by S A Pavli
"Fantastic," said Melanie. “They consume plastic and turn it into a resin to build their nest. They’re a chemical factory. James, I want to take some of these chaps back with us.”
"I very thoughtlessly left my sample containers behind," said Walters. Melanie ignored his sarcasm.
"No point in putting them in a plastic bag," she said. They’ll eat their way out of it.”
"Perhaps a study of these chaps should wait for another time then," he said.
"Perhaps,” she agreed reluctantly. She went back to check on Leslie, who was still unconscious. She stayed with her, while Walters prowled around. It was five more minutes before they heard from Mark.
"We are leaving in the hover car now guys. We have your location," said Mark. “The plan is for me to fly the hover car over your location while Jimmy comes down with the rescue sling and a stretcher.” A few minutes later he contacted them again.
"We can see your hover car and the bridge.”
"Do you see where the bridge is broken?” asked Melanie. “That's where we are, underneath that bit.”
"Yeah, we see it.” After a few seconds, they heard the hum of the hover car's engines and a searchlight suddenly lit up the whole area. They saw a stretcher break through the undergrowth above them, followed by Jimmy, hanging on a harness. Both were gradually lowered to the ground and Jimmy unbuckled himself and after exchanging cursory greetings immediately set about strapping Leslie to the stretcher. He re -connected himself to the harness, and held on to Leslie's stretcher, keeping it on an even keel.
"O K Mark, lift us up.” The stretcher with Jimmy lifted up and the searchlight left them as Mark manoeuvred the hover car over to the old road and lowered Jimmy and the stretcher to the ground. The darkness seemed worse after the flood of light, the shadows deep and threatening and they stayed close together until Jimmy returned.
"You next Melanie," said Jimmy.
"Can't we both go," said Walters nervously.
"Only one harness James," said Jimmy. “But I'll stay behind if you like.”
"No Jimmy, I'll be fine," said Walters. Melanie was strapped to the stretcher and they were again lifted out. On his own, Walters felt the darkness closing in. He turned on the second light attached to his chest, but that just made the shadows recede a little. Funny how being on one's own changes one's mentality he mused. It's just a hole in the ground with some ants in it. But he was extraordinarily happy to see Jimmy return.
"Don t need the stretcher Jimmy," he said on seeing the stretcher.
"We don't have a second sling James. It's the stretcher or hanging on to the rope," said Jimmy.
"Hanging on to the rope? D’you think I'm a monkey?” quipped James, lying on to the stretcher to allow Jimmy to strap him in.
"It's a very short distance, I'm sure you can manage that,” he replied.
"I've already made a fool of my self," said Walters wryly as Jimmy signalled for them to be lifted up. “Falling off the rope and breaking a leg will just about confirm me as the team clown. Ray will never let me forget this.”
"Easy mistake to make," said Jimmy. “We're taught never to rush into any situation, however dire. In fact, the more dire, the more careful you need to be.”
"Well, I'll know better next time,” muttered Walter's morosely. “If there ever is a next time.” They were lowered to the ground and Jimmy un-strapped Walters from the stretcher. Melanie was tending to Leslie, who was still stretched out unconscious on the ground and Jimmy took the stretcher over to them. They lifted her on to the stretcher while Mark landed the hover car gently on to the road. Mark bounded out of the vehicle and came over to them quickly, his face full of concern.
"Melanie, you ok?" he asked. “How’s Leslie?” "She's had a bad bump on the head but I don't think it's serious," said Melanie. “She's breathing normally.”
"Let's get her in the car and Jimmy can take her blood pressure," said Mark. “I'm not sure what else we can do for her.”
"I'll bathe her face with some cold water," said Jimmy. “That might bring her around.” Mark nodded and helped Jimmy to carry the stretcher with Leslie onto the car.
"James, I forgot to ask, are you ok,” asked Mark, as Jimmy tended to Leslie.
"Physically yes, fine. Just some damage to my pride," said Walters with a hangdog expression. Mark tried not to grin and failed. Melanie giggled, then tried to look sympathetic. “Bloody good job I didn't fall on top of them,” finished Walters.
"Don’t beat yourself up James,” chuckled Melanie. “you're still my hero. You couldn't have got us up by yourself anyway. It was very brave of you to come down and protect us against the voracious man eating ants.” Walters snorted his amusement then looked thoughtful.
"Could you make sure that’s the version of events that you tell the world?" he asked, to laughter . Jimmy was splashing some cold water on Leslie's face and she groaned and opened her eyes.
"Jimmy, have you rescued me again, this is becoming a habit,” she mumbled blearily.
"Just relax Doctor, you've had a bad bump on the head," said Jimmy.
"You didn't have to undo my blouse this time then?" said Leslie sleepily.
"Well, yeah I had to take your blood pressure!" said Jimmy, to grins of amusement. Leslie attempted a lopsided smile then gave up.
"I've got a shocking headache,” she moaned.
"I'll get the first aid kit and give you some pain killers," said Walters.
"Jimmy, would you fly your shuttle back?” asked Mark. Jimmy gave his confirmation and left the hover car. Mark closed the airlock doors.
"Take your seats everyone, we're heading back," said Mark. As the vehicle lifted into the air, Melanie looked down at the beautiful little bridge that had nearly cost them their lives and wondered if she would ever see it again. Those ants must be found and tested she thought. If they can indeed re-process plastic, they will be a very valuable commodity. The hover car headed for the beach and they spotted the shuttle parked on the sand. The shuttle airlock doors opened automatically and Mark gently manoeuvred the vehicle into the bay, with Jimmy piloting the other hover car coming up behind. Both safely in and with the shuttle airlock doors closed, they had to wait for the air to be re-cycled and sterilised before those of them wearing suits could remove them.
"I guess we will soon know if the atmosphere is safe or not," said Melanie, as they waited impatiently for the air to be re-cycled.
"Normally, alien bugs are harmless. Aren’t they?” asked Mark, looking concerned.
"Normally, yes. Our bodies recognise them immediately as intruders and deal with them," said Melanie. “But there can sometimes be major discomforts. High temperature, headaches, influenza type symptoms and worse. People have died.”
"What about the Virtuals?” asked Walters. “Have we checked if they exist on this planet yet?”
"We ran a test overnight," said Mark. “But I haven’t checked the results. Our suits are electro -statically insulated,” he continued. “But you two ladies going native should have got them interested, if they're around.”
"That's one way of putting it,” smiled Melanie. “Going native. I have visions of a grass skirts and garlands of flowers.”
"Nice,” smiled Mark, caressing her with his eyes while she smiled back at him. Walters eyed them both quizzically. Despite his bruised body and ego, it percolated through his consciousness that the formal relationship between the Captain and his boss seemed to have changed. Did I miss something, he asked himself? Or is it Spring already? He shrugged mentally, dismissing the conundrum, and adjusted his posture to ease the pain of his bruised backside.
Chapter 29
Fortunately for Melanie, her ankle was only twisted, but she was still forced to be idle for a day, sedated with her ankle bandaged, while the others continued their explorations. Leslie recovered quickly, with no lasting damage, and accompanied James Walters and Jimmy on a couple of expeditions to the ruined city. They returned to the broken bridge to collect some of the ants, w
hich gave Melanie something to experiment on. Her paper on the plastic eating ants of Elpida 3 was sent to her father to be published in the Adelphi Science Review.
In addition to Melanie's paper , copious video footage, pictures and verbal descriptions of both teams discoveries were sent to Carstairs on the Hyperspace comms channel. Anja's team had gained access to the trans -gate chamber on the moon, thanks to the Major's expertise with explosives, and had mapped and explored the machinery of the trans-gate, as had Mark with the trans-gate chamber on the planet. It was soon apparent that the machines in both chambers were identical ; the trans-gates were the same, if indeed that was what they were. It was impossible to determine the functions of the machines without stripping them down, so for the moment, the purpose of the huge metallic arches was a subject for speculation. LeBlanc had suggested that the information on the gates be forwarded to professor Chan for his opinion.
The discovery was also made that Elpida 3 was infested with the Virtuals in the same way as the alien moon base, but on a huge scale. It was calculated that there could be billions of the alien life forms on the planet, occupying just about every corner of the planet. The mystery of where the Virtuals could have come from remained, but LeBlanc was fascinated by them, and conducted a number of experiments with every conceivable device he could bring to bear. It was through one of these experiments that he made his most shocking discovery ; a discovery that he had to communicate to the rest of the team immediately. He called the Chameleon team together, informing his Captain that he had a matter of huge importance to communicate to the whole team. Anja, thinking this was some obscure discovery regarding the physical nature of the Virtuals did not press him, and set up a video conference with the Bounty Hunter team. Only when everyone was present did LeBlanc proceed.
"Sorry to interrupt your work,” he began, “But this is so important, it couldn't wait.”
Mark hadn't seen very much of Melanie in the last few days and he took the opportunity to sit next to her, greeting her with a whispered hello. She gave him a warm smile, dark eyes flashing her pleasure to see him. He tried to concentrate on what Doctor LeBlanc was saying.
"I've been doing some advanced experiments on the..um..Virtuals, as we call them. Very interesting results, and I'll come to them in a minute, but the reason I've called you together is that I've discovered something that affects all of us. Well nearly all of us. He paused, and the others looked around at each other nervously.
"Affects us?” asked James Walters. “I'm afraid to ask, but, is this in a good way, or a bad way?” LeBlanc's face remained tense and emotionless and suddenly, Walters became very nervous.
"I can't say for now,” said LeBlanc. “What I've found is that those of us who were infected by this alien life form are still infected.” There was silence for a few seconds while they all digested this. It was Mark who spoke first.
"Still infected? Do you mean that the life form is still attached to us? Attached to our brains?”
"Yes, exactly," said LeBlanc. Mark scowled at the screen where LeBlanc's image stared out at him.
"But we all feel fine," he said, looking around at the others as if he was looking for confirmation.
"But the electric shock killed them," said Leslie. “We all saw how Anja recovered after I gave her the de-fib shock. And all the others,” she finished, waving a hand around.
"I think that the de-fib shock doesn't kill the Virtual," said LeBlanc. “It clears it down, initialises its electrical activity.”
"Well, if you initialised my electrical activity, I'd be good and dead," said Leslie.
"Strictly speaking, I don't think the Virtuals are alive," said LeBlanc. “I haven’t detected any organised electrical activity. Alden and Xara, that's the Chameleon's AI, have been unable to detect any organised electrical activity or communicate with the trapped Virtuals in any way.”
"So are you saying that although the de-fib shocks cleared out their electrical activity, the body of the Virtual, for want of another name, is still attached?” asked Melanie, her eyes wide.
"Yes, that's right," said LeBlanc.
"But,” continued Melanie, holding up a restraining hand. “How do you detect that? We've only been able to detect the presence of the Virtuals by their electrical activity?”
"Good point," said LeBlanc. “I want you all to look at something.” He whispered something to his computer and a small inset box appeared on the view screen. It showed a fuzzy outline of something round. “This is an MRI scan of Anja's head. She asked me to take it. I want you to look carefully at t he edges of the fuzzy outline.” A thin pointer appeared on the screen and traced out the outline. “Normally,” continued LeBlanc, “you would not see electrical activity outside of the skull. That is the skull.” There was silence as they all absorbed what he was showing them.
"Do you mean that that fuzzy stuff outside the round outline is electrical activity?” asked Mark.
"Yes," said LeBlanc.
“This is a picture of Andy Baross, and this is of Josephine," said LeBlanc. Two more insets popped up on the screen. Leslie examined them closely. “Andy and Jo were not exposed. Neither was Jimmy,” continued LeBlanc. “I asked Leslie to do an MRI of Jimmy yesterday, on the Bounty Hunter's machine. This is it.” a further inset appeared.
"This is incredible,” exclaimed Leslie. She stood quickly and walked over to the screen, where she examined the insets closely. “There's no doubt," she said eventually. “Anja's M R I is different from the other three. Who else have you done Ray?”
"Myself and the Major," replied Le Blanc. “We are the same as Anja.”
"In other words," said Leslie. “Those who were infected have some sort of external electrical activity following them around? Why does that mean that they are still infected?”
"Well, it is a phenomenon that has never been seen before, as I think you’ll agree Doctor?" said LeBlanc. “As a physicist I can't explain the existence of low level structured electrical activity in a non -conducting medium. Which is exactly what we had with the Virtuals, and what we have here with those who were infected.”
"So we are walking around with the bodies of dead aliens attached to our brains?" said Leslie, her face a picture of disgust.
"Mmm I think it isn't constructive to think in that way," said LeBlanc.
"Not constructive?” exclaimed Leslie. “Is there a positive way to look at this?”
"What I meant was that these things were not alive. They are not and never were alive or sentient," said LeBlanc. “It's better to think of them as a piece of inanimate material with some peculiar properties.”
"You said Anja asked you to do the MRI’s?” asked Mark.
"Yes, that's right,” agreed LeBlanc.
"Can we ask why Anja?” asked Mark. The screen was showing a general view of the Chameleon's lounge, and the camera now focused on Anja's face.
"Yes, I was going to tell everyone," said Anja. She turned and looked at the Major and he nodded reassuringly at her. “I have noticed some changes in my mental processes since I recovered from my infestation. I've talked it over with Peter, and he agrees with me that he has also started to feel different. I felt it was time we brought this out into the open and compared notes.” Melanie and Mark looked at each other and their faces began to reflect their own shared experience. Others also frowned and examined themselves introspectively, looking for confirmation within themselves of what Anja was saying. There was suddenly a babble of voices, asking questions, some agreeing with what Anja had just said.
"Dammit yes, I thought I was feeling a bit weird,” remarked Walters to no one in particular. Mark desperately wanted to believe that they were all wrong and their feelings were nothing other than some common subjective hysteria, but the changes to his own mental processes and his shared experience with Melanie were too powerful for him to ignore. He held up a hand to quieten the babble of voices.
"Ray, you said earlier that you had also come up with some very interesting result
s from your experiments. Can you shed any light on what may be happening to us? and more importantly what may happen in the future?” Mark finished his sentence in an ominous tone which was not lost on the others. There was silence as LeBlanc spoke.
"I believe that the Virtuals are a kind of substance which has never been seen before. It is possible, in theory, but it should not exist in our own Universe.” LeBlanc paused, as if trying to decide how to express himself. “Sorry, but it's hard to put abstract mathematics into words. As we all know, the Universe consists of a number of other dimensions, other than the four we are all familiar with. But they are collapsed to zero, in our Universe. But in other Universes, we believe that Space may have a different set of dimensions, and thereby acquire different physical properties. The Virtuals exist within a different set of dimensions from ourselves, but share enough with our Universe to be able to interact in a limited way.”
"Why are they only able to interact electrically?” asked Mark.
"Yes, that is interesting," said LeBlanc. “It may reveal that electrons have the capacity to move between different dimensions. These things will open new avenues of research into multi-dimensional physics.”
"Very nice and exciting for you physicists," said Leslie sarcastically. “But what does it mean for us poor bastards?”
"I am also infected Leslie,” protested LeBlanc.
"Sorry Ray,” Leslie shrugged, looking pained. LeBlanc nodded his forgiveness and continued.
"There is something else about this whole thing, and that is, what does it all say about the nature of thought? You know scientists and philosophers have speculated about the nature of thought and consciousness. The old question is there a ghost in the machine? Well, we have discovered that the electron had the capacity to move between different dimensions and to interact with matter which is essentially metaphysical. Thought is just electrical activity after all. So there may well be a metaphysical component to thought.”
"This is all very well Ray, but what does it mean to yours truly," said Leslie impatiently. “Am I going to disappear into some metaphysical multi -dimensional reality? Never to be seen again? and what happens to my body? I m quite attached to it you know?” Her comments brought chuckles from the others and lightened the mood.