»They say that a deadly disease has broken out on Mars,« a scientist told him breathlessly.
»That crazy adventurer Fosset is back! He’s with Arkroid!« another scientist added.
They arrived at the command and information center where security personnel directed them into a large conference room.
»There are soldiers with loaded weapons!« a scientist remarked, surprised.
Van Velzen queued up with his colleagues and looked for a place to sit.
»What do you think? What are they going to tell us?« a Chinese scientist inquired of van Velzen.
Van Velzen could only shrug.
A small man entered the podium, and the voices in the room calmed down.
That’s Banduk Oodergoo! The boss himself … it must be important!
»Ladies and Gentlemen,« Oodergoo began without further delay. »We have disturbing news from Mars. They’ve described a phenomenon that sounds like a tachyon impulse. The source of the impulse, and that is what’s strange about it, was supposedly a Human – Samuel McCord, the heir to the Fosset Empire.«
Van Velzen looked around and saw faces reacting all around him – stunned, alarmed, confused or blank.
»They’re also reporting a deadly disease on Mars, also apparently caused by McCord. The Mars colony has been quarantined for safety …«
»What’s so important about this tachyon impulse? What is it supposed to do? A disease? What kind of symptoms are we talking about?« several scientists butted in over each other. »Are the two things connected?«
Banduk Oodergoo knew the last questioner, a man who had come to Earth from Mars to work at Uluru Station. Oodergoo displayed a calm smile and continued, »We don’t know very much at this point in time. Information is flowing slowly. I imagine that the Union Government is trying to avoid a panic. Until we know what we’re dealing with, we must remain calm and avoid wild speculating. The media isn’t helping either – more like contributing to the hysteria. We know, however, for a fact that Toiber Arkroid and Vasina of Atlantika are on Mars, assisting the officials in the colony. We’ll know more in a short while.«
»Arkroid?« a scientist asked, surprised.
»And also …!« Oodergoo had to shout to make himself heard as loud voices began discussing Arkroid’s presence on Mars. »… about 20 seconds after the tachyon impulse was released, we registered a direct response to the impulse in our space dock!«
Oodergoo pointed at a large holo.
»When the impulse was registered, the Globuster spaceship in Dock 7 released some gases inside the ship. We have to believe that the impulse affected the control systems of the ship. The gas atmosphere is toxic for Humans, caught our technicians on board the ship by surprise. Hassan Khalil was saved just barely, he is recovering now.
Teun van Velzen jumped from his seat.
»Are you telling us that the Glob spacer has reacted for the first time since we started working on it?«
»Exactly, Teun!« replied Oodergoo.
Banduk Oodergoo glanced briefly at his personal notepad holo and looked up again.
»For safety, all outgoing comm-links have been disabled for the duration, except for a couple of command channels. Nobody leaves the station and nobody, except for a selected few, can communicate with the outside world. Our job is now to observe and record the side effects and changes due to this impulse, then to research the phenomena.«
»By whose orders?« one of the scientists asked loudly and angrily.
Oodergoo’s voice sounded apologetic.
»The order came from the top: Admiral Hayes contacted us personally. There’s no discussing it. Don’t worry, remain calm, and I’m certain that the situation will be soon under control.«
The doc can wait
Hassan Khalil awoke and opened his eyes. He saw a familiar face staring down at him. He twitched in shocked surprise and gasped for air.
»Duane, you? Where … where am I?« he inquired in a cracked voice. »What happened to me?«
»You’re at the First Aid station of the space dock,« Fairchild explained, visibly relieved.
Hassan moaned in sudden pain.
»My lungs are burning like fire!« Hassan touched his chest and remembered. »Gas! I heard the gas hissing. Was there a leak – did a pipe burst?«
Fairchild smiled reproachfully and shook his head.
»No, there was no leak. You probably caused it yourself, pushed some buttons you shouldn’t have. The ship’s control room is flooded with an alien atmosphere. Be more careful, will you? Next time you’ll probably blow the ship up and all of us with it.«
»There are no buttons on Globuster ships! Didn’t you not read my reports? Things work differently on these ships … well; actually, so far nothing’s worked. The energy was deactivated, remember?« Hassan replied in a choked, hoarse voice. »What kind of gas was it, anyway? I feel miserable.«
»You were exposed to a chlorine atmosphere, unprotected. The atmosphere was enriched with other toxic elements, each of them strong enough to kill a horse. We’ve encountered that mixture before … in the Globuster cave on Quaoar. It seems that the ship mistook you for a Globuster, so it flooded the pilot seat and the control section with Globuster atmosphere.«
Hassan tried to get up on his elbows and looked Fairchild in the eyes, not believing.
»Are you saying the ship did this? On its own?«
»You have a better explanation?« Fairchild countered. »Looking at you, I could even understand its mistaking you for a Globuster. You don’t look so good, you know?«
»Fascinating!« Khalil responded shortly and fell back on his bed.
»What are you trying to say, Hassan?« Fairchild inquired, but Hassan didn’t pick up the thread.
»I need to get back to the ship as soon as possible. I have to see this!« he enthused.
»Relax … we need to run some more medical checks, and then we’ll see what the doctor says.« Fairchild needed to put Hassan back in his place, for his own good. »I’m your boss, remember, and I’m responsible for you. You’re not getting out of here until the doc says so.«
»I’m flattered,« Hassan hissed through his teeth. »What could’ve caused the ship’s reaction? We didn’t do anything that could have done that.«
»We’ve heard that some kind of phenomenon was observed on Mars. It’s called a tachyon impulse. Our people don’t know what to make of it – it can’t even be measured or detected.«
»A tachyon impulse on Mars? You’re kidding, right?« Hassan demanded. »That’s more than 50 million kilometers away from here!«
»We’re looking into it. We know its source,« Fairchild replied and made a brief break to find the right words and to let his words sink in.
»You’re bullshitting me, Duane! We can’t detect or measure the pulse, but we know its source? What sense does that make?« Hassan rebutted, looking at Fairchild expectantly.
»There were reliable eyewitnesses, Hassan,« Fairchild replied seriously. »The source was Human! Samuel McCord evaporated in a strong light explosion. All that was left was a pile of ashes.«
Hassan pondered, then he said, »I need to get into that ship, now! The doc can wait!«
Claws as hard as diamonds
Teun van Velzen headed back to his quarters. Lyla would be waiting for him, impatiently. He passed his lab and absentmindedly glanced through the 10-centimeter thick glass window that separated the corridor from his lab, he saw Charley still lying inert on the examination table, tied down with titanium straps and connected to the probes. The mobile neuronal analysis computer was running some tests on the Globuster, simultaneously processing the data and transferring it to Uluru’s central computer.
Teun rubbed his eyes at a red blinking light that indicated an updated status report. He hesitated, wondering, if he should read the report before he saw Lyla.
She’ll hate me for this, he thought and pulled out his access card to the security airlocks leading to his lab.
Banduk Oodergoo had advised extreme c
aution when dealing with extraterrestrial technology, Globuster technology in particular!
You’re not going to give me any grief, are you, Chucky?
He waited patiently until he was cleared and stepped through the last airlock into his hermetically sealed lab.
Most of the room was dark, only the 3D holo-display emitting a dim light, enough for him to see where he was going.
»Lights on!« he called into the room.
The lab reacted to his voice and switched on full illumination.
»Much better,« he murmured, and went to his analysis computer to see what the report had to say.
While he was scanning the report, he paused and sniffed.
What stinks here?
»Chucky, did you eat the wrong food?« van Velzen laughed, but he twitched when he read the data. There was a rapidly decreasing body resistance from the Globuster! Van Velzen made some hasty checks, glancing at the Globuster. The new data showed a chemical change in the Globuster’s metabolism.
What’s going on with you, Chucky? Why are you producing electrolytes all of a sudden?
He checked the laser-beam barrier that enveloped the Globuster. Proximity- and motion-sensors reported no activity on Charley’s part. Van Velzen was satisfied, but he re-checked the titanium steel straps.
The sensors will alert us if Chucky moves a finger! Well … not fingers, Globs have claws … claws! Remember that, van Velzen!
He had never doubted the security measures here, but suddenly he felt a rising tension that filled him with an inexplicable fear. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and felt sweat – cold sweat! Lyla’s words came back: … don’t give these creatures Human names!
»Well then, Globuster number 32a-1,« he whispered to himself. »I’ll have to report these strange changes in you. You’ve ruined my night with Lyla. Tomorrow morning, they‘ll open you up with a laser scalpel and learn your secret!«
Van Velzen was a realist, not a dreamer. He knew that nobody had been able to understand the Globuster metabolism. The new data could mean nothing at all, or something utterly unexpected. For all he knew, the electrolytes could be an absolutely normal process for Globusters.
He regretted calling his work an autopsy; the Globuster had not been declared dead yet. Globusters were somewhat intelligent, so, ethically speaking, his thoughts were out of line.
Suddenly, van Velzen was overcome by what felt a light migraine. He massaged his temples, looking at the Globuster. It hit him then. What if … the … Glob is waking up from …uhh … his stasis? Uhh … Now! … Uhh … why am I … uhh … having problems connecting my thoughts?
Teun found himself shuddering at the idea until his whole body trembled. He fought to pull himself together, but a foggy veil covered his mind, making it impossible for him to think straight.
Why am I so nauseated? Is it the smell from the Globuster? Uhh … Maybe I need to lie down … Even that was an effort.
He suddenly realized that he was no longer in charge of his own mind. Something warned him to get out of the lab.
Uhh … I’m just exhausted, tired, that’s all!
He had to lean on the examination table and briefly shut his eyes. A slight trembling made the lab instruments clang against each other. The sound was eerie. He felt the floor vibrating and shook off his daze for a moment.
»What’s going on?« he whispered, his eyes staring. The holo-tablet slipped out of his hand and shattered on the floor. He saw some of his colleagues running past his lab in the corridor, without noticing him – then he looked at the Globuster!
»His bio-electric aura is re-charging and I’m being influenced by it!« he shouted, horrified. Suddenly, all his symptoms made sense to him and he knew that he was facing the greatest danger of his life. He staggered toward the exit airlock, stumbling over a small cart full of analysis devices and almost fell. His detached interest in the Globuster was now naked fear. He cursed the security checks and wished he could bypass or deactivate them with a push of a button. They took forever!
He stepped into the corridor with a vast relief. As soon as he did, he heard noises he had been shielded from in the lab.
That sounds like explosions! Explosions at Uluru? What’s going on?
Van Velzen began heaving and abruptly threw up. He stared at the floor for several seconds, getting his heavy breathing under control. Then alarm sirens wailed through Uluru station, followed by Banduk Oodergoo’s voice.
»Attention! We have lost communication with the outside world! An energy accumulator in the technical section just exploded! We’re working on the problems. Remain calm and follow your emergency procedures. Uluru security forces are on the way!«
Van Velzen was still breathing with a heavy chest.
Emergency procedures? Comm-loss? he pondered. That’s impossible. What is this, a bad joke!
The floor beneath his feet shook again and van Velzen vomited again.
Fiery wheels spun before his eyes and he fell to his knees.
I think my nervous system is about to give it up!
Laboriously, he pulled himself up the wall to get back to his feet, only to look into Charley’s ice-cold eyes on the other side of the thick safety glass window. The titanium steel straps looked like cheap tin bands – torn like paper.
No Human could have broken out of those!
Teun van Velzen was petrified. All he could do was to stare at Charley.
The glass window was clear and transparent, but he doubted the Globuster could see him. Their eyes used a different visual spectrum – but he could feel van Velzen!
He can detect my bio-electric field, and superimpose his field onto mine!
Van Velzen felt like he was walking through knee-deep mud.
Charley’s claws scraped the thick glass. They left deep grooves.
His claws are hard as diamonds!
Van Velzen was horrified.
The ship is ready
»This is unacceptable, Hassan! Even I can’t ignore procedures!« protested Duane Fairchild, trailing the Arabic technician.
»Then fire me! One way or another, I’ll learn what happened to that ship, no matter what you say! The tachyon pulse must have caused some changes. This is our chance, Duane!« Hassan retorted.
»Even if you’re right – especially if you’re right – then we should shove that ship into space and destroy it … seal off the space dock at least!« the coordinator argued.
Hassan didn’t want to hear his arguments.
»Destroy the ship? Are you nuts?« he flared. »We need to find out how their technology works! That’s the only way out for us, and by us I mean Humanity! Earth’s future depends on it!« he yelled at Fairchild.
»I can have you arrested!« Fairchild threatened, trying to stare him down.
»Arrested? That’s ridiculous!« Hassan screamed. Then, taking a different tack, he lowered his voice. He put his right hand on Fairchild’s shoulder and said softly, »Let’s face it, Duane, you’re as curious as I am, right?«
Fairchild looked into Hassan’s deep eyes for a heartbeat, then he cursed.
»Damnit, Hassan, but this time you wear a spacesuit! Is that clear? I don’t want to have to pull you out of that ship by your legs again!«
»I’ve had enough of chlorine gas for the time being, believe me,« Hassan said aggrievedly.
Fairchild indicated the suit locker as they passed it.
»Go on!«
Hassan sighed, took out one of the suits and donned it. He checked the oxygen supply and pressure seals, but left the helmet open for now.
»Oxygen supply is good for hours! The suit will hinder me a bit in my work, but it’ll do.«
»It has to,« Fairchild commented shortly.
As the two men stepped into the dock, they regarded the alien spaceship with mixed feelings. This section was flooded with oxygen so that Fairchild didn’t have to wear a suit.
»Well, nothing new as far as I can tell,« Hassan commented and walked calmly towar
d the ship’s entrance hatch.
»Oh, no … and what’s that there?« Fairchild asked. He pointed at the oval-shaped entrance to the ship, which was now sealed with a yellowish scintillating energy field.
»Uhuh … so there is something happening!« Hassan remarked raptly. »I know these energy fields. I studied the reports from Quaoar; it’s the same as there. As long as it’s not glowing dark-red, it can be penetrated with no problem. It’s supposed to prevent the ship’s atmosphere from escaping. It’s something like an energy-airlock.«
Hassan, reached into the energy field.
»See … no resistance!«
Fairchild held his breath. Hassan’s eagerness was too much for him.
»Listen to me! Before you disappear into that ship, we need to set a few ground rules. You come back after 20 minutes – and then we’ll discuss what to do next.«
Hassan just winked and closed his helmet.
»See ya!« was all Fairchild heard from Hassan’s suit speakers.
Two more steps and Hassan was inside the ship. He had to duck a little bit; the hatch was designed for Globusters to crawl in on four feet. Hassan looked around and checked his suit’s wrist instruments.
The entire ship is flooded with chlorine gas! Like it’s waiting for a Globuster pilot.
The accessible section of the Globuster Lens was well designed and laid out. Only a tight, oval crawling tunnel, meant for a Globuster, lead to the bed-like molded pilot seat. Since the Globusters were bigger and taller, it was not much of a problem for Hassan to slip into the pilot seat, although, he had to lie down on his back and crawl backwards through the tunnel.
Strange way to get to your pilot seat, Globie. Lucky me, that I’m not claustrophobic.
He chuckled, pulled himself to the pilot’s seat and sat on the edge, about 40 centimeters above the floor, and leaned backward to assume a lying position. He checked the analysis devises and considered.
There’s a lot of energy being drawn all of a sudden! Where does it come from?
»I have continued my work during your absence, Hassan,« he heard in his helmet speakers. The analysis computer somehow sounded reproachful.
NEBULAR Collection 3 - Morgotradon: Episodes 12 - 16 Page 23