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    Space Lives: Descansar Universe Collections, #1
    Space Lives: Descansar Universe Collections, #1
    Space Lives: Descansar Universe Collections, #1
    Ebook131 pages1 hour

    Space Lives: Descansar Universe Collections, #1

    By Eva Holmquist

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    About this ebook

    Do you want to experience life in space?

    Explore the Descansar Universe. Join Danka when she's called to a bizarre crime scene aboard space station Descansar, pulling her into the biggest arson investigation of her career. Experience Maya's first date in a spaceship. Solve the mystery of an old Earth style bottle of wine together with Carla. Make a chilling discovery aboard the spaceship Torotoro. And listen to space station Descansar's story about when it discovered a plot to destroy it and everybody aboard.

    Descansar, the largest space station in this part of the galaxy. Home to ordinary people trying to make a living, smugglers and other criminals taking what they thought were the easy route, and security personnel always in pursuit of the truth or at least what they believe to be the truth. A hub for trade, travel, and shady dealings.

    On Descansar everything can happen, and given enough time it will…

    The stories in the Descansar Universe range from the humorous to the thrilling, but all of them center around humans' fears, hopes, and adventures.

    Space Lives includes the five first short stories in the Descansar Universe; Arson, Date in a Spaceship, A Bottle of Wine, The Story of Descansar and Whispers.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEva Holmquist
    Release dateJul 1, 2024
    ISBN9789188381781
    Space Lives: Descansar Universe Collections, #1

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      Book preview

      Space Lives - Eva Holmquist

      DESCRIPTION SPACE LIVES

      Do you want to experience life in space?

      Explore the Descansar Universe. Join Danka when she’s called to a bizarre crime scene aboard space station Descansar, pulling her into the biggest arson investigation of her career. Experience Maya’s first date in a spaceship. Solve the mystery of an old Earth style bottle of wine together with Carla. Make a chilling discovery aboard the spaceship Torotoro. And listen to space station Descansar’s story about when it discovered a plot to destroy it and everybody aboard.

      Descansar, the largest space station in this part of the galaxy. Home to ordinary people trying to make a living, smugglers and other criminals taking what they thought were the easy route, and security personnel always in pursuit of the truth or at least what they believe to be the truth. A hub for trade, travel, and shady dealings.

      On Descansar everything can happen, and given enough time it will…

      The stories in the Descansar Universe range from the humorous to the thrilling, but all of them centers around humans’ fears, hopes, and adventures.

      Space Lives includes the five first short stories in the Descansar Universe; Arson, Date in a Spaceship, A Bottle of Wine, The Story of Descansar and Whispers.

      ARSON

      DESCRIPTION ARSON

      Life at Descansar - Heart-warming science fiction!

      Descansar, the largest space station in this part of the galaxy. Home to ordinary people trying to make a living, smugglers and other criminals taking what they thought were the easy route, and security personnel always in pursuit of the truth or at least what they believe to be the truth. A hub for trade, travel, and shady dealings.

      On Descansar everything can happen, and given enough time it will…

      The stories in the Descansar Universe range from the humorous to the thrilling, but all of them centers around humans’ fears, hopes, and adventures.

      Obnoxious smell. Thick, acrid, and kind of sweet. Interior burned to a crisp.

      But shiny, new-looking walls?

      Worse. It isn’t the first arson crime scene. It is the third…

      A call to a bizarre crime scene pulls Danka into the biggest arson investigation of her career.

      Can she solve the mystery before the next attack threatens everything she holds dear?

      Arson is the first story in the Descansar Universe.

      ARSON

      It was the strangest crime scene Danka had ever seen, and she’d seen more bizarre ones than should be possible on a measly space station. She’d always get the call at the last minute before her shift ended, making it impossible to get home in time for supper. According to Jela, her wife, it was important to eat supper together, but as the space station’s most experienced security investigator, Danka almost never made it home in time. This time was no different. She’d got the call 15 minutes before her shift ended.

      She’d stopped right at the threshold of the tiny quarters, normally rented out for travelers staying for just a few days and needing somewhere to sleep. She knew these quarters well because they were common crime scenes, their temporary nature inviting shady dealings. This one, fortunately, had been unoccupied.

      The standard set of bed, table with two chairs, and a minuscule kitchenette were burned to a crisp. She’d seen nothing so devastatingly destroyed by fire. The smell was obnoxious. Thick, acrid, and kind of sweet. Her throat felt rough, even though she hadn’t set foot inside yet. It smelled like burned plastic. Her thoughts spun round in her head, never landing, her questions unanswered. If everything was so completely burned, why did the walls look shiny new, as if they’d just been repainted? Why hadn’t the fire spread beyond the quarters? Thank goodness it hadn’t. The space station was filled with flammables. An uncontrolled fire would be devastating. This scene made no sense.

      When she put her fingers on the wall, the surface was surprisingly smooth. With the thin gloves, she’d feel every roughness. The gloves’ sensor readings also made no sense. The composition of the surface didn’t match any known material on the space station. She ordered a cross-reference once again to make sure, but the result came up blank.

      She turned her boots on and stepped inside. The boots gathered every tiny particle she stepped on and had sensors as well. No way was she going to contaminate a crime scene by neglecting to turn them on. Far too many security investigators just didn’t give a damn. No matter how fed-up she felt about her work, she’d never fall that low. In her opinion, experienced shouldn’t be a synonym for neglect.

      Something was nagging her, and she stopped in the middle of the room right beside the heap of black debris that was all that was left of the table with the two chairs. She’d never have guessed what it was if she hadn’t known it. She held her breath for ten seconds. It was silent. Way too silent. She couldn’t hear the air conditioning. Impossible!

      There was no way to turn the air conditioning off. It should be audible everywhere. She looked out into the hallway. Nobody but her had entered the tiny quarters, so both concierges stood in the doorway peering in.

      Shut the door for 10 seconds, Danka said, and don’t forget to open it in exactly 10 seconds.

      But…, the tall lanky one said.

      The shorter one, with a potbelly, nodded and shut the door. Danka almost didn’t have time to hold her breath. She strained her hearing. Nothing. No whooshing air conditioning. Not a single sound. Strange.

      The temporary quarters were not soundproofed. It was a source of conflict and usually led to violent altercations between neighbors. But in here, she couldn’t hear anything. A chill traveled down her spine. Danka shuddered. Somebody walked across her grave, as Grandma used to say. She didn’t like this crime scene.

      * * *

      The door opened with a whoosh. Danka took a shallow breath and hurried out of the room. The sensor data from the boots informed her that underneath the debris, the same unknown material covered the floor. It seemed somebody had covered all the available surfaces with it, put the furniture back in place, and then torched the place. But she couldn’t understand why, and if she was honest, not how either.

      The concierges moved out of her way. If it weren’t for the wrecked room behind her, the hallway would have looked exactly the same as always. White ceiling, walls painted in a light gray, and a darker gray floor. The outlines of doors leading into the temporary quarters, all with the same layout, and a number beside each door. When the door into the crime scene closed behind her, she couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Not even a smudge of soot.

      Strange, she said, frowning.

      Yes, said the potbelly concierge who summoned her. His name had escaped her, and she didn’t want to ask again.

      I couldn’t believe my eyes, said the lanky one, when I saw the first one.

      Danka startled in surprise. Potbelly waved as if he wanted his colleague to remain silent.

      The first one? Danka said. Has this happened before?

      The lanky one nodded.

      We thought it was a simple prank, potbelly said. His face was turning red, and he avoided her gaze.

      I started wondering at the second one, said the lanky man quickly.

      Danka’s pulse quickened. She clenched her fists so hard that her nails cut into her palms. Idiots!

      How many instances has there been? she asked.

      Three.

      Potbelly hunched and took a couple of steps backward.

      And this is the first one you’ve reported?

      Her voice was too loud, but she didn’t care. How many people could have died just because they hadn’t cared enough to report it? An arsonist, and she was pretty confident this was one, raised the stakes with every occurrence. Even if the first attempt had injured no one, the second one could. Or the third one, as in this case.

      Potbelly retreated a bit more and nodded.

      What have you done with the other crime scenes?

      Nothing. We just closed them up. They need to be completely renovated before being used again.

      Danka stared at him, and he crumbled even more. The only reason they had finally called it in was because of the loss of temporary quarters. One didn’t matter, but with three the rent revenue was falling and suddenly it became a matter for security investigation. Incompetent idiots! Sometimes, she hated her job.

      This was turning out to be an all-nighter. She’d better let Jela know, and call in a crime scene investigation unit. With three crime scenes, there was no way she could handle it all alone with only the laboratory to help.

      I need the locations of the two other affected quarters, she said. "Lock all three with security personnel access

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