The Adventure of the Skittering Shadow: Sherlock Holmes in Space Read Free

progress of an investigation for a box of strawberries?”
     
    “She should hold out for something from an actual cow next time. Meat or dairy, I don’t care which.”
     
    Holmes laughed. “As always, you are eminently practical, dear Watson.”
     
    “You know as well as I do that the captain is a good, decent sort. She’d never interfere with your business. And you would never quit the Tommy Hudson . It’s too convenient to you.”
     
    The rooms were excellent, the ship’s schedule generally met his needs, and few would indulge Holmes’ demands and peculiarities the way that the captain did. And, though he would never admit it, I suspected Holmes was already rather attached to the Tommy Hudson .
     
    We took the first direct shuttle to the Athena Nike spaceport, and in the B terminal caught a second, shorter flight on a smaller shuttle intended solely for intracolony travel.
     
    Built inside of the upper magma chamber of an extinct volcano now named Nike Mons, there had never in the history of man been anything like Nerio. Nothing like it had ever even been attempted. It had taken decades of scientific research, magnificent leaps in technological innovation, and countless engineering advancements – all tested and retested first in laboratory simulators, then in research facilities and lava vent communities on Earth, Earth’s Luna, and Mars – before Nerio became even a bright possibility on mankind’s horizon. Science had advanced and with it the dream Nerio, Mars’ first city and a true subterranean metropolis.
     
    The colony was the planet’s jewel, its crowning achievement to date. Not even the ongoing construction of a second Martian city, on which work had begun about a decade ago, or the recent research into energy domes, which might theoretically allow colonies to be built on the planet’s surface someday, could dim a Martian’s love or enthusiasm for the planet’s first city. Now, as at the time of its completion, Nerio was the pride and joy of every Martian’s heart, including my companion’s.
     
    As an offworlder, I possessed greater immunity to Nerio’s dubious charms.
     
    In the century since its founding, Nerio had developed an economy, social striation, and a fantastic infrastructure. Nerio was Mars’ most populated settlement, and it was always under construction. The city already had quadrants, levels, and more and less fashionable areas. It had not yet, however, developed that homey, lived-in feeling that Earth’s older cities possessed. But what Nerio lacked in wear and familiarity, the city made up for with character. And sand, lots and lots of coarse red sand.
     
    Sand grains were wedged into crevices, smudged in corners, and caught under nails. They got trapped in filters and mixed into concrete, giving all of the buildings a faintly red patina. Occasionally, when a tap had not been run often enough, it stained the water dull red and left a ring in the sink. The sand got into everything. Days in the planet’s colonies always ended with me dumping copious amounts of red sand out of my shoes, the soles and toes of my socks stained rust red.
     
    It was difficult to imagine anyone as fastidious as Sherlock Holmes enduring anything as messy as Mars, but he not only bore it, he truly loved the red planet. And he was devoted to its colonies, particularly Nerio.
     
    In the present, the intracolony shuttle set us down on a landing pad in a mid-level district in Nerio’s western quadrant.
     
    “Aren’t we some ways from the Stoners’ apartment?” I dared to ask. Holmes’ knowledge of the city far surpassed my own, but I was certain that there was at least one major landing pad closer to the flat.
     
    “We’re meeting William Chapman for brunch at a restaurant near here,” Holmes answered. “He is most eager to help his ex-wives in any way that he can.”
     
    I snorted, unable to prevent the grin that escaped me. I was equal parts amused and impressed by the gentleman