When a brilliant physicist suspects a secret prison on the dark side of the moon is using her experiments to execute inmates, she risks her life to expose the truth only to find the truth leads to her own father.

SYNOPSIS:

In 2080, China builds a high-energy particle experiment on the Moon ostensibly for the benefit of science while concealing its true purpose, an untraceable method of execution, from the world. Co-located with a secret prison housing the worst criminals and terrorists on Earth, the experiment is altered to randomly exterminate the prison population outside the reach of Earth’s laws. The facility is designed by their esteemed physicist, Dr. Chie Zhong.

Dr. Chie’s daughter, Dr. Lin Chie, is the world's leading particle researcher. She believes her particle experiments advance physics and contribute to her father’s legacy. As she works to complete a vital paper, she detects a leak of deadly particles in the collider and needs to reconcile the anomaly before she can publish it.

What she doesn’t know is that the Chinese are using her experiments to legitimize a far more sinister conspiracy.

Unknown to all but a select group of international security agencies, the lunar site is an inescapable, ultra-secure prison for the world's worst criminals and terrorists beyond the scrutiny of Earth’s justice. Prisoners are executed using a high-tech “machine gun” of deadly particles that randomly kill without leaving a mark.

To pay for the operation, they recruit Feng Zhang, a former student of Dr. Chie, to create and manage a high-stakes casino game, Moon Shot, that bets on which prisoner will die first when the device is activated in a quantum version of Russian roulette. Feng was dismissed from the university for plagiarism by Dr. Chie and has never forgiven him for the shame it brought to his mother. He blames Dr. Chie for his ailing mother's death and seeks his revenge through his daughter, Lin.

When Lin demands that the Chinese investigate the leaks, she is met with resistance. She arranges to inspect the collider with her shuttle pilot husband, Craig. An experienced collider engineer, Dimitri, will join them in providing technical support. Unknown to Lin, Dimitri is Feng’s operative, sent to expose Dr. Chie’s evil creation to his loving daughter before killing her in an “accident.”

Feng’s plan fails when a prisoner, Cobalt, recognizes Dimitri and kills him, hoping to escape back to Earth in his place. Cobalt saves Lin from death and gets her to follow his escape plan by giving her access to the prison’s technical data. His body is too atrophied from lunar gravity to risk the trip back to Earth, so he assists Lin in locking the collider before she leaves.

Feng discovers the lockout and hijacks their return flight, bringing them to his Macao casino. She refuses to unlock the collider, but Feng threatens Craig with death, and she relents.

They return home, believing they are free of Feng, but Feng sends a hitman to kill them and tie up loose ends. Lin survives the hit and seeks revenge for her husband’s death. Cobalt learns of Lin’s attack and arranges for her to place a large bet at the casino. Lin wins 50 million dollars when Cobalt orchestrates his death, breaking the casino’s bank.

Feng’s murder of a Party member’s daughter force Chinese security officials to “disappear” him to the prison to be executed. To save his skin, he falsely implicates Dr. Chie in the plot, sending him there as well.

Confronted by her father’s imminent death, Lin finally exposes the conspiracy to a human rights group. While the bureaucrats investigate, Lin makes a horrifying discovery. Cobalt’s collider code will trigger its self-destruction and kill every prisoner in a few days. As the clock ticks down, she fights to stop her father’s death but fails as the entire prison is reduced to a smoking hole in a crater on the moon’s dark side.

Lin abandons her particle research, taking her winnings to begin a new life running a school for bull riders in tribute to Craig and his dream of sharing a ranch with her.

MURDER BY MUON