by David Gill
'Was that unusual?'
'Oh yes, normally the crew being relieved couldn't get away from the place fast enough, so we knew something was wrong. Because normal radio communications are not possible that close to a Phasewave base, the landing craft always goes down first to make sure everything is in order. Then it returns and takes down the arriving crew for a handover. It's unusual for the landing craft to be away for more than two or three hours.'
'You said "we". Who was with you?'
'Vance, the crew chief, and Brant the installation engineer. Me, I'm systems.'
'What was your relationship with Vance and Brant at the time?'
'I hardly knew them, but I didn't have much time for Vance.'
'But you were close to Brant,' said Declan.
'Hey!' Jenna jumped to her feet. 'You said you knew nothing about me!'
'I was only inquiring if Brant was a close friend.'
'There you go again. Who told you? How did you find out?'
Declan felt his patience stretch to breaking point, but managed to bite back a reply that would have had him off the case within minutes. 'Sit down,' he said, in a voice that Jenna knew she could not argue against, and waited until Jenna had reluctantly returned to her seat. 'We must level with each other if we are going to make progress. I will explain why I made that statement, and in future you're going to have to trust me or we'll run out of time. When you were talking about waiting to go down to the planet you started to look anxious and your expression did not change at the mention of Birne and Vance, but when Brant's name cropped up your facial expression altered. Your pupils dilated and the lines around your eyes and mouth relaxed which indicated to me that, of all the people you named, Brant was the one you were closest to.'
Jenna remained unconvinced. Was Declan trying to trick her into making an admission or was she really that transparent?
Declan anticipated her reaction. 'I'm not probing; I'm genuinely trying to establish what happened. You must expect such questions from me at any time. Now, you were orbiting the planet ...'
'... waiting for Birne,' continued Jenna. She sat back, guarded, unsure of Declan's intentions but wanting to carry on. 'I didn't know Brant very well at that time.'
'Birne obviously did return from Bouron or you wouldn't be here,' said Declan, knowing that there was something about Brant that Jenna was unwilling to discuss.
Jenna sat in a daze, thrown by what Declan had said. She picked up the story again. 'Birne came back all right, but when he did he brought some bad news with him.' She gave Declan an uncertain smile. 'Yes, I suppose that was how it began; that was when this whole mess started.'
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Chapter Two
'Perhaps this isn't such a good idea,' said Ingo.
'I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to,' said Birne, levelling the landing craft just above the planet surface. A movement outside the cockpit caught his eye and he looked up from the instruments to see a wall of darkness rolling across the plain towards them. He stared in amazement at the approaching night shadow, its perspective distorted by the failing light, until a gas generator momentarily surged in the rarefied atmosphere and diverted his attention back to the gauges. Birne reduced power and stabilized the landing craft in a hover.
'Would you look at that,' commented Ingo.
'I'll depart down-sun.' Birne selected the controls to manual and, as he did so, recalled a previous, similar occasion and heard a voice from the past explaining that every journey has its magic moment, the one exceptional, memorable event which becomes forever linked with that particular journey, and with utter certainty Birne realized that he was about to take part in one of those rare experiences.
The ungainly machine rotated around its axis, losing height and triggering an alarm in the process.
'Need any help?' asked Ingo, as the shadow edge plunged the flight deck into a premature darkness, broken only by the diffuse glow of the instrument panel lights.
'Set the power for me, will you?' grunted Birne. He concentrated on the instruments until the vessel steadied on the required heading and responded to the increased thrust. 'Where's the nearest obstacle?'
Ingo checked his displays. 'Aerials, two hundred meters left of track, four thousand meters range. Looks like a tracker station. You're clear on this heading.'
The landing craft began the transition to forward flight, pitching uneasily as its stabilizers tugged at the airflow. Birne eased back on the controls and again found the cockpit bathed in red light while before him the night front advanced across the deserted landscape, engulfing all in its unstoppable flow. By making slight adjustments to the controls Birne found that he could dip in and out of the top of the dark wedge, one moment diving into blackness, the next emerging into the dull glare of the setting sun, and all the time careering along with the black column, riding the tide that flooded the planet with its wake. It was, he decided, a truly magnificent experience, a magic moment if ever there was one.
'It's time to go,' said Ingo.
Birne shook his head, thrilled with the way the tiny craft was responding and burst into laughter, relieved to be on his way at last. He was heading home, away from Bouron, perhaps, with luck, never to return. He was due six months leave when he got back to Vennica, half a year away from work and the cramped confines of the Giran, and it was not going to be long enough.
Then the shadow edge was behind and they were hurtling at speed over the empty plain into a cold twilight. Birne suddenly tired of the game. Ingo was right; it was time to leave. He hit another set of switches, pointed the vessel's nose into the lowering sky, and rocketed away from the ground, leaving behind two slowly spreading vortices of dust to be absorbed by the pursuing darkness.
Ingo watched the approaching satellite layer fill the sky above and looked expectantly at Birne who sat hunched in his seat, preoccupied with his thoughts. 'You're going to miss the gate,' he warned.
Birne slid his seat back on its rails. 'You take it,' he said, and watched the younger man gratefully take the controls and reduce speed, feeling the landing craft quiver as it locked onto the beam which would take them into the safety lane through the satellite belt. Birne yawned loudly and wondered if life had always been difficult or if it was just his memory that was failing and wished that he had the energy of youth on his side again, along with the necessary mental resources to resolve their problem. He rubbed the sand-prickle from his burning eyes and thought hard. Every problem had a solution, didn't it? Well, nothing immediately sprang to mind, so perhaps this was the one that had no solution.
A blinding flash of light lit up the sky, making them both jump. Birne looked outside in time to see a huge electrical discharge snake downwards and strike the planet on the horizon.
'Do the storms normally reach this height?' asked Ingo.
'They're getting higher all the time,' said Birne, 'but that's the first strike I've seen reach the ground. If they continue to develop at this rate the satellite belt will need to be raised. Years ago, before your time, there was no electrical activity here at all, but now you get storms every night. When we were inside the base did you notice how the interior lights sometimes lit up by themselves? Stray currents are responsible for that, and they first appeared on the planet when Phasewave was installed. If you dig down under the base you'll find tunnels burnt through the foundations where the currents flow.'
'This place is an accident waiting to happen,' said Ingo. He paused to observe the symmetrical structure of a satellite pass close by. 'I'm not sorry to be saying goodbye.'
'Well, I think that accident may have already happened,' said Birne. He remained deep in thought until the last of the obstacles was out of sight and the landing craft had changed course towards a cluster of distant, artificial lights where the Giran awaited them. The craft shifted sideways as the auto-stabilization took over the controls and started to hunt for the homing beam. 'We're going to have to work together on this one.'
'We can't change anything now.'
'You and I know things that the others don't,' said Birne, 'but before we pull out and head for home we've got to convince them that it's the right decision, and we can't afford to waste any more time.'
'Surely the crew will want to return to Vennica,' said Ingo.
'If they had any sense they would, but before they quit they'll try to make sure that we take responsibility for that decision.'
'So how have we suddenly become involved?'
Birne sighed. Yes, why were they involved? Some things just turned out that way, but he had been here before and this time he was determined to let someone else take the lead.
'You sound as though you've seen all this before,' said Ingo, echoing Birne's thoughts.
'I have. We're already days behind schedule and I don't want to hang around this dump longer than I have to, so somehow we have to get the relief crew to make a quick decision and it has to be theirs alone. It may sound easy, but it won't be. It never is.'
'What do you think they'll do?' asked Birne.
'Scream and shout,' said Birne. 'Vance will be the main problem. I can't see him giving up his bonus without a fight, but I don't think the others will want to stay. As far as I'm concerned we have to do everything that could be expected of us, so that later, when questions get asked, we'll be able to convince the Phasewave Company that we acted correctly and did not attempt to influence the maintenance crew's decision in any way. After what we've found I know this could turn sour, so be careful to stick to our story and don't offer any options; they need to make up their own minds without any help from us. When the time comes to dish out blame, which the Phasewave Company is very good at, those engineers are going to try to save their own skins, and what might appear to be a good idea right now could sound pretty thin when we're facing an inquiry in three months' time.'
'I know what my decision would be,' said Ingo.
'Well, the crew have had three days to worry why we're late back,' said Birne, 'but I don't think they will be prepared for what we are about to tell them.'
The homing beam captured their vessel with small, impatient movements, and shortly afterwards the gravity shifted under the force of the deceleration. Recognition lights flashed against the dark outline of the Giran's hull. Birne quickly checked around the flight deck and readjusted his seat. There was no doubt about it, he was going to feel a whole lot happier once they were on their way again. The approach indicators lit up in sequence and the thrusters stabilized at manoeuvre speed as a welcoming, square patch of light opened in the darkness. Their craft continued to slow in response, preparing for the docking and Birne heaved another sigh of relief, glad to be back in his own domain.
'Just remember, we have to cover ourselves,' he said.
'Don't worry, we're both singing the same song. Everyone will jump at the chance to get away from here.'
'Maybe,' said Birne. Maybe not, he thought. Would anyone in their right mind want to stay after what they had found on Bouron? Or, more to the point, what they had not found.
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Jenna stood by Declan's side in the kitchen and watched him examine the water boiler. 'You must have seen one of those before,' she said.
'Not like this,' said Declan, marvelling at the subtle contours of the container. 'How do they manage to cram so much technology into such a small space?'
'You've been out of circulation for too long.'
'Turn your back for a moment and everything becomes instantly obsolete,' said Declan. 'Would you like some coffee?'
Declan made Jenna a cup of coffee, started to pour another and then changed his mind and settled instead for a drink of cold water. He walked slowly around the room, trying to ease the pain inside his joints. The flat liquid tasted unfamiliar after the recycled water he had become used to on Scion.
Jenna sat quietly, drinking her coffee and casting her mind back to the fateful day when Birne had appeared and broken the news about Bouron, while Declan tried to arrange the few facts he had in his possession into some kind of order.
'I take it that Vance was the leader of your group.'
'That's right,' said Jenna. 'He was the senior engineer, the person in charge.'
'What was the relationship between Vance and Brant? Did they get on?'
Jenna shrugged. 'It was hard to tell. Brant was easy-going and Vance had taken a shine to him.'
'How did Vance treat you?'
'He was very offhand with me, and I got the impression he perceived women to be a threat.'
'In what way did he display that attitude?'
'Not directly. He was always waiting for me to make mistakes and then would keep coming out with snide comments. He wouldn't let it drop. I mean, nobody's perfect, but if Brant screwed up Vance never said a word about it.'
'And what about Brant? Did he usually side with Vance?'
'Not very often, and if he did it was never in an obnoxious way. Brant tried not to take sides and didn't like to get involved in anything controversial; he usually kept his opinions to himself and just let Vance get on with it.' Jenna thought again about Vance. Her first impression of him had not been a good one, and none of the subsequent events had altered that opinion. He had schemed to make them stay on Bouron and she had fallen for it. She clearly remembered it happening, but until that moment Vance had never given her the impression of being clever, quite the opposite in fact. What was the expression she had used to describe him?
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Jenna studied the obese figure staring out of the viewing port at the planet below before finding the word she was looking for. Pathetic! That was it. She turned back to her writing machine.
Kym, you would simply adore Vance. Pathetic and weak is the only way I can describe him; I am surprised that he is actually the senior man out here. The other engineer, Brant, hardly says a thing and just keeps agreeing with Vance. I can't work out whether I like Brant or not, especially as he ignores me most of the time. I need to keep reminding myself why I'm doing this, or I will be out of my mind after a year alone with these two. Still, it was my choice so I can't really complain, and the money will come in useful when I get back to real life. Sorry if I sound so depressed, but we've been stuck in orbit for three days waiting to be taken down and everyone is getting frustrated. The crew are still on the base, so whatever is causing the delay must be pretty serious and we won't find out what it is until they return. I guess I really messed up back home and wish I could have seen you before I left, but you were still doing your rounds of the Outstations. I'll tell you the full story when we get together and, in the meantime, if Erwin starts asking questions, will you tell him I have gone back to the New Colonies? That should put him off my track for a while. Maybe everything will have settled down by the time I get back, but somehow I doubt it. I'd better finish now. If we are allowed down I am going to give this to one of the Giran's crew to drop off at Shuttleport. I'll visit you next time I'm home.
Jenna scribbled her name across the screen with a flourish and switched off the machine; her one outstanding job before landing on Bouron was finally completed. A flashing light outside the Giran attracted Jenna's attention and she saw the familiar shape of the landing craft emerge through the circling ring of satellites. At last they were about to find out the cause of the delay. The others had seen it too.
'What story do you reckon they'll come up with?' said Vance. 'My guess is disease.'
Brant stretched lazily. 'There's probably been an accident.' He looked at Jenna and hesitated slightly before including her in the conversation. 'What do you think?'
'It could have been a system breakdown,' said Jenna. 'They were probably trying to fix it before the handover.'
'You don't know this lot,' said Vance. 'Take my word for it, if a technical problem was threatening to delay their return we would be the last to find out.'
'Maybe something went wrong with the landing craft,' suggested
Brant.
'Well, we'll soon know for sure,' said Jenna. She replaced her writing machine in its case and tried to muster the energy to talk to the others. 'So, what do you guys plan to do with yourselves for the next year?'
Vance chuckled. 'I plan to do as little as possible. Have you worked with Phasewave before?'
Jenna shook her head.
'You shouldn't find it too difficult,' he said condescendingly. 'I'll teach you all you need to know. Phasewave is incredible stuff; nobody really knows yet what it's capable of doing.'
'I can't wait.' Jenna inwardly groaned. Was she going to have to suffer Vance's patronizing for a whole year?
'Do you know any of the crew we're taking over from?' asked Brant.
Vance scowled. 'Yes, the senior engineer is a guy called Carrick. I spent some time with him a couple of years ago, and he is someone you definitely wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of. He comes with a partner, Ellen, who's even worse than he is, if that's possible.'
'Then I guess a year in this place won't have improved their temperaments,' said Brant.
Jenna caught another glimpse of the approaching landing craft, much closer this time, as it slowly drifted underneath the Giran on its way to the docking bay, and could not help wondering what its pilots would have to say when they came on board.
'Four people can't just have disappeared,' said Vance.
'Well, they're not on the base,' said Birne. 'We searched all the installations and buildings, everywhere. There's no sign of anyone, not a trace.'
'They must have left some indications behind,' said Brant. 'What state was the base in?'
'It looked as if the crew had walked out moments before we arrived,' said Birne, 'although the last log entries were made three months ago. Nothing appeared to have been disturbed. It was exactly as you would expect to find any operational base; everything was in place inside the cabins and none of the emergency equipment had been operated. I can't offer an explanation.'