by Roland Starr
“That’s right!” Farrell shrugged his chunky shoulders and pulled a face. “It’s a tough one all right. The decoder blew a circuit the first time I tried it, but now it’s working full blast on the signal, and I’m hoping for a reaction pretty soon.”
“There must be an intelligent message in that signal,” Vonner mused, “or the decoder would have reported instantly that it was space chatter!”
“That’s what I think!” Farrell nodded his agreement.
“Could it have been a signal from Earth Base?” Vonner mused.
“They wouldn’t change codes on us in mid-trip, Captain!” There was a firm note in Farrell’s voice. “In any case, all Earth codes are fed into our decoder. But the equipment has been threatening to blow circuits because of this.”
“Keep working on it, and let me know if you make any progress,” Vonner said.
As he turned away, Aaron Marr appeared in the doorway, and came straight to Vonner’s side.
“I’m glad you’re back on duty again, Captain!” The Astrogator smiled. “I’ve been giving a lot of thought to our predicament, and when we reach Uralis Digis, in about three months, I think we shall be able to feel our way back to Earth from there.”
“That’s my opinion,” Vonner said. “But have you slept since we left Omina orbit, Aaron?”
“No!” Marr sighed heavily. “I’m not happy until I know every step of our course, and there are still a lot of question marks hanging over this one.”
“Go to your quarters, Aaron, and I’ll tell the Doc to come to you. She’ll give you a sedative. Hand over your duties to your Assistant! That is an order!” he added sharply as Marr looked like protesting.
“All right, Captain!” Marr grinned sheepishly. “I’m acting like an old mother hen that’s lost a couple of chicks. I’ve got three months to Uralis Digis! Killing myself with worry now won’t help the ship at all!”
“That’s right!” Vonner grinned. “I couldn’t sleep either when I went off duty, but the Doc fixed that. She’ll do the same for you, Aaron. After you’ve had some sleep you’ll find the problems looking less formidable.”
The Astrogator departed and Vonner settled down to his watch. Hours passed uneventfully, and while he maintained a close scrutiny of his controls, Vonner let his mind reach ahead to grapple subconsciously with the problems that had to be faced. He thought of the countless millions of miles of black space through which they had to pass to reach Earth, and the real chances of missing home base were badly out of balance, with the bias towards failure. It would be all too easy to pass by the solar system that contained Earth, and they would never know, because they could pass through uncharted constellations and fail to recognise any star pattern they approached. They might already be doomed to an eternity of drifting through the mysterious void that surrounded the ship, and all because Ed Bardo had developed space sickness through a malfunction of the brain-washer!
But Vonner dared not let his subconscious fears get out of hand. He alone had the power of life and death over the entire ship, because his decisions would get them home or fail! The responsibility of command was tremendous, and he had to fight against the pressures that kept building up inside.
Towards the end of his eight-hour watch the communicator bleeped and Vonner opened the line to hear Dalus Wayland’s harsh voice in the speaker.
“Captain, I request permission to cut main drive to fifty per cent of present output!” There was no emotion in the Chief Engineer’s voice, no signs of an emergency in his inflection.
“What’s wrong, Dalus?” Vonner demanded instantly, frowning as he awaited a reply.
“I can’t tell yet, Captain, that’s why I want to reduce output. But I’ve got something on my hands that I don’t understand. It’s a safety precaution to reduce power and check.”
“I’ll computerise the order,” Vonner said. “Report back to me as soon as possible, Dalus!”
“Will do, Captain!” Wayland closed the line.
Vonner leaned to the right and fingered the computer keys, feeding in the order needed by the Chief Engineer. A few minutes later he saw by his controls that they were moving down the Lapse Speed scale. He tightened his lips. If this was a sample of what the next two years were to be like then he had nothing to look forward to!
He sat stiff and tense during the next hour, while he waited impassively for the communicator to animate. When he did get the insistent bleeping he started nervously, although he had been expecting it. He opened the line, and Wayland’s voice came through immediately, now laced with concern.
“Captain, the trouble we experienced on the run-in towards Omina has started again,” the Engineer reported tersely.
“Trouble! What trouble, Dalus?”
“Someone is tampering with the main drive!” There was a note of exasperation in Wayland’s tones. “I’ve just discovered that the stabiliser coils on the port input sections have been unbalanced.”
“What makes you think it is sabotage?” Vonner hesitated over using the dreaded word.
“There’s no natural way they could become distorted!” Wayland retorted. “Someone must have used considerable strength to wrench them out of alignment!”
“What would have happened if you didn’t discover the fault?” Vonner wanted to know.
“In time the whole port drive assemblies would have become unbalanced and shaken themselves out of service. It would have been a disaster, Captain. I don’t know what to make of it, but you’d better alert Security and get some guards posted in my department.”
“I can’t have armed guards in the engine room for the next two years, Dalus!” Vonner said quickly. “But they’ll be there as soon as possible. Then we’ll carry out an investigation.”
“Thanks, Captain! But whoever did this business has a special knowledge of my department. Bearing that in mind might help you find out who is responsible.”
“I’ll remember the fact,” Vonner said. “But are you certain this must be the act of a saboteur?”
“Captain, you can ill treat these drives any way you like, and the last item that will suffer damage or give trouble are the stabiliser coils, so long as they remain balanced. They are practically indestructible, except if they get out of alignment. Because of that fact they are encased in individual gravity fields that hold them as if they were set in steel a mile thick. You have to be a damn fine Engineer to know how to distort them without leaving noticeable signs.”
“And you’re certain that’s what has happened in this case?” Vonner demanded.
“Absolutely positive.”
“All right, Dalus. Do what you can to put matters right, and I’ll handle the Security side of it.” Vonner closed the line and called Curran, his brow furrowed with a worried frown as he considered the Engineer’s report. “Is that you, Philo?” he asked when a voice replied.
“Yes, Captain! Anything wrong?” Curran’s voice was steady.
Vonner explained the report from the engine room, and Curran lost his smoothness.
“Hell, I’d better check that Bardo is still in his cell, Captain.”
“Bardo! What makes you think Ed could have had something to do with this?” Vonner was surprised, and a little shocked. He had put Bardo out of his thoughts after the man had been re-processed.
“Don’t forget that Bardo processed himself with Way-land’s personal cassette when we had all the trouble before!”
“But Bardo has been subjected to the eraser cassette, Philo! His mind was wiped clean of all extraneous knowledge.”
“Well I’ll put guards into the engine room, and check out Bardo. I’ve got two guards on that observation section, Captain. One is inside the area and the other is in the outer corridor. If Bardo got out of his cell he would have to pass two men and a number of locked doors.”
“Report as soon as possible,” Vonner ordered. “I want to know what’s going on!”
Within minutes the communicator was bleeping again, and Vonner opened the l
ine. Wayland’s voice came through.
“Captain, one of my staff in the engine room said he saw Ed Bardo down here thirty minutes ago. He figured Bardo was back on duty!”
“I can’t believe that, Dalus, but I’ll check it out! Have you got any guards down there yet?”
“Three men have just come in with Sergeant Nevin! Everything is under control here now!”
“I’m not so sure about that!” Vonner retorted grimly. “If Bardo was in your engine room then he had to get past two guards to be there!”
“I’ll get back to my own problems, and leave you to yours, Captain,” Wayland said tersely.
Vonner handed over command to the officer of the day and went along to the sickbay. He found Philo Curran there, talking to both guards on the observation section, and acquainted the colonel with Wayland’s report of Bardo being seen in the engine room.
“That’s impossible, sir!” One of the guards said instantly. The he added: “Begging your pardon, Captain,
but I’ve been on duty in this corridor for over an hour and no one has emerged from the observation section.”
“And I’ve been on duty on the inside for two hours, Captain,” the second man reported. “It’s been so quiet in there that I could hear my heart beating. There hasn’t been a peep out of Commander Bardo, and he certainly hasn’t left his cubicle in the time that I’ve been here.”
“I’ve looked in on Ed!” Curran spoke quietly. “He is in the room, and seemed to be asleep. He doesn’t look as if he’s stirred out of that cell all day.”
“We’ll question the engineer who said he saw Bardo,” Vonner retorted. “He must have been mistaken. Ed couldn’t possibly have eluded two guards and made his way to the engine room.”
“There’s no other way out of the observation section,” Curran agreed, “and I can’t see two of my men turning Bardo loose!”
“And I can’t imagine anyone in the crew mistaking someone else for Bardo,” Vonner continued. “Ed is wearing his uniform, and his insignia of rank is quite distinctive.”
“Apart from the fact that this is not a new crew,” Curran added. “Everyone knows everyone else! If someone says he saw Bardo then I’m prepared to take his word, unless he is deliberately lying! But who would lie about a thing like that? And who would want to sabotage a ship which is on its way home?”
“Except a man who is suffering space mania!” Vonner said softly.
“You think Bardo hasn’t recovered from it?” Curran thinned his lips and shook his head. “We saw him take that brain washing! He was wiped completely clear and reprocessed! I don’t see how he could be in a destructive frame of mind.”
“Very well!” Vonner turned away. “Maintain the guards here, and the man on the inside had better check Bardo’s room every few minutes after this. “I’ll talk to the engine room crewman who thought he saw Bardo down there.”
Curran nodded. “I’ll join you shortly, Captain,” he promised. “I’ll make another check around here, just in case, but I can assure you that the only way Bardo could leave this section is through this door, and there have been two men — one either side of the door — here all the time!”
Vonner departed, his face creased into a frown, and he went down to the lower deck and entered the engine room. Guards were in evidence, and the red-haired Sergeant Nevin stiffened into attention and saluted smartly, tersely reporting that the situation was under control.
Wayland appeared from his office, and there was a grim smile on the Chief Engineer’s features.
“So Bardo has been at it again, Captain!” he greeted.
“I don’t think so, Dalus. I want to talk to whoever said he saw Bardo down here!” Vonner took a deep breath. “How could Bardo get in here without being seen by more than one man?”
“I’ve got a corroboration on that identity,” Wayland said, and there was a trace of satisfaction in his tones. “Two men report having seen Bardo down here!”
“Two!” Vonner was thunderstruck, and his face showed his degree of shock.
“You think my crewmen are lying?” Wayland demanded.
“No! That’s not what’s troubling me!” Vonner shook his head emphatically. “I’ve just checked out Bardo, and there’s no possible way he could have left his observation room!” He explained the security arrangements made for Bardo’s presence. “Two guards were between him and a locked bulkhead door all the time, and they are trusted men!”
“So you’re suggesting that my two men have been mistaken in their recognition of Bardo, is that it, Captain?” Wayland demanded in frosty tones.
“I haven’t said that, Dalus!” Vonner said thoughtfully.
“Then what other explanation could there be?” The Chief Engineer shook his head. “My two men must have been mistaken!”
“One man might have been,” Vonner retorted. “But I doubt if two would make that same mistake. Did they report separately about seeing Bardo?”
“Talk to them for yourself, Captain. I’ve got them here in the office, and they’re being kept isolated, although I don’t know what all the fuss is about. They said they saw Bardo down here and I believe them. I know these crewmen of mine, and I handpicked them when we were crewing the ship back on Earth. I’d trust my life to them, and their work is the epitome of efficiency and ability.”
“That’s what troubles me, Dalus!” Vonner said thoughtfully. “I agree with every word you say! I double-checked the record of every man aboard the ship and there isn’t one I had second thoughts about. Apart from that, no one in his right mind would consider sabotaging a ship that is homeward bound after two years in Space! It’s got to be the work of someone suffering space sickness! The only man aboard ship in that condition, or who has evinced its symptoms, is Bardo, and I can’t help feeling that he might be responsible for what happened. Don’t ask me how! That might come out in the investigation. But he’s at work again, for his own mysterious reasons, and we’ve got to stop him before something really serious occurs!”
“I’ll get the trouble straightened out,” Wayland said
firmly. “We’ve been lucky this time. I spotted there was something wrong before any real damage occurred. But it could have been a lot worse! I think you should put Bardo under an immobiliser until you get to the bottom of it. It’s the safety of the ship that’s at stake!”
“I’ll take care of it!” Vonner promised grimly.
CHAPTER IV
Colonel Curran arrived as Vonner began to question the two engine room crewmen about their seeing Ed Bardo in the engine room, and Curran listened from the background as both men described Bardo to the last detail. Vonner glanced at the colonel when they had the statements.
“That’s Bardo right enough,” he said thoughtfully. “What’s going on, Philo? I can’t accept that your two guards are in league with Ed!”
“Not willingly, Captain!” Curran said tightly. “But there are ways and means of getting men to act against their own interests, and sometimes without their personal knowledge.”
“But Bardo isn’t on duty and has no access to any equipment or instruments!” Vonner protested. He sighed heavily. “Let’s not waste time, Philo. Have these two men taken to Sickbay and subjected to the memory scanner. Let’s see what images we get.”
Curran nodded, and they left the engine room accompanied by the two witnesses. When they reached the sickbay Vonner explained to Adah Morley what he wanted done, and the doctor led the way to the M.S. Room. The Memory Scanner was a machine that elicited pictures of a man’s thoughts from his mind and projected them onto a screen. Thus an investigating officer could see what actually took place inside a man’s thoughts during a cross examination.
If a man lied then the scanner showed a blank screen.
Vonner stood in the background while the first of the two witnesses was subjected to the treatment, and when Curran began to ask questions about the man purported to be Bardo who was seen in the engine room the screen remained blank. Vonner caught his
breath. The witness was lying! He caught Curran’s eye and raised an eyebrow. Curran repeated his questions, and again the screen remained blank. The witness himself could not see the screen and did not know what might be projected from his mind.
“Unstrap him, Doc!” Curran said. “We’ll have the second witness in now!”
The other crewman entered the room and was soon under the influence of the screen. Curran interrogated him efficiently, and Vonner shook his head when the screen remained inanimate. He opened his mouth to speak but Curran motioned for him to remain silent. The cross examination was repeated, and when the same results transpired the witness was removed.
“Both men were lying?” Vonner demanded as soon as the witness had left the room under guard.
“I’d like the equipment to be tested before I try to answer that,” Curran said slowly.
“That’s simple enough to do,” Adah said, crossing to a small black console. She sat down and operated a series of buttons and switches, checking out circuit after circuit. Within a few moments she swung around and shook her head. “There’s no malfunction,” she reported.
“Then both men are lying,” Vonner commented. “But why?”
“Shall we subject Bardo to the scanner?” Curran asked.
“Yes!” Vonner nodded without hesitation. “Let’s see what kind of a reaction we get from him.”
“I’ll go and fetch him!” Curran departed, and Vonner tried to relax as he waited with the doctor. Adah watched him anxiously, able to note the pressures at work within him.
“You know what the situation is, Doc,” he said. “Those two crewmen said they saw Bardo in the engine room some thirty minutes before an act of sabotage was discovered. But we know that Bardo is under strict security guard, and there was no way he could have passed his two guards without their co-operation. These two witnesses have given a negative reaction to the scanner. Is there any other reason why the screen should remain blank? Or is it certain proof that the men are lying, trying to conceal exactly what happened? We’ve got to get to the bottom of this before something else happens around the ship. We can’t stand another sequence of events such as occurred before we reached Omina!”