Jeff nodded. He had often wondered what would happen if they had to escape into another system with a sophisticated defense system and they weren’t on the list of welcome guests. If in doubt, an overly cautious station commander would fire a kinetic weapon before an enemy or hijacked bomber had a chance of releasing its Quagma bomb.
“And the red button on the back?” Jeff asked, although he already knew the answer.
“The button is actually a cap with a micro-switch underneath.”
“A self-destruct button?” Jeff asked.
Irons nodded. “Pressing this will release a capacitor, and the electric charge will erase the memory of the chip using EMP. The codes on the device must never fall into enemy hands. We are under orders to do whatever it takes to prevent that happening, even if it costs us our own lives.”
Jeff imagined an Alliance of enemy bombers with valid transponder codes entering the Earth’s Solar System. It gave him goose bumps.
“And we’ll need the codes,” Irons said.
“What for?” Jeff asked. They didn’t even have their bomber anymore.
Irons laughed. “When we enter the Sigma System in this thing, they’ll think it’s a trap set by the Alliance. They won’t take any risks and will destroy it with Quagma bombs. The only way of preventing that is to emit the right transponder code, and that’s in here.” He turned the little device around in his hand.
“How do you plan to connect that thing to the ship’s system to send out the signal?” Jeff asked.
“We’ll work that out when the time comes. I’ll talk to the ship’s computer.”
Jeff was about to ask another question, when a crackling sound filled the room.
“Speak of the devil …” Irons muttered so softly, Jeff barely heard him.
“Hello, dear guests,” said the now familiar voice of the computer.
“Hello, Computer,” Irons replied. “Is everything functioning properly on your ship?”
“There are no problems,” came the immediate reply. “I don’t have much time. I just wanted to inform you that we have completed our first hyperjump and have now moved one-point-four light years in the direction of the system you told me about. The next jump will be in six days’ time after the banks have been recharged.”
Irons nodded. “Thank you for the information.”
“You’re welcome. I will sign off now, as I have to take care of some maintenance on the life support system.”
Jeff shook his head. Gone again? It was one hell of a busy computer.
Irons opened his mouth to say something, but the crackling sound could be heard again and the major closed his mouth.
“These aliens don’t seem to have grasped the concept of multitasking,” Jeff said wryly.
Irons suddenly frowned.
“Everything OK?” Jeff asked him.
“Life support system,” Irons said.
“Excuse me?”
“It didn’t occur to me before, but hearing that word again, there’s something about it that really bothers me.”
“What?”
“If this spacecraft was rebuilt as a robotic ship, why did they go to the effort of pressurizing all the corridors—probably tens of thousands of miles in total—and give them a breathable atmosphere?”
It was a good question. “Maybe they weren’t pressurized until recently, and the computer did it just for us.”
Irons shook his head. “A small area near the airlock would have been sufficient for us, but not the whole ship.”
While Jeff pondered this, there was a knock at the door. Without waiting for an answer, Finni stepped inside. He was followed by Shorty, who shut the door behind him. “Here we are again!” the radar technician said chirpily. “It sure is spooky in those dark corridors. I keep thinking I can hear noises, but when I shine the flashlight, there’s nothing there. I’m glad I can stay here tomorrow.”
“I’m afraid that’s not going to happen,” Irons said dryly.
“What? Why not?” Finni asked, trying not to look too annoyed.
“I need your assistance tomorrow, Corporal. According to the ship’s computer, we recently made a hyperjump. I need you to go back to the airlock with Lieutenant Rutherford in order to ascertain our position outside the ship.”
Finni’s eyes widened. “We made a hyperjump?”
Jeff nodded.
“But I didn’t notice anything.”
Irons nodded. “Another reason to establish our position.” The Major turned to Jeff. “You will go, too. Together with Corporal Fields. You’ll wait at the airlock, to provide help if needed.”
Jeff nodded. It would have been his turn to go out again, anyway. Somehow, he was relieved not to have to go deeper down into the ship. Not tomorrow, at least.
“I thought we wanted to continue exploring the ship,” Shorty said.
Irons shook his head. “No. Checking our current position has absolute priority.”
“I was looking forward to it.” Shorty couldn’t hide the disappointment in his voice. “What if we sent a second squad? I would volunteer and take Mac with me.”
Finni rolled his eyes. Shorty seemed to have gotten a taste for exploring the ship.
“No,” Irons said. “Tomorrow we’ll concentrate on the airlock. I don’t want to have to coordinate a reconnaissance squad at the same time.”
“But, I—”
Irons raised his hand and got out of his chair. “Enough already! This discussion is over. Tomorrow we’re concentrating on the airlock, and nothing else. That’s my final word. If everything goes according to plan tomorrow, I’m happy for you to go on another recon deeper into the ship. Have I made myself clear, Private Short?”
Shorty looked down at the major and nodded.
“Now what?” Finni asked.
“We’ll wait for the other squad and compare notes. Then we’re done for the day and should make it an early night. Tomorrow’s a critical day.”
“Critical how?” Shorty asked.
The major looked at him intently. “Because I’ll sleep much better once I know this ship is really heading for Sigma-7.”
7.
“We need to take a right here,” Castle said.
Jeff looked down at his handheld. “No,” he answered. “We need to keep going straight ahead.”
“Right,” Castle insisted, and carried on down the corridor without waiting for Jeff to respond.
Jeff sighed and rubbed his right temple. He had a hell of a headache—he’d woken up with it in the morning. He’d thought about asking Irons to get someone else to take his place, but didn’t want to look like a wimp. But the headache hadn’t got any better. On the contrary, he had the feeling his skull was about to explode. Jeff put it down to the extraordinary circumstances and the stress of the last few days. He just hoped he wouldn’t get seriously ill.
“Hang on a minute till we’ve worked it out!” he heard Joanne’s voice.
“Why? My device says we need to take a right,” Castle said grouchily. “If you can’t read yours properly, that’s your problem.”
Fields leaned against the wall of the corridor and grinned.
“Jeff!” Joanne appealed to him.
Will this bullshit never end?
“Castle! Would you please wait?” he said, trying not to sound harassed.
“I’ll wait for you at the next turning,” the weapon systems officer said curtly.
Whatever. I’m not in the mood for this shit.
Then he remembered his conversation with the major. It couldn’t go on like this. He took a deep breath. “You will wait until we’ve sorted this out, or …”
Castle turned around reluctantly. His surprise was clear to see. “Or what?” he asked and laughed softly. At least he’d stopped walking.
“My device also says straight ahead,” came Joanne’s voice.
“Let’s get an outsider opinion,” Jeff said, and held his handheld against the wall of the corridor. “Austin here, come in.”
<
br /> “Mac here, we can hear you.”
“Where’s Green?” Jeff asked. It was the engineer’s turn to be on “radio” duty today.
“Irons sent him to bed. Migraine.”
“Migraine?” Jeff asked, surprised. He’d never known the smart-ass engineer to have a migraine.
“After he barfed all over the major’s boots, he was sent to bed.”
Jeff thought about his own headache. Hopefully they hadn’t caught a virus that was now making the rounds. There’d been a bit of a flu epidemic on Sigma-7 before they left on their mission. An incubation period of about a week … the timing was right. Luckily he didn’t feel nauseous. Could it have something to do with this ship? No, they’d analyzed the air.
“We’re standing at junction A11. Our handhelds aren’t in agreement about which way to go.”
“Hold on,” Mac said. Jeff could hear Irons’ voice in the background but couldn’t understand what he was saying. This was followed by several long seconds of silence.
“Can you hear me?” Mac asked.
“Yes, we’re still here.”
“Might be a synchronization error,” Irons said. “We’ll take a closer look when you’re back. In any case, you need to turn right and then keep going along the corridor. It’ll take you straight to the antechamber of the airlock.”
Jeff avoided catching Castle’s eye. It was enough to imagine the big grin on his face. “OK, let’s go.”
Castle went ahead with the flashlight, Field in the middle, Jeff and Joanne brought up the rear. The eerie silence was disturbed only by their footsteps, which were strangely muted, as if the floor were muffling all sound. When someone talked, there was no echo, which was strange considering the corridors were so long and their walls were made of metal.
Jeff kept turning around, thinking there was something behind him. But every time he looked, all he saw was blackness. He wished he had a flashlight, too, or could at least use the headlamp on his helmet, but Irons had ordered them to turn them on only in an emergency.
Once, Jeff thought he saw something twinkling in the distance. He stopped and turned all the way round. He listened but only heard the sounds of the other members of the group.
“What is it?” Joanne asked.
Jeff shook his head and kept walking. “Nothing,” he mumbled.
“You didn’t stop for nothing,” Joanne persisted.
“I thought I saw a flash of light. As if a light went on briefly in one of the other corridors.” He sighed. “But I guess I was wrong.”
“A flash of light?” Joanne asked. Jeff didn’t answer. “Could have been Cherenkov radiation,” Joanne suggested. “After all, we are nearing the outer shell.”
Trust Joanne to come up with a logical explanation. Cherenkov radiation was created by cosmic particles that penetrated the eye at almost the speed of light and gave off part of their energy as a short pulse of light, which then hit the optic nerve. The phenomenon had driven some of the early astronauts nearly out of their minds. But Jeff doubted her theory. The shadows of the corridor walls had been too clear to see. A more likely explanation was that the never-ending darkness of the corridors was playing tricks with his imagination. The only alternative was that there was someone—or something—sneaking through the corridors. But that couldn’t be. The ship was abandoned.
If only he could get rid of this sensation of being watched! He could almost feel the gaze of a sinister something on his back. Jeff exhaled slowly, resisting the impulse to turn around.
There’s nothing there. Don’t make a fool of yourself in front of the others!
They approached a turning and Jeff looked up. Suddenly he stumbled and almost fell over his own feet. He cursed inwardly. He should have remembered: this was the place where the vector of gravity had changed when they had first walked to their quarters. It wasn’t far now to the airlock.
“Made it!” Castle called out. He had stopped in front of the door and was waiting for the others.
“I didn’t remember it being so far,” Fields grumbled.
Jeff looked at his watch. “One-and-a-half hours. Yeah, that’s about right.”
“Then let’s go in,” Castle said and held his finger up to the white square next to the door. With a hissing noise, the door slid open.
Fields walked past Castle into the antechamber of the airlock. Jeff followed him. It was pitch black. If only they knew how to turn on the lights … but there were no controls on the walls as far as he could see. Jeff held his handheld to the wall. “Austin. We’re in the antechamber.”
“Keep us informed of every step,” Irons had taken over communication with the group.
“Understood.”
Jeff joined Fields, who was already standing by the door to the airlock scratching his head. The others followed him.
“Hm, and now what?” Fields asked.
“Well, how about opening the hatch to the airlock,” Castle said sarcastically.
“I get that, Lieutenant,” Fields quipped. “The question is how. There aren’t any controls here.”
Jeff saw his point. The walls around the hatch to the airlock were completely smooth. How the hell had the aliens opened this thing?
Castle stepped up to the hatch and tapped at regular intervals along the wall.
“What are you doing?” Joanne said, coming up behind them.
“Maybe the controls are embedded in the wall. We also have flaps on our ships that only open when you apply pressure.”
Fields had moved away from the group and was using his flashlight to light up the walls of the room. Jeff nodded. Maybe there was a control panel somewhere in here …
Jeff looked through the little window into the interior of the airlock, which was shrouded in darkness. “Maybe there isn’t even a vacuum in there, or the outer hatch is open …” Joanne mused.
“I can’t imagine it,” Castle retorted, and continued tapping along the wall.
Jeff sighed and took the handheld out of his belt pouch. “Austin here. Come in.”
“Irons,” the major responded curtly.
“We have a problem.”
“Speak!”
“There are no controls for the airlock. We can’t even get the outer hatch open.”
“Understood. Keep looking for a solution.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Jeff remembered the moment they had come into the airlock from outside. They’d been surprised then that there were no controls. The computer had apparently opened the hatches for them. He got an uneasy feeling.
He pressed on the talk button again. “What if the airlock can only be operated by the computer?”
Castle swung round and frowned at Jeff. “That would be pretty dumb.”
A few seconds passed before Irons answered. “If there really are no manual controls in there, it’s the logical answer.”
“Maybe there were once manual controls but they were removed when the ship was reconstructed after the crew left,” Joanne said.
“Try it,” Irons said. “Call the computer.”
Castle waved his hand dismissively. “I bet it’s sleeping again.”
Jeff took a deep breath. “Computer,” he said loudly and found himself looking upward. “Can you hear me?”
Several long seconds passed. Then the familiar crackling sound filled the room. “I can hear you, Jeff Austin. How can I help?”
Jeff blinked.
He knows my name?
Not so dumb, that computer. “Well, er …”
He fell silent. He couldn’t say they wanted to go outside to find out their position and check the computer was telling them the truth. The computer would interpret it as distrust. “Um, we’d like to use the airlock to make some measurements.”
“Measurements? What for?”
“Um, it’s routine according to our protocols. I mean, for our logbooks.”
“I understand,” the computer said.
Did he detect an amused undertone in the voice?
“So it is not an emergency?” the computer asked.
Jeff shook his head. “No. It’s not an emergency.”
“I’m sorry,” the computer replied. “While in flight, the locks can only be opened in an emergency.”
So that was that.
“Major?” Jeff asked.
“I heard. Come back to HQ,” Irons said in his usual, matter-of-fact tone.
“Understood.”
“Is there anything else I can do for you?” the computer asked.
Jeff sighed. “No, that’s all. Thank you.”
“Then I wish you a pleasant day.”
“Thanks,” Jeff replied automatically. “You too.”
The crackling sound indicated that the computer had switched off again. Something was bothering Jeff, but he couldn’t put his finger on what.
“Did I hear that right?” Castle asked. “We’re trapped in here and aren’t allowed out?”
Joanne laughed out loud. “That’s an interesting interpretation of our situation!”
“Why do you mean?” Jeff asked.
“Even if the computer let us out, where would we go?” She laughed again. “We’re trapped, whatever way you look at it.”
“Let’s go back,” Jeff said, signaling to Castle to lead the way with the flashlight.
“Still, I would have liked to know our actual position,” Joanne said.
“Maybe we’re not supposed to find out,” Castle said darkly.
8.
“So we’re trapped inside this alien ship. There’s no other way of looking at it, really,” Jeff said, listlessly stabbing at his steak with his fork. At least his headache had gone.
Irons shook his head. “I’m not too worried about that. If we really want to go outside, then we’ll go outside.”
“And how?” Fields asked.
“You should know best, Corporal.” The major pointed at the sled standing in the corner with the emergency equipment. “You packed the thing.”
The Dark Ship Page 11
