Maya looked at each of them in turn, realizing what it was that was being requested of her.
For a long moment she fought the suggestion. It was abhorrent to her, after the trust she had just started to build up again in Dorzak. Finally she relented. In the light of the new evidence that had been unearthed and the obvious distress that it had caused her Alphan friends, it was better that she deceive Dorzak once more – for everyone’s sake.
‘All right,’ she agreed.
‘Good.’ Verdeschi nodded keenly. He slapped her on the back. ‘I knew you’d agree.’
She stood stock still while she concentrated. Her body enveloped itself in the familiar, blazing spindle they had come to expect of her transformations. Reluctantly, the being of Sahala shimmered into existence – the heavenly, delightful being that was the cause of so much anxiety for Carter, and so much loathing for her.
‘You’ll have to be very careful, Maya,’ Helena said worriedly. ‘If he suspects...’
‘I’ll be careful,’ Maya/Sahala said. She took hold of the laser which Verdeschi offered her and stepped with it behind the doctor’s back. She stuck it in her ribs. ‘Okay, now start walking.’
As they left the room, Verdeschi ran to the Red Alert button. He activated it. Then he ran to the wall monitor and began an announcement to the entire Base.
‘Attention. The Croton woman, Sahala, has broken out of detention,’ his voice boomed along the corridors as the alarm bells rang. ‘She has Doctor Russell as hostage at gunpoint...’
Realizing that he had to get somewhere where he could control the proceedings more capably, he set out for the Command Centre. There, the Alphan personnel were appalled by the news they had just heard announced and harangued him with questions. He ignored them and rushed towards his console. ‘The Croton woman is presently in Section L and is heading for the Croton ship,’ he continued his hoax message. ‘No-one, repeat, no-one, is to try to stop her.’
He had scarcely finished speaking when Dorzak, wearing a look of genuine anxiety, entered. The rat, if he was one, was walking nicely into the trap, Verdeschi thought to himself.
Dorzak had a convincing expression of concern as he approached the Command Console. ‘If I can be of help in any way?’
‘Thank you,’ Verdeschi nodded politely.
‘If any of your people suffer injury because of me...’ the Psychon continued, and Verdeschi was suddenly certain that whichever way they played it with Dorzak they were going to have great difficulty discovering the truth.
He spied Carter entering and, still acting, turned on him. ‘All right, how did it happen?’
Carter did a good job of looking unhappy. ‘I don’t know...’ He shrugged and displayed his open hands in a gesture of irritability.
‘It was damned incompetence!’ Verdeschi blazed.
Dorzak had followed the cross-fire, his eyes jumping from contestant to contestant, and he stepped forward worriedly. ‘Tell Sahala that you will exchange me for Doctor Russell. That is what she wants.’
The two Alphans looked at him, and then at one another. Verdeschi pretended to calm down. ‘It had crossed my mind,’ he said, stroking his chin as though considering the proposition with difficulty. He turned to his controls and brought a picture of Sahala and Helena to the console monitor. The Psychon leaned forward and peered earnestly at the two women.
Helena was walking woodenly down a corridor towards the Travel Tube. Behind her walked Sahala/Maya, carrying a laser prodding the doctor’s back. Two Alphan Guards who were positioned by the Tube doors were standing helplessly watching the kidnapping. They were stricken with immobility as the woman who seemed to be Sahala forced Helena to open the doors and then waved her inside. Stepping inside herself, she closed the doors behind her.
‘They are on their way to the Croton ship,’ Yasko cried from where she sat at her console. She turned desperately to Verdeschi. ‘You must return Dorzak.’
Verdeschi continued to feign indecision, waiting for the next part of the pretence to take place. He switched off the monitor and strode about the room, watched intently by Dorzak and the Alphans. At length, the monitor bleeped again and he rushed towards it. Sahala’s exquisite face appeared on the screen – at least, the face looked like Sahala’s. Verdeschi realized ironically that the real Sahala might have escaped detention and might be contacting them with plans of her own.
‘I have a demand, Mr Verdeschi,’ she said. Her long eyelashes fluttered seductively.
Verdeschi took the chance. ‘Dorzak for Doctor Russell.’
‘Correct,’ the talking beauty crooned. Thankfully, she was Maya’s transmutation! ‘And in case Dorzak should make you reluctant, may I remind you that if I choose to ignite the photon drive before I am clear of Alpha, all life here will be extinguished by radiation.’
‘I thought Crotons didn’t kill?’ Yasko asked hotly. She seemed incensed.
‘It’s a language you appear to understand,’ Sahala’s image replied sexily. ‘I expect the Psychon immediately.’
The screen went dead and all eyes turned on Dorzak.
‘I’m sorry, Dorzak,’ Verdeschi told him in apparent pain. ‘For the sake of our home I shall have to take you up on your suggestion.’
The Psychon nodded gravely. There was no joy in his eyes. On the other hand, there was no feeling of any sort displayed in them. Only the fact that he had willingly offered himself to be exchanged for Helena told them anything about his intentions.
He turned and walked slowly out of the room, followed by Verdeschi and Carter who waved the seated Alphans to remain seated and keep quiet.
In a short while they had reached the Travel Tube and were soon standing in the open doors leading to the Eagle Hangar.
Sahala/Maya and Helena were waiting by the egress platform leading to the hatchway of the massive Croton ship. The semblance of the ship’s Commander pouted when she saw Dorzak. She waved him over with the gun. He complied. When she had him under cover she nodded to Helena, freeing her. Helena jumped up from where she had been sitting. She moved with apparent relief over to the side of her fellow Alphans.
‘Thank you Mr Verdeschi,’ she said sweetly. Turning, she urged Dorzak up the platform and inside the ship.
‘It’s absurd we should be at war!’ Dorzak exclaimed. A certain bitterness at his recapture was detectable in his voice, but Maya/Sahala was pleased to note also a strong Psychon integrity in operation as well – a mature, firm and courageous attitude of mind.
‘War seems to come naturally to you Psychons,’ she told him, hating her part, hating to deceive him. She waved him towards the stasis chamber with her gun.
‘This far from Norvah I see things clearer,’ her beloved Dorzak told her intelligently and reasonably. ‘You Crotons are in far greater danger from yourselves than you are from Psychons.’
There was no doubt in her mind that Dorzak was genuine. ‘We’re no longer in danger from you,’ she told him mercilessly.
‘But your civilization – it’s enfeebled by contentment!’ he declared with honesty. ‘Psychons are steeled by the struggle for survival!’
She urged him in the Chamber, determined to test him to the full for his own sake. Outside, she knew that Verdeschi and Carter were waiting to rush in. They were giving her only a short length of time.
‘You cannot subvert my mind as you did Yesta’s,’ she told him with as much proudness as she could muster.
Dorzak sat down on his couch. He seemed prepared to be put back in stasis. ‘It may be dekons old,’ he argued, ‘but your civilization was based originally on military supremacy. Only when that was achieved could the luxury of culture grow.’
‘This gun is set to kill,’ she told him. ‘Lie down.’
He prostrated himself, causing her to sicken inside. Such a man, such a Psychon should never be forced into such a humiliating posture. He told her with typical calm acceptance that the couch was comfortable.
Her confidence to deceive, faltered and she asked,
‘How did you subvert Yesta’s mind?’
He looked up sharply from where he lay. ‘You should know that, Sahala. You should know.’
She trembled. He sat up, a shrewd, probing look in his eyes. ‘Why do you tremble, Sahala?’
‘I am not trembling,’ she tried to regain her composure, but it was too late. His haunting, fixing eyes were on her.
‘Are you suddenly afraid of me?’ he asked. ‘Sahala would not be afraid of me.’
Shaking, she kept him covered while she reached inside her pocket for the real Sahala’s staser. Dorzak watched her with interest. ‘And do you know why you are afraid of me?’ He stood up, a gleam of triumph in his eyes. She turned and was caught by his mesmeric gaze, unable to operate the staser even had she planned to. He put his arm firmly around her shoulder and sat her down. ‘You are afraid of me because you are not Sahala... you are...’ He positioned himself next to her and stared deeply into her eyes. She was helpless in her old tutor’s grip. ‘You are Maya,’ he said.
Unable to hold her adopted form of Sahala any longer, she reverted to her usual Psychon shape. She was on the point of tears but she noticed that he was looking tenderly at her. ‘You betrayed me,’ he said. ‘Why?’
She could not answer, torn between loyalties and the conflicting senses of shame and failure.
CHAPTER TEN
A sudden, blinding, heartfelt feeling of shame and despair swept over Maya as she realized that Dorzak was as criminal and as dangerous as Sahala had told. She was not ashamed of herself, but of her race.
‘Is there some fatal flaw in the Psychon nature that turns us all into monsters?’ she cried. ‘My father... and now you?’
Dorzak kept his arm around her as she wept. ‘Philosophy doesn’t win space for people to live in,’ he tried to explain to her. ‘It’s the struggle for survival that makes monsters of us all.’
‘But the Alphans aren’t warped by their struggle...’ she said, unable to bear his arm on her and pulling herself away.
A strong overtone of elitism now tainted his voice. ‘They are a pathetic example of the lingering process of extinction! Without your Psychon help they would have died a dozen deaths.’
‘They saved me!’ she cried angrily. ‘From our doomed planet.’
Dorzak sighed heavily, as though under great labour to explain. ‘You are a child, Maya, but a child who will be of great service to me.’
She felt his newly-displayed treachery, and despite her feelings for him as a Psychon she could not help being disgusted. ‘I refuse,’ she said, glaring at him.
He laughed. ‘Only Crotons are trained to operate their spaceships. So I must have Sahala under my control. To do that I must have Doctor Russell remove the neuro-pulsonic jammer.’
Maya turned to escape, but before she reached the door she felt his mind boring into her. Her mind grew hazy and seemed unable to concentrate her thoughts.
‘I command you to convey to me the knowledge of molecular transformation,’ he told her. He walked slowly up behind her and pulled her round so that his eyes drank everything from her – her past, her dreams, her ideas, her knowledge, everything.
Helena mounted the egress platform impatiently. ‘Too much time has gone by.’
‘Right,’ Carter agreed. He looked nervous.
Verdeschi acquiesced, and motioned the two Security Guards to follow them. He led the way inside the ship. All would depend on Maya, he knew, as he made his way up into the large red nose of the ship. She would have to be the final test.
They burst into the large living area, guns drawn. The figure they assumed to be Maya was in the process of walking towards them from the stasis room. She looked deeply unhappy.
‘I was wrong,’ she told them. ‘Wrong, wrong, wrong.’ She shook her head wretchedly.
Verdeschi bounded over in alarm. ‘Are you all right?’ he asked, taking hold of her. His eyes flashed around the room.
‘Not really,’ she lied. ‘It’s hard to believe what I heard from his own lips. He’s not the Dorzak I knew.’
The Security Chief looked knowingly at Carter and Helena in turn. The results had been conclusive. Carter started from the room. ‘I’ll go and tell Sahala,’ he said.
Verdeschi grinned suddenly. ‘Yeah, tell her she can have her ship back. And I’d like her to get it off Alpha as soon as possible.’ He turned back to Maya.
She seemed to shiver. ‘I was afraid.’
Helena came over and laid a comforting arm on her shoulder. ‘He’s safely in stasis... there’s nothing to be afraid of any more, Maya.’
Verdeschi thought for a moment. ‘I know what will cheer you up. How about a beer? I just made a fresh lot... and you know how my beer cheers you up.’ He referred to his own notorious home brews which not everyone took so kindly to.
She smiled. ‘Yes, I’d love some.’
‘Come on, let’s go.’ He tugged at her.
She held back. She looked serious again. ‘In a little while, Tony. I want to be here to apologize to Sahala.’
Verdeschi looked reluctant. ‘Ah, well, if you must.’ He took a last look around the room, and then turned to leave. ‘I’ll be waiting.’ He turned to Helena. ‘Let’s go.’
Helena began walking forward with him but was arrested suddenly by a numbing sensation in her mind. She felt weak. She struggled silently with herself as she lost all control of her mind and became possessed by the ambiguous creature behind her.
To Verdeschi, she appeared to frown. She hung back from him and he turned. ‘You go ahead, Tony,’ she told him. ‘I want to study that stasis procedure.’
He shrugged and looked defeated. ‘Okay, Helena.’ Shaking his head, he walked out. The two Security Guards followed him.
The puppet that was Helena then turned to face the aspect of Maya. The Psychon addressed it in a firm, level voice of authority. ‘I want you to do an operation for me, doctor.’
The puppet nodded submissively. ‘Yes, Dorzak,’ it replied.
Almost collapsing with relief and gushing with pleasure, Sahala was led from the detention room where she had spent the past hour in a state of alternate rage and despair. ‘Then I may go to my ship?’ she cried to Carter.
Carter nodded. ‘Maya caught him off-guard. He thought he was talking to you... the truth came out.’
She stopped him, reached up and put her arms around his neck. A sudden feeling of faintness overcame the Eagle Pilot as he was faced with her heady good looks.
‘How can I thank you?’ she asked in her soft, maddening voice.
Carter shook. ‘How can you forgive us for doubting you?’
‘Don’t speak.’ She kissed him, long and hard. Before he could properly take advantage of the situation she had pulled away, and gone, and he was left floundering in the corridor and waving stupidly at her receding figure.
‘Helena, I have the reports you asked for.’ Vincent looked up as a figure strongly resembling his superior entered the Medical Centre. He looked puzzled as she passed him without so much as a glance, walked purposefully to a cabinet and removed a case of surgical instruments. She gathered other equipment and medicines and as mysteriously left.
After she had gone, he got Verdeschi on the monitor. ‘Tony?’
‘Yes, Ben?’ The Italian’s relaxed face came on the screen.
‘Helena was just in here.’
Verdeschi grinned. ‘She’s a doctor and that’s the Medical Centre...’
Vincent ignored his sarcasm and told him pointedly what he had seen.
‘It’s a relief to see him safely in stasis again!’ Sahala declared as she and Carter peered through the orange shield of light separating what looked like Dorzak from the rest of the Universe.
‘Don’t feel too comfortable,’ a familiar voice sounded from behind them. They whirled round.
‘Dorzak!’ Carter exclaimed, astounded. He tried to draw his laser, but the despotic Psychon got to him first. The cruel eyes focused on him and he unwillingly handed over his weapon.
>
‘And now, Mr Carter, if you will walk into the Stasis Chamber please.’ He pointed the gun at Sahala, keeping her covered.
Carter moved woodenly inside as Dorzak released the force-field. Carter sat dutifully down on the couch next to the other Dorzak – and just which one was the real Dorzak and which one Maya, he now did not know.
Dorzak re-activated the force-field and then turned back to Sahala. He smiled politely. ‘Forgive me for pointing the gun at you, Sahala, but until that device is removed from your head, I cannot reach your mind.’ He gazed expectantly towards the living area doors. They opened, and Helena appeared, bearing a tray of implements.
‘Ah, Doctor Russell,’ he said, striding over to her. He turned back to Sahala and said, ‘Would you please prepare yourself. Doctor Russell has consented to perform the necessary operation.’
A look of determination crossed Sahala’s pretty face and she took off towards the open doors. Dorzak quickly intervened and restrained her with physical force.
‘Doctor Russell, your patient is ready.’
He took her over to a couch and laid her on it. Helena moved over with her tray and set it down. With puppet-like motions she prepared a syringe, then injected the struggling Croton. The powerful drug hit the pretty woman’s system. Almost immediately, she fell still.
Hardly had the needle been withdrawn when the door opened once more, and Verdeschi entered. He took in the scene at a glance. Grim-faced, he raised his gun as though to fire.
Without looking up from where Helena’s clumsily-controlled hands were busy selecting a scalpel, Dorzak concentrated his potent force of telepathic hypnosis.
‘Mr Verdeschi, if you will hand me your weapon please,’ he spoke calmly.
Seemingly helpless in his grip, Verdeschi stumbled forward and offered the gun to him. He extended his hand, but then, with lightning reactions, knocked away the laser that the Psychon had been holding.
Sudden shock registered on Dorzak’s face. He stared with perplexion at Verdeschi. Then he made a mad dash for the door. Quickly, Verdeschi raised his gun and fired. The large figure – the real Dorzak, Dorzak the criminal – collapsed in a globe of searing light.
Space 1999 - The Time Fighters Page 11