Space 1999 - Planets of Peril

by Michael Butterworth

  ‘Maya?’ Koenig asked, steeling himself against the shock he felt.

  ‘I’ve still not found anything,’ the Psychon replied worriedly, ‘except that the turbulence is probably magnetic.’

  ‘Punch it through.’

  ‘I cannot,’ Yasko told him exasperatedly.

  A small scream came from the back of the room.

  One of the female operatives fainted, and Helena rushed to her aid.

  Carter caught her and laid her gently down on the floor. Helena produced a small medical scanner and passed it over her.

  She felt her forehead, and frowned.

  ‘It’s just a faint... but... she doesn’t look frightened. She looks happy...’

  She examined the readings on the scanner.

  ‘Her vital functions are down...’

  She arose, puzzled. She looked around her at the other operatives.

  She waved the scanner across to Carter and read them off.

  ‘Yours, too,’ she said. ‘Tony?’

  She walked across to Tony and scanned him.

  ‘And you.’

  She moved to Koenig.

  ‘I’m all right,’ he said grimly. He passed his hand across his forehead, keeping his eyes fixed to the Big Screen.

  ‘It’s like a roaring sound...’ Yasko cried. She squeezed her head with her hands. ‘...here.’ Her pigmented skin looked alarmingly pale, and Helena ran over to comfort her.

  ‘Turbulence decreasing...’ Maya informed them. She too felt suddenly weak, as though vast amounts of her life force had been stolen from her body.

  The female operative who had fainted opened her eyes, and Helena rushed back to her.

  Gradually, the turbulence died away, and the energy-drain began to subside.

  Instead, an enchanting display of psychedelic patterns and colours began to swirl around on the Big Screen, transforming the atmosphere in the centre to something like it had been a half-hour ago.

  A weird and wonderful music began to thud from the speakers, making them feel drowsy and inexorably happy once again.

  Koenig shook his head, but the feeling remained. He did not feel totally captivated by it though.

  Gradually, the music and the colours faded away, and they felt an abrupt sense of loss.

  The wide panoramic field of stars that lay in their path now filled the screen.

  They felt as they had done before, overpowered by feelings of love and beauty, and there was no trace left of the mysterious turbulence.

  There was no trace left of the mystery planet they had seen, either.

  Koenig looked searchingly at the screen.

  Perhaps thousands of miles in front of them, a dot appeared. It grew in size, misty and vague.

  Before Koenig could react to it, it had resolved itself into the figure of a tall, commanding humanoid, striding hundreds of miles with each step it took.

  It walked through space like Jesus Christ had walked on water, and the Alphans stared at it in utter disbelief.

  Music came again from the speakers. This time it was heavy and powerful, evocative of biblical scenes. It thundered out into the room overwhelming them with religious emotions of awe and worship.

  The figure was clearly visible now — a tremendously impressive man, like a Michelangelo Moses, dressed in a long flowing robe which billowed out behind it.

  ‘Magnify!’ Koenig snapped out, struggling to keep a grip on himself.

  Yasko punched a button and the face of the figure filled the screen.

  It was saintly, bearded, noble, lined with wrinkles of great wisdom and age.

  A bronzed glow of health radiated off its skin, filling the Alphans with love and adoration for him.

  No-one said it.

  Not many thought about it consciously.

  But everyone felt that, in some way, they had encountered God.

  Koenig felt a mass of conflicting thoughts and feelings rise inside him, and he struggled to find the ones which he felt were truest.

  The figure in front of him looked real, but there was something about the manner of its arrival that did not convince him. It seemed too stage-managed and he was wary.

  ‘Yasko,’ he said off-handedly.

  Yasko stabbed a button and gave him a communication line. Koenig faced the screen squarely and spoke to the image on it.

  ‘Who are you?’ he asked toughly.

  The kindly, wise face broke into a benign smile.

  ‘I am your Creator,’ it said with absolute conviction, though there was a trace of surprise put into its voice, as though to chastise the watching Alphans for having considered otherwise.

  ‘I have come to pay you a visit,’ it said warmly.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The air in the Command Centre began to surge once more with the powerful charge of the strange love energy.

  Objects in the room began to rattle, and the walls began to shake.

  Then, the Moses-like figure disappeared from the screen and began to shimmer into existence inside the Command Centre itself.

  Close to, the figure looked even more impressive — tall, commandingly awesome — and the Alphans stared at him wide-eyed.

  ‘It’s all right,’ he said, beaming radiantly round the room. ‘You don’t have to bow down and adore me.’

  There was nothing big-headed about the way he spoke; on the contrary, he sounded ironic.

  But Koenig didn’t trust him. He was determined not to be impressed.

  ‘That’s not our style,’ he said challengingly.

  Their visitor’s eyebrows raised in good humour.

  ‘You doubt my credentials,’ he commented.

  ‘You haven’t presented any,’ Koenig pointed out.

  The visitor nodded his head amiably.

  ‘I don’t blame you. All those highly imaginative works of fiction you call religion have clouded your minds, filled you with false gods...’

  He paused, expectantly.

  A drinking glass appeared in his hand. He put the vessel to his lips and drank the amber liquid.

  ‘...However, I assure you that I am what you would call the genuine article.’

  Koenig snorted, but he was not unfriendly.

  ‘You’re like a Renaissance painter’s idea of the original article, I’ll give you that.’

  ‘Artists have their insights,’ the figure said casually. ‘But let us discuss these matters in a civlized manner — over a meal.’

  He waved his robed arm, and a long wooden table appeared magically in front of them.

  The table was adorned with a rich, gold tablecloth. On it was a mouth-watering selection of fruits, food dishes and goblets of wine.

  A gasp rose up from the Alphans.

  But Koenig kept up his attack.

  ‘That went out with Nero,’ he said levelly.

  ‘With Messalina, as a matter of fact,’ the magician replied. ‘The trouble was, no-one could ever be quite sure whose goblet had the poison in it. But you’re right — it is somewhat old-fashioned.’

  Nonchalantly, he waved his arm again.

  The table vanished, and in its place appeared a stunning, scantily-clad girl bearing a tray of glasses filled with a golden fluid.

  She reminded Koenig of a sales or PR lady at a promotion venue.

  Amidst wolf-whistles and cat-calls from the men, she began to move around the room smiling beguilingly and distributing her drinks.

  Koenig smiled also.

  ‘Leave it!’ he commanded his men who had raised their glasses to their lips.

  Now, the god-like figure did seem a trifle reproachful. He sighed.

  ‘You earthlings have always been the most sceptical of my creations.’

  ‘It’s the way we’re made. You should know that.’ Koenig grinned at him.

  ‘Sceptical, cynical... mean,’ the figure continued. ‘But then perhaps that’s why I have such a soft spot for you. Some of my species — they’re like tame rabbits.’

  ‘Too bad,’ Koenig r
emarked.

  ‘They’d be down on their knees by now, or offering up a sacrificial goat,’ the other continued with his brand of satire.

  ‘We’re a bit low on sacrificial goats,’ Koenig told him.

  Now there was a cold glint of steel authority behind the paternal athusement in the figure’s eyes.

  ‘However... one of the things that does seem to have impressed you in the past is force,’ he went on.

  He waved his arm again.

  A picture of the Moon Base launch pads appeared on the screen. Several of the Eagle ships were mounted on them.

  The figure pointed its finger at one of them. There was no sign of effort on his face.

  The Eagle ship began to buckle and crumple like a piece of tinfoil, until it was no more than a scrunched-up, twisted mass of metal.

  The warm, beautific feelings in the Command Centre chilled.

  ‘All right! Whoever you are...’ Koenig began hastily as he watched the figure point his arm at another of their ships. The figure stopped and turned to Koenig imperiously. ‘I told you who I am.’

  ‘Whoever you are you have great power,’ Koenig said. ‘What do you want with us?’

  The figure’s eyebrows raised themselves again.

  ‘I want what I have always wanted since I first created you; to help you.’

  ‘How?’ Koenig asked.

  ‘As I say, you’ve been a disappointment to me — all those wars, your wilful squandering of the resources of the planet I gave you, your pollution of it...’

  Koenig looked at him hard.

  ‘You said you were going to help us.’

  ‘And so I am. I’m going to give you something I’ve never allowed to any other species.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Koenig asked suspiciously.

  ‘A second chance.’

  ‘You’re going to return us to Earth?’ he asked cautiously.

  An excited murmur rippled around the Command Centre. Moses puffed up himself exaltedly.

  ‘To a New Earth, a new Eden, where you can begin again.’ He gestured nonchalantly to the Big Screen.

  An earth-like planet appeared, rich with green and blue coloration and whirls of white, streaky cloud.

  The Creator snapped his fingers, and they were shown a close-up view of the planet’s surface.

  A glade of earth-like trees, their leaves caught in the wind and flashed with silver, lined a clear blue mountain stream. The land was unspoilt and verdant with tall grasses and luxuriant flowers that burst out, sunning themselves. It brought intense yearning to everyone present.

  ‘New Earth!’ their visitor exclaimed proudly.

  He scrutinized the faces in the room whilst they stared hungrily at the screen.

  Only Koenig and Maya seemed to be detached, and his shrewd eyes noticed the latter’s coolness with interest.

  She busied herself about her console equipment, scanning the planet to see if it were what it purported to be.

  ‘Beautiful, is it not, Commander?’ he turned his attention back to Koenig.

  ‘We’ve learned to mistrust appearances,’ Koenig replied dryly.

  The Creator appeared not to have heard him.

  ‘It’s only a quarter of old Earth’s size, but its air, water and vegetable life are identical,’ he went on.

  ‘What about the sun?’ Maya asked, looking up from her controls.

  ‘It has a sun like old Earth’s, and in the same proportion to its size.’ Again his eyes assessed her with acute interest. Koenig distracted his attention.

  ‘Why didn’t we see the planet before?’

  ‘Because I didn’t wish it,’ their visitor replied.

  Helena’s lips traced a faint smile as she heard his words. ‘You are amused, doctor?’ he turned to her.

  ‘Your answer was so exactly what it should have been... if you are what you say.’

  He ignored her, and addressed the room instead.

  ‘The planet is ideally suited to humankind. Your wanderings are over.’

  ‘Humankind needs the feel of good earth under its feet before it knows its home,’ Verdeschi told him, coming round more quickly than the other Alphans from the nostalgic influence of the shady glade.

  The god-like man smiled.

  ‘But I agree with you,’ he said, as though astounded that Verdeschi should have thought differently. ‘I’m not asking you to buy blindly. My suggestion is that a team of you should visit the planet’s surface to see for yourselves.’

  Koenig looked sharply at Maya.

  ‘My readings indicate that he’s telling the truth about the environment.’ Maya reported. ‘The planet could support us.’

  ‘We could settle there?’ Koenig asked, trying hard now to hide his amazement. It looked like the alien had them beaten.

  ‘Its data are identical to those I have about Earth,’ Maya informed.

  Koenig looked thoughtful. He turned to Helena for her opinion.

  ‘We owe it to ourselves and everyone else to send a team down,’ she said.

  He turned to Verdeschi.

  ‘Tony, you’re Number Two. Suppose you were Number One?’ he asked.

  ‘I’d go and look,’ the Security Chief replied.

  Koenig smiled sardonically. He could think of no reason why they should not go.

  ‘We’ll send down a team,’ he told Moses.

  ‘Excellent!’ their visitor exclaimed. ‘I suggest its composition should be as follows...’

  ‘We don’t need your advice,’ Koenig tried to cut him off. But the other was either rude, or deaf or both.

  ‘Yourself, of course, as leader — because only you can take the decisions...’

  ‘That’s right, I take the...’ Koenig began again, irritatedly. Their visitor turned diplomatically to Maya.

  ‘The lovely creature Maya must go — as Scientific Officer, naturally...’

  ‘Naturally,’ Koenig quipped. He felt at odds against the man’s smooth talking and the powerful authority he wielded over the Alphans.

  ‘The equally enchanting Dr Russell — as Medical Officer...’ Moses turned to Helena and smiled charmingly at her.

  ‘You know how to pick them, don’t you.,.’ Koenig told him.

  ‘...and Mr Verdeschi because, whether he knows it or not, he’s a farmer at heart like his family for centuries before him.’

  Despite himself, Verdeschi felt flattered.

  Koenig looked frozenly at his would-be usurper.

  ‘Have you finished?’ he asked.

  ‘I have,’ the other replied.

  ‘Then let’s get something straight. I’m Commander of this base. If there are teams to be picked, I pick them.’

  A hint of the steel authority crept back into their visitor’s voice once again.

  He did not exactly look threatening, but that was the impression Koenig received when he next spoke.

  ‘I am Commander of a great deal more than this speck of dust,’ he said. ‘That is the team. Either that, or none.’

  Koenig drew in a deep breath, and he held it there. He looked at the members of his team in turn.

  They did not offer him their support.

  He turned back to Moses.

  ‘Very well,’ he said. ‘Alan, while we’re down there you’re in command here.’

  ‘Yes, John,’ Carter said, embarrassed for Koenig’s sake.

  ‘Splendid!’ Moses gave another exclamation. ‘I’ll transport you down to the planet immediately.’

  ‘No, you won’t,’ Koenig countered him, realizing that he could at least win back some of his integrity. ‘We’ll go in an Eagle. And that is a deal-breaker.’

  Moses threw up his hands in mock despair.

  ‘Typically stubborn... commendably cautious. An Eagle it shall be,’ he said.

  And Koenig got the distinct impression that he had won that round only because their method of transportation to New Earth was immaterial to the self-styled Creator. And ‘self-styled’ was what Koenig still considered him to
be, though it was going to be increasingly difficult to prove, as he had no idea yet how the man came to have such extraordinary powers.

  The glade seemed a thousand times more clear and wondrous to their physical senses than it had done to their minds when they had seen it over the screen.

  Verdeschi and Maya looked at one another with surprise as they waded knee-deep through the tall grass, carrying their packs and accompanied by their divine entrepreneur. New Earth was a far cry even from the planet of Luton, from where they had recently returned.

  ‘You had to have it your way,’ Koenig told Moses as they approached the glade itself. After they had boarded the Eagle ship, crew and starship had been beamed down lock stock and laser by the alien’s powers. But despite Koenig’s feelings, the fresh mountain air breezing against his face and the springy bounce of the mosses underfoot conspired to seduce him.

  ‘That is one of my privileges,’ Moses replied.

  Koenig flicked on his commlock.

  ‘Yasko? John Koenig here...’

  But the monitor was dead. Koenig looked at the biblical man suspiciously.

  ‘Perhaps the transportation has interfered. It will come back in due course,’ the other replied with a seeming innocence of intent that Koenig found cunning.

  ‘Mmmm!’ Helena allowed herself to experience the air and the scents as if she would never in her life be allowed to experience them again.

  ‘The air is totally without pollution!’ Maya exclaimed, detached yet appreciative.

  Reluctantly, Helena consulted her instruments.

  ‘There appear to be no harmful bacteria,’ she said.

  Verdeschi bent down and picked up a handful of the soil. ‘You could plant grain and grow lasagne here,’ he called excitedly. ‘It’s California — a hundred and fifty years ago!’

  Helena turned to their forceful host. ‘D’you know, you’re quite right,’ she said happily. ‘It’s just like home...’

  She stopped, surprised to note a sudden change that had taken place in his manner.

  His showmanship had gone, at least for the time being. Now he seemed almost humble towards them.

  He had been eagerly observing their reactions, like a proud father, and he seemed genuinely anxious that she had expressed a favourable opinion.