Death Spiral

By Kate MacLeod

Sanyah Allani, born on a space station, once dreamt of retirement on a cabin down on Earth. But when she finds herself suddenly a widow, that dream loses all appeal. Instead, she goes to a mining asteroid, taking work as a security officer.

But what was meant to be a sleepy posting becomes anything but, when a dead body is found deep in one of the mine’s caves. A murder, but worse, the victim isn’t even supposed to be there.

And the aliens the humans share the mining rights to the asteroid with are livid. Now Allani has to not only solve a murder, but also keep an important, if hard to communicate with, species of allies at peace.

“Death Spiral”, a science fiction short story originally published in Analog magazine.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ratatoskr Press
• Release date: Aug 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9781958606650

Kate MacLeod

Dr. Kate MacLeod is an innovative inclusive educator, researcher, and author. She began her career as a high school special education teacher in New York City and now works as faculty in the college of education at the University of Maine Farmington and as an education consultant with Inclusive Schooling. She has spent 15 years studying inclusive practices and supporting school leaders and educators to feel prepared and inspired to include all learners.

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Death Spiral

DEATH SPIRAL

KATE MACLEOD

Ratatoskr Press

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CONTENTS

Death Spiral

Sci-Fi Serial Podcast!

Complete Series: The Travels of Scout Shannon

New Series: The Ritchie and Fitz Sci-Fi Murder Mysteries

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About the Author

Also by Kate Macleod

DEATH SPIRAL

Sanyah Allani had fallen asleep with the hologram running again. The chair she slouched in might be the same as the one in her quarters, but it was never as cozy there surrounded by rough-hewn rock walls as it was in her virtual reality. The fire in particular was always such a vivid illusion she could almost feel its warmth and smell the seasoned wood slowly turning into ash.

The hologram dropped instantly when the call came through, thrusting her too quickly back into reality. The figure of her husband Desmon on the chair opposite hers looked up at her in surprise, then flickered out of existence, leaving her staring at the rock wall that was much closer to her than his chair had been.

Now she was in her own ever-cold room on the mining asteroid, the one she worked really hard not to think of as a cave. But it felt like a cave. Cold and damp, especially after her years in the controlled environment of a Martian orbiting station. She had run every kind of check there was, but nothing in the environmental systems backed up her sense that she was always smelling something moldy. And she had never been able to follow the scent to find the source either.

But it lingered. It was always there. And she always smelled it most strongly just after her hologram shut down.

She tapped her communicator, more to stop its annoying buzzing than out of a desire to answer the call. She glanced at the nearest screen. It was the middle of the night, as much as that meant anything on an asteroid.

Allani here, she said and pushed herself out of the chair she had settled too far into. Her joints protested, just like they