Over the Moon (Star-Crossed Book 1) by K. McLaughlin Read Free Book Online Page B

a bit now,” Patrick said, intruding on her thoughts. Carmen realized with a start that she hadn’t relaxed her grip even after he’d slowed the vehicle down. She eased her hands back to his hips again, shifting her weight back so that that was their only point of contact.
    They sped around the ring of domes until the reached the passage out to the new research lab. A heavyset man with a bushy beard was standing there, a duffle bag in one hand. Carmen guessed that had to be the Fred that Patrick had spoken to on the radio.
    “No power to the lab you said, right?” Patrick asked her as he pulled the Segway to a stop.
    Carmen hopped off. “Right.”
    “I hooked those lines up myself, boss,” Fred groused. “They should be working fine.”
    Patrick looked down the hall into the lab. The lights were all off. People were moving around inside using flashlights and portable lanterns to see. He cocked an eyebrow at Fred.
    “OK, OK!” Fred said. “I can see it ain’t working.”
    “We’ll need to run a temporary conduit down the passage,” Patrick said.
    “That’s against regs,” Fred replied, a warning note in his voice.
    “So is messing up Doctor Rosa’s chances of finding a cure. You know how many people will die if we have to ferry more virus samples out here?” Patrick said.
    “No?” Fred replied, his tone saying the word like it was a question.
    “Me either,” Patrick said. “But too many. Put the conduit in.”
    Fred dumped his duffle on the floor with a long suffering sigh and began digging around in the contents. Soon a couple of enormous cables had been unearthed from its depths, and he was hauling them over to a big socket in one of the walls.
    “Fred’ll take care of it,” Patrick said to Carmen. “We’ll have power on in a few minutes.” He didn’t tell her that the power would already have been on if she’s simply come to him with the problem in the first place, but she could see it in his eyes. And it was true. Maybe she should have taken the problem to him in the first place, instead of going to Jacob.
    Jacob! “Can we go see how Jacob is doing now?” Carmen asked. She wasn’t even quite sure where the sick bay was, although she was pretty sure she could look it up on her tablet.
    “In a minute,” Patrick said. “I want to go talk to your father, first. Come with me, please.”
    His tone said it wasn’t a request. She followed.
    Her father saw Patrick as soon as he came in. He must have heard something of the commotion down the hall. “Mr. Wynn, so good to see you. We have a problem here…”
    “Please, call me Patrick. I’ve heard about the power problem. I’ve got a man working on a temporary solution right now. You should have power within a few minutes.”
    “Oh?” Doctor Rosa said. “Excellent! You have my thanks.”
    “Sir,” Patrick said.
    “Yes, was there something else?” Doctor Rosa asked.
    “Your daughter brought word to one of the engineers about the issue, and the two of them went outside to solve the problem. He’s down in medical, unconscious. She’s unhurt, but could have been. I’d appreciate it if you would brief your staff,” he said with a pointed look at Carmen, “not to take any more trips outside without direct authorization from central control. We’d like to make sure everyone remains as safe as possible during their stay here. The moon is not a safe place.”
    Her father gave her an intense stare. Not a glare, perhaps, but a serious look. He pursed his lips. “Yes, I will. I assure you, Patrick, my staff will not be breaking your rules again.”
    “Thank you, sir. Now if you’ll excuse me, I wanted to go check on out injured man,” Patrick said.
    “Very good. Do let me know if he is all right? I’d be happy to come help…” Doctor Rosa said.
    “We’ve got an excellent trauma guy, Doctor. Ex-Special Forces. Thanks, though.”
    Patrick turned to go. Carmen went to follow him, but her father caught her hand in his. She turned,