he wanted Seth and he wanted him now.

 Several of the Command Staff called out their congratulations to him when he and Peter came through the busy room before being waved into Seth’s office.  When the door closed behind them, Sam found himself in Seth’s arms.  This was the hug he’d needed so badly when he’d realized what they were dealing with.

 He took a deep breath of pure Seth-scented shirt and felt the tension finally leak away.  At this moment, he was home and safe.  Strong arms held him close while broad hands slowly stroked down his back, soothing away the memory of evil.

 “We won this round, Sam.”  Ruth’s voice came from just behind Seth.  “But this was only their first try.  And we still don’t know if they have anything other than the tubercle bacilli.”

 “We don’t know much of anything, Ruth.  They’re like shadows that come and go here.  My agency has a couple of leads but as far as we can tell, the produce was picked and packaged just the way it always has been.”  Martin Hewitt’s voice came over the speakerphone.

 “What about the clinic bombings I asked you to check?”

 Seth feathered a kiss on Sam’s ear before letting him go.  “What bombings?”

 “Ruth had me check news reports for odd medical stories.”  The computer chimed in and Sam saw that Joe and Father Adam were also in the room.

 “There were 100% fatalities in all three clinics.  And each body had been shot before the clinic was incinerated by  plastic explosives.  So far, there are 86 bodies and the autopsies are still going on in three different states.”  Martin’s voice sounded grim.

 “People, we have a serious problem and its going to get worse before it gets better.”  Ruth looked tired.  “Heaven only knows what they’ll try next.”

***********************
End of chapter 33