by Roland Starr
“It seems to have stopped!” Wayland glanced around rather warily, and Vonner studied the Chief Engineer’s expression for long moments.
“There’s something on your mind, Dalus!” he said at length. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not happy with the situation I’ve got here!” Way-land shook his head. “Whether the crew are coming down with space sickness or not I don’t know, but a couple more of the men have reported seeing Bardo in here.”
“Bardo!” Vonner shook his head. “That’s an impossibility, Dalus! Bardo is locked away with a number of dependable men guarding him.”
“I know these men working with me,” Wayland retorted. “I trust them with my life! I tell you, Captain, that something very strange is going on. I’m a practical man myself, but some of these fellows are certain that something is haunting the engine room. I don’t believe in ghosts, but it seems there is a general opinion that we have one such entity among us down here.”
“I have to get back to the control room, Dalus!” Vonner spoke through his clenched teeth. “Let me have a report on this as soon as possible. Bring it personally. I need to talk to you about another matter which cannot be delayed much longer. But whatever happens here, I need constant power until we swing into orbit around Uralis Digis in a couple of days.”
“I’ll do my best, but with events occurring such as I’ve just witnessed I can’t guarantee anything!”
Vonner departed, his face mirroring his thoughts. There was a frown upon his brow. He ascended to the upper level and went along to the sickbay, finding Philo Curran in the corridor beside the immobiliser. Curran was checking the power levels, and looked up when Vonner spoke.
“What’s the situation here, Philo?”
“Normal, Captain! No change! Bardo is inanimate.” There was confidence in the colonel’s tones. “But we’re going to have a problem when we want to get him out of that room, aren’t we?”
“I’ll be calling a meeting shortly to discuss it,” Vonner said slowly. “I think Wayland will be able to come up with something! He’s usually able to think his way around a problem.”
“But this is a problem that we haven’t come up against before!” Curran said. “I can’t forget the sight of that other unfortunate crewman who turned like Bardo! You wouldn’t believe the power he was capable of, and it wasn’t a static condition, Captain. He kept getting stronger and stronger! Whatever happens, we can’t afford to let Bardo get on his feet.”
Vonner nodded, his face set in grim lines, and he saw Curran’s expression harden as he explained about the trouble in the engine room.
“You think Bardo is responsible?” Curran demanded uneasily. He turned to check the immobiliser, peering at the dials and looking at the registers. “According to this he’s inanimate. You don’t think he’s able to use his mental power even while he’s being held in check, do you?”
“I sincerely hope not!” Vonner turned away. “Remain on the alert,” he ordered. “I’m going to have another talk with the Doc about this. She’s been doing some research into these cases, but the trouble is that this condition of Bardo’s is very rare!”
“And it’s just our luck to come across one,” Curran retorted.
Vonner went into the sickbay and tapped at the door of the doctor’s office. Her voice called to give him an invitation to enter, and Vonner opened the door. Adah was seated at her desk, scanning some files, and she got to her feet when she saw Vonner. He explained the situation, and she looked grim as they both sat down.
“I hope you’re mistaken, Captain!” she said unsteadily. “I have gone through my records for other similar cases, but there’s not much evidence in this subject. It is suspected that a number of unexplained losses in star ships were in fact caused by the transformation of a crew member into this incredible monster that Bardo has become. But taking into account what has just happened in the engine room, I think there must be a link between that and the fact that a number of engine room crew have reported sick over the past few days. Most of them seem to be nervy, uneasy, as if they had something on their minds.”
“It’s obviously more than mere fancy,” Vonner said. “Wayland is afraid of nothing, but even he seemed uneasy to me, and what has happened in the engine room is enough to make any Chief tear out his hair. I think we’re going to have to stay in orbit around Uralis Digis until we can come to grips with this situation.”
“Do you want me to check out the entire engine room crew?” Adah demanded.
“I’m afraid of having too many processes carried out on the crew,” Vonner replied. “It’s quite possible that we might turn someone else into another Bardo!”
“Heaven forbid!” There was grave concern showing upon the doctor’s smooth features as she gazed into Vonner’s brooding countenance.
“In two days we shall know the worst!” Vonner said tightly. “As soon as we reach orbit we’ll have to get together with the senior officers and try to get rid of Bardo. I’ll be asking for suggestions, but you will be the most important figure in this, Doctor. If you can find any answers to our problems in your books on the subject of this condition affecting Bardo then I’ll be greatly relieved.”
“I’ve read up everything I have on the subject,” she assured him, “and I’m mortified that I can’t be of any more help, Captain. There just isn’t any certain knowledge on Bardo’s condition.”
“We’ve got a long time ahead of us before we can expect
to see Earth again,” he said slowly, shaking his head. “I thought the outward trip was bad enough, but this is going to be a real terror!”
“I think you’ll get through!” Adah spoke warmly, with the knowledge that, if they did, a life together on Earth awaited them. But he was not aware of that side of the situation, and she was happy because of his blissful ignorance. If he had emotions now they would only serve to clog his mind to the vital issues confronting all of them.
“What about these monthly sessions of reprocessing?” he continued, looking into her pale eyes. “Is there any real danger of turning some more of the crew into monsters like Bardo?”
“I don’t think so!” She shook her head without hesitation. “Bardo was over-exposed to the process to a vastly overpowering degree. Apart from the usual processes I administered, he subjected himself to processing with a number of other personal cassettes, and this is what triggered off the condition in him. His mind could not withstand the pressures of all that knowledge forced into it. The human mind is boundless, Captain, but so far the range of human mental activity is very narrow, so the mind is constricted by its own environment. We have no real conception of what its limitations are. Bardo’s condition is a sample of what can be expected, given the right conditions and opportunities. All the extra processing Bardo experienced merely expanded his mind to a tremendously wide horizon, and we cannot even begin to understand its implications.”
“I’m not interested in the scientific side of it,” he retorted, shaking his head. “All I want to do is get my ship back into Earth orbit without further trouble.”
“Well I can assure you that if we stick to the normal amount of reprocessing each month there won’t be any trouble from the rest of the crew. However, I’d better mention here and now that if it is at all possible to get Bardo back to Earth then we should make die effort to do so. It is your duty to present the scientists back on Earth with a prime example of what is possible in the way of human expansion.”
“My prime duty is to get ship and crew back, Doc!” he said thinly. “I can’t take the chance of trying to get Bardo back as well. I have my suspicions that despite the immobiliser, Bardo is still affecting the working of the ship. I think he’s responsible for all the recent trouble in the engine room.”
“But he is inanimate, suspended from action!” she retorted. “I think you’ll have to look elsewhere for your guilty one, Captain!”
“I don’t know if that would be a blessing or otherwise.” Vonner looked grim as he consid
ered. “If it isn’t Bardo at work then another of the crew must be affected in some way, because no one in his right mind is going to sabotage a ship that is taking him home!”
She looked uneasy at his words, and considered them for long moments before nodding her agreement.
“I would think that we do have some more trouble confronting us,” she agreed. “First I’ll check out Bardo for signs of mental activity, and if he is quiescent then I’ll rim the rule over the rest of the crew. I’ll soon be able to locate anyone acting unusually or with any kind of symptoms of abnormality.”
“You’d better start with the engine room crew,” Vonner said tightly. “That’s one of the most important departments in the ship and it’s in there that all the trouble is originating. I think we’d better heed these warning signs, Doc, before some disaster befalls us. All the indications are that we have serious trouble, and we must act instantly, or it will be too late to save the ship!”
They stared at one another, each filled with concern, and in the silence that ensued Vonner could hear his heart beating. Then he started nervously, for a strident clanging sound filled the entire ship, and red lights flickered an emergency alert that was flashed to every compartment. Vonner turned automatically, reaching for the desk communicator. But he dared not let his imagination have full rein. Perhaps the disaster that he feared was already bursting upon them!
CHAPTER VII
“Captain!” The duty officer’s voice replied when Vonner called the control room. “We have picked up the presence of a ship between us and Uralis Digis, and it isn’t responding to our challenge.”
“I’m on my way back to the control room,” Vonner said instantly. “That ship could be the one who signalled us just after we departed from Omina.”
“I’ve informed Lieutenant Farrell, sir!”
“Good. Remain on Red Alert, Lieutenant. I’ll be with you shortly.”
Vonner turned to depart, but paused to look at the doctor. He considered what they had been talking about, then shook his head and went on. Bardo and his particular problems would have to wait now!
The control room was tense when Vonner entered, and several red warning blinkers were operating ceaselessly. Farrell had come in and was at his console, trying to raise the contact. Hanton had hurried to his post and was standing in the background, waiting behind the command console where the duty officer was seated. He looked at Vonner, then came towards his superior.
“This must be the ship whose signal we intercepted, Captain,” Hanton said.
“I expect so, but that signal was transmitted almost three months ago, and the ship was in trouble at that time. Anything could have happened since! What’s the range and bearing of the contact?”
“It’s probably still in orbit around the planet,” Farrell said, checking his equipment. “Our scanners are so sensitive they’d pick up a ship as it made its orbit and passed between us and the planet.”
“I’m getting the contact clearly on the forward detectors,” the duty officer said, and there was a tinge of excitement shading his voice. “They must be able to hear our challenge, Captain!”
Vonner nodded, aware of the situation. He watched and listened as Farrell continued to try and make contact, but there was no reply, and within thirty minutes the contact had vanished.
“It’s passed beyond the planet on its orbit, Captain!” Hanton reported.
“This is the first time we’ve picked it up,” Farrell cut in. “If it is making a series of orbits we should have detected it on some of its previous ones. I think it’s a ship that has just arrived, Captain, and we got it on its first orbit.”
“One complete orbit of Uralis Digis takes about one hour, Captain,” Aaron Marr called from his console. “I’ll keep a watch for the reappearance of the ship. The time will be vital.”
“We may be able to raise them on their next appearance,” Vonner said. “Come down to Yellow Alert! But I want Red Alert as soon as that craft reappears on our scanners. Keep me informed. I have to leave the control room.”
He departed then, suppressing a sigh as he considered that he was beginning to move in a circle, getting nowhere and slowly falling into deeper uneasiness because of the apparently insoluble problems confronting the ship. Was Bardo completely immobilised, or was his mental resistance such that despite the fact his physical body was being held inanimate his mental power was able to function outside of the observation room? He knew he had to call a conference fairly quickly. The matter could so easily get out of hand, and they had everything to lose!
He went back into the engine room, wanting more information from Wayland about the sighting of Bardo down there when the sick officer was securely inanimate in the sickbay. He met Wayland just outside the entrance to the engine room, and the Chief Engineer was carrying a folder under his left arm.
“Captain, I was on my way up to see you,” Wayland said.
“I need to talk to you some more,” Vonner replied. “About this ghost your crew keep seeing. Let’s have some more information on that!”
“You disbelieve the reports?” Wayland demanded.
“I’m not in a position to disbelieve anything, but I do need information. I think we can trust your men, Dalus! What have they been reporting?”
“Several of the men have seen Bardo down among the engines,” Wayland said slowly. “I haven’t seen anything unusual myself, but the situation is getting so bad that I’m thinking of putting men on duty in pairs, because they seem afraid of being in those lonely places without company.”
“Have you referred these men to the sickbay?” Vonner kept his tones neutral, although he was worried.
“They’re not physically ill, Captain, and I’ve had a lot of work on hand down there. I can’t spare men if they’re able to work.”
“I understand your problems, Dalus, but there is a danger that the crew may become victim to a form of mental illness.”
“Now you tell me!” Wayland shook his head. “What’s happening aboard the ship, Captain?”
“I want to talk to you about that too, because you’ll probably be able to help. Let’s go up to my quarters. What I have to tell you is not for general release among the crew.” They ascended to the higher level and Vonner led the way to his quarters. As Vonner opened the door leading into his reception room he heard Wayland utter an ejaculation of surprise, and turned quickly to find the Chief Engineer staring along the wide, deserted corridor.
“What’s wrong, Dalus?”
“I must be seeing things, Captain, but a man just entered the communications store, and it looked like Ed Bardo to me!”
Vonner tensed at the words, and a chill pang flashed through him. He looked into Wayland’s hard features, and knew the Chief Engineer could not be joking. He drew a sharp breath and started along the corridor.
“Let’s see who it is!” he snapped. “Come on, Dalus!” They hurried to the communications store and Vonner grasped the handle, throwing his weight against the door. He bounced back quickly, for the door was locked. Way-land walked into his shoulder and they sprawled apart.
“This door shouldn’t be locked!” Vonner said tersely, and tried the handle again. The door refused to budge.
“It can’t be locked from the inside!” Wayland observed. “I told you someone went in there.”
“And you thought it was Bardo!” Vonner’s eyes were narrowed and glinting as he studied Wayland’s heavy features.
“Saw his rank plainly on his sleeves!”
“Hanton is a Lieutenant Commander now!” Vonner said slowly. He moved a few paces to the right and lifted the handset of the internal communicator set in the bulk-head. “Control Room, this is Captain Vonner. Is Commander Hanton there?”
“This is Commander Hanton, Captain,” came the sharp reply. “Is something wrong?”
“Perhaps not, Commander. Get Farrell to connect me with the open line to Curran in sickbay!”
While he waited, Vonner looked into Wayland’s fac
e, and did not like the shock showing in the Chief Engineer’s expression. He could feel a cold spot in his chest and there was a curious prickling sensation in the back of his mind. His intuition was at work and he knew there was danger here, for the selfsame instincts had warned and saved him many times in the past.
“Dalus, there’s a stun-gun in my desk — right-hand top drawer. Fetch it, will you?”
Wayland nodded and hurried back along the corridor. Vonner watched the door of the storeroom as he waited for Curran to speak, and several moments passed before the colonel’s voice sounded.
“What’s the trouble, Captain?”
“Check on Bardo for me, Philo,” Vonner retorted dryly. “I want to know if he’s still in the observation room!” Curran smothered an ejaculation and there was a short silence. Then the colonel spoke, breathing heavily.
“Sure, Captain, he’s still in there, and the power is okay. There are no changes here. What’s wrong?”
Vonner explained in steady tones, and heard a curse from the other end of the line.
“You’ll need something more powerful than a stun-gun, Captain. If you’ll wait a couple of minutes I’ll be with you, and I’ll bring a laser projector.”
“Hurry then, Philo, and ensure that you leave an adequate guard down there in the sickbay.”
The line was closed, and Vonner replaced the handset, his lips pulled thin against his teeth. He remained staring at the door of the storeroom while he awaited Wayland’s return. The Chief Engineer was coming back along the corridor, a stun-gun in his hand. Vonner took the weapon, adjusting its change-lever to maximum emission. He was breathing hard as he stared at the door of the storeroom.
“Curran is coming up with a laser,” he said tightly. “Bardo is still under observation in the sickbay, and Hanton is in the control room. Are you still certain you saw someone of their rank entering this storeroom, Dalus?”