Space Case Read Online Free Page B

watching.
    Mom turned back to me. She was still so shocked; it took her a while to find her voice. “It’s . . . well, you see . . . it’s about Dr. Holtz. He . . . he’s dead.”
    I’d been girding myself for bad news, but even this caught me off guard. It simply didn’t seem possible. I was so dumbfounded, it felt kind of like my brain had popped inside my head, leaving nothing but air. “How?” I managed to ask.
    Dad put an arm around my shoulders. “He went out the air lock this morning. Alone.”
    I turned to him, almost as startled by this as by Dr. Holtz’s death. There are strict rules against anyone ever going out onto the lunar surface alone. “Why?”
    Mom wiped tears from her eyes. “We don’t know. The report doesn’t say.”
    â€œAnyhow,” Dad went on, “it seems he didn’t put on his space suit properly and . . .” He trailed off, not wanting to finish the thought.
    I knew how it would end anyhow. Space suits are almost impossible to put on properly by yourself—and if you make a mistake, the air can leak out. If that happens, there isn’t any oxygen on the surface of the moon. Without oxygen, the human body can only survive two minutes, at most. Which is exactly why solo moonwalks are forbidden.
    I shook my head. “This doesn’t make sense. Dr. Holtz would never do anything that risky. . . .”
    â€œHe did.” Mom placed a hand on mine. “I know this is hard to process. I’m as surprised as you are. We all have questions, and it may be a while before we get answers.”
    â€œWhere’s Dr. Holtz now?” I asked.
    â€œThey’re still bringing him back inside,” Dad told me.
    I snapped to my feet and bolted back out the door, racing toward the air lock. Mom and Dad called after me, but I didn’t listen. I wasn’t sure why, but I desperately wanted to see Dr. Holtz’s body for myself.
    I ran past Nina Stack’s open door. Ahead the catwalk banked left around a corner, where a set of stairs descended into the staging area by the air lock. As I reached the corner, however, Nina came around it. I slammed right into her.
    If I’d run into almost anyone else at MBA like that, I probably would have bowled them down the stairs. But running into Nina was like hitting an oak tree. She’s the toughest woman I’ve ever met in my life. Maybe even the toughest person. She was in the Marines before joining NASA and has kept up her physical training ever since. She doesn’t look that tough—in fact she looks kind of dainty, like a lot of my friends’ moms back in Hawaii—but I’d pity anyone who challenged her to a fight. Nina can mop the floor with anyone. And she has an advanced degree in rocket science to boot.
    I bounced off her and went down on my butt. “Sorry,” I mumbled, then tried to slip past her.
    Nina blocked my path. “Go back to your residence, Dash.” It wasn’t a request. It was an order. If Nina was upset about Dr. Holtz, it didn’t show. But I wouldn’t have expected that anyhow. I’ve seen moon rocks that expressed more emotion than Nina. She’s so robotic the Moonie kids call her “Nina the Machina” behind her back.
    â€œI have to use the bathroom,” I lied.
    Nina didn’t buy it for a second. “There’s nothing to see,” she told me.
    Which was also a lie, of course. I managed to catch a glimpse of the air lock over her shoulder.
    There was plenty to see.
    Nina hooked her hands under my arms, hoisted me off the floor, and forcibly carried me ten steps back toward my apartment. Then she set me down and got in my face. “This isn’t a game, Dashiell. Go home for now. You’ll be able to leave soon.”
    â€œWhen?”
    â€œWhen I say so.” Nina pointed toward my door. I looked back to see both my