The Venetou

by Philip R Benge

  Doctor Ashil Kamdar, the doctor in charge of the isolation wards when they were in use and also the planet`s coroner, met Balsam as he entered the main entrance of the spaceport building, and Kamdar looked to be angry.

  “Councilman I am being denied access to the two bodies by the local security man. We must check to see if the two men are indeed dead, we can not just leave them in there without even ensuring that it is so, to do otherwise is inhuman.” Kamdar demanded. He had been denied entry by Revere who was not taking a chance that the strange stories told by the crew of the Galileo might be true, rather than just the ravings of a crew of mad people.

  “Are you out of your mind Doctor? Those creatures are just waiting inside for some fool to open the door and release them.” Balsam screamed out for all to hear. “You were here when that criminal Kramer told us of how those creatures ate their way through a complete world, and then started on his crew.”

  “But surely that was just a load of bullshit, you did not believe him, surely.” Kamdar said surprised by the councilman`s words. “Anyway Mr Balsam, I am the coroner and I would be obliged if you would do as I instruct you to do.”

  Councilman Balsam was not so sure of anything anymore, however, he would wait to find out what had in fact happened within the security wing of the spaceport building before passing any further comment.

  A tall thin man, dressed in a freshly ironed uniform, and looking very purposeful strode by them as they argued. “We might as well have a look through the security cameras installed within the two cells, to see if they will tell the good doctor anything.” Constable Poulson said to the two men as he stood before the security door on the far side of the entrance hall and buzzed for admittance.

  Inside the security unit Roge Revere looked up at the security monitor before him and saw that it was Constable Poulson patiently waiting in the entrance hall of the spaceport main building, he touched his computer screen to open the security door. Constable Poulson walked through followed by Balsam and Kamdar who had both hurried after the constable and were still arguing about who was in charge. They did not notice that the door hung there for a moment, seemingly stuck, before finally closing behind them.

  Poulson walked up to Revere and smiled at the security man. “How is it going Roge, anything new from the two cells?” Poulson asked his friend.

  “No Dan, not a peep, if anything alien is in there they are surely patient critters.” Revere answered.

  “Roge, can we look at the two dead men via the security cameras in each of their cells?” Ridding asked as he switched the security monitor over to the appropriate channel.

  “I am afraid not Dan, the storm appears to have damaged it, all we get is static now. Revere answered sadly. To prove this statement the monitor screen was now full of the said static, Poulson turned it off and swore under his breath.

  Balsam and Kamdar had been joined by Strom and all three men were now arguing about the best way to deal with the situation. Constable Poulson soon got bored listening to them arguing.

  “Enough gentlemen please, let us at least check on our guests through the glass viewer in each of the doors.” Poulson walked across the room, and after Revere opened yet another security door, he led them all into the cell block. Poulson now walked over to the cell that housed Kramer and pushed the cell door, it opened. The jaws of all there dropped so far they almost hit the floor.

  “Revere, did you open that cell door, I told you to leave them locked up tight until I got here.” Strom said angrily.

  “I never opened any door, it must have been Dan`s magnetic personality.” Revere said in awe of his friend. All eyes turned to Poulson, all demanding an explanation.

  “I thought it worth a try, that electric storm last night was really something, it kept Patricia awake for hours, and so she kept me awake.” Poulson said looking at Kramer who had come to the door of the cell on seeing it open but no one enter.

  “Is it true, both Mayers and Milano have been killed by those monsters?” Kramer asked quietly. However no one answered him as he stood there still in a state of shock at these new acts of evil.

  “Strom, you told me that you had killed the creatures with a toxic gas, you lied to me.” Kramer screamed angrily across the cell block when he saw the security man at the back of the group of people now crowding into the narrow corridor of the cell block.

  While Kramer was screaming at Strom, Revere was pushing open the other cell doors in the security section of the building, and he found that none of them was locked. He stood in front of Maria Alejandra`s doorway to prevent her from leaving her cell, as she too had come to the open door to see what all the commotion was about.

  Kramer saw her standing at her cell door and called quietly across to her. “They are both dead Maria, Chief Mayers and Milano, the creatures got to them here inside this prison.”

  She appeared to be about to faint as yet two more deaths took their toll on her mind, so Revere helped her back to her bed, as he made to leave the cell she looked up at him. “How....please tell me how did the creatures get off the ship, we warned the security man Strom about them, he told us that the creatures were dead.”

  It was Constable Poulson that answered her question, he had come to the door of her cell to look in at the only other survivor of the Galileo. “I do not know Professor Alejandra, but I will find out who or what killed your friends, believe me.” Poulson promised her, gravely.

  “But you know who killed them, it was the creatures from Retem, the fool Strom let them get free, he lied to us.” Alejandra screamed out her accusation, and Strom standing by the far wall turned a deathly shade of white.

  Constable Poulson walked back to Kramer`s cell and looking directly at Kramer replied to her accusation against Strom. “Nonsense, I do not believe the tale told by you or our good Captain Kramer. Which is why I decided to check on his cell door to see if he could have got out. It appears that the storm screwed up the security system, so now we had better see what it did to the CCTV recording before the system went off the air.”

  Constable Poulson had read a copy of the ship`s logs together with the CCTV evidence, it had been sent to him just minutes after the councillors had got their copies, in case it became a civil matter rather than a company one, so he was fully conversant with all of the facts concerning the case. Unfortunately for Kramer and Alejandra, he did not believe much that made up all of this evidence, he was after a human murderer not an alien one.

  “Roge, tell me, did all of the electrical items fail during the storm?” Poulson now asked as Kramer`s face showed the anger that was once again building up inside of the man and threatening to make him explode.

  From the back of the security room Lydia Mann answered this question. “Yes Dan, just for a moment everything went out, the lights, the computer, everything, but they came back on after just two seconds at most. The security cameras inside of all the cells and the CCTV camera in the cell block corridor stayed off, as for everything else, well I am not sure, the systems needs to be checked over by someone who understands computers. I have been telling Mr Strom for weeks about it, the whole system needs a thorough overhaul, it has not been right ever since the last electrical storm.” Lydia stated calmly while throwing Strom a very disrespectful look.

  “My chair faces the security door Dan, and I never once closed my eyes. No one entered the cell block or left it, and I will swear to that on a stack of bibles if asked to, our murderer must be one of our two guests, that or there really are some invisible aliens.” Lydia said and then laughed for even saying such a thing.

  Strom looked a little uncomfortable for a moment after Lydia`s earlier condemnations, but then he passed the blame on to Balsam. “Councilman Balsam, you keep telling me that the directors of the Morang Corporation are complaining about the overheads. With this in mind, and to keep them off our backs, I decided to put off any work that in my opinion could wait, maybe this one job should have been done, but you keep pressurising me to cut costs
, both here and at the company mines and the administrative buildings.”

  They all stood around the security desk, with the exception of the two prisoners who had now been locked up tight within their cells. The others watched as the recording taken by the CCTV camera within the cell block corridor was run, and it was fine right up until the four prisoners were put in their cells, then the quality of the picture quickly deteriorated in a fuzzy mess before stopping altogether.

  “That certainly is strange, why on earth did the CCTV camera stop working just then, it is well before the storm hit?” Poulson asked of anybody, but no one had an answer.

  “Well it is a pity that we have no CCTV evidence, but as I see it either Kramer or Alejandra saw their chance after the storm hit and caused all of the cell doors to open. They came from their cell, crept quietly along the cell block corridor and murdered the two men. They must have known the truth about the ten deaths and the murderer, or murderers, could not trust them to keep quiet about what really happened on the planet, or on the survey ship come to that. All the while Lydia was sitting safely in the security room following the Morang Corporation`s ridiculous security procedures, anything rather than checking on your guests within the cell block after the power came back on.” Poulson stated firmly.

  A scream of rage came from the cell where Maria Alejandra lay on her bed and this was followed by yet another angry protest from Kramer, who seemed on the point of violence, but Poulson ignored both of their loud protestations of innocence.

  “I will interrogate them both as soon as someone provides me with my morning coffee.” Poulson said. “Following these two murders on the planet of New Caledonia, this is now a civil matter and I am taking over the investigation into all of the deaths, whether they were on the alien planet, aboard the Galileo or here in our small city of New Caledonia.”

  Strom was more than happy with this, now whatever happened he would not get the blame. His happiness did not last for more than a heartbeat though, for a thought leapt into the front of his mind, what if there really was invisible aliens walking around New Caledonia. Now this was something that he very much doubted, but if it were so then there was a distinct possibility that in time the blame for any more deaths would land on his doorstep, for Kramer would remind everyone that he had warned him about them, and more than once. His mind was suddenly in turmoil as he fixed on this one remote possibility, at least he had done everything possible to eradicate the alien threat aboard the survey vessel, and he would tell every one of his actions. He had arranged for his team to immediately seal the security tunnel, then a thought went through his mind, what if his team had taken too long to do their job? Until he knew for certain that the alien creatures did not exist, except for in Kramer`s mind, he knew that his mind would create a personal hell for him. He now decided that he must do everything in his power to help Constable Poulson to prove that it was Captain Kramer who was guilty of all the murders. However, his mind returned to dwell on that one possibility, that the aliens did exist, his gut began to produce acid that was now eating away at his stomach. If they did exist then he must ensure that they were killed without anyone finding out about them. He found that he was sweating, a latent fear he realised had unconsciously taken control of his body`s functions, he decided to shadow Poulson, he needed to be kept up to date about the investigation.

  During the time taken for Strom to be turned into a nervous wreck, Revere had prepared a cup of coffee for Poulson, and he pushed it into Poulson`s hand. “Enjoy.” Revere said smiling, for the coffee in this section of the spaceport had not tasted very good for some time, one more piece of machinery that needed fixing.

  Poulson took his coffee, and entered Kramer`s cell where he sat in one of the two chairs, they were set either side of a small square metal table which was set in the corner of Kramer`s cell. He put the briefcase he was carrying down on the table and looked up at Kramer who was standing looking out of the now open door.

  “Please sit down Captain Kramer, so that we can talk about your fateful trip.” Poulson ordered the stunned starship captain. Kramer had thought that he would be safe once he got back to New Caledonia, now he was facing a multiple murder charge.

  A moment later Poulson got to his feet, still holding his cup of coffee, walked over to the door of the cell, and called across to Revere. “Oh Roge, I think that someone should lock all those doors until I am ready to enter each of them. However, first let Doctor Kamdar take charge of the two victims, whatever is the truth behind their murders, there can be no harm in his entering the two cells now and removing their bodies so that he can perform an autopsy on them.”

  Poulson then returned to his chair and took a swig of his coffee, he grimaced, but then he took another swig, without his morning coffee he was not up to interrogating his two prime suspects, no matter how bad the coffee was. He finally put his coffee cup down upon the table, opened his briefcase, and took out a folder which he lay on the table between the two men. Finally ready for the task in hand he looked up into Kramer`s tired eyes and immediately felt a certain amount of sympathy for this man. If he was not the guilty person then he had indeed gone through hell, but then as the captain of the Galileo he was ultimately responsible for all that had occurred during the trip. He did not seem to notice Strom standing at the door, getting ready to listen in to the interrogation.

  “Captain, I have read your ship`s log and also that of Doctor Garner, they appear to back up everything that you told the council of New Caledonia. However, logs can be altered, if they have been altered it would provide a good answer as to why Doctor Garner and Katrina Georgiou had to be killed. Also having looked at all of the CCTV evidence aboard your ship, I find that I do not believe that the murders were carried out by your invisible alien creature. I do believe that they were carried out by either by you Captain Kramer, or by Professor Alejandra, as you two are the only surviving crew members of the trip.” Poulson said accusingly. “I also think it likely that the damage to the CCTV recordings was deliberate, and done by either yourself, or by Professor Alejandra.” Poulson slammed his fist down upon the metal table making both Kramer and Strom jump. “Now stop with the fairy tales and admit it, you killed your crew simply because of greed. What was it, this crystal found by Professor Alejandra, your partner in crime, or was it something else that you erased from the ship`s log? Tell me Captain, why did you murder ten people who I presume you were friendly with?” Poulson`s normally quiet voice was now loud and very angry, and he had rattled Captain Kramer by interrogating him in this manner.

  Unfortunately for Constable Poulson, Kramer did not stay rattled for long. Since arriving on New Caledonia, Kramer had been extraordinarily patient about the way he and Maria Alejandra had been treated by the authorities. He realised that their tale was hard to believe, but when they had been interrogated by three of the planetary councillors, they had at least seemed willing to listen to his tale and he had thought that there was a good chance that they would be released sooner rather than later. Now he saw that this had all changed, he now realised that he faced an uphill struggle to not only convince his new interrogator of their innocence, but also of the danger to the planet, if the creatures were to escape the security section of the spaceport. With this realisation his patience finally evaporated, he too could use the tactics employed by Poulson.

  “Constable Poulson, these morons have allowed the creatures to kill two more of my crew, and now you have the unmitigated cheek to level your accusations against Professor Alejandra and myself.” Captain Kramer was not just angry, he was fuming, and getting more so every second because of the fool before him refusing to even consider that he might be telling the truth about the alien monsters.

  “Constable, surely you have heard about all of the strange new life forms that Mankind has encountered since venturing amongst the stars, or are you a Flat Earther, afraid to take one more new life form into consideration. No, you are beyond even that Constable, what you are is a first class cretin, I
did not murder anyone, neither did Professor Alejandra. What is up with you, do you not realise what this means to the people of this planet, maybe even to the other colony planets, to Earth even? Two of those creatures have left the Galileo and are now somewhere within this building. You had better start believing everything that I have told your councillors, and what I am now telling you, because right now there is still a chance that the creatures are still contained here within the walls of this prison. If they are not then those creatures are going to think it is Christmas time out there when they get amongst our people, and our people will be their Christmas dinner.” Kramer`s loud voice reached a new peak as he screamed out these last words at Poulson and he made to stand up, but the Phaser that had appeared in Poulson`s hand made him hastily sit back down, instead he just fumed at the unfairness of it all.

  Getting no further in his investigation, for Kramer had stuck to his story and now seemed to be on the point of attacking him, Constable Poulson spoke to Maria Alejandra, who had heard Kramer`s outburst and agreed with every word that he had said. However, she too simply repeated her story and after getting exasperated with Poulson she finally refused to say another word on the matter.

  He and Revere now searched the entire security section of the building, they were looking for the weapon used in the ghastly murders, however, they found nothing. This was an unexpected development, for Poulson had expected to wrap up the case quite quickly once the weapon was found. They also found that the CCTV camera within the cell block and the four security cameras within the cells had all burnt out, as too had the one in the main security room.