Space 1999 - Planets of Peril

by Michael Butterworth

  A wide, sweeping expanse of space lay ahead of their runaway Moon.

  Apart from the stars and invisible matter like hydrogen ions and meteoric dust, the space was empty. There seemed to be no explanation, no cause for their drift, unless... he swallowed hard on the thought that the gravitational mass they were being drawn towards might prove to be a black hole. They had gone through a black hole once, and that was enough...

  But black holes didn’t explode. They didn’t light up and explode.

  And they didn’t send out shock waves.

  ‘Three... two... one... ZERO.’

  All eyes turned to the screen.

  From nowhere, a pin-point of light appeared, dead in the screen’s centre.

  It grew in intensity. It began to swell.

  ‘Compute,’ Koenig ordered dryly, leaning forward in his seat.

  Behind him, he heard Sandra efficiently punching buttons on her computer.

  ‘Magnitude within one percent of last observation,’ she told him.

  Her report was followed closely by Yasko’s.

  ‘No read-out on nature or origin of explosion,’ the Japanese computer operator informed them. ‘It’s still too far away.’

  ‘The shock wave will hit Alpha in 143.2 seconds,’ Sandra continued as more information flashed up on her console screen.

  Koenig’s face tightened.

  The shock waves came at precisely regular intervals. As the Moon had drawn closer to the mysterious source, the effect had become increasingly more severe. And there was no doubting now that they were not in any way connected with Psychon’s fading death throes. Events were happening fast, and despite the aquisition of fresh supplies of Tiranium, Moon Base Alpha was in a seriously worsening condition.

  ‘Red alert!’ he said in a raised voice.

  Verdeschi hit the Red Alert button, and the base erupted into urgent activity.

  The high, whooping note of the emergency klaxon began to reverberate down its corridors and throughout all its centres. All of its personnel — two less now that Torens and Picard had gone — rushed to their Red Alert stations, donning protective gear.

  ‘Check emergency life support. Check back-up power circuits. Prepare for casualties,’ Koenig’s voice flashed everywhere.

  Helena’s voice sounded from the Medical Section where she and Maya were talking.

  ‘Medical Section... casualty reception units ready.’

  Doctors and nurses hurried down the corridor in response.

  Alphans with the single word ‘RESCUE’ inscribed on their suits ran in other directions.

  ‘One hundred seconds...’ Sandra reported tensely.

  ‘Launch Eagles,’ Koenig spoke impassively.

  ‘Launch Eagles,’ Verdeschi repeated, passing on the command over the communications system.

  They were two down on Eagle Ships, but they put up as many as they could.

  The legend ‘Red Alert’ flashed on the console monitors in the Command Centre.

  ‘One minute...’ Sandra said, watching the digital countdown registers in front of her.

  Koenig turned to speak to Verdeschi. His face was set hard.

  ‘You know, we’re either going to be seriously damaged or destroyed, but don’t pass that on.’

  Verdeschi looked back at him, equally grim.

  ‘I know... and there’s nothing we can do but take it.’

  Koenig nodded and looked back at the Big Screen.

  The glow of the explosion had radiated out to fill half of the glass.

  ‘Lead Eagle to Command,’ Alan Carter’s picture flashed on Koenig’s monitor.

  ‘Yes, Alan?’ Koenig asked.

  ‘We’re in position... on the opposite side of the Moon.’

  ‘Hold position... you’ll be shielded from the blast.’

  ‘Yes, John.’ The Australian pilot’s face looked uncharacteristically grave. ‘We’ll be ready to land as soon as the shock-wave has passed. Out.’

  The monitor went dead.

  ‘Nothing to do except... wait,’ Verdeschi said. ‘John? That new girl... Maya. She’s... nice. Do you think she’s OK?’

  ‘I think she’s terrific, Tony,’ Koenig replied.

  ‘If anything happens... I want you to know I quite fancied her.’

  Koenig didn’t reply.

  ‘Thirty seconds,’ Sandra called shakily.

  ‘All personnel below surface,’ Yasko ordered.

  ‘Rescue teams at station. All airlocks sealed,’ Verdeschi spoke into his monitor.

  ‘Medical section ready,’ Helena’s voice came over.

  And you’re terrific too, Koenig thought as he heard her voice.

  ‘Twenty seconds,’ Sandra called out.

  ‘Take cover,’ Koenig warned sharply.

  Dead silence fell again on them. This time the silence covered all of Moon Base Alpha, as the Alphans who lived inside it, their preparations complete, waited.

  The exaggerated clicking of the digital clock in Command Centre, normally unheard, now began to sound loudly as it struck off the seconds...

  Nine...

  Eight...

  Koenig looked at the Big Screen.

  It had almost completely filled with the white, scabrous mass.

  Seven...

  Six...

  Five...

  Four...

  Three...

  Two...

  One...

  The Moon Base began to tremor.

  Its foundations deep below the lunar surface began to rock, ever so slightly as the absurdly powerful front of energy struck.

  The fingertips of energy were only the advance guard of the real centre of the force.

  They tickled and played with the lump of rock that had drifted in their path.

  Alphans cowered below bunk beds and computer consoles.

  Eagles waited, swaying in space.

  Then the main body of the shock wave moved over.

  It vibrated deeply through the ancient, cracked mass of the Moon.

  And an enormous cosmic hand smacked against the planet.

  Nervously, Alan Carter glanced at the instruments panel of Eagle Two in front of him.

  Only these told him in fact that the shock-wave had hit the Moon.

  He and the fleet of Eagle ships were sheltered behind the planet, well protected from the blast.

  Everything on board was quiet and running smoothly. The flashing panels and the digital numerals appearing on the small TV monitor told him that the worst was over.

  They had withstood the shock and their home remained intact.

  But he waited anxiously for confirmation from Command Centre.

  No hint of life came from the section monitor, and he stabbed at a button.

  ‘Come in Alpha... Come in Moon Base Alpha.’

  There was no reply.

  ‘Eagle Ships, return to base,’ he called to the fleet.

  He snapped off the communicator and began taking his ship in.

  On the section screen he saw the jagged curvature of the Moon, made when it had been torn in two halves by the atomic blast which had first sent them on their runaway course.

  It made the Moon look like a dead world, a lump of asteroid aimlessly hurtling through space.

  He watched the horizon gradually become rounded and cratered, as his ship nosed around to the side occupied by Moon Base.

  On either side he was flanked by the other Eagle Ships, rockets burning at low power.

  Soon, the clinical, futuristic shapes of the outbuildings came into view and he watched them tensely for signs of life.

  The base lights were still on, floodlighting the landing ramps with a strange, unearthly clarity against the darkness of the lunar mountains.

  Many of the outbuildings were still damaged from the Psychon attack. They stood unused, their metal skins crumpled and torn open, vacantly exposing their insides to the vacuum of space.

  ‘Come in Alpha... Come in Alpha...’

  Still there wa
s no response.

  He brought the Eagle ship down and unharnessed himself from his seat.

  He waved his commlock at the safety door leading through into the Passenger Section, and ran through.

  Nurses, doctors and rescue personnel who had been evacuated from the Moon Base were gathered by the hatchways. They still wore their bright orange space suits, and they waited impatiently for Carter to arrive.

  The pilot fitted on his space helmet and activated the hatch mechanisms.

  ‘Let’s go,’ he said over his helmet radio.

  They passed through the air lock and into the Travel Tube capsule.

  Carter closed the doors behind them and the capsule began to move rapidly and smoothly along its bore.

  It curved round the banked track, and then fell steeply below the Moon’s surface to where the large part of the Moon Base lay. The false floor of the capsule tilted on its axis, keeping them upright. It might be bad luck for the Alphans that their base now lay underground, Carter thought ironically. Until recently, the whole of Moon Base Alpha had been built on the surface, but for safety reasons it had been decided to rebuild it below ground... where inadvertently it had been rendered more vulnerable to the vibrations set up by the sonic wave.

  The travel tube doors slid open and they raced out into the corridor.

  The base lights were all on, but an ominous layer of dust had settled over the floors, lockers and hydrants.

  ‘Check the air,’ Carter said over his radio as they moved as fast as they could in their bulky suits.

  An operative took an instrument from one of his pockets and read it off.

  ‘Pressure down a little... it’s safe.’

  They pulled off their helmets.

  Carter fired his commlock at the Command Centre doors and they slid apart. Inside, the figures moved about and Carter breathed a sigh of relief.

  He ran inside.

  ‘We lost radio contact,’ Carter said, laughing.

  ‘We’re all right, Alan,’ Sandra said. She looked shaken and pale, covered in dust.

  ‘This time... yes,’ Koenig said gravely. He was brushing himself down. ‘But you better check the rest of Moon Base,’ he told the rescue team. ‘I gather some places had a rough time.’

  The team left them and he and Carter joined Verdeschi who was standing at his console staring at the Big Screen.

  The blaze of white light emanating from the distant explosion filled half the screen. But now it was gradually subsiding.

  ‘We must stop it, John,’ Verdeschi said. ‘The Moon’s an old girl. She won’t take much more...’

  ‘I can’t risk men and machines until I know what we’re up against, Tony,’ Koenig replied. He was about to turn away from the screen when something on it caught his attention.

  ‘Tony... Alan, look.’

  The two men leant forward and peered intently at the heart of the explosion traces.

  A darker spherical object was now visible. It looked like a shadow, an imperfectly processed film.

  ‘A planet...!’ Koenig exclaimed.

  ‘At least it’s not a black hole,’ Carter pointed out with some relief.

  Helena came into the room and Koenig motioned her over. She wore a white doctor’s coat. She looked overworked and grimy from the dust.

  ‘Helena... there it is. The eye of the explosions.’

  ‘A planet...’ she said, half surprised.

  ‘It’s too distant for our sensors to give much information,’ Sandra called out.

  ‘Except for one obvious conclusion. It’s still there. It hasn’t been destroyed by the waves.’

  Helena brought her mind to focus on to the problem.

  ‘The explosions travel one way... outwards but not inwards,’ she observed.

  ‘Right,’ Koenig agreed. ‘And with the exact twelve hour interval between detonations we can assume it isn’t a natural phenomenon. Some form of intelligence is responsible...’

  ‘But why?’ Helena cried, suddenly angry. ‘John, we’ve got more casualties than we thought. Some people have been very badly hurt...’

  Koenig looked at her sympathetically.

  ‘We don’t know why... but we’ll soon find out now,’ he said. He looked at Verdeschi. ‘Order Eagle Two to Launching Pad.’

  He started to walk away but Helena pulled him back.

  ‘John... Maya, she wants something to do.’

  Koenig looked irritated.

  ‘There’s plenty of work...’

  ‘She wants to do something more involved.’ Helena spoke hastily. ‘This attack seems to have brought her round. She wants to help, to forget. I promised her...’

  ‘No,’ Koenig said emphatically. ‘She can’t come with us.’

  ‘John, she needs the chance. Don’t make it more difficult for her... She’s very able, and she seems so sure she can help us to stop the attacks.’

  Koenig looked at her sceptically. He wondered how the Psychon woman could help. But Helena had switched on her persuasive tactics. She was the only person on Moon Base Alpha who had any sway over him, and he knew he would waste valuable moments if he attempted to argue with her.

  He sighed heavily.

  ‘Right. On one condition... she stays in the Passenger Section.’

  Helena smiled through her weariness.

  ‘I’ll go and get her ready,’ she said. She looked concerned again. This time it was for him.

  ‘John, be careful.’

  They held each other’s gaze. Then Koenig tore himself away.

  ‘And you,’ he said.

  He turned and walked swiftly from the Command Centre, closely followed by Carter.

  The Pilot section in Eagle Two was beginning to look ominously familiar to Koenig as he sat once more behind the controls.

  Macinlock had taken a well deserved rest, but there was no rest for the man in charge.

  He and Carter sat side by side, taking the ship off its ramp and away on its course. There was little impeding gravity from the Moon.

  ‘ETA at planet?’ Koenig asked Carter routinely.

  Before Carter could reply, a soft, feminine voice came from behind them.

  ‘Forty-two minutes, 8.47 seconds, Commander.’

  Koenig and Carter turned round, startled.

  ‘Maya! I told you to stay in the Passenger Section.’

  ‘Hold it, John,’ Carter told him. He was staring at his computer read out with an incredulous expression on his face. ‘That answer she gave. It’s right to two decimal places... she computed it faster than the computer!’

  Koenig looked dumbfounded. Then he looked at Maya.

  The Psychon looked distraught and nervous, but she put on a brave face. She looked at them expectantly, an anxious smile on her attractive face.

  ‘How did you do that?’ Koenig demanded.

  She shrugged.

  ‘I don’t know... it’s nothing special for Psychons. I’ve always thought like that...’

  Carter looked at her, and then at Koenig.

  He smiled at her.

  ‘Welcome to the Pilot Section then,’ he said. ‘Doesn’t look like you need me, John.’

  He got up from his seat and offered it to Maya.

  She shook her head.

  ‘I’ll stand behind you,’ she said. She looked at Koenig. ‘That’s if it’s all right...?’

  Koenig raised his eyebrows. Unexpectedly, he grinned.

  ‘Anyone who can add like that can stand behind Alan all day if they want to,’ he said. ‘Helena told me you had abilities, but I didn’t know what she meant. I’m sorry...’

  ‘I’m glad you let me come,’ she said warmly. ‘I couldn’t bear thinking... I had to get away.’

  Koenig pursed his lips.

  ‘OK, I understand... scan, Alan.’

  Carter activated the screen, minutely watched by Maya who took in everything that was going on, avidly learning her new role.

  The TV monitor showed a dark, starry sky. A yellowish-green planet hun
g against it, still some distance away.

  Koenig leant forward intently.

  ‘Magnify.’

  The planet seemed to jump forward abruptly. Its coloration was now more clearly visible. A number of regularly-spaced, smaller moons formed a belt around it.

  ‘It’s ringed by moons,’ Carter commented.

  ‘I want a sensor reading, Maya,’ Koenig ordered, deeply engrossed with his controls. ‘You better show her, Alan.’

  Carter looked at Maya. They smiled.

  Carter stood up and led her into the Passenger Section.

  ‘Looks like you’re in,’ he said to her as they arrived at the large, on-board computer banks. He scratched his head and gazed at her. ‘You sure know how to compute.’

  ‘I think I can operate this, too,’ she said, touching the sensor console. ‘Whilst you and the Commander were taking the Eagle up, I studied how it worked...’ She sounded a bit condescending.

  ‘I suppose you find our equipment primitive,’ he joked. He knew that it was.

  She smiled almost coyly. Her beautiful, hypnotic eyes looked amusedly at him. She seemed more sure of herself now.

  ‘That’s not important,’ she said. But her eyes remembered, and clouded again. ‘Psychon was advanced. We knew everything there was to know about machines... but we knew so little about each other. You, on the other hand...’

  She held out her hands. He took them in his and she squeezed them.

  ‘I didn’t see that quality in you before, but I do now,’ she said. She broke away and looked at the console. ‘You’ll have to show me which buttons to press.’

  He showed her and she pressed them.

  The graph mechanism whirred, and a read-out appeared. She tore it off and studied it.

  ‘The planet’s atmosphere is chlorine. It’s specific gravity is 7.493. Its magnetic co-efficient is 047... we better tell the Commander.’

  ‘I heard,’ Koenig’s voice came over the communications’ system. He sounded impressed. ‘Try the moons.’

  Maya went back to the console, confused. ‘I’m not used to having buttons,’ she said to Carter. ‘Our instruments had no moving parts.’

  Carter punched co-ordinates for her and another read-out appeared.

  ‘Atmosphere negative,’ Maya peered closely at the graph, translating the squiggles into English. ‘But they’re emitting a high-energy potential.’

  There was a moment’s pause from Koenig.

  ‘Set a course for the nearest moon,’ his voice directed. ‘Maya, you stay by the sensors for the moment.’