by Roland Starr
“We’ve processed everyone except Ed Bardo, Captain!” Adah reported.
Vonner sighed heavily, shaking his head as he considered. He looked up into the woman’s eyes and did not remember that he loved her.
“What do you make of it, Doc?” he demanded. “Curran tells me that it will be impossible for his men to watch Bardo every single minute for the next two years, so would we be justified in giving Ed the treatment, even though it may kill him? You know what would happen if Ed got loose and started rampaging through the ship!”
“I remember only too well what happened the first time,” she said firmly. “Yes, I’ve given the matter some thought, and I’ve come to the conclusion that you don’t have to make any decision about Bardo. It’s patently obvious that your first duty is to safeguard your ship, and Bardo is a threat to it. I think he should be processed, even though that act may kill him.”
Vonner nodded slowly. “I do have that decision already in the back of my mind,” he admitted. “But I can hardly bring myself to accept it. Ed has been serving with me for more years than I care to remember.”
“It’s a risk we have to take. Just think of what might happen if he does ever get loose, and the number of lives that may be lost trying to recapture him!”
“You’re right, of course, and I know it!” Vonner let his gaze take in all the control panels laid out before him. All green lights were showing on the indicator board, and he knew there was not a single malfunction anywhere in the vast complexities of the ship. “But I’d like to be there when you process Ed! I’ll be coming off watch in forty minutes. I’ll come along to the sickbay and watch the processing.”
“Fine, Captain! I’m sure you’re making the right decision, no matter what happens to Bardo!” Adah turned away. “I’ll be in the sickbay waiting for you when you come off duty!”
Vonner nodded and stared speculatively at her lithe figure as she departed, but there was no calculation in his mind where she was concerned. She was just another crew member to his mind, and deserved no special consideration. He did not even have any idea that there was the difference of sex between them.
“Captain!” Howie Farrell called urgently from his communications console, and Vonner looked around quickly, alerted by Farrell’s sharp tones. “I thought for a moment that I picked up something coming through all the space chatter, but it isn’t there now!” There was a frown on Farrell’s fleshy features.
Vonner cast another glance across his panels, and then went across the room to stand at Farrell’s side. He said nothing, aware that the Lieutenant was listening intently to all the sounds coming into his sensitive equipment from millions of miles of black cosmos. But Farrell shook his head slowly.
“No!” he reported slowly, unsure of himself. “I don’t think it was anything. But for a moment I got what sounded like an intelligent signal. It was nothing I could understand — probably coded — but it made a definite rhythm.”
“Could be you’re listening too hard, seeing that this is the first watch on the homeward bound trip!” Vonner smiled. “But let us have a play-back of the recorder, and slow it down.”
Farrell nodded and reached out to switch on a circuit. Lights blinked on and off, red being replaced by green, and then the recorders went into action. Vonner listened to several minutes of unintelligible space chatter. Then there was a brief spate of rhythmic signal, which cut off abruptly. Vonner frowned as he met Farrell’s hard gaze.
“That was it!” Farrell said needlessly. “It was barely long enough to catch my ear, but it sounds as if it has its source in something intelligent.”
“Replay it and try to slow it down. Isolate it on a tape, Howie, and we’ll try to find out what you’ve got. But keep listening for a repeat or more!”
“The recorders are on all the time, Captain,” Farrell said keenly.
Vonner nodded and moved back to his console, and a stark pang of uneasiness made its presence known to the back of his mind. He would not feel happy until they were well into this return trip and the crew had settled into mere routine.
He was still pensive when Hanton came to relieve him, and as he left the control room, Vonner was not looking forward to visiting the sickbay, but he made his way there to confront Doctor Morley.
“I’m ready if you are, Doc!” he said firmly. “Let’s get it over with! Have you decided on the dosage Bardo might safely take?”
“I’ve been working on the scales in my possession, but they don’t allow for the kind of over-dosage that Bardo administered to himself,” she replied reluctantly. “They only apply to someone who has inadvertently taken an accidental overdose! What Bardo did to himself ought to have killed him instantly, but he survived, and now we have to go into the unknown reaches of this process in an attempt to bring him back to normal.”
“Call Curran on the communicator and ask him to come over,” Vonner said. “We’d better not take any chances. Bardo must have double guards watching him whenever he leaves his observation cell!”
They waited for the colonel to arrive, and Curran was holding a stun-gun when he entered the office.
“We’re going to process Bardo, Philo,” Vonner said. “I’d like you to be standing by, just in case.”
“He’s under strict guard, and my best men are on the job! But you’re wise not to take any risks. I’ve seen some dreadful things come about because Captains haven’t taken enough care with victims of space mania!”
“So have I, but nothing was as bad as the trip to Omina, when Ed fell victim to the sickness. We shan’t take any chances with him.” There was a firm note in Vonner’s voice.
“Okay.” Curran turned to depart. “I’ll fetch Ed along to the process room!”
Vonner accompanied Adah along the corridor, and he stood by while she checked over the equipment. When she was satisfied that all was ready she glanced at Vonner.
“Captain, I think it would be best if I used an eraser cassette on Bardo and completely wipe out everything in his consciousness. It won’t have any detrimental effect upon him, and might help clear his mind and undo some of the harm he did to himself when over-processing.”
“I’ll back up any decision you care to make, Doc,” he replied softly. “I have great faith in you. You’ve never made a wrong decision while you’ve been aboard my ship!”
“I just hope I don’t make my first mistake with Ed,” she retorted.
Vonner watched her closely as she selected a cassette from the filing cabinet, and then the door of the room was opened and Bardo appeared, flanked on either side by big, tough, but unarmed guards, and behind them was Philo Curran, his stun-gun in his waist holster. Bardo was looking apprehensive, and he stared hard at Vonner, who nodded slowly.
“We’re going to process you, Ed!” he began, but Bardo cut in sharply, and there was a thin strand of fear in his tones.
“You can’t do that, Captain! The Doctor said another processing session might blow my mind! All right, if you don’t want me back on duty I’ll stay in that cell! But you’ve got no right to subject me to treatment that might kill me. Doc says I’m back to normal health! There’s no need for this!”
“Ed, I know all your graphs show a return to normal, but we have the safety of the ship to consider, and you know that!” There was a hard note in Vonner’s tones. “But we are not taking any chances with your life. The Doc is going to use an eraser cassette, and all it will do is clean out your mind. Then we’ll use your normal duty cassette and you’ll be all right!”
“I don’t believe you!” A hard note crept into Bardo’s high pitched tones. “You’re going to kill me deliberately
because you’re afraid that at some time during the next two years I might get free of that cell.”
“It happened before, Ed!” Vonner reminded. “If you were in my place you wouldn’t take any chances. Now sit down in the chair and let’s get this done with!”
Bardo tried to break free of the guards but they had been specially selected
, and Bardo was held and placed in the seat. Vonner watched silently until the straps were fastened, then stepped back to Curran’s side. Bardo stared up at him, his pale eyes glinting with fury.
“All right, Max!” he said in grating tones. “I always figured that we were friends! But this proves you place no value in friendship!”
Vonner glanced at the doctor and nodded curtly. Bardo yelled and tried to burst his bonds as Adah Morley pressed the eraser cassette into the slot at the top of the processing machine. For several moments Bardo continued to struggle, even after the first switch was moved. Then the second switch was thrown and Bardo jerked and slumped in the seat, leaning inertly against the straps holding him.
“Is he dead?” Vonner demanded urgently, and there was a grim note in his voice.
“The eraser cassette always has this effect upon the patient,” Adah replied quickly, but moved in to examine Bardo. “He’s alive! The eraser takes all impressions from him, leaving only the instincts he possesses, and, of course, all his impressions and memories are thrust back behind a mental barrier which the process has erected between his conscious and subconscious mind.
“Before we go any further with this!” Vonner spoke slowly, considering his thoughts and pondering over a decision. “Could we leave him in this condition indefinitely?”
“No!” The doctor shook her blonde head. “There would be no problem if we could. He would remain passive for the rest of the trip. But it cannot be done, Captain! We’ve got to put something into the void we’ve created inside his head!”
“All right!” Vonner nodded slowly. “Process him with his normal duty cassette.”
“That’s when the trouble may begin!” she warned. “Trying to put back normal duty impressions might be too much for his nervous system!”
“There’s only one way to find out!” Vonner spoke through clenched teeth. “Hit him with the process, Doc! Let’s get this over with!”
She glanced at his set face, saw that he was grim and concerned, and picked up Bardo’s duty cassette. As she inserted it into the machine a strange tension caught Vonner by the throat, but at that moment a Red Alert was flashed through the entire ship…
CHAPTER III
Vonner started nervously, so intent had his mind been upon Bardo, but he reacted instantly to the alarm, moving before any of the others present could recover from their shock. He ran past Curran and entered the doctor’s office, opening a line in the communicator, pressing the red button which would give him priority over all other calls.
“This is the captain!” he said tersely when Hanton’s voice replied. “What’s the trouble?”
“No trouble, sir!” Hanton chuckled. “I’m following regulations. This is the first of the practice Alarms.”
“Hell!” Vonner sagged for a moment. “I’d forgotten all about that! “But I’m busy in the sickbay now so you’ll have to carry on without me. And Colonel Curran won’t be able to report his department. Inform his second-in-command to take over!”
“Yes, sir!” Hanton chuckled again, and when he closed the line, Vonner was grinning wryly.
Returning to the processing room, Vonner found the scene exactly as he had left it. But there was an expression of enquiry on Curran’s fleshy face.
“Practice alarm,” Vonner said briefly. “It’s the first of six that will be carried out during the first week of the trip. I’d forgotten about them, but Hanton hadn’t! He’s carrying on. What happens now, Doc!” He turned his attention to the matter in hand.
“I was about to give Bardo his normal duty process,” Adah replied. She pressed the cassette into the machine and looked into Vonner’s face. “I’m ready!”
“Go ahead!” His tones were impassive now.
She operated the machine and Bardo jerked, groaning unintelligibly as his mind was filled with surges of power. Vonner watched intently, filled with concern. A heavy sigh escaped him when he saw Bardo begin to regain consciousness, and relief started through him when Bardo lifted his head and gazed around with awareness glinting in his blue eyes.
“How are you feeling, Ed?” Vonner demanded urgently.
“Fine!” Bardo looked around. “Oh! Another process! Well that’s one less, huh?”
“I want to examine you before releasing you Commander!” Adah said, and removed the electrodes from Bardo’s skull. She slipped a metal cap down over the top of his head and clamped it in place, then threw another switch on the machine, her pale gaze lifting to a panel on the wall behind the machine. There was a tense silence while she read the information that showed, then she switched off the machine and motioned for the guards to release Bardo. “You’re perfectly normal now!” she reported.
“Does that mean I go back on duty?” Bardo demanded as Vonner motioned for Curran to remove him.
“I’m afraid not, Ed!” Vonner spoke briskly. “You’re going to have one long holiday on this trip. In fact I wish I were in your boots! No duties; regular sleep periods, no responsibility and nothing to worry about!”
The two guards began to take Bardo out of the room, and Curran remained in the background, ready to draw his stun-gun. Bardo looked around as he reached the door.
“You’re making a mistake if you think I’m going to sit around doing nothing for the next two years!” he said.
The guards took him out, and Vonner sighed heavily as he met Adah’s gaze.
“There’s no change in him,” he commented. “Do you think the passing of time will have any effect?”
“I don’t know!” She shook her head. “I’m working in the dark as far as Bardo is concerned. “I gave him more power in the process than any man has experienced before. I just hope there won’t be any delayed effects from his exposure to it.”
“Could there be?” he pursued.
“Quite easily!”
“What kind of effects?”
“That’s just it, Captain!” She sounded concerned. “I don’t know. It was hinted before we left Earth that there could be side-effects from the treatment, but they were not specified.”
“In your experience,” Vonner insisted, “what kind of effects could there be?”
“Damage to brain tissue, that kind of thing, I suppose! But you saw the reading on the tester after the process had been administered. It showed absolutely no reaction.”
“Well you’d better check him out regularly. Make arrangements for Curran to bring Ed here every day for a check-up. I want him watched very closely.”
“I’ll do that, Captain! I promise you that if Bardo does give you any trouble on the home-trip then it won’t be on account of my laxity!”
“I’m aware of your efficiency, Doc!” he retorted, and took his leave.
Returning to the control room, Vonner found that Hanton had the Red Alert practice under control, and the crew response had been good. Vonner smiled ruefully as he looked into Hanton’s keen brown eyes.
“You caught me on the hop that time,” he commented.
“But the crew stood to very well, according to all reports.”
“I imagined you didn’t make the first Red Alert practice on your watch because you were testing me!” Hanton replied. “I thought you expected me to fail to bring the ship to action stations.”
“I had other things on my mind at the time.” Vonner spoke grimly. “But as you’re about to sound the Stand Down I’m going to get some sleep. I’ll be back to relieve you on time. But put through a call to my quarters forty-five minutes before I’m due to come on duty, please!”
“Yes, sir!” Hanton nodded, well pleased with himself.
Vonner went to his quarters and tried to relax. But he could not sleep. His mind was too occupied with the problems that faced him. Their homeward course was uncertain, to say the least, and then there was the question of Ed Bardo! He sighed as he sat up on his bunk and switched on his line to the computer memory banks. He questioned the computer at great length about the course co-ordinates, and each time all he received was the signal
that no data was available.
They would have to orbit Uralis Digis, the largest planet in the Urbana Constellation, and Vonner shook his head slowly as he recalled details of the course around that area. His Star Log would be of some help, but there was a black void across the centre of their trip which would need some inspired plotting and guesswork to overcome.
Controlling his thoughts somewhat, Vonner lay down to sleep, but still could not lose consciousness. He called the sickbay eventually and spoke to Adah, explaining his problem, and she came to him, carrying a Sedation Inducer in her slim, capable hands.
“How long do you require to sleep?” she asked softly.
“Five hours,” he said, and she pressed the instrument against his temple and activated it. Vonner lay back and closed his eyes, and suddenly his consciousness had fled and the clamour of his thought processes was gone.
When he came back to his senses he found he had an hour before assuming command in the control room, and while he prepared for duty all the old familiar worries returned to his mind. He tried to force himself to take them as they came, but they remained lurking in the background and he was fully aware of their presence as he prepared for his pending watch.
Hanton reported the ship secure and departed, apparently with no worries on his mind, and Vonner smiled ruefully as he considered the pressures of captaining a star ship. He checked all departments, finding them alert, and when there was time to relax he crossed to the communications console, where Howie Farrell was busy with his equipment.
Farrell looked up, his face showing intense concentration, but he paused in what he was doing and gave his attention to Vonner.
“Nothing yet on that signal I picked up earlier, Captain,” he said, anticipating Vonner’s question. “I’ve managed to isolate it, but I can’t get any sense out of it. I’m putting it through the computer decoder.”
“You’re putting it through?” Vonner demanded. “But that takes only a matter of seconds to check out any code, even alien ones!”
