by Roland Starr
CHAPTER IX
Vonner came back to his senses slowly, as if he were in the depths of a green sea and had to fight his way upwards to the surface. There was the sound of pounding waves in his ears, but when he opened his eyes the sound turned into several harsh voices that were trying to talk each other down. Vonner lifted his head, feeling curiously weak, and found that he was in the sickbay. Curran, the doctor and Howie Farrell were standing by the foot of his bunk, and Farrell was talking loudest.
“I tell you the captain kept calling me Bardo!” Farrell was saying as Vonner began to take notice. “Then he jumped at me, but before he could grasp me he kind of halted in mid-air, twisted, then went flying backwards with a crash. I never saw anything like it. At first it seemed that he had hit against an invisible wall, but I never heard any sounds of contact.”
“I think he did see Bardo, as Bellamy thought he did when he killed Askew!” Curran’s deep voice was filled with uncertainty and worry.
“That’s right, Philo!” Vonner lifted his head and pushed himself into a sitting position. The room whirled and he groaned and closed his eyes. The doctor came hurrying to his side, pressing him flat with strong hands.
“You must rest, Captain!” she ordered briskly.
“There’s no time for rest,” Vonner retorted. “It was you in the corridor, wasn’t it, Howie?”
“That’s right, Captain, and the hell of a fright you gave me.
“I saw Bardo,” Vonner went on, recalling every vivid detail of the encounter. “He even spoke to me! Did you utter anything when I confronted you, Howie?”
“Nothing, Captain, but you addressed me as Ed Bardo!”
“Did you feel strange at all, during the time I thought you were Bardo?” Vonner was easing himself into a sitting position again, and his limbs were trembling.
“No. I felt normal.” Farrell was shaking his head slowly. “That’s why your actions startled me. I was going on duty!”
“Bardo is entering the crewmen,” Vonner said slowly. “He even makes them look like himself. When I saw him he was wearing his dress uniform!”
“He’s making you think you saw him!” Adah Morley said slowly. “The time has come for drastic action, Captain. Bardo seems to be getting stronger all the time. If this continues on the present pattern then we shan’t be able to destroy him.”
“I wish someone would tell me exactly what is going on!” Farrell said plaintively. “This ship is turning into a madhouse.”
Vonner stood up slowly, and swayed, clutching at the doctor’s shoulder for support.
“What did the mind scanner on Bellamy show, Philo?” he demanded.
“Nothing, Captain. The screen remained blank.”
“I see. Well I’d like to undergo the process now. I know what I saw. I want to discover if the screen will project it.”
They went along to the M.S. room, and Vonner was subjected to the process. In a matter of moments they had the result. Despite the fact that he relived the scene in the corridor when he had taken Farrell for Bardo, there was nothing showing on the screen.
“It proves that Bardo is affecting all the equipment aboard the ship,” Adah said softly. “It also proves that despite the absence of a heartbeat, he is still alive.”
“If not in the way we live,” Curran said. “He’s able to move at will and cause destruction. What kind of a force is he now? Why is he bent upon destruction?”
“It may not be malevolent, malicious!” Adah interrupted. “He is a force now, not a human being with the ability to think normally. He is attracted to power, and each one of us radiates force, electrical impulses. I think this is the attraction for Bardo.”
“This has already gone too far!” Vonner said slowly. “Get together with Wayland, Philo, and see if you can’t come up with some measures to overcome this thing once and for all!”
“I’m prepared to attack the observation room with a laser, Captain, if you’ll risk lowering the force we’ve got blanketing it.”
“No!” Adah Morley shook her head emphatically. “You mustn’t make that mistake, Captain! It may seem that our immobiliser is failing, but in truth it is the only thing between us and total destruction. If it were not in operation then Bardo would have killed all the crew by now and destroyed the ship entirely. We are keeping him from attaining full power, and the moment you slacken our power then he will begin resisting, and he’ll break free of our influence and carry out the worst possible kind of attack.”
“You seem to know what you’re talking about,” Vonner said. “I guess we’ll have to follow your advice, Doc. Philo, if we cut power you might discover that the laser wouldn’t be effective against Bardo. Then we’d be in a real mess.
Let’s play safe.”
“It isn’t very safe when Bardo can assume the form of any man in the crew.”
“But he didn’t kill me!” Vonner retorted. “I was stunned, but that’s all. Perhaps it was because I challenged him. I tried to attack him, and as I blacked out he vanished and I saw Howie standing there.”
“Petrified, I might add!” the communications officer put in sharply. “I think it’s about time we thrashed this matter out, Captain. We’re only hours away from orbit. If we’re not careful we’ll run the ship smack into the planet.”
Vonner moved his arms and legs experimentally, and discovered that although he was stiff and shaky, he could move fairly easily.
“I want something constructive done immediately,” he said firmly. “Let’s clear the area around the observation section and get Wayland to divert some of main drive into a force field. If it is spread like a blanket around all exits from the sickbay area then Bardo may experience difficulty getting out to roam the ship.”
“And if he starts tapping the force field for power?” the doctor demanded.
Vonner sighed and wiped his brow. He shook his head in exasperation.
“All right,” he went on doggedly. “You seem to know more about this business than any of us, Doc. You get together with Dalus and try to come up with a solution, before we lose the ship.”
“I don’t know enough,” Adah replied, “but we’ll do what we can. However you’d better put the ship on Red Alert, Captain, and remain at that station until we go into orbit. It’s the entire ship at stake here, and we mustn’t forget it.”
“Thank God for that ship in orbit!” Curran spoke softly. “We’re going to need all the help we can get. But I’ve been thinking deeply about Bardo, Captain, and I’m wondering if it is possible that when he was a prisoner of the Zukons they did something to him that’s made him like he is.”
Vonner shook his head slowly, heaving a long sigh. “I wish there had been some manifestation of Bardo’s condition before we left Omina,” he said grimly. “The Pravans might have been able to help. They might have come up against this particular condition and evolved some protection against it. But if the Doc is right and Bardo is not malevolent, is acting the way he does because he’s being attracted to all power sources, then we must take steps to mask all sources and prevent the attraction. I’m convinced there is a scientific solution to this problem, but we have to find it.”
“And we have very little to go on,” Adah Morley retorted.
“Something’s got to be done by the time we slip into orbit,” Curran said.
“Yes!” There was a harsh note in Farrell’s tones. “If we range up alongside that ship already in orbit Bardo might be able to attack that as well!”
“That’s a point!” Vonner’s voice turned even harsher. “We must try and become aware of every possible danger.”
“Normally we could call that ship and talk to it from a safe distance,” Farrell went on, his face working with suppressed emotion. He was still badly shocked by his encounter with Vonner. “But with the communications out of action we’ve got to get close enough to make visual contact. Is that why Bardo destroyed my equipment, do you think? Is he able to make calculations? Has he already decided to spare this sh
ip until he’s within reach of that other?”
Vonner sighed long and heavily. The same kind of questions had been running through his mind, although he had not dared give them a public airing.
“It’s no use standing here making suggestions of what might happen,” he decided slowly. “We’ve got to do something. Philo, go talk with Wayland, and see what you can arrange. Howie, you get along to the control room and pass the word that I want the ship on Red Alert. Get your runners to move quickly. But I don’t know what we can do to combat this menace. In all my experience I’ve never come across anything like it, and we’ve got to fight Bardo on a principle of trial and error.”
“With our errors likely to cause havoc and cost us dearly,” Curran added.
Both Curran and Farrell departed, and Vonner sagged, sitting down on the foot of the bunk. Adah took hold of his wrist and checked his pulse. He looked up at her, unaware of the fact that he was deeply in love with her.
“I’m all right, Doc,” he said, jerking his arm away from her. “I’ve got a lot of thinking to do.”
“You’re not all right, Captain,” she retorted in severe tones. “You’ve got to rest. You’ve experienced quite a shock, and I don’t mean emotionally. You came into contact with that strange power Bardo possesses, and some of it has rubbed off on to you!”
Alarm showed in his eyes for a moment, but he quelled the cold pang that darted through him.
“You don’t think that Bardo’s condition is contagious, do you?” he demanded. “Is it possible that contact with him will change a man into the same kind of freak that Bardo is now?”
“You know as well as I do that this subject is unknown to us,” she retorted. “That’s why I insist that you rest. Lie back on the bunk and I’ll put you to sleep for a few hours. You’ve had a tough time of it, Captain.”
“But I am the Captain,” he protested. “It’s my duty to remain in command no matter what state I’m in. This is a period of the direst emergency, so dope me with something that will keep me going. Doc. I can’t afford to rest.”
She shook her head slowly, looking deep into his eyes for a long moment, then sighed and turned away. She crossed to a cabinet, unlocked it, and took out a small injector. Coming back to his side, she paused again, then spoke huskily.
“Captain, I’ll give you a shot that will keep you going for twenty-four hours. You won’t feel tired, and all your senses will be heightened. But at the end of that period, when the effects wear off, you’ll pay for it. You’ll be ill for several days.”
“Fine.” He nodded grimly. “I’m ready to take my chances. I think the next twenty-four hours will be the most vital of any during the whole trip back to Earth. In fact, if we do survive the next twenty-four hours then we’ll make it all the way. But I’m beginning to have doubts about our chances. Bardo is so powerful! I just don’t know where to start trying to fight him.”
She nodded as she pressed the injector against his right temple. Vonner sat motionless, listening to the faint whine of the instrument. He felt nothing, but within a few seconds there was a seemingly miraculous change in his condition. Power seemed to tingle along his veins and nerves. His headache fled and the weakness began to recede steadily. When she removed the injector from his head he got to his feet, and suddenly was feeling as fresh and strong as if he had just ended a month’s holiday on one of the celebrated pleasure planets in the Bering Constellation.
“You’d better keep that thing handy. Doc!” he said softly. “It’s the best tonic I’ve ever experienced.”
“It’s dangerous if you’re subjected to over-exposure!” There was an implied warning in her tones.
“Not in the way the brain-washer has been dangerous to Bardo, I hope,” he retorted. “Well I’d better get to grips with this problem. I’ll chase up Curran and Wayland. Something’s got to be done! And if I need some key men to sample that injector of yours you’ll treat them, will you?”
“I have to use this in an emergency,” Adah told him, “and right now we’re faced with the greatest emergency of all. It’s a do or die fight against Bardo, Captain. You won’t under-estimate it, will you?”
“Not any longer!” he said grimly. “I’ve been taught a sharp lesson, I can tell you.”
He left the sickbay and made his way to the engine room, and a part of his mind was filled with nervousness. He kept expecting to see Bardo’s ominous figure in the corridors, and firmed his lips as he tried to take a grip upon his nerves. This was no time to fall prey to fear. He had to fight this trouble and set an example to the rest of the crew. He had challenged Bardo when Howie Farrell had been transformed into an image of the ex-First Officer, and he felt that if all the crewmen acted similarly then Bardo was put on the defensive and rendered partially ineffective. It was a slim theory, but all he had to cling to, and he steeled himself for a possible second encounter with the monster that had once been his closest friend and one of the best Executive Officers in Space Force.
Curran and Wayland were in the latter’s office in the engine room, and Wayland was examining his circuit panels. They were deeply engrossed in what they were doing, and Vonner remained in the background, not wishing to interrupt their train of thought. But Wayland glanced around, and a tight grin touched his hard features.
“Captain, we’re trying to get down to putting a force field around the observation rooms down in sickbay,” Way-land said. “I don’t know if it can be done yet, but it will mean a hell of a lot of rewiring.” He paused, then continued: “But from the talk I’ve had with the Doc, I think we might make a bad mistake by attempting this. It could give Bardo something to feed upon, and if he gains any more power then he’ll be too strong for anything we have to deal with him.”
“Can you mask the power sources aboard the ship?” Vonner demanded. “Doc has a theory that Bardo is attracted by power, and that’s why he’s able to move an image of himself out of the cell where he’s confined under the influence of the immobiliser. We can’t afford to take any measures that will inadvertently aid him.”
“I don’t know if I care to subscribe to that theory,” Wayland replied. “But I could erect fields around the various main power sources. Again, there’s a danger that Bardo will tap those force fields and adapt the power to his own use. But there is one thing I’d like to know, and that is, can Bardo project only a single image of himself from the cell or is he able to send out as many as he wishes?”
“That’s a question I’ve had in the back of my mind ever since this trouble began,” Vonner retorted harshly. “And I’ve been attempting to keep it covered. I daren’t even think about it! I sincerely hope that it isn’t possible. One image wandering around the ship bent upon destruction is difficult enough to handle. More than one would be a complete disaster.”
“When we reach orbit we could pressurise some of the space around the sickbay and remove the outer hull plates to gain access to Bardo’s cell. Men in space suits can be defended by personal force fields against Bardo’s influence, and if we remove the cladding on the bulkhead between the hull and Bardo’s cell we could get rid of him in that manner.” Wayland spoke slowly, thinking deeply as he mused.
“That would take time,” Vonner commented.
“Better to waste a little time than to run any risks, Captain!” Curran said.
“That’s true. But is this feasible, Dalus?” Vonner was keen to find any solution that would have even a slim chance of succeeding.
“It would require a superhuman effort on the part of my crewmen,” Wayland retorted. “I won’t attempt to minimise the dangers or the chances of failure, but it’s all I can come up with that might have a chance of success. If you’re agreeable then my men will be ready to make a start as soon as we turn into orbit.”
“In the absence of any other worthwhile idea then I agree to it,” Vonner said firmly. “Take what men you may require. Call on the rest of the crew for any help you may need. Give this job top priority. Nothing is more important righ
t now than to get rid of Bardo!”
“Right!” There was decision in Wayland’s voice. “I’ll start making my plans, Captain.”
“There’s only one thing bothering me,” Curran said slowly.
Vonner studied the colonel’s hard features. He nodded slowly in sympathy.
“Philo, there are a great many things bothering me right now,” he said. “But tell me what’s on your mind?”
“Bardo himself! He seems to be aware of what’s going on around him, despite the fact that he’s inanimate and dead as far as living humanly is concerned. All this activity around the hull and his cell may activate him into another foray against the ship.”
“That’s where you come in,” Vonner replied without hesitation. “You must arm your best men with the most powerful weapons we have, and they’ll have to prevent any trouble that may arise.”
“I’ve attended to that already, but I’ll deploy my crewmen into more advantageous positions when the engineers commence their activities.” Curran still did not sound happy with the situation. “I’ll cover all surrounding areas. If Bardo does make a move then we’ll be aware of it before he can get into any of the vital sections of the ship.”
“How does he make his moves?” Vonner demanded, shaking his head. “You’ve had men on duty ever since Bardo was placed under the power of the immobiliser, but he’s been out of it at least a half dozen times, if all the reports are to be accepted. How does he manage to materialise in those corridors on different levels?”
“It’s true that we’ve never seen him, or had any indication that something was happening!” Curran sighed again. “But the next twenty-four hours will be the most important as far as the ship is concerned. Let’s hope we’ll come through it.”
“Don’t forget that mystery ship out there,” Wayland cut in. “How do you make contact with her, Captain?”