by Roland Starr
CHAPTER V
Philo Curran was helping Doctor Morley set up the portable immobiliser in the corridor outside Bardo’s observation room. When Vonner approached the little group, Adah Morley turned to him, moving around Curran and remaining as silent as possible.
“Captain, I believe it is too dangerous to try and move Bardo into a regular immobiliser room, because if he gets an inkling of what we’re planning to do he may erupt. This immobiliser will hold him in his room in a state of suspended animation.”
“Fine!” Vonner felt relieved as he looked at the work being done. “Once you have him under its influence he can be removed to an immobiliser unit and placed under a more powerful current!”
“No!” Adah shook her head. “It would be dangerous to release him from the power once it has been applied. We can always add a booster to this unit if it becomes necessary.”
“What do you mean by that?” Vonner demanded. “Are you suggesting that this unit won’t be strong enough to hold Bardo?”
“It’s possible that Bardo will drain power from the unit once it begins to take effect. Subconsciously he is aware of this power he possesses, and subconsciously he may resist it when it begins to take effect. If that happens then Colonel Curran will have to kill him!”
“I think we’d better go into this more fully before we make an active move,” Vonner mused. “I thought the immobiliser would solve all our problems!”
“It would have done if Bardo had been placed under its influence before we left Omina orbit!” Adah replied seriously. “But that Ten Points jump in his rating makes all the difference. We’re still working in the realm of the unknown. As I’ve reported to you, the safest way to handle Bardo is to kill him. But even now he could be too powerful to be killed!”
“How could his mental power prevent physical death?” Vonner demanded.
“His mental power is different to that which we possess. We have turned Bardo into an electronic monster. His inner power will charge his flesh and prevent cell destruction. You heard Colonel Curran say that the case he came across had to be dealt with using the most powerful weapon at their command. Even the full-power emission of a stun-gun failed to kill!”
Vonner sighed heavily. He moistened his lips to speak, but Adah continued remorselessly.
“Captain, I cannot advise you what to do. It is your responsibility! But the surest way to be rid of this threat to the entire ship is to place Bardo in a capsule and eject him into space!”
Vonner felt a cold pang stab through his chest at her words, and he stared at the door of the room where Bardo was being held. This was so unreal that he could scarcely believe it was happening, and when Curran came to report that the equipment had been set up, Adah Morley turned away.
“I’ll have some booster equipment brought in just in case it becomes necessary to employ it,” she said. “Do nothing until we have completed our preparations, Captain!”
Vonner nodded, and when he looked into Curran’s face he saw tension lining the big security man’s features.
“You think I’m making a mistake, don’t you, Philo?” Vonner demanded.
“I think you’re risking the security of the ship needlessly, sir!” came the harsh reply. “But we’ll soon find out now!”
“Do you think your weapons would kill Bardo at this moment?” Vonner persisted.
“I doubt if the stun-gun would, but a laser, or the atomic cannon, would, if we don’t delay. Bardo will be increasing his mental power all the time, Captain, and if he wavelengths into the ship’s main drive then he’ll be as powerful as the ship herself, and you’re aware of what our defensive shields can withstand!”
Vonner felt an urgent nagging in the back of his mind. He knew it was his duty to protect the ship, that the vessel had to come first in all his considerations. But he was strangely reluctant to make a decision. The prickling in the back of his mind seemed to increase as he considered it, and he frowned and took a deep breath.
“Philo, I’m wondering if Bardo can sense what is going on!”
“All human instincts are heightened by the increase of mental power,” Curran retorted. His heavy face took on an expression of alarm. “You’re not feeling anything unusual, are you? It’s possible that Bardo is getting at you. I’ve never known you to hesitate over such an urgent decision. Even though Bardo has been your friend for years, you normally wouldn’t hesitate when the entire ship is at stake.”
Vonner shook his head. “I’m all right!” he said. “But let’s hurry with these preparations, and you’d better have a laser projector on hand.”
“I’ve got one!” Curran smiled grimly. “But we’re ready to switch on. We’ll need to connect the boosters, and they’d better be rigged with single direction input regulators. If Bardo does resist when the power hits him he might be able to force the power back along the circuits to its source and destroy the equipment.”
Vonner lifted a hand to his temple and rubbed gingerly. He felt stifled. A sense of foreboding overcame him and a strange weakness began to strike into his mind.
“Philo, I do believe I am being affected,” he said hoarsely, reaching out to clutch hold of Curran’s left arm.
Curran started as if he had received an electric shock, and he jerked away from Vonner, breaking the hold.
“You are being affected, Captain!” he rapped. “I can feel it through you! Give me the order to destroy Bardo! Every fleeting' moment you delay permits him to grow stronger.”
“Activate the immobiliser!” Vonner gasped, clutching at his head. Darting pains were stabbing through his skull and a great pressure seemed to descend upon his mind. He dropped to his knees, writhing in agony, and his breath caught in his throat as if a giant hand had closed upon his windpipe. “Quickly, Philo! Do something!”
But Curran was staggering and reeling as if the contact Vonner had made with him gave Bardo a channel of power directly to his mind, and the colonel’s face was ashen as he twisted and pointed at the immobiliser, where the two guards were waiting. Both crewmen were staring at their officers, startled and uncertain.
“Switch on!” Curran shouted, and fell forward onto his face to lie inertly.
Vonner went down on his hands and knees, shaking his
head as he fought the sinister power that infiltrated his mind. He found it an almost intolerable effort to raise his head, and his vision was wavering badly as he peered along the passage. A strange force was pushing him flat, and he suddenly found himself on his stomach, his chin pressing against the hard floor. His senses tilted and whirled, but he saw one of the crewmen reaching out towards the control panel of the equipment. A hand plunged downwards and lights flashed. A high pitched whine filled the corridor, and almost immediately Vonner felt a lessening of the power attacking him. His vision cleared and some of the pain fled from his brain. He saw Curran begin writhing, slowly returning to consciousness, and the two crewmen with the equipment were steady at the controls. As the power was increased Vonner felt easier. He sat up, as did Curran, and they stared at one another, breathing heavily, their faces showing the pressures to which they had been subjected.
“Increase to maximum power!” Vonner ordered, getting shakily to his feet. “Are you all right, Philo?”
“Just about, Captain!” Curran got up and ran to the immobiliser to check its function, and Vonner joined him more slowly, weak and shaken by his experience. “It’s holding, sir!” Curran reported, his tones heavy with relief. “It looks as if we’re in time. There is an indication of resistance, but it is not strong enough to break the power of the input.”
“I’d better get the Doc here with the booster equipment!” Vonner spoke in unsteady tones, and he turned and hurried along the corridor. The high pitched whine of the immobiliser cut through his head and seemed to lacerate his brain.
Vonner met the doctor coming from the sickbay, and she was pushing a small trolley which contained a number of grey metal boxes. Vonner hurried to help her, and explained
what had happened. Adah Morley gasped and set off almost at a run for the observation section.
“Captain, at first it will appear that Bardo is under control, but he won’t be that easy to beat. His mind will feel the superior power operating against it and will automatically resist. It will feed upon our power and increase its own.”
“So how do we stop him?” Vonner demanded. “We can’t get into the room with the immobiliser at work, and Curran can’t get a shot at him with the laser!”
“We’ve got to eject him into Space!” Adah explained. “If we can boost our input sufficiently to hold him we can overpower his resistance, and once he is under the influence of our circuits we can hold him down. But it will be a test of our strength against his resistance, and the sooner we get to work the better for us. Time is on his side, Captain!”
“I’m aware of that now!” Vonner said ruefully. “But his influence was already working insidiously upon my mind. That was why I was hesitating, and it was touch and go when he became aware of what was happening.”
While they conversed they hurried back to the corridor where Curran was handling the immobiliser, and Vonner did not know what to expect when they reached the spot. Curran turned a tight-lipped face towards him. There was smoke coming from some of the circuits of the equipment, and Vonner did not need a report.
Adah pushed the trolley forward and began to clip leads to the immobiliser from the grey boxes on the trolley. Then she opened a panel in the nearby wall and plugged into a main power circuit. When she switched on there was a surge of input power into the immobiliser, and the dials flickered their needles as if in grateful thanks as the danger of overload was averted.
“The next ten minutes will be our most crucial!” Adah spoke firmly. She looked at Curran. “You’d better stand by with your disintegrating cannon, Colonel, just in case Bardo is too powerful for us! If the equipment blows its circuits then Bardo will come out of that room on the rampage, and he may not choose to use the door!”
“You think a laser will be ineffective now, Doc?” Curran demanded. He was cool and aware of the exigences of the situation. “I can have a cannon set up here in five minutes.”
“It will be better to have all the chances of success possible mustered on our side,” she retorted instantly. “Get your heaviest weapons!”
Curran hurried off with one of the guards, leaving the second man with the laser projector. Vonner sighed heavily.
“Doc, you’ve done all you can here. Now you’d better get out of here, just in case. We can handle the situation from here on in. Thanks for what you’ve done. If this fails then it will be my fault. You did warn me in plenty of time.”
“You can’t blame yourself, Captain!” she protested. “You were under Bardo’s influence and didn’t know it.”
“I’m the captain,” he said harshly. “I can’t afford to be placed at a disadvantage.”
“Well we’re doing all we can right now!” She brushed a strand of golden hair from her pale forehead. “And I’ll stay here in the background just in case there is something else I can do!”
“All right, but be ready to get out of here at the first signs of trouble!” he ordered, and she nodded soberly.
The minutes passed slowly, and Vonner watched the dials on the equipment, astoundingly aware of the struggle taking place between Bardo and the power input. He found it difficult to accept that the Ed Bardo he had known no longer existed, that some unknown power had assumed Bardo’s body and mind and was intent only upon the destruction of ship and crew. He wished he had been aware of the possibilities facing Bardo before they had departed from Omina orbits but now it was too late to do anything for the man, and the sooner they could get him out of the ship the better.
He realised that his attitude had changed since he had become aware that Bardo had been influencing his mind and causing his uncharacteristic hesitation. He was accepting the situation because of his intensive training, and with complete awareness of what was happening came decisiveness.
Curran returned, still pale and shaken by his brush with the power that had tried to destroy them, and he was carrying part of the disintegrating cannon they needed. The crewman accompanying him was holding the rest of the weapon, and Vonner watched intently as they assembled it in the corridor. It was not until the cannon was ready for use and plugged into the main power supply that Curran relaxed slightly and approached Vonner.
“How are we making out?” the colonel demanded.
“We seem to be holding our own,” Vonner replied, “and the Doc tells me that is good. But it will be several minutes before we will know what’s likely to happen.”
“When we can see by the dials that Bardo is overpowered then we can maintain the level of input and hold him inanimate,” Adah commented, coming forward to join them. “But you won’t be able to deal with him from the corridor, Captain. The minute we cut the level of power Bardo will return to his senses, and he will be fully aware of the situation, I can assure you!”
“So how do we deal with him?” Vonner compressed his lips as he considered. “Can we put a force field around him?”
“It would require all the output of the main drive to maintain it,” came the frightening reply. Adah shook her head. “Just hope that we have sufficient power to make Bardo quiescent. If we can then he’ll have to be held exactly where he is, and when we get back to Earth we’ll have to employ far greater power sources than we have aboard to deal with him!”
“We’ll have to maintain him immobile until the end of trip?” Vonner demanded, alarmed at the prospect.
“It’s the only safe way,” Adah assured him. She looked at the dials, drawing a deep breath as she did so. “It’s beginning to look as if we are holding him now! If we did start our preparations in time then we can begin to hope.” Vonner remained silent, watching the dials, and the needles were flickering intermittently, monitoring the surges of power being put into the equipment. A communication buzzer sounded along the corridor, and the crewman nearest it turned aside and answered. Then he called to Vonner.
“It’s the control room, Captain!” he reported. “You’re wanted there as soon as possible.”
“I can handle this now, Captain,” Curran said instantly. “If we lose this battle with Bardo then he’ll be coming through that door, and if that happens I’ll hit him with everything we can muster. You can leave it in my hands. There’s nothing you can do to help.”
“All right. But have a man at that communicator at all times, Philo, and I’ll have a line left open so I can hear what’s going on down here. But I’m not satisfied with this set-up just as it is. I want a back-up crew in here with even heavier weapons. If Bardo does overpower this machine and comes out on the rampage I want to know that we can stop him.”
“He’s not draining the immobiliser of power, at any rate,” Adah said, checking the dials. “It’s been some minutes now, so I think we are holding him.”
“I’ll be in the control room,” Vonner said, departing with some reluctance. “I’ll order Sergeant Nevin to report to you here with a back-up team, Philo. This had better be kept from the rest of the crew for the time being.”
Both the colonel and the doctor nodded their agreement, and Vonner departed, his face set in harsh lines, his eyes showing an intense light as he struggled within himself to face the situation.
No matter what ensued, it was obvious that Ed Bardo was gone! Vonner clenched his teeth as he walked along the corridor to the nearest elevator. He ascended to the top deck and walked swiftly into the control room, finding Lieutenant Commander Hanton there, and Farrell was still seated at his communications console.
“What’s the trouble?” Vonner demanded, and Farrell got to his feet, swaying a little as he lifted a hand to his forehead.
“Captain!” Farrell spoke fiercely. “I’ve carried out all the checks possible and still can’t locate the position of the ship that sent the signal.”
“Was a ship supposed to follo
w us out from Earth, Captain?” Hanton demanded.
“Not to my knowledge, but we have been out of contact with Space Force Base for so long that it’s quite likely they sent a ship after us!” Vonner shrugged his shoulders. A thought struck him and he considered it for a moment. “Howie, you don’t think Bardo had something to do with this signal, do you? Is it possible that when he had control of the ship before we reached Omina he arranged for something like this to happen?”
Farrell shook his head slowly, his face showing intense concentration as he considered.
“He did fix the computer so that we received English commands as if they were transmitted from Omina,” he said slowly. He sighed heavily. “He processed himself with my personal cassette, so he had as much knowledge about communications as I. But I can’t think of any way he could arrange for that to happen. We can make the computer jog our memory at any time in the future by ordering it to do so, giving details of time lapse and star dates, of course! But to have a message transmitted to us as if it came from out there!” He shook his head slowly, sighing again as he tried to come up with an explanation. “I don’t see how it is possible.”
“But our direction finding equipment is the most advanced there is!” Vonner, too, was thinking hard. “If there is a ship out there somewhere, and it sent a signal, we should be able to trace it, no matter how small or short the signal!”
“That’s a fact, and it’s what is puzzling me!” Farrell passed a hand across his eyes. “I can’t come up with an answer, Captain. I’m exhausted by this!”
“Hand over to your Number Two and let him have a go at it while you get some rest!” Vonner advised. “We’re heading towards Uralis Digis, and any ship coming out from Earth would make a point of orbiting that planet before launching out on the last leg to Omina, so we’re going in the right direction. Go and get some sleep, Howie, and forget about this!”
