Phasewave

by David Gill

  'Stop!' she cried, but Brant took no notice. A line of rolling dust raced towards them, and, in a split second of darkness, the skimmer sliced through its own wake. Jenna glanced over her shoulder and saw a landscape sectioned by trails of spreading dust where Brant had snaked back and forth over the empty plain.

  'You're crazy!' she shouted. 'Slow down!'

  Brant's response was to gun the motor even harder, and the skimmer shuddered as the increase in torque twisted its frame. Jenna clung closer, feeling the hard muscles of Brant's back through the stiffness of his protective suit, and was overcome by a flood of relief, as if an enormous burden had finally been taken away from her. The base complex loomed suddenly out of the haze and whizzed past in a blur of light. Jenna burst into laughter as Brant threw the skimmer into a wide turn around the buildings, tearing the soft ground into a spiralling sheet of dust. He swung round sharply, held both arms above his head and accelerated rapidly towards the base.

  'You're going to kill us!' yelled Jenna. She pounded hard on Brant's back, her gloved fists bouncing off his suit ineffectually, then felt the motor spin into reverse and was thrown against him by the force of the deceleration. Brant's body continued to rock up and down on the seat, and Jenna knew that he was laughing at her and at that moment in time felt more carefree and relaxed than she could ever have imagined. Jenna sat back in the saddle and watched the base lights slowly approach. There were no bodies, and there was nowhere left to search; they could now go about their business and pick up the lost threads of normality and at last look forward to a time of peace. Jenna put her arms around Brant and hugged him tightly and thought that she had never felt such sweet happiness in her life.

  'You were acting like a couple of kids out there,' said Vance. 'Pass me the water.'

  'It was Jenna's idea,' said Brant. 'She's a hooligan at heart.'

  'There's only one hooligan in here,' said Jenna, joining the others in the canteen, 'and that's the one who was driving the skimmer and trying to scare me to death.'

  Jenna accepted the plate Brant passed over, the sight and smell of food reminding her of a long forgotten appetite.

  'So, have you got this morbid interest in the fate of our fellow crew members out of your systems?' asked Vance. 'Are you finally satisfied?' He put the last of the plates on the table and sat down.

  'Yes.' Brant pulled up a chair. 'Something smells good. Have you laid this on especially for us? What's the celebration?'

  'I thought we'd get together for a change,' said Vance. 'Things seem to have sorted themselves out; there's no point in turning our stay into a punishment.'

  'I agree,' said Jenna. 'What's this we're eating?'

  'Meat,' said Vance. 'Don't you like it?'

  'I thought we were saving the meat for special occasions,' said Jenna.

  'I reckon this qualifies as such an occasion. This is the first normal day we've had since we arrived, so I say let's put everything behind us and look forward to the day we go home.'

  'I'll drink to that,' said Brant. 'What am I saying? We haven't got anything to drink; I'd better go and fetch some wine.' Brant left the room and reappeared with an armful of bottles and glasses, then, for the first time ever, the three of them drank a toast to the future and shared an evening together in an atmosphere of friendly optimism.

  Later that night Jenna went back to her room, heady with wine and at peace with life. After falling asleep, she dreamt that a landing craft had arrived to take them home and Brant was loading her cases before they left Bouron together, never to return.

  *******************************

  Interlaced ribbons of swirling dust broke the flat monotony of the scene, and a distant, domed building straddled a rise in the ground - the picture was slowly taking shape. Declan opened his eyes and looked at Jenna. Was she describing events which had actually occurred or had she entered the state of interllusion, where the mind became so distorted that it could no longer separate reality from illusion? It was too soon to tell. He stood up and paced the room, visualizing the scene Jenna had verbally depicted, trying to accurately place its component parts in their correct perspectives.

  'You say that none of you had any idea what the modifications to the units were intended to do?'

  Jenna shook her head. 'We talked it to death but couldn't come up with any explanation; all we knew was that the work was meant to be more than a repair and whoever was responsible for it had tried to alter the functions of both the Phasewave and the tracker. For some unknown reason they had tried to put the machines to other uses.'

  The stiffness had returned to Declan's joints. 'I could use some exercise,' he said. 'Would you mind if we went for a walk?'

  'Of course not,' said Jenna. 'All that talk about food has made me hungry. On the way here I saw what looked like a clubhouse, so why don't we do lunch?'

  'Consider it my treat,' said Declan. 'It's been over six years since I last ate out on Vennica.'

  Chapter Four

  Apartments clung to sheer rock faces on either side of the track that Declan and Jenna walked along, each one individually constructed from natural materials to blend with its surroundings. Some appeared to have been carved out of the mountain itself and were almost invisible against the background wall of stone. A flying animal circled the air currents high above a cliff, a small square of blackness blinking rhythmically against the white of the sky. It was cool out of the sun in the valley floor, and Declan regretted not wearing a warmer jacket.

  'Will they still be listening to us?' asked Jenna.

  'Oh yes, there'll be monitoring devices all over the place. They're practically invisible; the more sophisticated ones actually track you as you move around.'

  Jenna stopped and closely studied a nearby clump of artificial vegetation but found nothing. She caught up with Declan and noticed that he was limping.

  'You're hurting, aren't you?' she said.

  'I'm improving, but it's taking a while to become accustomed to the gravity here.'

  'What happened to you, anyway? You never tell me anything about yourself.'

  'I haven't had chance,' said Declan. 'Forgive my manners, but I'm not used to company. The answer to your question is that I was caught in a fire when I was on Scion, and the burns are still healing.' Declan momentarily relived the instant when the bulkhead had burst apart before his eyes, releasing a ball of liquid fire into the tunnel where he was standing. He again felt the air being sucked from his lungs by the searing heat and the agony of raw flesh against burnt clothing.

  'Do you sleep well?'

  'Not often,' said Declan. 'Why do you ask?'

  'I heard you cry out in the night.'

  'I dream. Every night I dream.'

  'Are your dreams about the fire?'

  'Thankfully that's something I never dream about.'

  'Is there a special dream?'

  'There only is one dream, but it is very realistic.'

  Jenna slid a small stone off the path with her foot. 'Do you actually wake up during the dream?'

  'Yes. Each night I wake at the same point. The dreams always finish the same way; I end up drowning in a vast, bottomless pool of water and, as I'm about to go down for the last time, I wake up. I have no control over it, and my fear is that one day I won't wake up in time.'

  'That's weird,' said Jenna. 'At least my dreams are all different.'

  'What do you dream about?'

  'Most of them are crazy, mixed-up dreams about my time on Bouron. They are completely pointless; all they do is prevent me from sleeping.'

  'Can you describe one for me?'

  'There's no recurrent theme, and I can't remember much about them afterwards. Sometimes I dream about the alien.'

  Declan stopped dead. 'Did you say alien?'

  Jenna paused, then looked ahead and carried on walking.

  Declan's heart started to pound, and his brain went into overdrive. He ran after Jenna. 'You must tell me.'

  'No, that comes later.'

/>   So that was why Gil had been interested in his activities on Scion! Declan fought back the tremendous excitement that welled up inside him. An alien! He had to find out. Jenna was holding something back. Why wasn't she ready? Declan was desperate to pursue the line of questioning, but knew that he dare not risk a confrontation, not when Jenna was being so cooperative. He quickly changed the subject and pointed to one of the few free-standing buildings in the resort. 'Do you think that is the restaurant?'

  'I don't know, but I'm getting hungry. Let's give it a try.'

  Welcoming lights shone through old-fashioned, glass windows. Declan held open the entrance door for Jenna and followed her inside the restaurant, still wondering why she had stopped so suddenly at the mention of the alien. It would eventually come out of its own accord; all he could do was be patient.

  'We'll be lucky to get a seat in here,' said Jenna, surveying the empty room. At the sound of her voice the lights dimmed and the room instantly became alive with a background noise of conversation and soft music.

  Declan looked around the deserted booths and could not help smiling. 'I wish they wouldn't do that. What's wrong with silence?'

  'That remark shows your age,' teased Jenna. 'Unwanted noise is what you pay extra for nowadays. Let's find a seat with a window view.'

  Declan crossed the room to a booth by the wall. 'The place probably hasn't been used for weeks,' he said, sliding onto a plush seat opposite Jenna. 'I've just realised that I haven't had chance to arrange any credit since I arrived on Vennica. How do you pay for things in here?'

  'I don't believe this,' said Jenna, tapping her credit details onto the order screen. 'First you offer me lunch, and then I find I'm paying for it. Fortunately I've got a year's wages in my account.' Jenna read from the screen and looked at Declan in surprise. 'It won't accept payment; it says any meals we take have already been charged. Looks like Gil's thought of everything.'

  'He told me that the other guests had already left and that we would have the resort to ourselves, so I don't think we will be disturbed in here.' Declan picked up a menu and started to read through it, but he had not eaten out for so long that he was unfamiliar with most of the dishes on offer. He tried to concentrate on the writing, but an intrusive picture had formed and all he saw was a pattern of interlinked dust trails and circling satellites. Jenna was still standing in the centre of the frame, but, to his surprise, a gap, an irregular space, a hole, had appeared in the picture beside her. Why? All images remained in a constant state of change until they merged into their final form, but never before had a blank space appeared in one. He examined it carefully. It was definitely a part of the puzzle. What was destined to fill that empty space?

  The scene cleared and Declan found Jenna watching him quizzically. 'Pictures again?'

  Declan nodded.'

  'What does it show?'

  'Everything you've told me so far,' said Declan. 'It will continue to develop until I know everything that happened and will then be complete.'

  'You're a strange man.' Jenna turned to the menu again. 'Seeing as Gil's picking up the tab we can have anything we want. I'm going to try meat for a change.'

  Declan closed his menu. 'It sounds tempting but I think I'll stick to what I know and have the reconstituted stuff.'

  They both entered their orders onto the screen and sat back in the comfortable seats.

  'So, after you had seen inside the tracker everything settled down,' said Declan.

  'Yes. Nothing very much happened. Things almost got boring. Until I met Ellen, that is.'

  'You found Ellen? She was alive?' Declan sat up in his seat. 'Where was she?'

  'This is the hard part. Ellen appeared on a monitor screen inside the damaged Phasewave unit and told me she was speaking from Vennica.'

  'If no ships had passed through the satellite belt, how did she travel to Vennica?'

  'It is going to be difficult for me to explain what happened next and even harder for you to understand. There were lots of things I wasn't aware of when I first met Ellen and Carrick.'

  Declan watched Jenna carefully, trying to decide if she was being serious or not. So far her story had been a straightforward account of events, but he was now beginning to appreciate why she had not been believed at the previous hearings. He felt as if he was on the verge of making a fantastic discovery and tried to quell his impatience to find out more.

  'You'll have to decide for yourself,' said Jenna. 'Everything changed after Ellen appeared on the scene.'

  A bell chimed softly, and the serving dispenser in the centre of the table popped open. Jenna lifted out the meals and removed the covers. 'This looks good,' she said. 'Let's give Bouron and all that a rest for a while, and I'll tell you about Ellen after we've eaten.'

  Declan looked down at his plate but could see only a modified Phasewave unit and a woman's face on a screen.

  'You'd better feed that imagination of yours,' said Jenna, handing Declan a knife. 'You're going to need all you've got if you want to wrap your head round what I'm going to tell you next.'

  Declan and Jenna later emerged from the restaurant and took a track leading into the mountains. They walked in silence, absorbed in their own thoughts, and were soon surrounded by jagged rock faces again.

  'Did you enjoy that?' asked Jenna.

  'What? Oh, the meal. Yes, I liked it very much.' Declan thought back, but could not remember what he had actually eaten, so intense had been his preoccupation. Eventually he could contain his curiosity no longer. 'If Ellen hadn't left Bouron by ship, where had she been hiding?'

  Jenna looked up at the sky. The day had turned colder and a layer of high cloud tinted the light with a pink hue. 'I guess you're ready for this,' she said, 'but promise me that you'll hear me out before passing judgment.'

  *************************************

  Jenna hummed a little tune to herself as she approached Unit Nine to record the alterations made to the machine. Its heavy door swung open, and once again she stepped into the inert silence of the Phasewave. Everything inside was exactly as it had been left, and Jenna stood before the modified console and asked herself why the work had been carried out and what, if anything, it had achieved.

  A monitor flashed into life, and Jenna was surprised to see the figure of a woman appear on its screen, mouthing silent words to the room whilst gesturing with her hands.

  The panel is supposed to be dead, thought Jenna. Where's the monitor getting its power from? It looked like breakthrough from a media transmission, maybe the Phase was out of synchronisation. Jenna cautiously approached the screen. The woman's face looked familiar, and Jenna felt certain that she had seen her somewhere before. Well, the monitor must be drawing current from somewhere, so what was it connected to? The figure on the screen began to wave frantically, but no sound came from the speakers. Out of curiosity Jenna operated the volume control and heard another female voice echo inside the room.

  It's me, Ellen. Can you hear me?'

  Jenna instinctively glanced behind her.

  'Yes, Jenna, I'm talking to you.'

  'You mean me?' Jenna stupidly asked, and immediately understood why the face looked familiar - she was the woman standing next to Carrick on the hologram.

  'Of course I do!' Ellen laughed. 'Don't be alarmed. You must be wondering what happened to us.'

  'I ... we ... yes, we did wonder,' stammered Jenna, momentarily overlooking the host of problems that had been created by the crew's unexplained absence.

  'Well, your troubles are over,' said Ellen. 'We're all safe on Vennica, which is where I'm speaking to you from at this very moment.'

  'Vennica? How did you get to Vennica?'

  'You need to take this in slowly.' Ellen's voice was deep and husky, like a man's. 'Very soon I'm going to tell you things you won't understand, things which are going to change your life forever, but first I'd like you to meet Carrick.' The picture on the screen widened to include Carrick's dark and brooding features.

  '
Hi Jenna,' said Carrick. 'Listen carefully to what Ellen has to say, and you'd better be nice to her because she's going to make you rich and famous.'

  Jenna stood rooted to the spot in amazement and listened while Ellen, assisted at times by Carrick, explained that they and the other crew members had learnt how to travel through space by Phasewave transmission and were now staying in a laboratory on Vennica belonging to a scientist called Scyros Maddoc, the inventor of Phasewave.

  'I don't understand,' interrupted Jenna. 'You couldn't have left the planet unless you were picked up by a ship, but nothing had visited Bouron for six months until we arrived.'

  Carrick and Ellen both laughed. 'We know how hard this is for you to accept,' said Carrick, 'because we had the same problem ourselves. There was no ship. Take a look at the Phasewave machine in front of you. We did those modifications in order to enter the Phasewave and travel to Vennica over the Intranet.'

  'That's impossible,' said Jenna.

  Ellen sighed. 'Right now we don't want to go any deeper into what we did. First we want you to tell Vance and Brant what you've just heard and then we'd like to speak to you all together. Will you do that for me?'

  Jenna nodded meekly, walked backwards to the door, and ran from the room to find Brant.

  'Come over here and sit down.' Brant guided Jenna to a table and took a seat opposite her. 'Are you serious? Did you actually speak to Ellen and Carrick?'

  'I tell you I saw them and I spoke to them,' said Jenna. 'Why won't you listen to me?'

  'They can't be hiding on the base after all this time. Are you sure it was them?'

  'Yes, and they want to talk to all of us. You and Vance must come with me.'

  Brant studied Jenna closely. What she was saying sounded too incredible to be true, but if she was suffering from space sickness she was showing no signs of mental aberration, in fact she appeared perfectly normal and utterly sincere in her belief. Since their arrival on Bouron, however, many things remained unresolved and he was not about to pass judgment.