Space 1999 - The Time Fighters

by Michael Butterworth

  ‘First phase is to relieve the cortical pressure caused by the compound fracture,’ she told him.

  Vincent nodded, scrutinizing the plates. ‘At least we’ve been successful in stopping the internal haemorrhage.’

  ‘I want you to monitor that constantly,’ she instructed.

  ‘Fine.’ He indicated a foreign object on one of the plates. ‘Now, what do you make of this?’

  ‘I don’t know. It seems to be some sort of metal alloy.’

  ‘It could be a deliberate implant of some kind.’

  Helena nodded. ‘We’ll have to remove it to understand its function properly.’ She looked round for her nurse. ‘All set then?’

  The nurse handed Helena an instrument with which she began to remove the dressing from Yesta’s head.

  The operation progressed. They cut their way through the child’s cranium and into her brain, using very delicate instruments, damaging as few of the valuable braincells as possible. A weak, amplified heart beat and the occasional chink of their cutting instruments were the only sounds that were made while they worked. Eventually, they reached the mysterious object they had seen on the X-ray plates. Helena inserted a lifting device deep into the wound and extracted it. She raised the object into the air to examine it, then dropped it into a petri dish and cleaned it with a squirt from a wash bottle.

  The object was spherical and golden in colour. It seemed identical to the device Verdeschi and Carter had found on Clea’s bed in the star ship.

  ‘Run some tests on that, please Ben,’ she said.

  She picked up her comlock and punched Verdeschi’s code. ‘Tony...’

  ‘Yes, Helena,’ the Italian’s voice sounded after a while.

  ‘Yesta will be out of anaesthetic in a few minutes.’

  ‘Be right there,’ he said. He turned off-screen. ‘Maya, that force-field must remain intact.’ There was a pause. ‘Bring Sahala to the Medical Centre,’ he directed, evidently to the Guard. The set went dead and Helena began tidying up the child’s wounds, replacing the piece of her skull they had had to cut away, and rebandaging her head.

  Eagerly, Maya turned the control dial at the tip of the ray-firing implement that they had acquired from Sahala. She had used something similar on Psychon. She pressed it to the various points on Dorzak’s body just as Helena had observed Sahala doing to her when Sahala had revived her from stasis.

  Doing the same with the staser, she pressed it to his forehead and turned it on. Then she moved hastily out of Dorzak’s part of the chamber and re-activated the force-field. Expectantly, she turned and watched the sleeping figure through the vapid, orange power curtain.

  Slowly, Dorzak rose from his sleep. He raised himself to a sitting position and looked about him. He screwed up his eyes, trying to re-orientate himself and slowly stood up.

  ‘Dorzak...’ Maya whispered fervently at him.

  He started at her voice, and spied her. A wide, benevolent smile spread across his large face. ‘Maya...!’

  She stared, too affected to speak.

  ‘It is Maya, isn’t it... daughter of Mentor?’ he asked happily.

  She nodded, tears streaming down her face. She still could not find her voice.

  Dorzak frowned. ‘But... how are you here? In this Croton ship? I thought you were dead.’ A look of sadness and confusion crossed his features.

  At last she spoke, in a small, choked voice. ‘I survived the destruction of Psychon... the only survivor.’ She smiled. ‘We thought all of you were dead.’

  ‘I survived the hatred of the Crotons,’ Dorzak rejoined. ‘The only survivor...’ He hung his head, then looked more encouragingly at her. ‘It’s just you and me, Maya. We are the only Psychons alive.’

  He started towards her, then stopped as he realized that the force-field was still up. He smiled kindly at her. ‘The force-field. I thought you came to rescue me, Maya. Am I still a prisoner then?’

  Maya almost burst into tears once more... this time from pain. ‘Not for long,’ she said in anguish. ‘Sahala, the Commander of this ship...’

  ‘Ah... Sahala!’ he exclaimed, as though she explained everything. ‘That evil being. What lies has she told about me?’

  ‘Her lies won’t help her now that Yesta has been revived.’

  Surprisingly, Dorzak agreed. ‘Yes. If there’s a Croton with integrity, it’s Yesta. Where is she?’

  ‘In the Medical Centre.’

  He sat down again. ‘While we wait for the truth to come out, Maya, tell me of yourself since I saw you last.’

  Maya began to tell him, cursing the Crotons, damning the ridiculous situation she found herself in of having to show Dorzak that her loyalty to the Alphans was greater than her trust in him.

  ‘She’s coming round,’ Helena told the tense assembly gathered by the young Croton girl’s bed.

  Yesta was breathing shallowly. Her delicate lids were still closed over her eyes, but they were beginning to flutter open.

  ‘Yesta...?’ Helena leaned over.

  A slight smile showed on the girl’s pretty face. ‘I am Yesta,’ she said dreamily. Sudden fear came over her and she began to moan.

  ‘Ben, prepare a sedative,’ Helena instructed quickly.

  ‘My congratulations Doctor Russell,’ Sahala said to her with real appreciation. ‘You have done a remarkable job. I thank you – for what you have done for my friend.’

  ‘She doesn’t know where she is or who I am,’ Helena said. ‘A familiar face should reassure her.’ As she helped Vincent administer the sedative, she spoke again to the fevered girl. ‘Yesta? Yesta? Sahala is here to see you... Yesta?’

  The child stopped her struggling. An alertness came over her. She focused on Sahala, who now leant over her calling her name: ‘Yesta! Yesta!’

  Sahala took her hand and squeezed it tightly. But the child’s face suddenly clouded over with anxiety...

  In her mind, dark clouds of blankness formed. Dorzak’s face hovered in the shadows, barely discernible. His face was lined with concentration, and as he thought, vivid red arrows of controlling fire and pain shot into her...

  ‘Take her away!’ the girl screamed as Sahala tried again to comfort her. Now she was anxious. She turned to Verdeschi and Helena with a pained expression on her attractive face. The onlookers were thrown into confusion.

  She turned back to Yesta. ‘Yesta!’ she implored. ‘It’s me! Yesta! Please...’

  Yesta couldn’t look at her Commander and turned instead to Helena. ‘It’s wrong, what we did to the Psychons. We should have let them live in peace. We should have...’

  Sahala looked horrified, her beauty for once leaving her. ‘Yesta, listen to me, please. You must tell them...’ She shook her furiously.

  ‘Get her away...!’ Yesta moaned. ‘Get her away... she killed Clea...’

  Helena drew back alarmed at the manner in which the struggling girl was endangering her connection to the life-support systems. She and Vincent tried to calm her.

  Carter stared at Sahala in shock...

  The burning red pierced her, killing her. The dark clouds rushed in, drowning out all else except the arrows. They were too much. She felt herself drowning, slipping, sliding away.

  ‘Ben, a stimulant, quick!’ Helena shouted urgently.

  Vincent fumbled about on the table beside him.

  Yesta’s body had grown quite still again. Her breathing had gone back to what it had been. Her beating heart had slowed almost to stop. Her young face, full of beauty and innocence, had become as pallid as marble.

  By the time Vincent was ready with the hypodermic, she was dead.

  Helena fell sideways against Verdeschi in despair. She shook her head repeatedly.

  Sahala broke down. She began crying convulsively, aware of their burning stares of accusation.

  They weren’t to be taken in.

  ‘She’s dead,’ Helena declared solemnly a moment later.

  Verdeschi stared stonily at the fallen beauty sobbing on the M
edical Centre floor. ‘But at least now we know where we stand.’ He reached for his comlock. ‘Maya...?’

  ‘Yes, Tony?’

  ‘Dorzak is innocent.’

  As he spoke, another agonized moan escaped the woman on the floor.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Maya turned to Dorzak with a look of joy. ‘I knew it!’ She had been explaining to him what had happened to her and her father, praising the Alphans’ fairness and integrity.

  ‘If you succeed in reviving Dorzak...’ Verdeschi’s voice came again over the comlock, but she cut him off.

  ‘I already have, Tony. Have I your permission to release him from the force-field?’

  ‘Yes,’ came the sure reply. ‘Take him to more comfortable quarters – our own. Dorzak, if you’re listening, accept our apologies... and our invitation to be our guest here.’

  Dorzak and Maya exchanged warm smiles as the link was broken.

  She passed her hand over the faceted control panel and dropped the imprisoning curtain that hung between them. When it was down, she turned to him with outstretched arms. He ran to her and they embraced heartily, weeping on one another’s shoulders.

  ‘Your faith sustained us both,’ Dorzak said emotionally.

  ‘It’s so good to see you,’ she cried.

  Carter strode off moodily towards the Technical Laboratory where Verdeschi had sent him to test the tiny gold device that had been fished out of Yesta’s head.

  On the way out of the Medical Centre, the Security Chief had stopped him. ‘Alan...’

  Carter had stopped, knowing what Verdeschi was going to tell him.

  ‘Obviously she was lying.’

  ‘Obviously...’ he had agreed, hesitantly.

  ‘She talked about the power Dorzak’s mind had over others. Maybe it’s her mind that has power over others. So if I can give you some advice...’

  ‘Stay away from her?’ Carter had suggested unhappily.

  Verdeschi had nodded.

  ‘Maybe I’ll take your advice,’ he had said.

  Whistling mournfully to himself, he turned into the Tech Lab and found Ed Malcolm, one of the Technicians.

  Malcolm was making notes when he entered.

  ‘I want you to run a check on this, Ed,’ he said, holding the gold sphere.

  Malcolm squinted at it. ‘I was running a check on the twin of that thing for Doctor Russell. I was just finishing my report.’

  ‘How about filling me in, then?’ Carter asked.

  Malcolm was only too happy to please. He didn’t get many visitors. He led the way over to his untidy work bench, strewn with apparatus and cutting equipment.

  He picked up the twin. ‘This is the one Doctor Russell removed from Yesta’s head.’ He paused for effect. ‘It’s a neuropulsonic jammer.’

  ‘Are you saying that was a deliberate implant in Yesta’s head?’

  ‘I don’t know which region of the brain Doctor Russell got it from. She just had it given to me. But it sure is strange. I’ve never seen one quite like this before.’

  Carter looked at it thoughtfully. ‘Well, what was it supposed to jam? Got any ideas?’

  Malcolm turned to a monitor by his side and touched one of the controls. A number of pulsating electrical waves appeared on the screen. ‘See, these are organic psycho-waves,’ he said.

  ‘What does that mean, Prof?’ Carter asked.

  ‘Well, they are electrical impulses associated with extra-sensory perception.’

  ‘You mean if I was going to use my brain to send a message to you, that’s the way it would look?’

  ‘Right.’

  ‘And if you could not resist the order or message I was transmitting to you through your own brain...’ He looked thoughtfully at the device ‘...then you could jam my message if you had one of these implanted in... your... head...’ He broke off, a horrible thought occurring to him.

  ‘Exactly,’ Malcolm nodded furiously.

  Carter pointed to the monitor. ‘Did our sensors pick up any such organic psycho-waves transmitted today?’

  Malcolm looked suddenly astonished. ‘Yes... yes, they sure did, come to think of it.’ But most of his words were lost. Carter had gone.

  A great pile of specially-prepared food – fruits, salads, cooked foods, bottles and packets – adorned the table in front of Dorzak. He was ensconced in Maya’s quarters, sampling the delights and the lesser delights of the Moon Base.

  ‘Some of the gastronomic pleasures of Alpha,’ she announced, walking in with a final tray.

  Dorzak looked quizically at it as he listened to Maya’s commentary. ‘To begin with: piments doux en salade; red and green peppers, black olives and a little parsley, seasoned with salt, olive oil and a little chopped garlic.’ She pointed to the first dish. ‘It’s all re-constituted protein really, but they are tireless in their pursuit of the textures and flavours of the foods of Planet Earth.’

  She pointed to a plate of hors d’oeuvres and Dorzak examined it with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion.

  ‘It’s really very tasty. Anyway, when in Rome, you have to do as the Romans...’ she began. She noticed his blank, uncomprehending expression. ‘Sorry, that’s an expression that means...’

  He cut her off. ‘You have become very Earthly, Maya.’

  ‘I know.’

  He began picking at some of the salad. ‘You must tell me more about the technique of molecular transformation. You have mastered it?’

  ‘I have!’ Maya declared, proud to have excelled her old teacher in this respect at least. ‘Of course, with my father’s help,’ she added.

  ‘What about your friends on Alpha? Have you taught them the technique?’ he asked, savouring an olive.

  ‘Only Psychons have the unique molecular structure which permits the transformation.’

  He smiled and nodded his head appreciatively. ‘Then you must teach me. You know, this... olive... isn’t so bad.’

  As he spoke, Maya began converting in front of him. First she turned into a mouse. Then a zebra.

  He clapped at the zebra. ‘Well, well, well. What else, Maya?’

  She turned into a gorilla, and he roared with laughter. ‘Maya, you are so brilliant about everything!’

  She turned back into herself. ‘No, Dorzak. It is you who are the brilliant one. I have only mastered this one little thing.’

  ‘But you must teach me the principle, nevertheless,’ he said more seriously.

  The monitor bleeped, interrupting them. Verdeschi’s face appeared on it. ‘Maya, report to Medical Centre, please.’

  Maya frowned. ‘I’ll be right there, Tony.’

  His image faded. As she was going out she told Dorzak: ‘Exercise your famous brain with the problems of finding my Alphan friends a habitable planet and I will teach you molecular transformation when I get back.’

  She smiled playfully.

  After she had gone, Dorzak settled back in his chair. His expression changed.

  ‘There it is, just behind the ear under the scalp flap,’ Helena pointed to the tiny implant in an X-ray of Sahala’s skull. ‘A simple operation... you could do it in minutes.’

  She turned to where the Croton lay on the trolley in front of them, and showed Carter and Verdeschi the place on Sahala’s head.

  Sahala’s eyes were open. She looked up at Carter, hopefully, her full and amazing beauty restored once more. He smiled encouragingly down at her.

  Maya entered and stopped when she saw Sahala. She froze. ‘Tony...’ she began. But Verdeschi held up his hand. He waved her over, and she came reluctantly. He showed her one of the tiny jammers.

  ‘It’s a neuro-pulsonic jammer,’ he told her.

  ‘I know,’ she said. ‘Its purpose is to jam electrical waves – amongst other things.’

  ‘Such as hypno-suggestion,’ Carter put in.

  She frowned, sensing that there had been some important new development. ‘Hey, what is this?’

  ‘Our sensors picked up a hypno-suggestion transmis
sion at thirteen hundred and twenty hours,’ Helena told her. ‘Just about the time you revived Dorzak from stasis.’

  ‘And they stopped just after Yesta’s death,’ Carter added, not relishing the way they were having to gang up on Maya.

  Maya turned hotly to Sahala. ‘She’s blaming Dorzak for the transmission of those impulses?’

  Helena swallowed. ‘Unfortunately, yes. The Crotons developed these little devices to jam psycho-waves before they were received by the brain.’

  ‘If that’s true,’ Maya argued tensely, ‘why was Clea affected, and Yesta?’

  ‘Clea was already in love with Dorzak,’ Sahala purred mournfully, ‘and removed the one thing which could protect her from his power.’

  ‘Yesta was my fault,’ Helena admitted. ‘I removed the device in ignorance. He then was able to make her tell us what he wanted us to hear.’

  Maya shook her head. Her happiness was slipping away. Her last, final contact with Psychon was going. ‘It’s a cheap trick! How can we take the chance that she’s not deceiving us?’

  Verdeschi moved protectively to her and put his arms round her. ‘We can’t take the chance that Dorzak’s tricking us,’ he said softly. ‘If from stasis he can control minds, he can take ours over completely.’

  Helena stepped in front of her, a pleading expression on her face. ‘Maya, we could be in terrible danger.’

  Maya sensed that they were about to propose something to her and the panic gnawed away at her insides.

  ‘The only one he can’t control is Sahala,’ Carter said.

  The beautiful creature stepped eagerly forward. ‘Yes, I can control him. If we’re quick,’ she panted. She held out her hand. ‘Give me a weapon. I’ll make him prisoner again.’

  Verdeschi tensed. Maya turned to him, horrified. ‘Tony, you can’t give her a weapon!’

  ‘I don’t intend to,’ he said. He was thinking hard. He turned to the Security Guard. ‘Take Sahala back to detention.’

  Sahala shied instinctively away towards Carter. He nodded to her. ‘It will be all right. Go on.’

  Uncertainly, like a frightened animal, she allowed the Guard to lead her away. After she had gone Verdeschi thought aloud. ‘There is a way we can know the truth. If Sahala and Dorzak were alone together, all the cards would be on the table.’ He looked strongly at Maya.