by Roland Starr
Vonner nodded, and was momentarily startled by a clicking sound, and a sense of crackling power in the small of his back. He turned his head and saw Wayland waving a hand to him. The force fields were on and operating.
“All right,” Vonner said crisply, glancing at the hard-faced crewman beside the immobiliser. “This is it. Cut the power to your equipment and stand back!”
Time seemed to stand still then, and in the ensuing
moments Vonner found himself thinking of Ed Bardo the man, although he had accepted the grim fact that Bardo was dead, and had been for many weeks.
There was tension in that inner corridor, and the air was charged with invisible power. Vonner watched the scanner screen which had been set up and gave a picture of Bardo’s motionless body on the bunk in the cell. Moments after the power to the immobiliser had been cut, Bardo jerked spasmodically, like a drugged sleeper coming back to his senses. Sparks seemed to emanate from his movements, and although his figure was still roughly what it had been before the mysterious changes had overtaken him, he seemed to grow imperceptibly as he arose jerkily from the bunk. The next moment he turned into a whirlwind of activity, and Vonner gasped in shock. He had known that the confrontation with this unknown force in human form would be terrible, but even so he was paralysed momentarily as an explosion seemed to erupt in the small confinement room.
Then the door of the room began to disintegrate under tremendous heat and power…
CHAPTER XII
Curran started firing his cannon immediately, unshaken by the explosive awakening of Bardo, and the high-pitched crackling sounds that emanated from the weapon struck harshly against Vonner’s nerves, forcing him to clench his teeth. But he operated the powerful weapon, and saw the door to Bardo’s room disintegrate and vanish under the piercing blows of the atom destroyer. The next instant Bardo’s shimmering figure appeared in the doorway, reeling as the concerted power of two cannon struck him. There was a roaring sound emanating from Bardo, but it was caused by the conflicting forces of two different forms of power. Lightning flashed, and Vonner could feel searing heat against his face. He had left open the visor of his space helmet, and knew that was a mistake which he could not put right without ceasing fire. But maintaining their resistance was imperative now, and out of the comer of his eye he saw Curran wincing, for the colonel was without the protection of a space suit. Vonner clenched his teeth until his jaws ached. There was the first of his omissions, he told himself, and readjusted his rough sighting, keeping the streams of power being projected by his cannon striking into the centre of Bardo’s heavy figure.
It was like a nightmare, shooting a figure well known to him, but Bardo had long since ceased to exist as a man, and now this gigantic powerhouse inside the figure of an old friend was beginning to exert its resistance against the forces brought against it.
Vonner saw Bardo jerk and cringe as his atomic structure altered shape under the hammer blows of the cannon, but it did not disintegrate, and Curran turned his head and yelled at the cowering guard who had switched off the immobiliser before moving back to safety. Vonner heard Curran’s voice but could not make out what was said. However the guard snatched up a laser and began using it, cutting the smoky atmosphere with its brilliant white beam.
Bardo was roaring in a low key, the sound more like a solar wind than anything human, and the white laser beam cut right through the shimmering body, but without noticeable effect. Vonner narrowed his eyes, feeling the searing heat against his face, and he threw a quick glance sideways and was horrified to see Curran’s uniform smouldering. He cursed himself for having overlooked the fact that Bardo would generate tremendous heat. But Curran was sticking to his post, and long seconds dragged by while Bardo was held in the centre of their combined efforts to destroy him. A battle of powers flowed and ebbed, and the changing shape of the nightmarish figure gave Vonner a sinister sensation of being asleep and in the grip of a nightmare.
Suddenly Curran was turning away from the weapon he was using, stretching out his arms to full length in an attempt to keep the cannon operating while he endeavoured to get his face as far from Bardo as possible. Vonner glanced down at the gauges on his weapon and saw that the white needles on the black figures were approaching danger levels of output, and he knew a strand of despair in the back of his mind as he realised that they were not bringing enough force to bear upon Bardo. The ominous figure was halted, but resisting madly, and it seemed that Bardo was more than holding his own. He ought to have been blasted apart by the hammering projectiles tearing through him, and Vonner showed his teeth in a grin of hopelessness when he saw the room at Bardo’s back being torn asunder by their fire.
Suddenly the guard stopped using the laser and dashed forward to the immobiliser, switching on again, and the bashing force that struck outwards hurled Bardo back through the doorway, pinning him to the shattered floor. Vonner began to breathe heavily. The air was charged with unseen particles of force. But the battle was not over. Bardo leaped up and hurled himself at the doorway once more. He failed to reach it. The addition of the immobiliser’s force was too much for him, although it did not pin him down as it had managed to do during the preceding months. But he could not emerge into the corridor, and the effects of the forces pounding him must have been accumulative, for he suddenly turned and attacked the rear wall of his room.
The heat in the corridor lessened then, and Curran returned to his weapon, switching to maximum power. Vonner checked his gauges and realised that he had been operating at full power from the outset, and his fingers ached as he kept them pressed against the contacts that operated the cannon.
The rear wall of the observation room had vanished under the blows delivered against it by the concerted action of the two cannon, and Bardo brought his own blasting energy against the force field that Wayland had erected. If Vonner had not considered that aspect Bardo would have made his escape, but the force field, tapped into the main drive of the ship, was powerful enough to hold the leaping, raging figure. In a matter of moments Vonner realised that it was stalemate. Bardo was trapped where he was, but they could not destroy him!
The heat in the corridor was stifling, and Vonner saw that Curran was in a deteriorating condition. The tough colonel was sagging at his weapon, his face ruddy, sweat pouring from him, and the guard handling the laser was little better. Both were gasping for air, and Vonner realised that they were in danger of losing this mammoth battle, because Bardo would not get weaker, and the instant the power against him was relaxed in any way he would burst out of the invisible bonds still retaining him. Curran seemed on the point of collapse, and Vonner turned his head, peering back along the corridor to where Wayland and his assistant were standing behind the force field they had erected.
There seemed little danger that Bardo would break out now, and Vonner motioned for Wayland to cut the power at their backs and come to Curran’s assistance. The Chief Engineer switched off the current feeding the equipment in the corridor and came hurrying into the heat-hazy atmosphere of the inner corridor.
“Take over my weapon!” Vonner said sharply, and Wayland lifted a gnarled hand to grasp the contacts. The cannon ceased operating for a split second, but in that moment Bardo turned and came raging forward as he sensed the lessening of power. Wayland operated the cannon and Bardo was checked again. Vonner closed his face visor and switched on his personal life support system. Immediately he felt relieved, and turned to Curran, activating the speaker on his suit. “Go and get into a space suit, Philo!” Vonner ordered. “Then come back. We’ll need additional power against Bardo to destroy him. Get all the men we’ve got left aboard and bring them here with lasers!”
Curran nodded and hurried away, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Vonner took over the operation of Curran’s cannon, and the crewman who had been assisting Wayland came forward with a laser. Bardo almost broke out of their power when Curran ceased operating, but Vonner caught the big figure once more and stopped it, and when the
extra laser joined in the fight it seemed to Vonner’s critical gaze that Bardo appeared to shrink a little.
They kept the weapons running, and the charged air crackled with pulsating energy. Vonner shouted above the noise, the speaker relaying his voice clearly to Wayland, who turned a sweating face towards him.
“What about power, Dalus?” Vonner demanded. “How long can we maintain this level?”
“Indefinitely,” came the reassuring reply, “so long as Bardo or these weapons don’t cause any damage to vital lines and circuits. We’re burning out bulkheads, and there are some pretty important wiring systems in them.”
“With the additional lasers coming into it, we seem to be doing more than holding Bardo!” Vonner saw a communications crewman coming into the corridor, and his laser beam caused Bardo to cringe and distort as it added its energy to that already bathing the strange figure.
“If we had another cannon we’d beat him!” Wayland gasped.
“When Curran returns we’ll send across to Alba for reinforcements,” Vonner said.
“Can we get Bardo back under the influence of the immobiliser?” Wayland demanded.
“It’s operating now, and not having the desired effect!” Vonner guessed that Bardo had become stronger since his release from the effects of the machine. “Do you think Bardo is feeding on our power source?”
“If he is then it’s a slow process, and will take a long time to have any dangerous effect for us!” Wayland spoke slowly, weighing his opinion. “I think we’ll have the necessary reinforcements before Bardo can burst free.”
Minutes passed and Vonner became concerned as their concerted fire began to cause tremendous heat build-up. He could not feel the effects himself, but Wayland was sweating profusely, and the security guard, still using his laser, seemed in the last stages of exhaustion. But then Curran returned, bringing a spacesuit for his guard, and the colonel also carried a squat, portable atomiser. He motioned for the communications crewman to take over Vonner’s cannon, and then drew Vonner to the rear. Vonner saw Curran’s face was red and blistered inside the spacesuit helmet, but otherwise Curran was cool and under complete self-control.
“Captain, I’m wondering if it will be safe to use this atomiser on Bardo!” he said crisply.
“It might destroy whole sections of the hull!” Vonner declared.
“There’s the force field behind Bardo. It might hold!” Tension was not far from Curran’s voice. “We’ve got to do something now! It looks like stalemate to me. I came through the upper corridor, and the floor is getting really hot. We’re burning up so much power here it might begin to affect the frame of the ship. If that starts distorting we’re going to lose some plates and cladding, and then the rot will set in.”
“Wait a minute!” Vonner turned back to Wayland. “Dalus, if you erect the force field at our backs again, then cut off the field behind Bardo, he’ll start making his way through your storerooms, won’t he?”
“He’ll certainly take the line of least resistance,” came the firm reply. “But I can’t afford to lose any stores! However if I cut the power in the field against that right hand wall then Bardo will make in that direction, and that way lies nearest to the hull. I think you might have something there. We’ve got the Alba out there so it won’t matter if we do suffer some bad damage! With a little luck in guidance, we can force Bardo clear out of the ship, and the instant he’s clear of us we can erect the defensive shields! That could well be our answer!”
“Hold on here until I can get someone to relieve you! Then go ahead with the plan. I’ll need all the men here to have spacesuits before you cut the force field on the right, and we’ll have to follow Bardo right to the outer hull, but it seems the only way to get rid of him.”
“Make it as quick as you can!” Wayland warned. “We’re using a tremendous amount of power, and with all circuits going flat out something might go wrong! We’ve got the upper hand at the moment. Let’s give Bardo the knock-out blow while we can deliver it.”
Vonner nodded and turned to Curran, who had been listening to their conversation.
“I’ll take care of our arrangements, Captain,” the colonel said. “You’d better call Alba and warn them to erect their deflector shields in case Bardo makes for them when we kick him out.”
“That’s something else I didn’t think of,” Vonner said. “I’m going to a shuttlecraft to use its communicator. Keep this going until I get back. Are there any more crewmen aboard, Philo?”
“Three more, and they’re getting spacesuits for everyone here. They’ll also be bringing lasers, so we’ll keep Bardo down until we can make that last decisive move against him.”
Breathing deeply, Vonner glanced at the shimmering figure of Bardo. It seemed to have shrunk slightly, and he wondered if they were slowly overwhelming it. But he dared not wait to find out. They had the upper hand at the moment, if they could not make further progress, and it was up to him to find the complete answer to the problem of Bardo’s presence.
Entering a space shuttle, Vonner called up Alba again, and Farrell answered, putting on Hanton immediately.
“We’ve been monitoring your power output, Captain,” Hanton said. “What’s been happening?”
“It’s ended in a stalemate, and that’s only the first round,” Vonner retorted. “But I think we’re going to beat it.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?”
“No. But you must erect your deflector shields. If we succeed in getting Bardo out of the ship he may attack Alba! Put up your shields immediately and keep them up until you hear from me again. Have there been any sightings of Bardo aboard Alba since I departed?”
“None, Captain, I’m relieved to say.”
“Well perhaps we’ve finally overcome the problem. We’ve got him fully occupied now, and with a little more power we might get shot of him.” Vonner explained how they intended moving Bardo out of the ship. “The only problem that may arise is what happened aboard Alba to cause the crew to abandon her!” he continued. “If there is a serious defect in the ship we’ll find out about it before we get back to Earth orbit. Have you got anything to report, Hanton? Have you found any reason for the abandonment?”
“Lieutenant Mellon has discovered that someone used the converter a great deal before the crew departed,” Hanton said.
“The converter?” Vonner frowned. “Do you mean the engine room converter?”
“That’s the one. Mellon has found a high reading on the computer tapes. Someone converted a hell of a lot of matter into energy and fed it into the ship’s main drive.”
“What matter aboard Alba could have been converted?” Vonner demanded, and there was a cold pang in the back of his mind, for he felt that he knew the answer.
“My guess, which is backed up by Mellon, incidentally, is that most of the crewmen were fed into the converter. Mellon figures, judging by the activity involving the converter, that ninety per cent of the crew must have been passed through the process.”
“Then something happened aboard the ship which killed off the crew!” Vonner said slowly. “That would account for only one shuttlecraft detaching. It carried the only survivors away!”
“But what could have caused so many deaths aboard, Captain?” Hanton sounded concerned. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong here now!”
“What about the Pteturium fumes I discovered in the captain’s quarters?” Vonner asked.
“We haven’t discovered the reason for their presence, but it is possible that somehow Pteturium leaked into the general ventilation system and overcame most of the crew. The survivors must have got rid of the bodies via the converter, then took to the shuttlecraft.”
“Are you scanning your orbit in an attempt to locate any shuttlecraft that might be there?” Vonner was thinking deeply as he spoke. “All this must have happened weeks ago, Hanton. That would account for the Pteturium fumes clearing by the time we got aboard.”
“We are on Red Alert, Captai
n, and the deflector shields have now been erected. But surely there’s something we can do to help you!”
“Nothing, except remain in attendance. If we can get Bardo out of the ship we’ll try to destroy him with our main armament! That ought to be powerful enough to finish him off.”
“Good luck then! We’ll be standing by!”
“I’ll be in touch,” Vonner promised, and cut the power.
He went back to the sickbay, and found Curran and the men there still engaging Bardo with the two cannon and sundry lasers. Wayland and his assistant had departed, and Curran, now only supervising the operation, reported to Vonner.
“We’ve got the upper hand, Captain. Bardo is impotent against us. But we’re only just holding him! Wayland is getting ready to change the force fields. Then we can push Bardo out of the ship. It will mean losing a lot of the hull, but we’ve got Alba out there, and between the two ships we should be able to make one capable of taking us the rest of the way to Earth orbit.”
“There seems to be one problem remaining in pushing Bardo out through the bulkheads,” Vonner commented. He saw Curran’s face harden, and firmed his lips for a moment. “Pressure!” he added. “The moment the outer hull goes we’ll lose air.”
Curran sighed, and looked incredibly weary. He shrugged his heavy shoulders, and for a moment they both peered at the writhing figure of Bardo in the shattered observation room. The force fields to his sides and the rear were holding him, and the power projected from both cannon and the extra lasers were pushing him against the force fields.
“There he is and there he’s likely to stay, eh?” Curran said. “How can we defeat him? Can we leave these weapons operating, pinning him in place, then retire to Alba and turn its main armament on Orion? That ought to destroy this problem.”
“It’s a last resort measure,” Vonner agreed. “But even then we don’t know if it will work. But I have to make a report on all of this if we survive it, and I have to show that I tried all available methods and means to save Orion.” There was a heavy note in Vonner’s voice, and Curran glanced quickly at him.