“Where are we?” asked Josh. It was more a question to himself but Keith answered.
“We are at the far end of the Greenhouses on the J Lane. To get to the Zoo, we need to continue down the J Lane to the 7 Passageway.”
“You are absolutely right. Let’s go.”
“Ensign Saad, please report to the Conveyor Port immediately,” commanded Dennis Pearson into the intercom on the console panel. “Repeat, Ensign Saad, report immediately to the Conveyor Port.”
Pearson glanced around the hangar. Everything appeared to be ship-shape and proceeding right on schedule. He had checked, double-checked, and triple-checked every lever, switch, dial, and gauge. All were in perfect working order. The backpacks were stuffed with the gear they would need for the mission. Jackson Greene and Bonnie Shea had just completed loading the last of the packs into the cargo hold of the John Glenn when the remaining members of the crew arrived. Along with himself, the rest of the landing party, which consisted of Nurse Amanda Rugan; Security Officer Seaman Neil Chase; Communications Officer Ensign Benjamin Rubin; Science Officer Jackson Greene; and Laser Technician Lieutenant Bonnie Shea, were all clad in the blue uniforms worn for outings. The party was assembled on the launchpad apprehensively awaiting his command. While everyone was anxious to start looking for the Captain and the others, they were also all dreading what they actually might find. Dennis examined all the controls on the launch console for the thousandth time. It all checked out. Now the only thing left was to board the Glenn and liftoff for the relatively short trip to Brisula. And to pray that the force field was completely melted as they ascertained.
The elevator doors slid open, and Ensign Mohammad Saad stepped out. He looked both surprised and uneasy. Pearson explained that he was being assigned to work the console for the launching of the Glenn. Dennis had already fed in the coordinates for Brisula. Once the pod landed, Saad was to continue to monitor the pod’s whereabouts at all times. He was also to keep in communication with Diane Pearson on the Bridge. Lieutenant Pearson would be trying to establish contact with the landing party. Saad indicated that he understood his orders. He looked at the console to make sure he had no questions on operating it. Then he announced “Sir, please have the party board and prepare for liftoff.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
June 26, 0630 Hours
Both the takeoff and the landing went smoothly. The John Glenn touched down in an open field not very far from the James T. Kirk. Even in the dark, the officers could visibly see the other spacecraft. The huge band of neon orange, reflective paint around the dome of the pod glowed brightly against the pitch-black of the night sky. It was only about four hundred meters in the distance. Ben Rubin attempted to radio the Gladiator of their safe landing but he could not reach the ship by the pod’s communications system or by satellite phone. Dennis gave it a try but he, too, had no luck. They abandoned trying to establish contact, and instead the crew donned their heavy backpacks and set out for the James K.
All was quiet as the landing party approached the James K. But, reasoned Dennis, considering that it is four-thirty in the morning that is to be expected. If the Captain is asleep in the pod, I may look quite foolish barging in and waking him up. However, given the situation I am almost positive that the Captain will not hold that against me. He shouldn’t anyway. After all we were going to have to break through the force field eventually if the James K was to return to the Gladiator. Well, here goes nothing. He tapped lightly on the spacecraft’s door. There was no answer. He knocked harder, and when there was still no response he began banging his fist loudly and repeatedly against the door. He was about to walk away when the door started to swing open. Ensign Glenna stood in the doorway draped in a blanket, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
“I am sorry to disturb your sleep, Ensign,” said Lieutenant Commander Dennis Pearson eying her suspiciously. Where are her clothes, he wondered. An officer on a mission would never remove his or her uniform even to sleep. One never knows when you’d be called into action. He was about to ask where her clothes were, when a young gentleman clad only in uniform trousers stepped up behind her. Oh, so that’s why she’s naked. But who is this bare-chested fellow?
“Who are you?” questioned the stranger.
“Exactly, what I was going to ask you, young man.”
“Colin, this is Lieutenant Commander Dennis Pearson, the chief engineer aboard the Gladiator,” stated Beverly. “Sir, this is Lieutenant Colin Evans from the Naval Architectural Engineering Team.” She stopped for a few seconds deciding whether to say anything else. She then added, “And sir, he is my fiancé.”
“Your fiancé?” My, my. That is still no excuse for being out of uniform while on duty. And what about Hampton? Everyone aboard the ship thought they were an item. Well, there is no time to get into that conversation.
Beverly nodded and then looked down at her feet obviously ashamed. When Pearson did not respond she looked up and asked, “How did you get here, sir?”
“Put some clothes on, Ensign, and then we can talk.”
Dennis invited the rest of the landing party into the James K. They all crowded in, some sitting on the pod’s seats, others on the floor. Dennis stood leaning against the helm. When Beverly returned wearing her uniform and Evans had donned his shirt and boots, they dove into discussing the dire situation at hand.
“Sir,” said Keith Hampton very softly. “I think there is activity up ahead. I can hear what sounds like footsteps.” They had not walked very far from the manhole. Keith was a few paces in front of Captain Stoner. He checked the setting on his zip gun. It was back on incapacitate. I am certainly not ready to kill anyone else. Not even a bad guy. I don’t know for sure if that guard that I stabbed with a scissors survived. If he didn’t that makes two people I’ve killed. If he did make it, then that means the first person I ever killed was my best friend.
“Here, let’s duck down this apartment lane,” instructed Josh. It was the 800 Lane. The two officers stood with their guns drawn, in the shadows, close to the wall along the entrance to the row of the 800 apartments. The footsteps got louder. From the sound of the steps it was obviously a band of people. Josh leaned out and took a quick peek. It looked like a group of three, two men and a woman. Without even turning to look at Keith Hampton, the Captain sent him a signal by raising his gun above his head and pointing it straight ahead. Keith understood. They were going to shoot the passersby.
As the small troop came into shooting range, Josh aimed his zip gun at the man leading the pack. He was wearing blue jeans and a baseball cap. Something about him looked familiar. And then Josh saw her. “Hold your fire,” he shouted. The three people on the J Lane came to an immediate halt. Josh stepped out of the shadows of the hallway and smiled. “We almost shot you, Colonel.”
“Well, I am certainly glad that you didn’t,” replied Colonel Flax. “I was keeping my promise to have the doctor and Commander Andrews come look for you if you had not returned. Unfortunately, we had a few detours on the way.”
“They must have been some detours. You are hours late,” grinned Josh. “I was wondering why the help I requested never came.” Josh chuckled and added, “Keith and I had a few detours of our own.”
“So where to now?” asked Dr. Berg.
“We need to return to the surface and call for reinforcements. Tradian Central needs to be shut down and the slaves need to be freed,” answered Josh.
“Captain, there may be a more urgent problem that needs immediate attention,” said the doctor. “It is my belief that everyone on Brisula is being poisoned. Probably from the apples, although I am not certain of that.”
The apples, thought Josh. Of course! That explains the hypo that Keith found, and why I myself have been feeling so rotten. Rotten apples!
“It is the apples. Keith discovered a hypodermic needle in one of the apple barrels being stored in the sewer. There were slaves being ordered to prepare the apples for delivery.” He paused and shook his head. �
��That probably explains why I’ve been feeling so weak.”
“Commander Andrews is also quite ill, along with the Flax children and many of the slaves. We need to find out what the poison is and prepare an antidote for immediate distribution.”
“OK. That settles it. Let’s get out of here and back to the Gladiator.”
“Captain, you will save my children?” said the Colonel.
“You have my word that we will do everything we can to help your children and everyone else infected by this poison. Let’s get moving. There is not much time before the tunnels will be crowded with people heading to school and work.” Josh then walked over to Dave Andrews. “You’ve been pretty quiet. Not feeling too good?”
“I am OK, sir, just weak and a bit nauseous.”
“Same here.” Josh reached into his waistband and pulled out the gun Keith had taken from the guard they had detained in Tradian Central. He handed it to Dave. “Take this.”
They headed west on the J Lane then north on the 7 Passageway. From there it was only about a two block walk to the Boulder Entrance. Hopefully the ropes are still attached, thought Josh, otherwise we may be doomed.
The 7 Passageway came to an end. Led by Hampton, the group crossed the L Lane. The Boulder Entrance was straight ahead. A line of four Brisulan guards were stationed at the foot of the entrance. The two ropes were still dangling in the air, presumably still attached to the trees on the planet’s surface. While Commander Andrews and Captain Stoner held the guards at gunpoint, Keith Hampton relieved them of their weapons, mostly cattle prods and whips. None of the guards were equipped with firearms. Colonel Flax pointed out that they were not far from the Zoo. He said there was an animal holding cell where he could detain the guards. Flax described the various uses for the holding cell; it was a cage where animals were placed when their normal exhibit cages were being thoroughly cleaned, when the animals needed to be prepped for transit, when they needed to be examined by a veterinarian, or if they needed to be separated temporarily from the other animals.
“Sounds perfect,” agreed Josh. “But Colonel won’t you find yourself in serious trouble if it is reported that you helped us escape and imprisoned the guards. We certainly do not want to put you in a precarious situation.”
“Do not bother yourselves over my predicament,” responded Flax. “With everything I’ve done in the last two days, I am sure my actions have already raised eyebrows. My only concern right now is for the welfare of my children and the others who are ill, including you and your crew. Whatever happens to me is of no consequence.”
This time with Flax leading the way the four Gladiator officers and their four prisoners followed him to the Zoo where the guards were placed into the holding cell. The Colonel provided Keith and Josh with some fresh cool water. Everyone returned to the ropes, and with the Colonel’s assistance they heaved themselves up and out of Brisula City. Captain Stoner was the last to leave. He bid the Colonel adieu but promised they would be back very soon.
“So, Ensign, what you are telling me is that the landing party, minus yourself, went down to the city, and a few hours later only Andrews and Hampton returned. They were under the assumption that the Captain and the doctor had already come back to the surface, which of course was inaccurate. Not finding the Captain, Andrews and Hampton then took Penelope and went back down to the city. And no one has heard or seen from them since,” concluded Dennis Pearson.
He seems mighty angry, thought Beverly Glenna. Is he upset because the Captain has been gone for a while, or is he mad at me for betraying Keith? Everyone has been staring at me with contempt ever since I opened the pod door and introduced Colin as my fiancé. If only they could comprehend how I truly feel about Keith and the bizarre circumstances that brought us together. But how can I expect them to understand when I myself can’t even explain how it happened or why I hid my engagement from Keith. Beverly felt her hands getting clammy and sweat building up under her uniform. There were eight crewmembers cramped into a small area at the helm of the James K. The air in the space pod is getting thin and warm due to so many of us crammed together, she thought. But she knew that wasn’t the whole truth.
“Ensign,” said Dennis impatiently. “Are you with us?”
“Sorry, sir, I was just thinking over what you said,” lied Beverly. “What you said is correct.”
“Lieutenant, am I also to believe that your supervisor, Commodore, um,” said Pearson turning his attention to the officer engaged to the Ensign.
“Naper, sir. Commodore Christopher Naper,” inserted Colin Evans.
“Thank you. Commodore Naper did not send a rescue squad down to search for Captain Stoner?”
Colin answered. “We have not been able to establish any communication with Brisula City. So we have no reason to believe that Captain Stoner is in need of rescuing.”
“Obviously something was wrong. Why else would they have taken Penelope?” So, thought Dennis, that’s where Penelope has been all this time. We were all concerned that we hadn’t seen her since the Captain departed for Brisula.
“I just assumed that the doctor wanted her cat to be with her instead of up here with me,” responded Beverly. As soon as the words left her mouth she realized how lame they sounded. If the truth be told, she was so wrapped up in the situation with Colin and Keith that she hadn’t really paid much attention to the other events occurring around her.
“I hardly doubt that,” spit out Pearson. “Commander Andrews and Lieutenant Hampton could not locate the Captain or the doctor. Perhaps they thought that Penelope could.”
“I think you are right, sir,” softly replied Beverly Glenna. “That is a logical assumption.” She averted her eyes from Pearson and added, “I am sorry, sir, that I did not put that together at the time. I should have alerted Commodore Naper of the possible emergency situation.”
“Yes, you should have.”
There was a knock on the door. It caught everyone off guard. Who would be calling at this early hour of the morning?
“It must be Commodore Naper,” said Colin Evans. “I’ll let him.”
“Great, he is just the man I want to see.” Dennis turned to watch the Lieutenant open the pod’s door.
The crew of four tired Gladiator officers sat along the edge of the large hole in the ground, each catching their breath from the strenuous work of pulling themselves up the ropes and out of the dangerous but shimmering underground city.
Captain Stoner tried getting to his feet. He could not believe how weak he felt. Every muscle in his body was throbbing and shouting out to him to sit back down. But he ignored the warnings and struggled to a standing position. He told the others to remain where they were. If they were feeling anything like he was, they needed to rest. Josh took off for the nearby James K. He could see some light shinning through the pod’s portals. Good, Ensign Glenna may be up, so I won’t have to startle her in her sleep.
Reaching the door, he knocked lightly and waited for the Ensign to open it. To his surprise it was the Ensign’s fiancé, Lieutenant Evans, who jerked the door open. And to his even bigger surprise the pod was crowded with officers in blue UGC uniforms.
“May I join the party?” grinned Josh, looking at the obviously relieved faces of his crew members.
“Certainly!” responded Dennis Pearson. “Although it is a bit cramped in here.”
“So, I see. Maybe we can reconvene outside. I brought a few others with me to the party.”
They all climbed out of the small spacecraft and followed the Captain over to the hole alongside the Boulder. Josh instructed the crew to take seats on the grass. While he waited for everyone to settle in, he could not help but watch Ensign Glenna as she snuggled down beside Colin Evans. Was she really engaged to Evans this whole time? How could she have led Keith on for so long? He tore his eyes away from the young woman. Those are thoughts for another time.
“It is really great to see all of you,” began Josh. “But why are you all here?”
&nbs
p; Lieutenant Commander Pearson explained the circumstances leading to their arrival on Brisula. How a force field had suddenly appeared. How they had developed a plan of action, and used it to successfully eliminate the field. How everyone was concerned that there had been no contact from the landing party. How they were unable to establish communications with Brisula. And how he was managing those continual calls from Admiral Wilcox with messages for the Captain.
“But most of all,” concluded Dennis, “we just missed you an awfully lot!”
“Thank you for your report, Denny. We all missed you guys also.” Josh smiled broadly. “I am actually quite glad that you are here. We are going to need as much help as we can muster to straighten things out below.”
“What do you mean?” asked Dennis. “And where is Lieutenant Shasta? You did rescue him, right?”
Josh took a deep breath. He looked at Keith Hampton who slowly nodded, then closed his eyes. “Wayne Shasta is dead,” Josh told the group.
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