Space 1999 - Mind-Breaks of Space

by Michael Butterworth

  ‘All right,’ she said, ‘let’s go.’

  The instant that the ward door shut behind them, the man’s eyes flew open. He looked around the room as best he could without moving his head, just to be absolutely certain he and Etrec were alone.

  With a slow steady movement he raised himself to a sitting position and slid off the bed. He crossed to Etrec, who still slept, his face pale and smooth. As the man reached down and tenderly placed his hands on the young face he felt a great wave of sadness pass through him.

  At the touch Etrec’s eyes fluttered open, at first in fright and then with relief as he recognized the man. ‘Pasc!’ he said happily, ‘have they come back? Have they found a way?’

  Pasc shook his head sadly. ‘We are among strangers. There is no way but our way.’

  The young boy’s eyes widened in fear. ‘No, Pasc! No. Perhaps the strangers can help.’

  ‘There is no help for me. Soon there will be no help for you.’

  A thought crossed Etrec’s mind, a dark memory of his fate and he raised a hand questioningly to his forehead.

  Pasc gently pushed it away. ‘Not yet,’ he said.

  Etrec felt a momentary relief. ‘Please don’t let it come.’

  ‘I cannot stop it.’ He felt the glow as the flame emblem on his own forehead began to show itself.

  ‘Yes you can,’ insisted Etrec. ‘Kill me.’

  ‘No, I cannot.’

  ‘Why not? You killed Lok and Kerak.’

  A great inner agony passed over Pasc’s features and the symbol glowed even more brightly, a brilliant beacon of red heat. ‘I need you,’ he said despondently, ‘and the time is coming when you will have need of me.’ He turned away and eased himself back on his own bed. He carefully composed his emotions and could feel the scarlet sign fading away. He knew something would have to be done about that, very quickly. Then a roll of gauze bandage on the bedside table caught his eye.

  When Helena heard that Commander Koenig would be radioing in to the Command Centre in a few minutes she rushed up to talk to him. Yasko and Tony were already trying to make contact when she arrived.

  ‘Eagle One,’ said Yasko, ‘come in Eagle One. Moon Base Alpha Channel Clear.’

  The big screen cleared and slowly a picture of the pilot section of Eagle One came up on it. The reception seemed unusually bad, with the screen image constantly broken and sliced by lines of static. Several times it disappeared altogether.

  ‘Eagle One to Moon Base Alpha. Are you receiving?’ Koenig queried.

  Yasko adjusted her controls to try to clear the video and audio receptions. ‘Not too well, Commander,’ she reported. ‘There’s a lot of interference.’

  ‘I’m not surprised,’ he said. ‘We’re being blitzed by a meteor storm. The survey team here have been hit bad. Lots of equipment damaged and several men are trapped underground. We may lose contact with you, so let’s wrap this up fast.’

  Tony cut in, looking worried. ‘I’ll get another Eagle out to assist you if you want me to, Commander.’

  ‘Negative, Tony. Save the fuel. Maya and I can handle it all right. Now, is Helena there?’

  Helena switched on her console so that Koenig could see her on the Eagle’s receiver. ‘Here, John.’

  ‘Anything to add on our visitors yet?’

  ‘They’re still asleep. We’re going to run a full Med Analysis. All tests up to now show them borderline human norm.’

  Koenig nodded. ‘Anything to add, Tony?’

  ‘Planet unknown, Commander,’ he reported crisply. ‘No identification. Unable to interrogate yet. Until we can do that, they’re an X factor.’

  With just the right note of warning, Koenig replied, ‘Until you do know, treat them as an X factor.’

  When the voice came it startled them all, even Koenig who heard it through the haze of radio disturbance. It was a voice with a peculiar carrying clarity, tenorous and strong as,a tempered swordblade.

  ‘And what would you like to know?’ it asked.

  All the personnel in the Command Centre turned to face the man and the boy who had just come through the main doors. They were dressed in their plain, silver-coloured, one-piece suits and the older man had a turban-like swathe of bandage around his head. Koenig could see them too, once Yasko had the presence of mind to switch over to the wide-angle camera that took in the entire room.

  As the two came down to stand beside Helena, Alan Carter got over his surprise and came running. ‘Hey, cobber!’ he shouted and gently patted Etrec on the shoulder. He towered over the frail boy. ‘Glad to see you up and about.’

  Etrec was completely puzzled. ‘Cobber?’ he asked.

  Alan beamed at him. ‘It means you’re a pal, a real close buddy,’ he winked. ‘Maybe you don’t remember it but I’m the bloke that pulled you out from that blinkin’ cave-in.’

  Etrec only began to vaguely understand what was being said to him, but felt a natural liking for the tall blond man anyway.

  Pasc explained their recovery to Helena. ‘Our systems break down a sedative, as you put it, more quickly than yours.’

  ‘What about your head?’ she questioned.

  His face was blandly believable as he said, ‘Just a scratch. My equilibrium was not fully restored when I stood up. My head hit the wall.’

  Helena immediately reached up to lift the gauze and cast her professional eye on the wound. Pasc caught her hand gently, but firmly. ‘Please,’ he said. ‘I cannot allow you. A man’s blood has a deep spiritual significance on Archanon.’

  Maya’s voice came through the Centre’s speakers. ‘Arch-anon?’ They looked up at the screen to see that she had joined Koenig in the view of the camera. ‘Archanon...’ she said again, thoughtfully, as if she were trying to remember.

  Watching Maya, no one saw Pasc start with fear when he understood that someone had recognized the name of his home planet. He quickly composed his face to hide his apprehension.

  Maya suddenly recalled what she was searching for. ‘It’s the Planet of Peace,’ she announced.

  Pasc felt a rush of relief. ‘Yes, we are Archanons, the Peace Bringers. I am Pasc and this is Etrec, my son.’

  ‘On Psychon,’ said Maya, ‘we picked up legends from other space travellers... legends of the Peace-Bringers... of the conquest of Evil by Good...’

  Abruptly the picture on the big screen began to jump and break up. A harsh rattle of sound replaced Maya’s voice and Yasko tried to re-establish contact on another frequency.

  ‘It’s no use,’ said Tony, ‘we’ve lost them. Keep a channel open. They’ll get back to us when there’s a break in the storm.’

  Helena turned thoughtfully to Pasc. ‘The conquest of Evil by Good?’ she asked.

  ‘Violence was outlawed on Archanon. We replaced Evil with Good amongst our own people. Then we sent emissaries throughout the Universe so that others could see that it could be done. I was the leader of such a mission.’

  ‘From most of the races we have come across so far...’ interjected Tony, ‘you didn’t have much success.’

  Pasc held up his hands in a gesture of concession. ‘It takes time to reach all beings.’ His face became grimmer. ‘It was not, however, until we reached your Solar System that we met with total failure. My mission ended on your third planet... Earth. We had a base on the Moon and observed. We saw such violence and hatred that my wife, Lyra, begged me to leave Earth to its fate. I overruled her. We descended. Like doctors entering a plague area, we thought we were immune. We were not. Only Etrec and I escaped contagion. When we returned to our base on the Moon, the whole crew mutinied. We were overpowered and placed in Stasis, while the crew took off to carry their madness...’ he paused, ‘your madness, to the farthest corners of the Universe.’

  Silence reigned in the room after the grim tale had been recounted. Pasc’s voice had made it all seem so immediate. Then Alan felt puzzled by something.

  ‘Why the Stasis Chamber?’ he asked. ‘Why didn’t they kill you?’
<
br />   Oddly Pasc smiled at the question, but it was a reaction of panic while he thought of a way to answer. ‘They could not,’ he said nervously.

  ‘Do you mean Archanons cannot die?’

  ‘The Archanons cannot kill... even in their sickness.’ As Pasc spoke Etrec moved closer to him, looking up with a haunted, uncertain expectation.

  ‘But then, what is the sickness?’ asked Helena.

  Pasc cleared his throat and then looked away, as if he hadn’t completely caught the question. ‘The taking of any kind of life...’ he said quickly, ‘is abhorrent, indeed impossible, for the race of Archanon.’

  ‘Your wife?’ Helena tried to make the question sound gentle. ‘What happened to her?’

  Pasc smiled wanly. ‘She led the mutineers. She put us in the chamber.’

  With a gasp Etrec suddenly collapsed, saved from crashing to the floor only by the quick reflexes of Tony. He held him under the arms and lowered him easily. Helena took the boys’ arm and felt his pulse.

  ‘Is he all right?’ Alan asked anxiously.

  Helena diagnosed, ‘Exhaustion mostly. I’ll have him taken to the Sick Bay.’

  ‘I’ll take him,’ volunteered Alan, feeling a sharp twinge of concern for the youth. Having pulled him from underneath the cave-in had forged a strong bond of friendship, but also, Alan had always liked children. There weren’t any on Moon Base, even though there were enough couples who were married or sufficiently in love to provide them. Koenig had ordered, and everyone agreed, that childbirth should be avoided until the future of the Alphans was more secure.

  In the Medical Section, Alan stayed close by while Helena ran another medical check. She turned to meet his inquisitive stare and shrugged.

  ‘Nothing organically wrong,’ she said, ‘but there are still a few of the details of his physical structure that we don’t understand yet.’

  ‘He doesn’t look any different than any of us...’

  ‘It’s on the inside, Alan... the things we can’t see with the naked eye. We’ll take holograms, X-rays, a whole series of tests...’

  Their attention was suddenly drawn to the bed where Etrec groaned and lifted his head off the pillow. His eyes were confused, bewildered.

  ‘Hiyah, Cobber,’ said Alan, smiling, ‘how do you feel?’

  Etrec gazed at him blankly for a moment, then returned a weak grin. ‘Hungry,’ he said.

  Alan guffawed and turned to Helena. ‘You see, Doc, the only thing wrong with the kid is he hasn’t had a square meal in a thousand years.’ He helped Etrec sit up and swing off the bed. ‘Now listen... there’s a little place just down the corridor. It’s got hamburgers like you wouldn’t believe.’

  ‘Hamburgers?’

  ‘Well, so it’s mixed with a little hydroponic soya... but it tastes like the real thing.’ Alan winked at Helena. ‘Okay with you, Doc?’

  She nodded. ‘Just don’t overdo it. Like you said, he hasn’t eaten for a thousand years.’

  After Helena had left the room, Alan turned and watched Etrec take a few faltering steps away from the bed. He still seemed to be very shaky on his legs. Alan reached out an arm to him.

  ‘Can you make it?’ he asked.

  Neither of them noticed as Pasc slipped silently through the door into the room. In his hand he clutched a partially concealed surgical scalpel, and his eyes were fixed intently on Alan’s back.

  ‘I’ll tell you what,’ Alan said to Etrec. ‘I’ll carry you.’

  Etrec shook his head adamantly. ‘No. Please. I would rather walk.’

  As he looked up from the floor, Etrec saw past Alan where Pasc was stealthily approaching and could plainly read his intention in the expression on his face. He felt a terrible pull of loyalties, wondering how not to betray his father, but at the same time unable to stand by and watch his friend...

  ‘Please,’ he said to Alan, reaching out.

  Alan instantly bent down and gestured to his shoulders. ‘Just climb aboard the kangaroo and we’ll get hopping.’

  As Etrec straddled him, Alan stood and turned. Pasc, thwarted by the intervention of his own son’s body, had concealed the scalpel behind him and got his expression in control. Alan was startled to see him, but smiled amiably.

  ‘We’re just off for a bite to eat... want to join us?’

  Pasc shook his head, not daring to try to speak. He could still feel a great knot of tension inside his chest... feel the hot pulse of the symbol concealed by the bandage. He watched Alan carry Etrec out of the room, his son glancing back for one tortured moment. Then he was alone, feeling only the cold deadliness of the scalpel up his sleeve.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The blood cells came into focus on the Medical Centre’s viewing screen, magnified thousands of times over. As the image cohered, Helena and Dr Vincent could see every detail of the cell clearly. Helena could tell it wasn’t a human blood cell by certain structural differences. Exactly how they would affect the organism that it came from, she didn’t yet know. In any case, she was at the moment far more interested in a shape inside the cell’s nucleus. It was shaped like a star with tendrils trailing from each of its points.

  ‘What do you think?’ asked Dr Vincent.

  ‘No question about it. Even though it is Archanon blood, I feel certain that it’s a virus. And look at the blurred effect at the tip of that tendril.’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘It means that the virus is still alive. Let’s see Etrec’s plate.’

  The picture on the screen changed and when focused was very similar to the first. This time the object with the nucleus was sphere-shaped with only the slightest points along its outside wall.

  ‘It has every characteristic of the virus in the Pasc specimen, except it’s not fully formed... and the tendrils are tiny.’

  ‘Could it be dead?’ asked Dr Vincent.

  ‘Or dormant. We won’t know until we isolate it and run some practical tests.’ She turned off the screen. ‘We’d better get them both in.’

  Andy Johnson walked purposefully down the corridor. Around the bend ahead of him he heard a strange and regular thumping sound, as if something soft and hollow was being punched hard. He was puzzled to see, as he stepped into the adjacent hallway, Etrec taking a short run. Abruptly he stopped and his foot drove into a round, brown object that Andy was astounded to suspect was a football.

  Further down the hallway Alan Carter was crouching down. Just at the last second, as the ball was about to go past him on the left, he sprang sideways and gathered it in with one big hand. Dropping it to the floor he kicked it lightly, and accurately back to Etrec.

  ‘Remember... no hands!’ Alan shouted. ‘Use your head or your feet!’

  Etrec lunged and caught the ball with his forehead as it bounced and sent it back the way it had come.

  ‘A good one!’ Alan cheered.

  This time Alan stopped the ball’s roll with his toe and flipped it up so that he could bounce it again on his knee. As it hit the floor he chopped his instep into it vigorously so that it came down the hallway like a bullet. Andy ducked back around the intersection to keep from getting hit.

  ‘Hey! That’s a goal for me!’ Alan shouted as Etrec failed to stop the shot. ‘Good try though. A litttle more practice and we’ll have you playing goalie for the Alpha Eagles Football Team.’

  As Etrec lined the ball up to kick it back, Andy stuck his head carefully around the corner again. ‘Excuse me, sir,’ he said to Alan.

  ‘Hey, Bluey!’ greeted Alan. ‘Just in time... you can be referee.’

  Andy walked across to Etrec and looked down at the battered sphere. ‘Is that a real football?’ he asked.

  ‘Real football!’ Alan sounded outraged. ‘This is the football that Wilkie used to score nine goals in Sydney Stadium in the Australian Cup Final in 1927!’

  Johnson knew very little about football, and had in fact been more of a baseball player in his youth back on Earth. So he hadn’t any idea how impressed he ought to be by Alan’s bo
ast. For politeness sake, though, he looked awed. ‘You’re kidding,’ he said.

  Alan thrust the ball under his nose. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘there’s Wilkie’s signature, right there.’

  Etrec had obviously been treated to the full history of the ball as well, as he added brightly, ‘Alan’s grandfather caught it in the stadium when he was about my size. It has been in his family ever since. And he would not let it out of his hands for a million... what was it you said, Alan?’

  Alan touseled his hair. ‘For a million buckets of suds.’ He grinned at Andy. ‘You want to try and kick a few?’

  Johnson suddenly remembered why he had been looking for Alan in the first place. ‘Oh, say... Tony wanted me to find you, to tell you we got the stuff out of the cavern.’

  ‘The Stasis Chamber and the Power unit?’

  ‘Yeah. The Chamber is pretty well smashed to scrap, but the Power Unit is hardly touched. They’ve taken it to Tech Lab Three. Tony wanted you to come over here.’

  Alan dropped the ball and began to dribble it with his feet. ‘Let’s go then. Here ya go!’ He passed the ball to Etrec who ran to catch up with him.

  The Power Unit had Tony and the Technical Team absolutely stumped. They had been going over it for hours and it was still nothing more than a little black box with some dials and a few buttons on the front. The computer couldn’t decode the few symbols that were inscribed on it, claiming insufficient information. They couldn’t even fathom a way of getting it open so they could look at the inside.

  When Alan and Etrec arrived, Tony shrugged and admitted failure. ‘Pasc is on his way down. We’ll just have to wait.’

  ‘What about you, pal?’ Alan asked Etrec. ‘You got the combination to the safe?’

  Etrec caught the gist of the question and shook his head. ‘I hadn’t got as far in my studies as the Mechanics of Energizers. I was still studying wave-particle analysis.’

  The technicians turned away to hide their smiles but felt impressed nonetheless. The door to the room hissed open just then, and Pasc came in wearing an expression of blank detachment.

  ‘Father should know,’ volunteered Etrec helpfully.