Omina Uncharted

by Roland Starr

  “Yes, sir!” Hanton nodded, his face grave.

  “I’ll talk to my men about the device and what must be done if we fail,” Den Thol said. “If we do fail, Captain, then Zukon will have to be destroyed. If we can’t contact them and start peace talks then no one will ever be able to parley with them.”

  “Thank God that decision will be out of my hands,” Vonner said fervently. “Take over here, Mr. Hanton. Supervise the preparations for my mission. I want to go along to the sick bay.”

  “Yes, sir!” Hanton said, and Vonner left the bridge.

  Adah Morley was in the sick bay, and she was looking worried. Three men from the damage control party were being treated for burns, and two of them were seriously injured.

  “They’re suffering from some kind of radiation burn, Captain,” she reported.

  “There’ll be worse to come, I’m thinking,” he told her.

  “I want to talk to you alone for a few moments, Adah. We’re going back into orbit around Zukon for a few moments, and I’m taking a shuttleship down to the planet’s surface.”

  “Max, you can’t do that!” she retorted, her face showing grave concern.

  “It seems to be the only way!” He shrugged. “We’ve tried everything else and failed. I must contact the Zukons and make them understand what’s happening.”

  “Shouldn’t you stay on the ship and one of your senior officers go in your place?” she demanded quietly as they walked into her office.

  “I’m not indispensable, Adah,” he told her, shaking his head. “I’m the best man for the job down there, and we have some good officers aboard who can handle Orion well enough to return to Earth. This is my duty and I’ve got to do it.”

  “Then I may never see you again,” she said slowly.

  “I want you to give me a dose of your processing machines,” he told her. “I’ve noticed that during moments of stress I’ve been thinking about you instead of concentrating fully upon my duty. It’s disconcerting because of the trip from Earth we were all processed, and personal thoughts had no chance of getting through. I don’t want anything to distract me on Zukon. Our lives may well depend upon our wits. So give me a dose of your brain-washer, Adah, and then say a prayer for me.”

  She stared at him for a moment, and he could tell that she didn’t like the idea of blanking out his mind.

  “If you die down there you’ll be alone on an alien planet, with no knowledge of what you’re leaving behind back on Earth,” she said slowly. “I don’t think you should do it, Max.”

  “I want it that way. If I die then it won’t matter what I’m thinking during my last moments. That brain washer enables a man to convert his entire mental energy to the tasks in hand. I think it will help me to be able to do that.”

  “Very well!” She stifled a sigh. “When are you leaving?”

  “We’re going back into Zukon orbit as soon as possible! I’m afraid there isn’t much time!”

  She led the way out of the office and along the corridor to the mental processing chamber. Vonner stifled a sigh of regret as he sat down in the chair, and she connected the electrodes to him, then fetched his mental data cassette from the file.

  Vonner watched her movements closely, aware that he was in love with her and that Space was no place to carry such emotions around. He nodded briefly, determined to go through with what he had to do.

  “Get on with it, Adah,” he said briskly. “Time is vital now. If I come back then we’ll find the time to get together before starting the return trip to Earth. But until then there’s duty to be performed.”

  “It’s always duty,” she replied wearily, and pressed the cassette into the machine.

  Vonner watched her as she operated the machine. He felt a tingling sensation that was not unpleasant, and for a moment he was vibrantly aware of his love for her and the circumstances under which they had been living. Then his mind was instantly wiped clean. There was a mindless period that lasted no longer than a microsecond. Everything was erased from his thoughts. Then the machine did its work and his abilities returned. When the machine was switched off he knew nothing of his love for Adah Morley.

  “Thank you, Doc,” he said as she released him from the chair. “I’ll send the rest of our men along immediately. Now I’ve got to be on my way.”

  He turned abruptly and departed, and she stared after him with a thoughtful expression on her face, while fear shone intently in her blue eyes.

  Returning to the bridge, Vonner learned that the shuttleship was ready for him, and he sent Philo Curran and the three guards to be mentally processed. Den Thol was ready for departure, and Vonner called the engine room and issued fresh orders. Wayland objected to an immediate return to Zukon, but Vonner punched the orders on the control computer and turned to Hanton, who was looking uneasy.

  “We’ll carry communicators, Mr. Hanton,” he said. “Keep a line open for us at all times, and don’t try to contact us. If an emergency comes up then handle it yourself. We’ll contact you if we need you. When you leave Zukon orbit after dropping us you’d better orbit one of the other planets of the group until I call you. If you don’t hear from me again, wait the usual period of time, then assume full command of Orion and make your own plans.”

  “Yes, Captain!” There was a grim note in Hanton’s tones. “I wish Commander Bardo was here and in command.”

  “You’ll make out,” Vonner told him.

  Quillon Reid appeared in the doorway, and Vonner shook his head. He knew what Reid was going to ask, and he couldn’t afford to lessen Orion’s chances by taking the Chief Scientist with him.

  “I’d like to volunteer to go along with you, Captain,” Reid said.

  “It’s out of the question, Quill,” Vonner retorted. “You’re more valuable aboard Orion.”

  Curran and the three guards returned from the sick bay, and Vonner checked their position. He saw Zukon on the forward scanner once more, and knew that time was pressing. He glanced at Den Thol, who was giving last minute instructions to his officers, and the Pravan commander came across to him.

  “Captain, I’m ready now if you are,” Den Thol said. He produced a small black box from a pocket. “I’m taking this remote control activator along with me. My men here have the main activator for exploding the device we’ve planted, but if the situation demands a more immediate activation then I shall be on the spot and ready to do my duty.”

  Vonner nodded. “It could be another weapon in our armoury,” he said. “But it could also be dangerous. If you misread any situation and decide to use the device when it isn’t really necessary then everything will be lost.”

  “I am not prey to emotion as your Earthmen are,” Den Thol said with a tight smile. “I won’t use the activator unless it is obvious that everything else cannot succeed.”

  They left the bridge and went along to the airlock, donning space suits, then unlocking the inner door of the airlock and entering the chamber where the shuttleship lay anchored. They entered the shuttleship and Vonner tested the communicators. Farrell spoke to him, and relayed a message from the engine room. They had two minutes to Zukon orbit.

  Vonner sat in the pilot’s seat and fed data into the command computer. They belted themselves into their seats and settled down, waiting out the last fleeting moments. The lights dimmed suddenly, and Vonner knew that they were about to be ejected. His eardrums ached as pressure suddenly hammered against them, and he realised that Orion was hitting the atmosphere of Zukon.

  The next instant darkness encompassed them and the outer airlock door opened in response to the impulses transmitted by the command computer. Great pressure built up inside the small craft as it was ejected from Orion, and Vonner felt himself being forced back into his seat as they moved rapidly away. He tried to glimpse the mother-ship, but the darkness was too complete, and by the time the pressure against him had lessened it was time for him to check the shuttleship’s position.

  He leaned forward to stare at the winking
red and green lights on the command console, and at that moment the shuttleship leaped and tremored as if a giant hand had grasped it and was waving it angrily in black space. He caught a glimpse of flashing brilliance outside the porthole by his head, and realised that they had been attacked by the waiting Zukon craft. But they were committed. They couldn’t go back. Orion was already out of orbit once more and heading away from the doomed planet at Lapse Five or Six. They could only go on, and that obvious choice didn’t seem so good any more to Vonner as he struggled to regain control of the spinning shuttleship…

  CHAPTER VIII

  The computers aboard Orion were still controlling the shuttleship, and Vonner could only attempt to set the craft on even flight as the attack caused violent disturbances of the atmosphere. Curran moved to the mounted Othic projector, but could see nothing outside the craft. He shrugged his big shoulders helplessly and returned to his seat, and Vonner knew a moment’s despair as he realised that they should never have left the security of Orion's force fields.

  But it was too late to take such an attitude, and he knew it. He was intent upon saving the life of this planet at great risk to his own, and the only way it could be accomplished was by contacting the Zukons personally.

  Den Thol was relaxed in his seat, and Vonner wondered at the Pravan’s sense of fatalism. But they were flying smoothly now, and no further attacks developed as they descended into the fiery atmosphere of the volcanic planet. Vonner leaned back in his seat. Den Thol had prepared the command computer to land them at a spot where he figured they would be able to contact a Zukon outpost, and the shuttleship would put itself down on the calculated spot without help from anyone inside.

  “We’re getting close to the planet’s surface,” Vonner said, and his tones were quiet but tense. He saw Den Thol glance at him, and met the Pravan’s gaze steadily. “I hope we’re going to find dry land.”

  “I think we will. My figures and calculations were accurate. We’d better brace ourselves for the landing.” They did so, and a few moments later the retro-rockets blasted briefly and they settled down fairly evenly on hard ground. The motors died and silence came around them.

  Vonner moved to a porthole and peered out into darkness. The shuttleship heaved slightly, as if they had dropped down upon the back of an awakening monster. But they heard no sound through the heavily insulated hull of the craft. There was flickering light out there in the hostile darkness, and Vonner could not help shivering a little as he stared at great gouts of red flame leaping skywards through murky clouds of smoke and volcanic ash.

  A volcano was furiously active some miles away, belching out flame and smoke, and again the shuttleship tremored as it felt the force of this natural eruption.

  “We can do nothing until daylight,” Den Thol said. “We must prepare to leave the ship at first fight.”

  “We are defenceless against attack if we should be spotted,” Vonner said. “If there is vegetation around the ship perhaps we can use some of it to cover the fines and general shape. At day-light the Zukons will be looking for us. They must have monitored our landing.”

  “We could not work in our space suits out there,” Den Thol said, shaking his head. “I think the only thing we can do is get away from the ship and fie low.” Vonner agreed with that, and he called Orion on the ship’s communicator. Silence followed his voice, and he frowned as he awaited a reply.

  “Are we being jammed, Captain?” Curran demanded from his seat.

  “We’ll try our personal communicators outside the ship,” Vonner said. “I’ll go through the airlock first and alone. You had better be ready for trouble, Philo!”

  The colonel nodded and checked his stun-gun. Vonner opened the airlock and entered it, closing it again quickly, and he listened to the hiss of compressed air as the lock was pressured automatically to the air pressure outside. Then he unsealed the outer door and jumped to the dark ground below. He landed heavily and lost his balance, discovering that the gravity of Zukon was a great deal heavier than he had imagined.

  He moved several yards away from the silent ship and looked around, turning slowly to check his surroundings. He could feel the ground shaking under his feet, and now caught the ominous sounds of the erupting volcano. Flames were leaping unsteadily from the crater, and dark clouds kept obscuring the massive fireworks display. He realised that ash was falling around him like rain and that he was ankle deep in it already.

  Nearer to hand were tall trees and giant ferns, and Vonner reached for his stun-gun as he tried to pierce the gloom. Although it was night there was not complete darkness because of the erupting volcano. But he could see nothing beyond the trunks of trees, and he knew they had landed in a remote spot.

  He stood with his back to the shuttleship while he took out his communicator and tried to raise the ship. Nothing came through on the delicate piece of equipment except a harsh crackling and stutter of static, and he wondered if the radio-active content of the planet was having some effect upon the communicator. He wondered if that was the reason why there had been no replies to his ultimatum. Perhaps the Zukons had not received any of the calls.

  He had to revise some of his opinions about the Zukons as he considered, and he knew that at least he had done the right thing in landing on the planet because the Zukons had to be contacted. He looked around, able to get a good view through his plastic-dome helmet. He signalled with his hand, knowing that he was being watched closely from inside the shuttleship, and he wanted Curran and a couple of guards out to keep watch. A few minutes later they all joined him, and Den Thol was talking into his space suit communicator.

  “Captain, conditions down here are a lot worse than we calculated,” the Pravan said. “There is a Zukon outpost not far from here. I suggest we leave two men to guard the ship and the rest of us had better make for the outpost.”

  “I agree.” Vonner looked around again, and he was appalled at the conditions. He had an uncanny feeling that the whole planet was about to explode. The ground was trembling continuously, and although his suit was insulated, Vonner could imagine the great heat. He spoke to Curran, who ordered two of the guards to lock themselves in the shuttleship and guard it with their lives, and then they started away from their landing point.

  Den Thol carried a compass, and it was evident that the Pravan had done his homework about Zukon. He seemed to know exactly where they were and where they had to go. They moved carefully, almost feeling their way through close vegetation. There were tall trees and giant ferns, and Vonner could see that already the vegetation was beginning to shrivel and wither, testimony to the rapidly increasing heat and danger on the planet.

  Their boots scraped on solidified lava, and ash covered everything to a depth of several inches. But at times they lurched into depressions that seemed filled with water or some liquid. Den Thol paused in a pool of water which was dull in the night, and did not reflect the belching flames of the volcano. He glanced at Vonner, his face pale inside the dome of his helmet.

  Captain, the temperature of this water is one hundred and four degrees Centigrade!”

  “Let’s hope the insulation of these suits don’t fail,” Vonner retorted grimly.

  “We’ll boil like eggs if they do,” Philo Curran said thinly.

  They stumbled along for what seemed hours, and Vonner was beginning to feel the effects of the pace. It was never easy to do much physical work inside a space suit, and for the past two years he had been cooped up aboard Orion. But they continued, and soon the sky began to lighten. Dawn was approaching, and Vonner decided that the view by daylight could not be as awesome as it was at night. He kept looking around, alert to any nearby danger, but it was like walking on a ghost planet for all the movement or life they saw.

  The sun came up eventually, partially obscured by the dense clouds of sooty smoke that streaked the sky. Vonner found that they had been ascending a long slope, and that accounted for the effort needed, coupled with the heavier gravity of the planet. But he was
amazed, as his range of vision increased, to see several more volcanoes erupting. The one he had spotted from the shuttle-ship was the largest, and the only one throwing up flames and smoke. But three other volcanoes were smoking ominously, and again he felt a tiny pang of concern. It seemed to him that the planet was stricken and about to be torn asunder by the gigantic forces at work beneath tire surface.

  When they paused to rest Den Thol checked a map he was carrying, and his face was grim when he looked up at Vonner’s intent face.

  “Captain, we are very close to the outpost. It is on the reverse slope of this hill. In fact the Zukons will be in deep bunkers under our feet. As you know, I am not in favour of this approach because I fear that we shall be killed out of hand, or at least will have to fight for our lives. So I think it would be sensible if we didn’t all blunder into the clutches of the Zukons. One of us should go forward to try and make contact.”

  “That makes good sense,” Vonner said. “I’ll go.”

  “I think I’m the more suitable member of the party to take the duty,” Den Thol said slowly. His face was pale inside the dome. “I know the area better than you and I have had some dealings with the Zukons. I can speak their language. You do not know it.”

  “Then two of us will go,” Vonner said, “and Colonel Curran and the guard can cover the rear. If anything happens to us the Colonel will make his way back to the shuttleship and take off to return to Orion.”

  “There is no time to argue about this,” the Pravan retorted. He nodded slowly. “We’ll go together, Captain.”

  Vonner gave Curran instructions, and the big security man seemed disappointed that he was not going to find action.

  “Philo, if you spot any Zukons then don’t fight unless you have to. Remain in hiding if you can. But don’t hesitate to fight if your lives are at risk. We’ll take care of ourselves.”

  “Good luck, Captain,” Curran responded.