Suspense Entry – G. R. Holton – Deep Screams : http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Screams-ebook/dp/B005CBWYFQ/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

Synopsis: By the year 2145, the nations of Earth had finally gotten past their differences, and the Earth Coalition was formed. The people of all countries were now united as human beings, not segregated by nationality or race since multiple wars had left parts of the planet uninhabitable, the Coalition decided that a space station would be launched into deep space on a twenty year mission to find planets in other solar systems that could sustain human life.

Six years into the mission, all signals from the Omega Space Station had suddenly stopped.  The Coalition called for an emergency mission to intercept the space station, to ascertain what had happened to the ship and crew, and to do whatever was necessary to bring the station back online.

As they embarked on their mission, the new team had no way of knowing what they were going to encounter when they reached the Omega. Once there they find that it’s not the station that is dead… and they’re not alone!

 

Excerpt: It took a little more than an hour for the mass to pass over David and the ship, and by then, he was covered from head to toe with the dark red particles from the cloud. In the transition chamber, he was sprayed down with a sterilizing agent in an attempt to eradicate any organism that may be living in the particles. He watched as the red particles fell to the floor and were sucked back out into space by the ship’s vacuum system. When he was finally given the all clear, he removed the space suit, hung it up, and headed back to engineering to resume his duties. He met back up with Davis Storm as he approached his work station. Davis smirked and slapped his buddy good naturedly on the back. “Hey there buddy. I heard you were in quite the dust cloud out there. Maybe we should start calling you Dusty for short.”

David grinned. “You start doing that and I will send Jessica a few of those pictures we took of you back in school at the graduation party. You know the ones…. with the bra and skirt?”

Davis raised his hands in surrender, chuckling softly. “Okay… Okay… I won’t rag on you anymore man.  I do need your help though. We have a coupling issue with one of the generators that I could use you on.”

David laughed, patting Davis on the back. “Let’s get to that generator then.”

***

Just as the two engineers had completed the repair on the coupler, David Suddenly put both his hands on his temples, massaging them with his fingers. “Hey Davis, I am not feeling so good, man. My head is really splitting.”

Davis gripped David’s shoulder, trying to peer into his eyes. His pupils were fixed and dilated, and his face had lost its color. “You aren’t looking too good either dude; you look kind of pale. You better go see the doc before it gets any worse.”

Doctor Vlasizk looked up from his paperwork as David stumbled into the infirmary, and his eyes widened in surprise. He placed his pen on the desk and said “Mr. Zimpkinz, you aren’t looking vell. Come on in and letz get a look at you. Go zit on dat table over dare. Are you feeling any painz?”

David pressed the palms of his hands against his temples as he stumbled to the table and sat down. “Yes, Doc, my head is splitting.”

The doctor approached the table and took a pin light out of his pocket.  As he shone it  into David’s eyes, studying his fixed pupils, he asked “Have you ever had dis happen before?”

David winced, pulling away from the light. “No sir, I don’t get headaches; maybe a hangover once in a while, but not like this. In fact, I never get sick at all…I’m lucky, I guess. But this is killing me.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Zo you never get zick. Hmmmm…. are dare any other izzuez?”

“Yes sir, I just started feeling sick to my stomach on my way here. It came on all of a sudden like the headache did.”

The doctor put the pen light back into his pocket. “Okay, firzt ding iz I need to take a blood zample to make zure it is nodding viral.”  David swallowed hard and nodded as he watched the doctor pull the blood sample kit out of a drawer. His eyes widened as he focused on the needle in the doctor’s hand.

“I need you to roll your zleeve up furder.”

David’s eyes never left the needle as he pushed his sleeve up so he failed to notice the red particles that fell on the doctor’s hand.  The doctor noticed them, however, and he lifted his hand to get a good look at them. He then moved David’s collar and examined his neck. He blew out a breath, grumbling, and then tried to wipe the particles off his hand as he spoke, “David, vhat is dis red ztuff dat iz on your neck?”

“It must have come from that red cloud that covered me while I was working outside the ship… but they sprayed me down in the transition tube!”