Vanderdeken's Children

by Christopher Bulis

  Then he had been knocked over himself by some flailing half-real tentacle.

  The cold shock had galvanised his thoughts and from then on he had faked it.

  He'd rolled about in believable agony so that everybody could see he hadn't just been tapped, he'd been smashed to the ground! Nobody could blame him for having lost his gun when he probably had a broken arm. The limp had followed naturally as he'd struggled bravely to his feet. He hadn't lost it even as they'd run for their lives down the tunnel with the ghost things at their heels, because by then he was into the part, and he'd rather really die than let them see he'd just been covering up his cowardice, hi the landing bay, that Nimosian lieutenant had been staggering about, so he'd simply grabbed hold of him and dragged him towards the shuttle.That was OK. He'd played that part before: wounded soldier helping comrade to safety.That was heroic enough and nobody expected him to fire a gun while he was doing it.

  And then they were clear of the ship and he was alive and Lyset was probably dead. For the rest of his life he would have to live with knowing he could have tried to save her but didn't have the courage.

  Then a curious sound penetrated the veil of his self-revulsion. It was a faint whine and rapid snuffling, followed by the whisper of steps on carpet, as though there was an animal in the next room. Numbly he got to his feet and walked heavily through.

  But there was no sign of any animal. He looked behind the chairs and sofa but found nothing.The snuffling sound came again, but now it seemed to issue from the bedroom he had just left. How could it have got past him?

  He returned to the bedroom. It was empty. The space under the bed was hardly deep enough for an animal of any size to crawl under, but he looked anyway.Then, feeling faintly ridiculous, he checked the cupboards. He even looked in the bathroom. No animal of any description.Then he heard the sound right behind him and for a moment felt something soft brush against his leg.

  He started violently and kicked out by reflex. His foot passed through empty air. Was he starting to go mad?

  Then came a light hesitant tap at the main door. For a moment he wondered if he was imagining that too, but it was repeated again. It didn't sound like Arcovian and it hadn't the briskness of one of the staff. Looking about him nervously, he went to answer it, automatically picking up the sling from the bed and putting his arm back through it on the way. He was committed to the pretence now, unless he found the courage to admit the truth.

  Dan Fjigers Junior was standing outside looking very nervous and glancing up and down the corridor as though he didn't want to be seen. Delray managed to control his voice enough to say heartily, 'Hallo, Dan. What can I do for you?'

  'I just wanted to see if you were all right, Mr Dekay. My mother said I shouldn't bother you, but I had to know.' His wide eyes were locked on to the sling in horrified fascination.

  "That's very kind of you, Dan. I'm fine.' He tapped the sling with his 'good'

  hand. 'Don't worry, this is just a scratch.'

  The boy nodded and smiled in relief, then added, 'I heard them say Ms Wynter was still on the alien ship. Is she all right? When are you going back for her?'

  Delray very nearly lost his composure in the face of that innocent question, but somehow he managed to shape a confident reply. 'I'm sure she's all right. We had to leave suddenly and couldn't bring her along, but we'll be going back as soon as we get some technical problems sorted out. Got to have the right tools for the job, you know that.'

  'Were there monsters over there?'

  'Yes, Dan,' he said simply. "There were monsters.'

  'Wow! Are you going back to fight them?'

  'That's right. I'm just getting tooled up ready for them.'

  With an expression of great self-sacrifice the boy said, 'You can borrow my electro-gun if you want.And the holster.'

  Putting all the sincerity he could into his reply he said, 'Thank you very much, Dan. But I think I can manage with what I've got. Now, I've got to get some rest so I'm really sharp for taking on those old monsters. Bye now.'

  The boy smiled and ran off up the corridor. Dekay closed the door and staggered back through to the bathroom, tearing off the hated sling, fearing he would be sick at any moment. But on the threshold he stopped dead.

  Written on the bathroom mirror in spidery streaks of soap and water was one word:

  C o w a r d

  Chapter 18

  Suspicion

  Fayle turned away from the bed where Tane rested and followed Vega out of the Indomitable's sickbay. Behind him Tane continued to stare sightlessly up at the ceiling. Feeding tubes and lines connected him to a medical support monitor, hi the corridor outside Fayle spoke to his superior in low angry tones.

  'Commander, we must take action against the Emindians.'

  Vega looked at him through tired eyes. For the first time since he had taken up service under Vega, Fayle began to wonder if the man had the right character for command.

  'To what purpose, Mr Fayle?'Vega said.

  'Do you not find it the least suspicious that a party of Emindian civilians escaped from the alien ship with minor losses, while we have lost all but one of our own professional, well-armed crew? And that one they return to us so severely traumatised, that he may never recover sufficiently to give us a coherent report of what went on down there?'

  'I consider that they were simply luckier than we were, Mr Fayle. For all we know more of our men are still alive and well inside that ship, but without detailed knowledge of the conditions down there we can only speculate.When the second modified shuttle is ready we will learn more.

  Until then we can only wait.'

  'But what about that thing we saw on the Resolve! It was using Argen's body to steer it towards us.'

  'Possibly an alien life form, maybe an inhabitant of the ship.We shall assess the threat they pose and take whatever action is necessary against them in due course.What has that to do with the Emindians?'

  "Their shuttle seemed to suffer no such misfortune. Why did they escape so easily?'

  'You suggest they are somehow in league with these aliens?' He shook his head.'I think it's still better to put it down to chance.After all, we were lucky to intercept their original signal reporting the discovery of the alien vessel.

  Though perhaps that does not seem so fortunate now,' he added darkly.

  'What if we were meant to hear that message?' Fayle said. 'Perhaps this is all part of some plot to lure us here. Is it coincidence that Kale Rexton himself, the most outspoken militarist on the Emindian High Council, was on the Cirrandaria ?'

  'Yes, because if this was all planned as you say, why hasn't Rexton come at the head of a battle squadron?'

  'Perhaps there is one, Commander, waiting somewhere just out of detector range.'

  'What would be the purpose of such a deception?' 'I don't know, but it does all focus on the alien ship - and as you already admitted, Commander, we do not know enough about conditions on board it.'

  'That at least we can agree on. Have you any other suspicions you wish to inform me of, Mr Fayle?'

  Fayle replied stiffly,'! am just performing my duty, sir: informing my commanding officer of possible scenarios relevant to the current situation.'

  'Consider me duly informed. Is there anything else?'

  'The... fortuitous presence of the Federation Moderator on the Cirrandaria .

  It limits the scope of our actions.'

  'As it does those of the Emindians. I think his intentions are quite sincere if misguided... but I suppose you think he is also part of this plot?'

  'Possibly. We are in no position to confirm his credentials, sir.' 'You see conspiracies everywhere, Fayle.'

  'Only where the Emindians are concerned. I lost my parents on Garroth Five.'

  Vega sighed again. 'I'm familiar with your file. I know what part Emindian deceit played in that tragedy. But it was almost thirty years ago and perpetrated by their Covert Operations Agency. Even their own government disowned their actions
eventually.' 'Publicly, officially. They had no choice.'

  'I have no love for Emindians, but remember we are dealing with a civilian liner here, not a warship.'

  'There were families on Garroth.That did not stop the COA.'

  'So now you think they are using their own people as cat's-paws? For what possible reason?'

  'I don't know, Commander.Yet.'

  'Well I can't stop you exercising your imagination, Mr Fayle. But until you have something more substantial than mere supposition to offer me -'

  They were interrupted by Second Lieutenant Chen, who came hurriedly round the corner, looking back over his shoulder as he did so, and almost collided with Vega.

  'Watch where you're going, Lieutenant,' Fayle barked at him as the younger man started violently.

  'Sorry, sir.'

  Vega looked at him closely. Chen seemed unusually pale, his brow glistened with sweat and he had an air of nervous unease about him.

  'Are you unwell, Lieutenant?' Vega asked. 'Were you going to sickbay?'

  'Uh, it's nothing sir. Just a persistent headache. I shouldn't have come really.'

  'Get yourself checked out anyway,' Vega told him. "This crew will have to be on maximum alert for the next two days at least. 1 can't have anybody at their station who isn't one hundred per cent fit.'

  'Yes, sir.'

  With another quick backward glance, Rask Chen walked reluctantly into the sickbay.

  Chapter 19

  Sabotage

  Refreshed after her artificially induced rest, Sam found the Doctor in the TARDIS's laboratory.

  Despite the complex microelectronic equipment that littered the heavy oak workbenches, the atmosphere was still Gothic. It was the sort of place, Sam thought, that you might expect to find a badly stitched together body lurking under white sheets. Come to think of it, his appearance and period costume...

  'Feel better now, Sam?' he asked as she entered.

  'Yes, thanks.What are you doing, Dr Frankenstein?'

  He had what appeared to be a heavy cylindrical hand torch before him, except that where the bulb and reflector would have been was an array of metallic discs forming a projecting cone. Mounted parallel with the shaft was a standard laser-pencil pointer. A card containing circuitry never seen in any conventional torch was ready to be slid into the hollow shaft.

  'A device that may be of use against those dimensionally displaced beings on the alien ship.'

  'Call them ghosts.They look like ghosts.Theyfeel like ghosts.'

  The Doctor smiled gently.'I don't believe in ghosts. Only mysteries. There's a rational explanation for what they are.'

  'I know that, but I don't feel all that rational when I think of them. All right, what does your gizmo do?'

  'You might call it a normaliser. It combines some of the frequencies my sonic screwdriver emits, bioelectric wavelengths and a narrow spatial-distortion field. The effect should, temporarily, either make those creatures almost completely insubstantial, so that they can't interact with us, or else substantial and stable enough so that we might attempt to communicate with them.'

  'Or at least let us fight them on even terms.'

  He frowned. "That's not like you, Sam.'

  'I'm sorry, but they really got to me,' she protested.'Being near them was like... like having all your worst fears made real. I think I know why that Nimosian soldier flipped. He was alone down there too long. At least we had company when we fought them.'

  The Doctor looked at her intently. 'If you want to stay in here, you'll be safe.'

  'No, I'm going to see this through,' Sam said forthrightly. 'Only...' She smiled at him. 'It's not very cool of me to ask, but stick close, will you?'

  He smiled. 'I'll do my best.'

  There was a beeping and a light flashed over a mobile intercom resting beside the bench.

  'I linked our room phones through to here,' the Doctor explained, punching a button. 'Doctor here,' he said.

  Lanchard's voice came on. 'Doctor, could you come up to the bridge, please. We're detecting another energy build-up around the alien ship and I thought you might be interested.'

  'We'll be right there,' he promised. Sliding the circuit board into the normaliser, he screwed the end cover into place and dropped it into his pocket. 'Coming, Sam?'

  'Right behind you.'

  ***

  Rhonda Plecht caught up with Lester before he reached their compartment.

  He would have preferred to have been waiting for her, but nevertheless he managed to face her with a bright and hopefully innocent smile.

  'Hallo, dear. Did you have a nice sauna?'

  'Never mind about that. Who was that woman I saw you with?'

  It was the question he was dreading. He struggled to reply mildly, 'What woman, dear?'

  "That half-dressed girl on the promenade last night. I saw you talking to her outside the ship's clinic. I was in the elevator on the other side of the atrium. By the time I reached the floor you were gone. Why was she wearing a dressing gown?'

  'A beach wrap, dear.That was Ms Schollander. She'd just come from the upper pool. She'd had a slight accident there and I helped her down to see the doctor.'

  'And what were you doing at the pool? You said you were going to play golf.'

  'I was, dear, but we met on the way and she invited me for a drink. You're always saying I should take advantage of social meetings. Well, I told her about my work and it turns out she has a share in a mining company and they may be able to offer us some business.' He added desperately,'Perhaps quite a lot of business.'

  'I see,' Rhonda said with a sniff.'And the other woman?'

  Lester blinked in genuine surprise. 'Sorry, dear. Do you mean Dr Gilliam?'

  'Of course not. The other one with you in front of the clinic. She was wearing a blue smock dress and had some son of peculiar headpiece on. I couldn't see her face. She accompanied you when you left.' Rhonda looked suspiciously up and down the corridor. 'I thought you turned down here together. Who was she?'

  Lester looked at her in total bewilderment. He was absolutely certain he had walked back from the sickbay quite alone.

  ***

  The Doctor examined the bridge displays, their coloured lights tinting his pale features. Captain Lanchard and the rest of the bridge crew looked on expectantly. Sam recognised their attitudes. Everybody turned to the Doctor eventually.

  'Yes, there is a distinct build-up in the energy field around the alien ship,'

  the Doctor agreed.

  'But it's not quite the same pattern as before,' Lanchard said.'I must know if we're safe here or whether we should pull back further.'

  The Doctor shrugged.'Who can say? If it's no greater intensity than before then we should be safe. If it's something else...' he shrugged again.'Perhaps you'd better have the engine room ready to cut in the main engines just in case.'

  Lanchard nodded and opened an intercom line.'Nel? Can you have the main drive ready on immediate standby, please?'

  'Captain,' Nel Manders's voice came back rapidly.'I was just about to call you. There's something... odd happening down here. I don't know if we're seeing things... Perhaps somebody had better -'

  Sam leaned over the microphone.'This is Ms Jones. The Moderator and I will be right down,' she said.

  ***

  The Cirrandaria's engine compartment contained a linked series of huge machines that comprised the power core, secondary generators and main drive. A workshop housed in a side bay gave access to the shuttle berths.

  Sam instinctively felt there should be more noise, but the immaculately clean solid-state devices containing almost no moving parts generated only the slightest of low hums, giving little clue as to the tremendous energy contained within them.As they left the lift and passed along the catwalks and stairways that webbed the walls, small sections of the compartments teased her memory with their resemblance to the interiors of fictional starships that had sailed only in the minds of stage designers and all the anorak sci-fi fan
s back in her own century.

  Manders was waiting for them in the engineering control room set between the power core and the main drive assembly. Her face bore an angry scowl, while behind her were several anxious-looking coveralled technicians. She took a few steps away from them before conversing in low tones.

  'I don't want to say what I think it is in front of them, in case I start a panic.

  They're already feeling bad enough about losing Simmons. I had to tell them how it happened. But this is not imagination.There's something down here, all right. It's keeping to the shadows and we've only caught glimpses.

  We've just found that some of the secondary monitor panels have been tampered with, so it's real enough.' 'Are you suggesting it's a ghost?' Sam asked bluntly. 'I'd rather it was a Nimosian saboteur,' Manders admitted.

  'But I don't think an ordinary person could move about the way this thing's been doing. We've made one sweep of the whole compartment but somehow it got behind us.'

  Sam looked around anxiously at the looming mass of machinery that surrounded them. Suddenly there seemed too many shadows for her liking.'But how could a ghost have got in here?'

  'It may have come back with us on the shuttle,' the Doctor suggested.

  'But we'd have seen it,' Sam said. 'Those things weren't exactly subtle. I mean you'd notice if one was sitting next to you...' She hesitated. "Though now I think of it, it did seem pretty cold on the way back.'

  'We may have only encountered the less controlled creatures so far,' the Doctor pointed out. "They may be able to remain inconspicuous if they don't attempt to interact with anybody.'

  'But what could one of them want down here?' Manders asked.

  'That's what we have to find out,' the Doctor said.'If there's just one, I think we can deal with it.'

  'Don't we need weapons?' Manders asked.

  "They haven't done us much good so far, so let's see if we can manage without,' the Doctor suggested.

  They arranged all the available engineering crew in a line and began a second sweep of the compartment. They moved along every catwalk and aisle between the blocks of machinery, probing the shadows with torches.