‘My master, Captain Michael, made me,’ Brian answered proudly. ‘He programmed me to speak, and he grew quite... he was quite fond of me.’
Helena wondered if Brian’s was the original interface that only a father could love. ‘What sort of man was he?’ she asked, intrigued.
The pilot’s monitor screen clicked off the image of the soupy atmosphere and a still photograph replaced it. A broad-faced, dark-haired man looked impassively at the camera. The portrait clicked off and another came on of the same man laughing, then it went and was replaced by the same man glowering sternly.
‘That’s him,’ confirmed Brian, ‘that’s my father.’
The picture show was interrupted as Koenig’s voice came clearly through the speakers. ‘Koenig calling Swift. I have reached the Mothership. I’ll have to go around to the blind-side to get up to the airlocks.’
‘All right, Koenig,’ responded Brian. ‘Go ahead. But hurry.’
‘John? John?’ questioned Helena in vain as the radio contact clicked dead.
‘Easy, lady,’ Brian rolled back into the console, ‘we can’t contact him now till he comes out.’
Koenig had no trouble finding his way around the large Mothership as all the corridors were plainly marked and he could remember something about the layout from his early training courses on Earth. He headed first for the Control Room, to check on the levels and stability of the fuel stores. He also wanted to see if there was a Captain’s log in evidence that might tell him more about the fate of the mission.
As he made his way through the ship he turned on the lights and discovered that the auxiliary power was functioning as normal. The ship was sealed and pressurized as well, so he slipped open his helmet plate.
The Control Room door swished hospitably open and he stepped into the long, dimly lit room, where one of man’s ill-fated leaps to the stars had been directed on its course. Koeriig located the control panel by the door and switched on the main, overhead lights. As he turned round he was almost knocked over by surprise.
‘Hi there, Commander,’ smiled Tony, lowering his laser.
Maya stood just behind him, grinning with relief.
‘Tony! Maya!’ Koenig shook his head.
Tony explained. ‘We landed ahead of you and came aboard to wait.’
At last Koenig started to understand. He frowned. ‘Then you must have seen...’
‘Yes,’ Maya said. ‘It was terrible. When we landed I ran a check on the atmosphere. In itself it’s all right, but that mist is a complex and very violent poisonous gas... and it blankets the whole planet.’
Tony waved his hands in the air with agitation. ‘And they went out there without their space suits. They must’ve been crazy.’ He gestured across the room and added: ‘They hadn’t even sealed the ship. When we came in we had to close the airlocks and completely reprocess the atmosphere.’
Koenig looked down at the end of the room where Tony had motioned and saw a man slumped across the circular Command Desk. He walked back to it and looked down at the deskplate that read: ‘CAPTAIN V. MICHAEL’.
Just enough of the man’s face showed under his outflung arm for Koenig to tell that he too had the distorted features of a poisoned death agony. He had simply sat there at his post and the deadly mist had come to him through the wide-flung doors of the ship. And outside, the crew calmly strolled to their terrible deaths. Koenig tried to reason why. Then he had a ghastly thought.
‘Maya,’ he asked. ‘Can you run a quick check on this ship’s intelligence system?’
‘Yes sir.’ She stepped up to the Captain’s console as Tony and Koenig moved the body out of the way and let it carefully down to the floor.
Maya activated the board and brought all the response circuits to glowing life. She clicked through to the room’s master screen and waited for Koenig to give her a question to feed to the computer.
‘See if it will give us the last entry in the mission’s log,’ Koenig instructed.
Maya coded the request and looked up at the screen.
The response was immediate... a languorously weaving sine-wave.
‘The same as on Moon Base!’ said Tony.
Koenig felt his suspicions confirmed. ‘That Brian is madder than I thought.’
Maya spoke her own reasoning out loud. ‘It blinded the computer and the sensors on its own Mothership. That’s why the crew didn’t know about the toxic gas. It killed them all.’
Koenig walked away slowly, considering the information, but also very aware that he must soon get back to the Swift. Helena’s life was more at risk that he’d first thought.
Tony walked over to join him. ‘Why did it kidnap you?’ he asked.
Koenig looked up gravely. ‘It wants me to transfer the fuel from this ship to the Swift.’
Maya looked puzzled.
‘It told us that it wants to live forever.’
‘So what do we do now?’ asked Tony.
Koenig shrugged. ‘I’m going to get the fuel and take it back. We can’t risk Helena’s life.’
‘I don’t suppose we can get her away from the Swift somehow and blow the little monster up?’
Koenig shook his head vigorously. ‘Wouldn’t work,’ he explained. ‘He’ll hold Helena until I get back with the fuel. And there’s another reason... a very important one. That Swift has got the only working computer in this part of the universe that’s capable of replacing the memory store that’s been blanked out at Moon Base. If we don’t get that we’ll all die anyway.’
Koenig moved quickly down the room to the door to the Captain’s private office. According to routine procedure the key to unlock the ship’s fuel store would be inside. He stepped in with Tony and Maya right behind.
On the wall he spotted the small case with the set of Captain’s keys hanging in neat rows behind the perspex. Captain Michael had left his office behind in a bit of a turmoil. Wiring diagrams and pieces of electrical equipment were scattered across the floor and on table tops everywhere.
Maya walked to the centre of the room and looked carefully at a rectangular steel frame with plates bolted on two sides. Several printed circuit panels had already been fitted into place, the unconnected colour-coded wires spraying outwards like frozen party streamers.
‘It looks like Captain Michael was working on something before he died,’ Maya observed.
‘Well that doesn’t matter now,’ Tony said.
Koenig paused and looked at the half-completed device that Maya was inspecting and then glanced quickly at the circuit diagrams. ‘I’m not so sure,’ he disagreed thoughtfully. ‘I think it may be more meaningful than you might guess. Look Tony, you go back to Eagle One and tell the pilot to stand by, but don’t make any move till you hear from me. Maya and I will find the fuel store, unlock the core and get it back to the Swift.’
When Tony had hurried off, Maya looked at Koenig and asked, ‘What’s the plan, Commander?’
‘We’re going to have to work on Brian’s Brain. We’ll have to break its mind.’
Maya frowned.
‘We’ve got to confuse it to the extent it won’t know what it’s doing. I’ve seen that it can get very excited and irrational. We’ll try to push it over the limit.’ Koenig winked. ‘Did you get a look at Captain Michael’s face, Maya?’
‘Yes,’ she said, recalling the features underneath the grimace of death and visualizing how they would have looked normally. ‘Yes, I did.’
Helena waited fretfully in the pilot’s compartment of the Swift, watching and listening anxiously for Koenig’s return. Brian’s casualness had worn pretty thin as well.
‘That Koenig’s taking his own damn sweet time!’ he complained.
Helena realized that Koenig might be working out a plan and he may be needing extra minutes. It was also possible that something had happened to him, but she knew she could not do any good worrying about that. So instead she tried to pacify Brian.
‘I don’t think so,’ she said. ‘He has to find t
he fuel store, unlock the core and find a way to bring it back.’
Brian wasn’t very appeased. ‘Lady, you don’t know what this means to me. Is that guy reliable?’
‘He’s reliable,’ she answered with certainty.
The Brain’s Tri-lens suddenly clicked round to a stronger magnification. ‘There he is!’ he yelled joyfully.
Helena had to wait another few seconds before she made out the vague details of Koenig’s suit coming through the clouds. In his arms he cradled a large metal cylinder.
‘John! John!’ she shouted into the microphone.
This time he heard her and his voice came crackling back. ‘Koenig to Swift. I am returning with the Mothership’s fuel store.’
The Brain was flashing his lights like he might blow a fuse. ‘Have you got it all Koenig? Have you got it all?’ his voice was demanding. ‘Koenig answer me!’
Refusing to be intimidated, Koenig responded matter-of-factly, ‘Koenig to Swift. Are you ready to receive me?’
‘Yessss!’ Brian wailed deliriously.
When Koenig at last climbed back into the Swift’s passenger compartment and came through the airlock, Helena was waiting to rush up and hug him. Brian scooted back and forth anxiously as she helped him to take the space suit off.
The cylinder sat at the back of the module, still attached to the hoist cable that Brian had lowered down to bring it up.
‘Come on, Koenig! Come on!’ niggled Brian.
‘Give him time,’ Helena said sternly.
As she turned back to help unfasten the suit, she looked into Koenig’s eyes and tried to decipher the message that was there. Obviously something had been planned, a fact that was confirmed by the significant way that Koenig leaned down and gave her two perfunctory kisses on the lips. She couldn’t guess what he was scheming but she kept herself alert and ready to respond to his lead.
‘Cut it out folks!’ Brian had no time for demonstrations of affection. ‘Koenig get that fuel!’
‘Take it easy,’ he replied. ‘I haven’t got the suit off yet.’
Helena smoothed back the dark hair from his forehead. It was slightly damp from the work of carrying the cylinder and from tension.
‘How was it?’ she asked.
‘Not too bad.’ Then with an edge in his voice he spoke directly to Brian. ‘Your crew is out there, scattered all over the place. Very dead.’
‘So they’re dead, so what!’ he snapped back.
Koenig had shed the space suit but he didn’t move towards the fuel, he simply stood facing Brian with a scowl of accusation. ‘I found Captain Michael in the Control Room. He was sitting dead at his desk... but then you must know that already.’
The Brain had stopped still from its ceaseless rolling back and forth. The panel lights pulsed with anxious currents and the metal of the cabinet almost visibly shuddered. ‘My father?’ he asked.
Koenig nodded sternly.
‘Ahhh...’ Brian wheeled around and headed for the back of the passenger section. ‘Get this fuel loaded, Koenig!’
A panel at the top of the after part of the module slid open. From behind it a large clear tube telescoped down towards the metal canister. Koenig moved around Brian and walked slowly back.
The cylinder, with its thick protective layer, was very heavy, and Koenig grunted as he heaved it off the floor. He carried it along and sat it down just under the extended tube.
‘Up!’ Brian ordered. ‘Lift it up, Koenig!’
‘Wait a minute, Brian,’ Koenig rubbed his fingers where the edge of the canister had cut into them. ‘Which end goes in first? Which end is up?’
Brian seemed stumped. ‘What? What does it say?’
Koenig looked at the blank sides and shook his head.
Suddenly Brian’s lights rippled crossly. ‘Those fuel cores are symmetrical! Any end is up. Stop fooling, Koenig!’
Grinning wryly, Koenig bent down and lifted the cylinder up to the tube. As it slipped in there was a whoosh and it shot up out of sight. The tube quickly withdrew and the panel closed behind it.
‘Zowie! Powie!’ celebrated Brian rolling gaily and blinking like a casino sign. ‘Zappity-rappity-bap. Oh, boppity-hoppitypop! Boy, oh boy, do I feel good. Oh waw-waw-waw! Oh, boy, far out! WAOW! That fuel is too much, folks. I mean it’s outta sight! Just about blown my marvellous old mind straight into nirvana.’ He let loose a metallic harsh-sounding laugh, rather like a saucepan falling down a stone flight of stairs. ‘This is the happiest day of my life. I’m free. Can you dig that? I’m free to roam this Universe... free to live forever.’ He whirled around and charged full-tilt for the pilot’s cabin, shouting: ‘Stand-by for take-off!’
Koenig and Helena just had time to throw themselves into a seat before the rockets roared and the Swift lifted up. As soon as the take-off force receded, Koenig unzipped a pocket on his jacket and took out a small brown mouse.
Helena turned to watch what he was doing and her eyes widened in surprise. Then she understood, and quickly figured that Koenig must have met Maya when he went on board the Mothership. She felt a lifting surge of hope to know they now had the Psychon’s transformation talents to aid them.
Koenig gently placed the mouse on the floor and it scampered up to the doorway of the pilot section where Brian sat still, monitoring the flight information from the ship’s controls. The mouse paused, then ran along the length of the Brain’s trailing ground-contact antenna.
‘What’s happening?’ screeched Brian, jerking forward. ‘What’s that? What’s that?’ The Tri-lens spun round trying to see what was happening.
‘It’s a mouse,’ said Helena.
‘Ahh! Ahh!’ Brian whined. ‘Get rid of it, it’s biting my antenna!’
As Brian backed into the module and turned completely to face his attacker, the mouse began to disappear, becoming a flickering ripple of light and energy. The molecular disturbance flared brightly and Maya suddenly appeared, standing in the passageway between the seats.
‘Where the heck did you come from?’ demanded Brian.
‘Planet D,’ she told him.
‘But you were a mouse! There are no mice on Planet D! There’s nothing there at all! The gas... the...’ Brian stuttered to a confused halt.
‘I came from Planet D,’ repeated Maya. ‘I have a message for you.’
‘Message? Whattya mean message?’
Maya smiled wickedly. ‘It’s a message from Captain Michael.’
The Brain jerked back, spinning his wheels in fright. ‘Huh? He’s... he’s DEAD ! What message?’
‘Revenge.’ Maya’s smile widened to let light glint off the points of her teeth.
Brian wailed and rolled rapidly into the pilot section, the door crashing closed behind him. The Swift’s lights began to blink rapidly off and on as an alert siren began to wail and an alarm bell clanged violently. Maya, Koenig and Helena threw their hands over their ears, grimacing from the frenzied decibals of the Brain’s panic.
CHAPTER FOUR
They were trapped in the passenger section for nearly five minutes while the emergency signals battered their ear-drums. Koenig wondered how badly the Brain was affected and whether or not he might even crash the ship.
When it finally stopped there was a long silence, almost as if Brian had actually shorted all his circuits. Koenig waited expectantly, knowing that he would have to force the door and get control of the Swift if Brian really had become disfunctional. He wanted to be sure and even hushed Helena when she started to speak in case Brian was all right and secretly observing them.
Minutes ticked by.
They all twitched with fear when the door did slide open, and Brian rattled slowly out again. He confronted them with a slow pan of the Tri-lens and the amber light snapped off and on with anger.
‘You don’t have no message from Captain Michael!’ it said to Maya. ‘I remember you now from Moon Base. You’re a friend of Koenig and the Doctor. That was a pretty neat trick mouse woman, but you’re only a mortal. W
hat chance do you think you stand against me?’ The Tri-lens flicked back and forth in disapproval. ‘I am in complete control of this spaceship and everything aboard it. You’re a fool to come in here, because... I’m going to blow the whole damn bunch of you into space. Whaddya think about that, huh?’
Koenig took a step forward. ‘Just tell us one thing, Brain. Why did you kill your creator?’
The Tri-lens swung away from Koenig, refusing to take in the accusing eyes. ‘I did not kill my creator.’ The voice started to whimper.
‘He was sitting at his Command Desk, dead. And you killed him.’
‘I did not kill him!’ The Tri-lens stared resolutely the other way. ‘I don’t know how he died.’
Koenig stepped around into Brian’s field of view. ‘He is dead because you blinded his computer. He didn’t know the gas was poisonous so his crew went outside and died in it... and the airlock wasn’t sealed so the gas came into the ship and killed him too.’
Maya took the cue, saying incredulously. ‘You mean he murdered the man who made him?’
‘His own father?’ chipped in Helena. ‘But why?’
The Brain urgently flashed his lights in discomfort.
‘We know why you killed him, Brian,’ Koenig said loudly. ‘He was working on an improved model of you. You were going to be made obsolete. You were going to be scrapped.’
‘No! No! That isn’t true! He wasn’t!’
Koenig continued relentlessly. ‘We saw it. Your days were numbered and so you decided to kill them all off by keeping them from knowing about the gas. You blinded the mothership to keep a new Brain from being made to take your place.’
The display of lights went berserk again, popping on and off like fireworks. He didn’t seem to have full control over his mobility and bumped into the wall as he rolled from side to side.
‘Aaaargh,’ he groaned in pain, amber light fluttering against the glass like a trapped bird. ‘Aaaargh. My father was not working on a better Brain! There can’t be a better Brain!’
Helena said soothingly, ‘Calm down, Brian. You’re getting over-excited.’
Space 1999 - Mind-Breaks of Space Page 4